Monthly Archives

August 2017

Beauty

I Chopped + Colored My Hair

August 29, 2017

Hi everyone!  I’m Alli, thanks for visiting my blog today!  I did a post at the very beginning of the year saying I had chopped my hair and guess what… I’ve done it again but this time, I actually did a pretty drastic color change as well!  Keep reading to find out exactly what I asked for from my stylist and how I’m liking it so far!

THE CUT:

Going into my hair appointments, I always have tons of examples pinned to my “Hair Inspiration” board on Pinterest.  Even though my cutting stylist (I go to different people for cut and color) has luckily never given me a bad hair cut, I still get nervous that she’s going to take too much off so going in to the appointment with a few photos for her to look at makes me feel so much less scared.

This time around, I mainly showed her photos of women with hair that was about collarbone length.  Over the years, I’ve learned that shoulder length hair and collarbone length hair are not the same and it has made such a difference in how my hair cuts turn out!  When I would ask for shoulder length hair, it would always come out a little shorter than I wanted and that’s when I realized that I was really wanting it to fall just past the shoulder, at my collarbone.  Another thing I asked for was that I wanted it to be that length when it was curled and that makes a big difference in how she cuts it as well.  When you curl your hair, it makes it look a couple inches shorter, so the stylist needs to keep some of your length in order to have it fall at your collarbone when you curl it yourself.

Overall, I really, really love the length and think I’m going to stay on the shorter side for a while.  I thought after I chopped it in the winter that it would be a one time thing and then I’d grow it out again but here I am!

THE COLOR:

Usually, I try to do both the cut and color during the same week, but this time I had to space them a couple weeks apart.  I actually ended up liking the space, though, because it gave me time to get used to the cut for a week or two before I had to get used to the color change.  It made it an easier transition!  Going into this appointment, I brought along my trusty Pinterest examples and was super excited!  I was going blonder than I ever had before and I couldn’t wait!

I ended up leaving my appointment with a different look than I thought I’d be leaving with.  It was my first negative color experience!  I had asked for a very bright, blonde balayage with a few face-framing pieces.  Because my natural color is so dark and I was going pretty light towards the bottom, some mistakes were made and I ended up with a horizontal line around my head where the color started.  It was kinda bad.  Luckily, my stylist was incredible and immediately booked me an appointment to come back the following morning to fix it.  Due to the line of color being pretty far up on my hair, the only way to make it look good again was to make me almost totally blonde.  It has definitely taken some getting used to but I’m really happy with it.  It’s fun and different for me!

That wraps up today’s post but please let me know in the comments if you’ve tried any new hair trends lately and if you love it or not!  Also, come back next Tuesday for the start of my summer vacation posts.  My family and I visited somewhere tropical a few weeks ago so the palm tree photos will be in full swing!  Have a great week!

Fashion

My New Favorite Tee ft. walk in love.

August 21, 2017

Hi cuties!  I have a very exciting fashion post to share with you today.  Have you ever heard of the Christian clothing company called walk in love.?  If not, I’m extra glad you clicked on this post because I’m collaborating with them today to promote their new trend of releasing a tee of the week!

I first came across this company on Pinterest and was immediately drawn to them because of how amazing their graphic design is on their merchandise!  I love how different each of their designs are but also how equally cool they all are as well!  Each of their tees reflects a different Bible verse and it’s super refreshing to see a company so grounded in their beliefs.  As you can tell from their products and their website, they’re extremely dedicated to encouraging the community to love others and I just think this company is such a light, especially in the world we live in today!

The tee that was released today is the super cute one you see me wearing above!  Not only is it super cute, but it’s actually one of the most comfortable tees I’ve ever owned!  On the front, it says “bind my wandering heart to thee” and it’s such a good reminder for us all!  For today only, if you purchase this tee (click here) and use the code HEART15, you get 15% off.  What a deal!  Their tees are affordable even without the discount, so with the discount it’s a steal!  Another plus about this tee is that it’s unisex so you’re good to go whether you’re getting it for yourself, a friend, or a significant other.

Another tee I’m obsessed with from walk in love. is this one pictured below.  It was their tee of the week last week and I had to scoop this one up as fast as I could!  They call the color “dusty rose” and that’s my absolute favorite color of the moment so I was pumped when this one came in the mail.  When you order from them, they also send you a little decal that you can use on your laptop or water bottle so you get an extra little surprise thrown in your bag!

Tees are one of my favorite things to wear all year round because you can wear them everywhere!  To class, to the gym, and even on a date!  Especially with back to school season just around the corner, I want to order as many of these as I can.  I can’t wait to see what the tee of the week will look like next week!

Well that’s a wrap on this week’s post, I hope you enjoyed!  If you order one of these tees, be sure to let me know in the comments below – I’d love to know what you think of it!  Have a great rest of your week and be sure to come back next Tuesday for a travel post!  Bye!

Things I'm Loving Right Now

My Summer Internship: Take Two

August 15, 2017

Hey everyone and welcome back to Allison in Wonderland!  If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you might remember that I wrote a post at the end of last summer about how my internship went (click here to read) and now I’m back to write about it again because sadly, my internship for this summer ended a couple days ago.

I can’t remember if I mentioned this in last year’s post but I was interning at a marketing firm in Annapolis, Maryland!  Last summer was my first internship ever and I was lucky enough to be asked back over my winter break and then again for this summer!  Even though I was returning to the same company, my role for this summer switched just a little bit.  Last summer, I was the design intern and I was working in the creative services department with the graphic designers.  Even though working in creative services was an absolutely wonderful experience, I wanted to see a different side of the business, so I moved over to the marketing department this summer to work with the Vice President of Marketing!

Throughout the past three months, I was integrated in in-house and out-of-house meetings with a lot of our clients, collaborated with co-workers both in and out of the marketing department, and I learned a ton!  Internships are extremely beneficial in general, but being able to intern at the same company for two years and grow within it was incredible.  I was able to experience working in multiple departments for the same company and because of that, I was able to learn from and make connections with so many of the employees!

Ending my internship at this company was so sad for me, not only because of how amazing the people are, but because it’s the last internship I’ll ever have.  I’m graduating this December (a semester early) and it’s so crazy to think that the next job I have will (hopefully) be a full-time position!  I’m so excited to be at this point in my life, I feel like I’ve been waiting for it forever, and I can’t wait to see where I am six months from now!

If you’d like to see a few final semester/graduation-esque blog posts, let me know in the comment section below! I have a few thoughts on fun JMU posts but I’d love to hear your ideas as well!  See ya next week!

Things I'm Loving Right Now

My Bachelorette Finale REACTION: Rachel’s Season

August 8, 2017

Hello my Bachelorette-loving beauties!  How was that finale last night?  Amazing, right!?  I don’t know about you, but I’ve been watching the Bachelor and the Bachelorette for years now.  I think I started watching in either 8th or 9th grade (maybe even before) and I haven’t missed a season since.  I agree with the stereotype that it’s a silly show and such a strange and unconventional way to find love but I just can’t get away from it.  I don’t know if it’s the drama that pulls me in or the gorgeous rings they get proposed to with but I’m hooked either way.

When I found out Rachel was this season’s Bachelorette, I was so excited!  Coming right after Nick’s season, which I was not excited about, I feel like the decision to have her be the Bachelorette rejuvenated the entire Bachelor nation.  She’s so spunky and honest and I just couldn’t wait for the season to begin.  Once the season did begin, she started off with a really great group of guys!  First off, I believe it was the most diverse cast they’ve ever had and, even though there were some crazies at the beginning, she had some really great guys thrown in there.  Another thing I was impressed with was that they usually keep some of the dramatic ones around for a while (probably for ratings) but she got rid of most of those people pretty early on.  That allowed the audience to focus on the people that were there for the right reasons!

Moving on to the final three guys, they were all so different from one another!  Peter seemed super serious and really intriguing at the same time but I don’t think he ever fully opened up and showed us his vulnerable side.  Rachel was upset that he wasn’t sure he would be able to propose and I think that’s totally normal for him to feel that way!  I read a tweet and the person said Rachel was thinking of engagement in terms of the show and Peter was thinking of engagement in terms of real life and I couldn’t agree more.  Eric is someone who surprised me.  I didn’t think he would make it too far but he ended up having one of the best connections with her in my opinion.  I think they were a really wonderful couple but she took him never being in love before really, really hard.  I think if Eric was a little bit more mature and experienced, it would’ve been him for sure.  Now onto Bryan.  He was also pretty intriguing but in a different way.  I feel like we never got to know who he was!  Maybe the producers didn’t show us all of what went on between him and Rachel but it seemed like they only had a physical connection and not a lot more.  Going into last night’s episode, I was rooting for Peter but I really didn’t feel like any of them were really perfect for her.

They kicked off the finale episode in Spain.  I’ve always wanted to travel to Spain, so I’m jealous they got to spend so much time there!  We started off with seeing the overnight dates of Peter and Bryan (we saw Eric’s last episode) and then Eric got sent home during the rose ceremony.  With only Peter and Bryan left, they headed into their last week together.  Bryan’s date was in a hot air balloon!  A hot air balloon date is my dream so I was dying when they were showing this!  Their date ended with Bryan feeling “confident” and Rachel was on to her last date with Peter.  First, Peter showed up in a minivan, which is a first for The Bachelorette, so that made us laugh!  They headed to an incredible church and had a good conversation about marriage and what that means to them but I don’t think it helped either of them work their feelings out.  Judging by the overnight date and their final date, I think Rachel was truly in love with Peter but just couldn’t quite get over his not wanting to propose.  At the end of the date, he ended up leaving in a heartbreaking turn of events and it was so sad!

In the end, Bryan won!  I don’t feel super great about it but I think he was an alright choice.  You can’t criticize people’s relationship when you only see them for a couple minutes on TV once a week.  I’ll admit, I didn’t think she would choose him but they might have the most wonderful relationship – there’s no way we can know.  When they came on After the Final Rose, they seemed really happy so I can only hope that this is it for them and they’ve each found someone they can be the happiest with!  Moving on from this season, I already can’t wait for the next one to start!  I’m curious who they’ll choose to be the Bachelor.  Any guesses?  I’m thinking Dean.

Thank you for reading all the way through this week’s post!  I’ll be back next week with a post all about my summer internship that just ended a few days ago.  Come back next Tuesday to see how it went! 🙂

Fashion

Style Dupe: Steve Madden x Gucci

August 1, 2017

Hey hey fashion-forward beauties!  Thank you for coming back to Allison in Wonderland today for a brand new fashion post.  A few weeks ago, I went to the mall on a hunt for some cute (and comfy) slides (or mules).  I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for as far as color but I knew the style I had in mind and I just went to town.  I must have gone into every shoe store in the mall and I felt so bad for sending the nice employees to the back again and again for different sizes and styles!  My trip to the mall was a success though because I ended up coming home with a purchase I considered to be an absolute steal!

If you’re familiar with the black and gold Gucci slides that have been all over fashion bloggers Instagram accounts, then you know how crazy expensive they are.  If you aren’t familiar with them, here’s a link to their website and be prepared to have a heart attack when you look at the price.  Since I’m a price-conscious college student, buying the Gucci pair of slides is 100% out of my price range, so when I saw these Steve Madden dupes at Nordstrom, I went over to them immediately.

Starting off with how the Steve Madden pair looks, they’re almost identical to the Gucci pair!  I’m sure the material the shoes are made with are much, much different, but as far as looks, they’re pretty much the same.  I love how they’re super flattering and slimming for your foot and it’s nice that they’re black because they’ll match almost everything!  I’m also a gold jewelry person, so they’ll always match whatever I decide to accessorize with.  Moving on to how they feel, they feel wonderful!  I was a little bit worried they would slide right off my foot when I walked around but they stay on perfectly.  I can’t comment on how the Gucci pair compares feel-wise because my feet have never been anywhere near shoes that expensive, but I’m sure those feel wonderful as well.

Overall, I’d give Steve Madden a 10/10 on this one!  I understand that the Steve Madden pair is nowhere near the quality of the Gucci pair, but I’d much rather have the cheaper pair of shoes and $600 dollars in my pocket than the expensive pair, especially because of how similar they look.  If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to comment down below if you’d like to see other style dupe posts – I have a few in mind already!  Thanks for coming by and I’ll see you next week!