Hair-What to do? What to do?

It has come to the time, yet again, where Melissa is super bored with her hair. I need a new hair care regimen (my next search, since I completed my skincare routine search for the time being) and a new style to go with it. My hair is pretty blah to put it nicely-thick hair with zero volume at the roots. It just kind of lays here now, no matter how many time I curl it or attempt to volumize it. A lot of people have told me my hair just too heavy.

Below are some current pics of my hair:




Here are some of the pics of the style I'm leaning towards:






Since you gals are the most stylist gals I know, I want your opinion. Do you think this cut would work for me? I guess my worries are that my face is just ROUND. Like there is no indentation where a chin should be or cheeks lol. Help me ladies!

Contest Winner

Congrats to a Girl About Town who is the winner of my first mini give away. I ued Random.org and came up with number two, who was Kendall and not entering the contest, so skipped to number three. I need to see this dress that only cost $10! I won't tell anyone the real price.

Thank you to lovely ladies who entered, you gals had some really good deals!

April Pretty Pink Box

I received my April Pretty Pink Box last weekend and I have been playing with it's contents all week. My lovely box had:

-A sky blue eyeliner from Pencil Me In Cosmetics
-Borghese intensive firming serum sample
-Lipsense from Bridallipstick.com
-A moisturizing lotion from EO
-A Heart so Natural Hand and Body lotiion from Garden Botanika
-Mark samples
-The Brush Guard samples
-ELF Shimmering Facial Whip in Pink Lemonade
-Lierac brightening serum

So far my faves of the bunch are the brush guards and the brightening serum. I received two brush guards that fit my ELF eyeshadow brush and my Sonia Kashuk blending brush perfectly. I haven't traveled with them yet, but they really help them keep their shape while being stored.

The brightening serum has worked really well for me, but I'm not sure if that's, my new gradual face tanning lotion or a combo of both..Hmmmm...

Book Review: How to be a Budget Fashionista

How to be a Budget Fashionista is written by Kathyrn Finney who also writes The Budget Fashionista. I LOOOVE her site, so when I saw her book, I decided to give it a read. I'm so glad I did!

Amazon.com description:

This delightful little guide to the fashion good life is perfect for money-conscious shopaholics who "love purses because they can instantly identify your personality and be used to 'fake' your income level." After teasing out the all-important personality and style differences between Sex and the City and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman women, Finney rates everything from discount designer web sites to outlet malls so that readers will be assured of their catch. The author also proves herself to be more than mere fashion tourguide as she takes time out to explain the Value Added Tax, the surprising ways to spot a designer fake and how to safely purchase high-end goods on eBay. While this fun-to-read frippery won't reveal too many new secrets for die-hard Vogue and W fans, some of the author's more practical advice ("Take Care of Your Clothes Like a Stylist") make the upbeat guide well worth the price of admission. Finney's personal quest for the sartorial best on a budget, combined with her knack for sniffing out the best designer deals, will win her legions of fans.


I am so glad I picked up this book. It was full of so much information from how to determine my personal style, how to determine how much I have to buy some items for my personal style, where to score the best deals, and basically a how to shop guide.

The tips in this book were really fantastic and it inspires me to seriously want to go to my Good Will and Consignment Shops. This book proves that you don't need to have tons of money to rock a style all your own.

If you want to be more of a budget fashionista, and really? who doesn't?, than check out your local library for this book like I did!!

My favorite age was....

This is my entry for Kristine's contest over at Why Look Good When You Can Look Fabulous.

My favorite age was 20.

It was because of where I was, who I was with and what I was doing. The year I turned 20 was the first year I spent at Penn State's main campus. Penn State had been my dream school for as long as I can remember and I had to spend my freshman and sophmore years at a branch campus.





I was living in a crummy apartment with one fabulous roomies and two not so fabulous roomies. My best friend lived across the street and my boyfriend was a short bus ride away (when I was lazy) or a nice walk away (when I felt ambitious).


The Good Roomie lol



I am a BEYOND huge sports fan and Penn State Football had their best season in a while and went 11-1 the year I was 20. I went to every single home game and watched with a serious passion. Seriously!

Me, my bf, my good roomie and my friend Shane

This age was also the time that I discovered that the person I was with, was the person I always wanted to be with.

Then


Now


Now I'm an administrative assistant with bills up to wazzooo..Yup, it was all downhill after 20 lolol. <3

Fabulously Thrifty's First Giveaway

Hello ladies! I'm excited to be holding my first lil' giveaway.

I have a brand new copy of Cosmo's Sexiest Beauty Secrets to give away along with some other fun lil' goodies.

How to win:

I want to know your best budget find every-what it was, how much and why it was such a great find. It can be clothing, beauty, housewares, a trip, anything!!

Deadline:

Next Thursday, April 23rd, before midnight. The winner will be chosen by a Random Generator. You can leave up to three comments. If you leave more than three, then :scary voice: you will be eliminated!! LoL

Let's hear about those bargains ladies.

Shop it to me baby!

I signed up for Shop it to Me several weeks ago and I just have to say..I am OBSESSED!

It's like, I never have to look for a sale online ever again.

How it works:

-You register with Shop It To Me for their free sale mails
-You give them the basics (size, email, all the important stuff)
-You check of your fave brands and stores...as many as you want! The brands range here from LV to New York & Co.
-You check how many times a week you want to recieve your "sale mail"
-Voila! Let the bargains come to you!!

I currently get two sale mails a week and it's so much easier than checking all of these random sites for sales on my fave brands.

This is like the best, free, personal on-line shopper there is!

Bella Dawn and 15% off Coupon Code!

Thanks to Little Birdie Press I will be introducing you to another faulous online store.

Bella Dawn Boutique is an amazing online store with items featured in all of our fave girlie magazines. The story carries jewelry, eco friendly clothing, bags, accessories, clothing, everything! The items are trendy with out being too trendy (you know what I mean Wet Seal!)

Here are a few of my fave items after scoping out the store:


Purple Criss Cross Dress-$68


Camel and White Striped Cami-$30


These are my faves! Coated Ribbon Earrings with Crystal-$16!!!



Did I mention the best part?? Free shipping on ALL U.S. Orders!!
Did I mention the next best part? Dawn, the owner, was gracious enough to provide my readers with a 15% off coupon code. Just enter "thrifty15" at the check out. The code is good until June 30th!

A little discount love from my girl Mary again:

Badass Hair is psyched to be spreading the word overseas and gaining street cred in exotic places all around the world; Dubai being one!





For the month of April, Badass Hair is offering 20% off of all orders using discount code: Dubai. (www.badasshair.com)

Rimistyle

Allow me to introduce you girls to my new accessory obsession site-Rimistyle.

I was contacted by Mary from Bella PR after submitting a request to IFB's new "Little Birdie Press." If you write about fashion at all, definitely sign up to be a member of IFB (Independent fashion bloggers). The resources they have are AMAZING.

Little Birdie Press is their new service where you can submit requests for content ideas. I requested some budget friendly sites and that lead to be being contacted by Maria.

N e who, back to Rimistyle. This site reminds me of looking through the purses at a TJ Maxx or Marshalls. Bright, cheap and soo adorable. Only, you don't have to deal with dangerous women with shopping carts!

The site ranges from clutches, to big handbags, to belts and jewelry. The purses are by far my fave. They have a lot of designer and celebrity inspired pieces, but these aren't knock offs ladies, no fake LV's here.

If you're looking for trendy and affordable accessories that will last! (not like my damn adorable bag from Mandees that held one text book and ripped!!), then check out Rimistyle.

Too Faced Rant

I am s0o0o0o mad at Too Faced! I placed an order for some of the "Vintage" items on sale big time. I ordered a lip gloss, a concealer, and that cute World Domination Tour palette. I received a confirmation email and was told I would receive an email when the items shipped. This was about three weeks ago.

A week after that, with no shipment email sent, I received a small box from them. I was like "I know this is too small for that palette". I opene it up and there was ony the lip gloss and a packing sheet. The packing sheet said nothing about the other items, I was annoyed.

I went to their website and tried to hunt down a customer service number, there wasn't one, so I submitted an email to the customer service site along with my order number. No response.

Now two weeks and two emails later, I've received no response and no package. I was doing some online banking last night and realized I had a credit from Too Faced for $19-the cost of the two items that haven't been shipped yet. I'm more than glad I got my refund, but they don't even friggin tell you they aren't sending you their items? And if I had known I was only going to get one item, there would be no well in hell I would pay $6 in shipping for a $4 lipgloss.

Needless to say, this was my first and last time dealing with Too Faced directly.
Anyone else have any probs??

Earring Haul

Hello ladies!

A couple of weekends ago I went to go visit my best friend in PA. Her and her mom were having a jewelry party and well I'm just a sucker for jewelry parties! It's like online shopping, since you can shop from the privacy of your own home and dressed like a bum, but you get to try stuff on! I love it!

I bought three pairs of earrings and my bff's mom threw in one more pair for me. Now, I know sometimes these companies jack up the prices, but I got three pairs of sterling silver earrings for about $50 and I don't think that's too bad. The best part? The customer service! If I get tired of them and want something new, I can just return 'em and pick out something new! Same thing if they break or tarnish or whatever.

Pair 1:


Normally, for some strange reason, I'm petrified of hoop earrings. So on my quest for style and taking risks, I bought the biggest pair of hoops they had!

Pair 2:


I like the shape of these and I think they are different. Plus, they kind of remind me of some sort of modern sculpture and I'm a sucker for art.

Pair 3:


I think the design on these is called "filigree". To me, they just screamed summer!

My bonus pair:


I'm highly amused with anything sparkly, so these are PERFECTO!

Why are people so mean?

I was going through my blog roll yesterday during my lunch break, reading up on the lives of some of my fave gals, when I got to one of my first and fave bloggers, Vanessa.

Earlier last week she had posted pictures from her sister's 18th birthday, which was a gorgeous event. Her sister looked gorgeous, her family and the venue. In her family, 18th birthday is a big event, while in my life it was my Sweet 16.

Someone (or someones?) had left some nasty comments about the party and her money situation. She responded and rightfully so!

This is "blogger world" is a world where we really put ourselves out there, by choice. Not everyone is nice or has to be nice, but there should be a level of common respect.

I'm a cheapie, total cheapie! However, that doesn't mean I can't blow money on a Coach bag, a Tiffany necklace or sports tickets or save TONS! We shouldn't judge peope on how they spend their money, because guess what? It's their money!!

I used to read blogs and be like OMG these people spend so much money on make up, but I spend that same money on season tickets, Coach bags and well, probably food lol.

Don't judge people! It just makes you look dumb dumb dumb.