Month: October 2018

September 11, 2018 – Power Stances Only (OOTD #372)

Published on by lensembledujour6 Comments

You’re welcome to disagree with me, but I personally really feel like my posing has gotten better over the last year or so on this blog.

I can’t pretend I’m a fashion model or anything, or that any of the producers at Marvel are going to want me on their next superhero film poster, but I have certainly gotten more comfortable in front of a camera. While I definitely have my preferred stances that I come back to repeatedly (see: playing with my hair in some way or twirling), I do those stances pretty well. At least, I think I do.

It’s going to sound silly, but I’ve found the best way for me to improve how I look in photos is to experiment by myself by taking pictures on my own. When I have someone else take my picture, I’m always hesitant so as not to waste their time, so unless it’s a friend whom I’m already very close with, I tend not to ask much of them in terms of retaking things that don’t look quite right. When I’m on my own, just using the remote timer feature of my Apple Watch to snap shots with my iPhone, I don’t have to worry about wasting anyone’e time.

Well, my own, I guess. I can say that I have definitely done that before.

Honestly, the best “posing practice” I’ve ever gotten has probably been last semester, when I would hang out in Notre Dame’s art building late at night studying or working on projects. I’d wait until the building cleared out, or at least mostly cleared out, and then I’d prop my phone up on a chair and start practicing. No one was there to judge me, and I could try out any number of dumb poses to see what worked.

Essentially, it was the adult version of making funny faces at yourself in the mirror.

I’ve also found that just keeping up with other fashion bloggers and Instagrammers to see what kinds of poses they tend to use, and then replicating those, works too. Obviously, not every pose or angle will work for everyone or for every outfit/background combination, but it’s good to experiment. I’ve taken to posing with one leg crossed in front of the other while I lean back a little on the back leg (which, obviously, because I’m writing about it here, I wouldn’t have any examples to show you in this blog — check this one though if you want to see what I’m talking about) because I learned from other petite bloggers that it makes your legs look longer.

I actually keep a Pinterest board for Instagram inspiration — backgrounds, poses, ideas for photoshoots, anything I think could make for a nice addition to my feed. It’s also great to have around if you and a friend are in the mood to get cute pictures together, but you can’t think of what would make for a good post.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life at home at Notre Dame. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: Anthropologie

Top: Abercrombie

Jeans: American Eagle

(Lots of A brands today, no?)

REVIEW: Neutrogena Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment

Published on by lensembledujour2 Comments

Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary from Neutrogena for testing purposes. All opinions are my own.

If you told me five years ago that I could point a flashlight at my pimples and make them go away, there’s no way I would have believed you.

So what about now, that I’ve tested Neutrogena’s new Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment? Do I believe it now?

Well, I believe that it works. I don’t know if I believe it works particularly well, or if I believe it works well enough to be worth the effort, but I think that its claims of helping to clear breakouts are true.

Honestly, after giving it a shot, I feel like the effect was just about the same as a regular benzoyl peroxide spot treatment. I’ve never really struggled a ton with acne, but I do get some white heads, and I feel like the Neutrogena Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment pen does the job, and makes the spots go away more quickly than they would on their own. However, I don’t feel like the amount of time it takes for me to use the pen and make the pimples go away is worth it.

Here’s how it works: you take the light and point it at your given pimple for two minutes, until the pen beeps. In that sense, it’s very easy — just point and shoot. The issue, though, at least for me, is that I don’t really deal with a few huge pimples, but rather, more numerous little ones.

I didn’t really realize how long two minutes could be until I stood there in the bathroom pointing a light at my face. Two minutes can stretch on for a long time, and there’s really not much you can do, as one hand is busy holding a pink pimple flashlight. And if you have multiple pimples, or if your acne covers a larger space…you could be standing there for a long time.

Compare this to a traditional spot treatment cream, which you apply to your face in a minute, and then you’re done. You don’t have to hold a flashlight to you face for two minutes at a time. Perhaps a traditional spot treatment is a little more drying, but it takes a lot less effort.

Maybe I’m just lazy, but I just couldn’t justify standing in the bathroom doing nothing but holding a flashlight to my face, even if it’s ultimately a little better for my skin. To save time and save effort, I’d really rather just keep to the traditional spot treatment cream I’ve been using for years. Call me boring.

Summary:

Pros:

  • Lives up to its claims — helps pimples go away
  • Pen beeps after two minutes to let you know it’s done
  • Less drying than a regular spot treatment

Cons:

  • Requires that you hold the pen to your face for two minutes per pimple, which feels like a long time
  • Is it worth the effort, when you could just use a regular spot treatment and get a similar result?

Have you tried the new Neutrogena Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment? Or do you have any suggestions for your favorite acne treatments? Let me know your thoughts below!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries and collars, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

September 10, 2018 – In Retrospect (OOTD #371)

Published on by lensembledujour3 Comments

My apologies, it seems like it’s been nine days since my last blog post.

I’m not sure what the longest I’ve gone without writing a blog here is, but nine days probably ranks in the top ten. Whoops.

It’s been absolutely insane in my life since October 3, when I last posted — hence the nine day break from writing. While I generally try to get in a blog post regardless of how busy I am, as I find it adds a nice bit of consistency (as well as allows me to do a bit of reflection), I just could not find the time to do any writing these last several days.

What have I been up to? Midterms season, for one. And unfortunately, they’re not entirely done — I’ve got several exams following fall break, which means they’re going to haunt me this whole week while I’m trying to relax. To be honest, I’d rather a ghost haunt me, in true Halloween fashion, than exams. I feel like an undead soul would be much less scary.

On a more optimistic (kinda?) note, I’ve also been keeping super busy with study abroad applications. I’m submitting applications for Paris, France; Geneva, Switzerland; and Kigali, Rwanda. I have absolutely no clue as of yet which of these programs will accept me, and which one I would most like to do. I don’t even know which semester I’ll go abroad, or if I’ll try to do both.

Heck, I don’t even know what I’m doing tomorrow, my first day of fall break. Hopefully sleeping in a little?

I regret a little falling so behind on these blogs, because now the content I’m writing about here (my life as of October 12), is completely different from what went was going on in my life on September 10. I don’t even know what was really going on for me on September 10. Did I have exams? Was busy with activities? I really don’t know; I’ve already forgotten. I guess it wasn’t a very important day.

At any rate, the fact is, it’s fall break now, and I should hopefully be able to keep up my blogging schedule a little better. Fingers crossed that you see me here writing again tomorrow.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life at home at Notre Dame. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

September 9, 2018 – Travel Travesty (OOTD #370)

Published on by lensembledujour4 Comments

For part one of my September Chicago adventures, click here.

Previously, on L’ensemble du jour: Amanda and I went into Chicago to see a Fall Out Boy concert, and it was a pretty good day. We didn’t get lost, didn’t encounter any horrific traffic, and we got to see all tourist-y spots we wanted to. As travels go, it was about as struggle-free as an adventure could be.

So the next day, we woke up at our AirBnB and prepared to depart. We were on a slight time crunch, as I had a mandatory attendance class (plant class, actually, which I discuss here) that met at 1:00PM, and I needed to be back for it. So by 9:30AM, we were all set to go. We left the keys on the coffee table, and walked out to the car.

This, of course, is where everything fell apart.

First, the car door wouldn’t open. Upon examining the key fob, we came to the conclusion that it must be out of battery, and thus, it wouldn’t open the electronic lock. Okay, whatever, we’d just take out the physical key and start the car that way, right? Engineers plan for these sorts of emergencies; there’s no way a dead car key battery should stop a person from starting a car.

Well, apparently, the engineers of the Toyota Prius did not plan for this sort of emergency. The physical key let us open the door and get inside, but it would not allow us to start the car. After frantically consulting Google, the manual, and Amanda’s parents (multiple times), we realized that the only solution would be to get a new battery for the key.

Fine. So we walk down to the nearest convenience store, buy the battery and some screwdrivers, and scuttle back to the Prius. By now, we’ve wasted over an hour, and I’m wondering whether I could actually make my plant class. But optimistically, I figured the new car key battery would work, and that we’d be fine. It’d be a little tight, and we wouldn’t be able to get breakfast on our way home like we’d hoped, but at least I’d make it back on time.

Except, of course, the new battery did not solve our problems. The only new development after we replaced the battery was that now, instead of dead silence when we tried to start the car, the dreaded “check engine” light dinged on.

With few options left, Amanda decided to try calling a mechanic to jump the car. We had to wait an hour for him to come (during which time I took these photos in the neighborhood), but finally, like the Messiah, he came to deliver us from our suffering. For whatever reason, jumping the car worked, and while neither Amanda nor I could think of a reason why the car battery had died, or what that had to do with the dead key fob, neither of us really cared. Crossing our fingers that the car wouldn’t decide to die again while we were on the highway, we sped off back to Notre Dame.

By the time I got back to campus, I had never before been so glad to see the stupid Golden Dome and the Jesus statue on God Quad. I missed my botany class, but after frantically emailing my professor, she agreed to let me make up the class. In celebration, I took these photos on God Quad, just to prove that I made it back.

In conclusion, if you have uncharacteristically good luck for part of your travels, don’t expect to have the same good luck for the rest of it. In fact, expect to have bad luck — life likes to balance itself out that way. Like the time I got first class on my flight to London and then got trapped in Atlanta for two days on my flight home, no adventure is complete without a mild disaster. That’s what makes it an adventure.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life at home at Notre Dame. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: thrifted

Sweater: Forever21

Skirt: Forever21

September 8, 2018 – Lake Effect Kid (OOTD #369)

Published on by lensembledujour5 Comments

In case you’re wondering, the title is a reference to a Fall Out Boy song that is an absolute bop, and that I absolutely recommend that you check out.

As is the case with most of my travel-related blogs, this one might be a long one, so brace yourself. Today’s post sees Amanda and me going into Chicago for a nice day out in a big city, away from schoolwork and more importantly, away from campus.

Getting to the point where we were actually in the city though took more work than it should have. When we bought out tickets way back in the fall of last year (can you believe that? I had these tickets for basically a year) I figured we’d just get the train into the city in the morning and then be back to South Bend when it was over. What I didn’t consider was that the train would stop service to South Bend at 9pm, way before my concert was due to end.

Since we couldn’t get the train, and that was the only line that services South Bend, we ended up having to get an AirBnB and staying the night in Chicago. Thankfully, it wasn’t overly expensive, but it was a cost I wasn’t accounting for.

But after we solved our transportation issue, we had very few problems for the rest of that day. Note: that day. The next day was a completely different story, and I’ll tell it tomorrow.

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took an L

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Anyway, after we made it into the city, we stopped for a bite to eat in Nando’s (our first since we’d been in London over a year before), and then checked into our BnB. From three, we ditched the car and took the L (gotta love public transportation) off to Millennium Station.

Amanda wanted to see the Bean, and I wanted to see Navy Pier — basically, we were just big fat tourists for the afternoon. We might as well have thrown in the Art Institute and the Sears Tower (is that what it’s still called?) and done the whole experience.

The Bean was just that — the Bean, and exactly the same Bean as I had seen a few months prior. I must say, though, Millennium Park is certainly pretty. I don’t really think the Bean is all that, but the park is a nice stop.

Navy Pier was totally new to me, though. I feel like I must have been at some point when I was younger, but I can’t remember it. There was about an eight year gap in my life in which I didn’t see Chicago at all (which, when you think about it, is a little under half of my entire life), so my memories of it are either very distant, or very recent.

We were too cheap to pay for a ferris wheel ride (we’d learnt our lesson from the last time we wound up in a fair) or really to do anything other than look around and take photos, but I was glad to have finally seen the famed Navy Pier. Plus, we got some really dope photos next to Lake Michigan.

On a slight side note, you want to know something wild that I saw? An ad for my hometown, Lexington KY! Here I was, 400 miles away from Lexington, and still it followed me. You can never forget where you come from, I guess?

Finally, our last stop of the night was Wrigley Field, the location of the concert we were attending. And what concert was that, you may ask? Why, Fall Out Boy, of course — one of my all-time favorite bands. I had a really intense emo phase in high school, where Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, and Twenty One Pilots were my favorite bands. Granted, they’re still kind of my favorite bands — and if MCR ever decided to reunite, you can bet I would be spending my life savings to go.

The concert was a blast, though I rather wish they would have played more of their older songs. I knew they wouldn’t, that they’d mostly play post-hiatus stuff because that’s what’s more popular, but I was still a little sad I didn’t get to hear more of their rock-centric early 2000’s discography.

What was most surprising about the day, like I said, was that very little went wrong. We didn’t miss a single train, we hit little traffic, the tolls weren’t awful, and we never got lost. As travels go, everything went about as perfectly as possible.

But that was Saturday. Sunday is another story.

To be continued…

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life at home at Notre Dame. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jumpsuit: Urban Outfitters

Jacket: Hollister