Look for Less - Britt Robertson

Dress: AQUA  |  Jacket: ASOS  |  Booties: Sam Edelman

Britt Robertson is on a press tour for her newest movie The Longest Ride, which I am dying to see! She wore this look to a photocall for the movie at the top of the Empire State Building in New York City.  I love this look because it is perfect for this time of year when the weather is transitioning and can be kind of all over the place in terms of temperature.  The floral dress is super springy, but the leather jacket is perfect for if it is a little colder out.  Additionally, the dress is very feminine and the leather accents add an edge to the look, which keeps it chic and prevents it from being too sweet.  This look is quite versatile and can be worn anywhere from brunch to dinner to a family party.  Below the picture I have the pieces that I put together in the collage as they are my favorite picks, but below that I have a few more options for each piece at a variety of different prices that will fit everyone's style.  I look forward to seeing what Robertson wears throughout the tour and hoping she takes a lot of pictures with her hunky co-star Scott Eastwood!

What do you think of Britt's look?  Have you seen The Longest Ride?

  

                

Make sure to add me on Snapchat - @kthomp22!

Today I'm linking up with Style Sessions and Confident Twosday.

January|February|March on Instagram

It's no secret that I absolutely love Instagram (find me at @crumbsandcurls!).  Two weeks ago I talked all about what I do to my pictures before they actually make it on Instagram (you can find that here), which I have a lot of fun with.  I figured though that since now you know what goes into my Insta pics it would be fun to do a recap - especially since I haven't done one in a while.  Today I have for you my favorite pictures from the last 3 months!  

[Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom for an Instagram link up!]

My January started with Sorority Recruitment.  At Villanova freshmen aren't allowed to rush a sorority until second semester so we have our big recruitment in January, a week before school starts back up for the Spring Semester.  During rush we have assigned outfits for each day so we all coordinate (which I think is so cute!) and for the third day we wear red dresses and nude heels.  Last year my friend Maggie and I got the same red dress, but never got a picture so we made a point to get one this year.

Towards the end of the month was my 23rd Birthday.  Unfortunately I had the flu on my actual birthday so I landed up celebrating it the weekend after.  To celebrate my friends and I went to a delicious Asian-fusion restaurant near school.  In total there were about fifteen of us and I had such a good time!

I used my birthday money to get a Clarisonic Mia 3 v I am obsessed with it!  I am planning on doing a review on it soon because I love it so so so much and highly recommend it.

The last 3 months were filled with lots of basketball - thankfully it's my favorite sport!  This picture is my friends and me at the Villanova/Georgetown basketball game at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.  The student section is right up against the court and if you leave the tailgate a little early you can sit so close to it.  I will definitely miss these seats when I graduate!

I finally found cinnamon buns that I could have with all of my food allergies, which was no easy task. However I of course I can't remember the name of who makes them now, but they were delicious and too cute not to take a picture of.

I've mentioned on here before that my sister is in Alpha Gamma Delta at her school too, which I love! It's so much fun being sorority sisters with your biological sister.  She came over a few weeks ago to get dinner and we decided we needed to wear letters and take a picture.

This is a #throwbackthursday picture from when I was in high school.  For my first job I worked at a small boutique as a sales associate and would model for their ads too!  It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot from that job.  I can't believe that this was taken 8 years ago; I love how long my hair was at that time and I'm feeling inspired to grow it out again.

When I made these Peeps crayons I just had to take some pictures of the colorful crayons before I broke them up.  I used Crayola crayons because they are my favorite, but someone told me that you have to use the Crayola crayons when making the bunny crayons because they tried a different brand and it didn't come out right.  I recommend using the Crayola 64 Count Box for any of your crayon needs! 

I had my mom snap this picture before I left to come back to school after being home on Spring Break for the week.  When I was in high school I was really sick and couldn't actually go to school, my parents got Coco for me when I was sixteen to keep me company while they were at work during the day.  I can honestly say that that was the best thing they ever did, but I do miss her so much now when I'm at school.  Whenever I come home we have a whole little routine that includes lots of love and snuggles.

I landed up having to go home for a weekend after Spring Break and got to spend a little more time with this cutie.  That weekend was the Big East Basketball Tournament, which Villanova won!  I took this the second night of the Tournament to show off our school pride.

For March Madness I dyed my hair blue with Garnier Color Styler for this post.  Since I've never touched my hair before with any color I thought it would be fun to post this little teaser on Instagram the night before the post.  I really enjoyed having blue hair for a few days!

This is another #throwbackthursday from high school.  This picture was taken before Senior Prom with one of my best friends from high school and our sisters.  I love looking back at prom photos because I had a great time and my dress was definitely my favorite one I wore during high school.

I got my nails done before Easter and it was my first spring manicure.  Like I said in Thursday's post I'm all about different pastel nail colors for spring, especially mint green like this!

I am a big kid who still has to dye Easter Eggs every year!  This year instead of buying a kit I made my own dye with food coloring that I will be sharing on here next year because it worked so well! The colors were very vibrant and better than any kit I've ever used. 

This is my most recent picture of Coco, in case you can't tell she makes frequent appearances on my Instagram because I'm a crazy dog lady I love her.  She gave me this sassy look while I was packing to come back to school after being home for Easter, needless to say she was not pleased I was leaving her!

So these are my last few months on Instagram in a quick recap.

  

                

Make sure to add me on Snapchat - @kthomp22!

Today I'm linking up with #HowISpring, Manic Monday, MIMM, Let It Shine, Mingle Monday, and Weekending.

Spring Inspiration

Even though the weather can't make up its mind where I am, it is officially Spring!  I'm over dark colors and anything related to cold weather, instead I'm ready for sun, bright colors, and flowers.  Today I have for you everything that is inspiring me for Spring.

Color Palette:

I am obsessed with pretty pastels for Spring.  I want my wardrobe to be fresh and cheerful for months to come.  I love very pale pastels and my absolute favorite is a pretty pale pink.

Decoration:

For me Spring means flowers.  So whether you decorate with faux or fresh blooms, flowers are a must to get your place looking ready for warmer weather.  My favorite flowers are peonies like the ones pictured above! (Tip: If you choose to use faux flowers I recommend shopping around for ones that look real and not too fake!)

Scent:

While I love flowers for decorating I am not a fan of floral scents (I'm actually allergic to most).  I prefer fresh vanilla scents like Voluspa Maison Blanc - Macaron Candle, which is my pick for the scent of Spring.  The scent of Macaron is a mix of vanilla, powdered sugar, and Parisian macarons, and is perfect to make your home smell heavenly.

Makeup:

A beautiful bronzed look is a huge makeup trend for Spring.  Benefit Sun Beam is a super blendable bronzer that has been called 'sun in a bottle,' and you can put it on over or under your makeup for a golden glow.  When applying any bronzer the key is to correctly apply it and to do so sparingly because it can look tacky when overdone.  Below I have a few more picks from Marie Claire's Best Bronzers of 2014.

Nail Polish:

Essie Blossom Dandy is new from their Spring 2015 Collection and a perfect color for the upcoming months.  I'm really loving pastel green, blue, and purple polishes on short square nails for Spring. These shades are different from the typical pale pink and are therefore unexpected so they really pop, but in a subtle way.  Below I have my favorite Essie polishes in these colors.

Accessory:

I have been loving cat eye sunglasses for quite some time now and they are the perfect accessory to shade your eyes from the Spring-time sun.  These Stella McCartney Oversized Cat Eye Sunglasses are on trend and very chic.  Below are a few other picks for a similar look.

Shoes:

I am so excited to be able to wear ballet flats again, I hate wearing them when it's freezing out so now that warmer weather is coming here I can finally wear all my flats again!  Vince Camuto's Ellen Flats are one of my go to pairs because they are super comfortable and look cute too.  Below I have them and a few similar options in addition to some other neutral pairs.  While I have all neutral pairs shown here, don't forget that bright colored or pastel flats are fun and perfect for Spring!

Loving:

Shirt dresses are a huge street style trend for Spring.  They're so easy to throw on, but allow you to look pulled together and chic.  I especially love the style in chambray or denim like this Velvet by Graham and Spencer Chambray Shirtdress, and the others below.

Lusting Over:

I feel like every super stylish girl I see owns a pair of white or cream Converse Women's Chuck Taylor All Star Sneakers.  I've been wanting a pair for a while, but haven't gotten around to purchasing them.  I think that this Spring I will finally have to get a pair!

What are you loving for Spring?

  

                

Make sure to add me on Snapchat - @kthomp22!

Today I'm linking up with Treat Yo' Self Thursday and Mix & Match Fashion.

How I Instagram

I've mentioned on here before that I absolutely love Instagram (here is my shameless plug: follow me at @crumbsandcurls!), it is hands down my favorite form of social media.  I'm a very visual person so I love seeing everyone's photographs and being able to share my own so easily.  Since I love Instagram so much I take my posting pretty seriously (which might sound silly, but I have fun with it!).  I have several apps that I like to use to edit my photos and make them Insta ready.

Below are my favorite apps that I use regularly when I Instagram a picture.

Adobe Photoshop Express

I use PS Express as my first step to any picture I plan on putting up on Instagram.  This app is like a condensed mini version of the PhotoShop you can get on your computer.  You can do so many things with it from adding filters to cropping your pictures.  I always do any cropping or straighten out the picture first if that needs to be done.  Next, I use the Corrections option to edit the actual picture.  If you've seen my account before then you may have noticed I like my pictures to be very light and bright as if they were taken in the perfect lighting each time.  To get my pictures to look just right I first increase the Exposure (usually by a lot), next I increase the Shadows, which lightens any shadows and really brightens up the picture, and finally I will increase the Vibrance or Tint depending on the look I am going for.  A lot of the time I Instagram my pictures straight from the PS Express App if I am just doing a basic picture, depending on the coloring I want I may add a filter to it also or keep it #nofilter.  If you only use one app for pictures you post on Instagram this is the one you have to get, it is my absolute must have!

For all the apps below I use them only after I have done the editing I explained above in PS Express.

Whitagram

Whitagram is for those pictures that are too big for the Instagram dimensions, but you don't want to have to crop something out to fit it.  If you have a picture that is too tall or too wide you just put it into this app and it will make it so the whole image fits into the Instagram square.  If the picture is vertical (like the one in the example) it will leave space on either side of the image and if the picture is horizontal it will leave space on the top and bottom of the picture, the amount of space varies with the size of the picture and you can choose different colors for the space (I usually leave mine white though).

PhotoWonder

I use PhotoWonder when I want to focus on one part of a picture and blur out the rest.  To do this you choose Edit, pick the photo you want to edit, choose the Edit option again, and use the Vignette option.  Once you've chosen Vignette you can choose whether you want a linear or circular vignette (I usually choose to use the circular) and then adjust how much you want to blur.  I love the way this effect makes a picture look and think that it is a great way to draw attention to one part of the image or blur out a background that might not be the prettiest (like in the picture above).

Studio Design

I like to use this app when I'm feeling really creative.  There are so many different things that this app allows you to do to pictures, I honestly haven't even tried all of them and am constantly finding new things to do.  You can add filters, crop the picture into shapes or words, and add text, shapes, images, textures, and lines, just to name a few.  There are even pre made overlays under the Remix option that look awesome when put on different pictures.

Pic Collage

This is just my pick for a collage app.  I usually use this to commemorate something special like a birthday, a trip, or the end of the year.  I used to be more into making collages, but have gotten away from it lately unless there are a few pictures that I just have to post together.

I am always trying different editing apps and usually play around with an app for a while before I actually land up using it on Instagram.  Below are a few apps that I am currently testing out.

Photo Candy

I've been trying this one out a lot and I have to say it's a lot of fun to use; I can foresee this becoming one of my regularly used pre Instagram apps.  This app uses overlays to create really artsy images that play with colors, shapes, and textures.  There are premade Presets that look really cool when placed on images.  You can also make your own overlay using patterns, shapes, filters, and texts.  I really like the way these look on landscape images and in the image above I took a picture I took in Greece and made my own overlay.

Fused

Fused allows you to combine two images into one.  This app is pretty basic and is good if you only want to combine the two and adjust the opacity of the images.

Instant Blend

If you want something beyond what Fused offers this app is similar, but allows you to go a bit farther. I really like how you can move the images around and change their size once they've been blended together.  You can also adjust the opacity of the images, and add filters, borders, and text.

Perfect365

I have to confess that I downloaded this app because I read that Kendall Jenner uses it on her selfies before putting them up on Instagram.  It's basically an app that can do the kind of photoshopping that everyone hates - airbrushing skin, adding makeup, contouring, etcetera.  I think it's really fun to take a picture without makeup on and add it using the app, it's scary precise and looks like I was wearing makeup when I took the picture.  I'm all for embracing your flaws and natural beauty, but I also think if a little touching up makes you feel more confident then you should go for it.  Personally, I have dark circles under my eyes that I've always been self conscious about and while I'm pretty good at covering them up with makeup I really like how this app makes them disappear and makes my eyes seem brighter.  I also like how you can get rid of a blemish if you have one and just make your skin look a little nicer.  While I haven't used this on Instagram yet (I'm not really a big selfie person), I think that I will at some point and when I do it won't be to use any of the crazy features just to get rid of those circles and any other little skin issues I might be having at the time.

As you can see I seriously love Instagram!  It's so fun to use different apps and try new things to make cool pictures that I am excited to share and show to everyone.  Do you have any apps that you use before you Instagram a picture?  If you do, let me know - I always love trying new ones!  Also if you follow me on Instagram, @crumbsandcurls, leave a comment on a picture letting me know you're stopping by from the post and I will follow back!

  

                

Make sure to add me on Snapchat - @kthomp22!

Today I'm linking up with Random Wednesday, I Feel Pretty, WIWW, Wordless Wednesday, and MidWeek Muse.