Winter Styles with Firmoo

Disclosure: I was provided this free product in exchange for my review of these glasses for Firmoo.com. Any opinions are 100% my own.

A little while back I got some prescription glasses from Firmoo.com. I love wearing them, they're perfect for nights in when I want to take out my contacts and relax my eyes. They're also super durable. So when Firmoo contacted me a second time, I was more than happy. Since I now have two prescription glasses, and  I was in need of a new pair of sunglasses I opted for a style that would work as sunglasses. 

Fall Stitchfix Review

Last week I received my third Stitchfix. If you don't already know what it is, you can see my first review here. 

This month was alright. It wasn't as disappointing as some other fixes I've seen on other blogs, but still not the best. I think I have a new stylist. I can't remember the name of my last stylist for whatever reason, but this time I had Jessica style me. If you follow me on Snapchat (hint, you should @alannaandco) you got a whole video review too. But if you missed out on the fun, here it is right here. 

Jayne Dress by Collective Concepts

$88 - Returned. It was small but it was just too big for me. The shoulders didn't line up for me and I would have wanted it a bit more form fitting around my waist. It didn't help my shape whatsoever, and for the price it wasn't worth it. 

Sabrina Yoke Detail Blouse by Papermoon

$44 - Kept. Simple, cute blouse. I don't have a hot red blouse anyways, so why not. 

My New Unexpected Love: Press-on Nails

Like most girls, I definitely like a good spa day once a month (or more...) but sometimes a girls gotta stick to her budget. I don't know about you but whenever I paint my nails, they typically last a day or two before they get chipped. To fix that I would used to go and get a gel manicure at the salon, but each manicure costs $20+ and you need to go back every two weeks or so. Ah! No thank you.

Now here's how you can get salon looking nails, that last for 1-2 weeks for a quarter of the price. Press-ons. Yeah, you heard me right!

How I Pamper My Skin

A little while back I was invited to review Spongelle's body buffer and pedi buffer and absolutely loved them. You can read more about those on my What's In and What's Out. Hint: They were "in"!

Just a little bit ago, Spongelle reached back out to me about another opportunity to try out one of their  other products. This time it was the anti-cellulite contouring body buffer.

The Anti-Cellulite Contouring Buffer is a dual sided Body Contouring Buffer while massaging, smoothing, exfoliating, and detoxifying areas prone to cellulite. Spongellé Body Buffers are an amazing way to care for your skin. They are infused with exotic extracts, rich moisturizers and gentle cleansers to keep your skin youthful & glowing use after use. One of a kind fragrance blends and a creamy lather make Spongelle the most luxurious bathing indulgence for your body and mind.

Starla's American Journey

Products c/o of Chewy.com in exchange for an honest review. 

About once a month, Starla gets lucky and gets more mail than I do.



This month they have a new line of products that came out called American Journey, exclusive to Chewy.com. So they decided to let us try some of their new line.

 She might have also got a cute new bandanna. I swear this girl looks good in every color. It's not fair!

At first, Starla wanted to try her Beef Tripe chews. She thought they smelt lovely and tasted delicious. She might have also been mad at me about how sunny it was, and that I insisted on taking her photos.

Her favorite trick is give a paw. 

If you have a dog and haven't heard of bully sticks, you are missing out! They are made from 100% all natural USA beef with no fillers or artificial colors, or flavors. They are the best alternative to rawhides, which aren't the healthiest for your dog.

Starla is a crazy chewer and these can entertain her for a nice long time. She'll do all sorts of crazy tricks for a little bully stick. 

We received the American Journey Curly Bully Stick, bully stick, roasted marrow bone, beef tripe chews, and just turkey jerky. Her favorites are the bully stick (of course) and the turkey jerky. She thinks they smell and taste delicious. 

What type of treats to you give your furry friend? Have you tried out Chewy.com?

Say hello to this month's sponsor:

What's in and What's out - Beauty Edition

Affiliate Links: If you make a purchase after clicking some of the links below, I may make a small commission.
Sponsored: Spongelle products were given to me in return for a honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

I've recently been trying a lot of new makeup and beauty products because I've actually been paying more attention to my skin, I'm trying to be a good blogger and take more photos of myself, and the fact that I'm single again also adds to that. So here's what I've been trying recently:

What's In

L'Oreal True Match Compact Makeup - Thank you L'Oreal! I use their powder foundation and it's my absolute favorite. Not only it is cheap, but it's lightweight, has SPF, and matches perfectly. I tried out this compact to carry around with me and I love it juts as much! Lightweight but has just enough coverage and SPF 17!

Neutrogena Nourishing Eyeliner - I've previously been using pencils but they don't come out intense enough for a good cat eye. This one is a pen that comes on nice and smooth, but has a smudger built-in if I want to soften up the line. 

Nyx Eyebrow Cake Powder - Alright, so I'm still learning with this. I've only just started to fill-in my eyebrows so maybe this product isn't the best of all products but I like it for what I need right now. It's cheap, easy to use, and stays in place. They give you these silly tiny brushes though. I just use my own from my set.

Elf Eyelid Primer - Cheap, easy to use, works well. What else do I need to say? I think most Elf products fall under this category!
Spongelle Infused Body Buffer - I had never heard of these until just recently when my roommate got some from Anthropologie. They are amazing! Spongelle sent me one body buffer that was Ginger Bergamont infused and a pedi-buffer that was Mandarin Mint infused.

The body buffer already has body wash, so you can literally just use the buffer as a loofah. Another problem when I usually exfoliate is that the exfoliators are too rough on my skin and don't feel so great, but the Spongelle buffer felt awesome and as soon as I got out of the shower I felt fresh, clean, and smelling great. I can't wait to use them both up and buy some more.

What's Out

Maybelline Master Kajal Eyeliner - Honestly, when I put this eyeliner on, I love the way it looks, how easy it is to apply, how it's thick and dark enough but not too intense. The absolute worst part about it is that is it super smudgy. I end up looking like this after about 30 minutes (even with primer!)

Maybelline Hi-Light Bronzer - I was definitely disappointed with this. First of all, they have the same product as bronzer and blush. Of course, I accidentily picked up bronzer instead of blush but whatever, because in the summer I tend to use a bronzer as a blush (I hope that's not a make-up faux pas that I don't know about...) I had to put a TON of it on for it to really show up. I like my old Milani bronzer better. 

Have you used any of these products? What do you think of them? Or maybe you can send some suggestions my way!

Say hello to this month's sponsor:

Firmoo Eyeglasses Review

I'm not sure many of you realize this, but I am blind as a bat! I've worn glasses since elementary school and got contacts as soon as I started to play sports in middle school (aka I got teased and called four-eyes one too many times). 

I wear contacts as soon as I wake up and walk Starla to the minute I lie down in bed. I just don't particularly like wearing my glasses because I don't find them that stylish and I like being able to see peripherally.

Then, Firmoo contacted me. Firmoo has an extensive selection of eyeglasses that you can choose from and all the frames were very fashionable. I was a little hesitant at first about ordering glasses on-line, because I am super picky about my glasses and like to try on 100+ pairs at the optometrist's. Their website is very easy to use and has a Virtual Try-On that worked really well. I virtually tried on about five of them before I found a pair that I fell in love with. Since I was ordering prescription I was a bit nervous about inputting all my prescription numbers, but they even had an image upload option for your prescription. Pretty error-proof!

The glasses came in a couple weeks and were exactly as promised. They even gave me a cute case, cleaning cloth, screwdriver, and drawstring pouch. The frames I chose were plastic frames and actually feel more heavy-duty than my frames I bought from my optometrist last year. 

How do you think they look?

Do you need a new pair? New customers can get 50% off their first pair of frames! And if you are reliant on glasses like me, that's a steal!

Linking up with Melissa.

The glasses were sent to me for free by Firmoo, to review. All opinions are my own.

Cooking for One

I don't know about you but my least favorite thing to do is to cook for one. No wonder why I had a terrible diet before I moved in with my boyfriend. So that's why I'm happy whenever I find quick, easy, and simple dinner that I can make for nights when I'm home alone. 

Giant has recently launched their new line of internationally inspired foods. They taste just as good as take-out but at a quarter the price! They have great items like potstickers, egg rolls, Mandarin orange chicken, General Tso chicken, sesame chicken with brown rice, Japanese fried rice, pesto pasta and bruschetta mixes, in addition to other varieties.

I got the Sweet Fire Orange Stir Fry. It was yummy, savory, and quick. I had an amazing meal ready in 8 minutes. Yum!

 The only thing I'll say, however, is the frozen meals for two is more like a frozen meal for one and a quarter. Too much for me for one sitting yet not enough for a full meal of leftovers.

Overall, definitely pick these up for your next "home alone" night at your local Giant!

This post was sponsored by Giant Food. All opinions are mine alone. 

Hair Challenges: Dry Shampoo

So, here's a little bit of information about my own hair, I have fine stick-straight black hair. I used to have highlights that I'm now growing out. Here's a pic of my right after the hair stylist with a blow dry and a round brush.

Currently, I have to wash my hair every day and it makes me cry on the inside a little bit. I think I've conditioned it since high school when I worked out on a daily basis and had to wash it. It is so used to being washed daily that it just gets oily really fast to replenish the oils I wash out with regular shampoo on a daily basis. Now, I'm trying to be better to my hair and only wash it every other day but it drives me nuts when my hair gets oily because it just sticks straight and flat to my head and looks awful! I'm really trying to start using dry shampoos on my off days and have used a couple different brands. Here's my review. 

1. Tresemme Fresh Start. There are actually 4 different types of dry shampoo's in this line one for damaged hair, one for fine oily hair, one for straight hair, and one for curly hair. I tried the fine oily hair one and it really didn't seem to work. If anything, it made my hair more weighed down and didn't affect the greasy-ness at all.

2. Herbal Essences Naked Dry Shampoo. I got this one as a freebie with my shampoo and conditioner. It's all natural (which kind of made me worry that it wouldn't be so good...) It actually worked decently, all though I had to use a lot of it before it made a difference. It also didn't spray on white which is a big plus for girls with dark hair like me! I keep it around for work trips because it's nice and small.

3. Not Your Mother's Dry Shampoo. My favorite so far. It's cheap and available at target. It dries really fast, so work it in with your fingers right away and then brush it out, instead of letting it sit. It doesn't leave any white residue on my dark hair so that's a huge plus. So far, my best technique is spraying it on before I go to bed and just working it in with my fingers and then brushing it out the next morning (and maybe applying a little more to my bangs or the crown of my hair.)

4. Umberto Dry Shampoo. I think this was the first dry shampoo I bought and I thought, "Screw this, dry shampoos don't work," It was one of the higher rated dry shampoos on Cosmopolitan (should have known better). It's more expensive and smaller than Not Your Mother's. Unfortunately, it leaves a crazy residue. It works well for my bangs, but if I want to use it for my whole head I would look like I'm greying. When I was able to finally brush out the extra residue, it does give you some pretty good volume.

I'm sure different dry shampoos work for different people but this is how it works for me. I've also heard great things about Batiste, so that is definitely my next product to try after I'm done with Not Your Mother's. 

How often do you wash your hair? What's your favorite dry shampoo?

I'll be making a series of my hair challenges so keep around for some posts like Dry Shampoo Tips, How to Curl Stick-Straight Hair (and make it stay!), easy up-dos for the average lady, and more. If you want me to post about anything specific, of course, let me know!

P.S. A huge thank you to Christine for telling me about Canva! Can you tell I used it on the top image? Love it.

Stitch Fix Review

As you know, I am no fashion blogger. I can't selfie for the hell of me, I wish I could do an OOTD, and my handy-photographer (my boyfriend) has been conveniently MIA when I needed him! 

Anyways, I'm sure a ton of you have heard of StitchFix and if you haven't I suggest you give it a try. I had heard a lot of mixed reviews on the subscription box. Basically, you fill out this long "Style Profile" of what type of clothes you like, what your sizes are, what you prefer (they can send clothes, accessories, and jewelry.) You have to pay a $20 styling fee and they will send you customized items based on your style profile. In addition to my style profile, I also sent my personal stylist my Pinterest board that you can view here! I sent a little comment to my stylist asking for Spring clothes because I am so over winter and that I wanted Day to Evening clothes. She really delivered!

So here's what I got. The saddest was this perfect mini skirt. It was the most affordable and priced well at $58 and it didn't fit my big ol' butt! I was so sad. It was the one I was most excited about. So if y'all know where I can find something similar, holla at your girl!

Next I got this flirty waist-tie Spring Dress. I blanched when I saw the $98 price tag. I never spend that much on one dress. Then I tried it on. It was perfect. Damn you StitchFix. I have to keep this one.

Next, were this pair of Burgundy skinny jeans with a zip ankle. I have to say, at first, I hated the burgundy. I was angry that they sent me jeans because I already have like 10 pairs of jeans but only black, white, and blue. I tried it on and it surprisingly fit perfectly. I am short at 5'0" and most jeans are extremely long on me. After I wore it around my condo for a bit, I started to really like them. My boyfriend walked in and complimented me on the jeans. So needless to say, these were a keeper too. 

Last, but not least are the off-white 3/4 length blouse and polka dot short sleeved blouse. Both are kind of on the bigger side, but I think it's better that way because the off-white blouse is pretty flowy and the polka dot blouse can be a good work blouse, so I wouldn't want that one really tight. 

I know the off-white blouse is hard to see, so here's me wearing it at our wine tasting this past weekend. I wore it with the burgundy jeans and nude flats. 

My overall opinion on Stitchfix is: Like it. I'm a huge online shopper and I hate going to malls. So this just makes my online shopping a bit easier and also I will have the opportunity to have someone else spice up my wardrobe with new options. I think I'll do it again, however, when I submitted my review I said all of the items were overpriced. I would prefer to spend only about $50 on each item instead of anywhere from $58-98. Good thing I haven't gone shopping for clothes in months.

Two perks to save you money is that if you buy all you get a 25% discount. I luckily got this because I contacted customer support to tell them that the skirt didn't fit and they generously offered to extend me the "buy all" discount anyways. You also can get $25 discount if you refer people, so if you haven't tried StitchFix yet and would like to, please use this link! Last but not least, be aware that you only have three days to try everything on, selfie or OOTD yourself, and then decide. Hence why boyfriend was not available to take better photos of me. I'll make sure on my next Stitch fix that I'll book sometime in his calendar for it. 

Have you tried Stitchfix? What was your overall opinion on it?

Lastly, a giveaway!

My blog friends and I are teaming up this month to bring you a chance to win a $40 Nordstrom gift card!

This prize is made possible by these lovely ladies:

Alanna & Company | Kati Rose | t.o. & fro | The Nashvillian

Enter now! This giveaway is run via rafflecopter. All entries will be verified. A winner will be selected at random and contacted via e-mail two weeks after the giveaway begins. If the winner does not claim the prize within 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Favorite Dog Products

If you don't know, I have a 3 and a half year old Cattle Dog named Starla. She is the apple of my eye, she can do no wrong is a little devil, she is extremely smart (just like her momma), she's beautiful, and she's totally spoiled!

I got Barkbox immediately after adopting her in May 2014. That way I stockpiled tons of toys, figured out which treats she likes (all of them) and doesn't like (ha...yeah right), and it was always fun each month for her to open up her Barkbox. Of course, I went to Petco and went almost broke because of all the other things I needed wanted to buy for her.

So here are my absolute favorite dog products so far!

1. Tretball Football from Barkbox! This is one of her favorite toys. You can pull it apart and stuff treats into it. It really makes Starla work hard for her treat, and keeps her going because it has holes so she can smell the treat. Here's her trying to pull it apart to get one little treat! It takes her at least 10-15 minutes to get the treats out depending on how big the treat is.

2. Nature's Miracle Deodorizing Bath Wipes. These are great for days that she needs a bit of freshening up but not a full bath, or for days that I should probably wait to bathe her for a few days because it'll be rainy for days. They smell good without being overpowering, they are alcohol-free, and have conditioners to keep her skin and coat looking healthy and shiny.

3. Whimzees Dental Chews. These are great for heavy chewers. They are a lot harder to chew on than Dentastix or Greenies which is good for Starla because she'll chew through those in a minute. They come in toothbrush shapes and hedgehog, and alligator shapes and are sized for your dogs weight. She goes crazy for these.

4. Loving Pets Gobble Stopper Slow Feeder. So Starla will inhale her food if she has the chance. Probably something about being a rescue and living with many other dogs. She definitely needs any type of slow feeder because she gets indigestion and it's not safe when she eats that fast. I started by putting a tennis ball into the bowl, but she would just pick it up and throw it out. This is good because it suction-cups into her bowl and is immovable! There are always slow-feeder bowls, but they're just not as cute as my ceramic bowls.

5. If It Barks Customizable Martingale Collar. If you don't know what a martingale collar is you can read about it here. I'm slighty overprotective and worry a lot so it makes me feel safer that it is a collar that's very hard to slip out of. If It Barks also offers tons of super cute pre-made designs but are also 100% customizable. In addition, their customer service is amazing!

Do you have any favorite dog products? I will also give a coupon code to one person for 20% off your first order on If It Barks if you enter the giveaway below! ;)

Entry-Form