Sun's Out, Brits Out

Spring has definitely sprung, and I couldn't be happier.

The past few days in London have been absolutely glorious. With no more work or classes that means constant frolicking around this beautiful and lively city. (Also possibly, maybe spending more money, but you only London once, right? Sorry, mom and dad.) My friends and I have been making the most of the beautiful weather - eating street food picnic-style, riding bikes around Hyde Park, and visiting local flower markets.

My legs were not ready for the bike ride through Hyde Park

Trafalgar Square

View of the Thames from South Bank

Picnic in the park

Colombia Road Flower Market

A gorgeous variety of roses 

Mini photo shoot in the sunshine

As you can tell by the last picture, nicer weather means more skin. As soon as it reaches the 60s, Brits pull out their shorts and dresses. It's great walking around places like Camden, Shoreditch, Primrose Hill, and Hyde Park. Everyone is picnicking, relaxing in the sun, or socializing outside in the pub gardens or on the rooftop with a pint in hand.

There's nothing like a sunny day in London - the vibe is fantastic. It's made me fall in love with this city even more. I can't believe I only have a month and a half left. It has gone by so fast, and I don't want to leave. But I'm excited to make the most of the rest of my time here with my best friends by my side.

Live wild and stay classy,
Em

The Devil Wears...Ralph?

Yet again it’s been over a week since I’ve written a post. Classes are nearing the end, and I’ve been extremely busy with final presentations and papers. Last time I told you guys that I was studying abroad in London. What you don’t know is that I’m also working here as well.

The past eleven weeks I’ve been interning at Ralph Lauren, and not at the store. I am at the offices, with all the other classy, British working folk. I get on the tube in the morning, ride into Oxford Circus, and walk to the office building on New Bond Street. It’s absolutely lovely over there. I pass Jimmy Choo, Chanel, Dior, and Burberry on my way there, a wonderful walk for a fashion lover like myself. (I must admit that I do feel a tad out of place.)

Fourth floor lobby.

 I intern in the womenswear buying department, helping the co-buyers and BAAs (Business Administrative Assistants). I work a lot with Excel and Powerpoint – updating buy sheets, creating stats by door and showroom ownership documents, and making best seller presentations every week.

I also create buy boards, which look similar to this. They show the
senior buyer what the team plans on buying for the upcoming season.

The four girls I work for are in their twenties so work is a lot of fun. One girl is always talking about her wedding, and another about her new puppy. There’s actually no “devil” at Ralph Lauren. Everyone I work with is so nice and always willing to help if I have a question – I would definitely work there in the future.

Working for a fashion company, especially in the buying department has showed me that I definitely want to be in fashion and probably become a buyer. I’ve been applying to fashion internships for the summer, so hopefully I’ll be working for another fashion company in LA in a few months.

Look out for more posts - I promise I'll be back in a few days! In the meantime...

Live wild and stay classy,

Em

London Called...

So what did I do? I crossed the pond and headed for the UK.

I'm only half kidding - I didn't just decide to travel to London on a whim. I'm studying here until the end of May, and surprise!...I've been here since January 6th! I'm actually really upset with myself. I said I was going to blog while I was over here but as we can see time slipped away from me and before I knew it...no blog posts.

BUT, there is no point in dwelling on the past. So I will attempt to catch all of you lovely followers up on the craziness and adventure that has been my life for the past two and a half months. (I'm laughing to myself given the fact that I probably have a whopping total of about three regular readers, two of which are my parents).

Anyway, London...what an amazing journey it's been so far! My flight to Heathrow left Dulles Airport at 10 pm so I arrived in London around 10 am. Surprisingly, I wasn't too tired - all the adrenaline and excitement took care of that. I arrived to my flat around early afternoon, my program leader gave me a quick tour of the area (shoutout to Global Semesters), and then I headed back to my room to relax.

Later that night my friend texted me asking if I wanted to go on a pub crawl. Now I've never been one to party, but I was in London so was I going on a pub crawl my first night in London? Hell yes. It was a good time and I met a bunch of new people. (Quick tip though - if you're going on a pub crawl...do not wear heels. I swear I had tendonitis for like a month, I could barely walk.)

My first week in London was class and work free, which was great. It allowed me to get my bearings, become familiar with the city, and meet a few friends before the craziness that is my life would begin.

I'll write some more posts detailing bigger events and trips I've taken, but for now here are a few pictures of some of the things I've seen in London.

Big Ben!

The Eye is huge close up! I went on it at night so I'll post pictures from that trip later

I just had to get a phone booth pic

Primrose Hill - it looks beautiful but for the five minutes we had to walk
up the hill there was an awful wind and painful rain. It all subsided and
looked gorgeous as soon as we got to the top. That's London weather for you!

Tower Bridge at night

Hyde Park - it was absolutely beautiful the day my friend and I went

Camden Lock Market - the most delicious food, and so much variety

Brick Lane - this area has some of the coolest street art

La Creperie de Hampstead....I'm not going to even try and explain how
delicious these crepes are. Just know - dark chocolate and hazelnut...yeah

That's all for now! I have tons of pictures I still need to upload, so I'll be sure to add more soon. However, I will leave you with this..

Live wild and stay classy,

Em

Thanksgiving OOTD and Makeup

Hello lovelies!

I know it's been a while. To be honest, while I have been somewhat busy, I also haven't had much to write about the past week and a half. Monday and early Tuesday I packed and got ready to go home for Thanksgiving break. It's been awesome to spend time at home and see my family - I haven't seen them since August! I've also been doing some shopping for a special trip I'll be taking in about a month. (I'll tell you about that very soon!) I'll probably post a mini haul this week showing the stuff I picked up at the Black Friday sales.

Anyway, as most of you probably know, Thursday was Thanksgiving for us Americans. Most of my family went to my grandparents' house where we had a huge feast, caught up and celebrated, and of course finished off the night with coffee and pumpkin pie (my favorite). I just wanted to show you guys my outfit that I wore as well as my makeup look.

Sweater - H&M
Vest - Ya Los Angeles
Leggings - Theory
Booties - Stuart Weitzman
Crossbody - Forever 21

I wore a loose, burgundy sweater with a grey vest. I'm not really sure how to describe the vest other than that it's somewhere between fuzzy and shag-like, which sounds really weird, but I swear it's cute. I paired it with black leggings and grey, suede booties. Accessories included my black cross body bag, my tortoise shell Michael Kors watch, and a few gold and silver rings.

For makeup, I decided to do a neutral eye, with champagne on the inner half, brown on the outer half, and a deep olive-brown on the outside corner to help my eyes pop. Lately, I've been using Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On pencil in Whiskey, but I lost it so I used a dark grey (almost black) Rimmel pencil from my mom. Maybelline has always been my go-to for mascara and currently I'm hooked on The Rocket. For my lip, I used Revlon's Just Bitten lip stain in Midnight topped with e.l.f.'s Essential Lipstick in the color Gypsy.

I hope all of you had a lovely day with family and friends.

Em

Empeccably Polished - Behind the Name

Before I get accused of misspelling impeccably, I just want everyone to know that it was on purpose. My name is Emily (obviously) and sometimes people call me Em, so i spelled it empeccably instead of impeccably Clever right?

But that's not all - polished has two meanings, the first meaning refined, sophisticated, and professional. The second meaning nail polish/varnish/lacquer. (Occasionally, I can actually be witty.)

As my bio reveals, I am a struggling nail polish addict. (Don't worry ladies, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Although, I'm not quite sure this is an addiction I want to break.) I have over 150 nail polishes and I am continually buying more. Every time I go anywhere I head straight for the beauty section. My friends scold me to try and help, but it's just no use. If I want to buy another color, I'm going to buy it.

This is a picture of my nail polish rack. Not all of them fit so I've had to put some in bins, but it holds the majority. My dad got it for me two Christmases ago - one of the best gifts I've ever received! As you can tell, my favorite brands are Essie and Revlon. Although Essie's brush is a little small, I really like the formula and the range of colors. Revlon's formula and color range are great too and, in my opinion, is a lot harder to chip than some other brands.

I've also been getting into nail art. I'm not that good yet, but I've definitely improving. After following numerous nail Instagrams, I figured out the types of tools I needed to create various designs and bought it (cheap) from Amazon or ebay.

I'm really busy with school right now so I haven't done anything intricate lately, but here are some designs I've done in the past.

I'll probably start doing nail art posts soon, especially if they're requested. If you guys have any specific ones you want to see just let me know, I'd be happy to make a tutorial.

Until next time,

Em

1920's Southern Soirée

Hello readers and fellow bloggers!

I thought I'd start my blog off with a post about my fraternity's 1920's southern soirée semi-formal. For those of you who don't know what a fraternity is, here is a quick explanation. Usually, fraternities are exclusive to guys (while girls join sororities), but my fraternity is an co-ed honors fraternity, so it's open to anyone.

Anyway, back to my semi-formal. Semi-formals are generally less dressy than formal. Girls usually pick short, party dresses compared to long dresses or gowns, while guys wear collared shirts and jackets instead of suits or tuxes.

Here's a picture of me in my dress.

While the dress is beautifully beaded and fit the theme extremely well, there's something else that makes it so great. It was only $10. Yes, you heard right. I found this lovely dress this summer at my local Salvation Army for only $10. When I first saw it, I had no idea where I would wear it, but couldn't pass up such a deal. While the slit in the back had been ripped, I knew it would be easy to sew. As soon as I heard what the theme for semi-formal was, I knew exactly what I would be wearing.

I also had the perfect pair of Calvin Klein shoes that my grandma had given me a year or so ago. The black velvet, low, chunky heel, ankle strap, and rounded toe give the perfect 1920's feel.

Of course I had to add a head piece. I had originally bought a black sequined headband with a white feather attached, but realized there wasn't white in the beading until my mom sent it to me in the mail. (I'm currently at school and hadn't brought the dress with me.) But I still think this jeweled black headband worked quite well.

My friend curled my hair, I added a black smokey eye, put in some fake pearl stud earrings, and I was ready to go. After taking plenty of pictures, my friends and I headed to the bed and breakfast where the event was being held. There was a photo booth, southern style cooking, pool, and great music and dancing. Here are some pictures from the night.

My roommates and me.

We think we're hardcore.

Eating dinner at the venue.

Overall, it was a lovely night with some of my best friends.

Love always,

Em