Fall/Winter Haul| Forever21, H&M, Zara, +More!!

Hey guys so I just did this cool video of all of the new things that I've picked up over the last couple of weeks. I hope you guys enjoy this video and be sure to check out my old blog posts, and follow me on social media. Until next time 

xoxo Lulu

MID FALL MOOD BOARD

Hey guys so as promised here's my mood board for this month. Lately I'm really into flesh tone colored garments, and very formfitting clothing. I've never really been extremely self conscious with my body, but I just get a little overwhelmed when I can't just throw on things. Sometimes I have to consider if my butt is going to look too out there. (My big booty girls know what I'm talking about). But lately I've really been feeling myself and showing off my curves with pride. I'm loving olive tones, heavy knits, I basically live in turtlenecks they're great for layering with vest and dresses. Like every winter I always on the hunt for the perfect  faux fur coat I found one at River Island but I'm not in the best position to spend $140 on a coat( broke girl problems). My life would officially be made if I got some snake print booties for my birthday, just putting that into the universe perhaps things might look up for me. Minimalism is still something I'm into and I'm in the middle of trying to filter out my closet  little by little to represent what I'm interested in and also what looks good on me. I hope you guys enjoy and get some inspiration as well and until next.

xoxo Lulu

Confessions of the Unhappy

          I guess this is me having a midlife crisis but I just came from taking a shower and I looked in the mirror. I was surprised  because the person I saw looked like no one knew, for a moment I was confused with who exactly that person was looking back at me. She looks like a stranger. 

          As I gazed at myself I realized that I am old. And I don’t mean that in the dramatic sense like I'm an old lady but I mean I am getting older. I am not a kid anymore. Sometimes I feel like I’m drifting in life but I just can’t seem to find where I’m going, who I am or who it is that I want to be. I just don’t know anything. And when I was looking in the mirror just then I had this striking sense of disappointment of what I saw. What if my younger self met me now? Would she be impressed because honestly I’m not even impressed.

         When I was ten I figured that by the time I was 21 I’d be a big somebody I’d be slim, chic, and simply fabulous; a big girl with all her shit together, and perhaps I’d even have a boy who loved and cared about me. I figured by that time I would have experienced my first real love that shook me to the core and changed me. But I haven’t because I’m emotionally guarded and it’s almost like I’m allergic or simply terrified of being close to anyone. And the one person that I want is with someone else which is somewhat tragic but not the end of the world; because deep down I know it would never actually work . And when I see all of my friends, and my sisters and all the random lovely dovey couples around me sometimes I wonder when will it be my turn. When will I find my person that just gets me, and wants me for me.

          I looked in the mirror and realized that in 2 weeks I’ll be 19 and next year I’ll be 20 then the year after that I’ll be 21 and I’m nowhere near being anything  like what I dreamed. I don’t know shit about shit. School is literally kicking my ass because in this particular moment I’m not into it. And career wise I just don’t know how to take the first step to get me started, and my romantic life is almost completely nonexistent because I’ve been stuck on the same person from the moment I met him. But everyone thinks I’m okay and that life is amazing just smooth sailing. But I’m mentally and physically exhausted; I need a breath of fresh air something to shake me up. I looked in the mirror today and I got a reality check I am sad and lonely. And life is nothing but a series of  unexpected question marks , it’s never anything like you dream it to be. Shit happens and you’ll never be actually what you thought you would be, but you just have to learn to be okay with that. So as 19 approaches I'll be taking it with stride because I'm hoping life gets better.

xoxo Lulu

KERMEE MOOD BOARD

Hey guys I knows it's been a while but I wanted to show a mood board I did a few weeks ago for my Display Exhibition Class. I got most of these pictures off my Tumblr which is where I find a lot of my inspiration. So for my class we had to create a brand then a mood board that represents that brand. We're also in the middle of actually creating a small scale shoe display exhibition.  I've never done anything like this before, so I will definitely keep you posted. I'll have another mood board of what's I've been inspired by lately coming up soon on my blog. Until next time!

xoxo Lulu

Basic

Hey guys here's a quick outfit that I put together a couple of weeks ago. I'm really obsessed with this knit black crop top and thought it went perfectly with my culotte pants I thought it was a good balance. I'm really into cool neutral color palettes so this kind of look is becoming a go to for me. Hope you enjoy  this and until next time

xoxo Lulu

Top:  Forever 21

Pant: H&M

Shoes: Forever 21

Bag: TJMaxx

Favorite Looks from the Emmy's 2015

 Because  I am a television junkie the Emmy's is my chance to see my television God's reap the fruit of their labor. A lot of my favorite Actresses were nominated, so the excitement was real, and it got really intense when my baby-father Jon Hamm finally won his long awaited Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama. The Best Lead Actress in a Drama category was most interesting for me because I actually watch all the shows in this category (except Orphan Black) all excellent actresses.  I was really rooting for either Taraji or Viola because if either one of then won it would be the first time in 67 years that a black woman took home the prize.Tears came to my eyes when Viola Davis won the award for Best Actress in a Drama because her speech was so outstanding here's a quote;

  "‘In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me, over that line. But I can’t seem to get there no how. I can’t seem to get over that line.’That was Harriet Tubman in the 1800s. And let me tell you something: The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there. So here’s to all the writers, the awesome people that are Ben Sherwood, Paul Lee, Peter Nowalk, Shonda Rhimes, people who have redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black. And to the Taraji P. Henson’s, the Kerry Washington’s, the Halle Berry’s, the Nicole Beharies, the Meagan Goods, to Gabrielle Union: Thank you for taking us over that line. Thank you to the Television Academy. Thank you.'"

 Viola Davis winning showed black girls and women of color that yes we can . Yes we can be on television, telling interesting, real life, and in-depth stories. She made an excellent point about opportunity and a lot of people got into their feeling when she specifically mention her hardship  and spoke about her experience as a woman of color. But I took it as her speaking about her struggle and sharing her truth as a black woman. Yes there are a lot of different hardships that women today in the film industry face such as sexism, and inequality in pay, but when you look at the hardships that  black and Hispanic women face you can't even begin to compare. 
   Another big win was Uzo Aduba for Outstanding  Supporting Actress in a Drama and Regina Hall for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited series all these women were amazing an well deserved their award, altogether it was an amazing show and a huge win for women of color. So here a few of my favorite looks. 

xoxo Lulu

Laverne Cox in Calvin Klein

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Mother monster slayed in two gorgeous Brandon Maxwell

Kerry Washington in Marc Jacob

Padma Lakshmi in  Romona Leveza

 

* Disclaimer: All photos used in this post do not belong to me.

Lupita Nyong’o for VOGUE

If there is one thing I love its a black girl that's killing it and Lupita definitely killed her Vogue photo shoot. I mean look at her she looks absolutely impeccable, her skin, the styling, the makeup everything is perfection. It is not very often that a woman of color is given such an opportunity ,and what really resonated with me about the photo shoot was how authentic she looked.

Although it happens more commonly now then before but I still felt honored to have one of my people on the cover of one the biggest high fashion magazines. Its not something that happens often and I just wanted to take a moment and shine a light on how times have changed. How it seems that us as Black and African women are being allowed to shine in our true skin which is beautiful. We are being allowing to embrace and show off our melanin with pride.This photo shoot gives hope to little Black and African babies who are insecure or may not even love themselves because they don't look like the people who are on these magazine or on television. Seeing Lupita makes me proud that I am a African woman.

xoxo Lulu

*Disclaimer all photos used in this post do not belong to me.

IRIS

    As I start to grow up and mature little by little there are certain types of women I find myself interested in. Especially in this day and age where women are allowed and even encouraged to be unfiltered and themselves. I love women who have a cause and do things that make them happy its truly inspiring. I first spotted Iris Apfel in a documentary on Bill Cunningham the photographer best known for his work in the New York Times street-style section. There was something so compelling about her, she just had such a presence that makes you want to know more about her. So of course I deep googled search her because I am obsessed with google and came up with the most fascinating information. 

    Iris Apfel has worked  for WWD, taken part in several design restoration projects in the White House for nine presidents. In 2005 the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum created an exhibition on Apfel's style it was called  Rara Avis ( Rare Bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel. And lets not even talk about her style because she is the most stylish 94 year old woman I've ever seen. The late Albert Maysles recently did a documentary on Apfel and I was so excited to watch but  with school I never got a chance. Luckily Film Forum in Manhattan was still showing the documentary and I finally got a chance to see IRIS on the big screen 2-3 week ago. It was completely worth the wait Iris Apfel is a complete goddess and I love everything about the life that she lives and her personality. She's one cool chick and she's definitely the type of woman I'd aspire to be like.
    A lot of girls think that in order to make it to the big girl table you have to stab people in the back or be a complete bitch. I love this era where older women are showing younger women that you don't have to be anything other then your true self. Not everyone can be the most beautiful person in the room but you can be the most friendliest, the smartest, the best writer,the most stylish.There are so many other things that we have to offer and by focusing solely on ones outside appearance we put ourselves into a box; when we have so much more to offer. Beauty is not everything because honestly we're all ugly in someones eyes so. Fuck em and be you embrace yourself for who  you are.

xoxo Lulu

(*Disclaimer:None of the pictures used in this post are owned by me.)

Fall Vibes

Okay maybe its because I'm just way too excited for winter but am I the only one who is completely captivated by this suede trend? I mean I am so obsessed with anything suede that its like so crazy. But then again I have always been really into bohemian dressing and the whole 70s vibe so it makes sense. Sometime last month I stumbled across the most wonderful pair of suede culotte pants from H&M and and I basically lived in them for like 2 weeks. ( I know I'm crazy you don't have to tell). I'm currently on the hunt for the perfect suede dress, skirt and grey suede knee-high boots for a decent price but I'm still looking. As I've said before I'm trying to change up my style to  something that is more simple and sophisticated by focusing on a specific color palette and reaching for color to spice things up a bit. The whole monochrome look with nudes, black, white, grey, olive, and hints of blush toned pink is something I've gravitated more toward lately when I'm shopping. School is starting in a couple of weeks so I noticed that when you have cleaner color palettes its way more easy to quickly throw an outfit together (especially when you wake up late and have approximately 15 minutes to take a shower, put on makeup, get dressed and be to the bus stop, just putting that out there). I get so much inspiration from fashion magazines like Nylon and Teen Vogue,  also other fashion bloggers, celebrities, photography of nature and the human body as well as my personal style icons like, Rachel Zoe, June Ambrose, Leandra Medine, Solange and the list goes on. I rounded up some of the different things that I've thought were really cool and inspiring and I hope you enjoy my little inspiration board. 

If you want to see more information on some all of the picture in my inspiration board  then check out my Tumblr here.

xoxo Lulu

Summer time Makeup

Hey guys I know its been forever but I'm back with a YouTube video of my summer time makeup. I hope you guys enjoy this makeup look and you'll be seeing more of me soon.

When it comes to makeup I'd say I have a fair relationship but honestly I like to keep it simple. Believe it or not but when I was younger I was  an extreme tomboy I mean climbing on the storage and pumping my muscles type of shit. And I had great pride in my battle wounds on my legs yes I was a real maniac for the outdoors. But things change and all of a sudden you care what other people think about you, and you start to spend more time in the mirror looking at yourself and wondering if you're pretty. The shit girls go through. Anyway back to makeup so since I'm kind of a tomboy at heart I don't really like too much makeup on unless I feel like being extra glamorous or am going out. I try not to wear makeup more then 3-4 times a w eek  and only when its necessary or else my skin starts to act up. When I first started wearing makeup in the 8th grade I wore black eyeliner and mascara then I moved to foundation then blush and recently I've started to dabble into bronzer and contour and all that madness. Makeup is something that is supposed to enhance your features so when partaking remember that you're not trying to hide who you are. I love simple barely there makeup personally because it makes me feel most like myself. So today's post is just showing you my essential most important products to have on my face on the days I decide to wear makeup.When it comes to  skin I like it to have a flawless look so I tend to be more willing to spend more on my foundation. I fluctuate between Mac Studio Sculpt NC50 in the spring and winter time when my skin is more fair and Maybelline FIT ME 360 in the summer for when I'm most dark.  I have a very round face so I do highlight under my eyes and I reverse contour with the same concealer to give me a little more dimension to my face. Then I bronze my cheekbones with CoverGirl Ebony Bronze and throw on  some highlight for where the sun hits my face and then finish off my face with mascara my signature nude lip. 

xoxo Lulu

Metropolitan Museum: China Through the Looking Glass

As I promised I'm back with a travel diary on the wonderful art exhibition that I saw on Monday with my best friend Adrieana. We finally went to go see the Costume Institute China Through the Looking Glass exhibition and guys when I tell you it was so beautiful like that's an understatement everything is fucking magnificent. I have seem a few of the other exhibitions that the Costume Institute has done and this one by far seems to be the biggest one. I was so surprised by how large it was but in a good way because you get to see many aspects of the Chinese culture, it was a very dense exhibition. Although there's  a lot of haute couture clothing on display you'll also see costumes, painting , sculptures, films, enchanted statues,and so much more interesting things as well.

 Of course it was very crowded but I understand why because all of the gowns on display of definitely pieces of art. Some of the designs that I saw really took my breath away, and many were done by some of the great in couture fashion names like Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, and Paul Poiret.I loved how the exhibition made me feel like I was a part of something really special and important. So if you live in NYC or plan to come to NYC and you haven't seen this exhibition I recommend you take you butt there to see it because honestly its breathtaking and you won't. I have a few of my favorite looks that I captured on my phone (please excuse the shitty quality) I hope you enjoy this little post . Until next time

xoxo Lulu

The top part of this gown is made out of shards of glass. How creative right?

Yes this is make out of actual china

Solutions 24 CLINICAL Correction Sticks

  When it comes to my skin I try to keep the products  that I use very simple nothing too fancy or fussy. Products that are heavily fragranced or have a lot of unnecessary ingredients tend to break out my skin . But a few weeks ago I was contacted by a company called  Solutions 24 CLINICAL to try out a few of their products that they recently launched.  Solutions 24 CLINICAL sent me their dark circle, dark spot,and puffy eyes correction sticks which are targeted to their approach of a easy to use anytime system. 

My skin is not the worst but I do get little breakouts of bumps on my cheek areas that usually take a few days to clear up. But when they do it usually leaves annoying dark spots that I can't seems to completely get rid of, so I was really excited to try the Solutions 24 CLINICAL Dark Spot Corrector Stick most of all. The shipping and customer service was impeccable and I was very impressed with packaging of the products, I love how innovative it looked. The correction sticks are very use and is not fussy at all as stated before I like things that are simple and Solutions 24 CLINICAL Correction Sticks are just that.

 I've been testing out the products on my skin and I like the texture of the sticks they don't leave a greasy or sticky residue after you rinse your skin which was surprising because I've had a lot of problems with that prior. So far I really like these products and  will be posting another post with pictures  of how my skin is progressing with these products. 

Also if any of you guys are interested  in buying any of the Solutions 24 CLINICAL products you can definitely find them nationally at any of your local Walmart stores and also online for a very affordable price. A lot of correction sticks at most stores are really expensive but these sticks are very fairly priced and so far seem of good quality. As I said before I'll be updating you next week on the products and I hope you enjoyed this post and until next time. 

xoxo Lulu

Outfit of The Day

Hey guys today post is just a quick outfit that I wore  to the Metropolitan Museum today. I've been wanting to go see the Costume Institute's exhibition for the longest so today I went with my best friend. Stay tune for my travel diary on the  exhibition it was literally life and I got some great pictures with my phone. 

xoxo Lulu

Top: Forever 21| Culotte: H&M| Purse: Olivia&Joy| Shoes: Call it Spring

Safari Mami

Welcome back to my blog and today this is going to be a quick blog post on an outfit I put together. So I'm going to share a secret with you don't judge me. Have you ever just been feeling yourself so you beat your face real quick and then throw on a cute outfit just to take pictures. Well I do so this was the result of my boredom on Wednesday and if I might say so myself I look GOOD (yes capital letters were required). Also you may have noticed something a little different about me and its my hair it's GREY. I've been wanting to do my box braid grey for the longest but I just didn't get around to it. So now I finally did it and I'm so obsessed with them. Comment down below and let me know what you think of them. Also check out the feature post I did with my sister Nyenpue it was really fun.

xoxo Lulu 

              

Romper: TJ Maxx | Clutch:Calvin Klein| Heels: Forever 21

Modern Day Spice Girl

Hey guys my name is Nyenpue I'm Lulu's third sister.

I've always been afraid to show my legs because of my scar on my lower right leg and my eczema but I'm starting to embrace it. Being a plus size girl in this society can be tough but it takes a certain spunk to face it  head on. Over the years I've learn to accept my flaws and my weight  embrace it love it and werk it. This outfit shows my growth. I can truly say I'm proud of the woman I've become. We all have flaws but it's up to you to set your own standard, find what makes you feel confident and go for it. I hope you enjoyed this post and be sure to leave comments down below.

xoxo Nyenpue

Shirt: Target

Skirt: BooHoo

Heel: Forever 21

Coat: BooHoo