ON MY MIND MONDAY: Leather Baseball Cap

similar here from ASOS. 

Details of a Lazy Saturday Morning

Fluffy white cloudy comforter, sun peaking through the wooden blinds, Coffee in hand and MacBook and I just waking up from our slumber. Perfection. 

5 Fall/Winter 2013 Beauty Trend Musts

1. Glitter eyes -  Proceed with caution. The glittery eye may look striking, but do your homework on the safest glitter to use on your eyes. Use cosmetic glitter, not the stuff you get a the craft stores!

2. Black Nails. Matte? Even better. Check out Katy's awesome nails here.

3. Dark Lips -  The classic red lip just got a little smutty. Loving this oxblood lip trend with a minimalistic clean face.

4. Regal Up -  Who says you can't wear crowns everyday? Okay, seriously though, this simple royal up-do will instantly polish up your look and glide you seamlessly from office to date night. Center part, tease, low bun and done. C'est chic.

5. Mod Cut Crease -  Live a little. Try this new spin on the cut crease by leaving the rest of your face "bare." Heads up,  you might get asked if it was on purpose. You, my dear, are ahead of the game. Embrace it.

ON MY MIND MONDAY: Kimonos

American Gold Kimono, won't you be mine. 

What to Wear Instead of Yoga Pants

Most of us have done it. In fact, I'm completely guilty. It's part "convenience" and part "practicality," or at least that's what I tell myself when I reach for my Yoga pants. "I mean, who's going to see me, right?" Working from home for me means that I can go almost an entire day without seeing anyone... almost. It's a trap! Yoga pants are a trap.

Yoga pants for me are usually accompanied by no makeup and a ponytail and as comfy as they are to lounge around in, they usually leave me uninspired and less productive. Seriously, I don't even want to go do Yoga in them. Not to mention that almost part, which means I inevitable need to run out for something looking like I don't care about life. That's the worst part. So, when I'm feeling a little lazy I have some go-to looks that make me feel put together and make polishing up easier. Here are five pick-me-ups I visit to avoid the Yoga Pant route.

1. The Black Skinny Jean: These are my savior and I rarely reach for any other wash (color). They just look so good with everything that it's hard to mess it up. The Zara basics are my favorite.

2.  Red Lips: The thing with red lips is that no heavy eye makeup is required and you can get away with a tinted moisturizer. They also will quickly spruce up black jeans and a v-neck tee.

3. Mascara : If nothing else, woman, curl and coat those lashes once. It will make you look more awake while you're waiting for your Starbucks to kick in.

4. A Messy Ballerina Bun: This is my jimmy jam on rushed days because it's so simple. Hair tie, Tease bobby pins and you're DONE.Think A la Carrie Bradshaw. You can always do the Sock Bun, too.

5. The Maxi/Midi dress: Great paired with a jean or leather jacket on cooler days and you don't have to think about a shirt and pant combo.

These 5 go-to low effort tricks have saved me some awkward run ins with friends and, ehem.. others. Why is it that we always see people when we look our worst? Well friend, take a minute to pull yourself together and you won't have to dodge encounters or feel ashamed any longer.

But by all means, if you're actually going to Yoga class wear your Yoga pants. You've earned them and a burger... and a shameless plug to my friends new fitness and nutrition blog earntheburger.com. Go leave her some love and encouragement!

Update: Newness Day 15

Two weeks ago I wrote a post about Newness and challenged myself to be open to new things for the next 30 days, you can see it here. This is just a quick update on what I've been doing so far and have I completely fallen off the path of righteousness? 

Well, although I forget to drink 2 liters of water a day sometimes, which is something I've set out to do, I have found that I am less hesitant to try new things and overall feel that my attitude towards telling friends and family about my endeavors has done a 180. Believe it or not, I was always very timid and shy about my blogging unless I was speaking with strangers or new acquaintances. It's one of those things that I was always worried about what people would think or me or my blog but I have come to let all of that go. My newness is mainly focused on personal growth and committing more of myself to this blog. It has opened my mind to more possibilities and has given me back my "don't give a" attitude that I felt that I had lost. I have come across some great inspiration like Shameless Maya on YouTube and other people that have made me think "why the hell not?" If you haven't checked her out, she is fierce. 

This journey is far from over but I thought I would do a quick update. If you have any suggestions or recommendations, feel free to throw them my way in the comments below.

ON MY MIND MONDAY: Combat Boots

And my new babies...

Forever 21 Boots

I'm obsessed with these boots and looking forward to investing in a more durable pair. But for the price, these have satisfied my craving.

Top 10 iPhone Photography Apps

I'll be the first one to admit that I sometimes have Instagram photo editing envy. It's a real thing. There's nothing more frustrating than seeing a rad picture on Instagram and not knowing how the person made it so...rad. For the most part people don't like to share how they produces their magic, but this magician is going to reveal their secrets. Here are my top ten picks for iPhone photo editing Apps and my respectfully edited photos. Best of all, most of them are free.

1. Squaready (free) -  The pretty white background. Photo envy galore. Allows the photo to not be square and the background to be white.

 
2. Symbolgram (free) - Shapes on your picture or framing your pictures with the capability to lower the opacity to create a faded effect.

3. Picfx($1.99)- In my opinion the best Bokeh and other unique filters like galaxy themed. Totally worth two bucks!

4. Piclab (free) - For  adding captions to pictures. Has some of the better fonts out there in case you're into this sort of thing.

(This is Company, our cat, pondering by the pond.)

5. VSCOcam - awesome filters and great for fading picture. More from appadvice here.

6. Reflection (free) - Mirrors your images.

7. PicFrame (free) - Great for collaging

8. Labelbox (free) - exactly that. Labeling.

9. AfterLight ($0.99) - awesome color and light filters and different shapes as frames. Cool to play with but I feel like I can achieve similar results by using many different apps, this just saves you the hassle.

10. Instagram (free) - the good good. If you're new to this planet, here is the basic gold standard. Great social media platform and had good filters for photos and videos.

If you want to see more pictures, follow me on instagram: @DISCOairglow.

Mila Kunis Inspired Metallic Smoky Eye // Wet n Wild Color Icon Comfort Zone Palette

In honor of my new found #newness, I decided to film a Get Ready With Me // Flash Tutorial video of a Mila Kunis inspired metallic smoky eye I wore last night. I've never filmed myself doing my makeup before and I can tell you it was definitely quite the juggling experience. It's funny how even my makeup had become ritualistic.

I decided to step out of my own comfort zone with my new Wet 'n Wild Color Icon Comfort Zone 738 palette that I picked up on Monday night: super spur of the moment purchase but around the $5 mark and the shadows are pretty pigmented for the price. It's an all around winner. The only negative about this palette is that the packaging was so difficult to pry open, I actually thought I was going to break the plastic cover and/or a nail. The shadows stayed on all night and fall out was minimal so I'm fine with the packaging being slightly faulty. What do you expect for five bucks? 

500+ Words: #Newness

I'm the type of person that thrives in new and exciting environments. It's the food the fuels my soul. Novelty to my nomadic spirit is like a drug that calms the craze. However, every two and a half years, I seem to cyclically fall into "comfortable" territory, which makes me ironically uncomfortable.

Having purged ninety percent of all my possessions and moved house back in late March of this year 2013, that bold move is out of my system; and, considering the circumstances of why I am where I am geographically today, some unforeseen family circumstances and perhaps a post for a later date, I 'aint going anywhere fast. 

Inevitably, because I can't (just yet) move into an RV and road trip the US of A, I have been left high and dry for adventure. So to preserve my sanity and perhaps rattle it in the same breath, I have conjured up a plan to revive my time while we are here in Charlotte. Considering my, what seems to be never ending, 'bucket list,’ it seems only natural to chip at it and challenge myself to try something new for the next month and see how it all prevails.  The thought of it is frightening, sure and daunting, of course. All of the thoughts and doubts that race through the mind when it realizes that the comfortableness it resides at present moment will soon not exist. But, that is the very objective, my friends: because sometimes the complacency and content that we live in leaves our souls malnourished and parched for some life enrichment.

Thanks to my constant need to soul search and ‘know thy self,’ I have a rough idea of where I want to take myself. Like many other creatures out there, I habitually reside in my head. I spend the majority of my time on my MacBook Pro, feeding my brain both nonsensical entertainment on YouTube and a mix of other knowledgeable answers to life’s burning questions, which Google so lovingly snuffs out. Of course, every now and then I'll get some work done: but let’s be honest here YouTube usually wins.

Like I mentioned earlier, see middle of third paragraph, I want to challenge myself for the next thirty days “Hashtag Thirty Day Challenge.” I want to put my self out there, wherever that may be. I am going to make myself uncomfortable and learn something new, do new things and maybe relive old things that made me happy and I haven’t lived in a while. I will be documenting these experiences in the good old-fashioned blogging way and perhaps some good new-fashioned vlogging for some good new-fashioned newness.

This very blog post is something new, as I don’t usually write "long" post; I mainly stick to pretty pictures. Nor do I usually write about the manic thoughts that feverishly ride the subways of my neurons. I don’t usually write about fears and expose my insides blindly to an unknown audience. I can honestly say though, by just releasing it out into the universe, and accepting it and thus yourself for what it is, is pretty powerful. I feel better already and leave you with the words of some insightful soul out there "Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will." 

Question of the week:   What do you fear and will you challenge it's authority?

ON MY MIND MONDAY! 90's Fashion

Ask me how obsessed I am over 90's Drew Barrymore. Like, totally.