Beauty

Tips and outfit ideas for a professional conference!

Last month I attended by first conference— the Black Entertainment Sports Lawyers annual conference in Panama City, Panama.

For the first time in forever, I did not shop for any outfits; I used what was in my closet! Crazy, right? Since this was a professional conference, during the day I wore my usual work attire, and conservative, yet stylish, outfits for the social events.

I shop almost exclusively at Loft or Ann Taylor for my professional clothes—they’re great quality and almost always have a sale! I recommend them to everyone looking to build or update their professional wardrobe. NY&Company also has great options. Pro/tip—I go crazy during major sales (black Friday, New Years, and other holidays in between) so I never pay full price for anything.

4 tips to help prepare your wardrobe

Think of a conference like an extended after work happy hour/networking event! Its still a professional setting, but a bit more relaxed.
Pack your outfits ahead of time. Review your itinerary and lay out each outfit for each part of the day.
Be comfortable! Wearing a full suit all day over multiple days isn’t comfortable, especially if you’re in a warmer climate. Keeping it business casual is a safe bet.
Ask around! What did your peers wear last year? Is there a recommended attire?

Below are the outfits I chose for this conference. I’ve linked what’s still available to the pictures below! Unfortunately, I purchased these pieces years ago, so they’re no longer in stock. 😦

A casual look

Professional Slays

Where do you shop for your professional attire? I’d love to know!

I SAID “YES” TO MY DRESS!!!!!!!

Soooooooo after trying on over 30 dresses at 4 different bridal shops; I found my dress!!! I planned a bridesmaids trip to NYC a couple weekends ago; I did not intend on finding a dress, but low and behold, I did.

Initially, dress shopping was fun! I was excited to finally play dress up. I knew early on which style of dress I preferred, so that narrowed my options fairly quickly.

Before Sam proposed, I fell in love with Pronovias’ design. A bride that I followed chose a Pronovias gown for her big day and when I saw it on her, I had to have it. I ended up trying it on, but it wasn’t the one. But, I found the one at the Pronovias flagship store in New York. The stylist, Sam, (what a coincidence!) was super sweet and patient. The appointment ran over by about 30-ish minutes, because I couldn’t take the dress off!! Ughhhh I’m obsessed. STILL.

After multiple trips I learned a few things that every bride should consider.

1. Research the bridal salons to determine the style of dresses they carry and if its compatible with what you want. Every salon has a list of designers they carry which aligns with their price range and style. Research each salon’s social media and website prior to booking your appointment.

2. Book an appointment and book it early. 99% of salons are appointment only and each appointment is about 1.5 hours. Book as far in advance as you can.

3. Limit who you go shopping with: others’ opinions—especially their preferences —will sway your decision. My friends loved a dress similar to this one! Its more of their style, not mine, so I knew it wasn’t the dress for me.

4. Don’t rely on other peoples’ views of a dress to determine whether you like it.

5. Your reaction to your dress will differ from others! Just because other brides cry, doesn’t mean you will, and thats OK!

6. Be confident in what you like and what you don’t like. This goes back to my first point. If your friends like a style that you don’t, don’t cave because the dress might look great on you.

7. Its OK to “sleep on it.” I didn’t buy my dress right away, but I still knew that it was the one for me.

Enjoy it! This is supposed to be a fun time. This moment was bittersweet for many reasons, so I wasn’t 100% happy the entire time. But I was extremely happy when I tried on my dress and decided that its the one! AHHHHHH

Can’t wait to share pictures of the dress!

Jaclyn Hill Palette: My Favorite Looks

Wellllllll hellloooo there!!!

If you haven’t been living under a rock, then you know about the absolutely amazing Morphe and Jaclyn Hill Palette!!
I was a bit hesitant to purchase this when it first came out , but I’m so happy I did! It’s probably my favorite palette at the moment. All the colors are extremely pigmented, super blendable, and most importantly (to me) brown girl friendly!

Ive been playing around with the palette for a few days now and below are a few pictures of my most recent looks !

Continue reading “Jaclyn Hill Palette: My Favorite Looks”

Fall 2016 Makeup Series: Titanium Copper & Brown Eyes

Well hello there!

A year ago I started the Fall Makeup series on the blog, and I wanted to keep it going! This post, as you can tell from the title, is an intro into Fall 2016 makeup trends. As usual, I will include step by step pictures and linking the products I used. (My lighting tried to play me, but I kept pushing. )

Continue reading “Fall 2016 Makeup Series: Titanium Copper & Brown Eyes”

Thanks, Influenster!

Hey all! This post is going to be a little different because its kind of sponsored. I never thought I’d actually be saying that. lol For those that don’t know, there is a company called Influenster that sends complementary products for testing purposes, with a decently sized social media following. That includes instagram, facebook, twitter, blog, youtube, etc. First your sign up, link your social media accounts, and based on your interests and your social media presence, Influenster will send you emails asking a few questions to determine if you’re a good fit for a certain campaign. So far I’ve received two influenster boxes- a ralph lauren fragrance box and the most recent one, an Ole Henriksen box.

Continue reading “Thanks, Influenster!”

2 years natural- what I’ve learned

Hello all! Long time no post. Its been a couple weeks since I’ve posted, not because I don’t have anything to write about, but because its finals season for me. My first exam is in 20 days so I’ve been focusing on STUDYING! I’ve given up all social media except for this blog and Instagram…but I might be gone from the blog too 🙊

Continue reading “2 years natural- what I’ve learned”

Spring Makeup Series:Metallic+Purple

Its been pretty warm the past week in Columbus so I felt inspired to try a different eyeshadow look! I really wanted to buy the MannyMUA palette with Makeup Geek, but it sold out and I gave up makeup shopping for Lent so it was a no-go lol. I decided to use some colors I already have that look similar to the shades in the palette.

Spring is here!!!!! I’m so excited to bring out all my warm shades because Spring makeup is my favorite!! I love my pinks, purples and nudes of course. I hope you guys like this. Here we go.

Continue reading “Spring Makeup Series:Metallic+Purple”

ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip Swatches!

Helloooo!! Thank you all so much for all the love on my last post! To all my new and seasoned followers: THANK YOU!!!!

In my last post I swatched my Colourpop lippies and eyeshadows, now in this post you actually get to see what the colors look like on the lips! So, here it goes!!!

Continue reading “ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip Swatches!”

Colourpop, thank you!

Let’s try this again, shall we. I published this last week, but I scheduled it for a two weeks ago instead of the present date. So if you signed up to receive my emails and clicked on this post , it didn’t appear. Let’s hope this re-post fixes that problem.

Sooooooooooooo I have a slight obsession with Colourpop and heres why.

Continue reading “Colourpop, thank you!”

Lets play with some colors!

First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the likes and comments I received on my last post! My phone kept going of every minute for about 10 minutes straight. I seriously thought there was a glitch with WordPress 😂.

Continue reading “Lets play with some colors!”