Blog Awards: The Versatile Blogger & Liebster Blog

I don't think I've ever gotten a blog award, let alone TWO! I was nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by two of my absolute favorites: Emily of Southern Gorgeous & Coral of Keepin' Up With Coral and I was also nominated for the Liebster Blog Award by my best friend, Hannah of Grace Lamb. I'm so excited and honored to be recognized. :) Since the rules are relatively similar, I decided to combine it into one mega post. 

The Rules of the Liebster Blog Award

1. Choose 5 up and coming blogs to give the award to
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog
4. List the blogs you have awarded with their links, and leave a comment notifying them
5. Share random facts about yourself

The Rules of the Versatile Blogger Award

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award

2. Add an image of the Versatile Blogger Award

3. Thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link to their site

4. Share seven completely random facts about yourself

5. Include this set of rules

6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination

I nominate:

• A& C of The Kennedys Amongst the Kardashians 
• Jayme & Mendi of Her Late Night Cravings
• Jen of Food, Love, & Life
• Rachel of Musings
• Royar of My Life as A Young Southern Prep
• Mason of Mason like the Jar (She's one of my favorite tumblrs and she's new to blogger, so go follow her because she's great!)

 Facts:

• I learned Italian and English at the same time and used to be able to speak Italian fairly fluently.
• My spirit animals are Jess from the New Girl and Sophia Grace (as in Sophia Grace and Rosie on the Ellen Show hahaha).
• I'm extremely paranoid. I am full of every what if in the book.
• It's very rare for me to be wearing only one shade of foundation because nothing ever matches well. 
• I dream of wearing Lilly dresses while baking in my big white kitchen in between doing laundry and cleaning. 
• The first thing I ever baked from scratch were Red Velvet Cupcakes and those have been my signature ever since. 
• When I can't sleep, I shop online...it's a serious problem. 

xx- Dan

Current Fashion & Makeup - spiration

Surprisingly, one of the main reasons I use tumblr so frequently is for fashion, hair, and makeup inspiration. People I follow are constantly reblogging and posting pictures of celebrities at their finest. I can't even count the number of times that I've been stumped on what to wear one day and headed to tumblr for some inspiration. Just like my "housespiration" folder on my desktop, I also have a "fashionality/beautification," one used to keep pictures of wonderfully put together ensembles and perfectly done makeup.

Since this week is so void in lengthy posts, I thought this would be a perfect time to share a few of the pictures currently peaking my interest fashion and beauty wise. I hope this helps get a sense of my style. Definitely look out on Pretty Chatty for my first Outfit of the Day post where I actually use one of my celeb fashion inspiration pictures to create a perfect springtime outfit! (Disclaimer: I have no sources/credit because as previously mentioned, most pictures are saved from tumblr/pinterest, sorry!!!)

Fashion

Blogger, Danielle Bernstein, makes casual look so put together and pretty. I absolutely adore the mint green flowy sweatshirt and think that adding that to some denim shorts in the spring is a perfect transition.

Of all the Kardashians, Kourtney is my favorite because I adore her style, spunk, and of course her lovely boyfriend, Scott. I've definitely been channeling her style in this picture by pairing neutral chinos with a loose, flowy chiffon top in a bright color.

One of my biggest fashion inspirations is the always classic, Kate. This outfit is a little bolder for her because of the super fun coral pants, but I love that it is still perfectly her with the navy blazer, white top, and gorgeous printed scarf pulling all the colors together. Light scarves are a wonderful finishing touch to an outfit especially in the spring and summer time. 

It wouldn't be a fashion/beauty inspiration post with one (or two) pictures of Lauren Conrad. I don't know how many girls wouldn't call her their style crush. I love the lovely open knit sweater paired with dark skinnies and black pumps. This outfit may be too much for daytime for me, but it's great for a night out on a dinner date, to the movies, or a get together with friends. 

Makeup

Olivia Wilde's makeup looks so natural and flawless, that's what makes it enviable. The most dramatic part of her look is the slightly winged liner, but it's so understatement with a clean face and neutral lip.

Again, Lauren Conrad, always has such fun and classic makeup. I love the update to the classic black winged liner with the usual red lips. I think the pinky/berry lips make this so much more "spring time ready." 

One of my favorite things to do with my makeup wise to make my lash line look super dark and defined just like Taylor Swift has done here. I love the look of having tons and tons more lashes than I do. I think black liner on the lash line and tight lined really makes your look so much bolder even with a simple peachy pink cheek and pinky nude lip.

I hope you enjoyed a peek into what I've been loving lately for my own style!

xx - Dan

Announcing Pretty Chatty

This is a very exciting post for me! Today is the launch of mine and Hannah's new blog: Pretty Chatty!!

As many of you know, last June Hannah and I embarked as blogging partners with Beauty Forum on Tumblr. It was one of the most fun projects I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of. Unfortunately Tumblr may not have been the right outlet for us since not only do we each have our own separate pages, but it opened us up to a lot of unwelcome criticism for a project that was less than six months old. We hoped to be a successful beauty blog on Tumblr, but most on that website are looking for quick frequent posts with pictures of pretty makeup to be honest. Hannah and I also set out to be more than that. We took hours on posts because we wanted to be thorough and detailed, so our posts were definitely quality over quantity. It was well received by most, but we wanted more, but it wasn't the right time for either of us. Our lives became over run by work and school and our personal lives. Those were our priorities.

Now here we are, coming up on summer once again and ready to undertake a bigger better project for us here on Blogger. We miss blogging, we missing blogging together especially. We wanted Pretty Chatty to be all us, all the time. We're expanding our content from makeup and hair and beauty to everything really, our lives. There's so much more to us than makeup hauls and nail polish collections. We're excited to share that with our readers. Hence the name, Pretty Chatty. It's still the pretty part: the makeup, the beauty, but now it's us being chatty with our readers about other aspects of ourselves. 

Hannah is one of my absolute best friends in the world and I'm so lucky to be starting another project together. I hope you'll head over there to check it out and follow. Pretty Chatty is going to be big, we have big hopes for it and we hope you'll join us.

xx - Dan

Favorite Blog Time!!!

On my Crapberry, one of the few cool things I have is a built in "Social Feeds" app with Social media like Tweets and Facebook News Feed Updates in one screen and then the other screen is for RSS. I thought it would be pretty cool to give a shout out to those blogs that I find myself checking and refreshing my app for most frequently. I have quite the eclectic bunch of blogs ranging from the obvious beauty to lifestyle and even some mommy blogs...yep, I'm one of those girls.

1. Cupcakes and Cashmere - If you're not reading this blog, you're crazy. Seriously Emily (we're on first name basis...jk haha) has the greatest variety of blog posts from recipes to fashion to makeup. I love seeing her blog posts pop up because it's always something new and well put together. 
2. Sunday Morning Sugar - I think I've been reading Malori's blog for well over a year and she has never disappointed. She's well on her way to having the next Cupcakes and Cashmere type blog. Her recipes are divine and her style is so freaking cool with proof in her fashion, home decorating, and her cute DIY's. Definitely check her out if you haven't!
3. Amarixe - Allison is one of my favorite youtubers and has one of the most consistently updated blogs. I love that there is a variation between her videos and blog posts. Her posts feature swatches, in depth reviews, nail of the days, etc. It's a definite must read for any makeup addict. 
4. Musings - I'm a little biased since Rachel is my best friend, but her blog is one of my favorites. She is constantly posting what's on her heart and inspiring my faith all the time. She is a talented writer and has such a way with words that makes me feel like she's been reading my mind. (This is how we became so close.) 
5. Her Late Night Cravings - Another one of my favorite Youtube channels is this fabulous pair of ladies: Jayme & Mendi. Hannah introduced me to their blog and channel and I was hooked. They have such in depth and honest reviews with a lot of laughs and fun along the way. They're great to watch and there's always something new and exciting on their blog!
6. Dear Baby - I'm a long time reader of Melissa Jordan's, since before their first child, Everly, was born and they were really just letters to her. I've fallen in love with their family and her honest posts about life, love, and children. One day I hope to have such an optimistic outlook on my life even when it's sometimes a little chaotic and overwhelming.
7. Carly Cristman - Carly is everything I wish I could be. She's in one word, fabulous. If you've never seen her Youtube videos, they're unlike anything I watch. They're so well edited and fashionable and amazing basically. Her blog is definitely a supplement to her Youtube channel with even more style posts, nail posts, reviews, and such. 
8. The Kennedys Amongst the Kardashians - These ladies have one of my favorite "preppy" inspired blogs. It's so unique and there is truly something for everyone. Their outfits are always so wearable and put together and I love their little features like "Mind Your Manners Mondays." It's definitely a girly girl's paradise. 
9. Project Baby - I think I found Kristen's blog through Dear Baby above and fell in love. She's one of the fashionable moms/pregnant women I've ever seen. It's crazy. I love reading her heartfelt posts and seeing her awesome pictures especially of her daughter, Tinsley's nursey. Oh man it's to die. I'm super stoked that she's pregnant again so I can relish in some more months of pregnancy posts. (I'm so creepy, whatever, I love mommy blogs!)
10. Southern Gorgeous - One of my "newest" favorite blogs, but definitely not one of my new favorite girls, since I've known Em for quite a while now. She shares a makeup addiction much like mine and Hannah's and her new blog is all dedicated to that love. I'm super duper excited because I'm constantly going to her for recommendations and such!!! 

Definitely check out all of the lovely ladies above, they're worth a look for sure!!

xx - Dan