What's In My Bag

As you may have read in my last post, I'm traveling this week with my family. We spent this past weekend celebrating the wedding of one of my cousins, and the remainder of our vacation is going to be lakeside soaking in some sun and rest. Woohoo! With the wedding came a rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, bridesmaid duties the day of the wedding, and, of course the ceremony and reception. There even was a brunch Sunday morning, so our weekend was definitely busy. It helps to be able to pack all of your go-to makeup with you in a very chic bag like this one by XO Monica Lee. It's high quality leather with a detachable strap so you can use it as a clutch or a purse.

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I put it in my oversized tote bag for the day, and just used this clutch for the rest of the night. So, what's inside my bag that I would use for bridesmaids makeup? Here you go:

1. Benefit's boi-ing concealer. It easily blends and I have been using it for about three years. 2. Benefit's Erase Paste. It's an under eye brightener that I swear by. It always helps me look more awake than plain concealer. 3. Lorac's natural eye shadow palette. It has every color you could want for a natural glowing look. 4. NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer. It actually has enough pigment to be full coverage without the weight of a foundation formula. 5. MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot. I have gone back and forth with eye shadow primers and I still find MAC's paint pots to be the best. 6. Bare Minerals Touch Up Veil. It's great setting powder to keep everything in place for a long day. 7. Revlon Colorstay Eyeliner. I've spent money on expensive eyeliners and they aren't half as good as this one.

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All of these products I use on an everyday basis, for photo shoots and for weddings. I swear by them. Go try!

Outfit: dress from Motherhood Maternity; Clutch by XO Monica Lee. Photos by Gina Meola.

Bold Color Inspired by HP

This post is sponsored by HSN & HP.

As a fashion stylist I, of course, enjoy and celebrate bold color and style. When I think about what I am drawn to on Pinterest, what I share on Instagram and what I wear on a daily basis it always is colorful and bright. Well, HP has teamed up with HSN to release an exclusive collection of HP Pavilion laptops in the prettiest colors, and to celebrate the launch of this new collection they challenged me to create a fashionable outfit inspired by their deep purple laptop.

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I gladly accepted because this royal purple hue is not only great for summer, but an excellent transitional color for fall. This color is really easy to spot in stores right now. Even when it comes to maternity fashion, I was able to find two maternity dresses with this hue at Macy's.

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Any color with blue undertones has a great chance of being compatible on the majority of skin tones. Why? Well, because every human's blood carries tones of blue in it, and thus every human can usually wear deep blues (navy, cobalt blue and royal blue) and have it be complementary. Cool, right?!

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Okay, can we talk about the laptop for a second?! I just got a new desktop computer because my old laptop is from 2010, but because I still travel a lot I still need the convenience of a laptop. The Pavilion is a fashionable and functional choice for me. It has 1 terabyte of space, and I need a lot of space for all of my photos. It also has a touchscreen so I can easily use it on a plane and not really need a mouse. Here are some other cool factors:

• HP 17.3” Touchscreen Intel Quad-Core 8GB Ram, 1TB Hard drive

• Bang & Olufsen audio built-in

• Windows 10 Operating system

• Available in 5 Colors – Silver, White, Blue, Red, Purple

• $699.95 with Free Shipping and Handling

You also get lifetime tech support provided by HSN, but you can only get this amazing laptop by tuning into HSN on July 18th! You'll also see some familiar faces on HSN because Brooke and Summer from The Girls with Glasses will be hosting the event along with some other amazing bloggers. It should be a really entertaining time regardless of whether you're in the market for a new computer or not. Find out all about it, click here.

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Photos by Gina Meola.

Third Trimester Maternity Style

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28 weeks has arrived and so has 114 degree weather. Oh my gosh it's so flippin' hot here! I wish I didn't even have to get dressed right now because the struggle is REAL my friends. Forget wearing jeans in this heat with a giant elastic band that goes over your stomach...No, thank you! I'll stick to light-weight, soft, cotton maxi dresses thank you very much.

This white and black striped dress from ZARA is perfect for the summer. It's machine washable, and  the low back is just low enough to add some style, but not too low that I can't wear a bra. You do have to wear a nude slip with it, but other than that it's easy, breezy. It's not maternity either, so I love that I will be able to wear this dress post baby, and not look crazy.

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I paired it with my boho bag from Anthropologie and some reflective shades from Lulu*s.

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Side note, I have realized that there are some fairly uncomfortable things about third trimester that every woman should know:

1. You will develop a waddle. Forget being able to walk with one foot in front of the other.

2. Your belly can touch your legs when you sit down.

3. Your boobs can touch your stomach depending on their size.

4. You breathe heavier.

So much has to get done before this little guy is here, but man, I'm starting to feel ready to get back to my normal body. I just need to focus on the really cool thing about this trimester, which is that I can really feel him move more than ever.

Photos by Gina Meola.

Trapeze Pleated Maxi Dress

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Sometimes the best maternity dresses are not maternity. In fact, that's usually the case. I recently found this incredibly beautiful blush, pleated maxi dress with a trapeze silhouette from Target for only $29.99, and it has quickly become the most comfortable and fashionable piece of clothing I own. Even if I wasn't pregnant I would wear this dress.

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You can switch out the string belt to add a leather one if you would like, or you can opt to not wear a belt at all. I especially love that this dress is lined. Lately, it seems that all of these maxi dresses I try on in stores are totally see-through. WTF?! The last thing I want to do is wear a slip in this terrible heat.

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I like to embrace the Greecian vibe of the dress by sporting my wrap metallic sandals from Lulu*s, and my white leather clutch from T. Madison.

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If you wanted to dress up this dress for an evening event like I did recently for Alt Summit, I would wear long, shoulder duster earrings, bangles, rings and a pink pouty lipstick.

Photos by Gina Meola

Watermelon

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Elle is obsessed with watermelon. It's her favorite food, and we always have it in the house lately. It has become our dessert along with a Lindt Lindor citrus truffle. So good!

Maybe it's all the watermelon we have been eating or maybe it's simply the time of year, but this vibrant, strapless maxi dress from Alixandra Collections has become one of my favorite summer dresses. It has a double slit, which makes it easy to move in and cooler for summer. Talk about easy style, just throw it on with a pair of sandals and some shades and you're good to go. You could easily dress this outfit up with a statement necklace, heels, a clutch and a summer shawl.

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Get the look: Dress from Alixandra Collections Round sunglasses from Target (similar one here). Gold sequin belt from Anthropologie (similar one here).

This post is sponsored by Lindt. Photography by Gina Meola.