Travel Tuesday: Lima, Peru

I took this trip to Peru in Summer 2013. Just wanted to share bits and pieces of my trip!

Destination: Lima, Peru

June 2013 

It was such an awesome experience! I would have never thought in my life to be visiting the beautiful country of South America. It was an opportunity I couldn't miss! 

Be Kind. 

Fashion Friday: The New Classic

I haven't done Fashion Friday in a while, so heres my Fashion Friday for this week! The New Classic! Since it is the holidays, the classic red begins to show up in every girls wardrobe. So here I decided to pair the classic holiday red with a plain white top, and pulled the look together with the in-trend one strap heels.

White Top: Forever 21 

Red Jeans: Macys

Louis Vuitton Bag: Louis Vuittion (but this style is already discontinued!)

Brown Heels: Forever 21 

I know, I know. I only wish Happiness With A Side of Tea was here to take my photos, but mirror pictures will do for now! They don't look too bad, don't they?

Hope you all had a great week!

How to: Wrap Presents!

Greetings, everyone! I decided to share how I wrapped presents this year. Jazmine from Happiness With A Side of Tea asked me to share how I wrap presents. Believe it or not, some people do not know how! So, here's how I did it:

You will need:

- Wrapping paper of your choice

- Scotch tape 

- A pair of scissors

- Black paper

- Optional: twine, decorative leaves with berries

1. I pre-measured how much wrapping paper I will need for my gift. 

2. I pulled one side over, and taped it. Repeat on the remaining side. If there is too much paper, you can fold inwards or simply cut off the excess. I like to just fold it in so it looks neat,

3. You are left with the sides. I fold the two sides inwards, as shown in the picture.

4. Then, I bring one triangle in, and fold the triangle over (as shown in number 5!)

5. You should be left with this. I like to fold this inwards and tape it to my liking :)

'

I decided not to buy gift tags this year and made my own! For this, all I did was get black paper and my white paint marker. I cut the edges with decorative scissors to give it some edge. I then taped the back and attached it to the gift. 

Remember that optional part? You can add twine and add some decorative berries or flowers of your liking! For instance, down below is another way I wrapped presents. I used postal paper, twine, and the decorative berries I was telling you about. I also made my own gift tags by printing them on label paper, sticking them to extra postal paper, and attaching it with twine.

How did you wrap presents this year? 

DIY: Personalized Mug

Hey, everyone! I'm soooo sorry for being gone for so long. I was quite busy with school, did a lot of traveling over the summer, and I couldn't find the time to be consistent with my blog.
Anyways! Since its the Holiday season, I wanted to share an DIY gift you can give to anyone! This gift is also great for those who love to drink tea and coffee! Luckily for me, the people I choose to give these gifts to are coffee and tea addicts!

Here are the materials you will need:
- Plain white ceramic cups (you can use colored cups if you like)
- Paint Marker or any oil-based marker/ ceramic pen
- An oven
- & your creativity!

My plain white cups I got from a home-appliance store:

My Paint Marker:

First, I washed the cups and let it air dry. Another method I found was to get white distilled vinegar and wipe it on the area you are going to write or draw. 

You can basically put anything and eveything you want! For this project, I decided to just keep mine simple by adding the gift receiver's names for it to be more personalized for them. Feel free to add you own creativity.

Don't worry if you make a mistake! Using white distilled vinegar with a cotton ball or paper towel will do the trick :)

When I was done with the mugs, I put it into the oven at 325F. (I did not pre-heat the oven!) I left it in there for 30-35 minutes, turned off the oven, and left the mugs in there until it was completely cool. The next day, I washed it again, and boom! 

Here is my finished product:

And since I was giving this as Christmas gifts, I wrapped them in cellophane, and added my personalized gift tag.

This was a fun project for me to do! It was affordable too. The mugs were only $1.95, and the paint marker was only $2.00. I made a total of six mugs for under $15.00!

Fashion Friday: Two Burgundy's

Hello everyone! Yes, I know. I've missed a couple Friday's, but I was quite busy for the past week! I am going to be busy the next couple of weeks as well because I have a lot of things planned. So, hopefully I get this up on time. Anyways, in this week's Fashion Friday, I have my boyfriend with me matching with me as our outfit of the day! I think I should get him to match with me more often :)

Top: Forever 21 

Jeans: American Eagle

Purse: Charles & Keith

V-Neck: Forever 21

Jeans: American Eagle

Shoes: Aldo 

                         

Review: Total Moisture Facial Cream by Benefit

I'm back with my first review! I've been trying this moisturizer by Benefit for a month now and it's sad to say that I did not fall in love with it. Don't get me wrong, it smells amazing! But the formula was just to think for me. Every time I would apply it to my face, my face would start to get itchy once it settled. Also, it made my face feel oily and swollen. I kept giving it a go just to see if my face would get used to it, but it just kept getting worse. I didn't want to waste it so I used it as a body lotion instead. I now go back to using my Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel by Clinique.

Benefit: Total Moisture Facial Cream ($40.00) 

Till next time! xoxo,

Fashion Friday: Leopard, please!

I picked up this cute top earlier this week and I completely fell in love with it! I had the idea of wearing it with cute leggings, combat boots and a comfy coat - but since I don't live in an area where it's cold, I settled for leggings, cute laser-cut t-strap flats and my oh so favorite Charles & Keith purse. I accessorized with my favorite Michael Kors watch.