5 Last-Minute Black Dress Halloween Costumes!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

I'm so excited for this holiday! I love dressing up, but it always give me anxiety and sometimes I have to pull something together at the last minute.

Today I thought I'd share five easy, last-minute costume ideas you can make using a black dress. I know we've all got a black dress in our closet and this one I use - from H&M, is only $25 and a staple.

Hope you all enjoy!

Cruella de Vil by eaperry featuring a black dress

First up was Cruella de Vil. All you need is a big fluffy coat, red pumps, white hair spray, black tights, and red lipstick. For her signature cigarett holder, just tape together two pens! Add a stuffed dalmation for fun then get to spraying one side of your hair and work on being mean!

Bumblebee Halloween Costume by eaperry featuring a short sleeve dress

This is an easy one! All you need is antennae from the store, yellow duck tape, yellow rainboots (or any shoe you prefer!), and black tights. Just cut out strips of the yellow duck tape and put them horizontally on your dress to achieve the bumblebee look!

Orphan Black Costume by eaperry featuring a biker jacket

One of my favorite shows is Orphan Black and it's really easy to use a black dress to become a clone. First off, the show literally has 'black' in it, so it's a funny play on words too. You just want grungy black clothing items. I grabbed combat boots, a black leather jacket, and black tights. Once you've got all that on, get your hair all messy and then get some super intense black liner going on. The final touch is to grab some nametags from any office supply store and write 'Hi my name is.... clone #19' on it. You can choose whatever number you want. The point is, you're one of the many clones!

Black Cat Costume by eaperry featuring a black cat costume

This one doesn't need much explanation, and it's a standard Halloween costume for everyone. You basically just need cat ears, but I added some more black clothes, a tail, and black makeup for the nose and whiskers!

Bitten by a Vampire Costume by eaperry featuring jessica simpson shoes

Lastly, this is the easiest costume ever. All you need to do is take red lipstick and make two little incision marks (like a vampire would bite you, duh) on your neck and voila! Now you're 'bitten by a vampire' and you're ready to go!

♡

Are you guys going to use a black dress for your Halloween costume?

xo Emily

DIY Cruella de Vil Halloween Costume

Hey everybody! Last night I went to a friends Halloween party and was in dire need of a last minute Halloween costume. I ended up creating this pretty awesome DIY Cruella de Vil costume!

HERE is the finished look :)

I'll show you how to DIY this below!

Budget Beauty: E.L.F. Favorites

E.L.F. Favorites Under $10 by eaperry featuring a face brush

Here are 5 budget beauty favorites for you! These are all from E.L.F. and they're all under $10! Actually, if you counted all five of these products up, it would only cost you about $20, which is such a great deal.

E.L.F. is one of the most affordable budget beauty brands and over the years, I've tried and tested out their products and now have about five that are go-tos!

1. Mineral Infused Face Primer ($6) - This is a great alternative to the Hourglass Mineral Primer. It's not too oily and it's a great layer before foundation and concealer. 
2. Studio High Definition Powder ($6) - This is a great powder for setting your under-eye makeup. It makes your skin look flawless and soft, and sets your concealer perfectly under your eyes. This has been a favorite for awhile now. 
3. Contouring Blush and Bronzing Powder in St. Lucia ($3) - I've raved about this on my blog many-a-time, but it deserves more. This is such a bargain - you get both a blush and bronzer that will last you forever. I absolutely adore E.L.F. blushes and this palette is a great 'take with you anywhere' palette, plus it has a huge mirror!
4. Studio Kabuki Brush ($6) - I love the selection and prices of E.L.F. makeup brushes. They're so affordable and are actually great quality. My favorite is their Kabuki brush. It's very soft and distributes powder evenly. 
5. Jumbo Eyeshadow Stick in Turkish Coffee ($2) - Please take a gander at their eyeshadow sticks. They're actually super pigmented and are a great alternative to the more pricy Maybelline Color Tattoos. This color is my favorite, especially for fall. They're also great to use as liner!

I hope you all enjoyed this budget beauty post!

xo Emily

p.s. I was thinking of doing a big 'budget beauty' giveaway. Would that be something people are interested in?

A Weekend Away

Hello!! Happy new week. I've got a busy week coming up, but it'll all be worth it because Halloween is this Friday.

I'm sad to start this new week if only because I had such an awesome weekend visiting my sister. We spent some quality time together (plus the kitties) and ate delicious food and watched movies and T.V. I love having a weekend away! I thought I'd share some of the fun we had.

Beanie Season Favorites

I am so incredibly happy that it's cold enough for fun hats and beanies. Beanie season is one of my favorite times of the year. I think it's so easy to make an outfit pop with a cute beanie! Below are some of my beanie favorites - click the image to see where they're from.... (can you tell I like the poofs on top?)

Beanie Favorites by eaperry featuring a red hat

♡

xo Emily

Friday Favorites!

Friday Favorites by eaperry 

Happy Friday! Here are Five Friday Favorites for you! (Wow alliteration much?) 

1.  L'Oréal Voluminous Million Lashes  - I've mentioned this a lot but it's worth mentioning again because I love it so much. I won't go on too much about it, but this is just a fantastic mascara - that's especially great at separating and lengthening your lashes!
2. E.L.F. Blush in 'Pink Passion' - I mentioned this in my last makeup look but I absolutely love this blush. It's incredibly pink and is littered with glittery sparkles. It works fantastic as both a blush and highlighter combined. 
3. Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer - I just did a review post on this concealer, but I've been loving it for the past few weeks. It gives you great coverage and is affordable and slides on the skin perfectly.
4. Uniqlo Skinny Jeans - I love these jeans. I have big thighs, big calves, and a big butt so it's hard for me to find jeans that fit me and flatter me. These jeans do. They're so comfortable and I feel very secure and beautiful in them! I have two pairs - dark grey and blue - and I wear them literally everyday.
5. Macarons - This is a friday favorite this week (even though it's an all time favorite) because I've been had them a few times recently! My favorite place to get them is Ladurée. Salted Caramel is a must try!

Mermaid Eyes

Hey guys! Happy Hump Day. Today I'm sharing with you a look I've so cunningly (not really) called 'Mermaid Eyes' because they remind me of pretty, sparkly mermaid tails. It's a blue, green, and purple eye look, which I think is totally fun for both everyday (if you're brave) and the upcoming Halloween!

To create this look:

New In: Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer

Hey guys! I thought I'd share with you a product review of a new concealer I've started to use.

The Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, from a brand based in the UK, isn't available in the U.S. but I went on Ebay to purchase it! I've heard so incredibly much about this product from various UK bloggers and beauty gurus, so I really wanted to see what the hype was about.

It comes in the standard concealer tube - and applies easily. It's very creamy and applies onto the skin nice and smoothly. It reminds me of NARS creamy concealer and Maybelline's FitMe concealers, which are two of my favorites.

I absolutely love this concealer. It definitely lives up to the hype. It covers any and all dark under-eye circles as well as blemishes and redness. I really love this and wish they sold it in the United States, to be honest! (It's also really affordable - only 4 pounds in the UK and about $6 here!)

As you can see above, the concealer works perfect to cancel out redness and blue-tones under your eyes. It also lasts you a very long time. I tried this out with both a setting powder on it and without, and it does stay a bit longer with the setting powder, but it's definitely long-wearing and keeps the coverage up! It's a wonderful transformation!

♡

xo Emily

The Season of the Sweater

 Hello everyone! Today I thought I'd share with you my first official Autumn outfit, on a day that was chilly enough for me to do so!  

I went comfy and casual - and I love the color of the sweater and how perfect it is for the season!

Picking out Autumn fruit! 

Sweater: a.n.a. (similar style) | Scarf: NYC Street Vendor | Jeans: Uniqlo Skinny Jeans  | Shoes: Steve Madden (similar style) | Beanie: Urban Outfitters | Necklace: Brandy Melville (similar style)  | Jacket: Columbia

♡

xo Emily

Autumn Inspiration!

I'm so incredibly happy right now! I woke up this morning to the sound of leaves rustling in the wind and the sight of changing colors across my campus. To top it all off, it's 50 degrees. It's finally, in my eyes, officially Autumn! I checked the weather and it'll be in the low 60's and 50's all week, and I'm so incredibly excited because Autumn is my second-favorite season and with it brings the promise of Halloween and Thanksgiving and hot chocolate and all things pumpkin! 

I thought I'd do a nice Autumn themed post and share with you some lovely links and photos that'll get you in the spirit of this wonderful season and give you some great inspiration!

1. Check out these 10 easy no-carve pumpkin decorating ideas from A Beautiful Mess

2. Get some sweater weather inspiration from Glamour's 'The Only 6 Sweaters You'll Need This Fall'

3. I love all these idea's for 90's themed Halloween costumes on Who What Wear!

4. Fall is all about plaid! Here are 25 awesome plaid shirts that you need for Autumn.

5. I love these 16 fall DIY projects using fall foliage - it's perfect for Autumn!

6. Looking for fall outfit inspiration? Who What Wear has an awesome slideshow of 50 Fall Street Style looks that'll inspire you!

7. How good do these pumpkin and salted caramel ice cream sandwiches look?

8. I love curling up with a good book and some hot chocolate during Autumn so I love Lauren Conrad's Fall Reading List.

9. Buzzfeed's 33 Things To Do With Sweet Potatoes is the perfect fall/thanksgiving food inspiration!

♡

What is inspiring you this Autumn?

xo Emily

What's In My Bag?

Today I'm doing a 'What's In My Bag' post! I've done one of these previously, but I've updated both my bags and the contents since then!

Here's what I put in my bag!

1. LP Blue Black Satchel Bag - I absolutely love this bag. It has a removable strap and is just the perfect size to fit everything I want!

2. Gallery Leather Desk Planner - I love having a planner in my purse because it's great to write down things to remember them and this is my favorite brand to buy. It's such quality leather and a perfect size to carry around!

3. Kindle Paperwhite - I bring my Kindle around with me so I can read books while I commute to work! I love the Paperwhite Kindle in particular because it has a backlight on it so you can read in the dark!

4. Coin Purse - I love this coin purse, which I got in Vermont, because it says 'She Works Hard For The Money' which is really cute, and it's homemade in Vermont!

5. Wallet - This is pretty obvious - it's my wallet and I got it over two years ago from Target. It used to have a moose on it but its faded over the years!

6. Sunglasses - I love these sunglasses - I got them from Francesca's and they were cheap but have been working really nicely lately!

7. Keys - Not much to explain here, haha!

8. Kat Von D Tattoo Liner - I do a cat-eye every day using liquid liner so I like to bring my favorite with me in case I need touch-ups! I've been using this liner for two months now! I love it!

9. Concealer - I love the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer, which I've mentioned probably four MILLION times on my blog, but it's the best for concealing both under-eye circles and blemishes!

10. YSL Lipstick 'Nude Beige' - This is my go-to, everyday lipstick because it's subtle enough for everyday but there's also a bit of shimmer to it.

11. Carmex Lip Balm - This is my favorite lip balm/chapstick of ALL time. I've been using this since I can remember (because my mom uses it) and it's so moisturizing and perfect!

12. Advil - I like to keep a mini pack of ibuprofen or Advil with me, just in case of headaches.

13. Rimmel Stay Matte Powder - This is my favorite powder, because it's translucent, and it'll keep you matte all day. Bringing it along is great, especially during summer, because it'll keep you shine-free!

14. Mints - Self-explanatory!

15. Iphone - Another self-explanatory thing, my iphone is always with me!

16. Eyedrops - I wear contacts and they often dry-out a bit or get a little irritated, so I like to have eye-drops with me at all times!

17. Hand Sanitizer - I live in New York, so this is especially a give in.

18. Headphones - I'm never not listening to music.

19. Camera - I bring my camera everywhere, the Canon SD700 PowerShot, because sometimes the Iphone camera doesn't cut it!

20. Mini Cosmetic Bag - I pop the hand sanitizer, mints, my lipstick, lip balm, liner, eyedrops, and advil all in this cute Ipsy bag so they don't dirty up the bottom of my bag!

♡

Hope you all enjoyed this (Nosy!) post of What's In My Bag! 

xo Emily

Benefit Dupes

Hey guys! I thought I'd share some awesome dupes of my favorite Benefit products. The Benefit makeup items are pretty damn expensive so I thought I'd share some affordable options!

You want the beautiful, rosy Rockateur Blush? It's $22, but E.L.F.'s Studio Blush in 'Tickled Pink' is only $3 and is a pretty good dupe. 

Gimme Brow runs for $22 but at Target you can pick up the Sonia Kashuk Tinted Brow Gel for only $6.

A great concealer for those pesky under-eye circles, Erase Paste, is $26 compared to Maybelline's Instant Age Rewind - the absolute BEST concealer I've ever used. And it's only $9 and will last you MONTHS. 

The highly coveted and loved POREfessional is a whopping $31, which makes me cringe. A great dupe of this is the Maybelline Baby Skin primer - only $7.

Lastly, a favorite, the They're Real Mascara is an amazing product but it's $23 and the L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara, for $9 is such a great dupe for this awesome product. It helps to lengthen and separate your lashes perfectly!

♡

Did you enjoy this post? I think it's a great one because it'll help you save money and find products that will work just as good as higher-end ones!

xo Emily

Choosing Kindness

I had a pretty stressful day today. Work was long and busy and I was busy stressing about a midterm I have tomorrow. I was so happy to just get on the subway to make my way home to begin studying and take a shower, at least relax a little bit. 

Unfortunately, my stress level only heightened on my journey home. On the train, I saw one of the most disgusting and hateful displays of homophobia and cruelty I've ever seen. A woman, embroiled in a loud discussion with her friend, was saying things about gay people that made me sick to my stomach. A woman asked her to be quieter, because of how hateful she was being and so loud, and the woman went off. She spewed threats and insluts and some of the most disugsting and foul language I've ever heard. 

I had to leave the train at an early stop, I was so upset and shaken up. I cried for awhile, because I felt so helpless and sad - so upset with the world at that moment.

When I finally returned to my room, I broke down to my roommates again, and let it all out to them. I took a cold shower, and collected myself enough to just reflect. 

Firstly, I wrote a long email to my parents and sister. I thanked them for being such amazing examples of kindness, tolerance, and love. They have made me who I am and I'm so very grateful that I don't live with such hate in my heart.

They taught me to always "choose kindess" and above all else, make Kindness your religion and practice it daily. It's something I quite often take for granted, but I'm so lucky it's engrained in me. 

Today I just wanted to encourage everyone to Choose Kindess. It's not hard to do. It's no hassle. It's a simple conscious thought - choose kindness. 

So often, we are caught up in insults and rudeness and just plain intolerance. Even internally, we sometimes have thoughts towards strangers on the street that, although we don't vocalize, are cruel.

I need to remind myself to Choose Kindness. To be a good person. To treat every single person with the respect I know I except in return.

If you're looking for inspiration, here are some of my favorite organizations that facilitate, empower, and radiate kindness and equality:

1. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation

2. The Human Rights Campaign

3. Stomp Out Bullying

4. The Kind Campaign

5. Human Kindness Foundation

6. Congress of Racial Equality

I hope everyone goes about their day or their week or the next few minutes choosing kindness, influencing the world in a beautiful, constructive way. I promise you, it'll make the world of a difference. 

xo Emily

A Bit Of Sparkle

Hello friends! I hope everyones week is going well so far, mine definitely is! 

Today I'm going to share a makeup look I've been experimenting with lately! I've been marathoning Project Runway and one of their challenges worked with a lot of sparkle so I kind was inspired to start wearing a lot more sparkle in my makeup. 

I decided to go a bit bold today and do a sparkly blue eye - which I think is subtle enough for everyday wear. Sometimes I get in such a rut and habit with my makeup looks, even though I have so many fun makeup products. It's important to change it up and get out of your comfort zone!

I really love how it turned out - and in person, it really sparkles!

How to Create this look:

I started out with my base and used the L'Oréal Magic Lumi foundation all over my face and then hid my undereye circles using the NARS creamy concealer. I set everything with the Rimmel Stay Matte powder. To finish off my flawless base I used the Anastasia Brow Wiz and then the E.L.F. 'Tickled Pink' blush on the apples of my cheeks.

To get this pretty sparkly blue eye look, I began with using one of my favorite products - the L'Oréal Colour Riche Dual Effects quad, this time in 'Eternal Blue'. I used the lightest shade across my entire lid and then blended out the darkest blue into my crease for definition. I patted the second-darkest blue into my outer-eye area just below the crease. After that, I used the Ulta Glitter Top Coat in silver and using a wet, flat brush, patted this on my lid. I focused this on the first half of my eyelid and my inner tear duct, just giving myself as much sparkle as I can!

Next, I took a fantastic blue eyeliner, the Sephora's retractable waterproof liner to lightly line my lower lash line. I also took this pencil and deepened up the outer part of my eye. Lastly, I took this eyeliner and tight-lined my upper lash line. I love tight-lining - it makes your lashes look deep and gorgeous and full. Tight-lining with the blue just adds another awesome element to this look. 

Finally, I finished up the look with two mascaras. To separate the lashes, I used my beloved (see monday's post!) L'Oréal Voluminous Million Lashes and then volumized with the Smashbox Full Exposure mascara!

I love how this look turned out - especailly how sparkly and shimmery it is with that pop of blue along the lash line and in the outer part of the lid!

I hope you all liked it!

xo Emily

Mascara Monday: Voluminous Million Lashes

Happy Monday friends! 

Today is what I'm calling 'Mascara Monday' (for lack of any imagination and creativity) and I'm going to share my absolute favorite mascara of the moment (Hey, Alliteration!) which I've been rocking for ages now. It's the L'Oréal Voluminous Million Lashes and it's a classic. My mom, who doesn't ever wear makeup, wears this and so that’s the reason I actually tried it out!

This mascara is great if you want elongated, (semi) natural looking, and just voluminous (hence the name) lashes.

These two photos were taken 12 hours after I originally put it on - no flaking and just a flawless set of lashes still!

The formula is fantastically rich and dark and doesn’t flake or fall onto your face as the day goes on – it’s so long lasting. The wand has very small bristles – which is just perfect for getting every single lash, especially those hard to get lashes near the tear duct. The wand also separates each lash while also giving fantastic volume, without making it look spidery and false.

I really would consider it one of those classic mascaras – nothing too fancy but just absolutely dependable. I recommend it - you'll never get tired of it and it's completely perfect for both an everyday mascara look and just for a first coat to get all the lashes coated!

♡

Have you ever tried this mascara? I love it!

xo Emily

Polka Dotted Dress

 Here's my outfit from a few days ago which I really loved. It was a morning I was super tired and was running late to work but it all came together in a really cute way. (and super flattering!)

I love this dress, which my sister gave me, and paired with my favorite heeled sandals made for a cute and comfy outfit!

Dress: Gap (similar style) | Sweater: Mango | Shoes: Marc Fisher | Lipstick: YSL Rouge Volupte 'Nude Beige' 

♡

xo Emily

Macarons and Street Art

Today's a lazy day of laundry and cleaning but I thought I'd share my fun day out I had yesterday.

I met up with a friend in Tribeca and we walked around the area and just explored the streets and nooks and crannies of Tribeca. 

We walked around the streets and made our way to Chinatown which is one of my favorite places to meander through.

We walked around SoHo and the West Village and there was just so much amazing street art to look at.

(my fave street art of the trip - totally me)

We ended the day at my favorite macaron shop, Ladurée in the West Village and had some delicious macarons! (Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Lemon, and Raspberry!)

It was such a successful and fun evening! I'm always amazed at how much wonderful things there are to see in this beautiful city.

♡

xo Emily