It's finally AUTUMN and you know what that means! Cozy sweaters. Hot chocolate. A husband who stops complaining about being overheated (I have a sneaking suspicion that guys were intentionally made warm to balance out our naturally freezing toes. Maybe it's just me. ;)


And of course, maybe my favorite part of all is Halloween. I've always loved any good excuse to dress up and now that we have two little kiddos added to the mix I want my dream of coordinating family Pokémon costumes to become a reality. Dad will be Ash Ketchum, I'll be his #1 BFF Pikachu, Aria is Misty, and baby Ezra can be a swaddled-up Togepi which was Misty's egg-like buddy.


Since I love the idea of getting items that will work beyond just the one holiday costume, I've tried to be pretty intentional with getting a lot of value out of my purchases not only by picking out items that can be re-worn as everyday clothes, but also by taking advantage of the 5% cash back quarterly bonus categories from my Chase Freedom card. (Woohoo! Perfect timing! Just activate this quarter’s bonus categories, which includes department stores and wholesale stores before December 15th to take advantage of the earnings and it's good to go.) If you aren't already a Chase Freedom card member you can check it out here.


Because we used to live in the midwest with its gorgeous warm-toned foliage, I love incorporating that into our decor as a reminder of our hometown even though we don't quiiiiite get the same weather patterns here in Southern California. Right now Nordstrom Rack has the CUTEST fall décor. I couldn’t resist picking up a few new fall pieces to get our home ready for the holiday.


Getting Aria's costume was pretty easy since she already had the tank and shorts, so the best part were these red Converse sneakers from Nordstrom which she's already obsessed with. Ben's favorite t-shirts happen to be the 100% cotton Lacoste tees, so I picked up a blue one also from my beloved Nordies to pair with jeans for his everyday-Ash outfit as well. Comfy, easy, and able to be worn well after Halloween.


What do you guys think? Are you into couples/family coordinating outfits? What are you planning on doing for Halloween this year? Let me know in the comments!

Huge thank you to Chase Freedom for partnering on this post!

Anyone who struts around on the regular wearing kitty ears is a winner in my book! You guys all know Ariana Grande is a hyper-talented diva with the voice of an angel but she also has a signature look that I absolutely adore. Thick winged liner? Check. High ponytail? Check. Cute bustier, hot pants, and over-the-knee boots? Check.

Here's my Halloween look for the adorable Ariana!

I love Halloween season and I try to make it a point to create at least one crazy tutorial each year. Thank goodness that Guardians of the Galaxy had such a BA inspirational female lead! Not only is Gamora green and sexy (Kermit the Frog would have weak knees) but she's also strong and intelligent as well, just ignore the face that she's a skilled assasin. You guys. There are not enough Gamora characters out there for women to look up to.

Because she's just an all-around fantastic character inside and out, I chose to create this all-out green Gamora makeup and costume tutorial for you. Check it out below!

Today's Mani Monday is a Halloween nail art look that I've always wanted to do: Candy Corn! I've honestly never been a fan of eating candy corn but I love their iconic shape and color. Since I've grown out and filed my nails to a more pointed shape, I thought it would be the perfect look to spend the last few days before Halloween.

Hey everyone! As you can see, today's Halloween tutorial is what I consider to be epic and frightening - both words I associate with my current favorite anime Attack on Titan. There is a character seen in the first episode of the series that looks like a muscle skeleton which I thought would be perfect for Halloween this year. Tutorial and more pics below!

Today's tutorial is my rendition of the quintessential "sexy" animal costume. We've all seen the cute mouse or sexy cat roaming around each Halloween with their face makeup being no more than a black button nose and liquid eyeliner whiskers, right? This year I wanted to have something a little more out of the ordinary.

Some of you may remember my Lion Halloween Tutorial from a couple years ago. Because I had so much fun doing a feminized, semi-realistic animal before it made me want to try my hand again. I had this fox costume from my visit to Leg Avenue last year so I remixed the makeup to match the sly, exotic nature of the animal while retaining some of the realistic elements of shading and coloration of an actual red fox.


Check out the video and photos below!

Hello lovelies! It's now right before Halloween when plenty of you are probably knee-deep into preparing your costumes for the parties going on this weekend. Since a lot of costumes don't require a specific look, I thought I would do a more generic smoky eye look to compliment any costume. If you want to have striking, smoky charcoal eyes this year then watch the video below!

Products mentioned:
Makeup Up For Ever Mat Velvet + Foundation in 40
Urban Decay Primer Potion
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean and Cottage Cheese
Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette (Ace, Blackout)
MAC Eyeshadow in Shroom
Lioele All-in-One Gel Liner
NYX Auto Eyebrow Pencil
NYX Eyebrow Shaper
Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler
Covergirl Lash Blast Volume Waterproof mascara
NYX lashes in 101
NYX Blush in Pinky
NYX lip pencil in Red Hot
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in Bordeaux
NYX Round Lipstick in Eros

For the hair tutorial:
Rusk Thermal STR8 Protective Shine Tonic -this is old (current Rusk thermal shine product)
Bedhead "Wave Artist" Deep Wave Iron

Here are my pics of the look:

Hello everyone! With only a few days left until Halloween weekend is officially here, I wanted to do a tutorial that most of you could easily pull together last-minute. Today's look is on a boxer girl, which is an idea I came up with 3 years ago because I wanted to do something non-traditional that wasn't soley about being "sexy". I knew there would be plenty of Disney princesses and sexy creatures about, so why not do something a bit more man-repelling? ;)

Here it is folks, how to give yourself a (fake) black eye for a convincing boxer girl costume!

Products mentioned:
Makeup Up For Ever Mat Velvet + Foundation in 40
MAC Select Coverup Concealer in NC30
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette (Junkshow, Blackout)
Milani Liquif'eye Pencil in Black
Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil in Yeyo
Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler
Covergirl Lash Blast Volume Waterproof mascara
NYX lashes in 113
Eyeko Graffiti Eyeliner Pen in Black (current version here)
77 Eyeshadow Palette (no brand)
Sugarpill Eyeshadow in Buttercupcake
Wet & Wild Color Icon blush in Pearlescent Pink
MAC Lipglass in Revenge is Sweet (limited edition but I heard this looks similar)
Tarte Smooth Operator Powder

The brushes used in this tutorial were Sigma Make Me Cool brushes which you can browse here.


And here are some pics of the look:









I hope you guys enjoyed seeing something a bit different for Halloween tutorials! If you'd like to see my full costume back when I did this look originally you can find it here. Some people asked me if I really got hurt so I'd say the costume was a success!

I do want to mention, just because it inevitably came up on youtube comments, that this look in no way is trying to glamorize abusive relationships and violence toward women. On the contrary, I feel that the idea of the boxing girl costume is empowering because girls can be proud of themselves even if they aren't trying to be sexy. As I wrote in the Youtube annotations, people dress like vampires for Halloween but don't actually eat people in real life. Don't take it to seriously because, after all, it is just a costume. If we know right from wrong and empower ourselves with that knowledge, we can always use makeup to have a bit of fun. :)

Have fun trying out the look and let me know in the comments what you think! I'll have one last smokey eye tutorial to post before the big day that will work for any costume, so you can look forward to that soon. Until next time~

Makeup Up For Ever Mat Velvet + Foundation in 40
Graftobian Concealer Palette
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Urban Decay Naked Palette (Sin, Buck, and Virgin eyeshadows)
Eyeko Graffiti Eyeliner Pen in Black
NYX Eyelash Curler
Covergirl Lash Blast Volume Waterproof Mascara
Darkness VX lashes (similar here)
Urban Decay Urban Brow Pen in Brunette
NYX Eyebrow Shaper
Josie Maran bronzer in Beach #1
Wet & Wild Color Icon blush in Pearlescent Pink
NYX Lip Pencil in Natural
NYX Black Label Lipstick in Bling
IPKN It Gloss in Lilac

And here is my take of the look. Neutral colors, but more put-together than your average "natural" look. Slightly more defined brows, soft cheeks, gentle highlighting, and layered lip products to last all Halloween night! :)


Here you can see the whole look pulled together. I flipping love this Leg Avenue golden dress! I always, always wanted Belle's dress and this cute Halloween version makes me feel more princessy for sure. ^__^


And of course, my beloved Beast. Can't you tell we are in love? I looked past his snaggle tooth because come on, anyone who has an appreciation for roses and fine, bright blue-with-gold-trim suiting is a catch in my book.


Full-length images of the full outfit, hair, makeup, and heels. If you are interested in my actual "Storybook Beauty" costume, I am wearing size XS which is slightly too long in the torso on me but would be perfect for someone 5' or taller. Leg Avenue costumes are sold nearly everywhere though, so it shouldn't be too hard to find especially online. :)

A huge thanks to Daniel and the Leg Avenue team for sending me off with some fab costumes during my visit to the main office this past summer! You guys are SO creative and make me love dressing up for Halloween each year. <3

Also, my heels are from jgshoe.com which is a new petite shoe website which I am super excited to share with you since they carry heels that fit my petite feet. I actually stumbled upon them while browsing around so I'm looking forward to telling you more about them in the future. ;)

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and as always, I hope that this look will come in handy for the holidays or whenever you want to look a bit more polished!

Here they box up the orders which go around a crazy conveyor belt system. The headquarters only ships out to sellers, not to individuals, so it was a super interesting behind-the-scenes look at their process. I had the deep and sudden urge to sit atop a box to see where it would go but I held back because I was wearing a dress and I'm a lady.


 Next, he showed us around the office and ended up at the design studio for their in-house designers. Brace yourselves, baby, and take in one of the first things I spotted...


Alexander McQueens! Sitting nonchalantly on the windowsill! *jaw drop* I touched them and the leather was SO soft and the gold studs and skull zippers.... Did I mention they have an entire wall of high end designer shoes? Oh my. :D

 There was eye candy everywhere we looked! Fur, glitter, sequins, satin and lace, hats, racks and racks of costumes....


Catalogs of all of their past work year after year...


Hand-rendering markers in all the colors of the rainbow and everything in between! :D :D :D What I wouldn't have given to have resources like this while in design school!


Here are a few of the designers hard at work. Sooo much visual energy to take in.


One girl's amazing monitor. OMG right? I want one of those plushy monitor covers so bad! Where can you even get stuff like that?! I've never seen anything like it before.  =^__^=


I also got to pick out a few costumes for my upcoming Halloween tutorials this year and mentioned which ones I chose to the designers. When I brought up that a couple only came in size S/M, this kind designer knew it would be way huge on me and started taking a few measurements.


She then had me put on the actual costume and pinned it to fit. By this point I was so speechless! She was soooo generous and kind enough to offer to alter it to custom fit me. My face was like D: and very thankful.

One last group shot with some of the team. These ladies are sooooo so so so talented. It's too bad I can't show you their concept designs (those are confidential ;) but oh my goodness there are oodles of creativity and skill seeping out of every pore of that room!

Thank you SO MUCH to Daniel and the whole Leg Avenue team for letting me experience this amazing space with you! I absolutely cannot wait for the holidays this year to share with everyone the fruits of your love and hard work. <3


I hope you guys enjoyed coming along with me on my behind-the-scenes look at a really fun company. ^_^ I know I had a blast and I will never forget it! To browse Leg Avenue costumes, you can visit their site here or visit their Facebook page. I know they plan on doing costume how-tos (like how to properly fluff your fox tail...hehe) so it may be a good idea to check in again before Halloween.

Readers, have any of you worn any Leg Avenue costumes before? Let me know what you've tried in the comments!