A LITTLE ABOUT ME

Photo: Kari Lutcavich

I've noticed that I've got a few more followers from Facebook, Bloglovin and Twitter recently! Hiiiii! Thanks for following!

You may or may not know these little tidbits about me. I tag anyone who wants to fill this out to post it on their blog with their own answers!

THE BASICS
Name: Alexandra/Allie
Age: 20 (21 next month!)
Height: 5'7"Hair Color: BlondeEye Color: BlueReligion: NoneEthnicity: French and a whole lotta other white
Status: Single

FAVORITES
Color? Pink and blue
Hair Style? Beachy waves or straight
Food? Teriyaki
Soda? Coke
Alcoholic Beverage? Wine or cider
Store? Sephora, Torrid
Mall? That I've been to? Southcenter mall
State? Washington? Not entirely sure.
City? Seattle
Animal? Peacocks
Movie? Across the Universe
Tv show? Doctor Who
Anime? Uhh
Book? The Pact by Jodi Picoult
Music? A lot of different stuff
Song? Blackbird - The Beatles
Band/Artist? The Beatles, Muse and Green Day
Website? Bloglovin and Pinterest

THIS OR THAT 
Soda or Juice? Juice
Music or Internet? DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE PLS
Rock or Rap? Rock
Cats or Dogs? Either
White or Black? White
Cell-Phone or IPod? Cell phone (Spotify, hell yeah)
Curly hair or Straight hair? On me, curly
Lap top or Computer? Laptop
Mountain Dew or Pepsi? Pepsi
Phone or Internet? Internet
Summer or Winter? Winter
Going out or staying in? I like both!

RANDOM
What do you do on your spare time? Internet. Play with makeup.
What do you wish you had more time for? Getting organized and going to the gym
What's your usual clothing style? Lately, black, black, black.
What's your usual hair style? Top knot
What are you wearing? Work leggings and black shirt
Are you single or taken? Single
Who would you die for? My family and friends.
What do you think of one night stands? You do you.
Who's your Bestfriend? I'm lucky enough to have more than one
Do you have any pets? Nope
Do you plan on getting married? Eh.
Do you plan on having kids? Also eh
How old do you wish you were? 21 PLEASE
If you were to be anywhere right now where would it be? Sleeping in my bed.
Ever gone camping? Many times
Have you ever gone skiing on a mountain? Snowboarding, yes.
Ever gone to church? I was in Christian school for 3 years
Ever gone to a famous water park? Yep
Ever gone out of state? Yep
Ever gone out of the country? Yep
When was the last time you left town? A while ago
What year were you born in? 1993
What do you do in the summer time? Stay inside.
Are you naturally tanned? Not at all.
Do you live in a house? Yep, I live with four roommates
What do you have on your mind? Chocolate chips.
What time is it? 10:28 p.m.

That's a little about me! If you fill this out, leave it in the comments so I can read it!

xo

A TOURIST IN MY OWN TOWN

This weekend, I had the privilege of having my good friend Kari, who had never been to visit me in Bellingham before.

We had fun driving around, catching up and having some much-needed girl talk all while I showed her around Bellingham. I never quite know what to show people who have never been here before, so I had some fun being a tourist in my own town.

URBAN DECAY PERVERSION/SUBVERSION REVIEW

As I've said before, I'm a mascara addict.

So when I got a sample of the Urban Decay Perversion mascara in my Ipsy bag, I pulled a Tina Belcher and had a crap attack. (Not really.)

I used it twice before I bought the full-size product. Not just because I liked it, but because I could tell it was going to be awesome. I hopped on to Sephora and bought the Perversion/Subversion set and the new Naked 2 Basics palette.

The packaging itself is nice and sleek, consisting of a dark silver tube (for the Perversion) and a small, white tube for Subversion. It's nothing special, but it's not ugly either.

What makes me love this mascara is the outcome. I've mentioned before that I love big, dramatic lashes and I feel like this mascara does just that. Even when you don't use the Subversion primer before the actual mascara itself, the mascara still gives a voluminous and long-lash look.

Even after a day's wear, this stuff didn't flake or budge. I've noticed that when mascaras last all day like that, they tend to be hard to remove (*cough* they're real *cough*) but this was easily removed with a makeup wipe and a few scrubs.

My only complaint really is that the mascara is super wet and takes a while to dry. The first few times I used it, I had a few small smudges. It takes a little getting used to; I've learned not to really maneuver my head around a little.

I didn't mind spending the $22 on the product because I looove how it makes my lashes look. If you're not as obsessed with mascaras as I am, I would just stick to something like Maybelline Falsies because it gives a similar look for less price.

In this photo, I'm also wearing the new Naked 2 Basics palette; maybe I'll do a review of that next. Let me know if you'd like to see one!

Have you tried Perversion/Subversion? How did you like it?

xoxo

 — LET'S BE FRIENDS! —

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM |  TWITTER  |  PINTEREST 

WHY I STARTED BLOGGING

I've always loved to write.

When I was young, I would sit at home and write stories on Microsoft Word on our home computer. I would sit there for hours, trying to find the right font for the story, the right names for the characters and of course the best title. Most of these little stories were loosely based around my life (which was actually very boring in reality.)

Aaaand eventually, my love for writing stories on Word was replaced with love for the internet. MySpace took up most of my time. If you remember MySpace, you'll remember that there were "bulletin" features and "blog" features.

I don't remember too many people that utilized the blog feature, but I used the bulletins like they were about to go out of style. (They did.) I would write about my day, chronicle my thoughts and post random quotes that matched my moody teenager self. I deleted my MySpace years ago, but now I wish I could go look at it again just to see the kinds of stuff my 13-year-old self would post.

Eventually, I made a blog. My first blog was actually a weight loss blog that I made when I was 17. I would post about my ups and downs of healthy eating and exercise and injuries. When I stopped trying to lose weight, I stopped writing.

Less than a year later, I moved to college and made another blog. The blog has since been made private and deleted so only I can see it and there is some pretty embarrassing stuff on there. I started that blog as a way to write about my college adventures so that I would remember them as I got older, and so my dad could read what I had to say since he didn't have facebook. Again, I lost all motivation and stopped blogging again. 

Finally, last summer, I started Short for Alexandra. First, it was called "Allie Tries to Blog" since I couldn't come up with any fun names, and I had the intention of using this blog to write about plus size fashion and college life. 

My early posts are mostly about how excited I was to visit Europe and what I would wear while I was there. They also included thoughts about how I had no idea what I wanted to do when I got older (I have a clue now!)

It's been so amazing to see myself grow as a person and a writer using blogs and Short for Alexandra.

I've used this summer to take Short for Alexandra more seriously (mostly because I was home alone for nearly A MONTH) and the work has paid off! Last month, I hit 10,000 page views (mostly thanks to this post which went kinda viral on Pinterest) and I bought a domain. 

I'm terrible at keeping my blogging schedule steady, especially during the school year, so the next few weeks I'm going to try to get myself in the habit of getting posts scheduled and written. In fact, I'm currently writing this on Tuesday and it will be posted on Wednesday. Another one will be posted Friday, too. THINKING AHEAD.

Who knows where Short for Alexandra will take me if I keep it up! I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Why did YOU start blogging? I love reading other people's stories!

xoxo

AUGUST FAVORITES

Hello, September!

August is officially over and I can stop feeling guilty about loving the overcast and rain. I'm so excited for the pumpkins, the fashion, the dark lipstick and the seasonal drinks at Starbucks. And my birthday, I guess. (Next month!!)

However, August was still a great month. A lot of it was spent working and hanging out at Coralie's house whenever I'd have a rogue two days off in a row.

There were some products that I absolutely loooooved in August and I'd like to get in the hang of writing a monthly favorites post. Here are my August favorites!

Ology Moisturizing & Revitalizing Shampoo

This stuff smells amazing, is paraben and sulfate-free and was also cheap at Walgreens. I've been trying to switch to more natural products for my hair (specifically sulfate free) and was happy to find this brand and product. It's a little strange because it doesn't get sudsy or foamy like regular shampoo, but still leaves my hair feeling awesome and clean (and smelling like pear and cucumber!)

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Inked in Pink

Cream eyeshadows can either be worn on their own, or with eyeshadow over it. I've noticed that this is a great color to wear with the rosier colors of the Naked 3 palette or a perfect color for a neutral, every day look. This color and consistency are great!

Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso

I've read dozens of reviews of Milani blushes, all of them saying how awesome they were. I've never been too into blushes until recently, but I absolutely love this blush. It's got a perfect glowy coral color that lasts all day and doesn't go on too cakey.

Essence Sun Club Matt Bronzer

I did a review on this stuff on my blog a few weeks ago, and my love for this bronzer is still going strong.

Boots Expert Sensitive Gentle Eye Makeup Removal LotionFor years, my favorite method of taking off my eye makeup has always been baby oil, but it leaves a weird film and if it gets into my eyes I can't see for about an hour! This was another purchase that I made on a whim at Target, and I'm really glad I did. This takes off even the waterproof-est of mascaras and blackest eyeliners (I'm looking at you, Benefit They're Real Push-Up Liner) in only a few seconds. Just make sure to wipe off the excess with a wipe or wash it off when you wash your face, as it is mineral-oil based!

Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo

Dry shampoo is one of those products that I am super picky about. Until recently, I have only ever loved my tired and true Batiste, but stumbled upon this at Target and decided to give it a go. Normally, I don't buy something if I haven't at least read some reviews, but I'm glad I bought this on a whim! It costs half the price of Batiste, comes with more product and works just as well. I'd say it gives more volume than Batiste, too, so this gets an A+ in my book.

Other

C2C

If you're looking for some upbeat electronic-y music, C2C is perfect. I can't stop listening to Down the Road and Who Are You.

Neybers

This app has provided me endless entertainment. You are given a plain room and then free reign to decorate it however you'd like. Best of all, it's free. Download it for iPad here. 

What have been your favorites recently? Anything you suggest?

xoxo