All The Prettys

Tag: Phoenix

Neutrogena Skincare Review

Hello Lovelies

I am here to share my experience using two new Neutrogena products. First being their Lightweight Sunscreen and the second being their Rapid Wrinkle repair. Ok here we go!

I’ve been using these products for almost a month now. I wanted to really see if I had any weird problems and if I saw any difference too, before writing up my review. Sometimes as bloggers we have certain deadlines to meet, but I try to give products a chance to have time to work or not to work.

I am really loving my skin with this hydrating cream. I feel it melts my fine lines more subtly away. The product is a combination of three main ingredients. First being a retinol, which smoothes away wrinkles and reduces the discolorations of the skin, next it contains a glucose complex, and lastly a hyaluronic acid which is the major hydrating factor in the cream.

I have always said I use sunscreen, but truthfully I never use a separate sunscreen (just SPF mixed in my mineral makeup). I figured it would be like the sunscreen you wear for pool days; all thick and coconut scented haha, boy was I wrong.

The blendability is really good, the sunscreen does not drag at all. It absorbs really easily. For my concerns, the non-comedogenic factor is super important. This means it does not clog your skin, which for my skin translates into I won’t break out haha. Neutrogena’s sunscreen line contains Helioplex technology, which is a combination of five different sun blocking agents that protect your skin against UVA and UVB damage. The surprising thing that none of these ingredients is zinc oxide, which was the main sunscreen ingredient for years.

So I hope this gives you a good idea about these two products. Feel free to ask me any questions down below. I will do my best to answer them and let you know more in depth what I thought.

Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair (under $30!)

Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Suncreen (under $11)

–In full disclosure, I did receive these products through Brand Backer, which means they were gifted, but all opinions are solely mine and mine alone.

January 25, 2018
Styling A Turtleneck Two Ways

Hello Loves,

It is FINALLY cold here in Phoenix..ok so not really compared to back home in Kansas City, where the high has been one degree most days. It sure feels cold here to me lol! And with this it is now finally time to break out my sweaters. I will be styling my new hunter green turtleneck two ways. This is the first look that I will be featuring. With the second way coming soon to the blog!

They had a regular crew neck sweater too made of this same super soft wool. I don’t know about you, but I find I have to be careful with anything labeled wool–I get super itchy with the slightlest thing haha.

I tried to make this outfit workwear ready and a bit street style too. This was a fun outfit to style. I found this cute military inspired skirt with an asymmetrical front hem line and was going to save it to shoot with something red, but I tried it with this sweater and fell in love with the combination.

I grabbed my new favorite sock booties (see all about them in my previous post HERE ). Still loving the block heel which makes them so comfortable.

As usual, I have way too much fun during these shoots. This day we met up in front of the cutest converted house called The Teapot. This is now a darling little cafe which is totally Instagrammable. There is a great front yard with tables and a playground in the back for the littles.

I love the idea of mixing up my pieces and creating entirely different looks to get more miles out of them. I actually find it so much easier to buy a dress and its all set! I sometimes struggle with creating different looks from the same item. I have a blogger friend here in Phoenix whom I call the “Queen of Separates” she is truly amazing. Check out Neyda for real inspiration. I will keep trying from my end. I hope that you like this look! Oh and stayed tuned to the second way to style this green turtleneck really soon.

Sweater: Banana Republic or Other

Skirt: Zara sold out; or Banana Republic

Booties: Target (on sale will sell out fast!)

Earrings: Jennifer Janesko

Photography: Jacqueline Treviño Photography

January 21, 2018
Kicking It In Sock Booties

Hello Loves

I had to retire my short black boots this past fall and was looking for new ones. I had seen the trend with sock booties and wasn’t sure I’d love them. I tried some on during a Nordy’s run, but I wasn’t sold until I saw a fellow KC blogger raving about these!

The difference to me was that these have side zippers and the previous ones that I had tried on were pull ons. I also like the heel height and best of all they are so comfortable. Seriously sold!

I was so excited to be back this past fall at Phoenix Flea. Its grown so much over the last few years. I love seeing all my creative friends selling their amazing creations.

The food truck area was so big this year! This super cute pink truck had little tables set up all around.

I found this pretty floral corduroy skirt and paired it with my wine colored turtleneck. I was ready to explore the festival!

Sometimes its fun just being silly during these photoshoots!

I was so happy to find my favorite tea latte at the flea! If you are not local you can find the teas at Teaspressa

I might have eaten this macaron before even hitting my car haha!

This skirt was hard to find for some reason and now its back online lol! I usually only buy a-line skirts so I had to size up because I’m more hippie (and not in the good way) haha. Good news is the booties run TTS. Happy shopping ladies!

Top: old; very similar orHERE

Skirt: exact one!(under $20) or other print

Booties: Target

Earrings: Jennifer Janesko

Moon/Star Ring: Ettika

Photography: Jacqueline Treviño Photography

January 6, 2018
Black Velvet….if you please!

Hello Loves,

Well its time to ring in the New Year. I know that most of the country is in a deep freeze, but its been crazy warm here. Usually Phoenix has a winter haha, but for this past week its been 75 degrees most days. AS soon as the sun sets, it does get desert cold. I wanted to style two outfits to wear for NYE that featured sparkles and pants! This is my second look, for the first post check out that look HERE.

I found this pretty black velvet blazer and layered it over my black sequins bustier. I wanted to stay covered with a hint of sexy!

This gorgeous statement layered necklace was perfect for the First NYE look and I loved the way it styled perfectly with this look too.

Nothing sends a party vibe like jewels and sparkles! I found this cocktail ring on sale for $3! It was pure luck!

I actually own two pairs of velvet jeans (one is a size bigger than the other for those times when I’ve eaten waaaay too much).

The staying warm but looking good idea for NYE is hard. I usually like skirts or dresses for sure. This was fun trying something different. I hope that you liked it. Leave me a comment down below with what you think! Meantime, wishing you all lovely people a Happy New Year!!

Blazer: Velvet Blazer

Denim: NYDJ or Old Navy (less than $20)

Sandals: Norstrom (so many colors I own 2 pairs)

Necklace: L.V. Kiki

Ring: on clearance for $3 (if you want one I’ll go to the H & M store for ya lol–leave me a comment if you do!)

December 31, 2017
NYE Shimmer

Hey Babes!

I have been trying a few different looks for NYE. Now I totally get that in Phoenix our weather can let me pick any type of outfit that I want (lucky me)! Still I wanted to style my new statement necklace with a couple of choices. This post will feature Look Number One!

These pants are amazing. First crushed velvet is baaaack…thank you fashion Gods! The best thing tho is these pants let you eat too haha! When I was little my Mom bought me a two piece short and tank top made out of blue crushed velvet outfit and the obsession began then! I will have to find a photo and post this sometime lol.

I found this draped tank for under $10. It provided just the right amount of shimmer to my NYE look. This new two piece separates are a bit more chic than my Mom’s choice right?!?!

I love the dark metallics of this necklace and my new ring was perfect for this look.

When you stumble across the mirror sandals of your dreams for under $10 one fine summer day at Ross! Lol I forget I own these and forget these were my fave shoes for dancing!

So this shoot has a funny back story. The photos taken against the brick building were at great risk to my safety. You see according to the owner of that building something could have come loose and fallen down and hit me in the head…as I stood on a very public sidewalk lol. Yup, we were approached by the owner and told to basically leave. Really?!? So in protest I will not name his silly place so there! If you meet my lovely photographer Rachel you’ll have to ask her about this day haha!

Look Two coming very soon! Keep an eye on my blog and Instagram for the other outfit choice for NYE!

Top: H & M (under $10!!)

Jacket: old Neiman Marcus find; similar

Velvet Pants: Anthropologie (on sale $39.95 and extra 30% off all sale)–they come in Olive green too btw

Sandals: old Ross find; Similar

Necklace: L.V. Kiki

Photography: Araya Photography (thanks Rachel!!)

December 29, 2017
December with Ellie Activewear & Dat Mat

Hello Babes!

This month is so the worst for me with all the running around and eating! No not healthy, just junk lol. And my favorite cocktails too…sigh. The Ellie Activewear people have done it again thankfully. Getting my monthly box in the mail just is so motivating. Love getting excited about moving!

This month’s 3 piece outfit is just the cutest. The bright blue top has a mesh back. The sports bra has matching mesh on the front too.

The pant is a crop style with the colors playing with the top. My top is size small, the sports bra is a small and my pants are medium.

This is the first time I’ve felt that one of my Ellie pieces didn’t fit me right. I have a really long torso and the top is a few inches short lol. A tad cold for December even in Phoenix haha.

Now for my mat! This gorgeous print is actually a design by local Phoenix artist Paige Poppe. The company Dat Mat reached out to me to try one of their mats. I was so excited when I saw this print! Such a fun surprise!

They send you your own carry bag too, which was so nice. I saw such cute designs on their websites from donuts to french bulldogs! I will link them below. Would make such an awesome gift for someone!

Ellie Activewear (makes a great gift $39.95!!)

DAT MAT (SALE right now of buy one may and the next one is 50% off)

Shoes: Nike

December 19, 2017
Elegant Holiday Look

Hello Lovelies

I absolutely LOVE dressing up (even though as I write this I’m wearing a mismatched sweatshirt, blue socks, and black sweatpants LOL)! For the holidays, I found this beautiful lace midi dress that just looked so elegant.

I can totally see myself wearing this to the ballet or the symphony to see the Nutcracker!

The skirt has a beautiful dark floral painted onto the silk organza fabric. It has a crystalline shimmer to the overall look of the skirt.

The bodice is made of beautiful lace details. The higher neckline does not require any jewelry so I paired only a bold earring with this and a dainty bangle.

My Badgley Mischka shoes were perfect for this dress with the delicate jewels.

My photographer, Jacqueline and always seem to have fun! A lot of my photos are me laughing hugely or making weird faces!

I’m thinking this dress would be perfect for flamenco too!

The dress actually comes with a pretty satin sash, but the eternal problem of being a long torso girl is that my waist is six inches lower that the end of this lace bodice haha.

I’m loving the mixing of textures this season. I actually kept this look a bit more Christmas traditional. Lately I’ve been trying more edgier styles, but I always go back to more elegant looks. I hope that your holiday season is filled with parties and pretty dresses too! Check out Stylewe for other dress options! Let me know below what you think of this look! Thanks for reading!

Dress: STYLEWE

Shoes: old Badgley Mischka; similar or similar

Earrings: L.V. Kiki

Bracelet: David Yurman

Photography: Jacqueline Treviño Photography

–this was a sponsored post. All opinions are thoughts are mine independently.

December 12, 2017
Country Chic

Hello Lovelies,

I am back with the cutest floral dress yet. I saw it online and thought I would like it ok, but when I tried it on it was so much cuter!

C’mon and follow me y’all! Haha! So my friend Jacqueline and I made our way to Cottonwood a few weeks ago. I had originally wanted to shoot this dress at a fall/pumpkin festival, but there was nothing like this going on.

We found a gorgeous clearing with tall pine trees, but the Park ranger station was literally right across from there. The ranger wanted to charge us to park and take photos there, so we made our way back on the public road and found this ranch. The owner was the nicest lady. She was super sweet and willing to let us explore the ranch before they even opened that night!

Ok so I don’t know about you, but I have always wanted to take photos by a red barn! lol this was amazingly perfect.

This darling floral dress really popped against the red barn. I love the lightweight cotton fabric too.

The ranch has an Old West vibe for sure, which for those of you that know me is my thang! I love country music, bluegrass and my Sarsaparilla! Haha

Just hanging out trying to not get put in the jail!

This place was truly the cutest!

This was an accidental find and I was happy that it worked out this way. I am glad to have creative moments like these to feature cute outfits for you! Thank you to the Blazin M Ranch for letting the crazy blogger girl hang out for an afternoon!

Dress: Zaful( less than $17 on sale!!)

Boots: old: this year’s version Nordstrom

Earrings: Jennifer Janesko

Necklace: Shane Co; Similar

Photography: Jacqueline Treviño Photography

December 5, 2017
Fashion Week Finale Night w/ Christine Adar
1. Hello Lovelies!!
Its finally here! I am so excited to share my night pretending to be a princess haha! I met designer Christine Adar this summer, and I really loved hearing her story. She is truly living her passion. This gal is super talented. I went on Thursday, the first night of Phoenix Fashion Week, to do a dress fitting. She was sewing a custom dress from scratch in her hotel room for Julie Werner. The fabric was an embossed wine colored leather. It was incredible! I will have photos of this down below.

When Friday afternoon came, I rushed from work with my friend and photographer, Jacqueline, to Talking Stick Resort. We had to beg our way into a valet spot (they were already full by 5:20pm, and no judgments on still stopping for Dutch Bros and wasting like 35 min there lol). I had so many bags full with shoes, hair stuff, makeup, etc. I needed help parking. Luckily, the valet guy took pity (probably just got tired of hearing my sad whiny story)!

I finally arrived to Christine’s hotel room and it was buzzing with sewing, girls getting makeup done, hair being styled and dresses! I was in heaven! Then it was my turn to get ready.

My dress was a dream (albeit a bit more risque than I usually do)! I just tried to do it justice.

The sweetest Aleigha, who has modeled for Christine in her print campaigns helped me with my hair.

The final look was a bit Old Hollywood with Grammy’s inspired style (or something like that)!

This dress was so eye catching. Just walking from the room to the main area, I got stopped many times by people saying how much they liked the dress. I think the dress was pretty super-hero pose worthy don’t you?!

So part of the fun attending fashion week is getting to see other industry people at these events. I love seeing how everyone brings up their own fashion game for couture night!

The Smart Blondes, Leslie & Lindsey are always on point! They are so glam!

Left to right: Andrea (a friend of Christine’s, Christine Adar, Harpreet Maan, a local Phoenix designer, Aleigha, a model, and me.

Part of the fun is walking the red carpet, the press line! I loved being part of this group of ladies.

We were all wearing Christine Adar originals here in this photo!

The designer herself, Christine Adar in one of her own designs. So beautiful!

Remember the leather custom gown?!? Well here is Julie Werner looking so fierce! It fit her literally like a glove. It was still being sewn onto her when I left the room. So crazy good!

I would love to wear her gowns everyday! Like a Target run maybe lol

The runway show was pure perfection. I love every single gown, but wait for the red finale dress!

Ok now I LOVE red! I’m thinking I need to wear this dress next year huh!??! Please!

Well that’s a wrap for Phoenix Fashion Week 2017! I hope that you like the #bts and some of the live red carpet shots. With Thanksgiving coming up in a couple of days, I’m truly thankful for this year’s amazing experiences! I was so happy to be a part of this amazing group of gals.

I’ll be linking Christine’s information down below. If you have an upcoming event reach out to her she is very easy to work with and does not charge crazy pricing even though you’d be getting a one of a kind creation for your special day. Can’t wait for 2018 #PHXFW! Special thank you to Brian Hill and all his team for including me this year!

Designer: Christine Adar

Shoes: Target

Earrings: Charming Charlie (Only $14!)

Photography: Jacqueline Treviño Photography
November 21, 2017
PHX Fashion Week Night 2

Hello Lovelies

I am so excited to share with you my second night at Phoenix Fashion Week 2017. This was a great night that featured Contemporary designers. I chose to wear a more whimsical look with my hair up in a loose undone bun.

This dress can be very feminine and I wanted to style it a little more rock inspired.

Its always fun running into people at these events. I love how passionate everyone is about fashion too!

Harpreet Maan is a local Phoenix emerging designer who blends contemporary with her Indian roots. She designed her gown that she is wearing! So pretty right?!?

Here with Cynthia Sassi from FabAZ on my left, one of Cynthia’s friends to my right and Harpreet. Cynthia was wearing a Theo Doro dress from the first line that showed this night.

My favorite designer from this night was Nahuala . This line is from Mexico by Rosa Gutierrez who created a beautiful cohesive collection. I was so obsessed with the long emerald green dress and the sexy red sleeveless coat. Please contact me to collab Rosa lol!! I’ll share those photos down below!

OMG this one above!

AND this coat! So good!

So gorgeous right!? I hope to get in contact with her soon! I’ll keep you all posted if I can connect with her about featuring these beautiful designs.

My dress: old BCBG

Shoes: Old Vince Camuto

Belt: old H&M

Earrings: Jennifer Janesko

That’s right my entire outfit was straight from my closet for once, but for night three I collaborated with the amazing Couture designer, Christine Adar. I can’t wait to share this with all of you!

November 7, 2017