Last month, I was surprised to open up my email to find I had won a $1000 gift card to Henri Bendel (of all places ♥). Well, what's a girl to do? I spent the entire sum of money in one night with ten dollars to spare... and it was awesome. 

As always I wanted to share these freakin fabulous purchases with you awesome readers! Sooooo let's begin! 

My most expensive and beautiful buy was the Carlyle Wallet on a String. 

Excuse my absolute crap picture, but yeah. It's adorable. The interior of the bag is a lighter cream color, and has multiple folds and pockets, for credit cards and such. 

In the product photo, you can see much clearer the bag's cute, girly pink color, and gold details. The chain is also high quality! Overall, I'm pumped about this and can't wait to use it (:

One of my other favorites is the Henri Bendel Vanilla Bean Signature Reed.

 When you're shopping a site like HenriBendel.Com, full of jewelry and handbags, the first thing you jump to buy is not a candle, or a "signature reed." That's just the truth. So what attracted me to the candle section? Is it because I'm the chillest teenage girl in the world? Probably, because I bought like $150 worth of candles.

And here is my cute lil square guy earrings. Spoiler alert; probs gonna wear these to prom. And senior ball. And my 21rst birthday. And my wedding. That's how great they are. You can check these earrings out here. If you plan on blowing $100 anytime in the future, here you go! This is what you're getting! Congrats! 

I hoped you guys enjoyed checking out these wonderful products, and check out Henri Bendel! I like this company for quite a few reasons, but I'll keep it short. 

1. They do HUGE giveaways like the one I won, all of the time. 

2. They ship orders in cute boxes and each product is hand wrapped or bagged in cute little specialty Henri Bendel bags. Its great.

3. You will feel like the prettiest princess in the world when you put those earrings in. Go for it.

What would you buy from their website? Comment below cuties ♥

Homemade Organic Lip Balms! ♥

This week I experimented with some awesome organic ingredients and created this amazing homemade peppermint lip balm. I hope you guys will try this out, because it works incredibly well - and smells and tastes amazing. 

Recipe for All Organic Peppermint Lip Balm:

You will need:

- 3 tbsp. of beeswax

- 3 tbsp. of coconut oil

- 10-20 drops of peppermint essential oil

- 5 tbsp. carrier oil

- Small containers

1. In a double boiler, melt the beeswax and carrier oil together, stirring often so they don't burn. When they're fully melted, the color will be a light golden brown.

2. Take the melted mixture off of heat, and mix in the essential oil and coconut oil. These oils add a wonderful fragrance and taste to your lip balm ♥

3. Pour the warm liquid into the containers you would like to use - I used small .25 oz plastic containers from a local organics store. Small mint containers can also be used to house this minty lip balm!

4. Leave the lip balm to set in the containers for at least 20 minutes. This gives time for the wax to harden.

Tah dah! Organic lip balm!

I ended up melting down my original batch and remaking it with more coconut oil, to add a softer texture. As you will see, it's a very hydrating recipe and works great for dry winter skin! It's an awesome feeling to hydrate your lips and know that every ingredient is completely natural and great for you. I'd love to hear what kind of organic/natural beauty DIYs you have tried, like facials or hair masks. And check out my DIY Bath and Body board on Pinterest for more ideas and recipes! (Link Here)

Thanks so much for reading, and let me know how this recipe worked for you. ♥

VERY MUCH ALIVE GIRL'S AD SPACE GIVEAWAY! ♥

Happy late Thanksgiving, everybody! 

In honor of the holiday (and shopping) season beginning, I've decided to offer an awesome giveaway to my readers. ♥

Over the next two weeks I'll be giving away a large chunk of ad space on my blog! The winner's ad will stay on the right sidebar for two months (pretty sweet, right?). Simply complete the entries on the Rafflecopter widget, and you'll have a chance to win.

The giveaway will end December 12th at midnight! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CLOTHING CHRISTMAS LIST! ♥

As everybody knows, Christmas is just about a month away!
And we all understand what that means... Presents! ♥

I've compiled a list of my absolute clothing favorites I'm crossing my fingers for. Enjoy!

https://www.echopaul.com/lita-platforms-high-heels-lace-up-boots-ankle-shoes.html


http://www.choies.com/product/gray-vintage-style-longline-button-front-cardigans_p36138



http://www.choies.com/product/black-felt-fedora-with-wave-hem_p13335


http://www.choies.com/product/green-plaid-top-and-skater-skirt-woolen-two-piece-suit_p35861#sthash.DT88VqqI.qjtu


http://www.choies.com/product/metallic-headband_p25992?cid=5255jessica

As you can see most of these items come from Choies! (my fave) ♥

What's on your Christmas wish list? Comment and let me know! I'd also love to hear some of your blog post idea requests.

xoxo, Grace

SIMPLE AND FUN DIY GIFTS

Hey everybody! Like many of you, I seriously enjoy crafting and attempting those awesome DIY projects that are all over Pinterest. I've put together a few projects that I think are especially awesome, and could serve as amazing gifts during this holiday season!

Hemp & Honey Lip Balm ~ Gold Painted Organizers ~ Coffee Ground Candles

I love love love the idea of making chemical-free beauty products, which is why this lovely recipe for lip balm made it to this list! The ingredients include shea butter, cocoa butter, and manuka honey. Hip hip hooray for healthy!

These gold spray-painted jars could be used for soo many things; makeup brushes, pens & pencils, even flowers! I'd make sure to get the reflective type of paint, as it makes the jars look super glam. (:

Last but not least, the coffee ground candles! Come on everyone, you know you love the smell of hot coffee in the morning. Why not gift it to a friend? (: 

In all honesty these candles seem relatively challenging to make, but I'm sure its well worth it in the end. Thanks for reading everybody! I hope you enjoyed checking out these projects and were inspired to create something of your own (:

-Grace

WHY SELF ESTEEM IS A HUGE PROBLEM FOR GIRLS EVERYWHERE

Hey everybody, welcome back to my blog! Recently I've been doing some research on the connection between fashion and self esteem, and in turn have learned a lot about this issue vast amounts of people deal with everyday. I've highlighted the basic things I believe EVERYBODY need to know about body image in the four categories below.

The Basic Statistics: 

• Among high school students, 44% of girls and 15% of guys are attempting to lose weight.
• 80% of children who are 10 years old are afraid of being fat. 
• • 72% of girls feel tremendous pressure to be beautiful 

The Causes: 

• Society And the Media: The pictures teens see in magazines, on TV, and online can have huge effects on the adolescent's self esteem. These advertisements often set unrealistic beauty standards that teens feel they cannot live up to.
• Bullying: When someone is bullied, it can make it hard for them to make friends, reach out to people, and focus in school. Bullying can also cause depression or suicidal thoughts in its victims.

The Consequences:

Over 70% of girls age 15 to 17 avoid normal daily activities, such as attending school, when they feel bad about their looks

• 13 percent of girls age 15-17 acknowledge having an eating disorder.
• About 20% of teens will experience depression before they reach adulthood

How YOU Can Make A Difference: 

Even though the things you've just learned about self esteem & it's effects are very common across the world, there is a lot we can do together to reverse this problem. Here are some awesome ideas that may even inspire you to start your own project! 

• Leave positive, encouraging post-it notes around where lots of people may see them! Here are some cute examples that were placed on bathroom mirrors!
  
  
  
  
• Appreciate all body types. The media often uses very underweight women as their models. But we all know that there a ton of other body types that aren't at all represented in the media. Everybody was beautifully and fearfully made, so why not celebrate all of our unique bodies!

My Sources:

https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-teens-and-self-esteem

http://www.heartofleadership.org/statistics-on-body-image-self-esteem-parental-influence/

http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/Self-Esteem-Statistics.aspx

http://www.self-esteem-nase.org/research.php

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/me-we/201312/10-sources-low-self-esteem

GORGEOUS FALL COLORS

After spending the day today picking pumpkins with my nephew, I only have one question. Is anything better than fall? From the cinnamon to the apple cider, autumn is sweet, savory, and stylin'. If you've been over to my fashion Pinterest board lately, you've probably noticed a recurring theme - shades of burgundy & wine -- everywhere! But can you blame me? Check out these adorable pictures found on Pinterest, or click here to view my fashion board!

What's your favorite fall color? Leave a comment below! ♥