My dining room decor inspired by House of Grace

Before I start, I would like to say Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! Hope you all had a wonderful one! We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year and although it was fun, it was the first time I missed thanksgiving on my side and I missed them very much. Nonetheless, thanksgiving brought good food, good company, and a million reasons to be thankful.

Ok so on to the the main topic of the blogpost...I recently flew the nest and moved into my first home. Slowly but surely Im working to get this empty house decorated and one of the first projects I tackled was the dining room. I still need to add some window treatments but either than that its pretty much completed. My style is very traditional, and I love pure whites & neutral shades, floral patterns and classic timeless pieces. My favorite decor is shabby chic, but since I live with a man, I have to compromise a little. He doesnt fancy the ultra femme cute cottage-y decor very much.

I am currently working on a wrought iron theme for the house and this is all due to a little plaque my mom bought for me years ago (I think it was still when I was in high school or first year of college!) Theres a funny story behind the plaque...

So I'm sure everyone's heard these famous words...

"Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though no one has hurt you. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven's on earth." 

This quote is especially dear to me because it was the quote that ended one of my favorite soap operas - My Name is Sam Soon...(which I should add, I have a thing for foreign soap operas/telenovelas even though I cant understand them lol but thats another story) Anyways, I seen a beautiful wrought iron plaque with those words one day shopping at Target with my mom and told her, "OMG I love this, if I ever move out Im gonna buy this for my house" So a couple days after I said that to my mom she surprises me with it and says, "Here, move out now" LOL This may sound mean but let me tell you, I am unhealthily attached to my parents, if it were my choice I would seriously live with them FOREVER! The only reason I moved is because they are moving 2 1/2 hours away and I didnt want to get uprooted this close to graduating. They want me to be more independent and they've been trying to pry me off them for years haha

Fast forward years later and here I am. Ive been adding home design blogs to my long list of makeup blogs that I follow, and one of the first and fave blogs I follow is creatingahouseofgrace.blogspot.com. Her style is very similar to mine and its a style that both my guy and I can agree with. My whole dining room decor was completely inspired by hers. Check out her beautiful dining room here. I fell in love with it when I first read the post. I thought it was incredibly clever how she added design pieces on a serving tray for the centerpiece. Our table its pretty long so I had to order a runner online that ran 90" Luckily I found one at potterybarn but not for cheap! The runner her was $29! Im proud to say that everything else (aside from the rose bouquet) was a steal! Here is a break down for my fellow bargainistas...

Dining Room Light - $68

Frames - 2 for $19 each

Table Runner - $29

Serving Tray - $8.99

Fabric Pumpkins - 2 for $2.50 each

Tall Glass Display - $9.99

Smaller Glass Display - $6.99

Wrought Iron Candle display - $6.99

Flower Bouquet - $17.99

Vase Filler - 2 for $4.99 each

Basically everything came out to be about $200! Which is pretty good in my book. The pictures were taken by my guy when we went to Muir Woods last year. What I like about the centerpiece and pictures is that I can change it every season. Now that its Christmas I will replace the faux apples and cinnamon sticks with candy canes and ornaments. I will also change the bouquet to a mini christmas tree and the pumpkins to little snowman or whatever else I see fit as holiday charm. Cant wait to start decorating! Ill post new pics when I have it all together...

My favorite picture

How did you decorate for Fall?

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ELF & MAC Highlighter Reviews

Hey lovlies!

How do you feel about highlighters? ...face highlighters that is :) Personally I love them. Find the right one and they picture beautifully, and give the perfect amount of "twinkle" to your face without making you look cullen-esque. My current 3 faves are ELF Blush in Glow, ELF Bronzer in Luminous and MAC in Star Dusk.

How do I use highlighters?
I apply them lightly with a fan brush over these areas:
- bridge of nose
- top of cheekbones
- above eyebrows (focusing on the center of forehead)

I was going to attempt to draw the area of which I apply but I found this pic on google images that perfectly describes it :)

I cant stress enough how you have to apply highlighters LIGHTLY. Better to do it lightly and build it up rather than packing it on and looking like a tranny...unless that is of course the look you are going for :P 

Anyhoo, on to my fave highlighters....

ELF Blush in Glow, $3

This is currently my fave highlighter. I've heard this is comparable to NARS Albatross but IMO, this is better because its not animal tested :). Glow is a creamy white color with gold glitter. The glitter isnt chunky, but its definitely noticeable which is why this is the most versatile highlighter of mine. I use this for Daytime and Nighttime Looks

 I purposely didnt clean the compact to show how messy these things get!

ELF Bronzer in Luminous, $1

Yes ladies, its only a buck! This highlighter is a light beige color with a very finely milled shimmer to it. All skin tones would look great with this. Since this highlighter has more of a sheen to it as opposed to a glittery finish, I would only use this during the day. This would be a great product to buy if you want to try highlighting your face for the first time.

Looks like the surface of the moon huh? hehe

MAC Loose Powder in Silver Dusk, $22

This is definitely a nighttime only highlighter, and the messiest of them all. Rarely do I use this powder on my face. I use this more of a body shimmer for dusting on my chest and shoulders. This glittery pink powder does come with a high price tag but judging on how much product you get, I see it well worth it.

Side by Side Comparison...

I didnt realize until after I started taking pics how difficult it was to try and capture the "essence" of a good face highlighter, so sorry if the color is difficult to see but Im sure you get the picture. As a general rule, the detail of face highlighters are best seen in person anyway

So to sum it all up, highlighters are great for capturing light and accentuating your facial features. Furthermore, if you're unsatisfied with your nose like I am, running it along the bridge of your nose will make your nose appear thinner. The only con I can think of with these is that they can and will get messy...but either than that, I cant live without em :)

What are your fave highlighters?

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