Long Vests – Fall Fashion Do

Enjoy the last of Summer while you can, beach bunnies; Fall is just around the corner and so is back-to-school shopping! 🍁🍂🌾 Here is one of the hottest accessorie pieces needed for your transitioning Fall look: The LONG VEST

The long vest is the perfect layering option when you want to add class and sophistication to your outfit! 

Almost every celebrity is running with the trend and the piece has already been featured in many magazines- Feast your eyes… 

People Magazine August 2015 Issue

You can layer the long vest over any outfit but I would recommend a two piece outfit! For example, over a long pencil skirt paired with a bandeau top, or high waisted pants and a crop top. By doing so, your once-so-casual summer gear will be transformed into a chic, more formal outfit! 

*Just by adding this one piece to your wardrobe you will be upgrading so many outfits you already have!!

And you can buy it from one of my favorite stores – bebe! Check the looks below for their uniquely designed Lauren Chiffon Drape Vest available for a limited time in black and white.

   

Does anyone already have a long vest?! Have you found the long vest in other stores? I know a lot of people are looking for other price options as well! You could help fellow fashionistas by posting below about what you know!

 This is a Fashion Do brought to you exclusively by VS Mermaid! Xox 💋

  

How To Wear Designer Handbags

Here I filmed a video on how to wear designer handbags!

Summer! Chic! Casual! Edgy! There are ALL different kinds of looks I wore with these designer bags!

I want to give a special thanks to Adriana Ginocchio for being a fantastic “film” director, and stylist! She helped make this video possible! Also all the bags are NOT mine, a lot of them are hers, she’s fancy like that.

So… Which bag was your favorite? Is there a bag you think I should include in my next video? Please leave a sugar sweet comment below. xoxo

The Easiest and Quickest Way to Contour

*Latest Makeup Trend – Contouring*

Have you seen this picture before? Sephora! 😉

Contouring creates light and shadows on your face to highlight your beautiful features. The technique has been around and is now coming back around. 

I only use three things to achieve my contoured look!

the essentials

•  MAC Pro Longwear Concealer (NW 15)
• MAC Matchmaster Concealer (8.5)
• Contouring Brush

With darker complexions, you can contour by highlighting the cheekbones, forehead, and under the eyes with the lighter concealer.

AND I am so super excited to share my latest youtube video with you!! 💋 Here, I explain how I contour for a very quick and easy every day look! Xox

Matcha Tea is Trending! 🍵

Caffeine, praise the Lord, is so very important in our every day lives! I used to be a hardcore coffee drinker but the teeth staining and the caffeine crashes just became all too exhausting! It was just time 🕓 to try something different, something that gave me energy and even antioxidants!! Matcha tea is where it’s at!  

Photo Credit: Teavana

 Matcha tea still has a lot of caffeine (80 grams almost as much as coffee) but is also filled with antioxidants and lots of vitamin A & C 🍵 !   

photo Credit: http://www.matchasource.com

 Matcha tea is totally trending, has received lots of press and yes, the celebs are into this green tea craze too!  

 You can buy Matcha Tea and you don’t have to buy it online from any specific website either. It is very accessible, from places like Teavana, Whole Foods or any other organic grocery store. Heads up, Teavana – super expensive $35, or Whole Foods is a lot less, I can’t remember the exact price but basically half of what you would pay at Teavana.

I encourage you to try Matcha it’s definitely my favorite!  

 * Check out how I make the perfect cup of match tea here http://youtu.be/6CuiCLVJyuo 

Dermal piercings and Skin Jewels

Easter iridescent egg inspired…   Dermal piercings appear as little beads to ornament any flat surface of the body and are becoming increasingly popular. The procedure of dermal piercings are different than ordinary piercings because they are embedded into the dermal layer of the skin. Usually people get them on their face (around the eyes and lips), lower back, chest, I mean any flat surface can be pierced. Since they are literally embedded in your skin you should see a professional before having them removed because it really sucks when they get ripped out and that’s usually what happens, I have plenty of friends who can account for that! I’ve never gotten a dermal but if you want to be “decorative”, fun, sparkly, cool, looking like you have a sense of fearless fashion, (without the commitment), you should buy some self stick skin jewels!! I’ve always bought these from Icings ($6.50 BAM!) just for fun but now they could in a way, be substituted for dermals. The jewels are noticeably smaller, but the look! Hello it’s all about the look! The look is fun especially when you want to add just a little something extra on a night out!  🎉

  To read more about dermals click here http://emedicalhub.hubpages.com/hub/Dermal-Piercing-Types-Pictures-Procedure-After-care-and-Risks

Life is short please live it fancy! ✨

Cutest Spring Clothes – MissHolly ✨💕

I am super excited for Spring 🌈 and as I’ve been doing some Spring cleaning I’ve also been thinking of some really, cute, new outfits 👗 which reminded me of shopping at one of my favorite online fashion boutiques, Miss Holly.  Miss Holly is an online boutique based in Australia with beautiful, feminine clothes that look absolutely perfect for the Spring! My soul sister told me about them a year ago.

Right: me wearing Miss Holly’s lace hot pink dress. Left: Soul Sister wearing Miss Holly’s floral romper

My favorites from Miss Holly are their lacey dresses and if I could wear rompers I would only buy them from here! Unfortunately, my body is just too long and rompers never look right on me. So for now its just one of those pieces I’ll admire and envy. Go to http://www.missholly.com.au for the prettiest, spring clothes and enter Lauren15 at the checkout to get 15% off your purchase. They ship worldwide ✈️

Miss Holly’s Cookbook Campaign Photos Photo Credit: David Hauserman

Here are some of their other new spring pieces.  👆👆👆

Many other fashionistas (besides myself of course) wear Miss Holly, like the insta-famous fashion icon and blogger Sydney and celebrity Lilly Ghalichi…

So once again enter lauren15 to get 15% off your hot purchase! Life’s short live it fancy. Xox

Fabulously Fit ✨ How I Stay in Shape 💪

Sometimes people ask how I stay fit and truthfully, there are a lot of answers to that question. First, I have always been pretty thin, (so genetics) but secondly and more importantly by living a healthy lifestyle. And being fit really is a lifestyle. So below are my commitments that help me maintain my weight!



1) I use the MyFitnessPal app! Have you heard of this app?!?! It’s a free calorie counter, diet and exercise journal. This is the best app ever because it creates a personal plan just for you! Enter your age, weight and the weight you’re hoping to achieve. According to your goal, the app calculates how many calories you should be eating. I record all my meals and it counts the calories for me. The app also accounts for exercise. For example, if you’ve done 30 minutes of cardio, you can enter it into the app and you gain calories to eat for the day. It also counts the steps you take through the day, sort of like a Fitbit. Since using this app, I make more conscious decisions to eat healthier. Before this app, I never recorded or even remembered what I ate. I just didn’t think about it. Now when I eat or plan a meal for dinner I think about what vitamins are in certain foods or “what are these foods going to be high in… fiber? saturated fat?” This helps me and my family have more energy and get into healthier eating habits. It’s really helpful to realize what you snack on too. Before this app, I didn’t realize how many times I would eat candy through the day or some other junk food. Snacks make up the most calories of my day (I guess I’m a big snacker). Now I’ve changed to snacking on carrots and hummus or celery and peanut butter, an apple, celementine – you get the idea. But the healthy transition wasn’t easy. In the first few days of using this app I felt like I was starving! Even though I was eating breakfast, lunch, dinner, with all my snacks I just felt SO hungry!!  But I promise you, after the first few days of suffrage you get used to eating less calories and you don’t crave as much junk, that is of course if you’ve stopped eating the junk. This app also helped me in college, because when I was in school I was worried about gaining – like we’ve all heard of the “freshman 15”. I distinctively remember a phone conversation with one of my girlfriends and I was telling her, “if I gain weight I’ll just drop out. Nothing’s worth gaining weight!” which, I hope you can understand, is a ridiculous joke! I love to laugh! But also know that I was concerned about maintaining my body weight, and that is the first step to achieve your goal, you have to be concerned about your image and health in order to make a real change. If you want to loose weight or maintain your weight get this app! If you use it like you’re supposed to (recording your meals every day), it will work for you AND you will be motivated to eat healthier and exercise more often. Lastly, I just wanted to stress, your diet majorly accounts for how you look. If you’re one of those people who just hates exercise, you really have to watch what you eat and MyFitnessPal is the perfect app for that!



2) I bought a scale and I’m not afraid to use it! #sassypants This is going to sound so silly but I lost weight just by weighing myself every day. I never used to weigh myself. If you had asked me a few years ago what my weight was I really would’ve guessed a number. No clue. And I was a little chubby then too. When you weigh yourself every day you become more exact. You know that your weight today may be different from the day before and you think about the choices (good or bad) you made and how it may have affected your weight. Also know that muscle weighs more than fat so when you work out more, you may be gaining good weight and that’s muscle. Sometimes it gets tricky with the scale but it’s always good to know your weight; knowledge is power! 

3) Off and on I take 7 Keto Dhea and among all the benefits I get from this, it definitely  helps me get toned. Click here to check out a previous blog post I wrote explaining all the benefits of 7 Keto Dhea! 



4) I try to work out as often as I can which for me is about 3-4x a week, even if it’s a short 10 minute YouTube video. It’s better than nothing! And yes, I LOVE YouTube workout vids! Guilty! Love working out in the comfort of my own living room. And I try to switch up my routines by doing different vids. If I make it to the gym, I always do at least 30 minutes of some sort of cardio, usually running. I love cardio! You can take classes at your gym to switch up your exercise routines. Most gyms offer yoga, body combat, or like a weight training class. Take those! And if you’re intimidated, persuade a friend to come with you! There’s nothing more fun then exercising with a friend especially if you’re like me and hate going to the gym (or anywhere) alone! Also I do, sometimes wear my waist trainer at the gym but it’s primarily for back support, I’m not really expecting to shrink my waist… Click here to read my previous blog post about waist training!



I hope my list of how to stay fit doesn’t overwhelm you, just remember that staying fit really is a lifestyle. 💪 There’s no quick fix. There’s only consistency and honesty. Be honest with yourself about your weight and what you eat, and be consistent with your exercise. Xox 💋

tips to be good to your man 💛

When you have a partner, you gotta cherish him! Click here to read about 11 things that mean more to men than saying “I Love you.”  But anyway, numbers 3 & 4 – very fancy! ✨

number 4 talked about taking very fancy care of yourself 💖 by exercising, eating right! Take a spa day! You deserve to preserve ✨





Number 3 emphasized wearing that dress he likes 💕 bow chicka wowow



I think this list was pretty accurate, what do you think? 💋

❄️ More WINTER Issues than Vogue… ❄️

This is sorta targeted to girls…

I decided to write this post because I am REALLY having issues with this weather! I cannot even handle it anymore. I seriously can’t!  Wait, successful people don’t say “I can’t”, I read that somewhere. Whatever – I WILL NOT with this weather! PLEASE! I’m just gaining weight and being lethargic. ok, that is not necessarily true but seasonal depression is a very common, REAL concern and since we can’t just make it SPRING NOW! There are some elements we can control in order to improve our outlook, despite the winter! ❄️ Are you with me?!! I decided to brainstorm ways to take my mind off HATING winter and hopefully this might help you TOO!

One of the ways you can change my mood is by doing youtube workout videos, because WHO wants to go the gym when it’s x degrees below zero, or even leave the house at all for that matter!? Here is a fun, butt workout video to do at home! 💪 I SPECIFICALLY enjoy doing butt exercises AT HOME so you can avoid all those weirdos who just STARE at you when you’re in the gym, unless you like that sorta thing… Anyway, clink on the link below to check out how this lady breaks it down! Whoop WHOOP!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9mKHOETjFY

Secondly, since you are probably spending significantly more time in the home because of the weather, take a look around you! Upgrade! Don’t you wanna have guests one of these days?! I’m jk! But now is a good time to start looking for chic combo furniture DEALS, or discounts on home decor. I’m currently obsessed with how my mirrored side table and embellished throw pillows just lighten up the room! And if you have fancy taste like me too, CHECK out Z Gallerie. This is my favorite place to shop for stylish, contemporary, home designs…

Mirrored Side Table

Another idea is to try new recipes! I do have a lot of fun cooking fancy things! 🍴 The more intricate the recipe is the more proud I feel of my work but you don’t ALWAYS have to cook gourmet.  Just TRY something new!

Making Chicken parmesan

Lastly, whenever there is an opportunity to add color to my day, it makes me a little happier. 🌈 Start writing in scented, glitter gel pens. Just saying… life’s short, life it fancy!

Scented Glitter Gel Pens

Fancy Gifts for your Valentine’s Day Lover

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and it is the second, best, fake holiday in the whole world, first is, obvi, my birthday. Moving on. I love, love, LOVE Valentine’s Day because you get to spend some quality time with the person you love and then presents. Love and presents! So if you have someone in your life that you want to spend time with, you should plan accordingly!

FIRST THINGS FIRST

1. Make reservations at a nice restaurant you both enjoy like the Melting Pot, Legal Seafoods, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Ruth Chris. Ok, NO ONE wants to eat at McDonalds. If you’re on a budget, then you need to know how to cook. If you don’t know how to cook, you still have a few days to learn. You can make a beautiful, romantic, candle lit, home cooked dinner for your loved one! Click here for some recipes!

2. You know the saying, the devil is in the details! To set the mood, you could and should make a song playlist using the FREE app Soundcloud! Soundcloud is an app for smart phones which allows you to search for songs and create playlists. For inspiration, if you’re not a music person, here are a few songs on my playlist…

Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do

Selena Gomez – Come & Get It

Odesza – Sun Models

Route 94 feat. Jess Glynne – My Love

Ellie Goulding – Midas Touch

Disclosure (flume remix) – You & Me

3. Make sure you look good for your date. Wear something they haven’t seen you in before or if you can’t get new clothes, wear something nice that you KNOW they love to see you in!

4. Bring a gift(s)! See below…

GIFT IDEAS:

So… I asked around a little about what gifts people would prefer and here are some of the responses I received…

Annabel, Erica’s new Kitty. Photo Credit: Erica

1) A little pet! I was surprised by all the responses I got from women about how they want little, cuddely animals for Valentine’s Day. If your girl is an animal lover, she doesn’t want to settle for a stuffed animal – GET her the real thing! A puppy! A Kitty! What are you waiting for?! What would melt a girls heart more than adopting a little, fury, playful, baby animal! I personally don’t know much about how to obtain one because I can’t even think about taking on the responsibility to chase around or feed another thing in my life, BUT I think you could get one from the pound.

2) FLOWERS! Get her flowers that she likes. You should know which flowers she likes! JK, ask her what her favorite flower is if you don’t know. If you don’t want to ask her, you are pretty much ALWAYS safe to go with ROSES! I LOVE flowers – especially roses SO much. I just love the way they smell and how they can brighten up a room. Giving a girl flowers is an old fashion thing and a way to show her chivalry is NOT dead! I don’t know many girls who wouldn’t appreciate flowers!

GODIVA!
Photo Credit: Lauren

3) Sweet tooth! Yes we have them! Get her a treat as sweet as she is 😉 GODIVA is usually the go-to place and right now their 6 piece Limited Edition Valentine’s Day Truffles are selling for only $16!

4) The gift of LISTENING is a beautiful, intangible, valuable, FREE gift that anyone would appreciate! We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Something I’ve definitely been trying to work on. It can also help you when you’re trying to buy for that lover who’s hard to buy for. Listen to the things they like! LISTEN! In my case, I can’t buy my bae a TESLA but I came up with a thoughtful, lil alternative 😉 I got him a black, reflective TESLA windbreaker and I hope he doesn’t read this! Surprise!

Photo Credit: Lauren

5) This last gift was a recommendation from a guy. um… lol. OK, get your partner a toy I guess?! I thought lingerie was good enough but apparently this is what he or she may Really want?! So I’ve actually never bought a toy before, but I know a lot of people have. Is everyone supposed to have toys? I don’t even know how this works? haha, well surprise honey I hope you like THIS gift!

Happy Valentines Day! Make sure you plan something super special for your lover. They put up with you! They deserve it! Life’s short, live it fancy! xox