Category: Reviews

Small Business Spotlight – Maddie Green Designs

~ Livi ~ Leave a comment

This is one of my favorite small businesses that I found out about last year. Maddie is such a sweetie and her products are so cute. The clothing items in particular can be styled in so many ways.

Some of my favorite products by Maddie Green Designs are –

  1. Pine Tree Sweatshirt – I wear this sweatshirt pretty much every day. Yet, because it is made by Comfort Colors it really holds up and is so comfortable. I usually style it with leggings, a t shirt underneath that pops out a bit for some added color and some jewelry.
  2. Pink Rainbow Sticker – This sticker is so cute! I put some of these in the Christmas cards I sent out this past holiday season to my girlfriends. I also put one on my laptop and have one or two in my drawer just to have because of how cute they are.
  3. Pine Tree Sticker – I put this sticker on my Swell bottle and it looks amazing! Her stickers are really good quality and look great on everything from laptops and water bottles to cars.
  4. Pine Tree T Shirt – So as you can see I really like the pine tree design. I am from North Carolina which has tons of pine trees so this design is very special to me. I style the t shirt in a way that is similar to how I style the sweatshirt. If I were to wear it in the summer I would wear denim shorts with sandals, the shirt, and a statement necklace.

Back To School With Charles River Apparel

~ Livi ~ 13 Comments

Ah, the back to school season. The fresh new school supplies,reunions with your friends, the freezing cold classrooms… Wait cold classrooms?!

img_0558.jpg

For as far back as I can remember, I have always been the girl who is always cold, especially at school! It’s almost as if there is this secret rule at every school that as soon as it gets even a tiny bit warm they have to blast the AC like there is no tomorrow!

Thankfully I now have my Heather Fleece Pullover to keep me warm all semester long!

When I began working on this collaboration with Charles River Apparel, I knew exactly what product I wanted to promote! This pullover is everything I was hoping for and more!

Pros – The key to this pullover being so warm is that it is literally lined with fleece! So many sweatshirts and pullovers I have tried out have a very polyester fluff esque lining that loses its quality pretty quickly. Because of the thickness of the fleece lining the quality of the product is guaranteed to last for a very long time! I also am really into very fitted clothing right now and this pullover does just that! This style also comes in a wide variety of colors! So, if your school has a strict dress code it shouldn’t be too hard to find one that complies with the rules! There is also plenty of space in the chest area for monogramming or for adding your school’s logo!

Cons – The only con I can think of is the snug fit but that is only if you aren’t really into fitted clothing. I honestly can’t think of any other possible cons for this pullover. I’ve honestly enjoyed wearing it so much!

Make sure to follow me on Instagram because I will actually be doing a giveaway for this very product very soon! I would definitely be entering this giveaway if I didn’t already own it!

Thank you Charles River Apparel for collaborating with me on this post! 

SaveSave

September Favorites 

~ Livi ~ 4 Comments

Hey y’all , so first off, my apologies for posting this so late, my family and I lost power for quite a while because of Hurricane Matthew. Currently, we have power and wifi, but they haven’t given us the thumbs up yet about whether or not our water is clean so that is a bit of a struggle. I am very grateful that we did not lose anything serious like our house.

September was a pretty busy month for me since school has been back in session. I am a community college and transferring to a 4 year university next semester. I am very excited to go off to school and start this new chapter of my life. While I am looking forward to going off to a university next semester, my classes have been keeping me very busy. Math in particular has been keeping me on my toes. Math has never been my strong suit. Thankfully I have an amazing tutor who has been helping me. So to all you fellow students who wish math would just get up and disappear forever, I feel you! The struggle is very real!


Shirt(sold out but similar)/Necklace(sold out but similar)/Hat/Monogram/Notebook( sold out but similar)

Our Southern State Shirt – Fraternity Collection was having a sale and I just could not resist this adorable shirt! It has Our Southern State on the pocket and the North Carolina flag design in the form of a bow on the back. It is seriously so cute! I have been on a huge t-shirt kick lately ever since school started. I’ve been needing to stock up on some nice cute t shirts that will be great for going to class, running errands, and just those everyday activities where I will need to be comfortable but also cute while on the go. Fraternity Collection has been helping me out with that so much! They are actually having a huge sale right now. I highly recommend you guys go check it out! They have t shirts marked down to as low as 10 dollars!

Fraternity Collection Baseball Hat – Ok, so I know I just talked about how much I love Fraternity Collection and you may already be tired of it but I have to tell you all about this baseball hat! When I bought this hat, I was worried that since it’s white that it would get stained. I kid you not, after wearing this hat for over a month it looks as if I just took it out of the packaging! What surprised me even more is that this hat, is in even better quality now than my Ralph Lauren hat that I got for christmas! While my Ralph Lauren hat has makeup stains on the visor and has the color fading in certain parts, my Fraternity Collection hat looks brand new. If you buy my hat right now you can get it for $10, which will save you $15!

Cross Necklace -This necklace has been my go to for jewelry recently. It goes with everything and adds a bit of glam to even the simplest of outfits! Pair this necklace with a cute t shirt, jeans, boots, a cardigan, a baseball cap and you are good to go!

Shay Butter Monograms – I actually found out about Shay Butter Monograms when the owner, Whitney followed me on Instagram. I then checked out her Etsy shop and instantly fell in love! There are so many monogram Etsy shops out there, but Shay Butter Monograms is the only one I have seen that makes Ty Dye monograms! They look really unique on my notebooks and chargers! Monograms are pretty popular here in the south so I am so happy that I have found a way to monogram my things while also still having them stand out amongst the letter filled crowd! If you decide to buy something from her shop, make sure to do so on Freebie Friday! Every Friday, she throws in a little freebie with your order. Also use the code HAPPY at checkout for 15 % off!

What I’ve Been Listening To –

If any of you have been following my blog for a while you would know that I used to do a series called, What I’ve Been Listening To. I basically would go through my Spotify playlist from the past month and talk about my favorite artists and songs that I have been listening to. I thought that since I am going to start doing entire favorites posts on here I might as well just do my What I’ve Been Listening To segment as an extension of my favorites posts.

In September, I listened to a much wider variety of music than usual. Usually I stick to rap and pop, and maybe some underground artists.This time I really stepped out of my comfort zone, with some more chill artists like Angel Olsen and Sia. This playlist has a really interesting mix of songs. Even though the music varies I think the songs blend really well. It is probably one of my best put together playlists yet.

Tinashe’s Superlove Remixes – Tinashe is not just one of my favorite rappers but also one of my favorite female rappers. I feel like there aren’t that many well known female rappers out there, and even less female rappers of color. So, whenever I find out about someone as talented as Tinashe I am literally head over heels! This remix album is so much fun to dance to! I love listening to these remixes when I am getting ready in the morning!

Perfect Illusion by Lady Gaga – In high school, I was the biggest Little Monster! I looked up to Lady Gaga so much! She made me want to really embrace my personal style and step outside of my comfort zone! Perfect Illusion gave me some serious Gaga 2011-12 vibes! The instrumental reminded me of her song Judas since both of them are very rock and roll! I love that Gaga is back making music! This song will make you think of some of Gaga’s old songs but also have some sounds that are

My Woman by Angel Olsen – This style of music a genre I am fairly new to. I think what has made me like this album so much is just how simple it is. The acoustics and vocals from Angel Olsen blend together so well! While I love all the tracks, Intern and Woman are my favorites. There is so much feeling in Olsen’s vocals! This girl is so talented! Olsen is definitely going to be someone an artist that I will be listening to for a very long time!

The Divine Feminine by Mac Miller – When I found that the sound of Mac Miller’s new album was going to have a the soft mellow sound that it has I was both excited and nervous at the same time. I was worried that this album would let me down but I could not be more wrong! This album is so different from anything Mac Miller has done before! I feel like this album tells such a beautiful story. There is also a really lovely interlude where this older woman tells the story of her husband who has passed away. I literally had chills as I was listening to this! Kendrick Lamar and Solange have also done interludes on their albums that add a really personal touch to the story that their album tells. It’s almost as if Miller has grown out of his party boy phase and wrote this album about the kind of girl he wants to spend the rest of his life. If you are looking for an album with some sweet love ballads mixed in with some fun pop collaborations this album is for you!

Thanks so much for reading! I am also leaving a link below where you all can donate to the Hurricane Matthew victims. Some of these people have literally lost everything. I understand that many of you are students like myself so you probably aren’t able to donate a large amount of money, but every cent counts in times like this!

–

Hurricane Relief Campaign

Livi Reviews – Inside Out

~ Livi ~ Leave a comment

insideout-teaser-2-580x328

Hey everyone! So recently I saw the new Pixar film, Inside Out, with my family and my friend Paris. I’m a huge Pixar fan, so I was really excited to see this movie! The concept of Inside Out is really unique, and I can honestly say I have never seen a movie quite like this one! The whole idea of our personal feelings being turned into cartoon characters just seemed so creative and cool to me!

Now, before I begin to review this movie, I would like to preface this by saying that I always try to view things from a politically correct standpoint. So, although there were a lot of things I did like about this movie, I some things in this movie to be pretty problematic.

First, I’m going to talk about the things I didn’t like about this film. One of the main characters, Sadness is portrayed as a fat nerd who wears thick glasses and mopes around feeling sorry for herself throughout the majority of the film. Now, although a lot of these things do make sense because of what this character is supposed to be like, I definitely feel that Sadness did not have to be fat. The fact that she is fat reinforces many negative stereotypes about fat women. Like, what is Disney trying to say, that  fat girls should just mope around feeling sorry for themselves all the time, being the outcast in their friend group? Another thing I did not like about this film is how when we see  the feelings in Riley’s parents’ minds, they reinforce a lot of gender stereotypes. The feelings in Riley’s dad’s mind are all super masculine, while Riley’s mom’s feelings are very feminine and more intuitive. Although we only see the parents’ feelings in one scene, a scene that is meant to be very funny, their stereotypical tendencies are definitely something to think about.

Now, on to the things that I did like about this film. I feel like this movie did a great job of showing just how important each and every feeling is. We definitely were able to see how important it is that we recognize all of our feelings instead of just the ones that are easy for us like joy. I am really glad that I have seen quite a few discussions about mental health and the importance of valuing our feelings, because of this movie. I personally thought Anger was hilarious! He was so extreme when he was angry you could not help but laugh! My mom and I came to the conclusion that if Anger were a real person he would be George Costanza from Seinfeld, since Costanza is so bitter throughout the show. As far as the acting goes, I really liked all of the voices of the characters. Amy Poehler was the voice of Joy and Mindy Kahling was the voice of Disgust, which I thought was really cool! I am a huge fan of both Poehler and Kahling. I also definitely feel that this movie did a great job of keeping a good balance between serious moments and comic relief.

So, overall, I really liked Inside Out despite its many flaws. I wouldn’t say this movie is one of my all-time favorites, but I would definitely pay to go see it again. If any of you have seen Inside Out, feel free to let me know what you thought of it in the comments below!