Hey guys! Guess who’s back? I am finally finished with my last semester of college and am super excited to be graduating in December 🎓🎉. I am just as excited to getting back to blogging and catching up with you all…I’ve missed you! ❤ What a relief to be done and have some more time on my hands. I feel like I’ve been living under a rock these past two months.
To kick start this wonderful accomplishment in my life and my return to blogging, I am doing another giveaway! Last time I did a giveaway, I gave away a bodyblender and this time I am giving away a beautyblender to one lucky blogger!
Hellooo everyone and welcome to a very special article here on lifewithlilred about a wonderful company that one of my good friends works for, Trades Of Hope. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sarah White to discuss her work with the company and some of her favorite accessories that are offered through her Trades Of Hope party to kick start the holiday shopping season. For those of you who don’t know, Trades Of Hope employs women artisans in third world countries so they can earn a fair living wage to help provide for themselves and their families. Take a look at part of our interview conducted by yours truly and then stick around to see some of Sarah’s gorgeous fall favorites:
Lil Red: Ever since I’ve known you, you’ve been passionate about volunteering your time for programs that help women world wide. What would you say is the most rewarding part of being involved with Trades Of Hope?
Sarah: I’ve always wanted to have a tangible way to help women coming out of poverty but I specifically have a passion for women coming out of trafficking, like many of the Trades Of Hope artisans. I’ve been involved with various programs that help raise money for women, but Trades Of Hope isn’t a charity – these women are hired, paid a fair wage, and are then able to take care of their families in a long term way. Trades Of Hope is an organization that helps women stop their cycle of poverty and betters their lives, I think that’s the best part.
LR: If you could say something to the Trades Of Hope artisans, what would it be?
S: I think it would just be…Thank you for what you’re doing. Thank you for making these products to support your families. We care about you and we love you…I would keep it pretty simple.
LR: You actually introduced Trades Of Hope to me one afternoon over coffee. If someone wanted to get involved with working for the company, what should they do?
S: To become a Compassion Entrepreneur, which is what we call ourselves, anyone can reach out to me for additional information! (Sarah’s contact info will be posted below.)
LR: Trades Of Hope offers an abundance of beautiful handcrafted accessories through catalog and on their site. It must be hard to pick a favorite!
S: It is! Of course I love the Mosaic Clutch and the Mustard Infinity Scarf but out of the jewelry the Julia from Guatemala is one of my favorites. The necklace was made from a young artist aging out of her orphanage and it’s simple but so pretty. If you look closely on the silver pendant the fingerprint of the artist is engraved in it.
LR: Are there any items on the site that are considered a fan favorite by the shoppers?
S: Definitely. The Eternal Seed necklace is very popular (it’s a Lil Red favorite too) as well as the Haiti Signature Bracelet which is made out of cereal boxes. (The pictures of the accessories mentioned can be seen below, as well as the Kala necklace, which I’m the proud owner of!) Not only does the bracelet help support our artisans but it’s great for the environment as well.
Mosaic Clutch: I got to see this cute clutch in person and it’s even better in real life, if that’s even possible. Sarah is a self proclaimed “bag girl” and the Mosaic Clutch, made by Trades Of Hope artisans in Guatemala is one of her must have staples for fall.
Mustard Infinity Scarf: This beautiful scarf was made by TOH artisans in Cambodia who have survived acid attacks. Despite such horrific events, the amazing women making these scarves have found joy again in their craft and they truly do it so well. Sarah has also deemed this scarf as one of her must have autumn pieces because of how much she likes the color! My friend has great style and would pair this infinity scarf with a hat of the same color, a sharp dark green jacket, dark wash denim, and a tall pair of boots for a fall OOTD. I’m a fan!
Sarah will be hosting a party to ring in the holiday shopping season and it promises to be a lot of fun! Anyone who places an order through Sarah’s party has the opportunity to win free or half off items as the “hostess rewards”. The shopping extravaganza will be up and running for at least two weeks, so you’ll have lots of time to make your purchases and maybe get lucky by winning some rewards! Unfortunately, Trades Of Hope only ships in the US, but if you live abroad and are interested in any of the products seen on the site, you can email Sarah who will do the best she can to get you your accessories.
I had so much fun chatting about Trades Of Hope with my dear friend and before we parted ways, she gave some terrific ideas on stocking stuffers for the holiday season. Not only does Trades Of Hope offer chic accessories but you can also find items for kids, men, home decor, and beauty. Sarah recommends the soap and chapsticks from the site as a sweet and small gift but she’s partial to the jewelry! “All of the Trades Of Hope jewelry comes in a pretty bag and you can wear it and think of the person who got it for you” she says. I, for one, would love to find the Eternal Seed Necklace under my tree! Sarah can be seen below sporting some Trades Of Hope earrings and a mega watt smile! I see you!!
Writing about Trades Of Hope was such a blast and I encourage all of you to do some shopping at the links provided above! What is your favorite item on the website? Do you have any questions about the company for Sarah? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hellooo everyone and happy Tuesday! As you guys know, I love receiving my monthly Bath & Body Works freebie coupons in the mail. This month I got a coupon for a free full sized signature item (lotion, cream, or shower gel) so I stopped in this morning to pick up my pay free product. Today I went with a body cream of my favorite fragrance B&BW has to offer: Beautiful Day. My cream was a thirteen dollar value and it was definitely an awesome treat to ring in the holiday shopping season with!
Unfortunately, this month’s freebie excursion wasn’t as pleasant as it usually is thanks to the rudest employee ever but it was still nice to be able to go in and pick out a full rather than travel sized item. If you have a Bath & Body Works around you, I can’t recommend Beautiful Day enough! I’m a fan of anything apple scented and Beautiful Day is perfectly apple-y with the slightest hints of pear and poppies. It’s a flawless combination of tart green apples and sweet flowers and I just love it.
My hoard of free B&BW products continues to grow, which is great because as I mentioned before, they’re going to make terrific little additions for Christmas gifts. Even though I didn’t have the best experience with one of the employees, I still walked away with a thirteen dollar lotion that I didn’t pay one penny for and that’s good enough for me!
I know I mentioned in my Monday Update yesterday that my Trades Of Hope article would be publishing today but my client pushed it back until tomorrow so make sure you tune in on Hump Day for that! Until then, what is your favorite fragrance from Bath & Body Works? What was the worst customer service experience you’ve ever had? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
This week I reached 100 Followers on my blog. Thank you so much for your support. I can’t believe this happened. So Excited!!!!!! ❤️💖🎉🎉😊😍🎊💫🎉💥❤️💖💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
I wanted to thank you all but hosting a giveaway on my blog.the first giveaway on my blog!!!! ☺️ After a lot of thinking I have decided to give away…. drum roll please…..
The Urban Decay Smokey Eye Palette
or
The Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette
The winner gets to pick between the two palettes. They are cult favourites and I am sure you will love them as much as I do 😘
The give away is open worldwide…. till 31-October, 2015
I will announce the winner on 4th November, 2015
How to enter
Follow my blog or Subscribe via email
One additional entry for following me on instagram
Hiii everyone and happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend! When I returned home from my boyfriend’s house yesterday afternoon I was so excited to see that I was nominated for the Liebster Award by my friend at A Maple Girl! It was such a pleasant surprise so I decided to make a Monday Update out of it! Here are my answers to all of the fun questions provided by A Maple Girl:
Long nails or short? Long – although I’m currently wearing my nails natural and short at the moment. I had extremely long acrylics reminiscent of talons for over half a year but now I’m giving my real nails some recovery time before I get a new set on.
Red lips or pink? Red!! Haha I would be nothing without my red lips and red hair!
Favorite YouTube beauty Guru? I don’t really have one…I’m not a big YouTube watcher and I’m honestly so set in my every day makeup routine that I rarely switch it up.
Favorite season of the year? AUTUMN!!!! I love the fall so much! Fall clothing is my favorite: cardigans, peacoats, fingerless gloves, hats, and cable knit sweaters – I love it all! I really want to get to a haunted house with my boyfriend soon! We actually might be going to Halloweekends at Cedar Point this upcoming weekend. 🙂
First job? I worked as an actor at a haunted house, Carnival Of Horrors. I was fourteen or so and it was so much fun. I also got to do all of my own makeup which was a blast.
If you could only use one makeup brand for the rest of your life, which would it be? The Body Shop, hands down. However, I would have to cheat and use NYX for my lipstick because their matte lippies are the best!!
Dream vacation destination? This is an easy one – traveling through Europe!!
Favorite book you’ve read recently? I just finished rereading one of my favorite books, Night Film, this past Friday. It’s so fantastic and is in production to be made into a film soon! I liked this book so much that I got one of the quotes, “Do I dare?”, tattooed on my inner left arm.
Why did you start a blog? Lifewithlilred originally started strictly as a fashion blog because I had multiple people tell me daily that I should start one. I have a very unique personal style and I was flattered that people recognized that and liked it, so I figured “why not?” Now lifewithlilred is more of a lifestyle blog, covering everything from beauty and literature to silly ramblings and mental health.
Celebrity crush? I have tons! Haha I love Johnny Depp, Jack White, Julian Casablancas, Britney Spears, and Gwen Stefani just to name a few! For more on my celebrity crushes you can tune in to lifewithlilred every Monday and Wednesday for my Man Crush Monday and Woman Crush Wednesday segments!
Answer the questions set by the person who nominated you.
Nominate 5 blogs with less than 500 followers
Leave a comment on their blog to inform them of their nomination.
My questions for you are:
What’s the one beauty item you couldn’t live without?
Who are three of your favorite bands?
The best gift you’ve ever received?
The weirdest food you’ve ever ate?
Favorite childhood movie?
Your favorite pair of shoes?
A story of the worst date you’ve ever been on?
Favorite book?
Do you have any pets?
What is your favorite subject to blog about?
Once again, I’m so thrilled that I was nominated for the Liebster Award and had such a blast making this post. To those of you who want more of me, you can friend me on Facebook at Sarah Mushenheim, follow my page, or email me at sarah.mush6794@gmail.com! How was everyone’s weekend? What is the weather like in your neck of the woods? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Heyyy everyone! I hope you’re all having a fabulous weekend so far! I’ve raved before about my freebie addiction to Bath & Body Works and in the start of this month alone I’ve received two freebie coupons in the mail which I was so excited to use! I got a free PocketBac hand sanitizer and a new travel sized lotion which brings my tally of no pay goodies to ten products in barely over half a year! Nice!
For my free PocketBac ($1.75 value) I opted for their new Apple Harvest scent. I told the young lady working that apple is my favorite fragrance so I was very excited to try their interpretation on a tried and true fall flavor. I was definitely not disappointed, either! The sanitizer smells SO insanely apple-y with just the faintest hint of spices and it leaves my hands feeling so clean. The nice thing about the PocketBac sanitizers is that they don’t leave your skin feeling dried out like Purell, either. Apple Harvest is a lovely scent for fall and I plan on purchasing some of the lotion if it’s still available during their winter sale!
When I pick out my free travel sized lotion ($5 value) I’m never too picky with my choices. Half of the fun of going to get my freebies is selecting the fragrance and trying something that I might not normally pick out for myself. I went with their Love & Sunshine lotion which I was actually shocked by. It’s a somewhat floral fragrance as you can see by the daisy packaging and I’m not usually a big fan of florals. But the sweetness of the flower scent was balanced out by tart lemon and strawberries and it made for a very fresh and girly smell. Making a selection from the entire wall of travel sized goodies is always a tough choice but I’m really pleased with what I picked!
Wanna know how you can get a stock pile of free Bath & Body Works goodies? Sign up for their emails at http://www.bathandbodyworks.com, for starters. And if you go into the store to do some shopping make sure you enter your email or phone number with your purchase. Every time you buy something keep on adding your info so it updates every time and you continue to receive emails and coupons! I’m so glad I did – my hoard of lotions will make great add on gifts this holiday season and will be a nice little treat for me, too!
So there you have it, my newest Bath & Body Works Freebies to add to the collection! What is your favorite B&BW fragrance? What store do you get the best freebies from? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hellooo everyone and happy Monday! I hope all of you had a wonderful and relaxing weekend! So something kind of crazy happened this weekend that is so out of character for me that I have a hard time believing it myself…I took my acrylic nails off. Those of you who are familiar with my blog will know that I am (was) simply obsessed with my longer than life talon-esque fake nails, but something happened this weekend that just made me snap. Check out the story behind my breaking point and then we can mourn in my loss together:
On Saturday everything was running smoothly. I had a great few days with my boyfriend that I returned home from in the morning and my mom and I had a lovely shopping outing in the evening. But then…then a tragedy happened. As I was sitting on my bedroom floor scrolling through Facebook on my iPod something inside of me made me get up from my laziness to go downstairs and work on homework. I reached my hand back onto my bed to hoist myself up and then CRACK, the acrylic on my left hand middle finger broke clean in two.
“Well shit,” I thought to myself, “what am I going to do now”? It was too late for my salon to be open and it’s closed all day on Sundays (the following day). Then all kinds of thoughts began swarming in my head. Should I hold out until Monday and get it fixed? Should I bite the bullet and go to a different salon tomorrow? And then I began to inspect my natural nail that was visible from my unfortunate uh-oh. My nail was brittle, cracking, and dry as a bone. Honestly, I wasn’t surprised…I haven’t worn my nails natural since November of 2014 but I had no idea that they were that bad.
Upon further inspection of my nails, I decided that they desperately needed some TLC. After I made this realization I took a deep breath and began to gather the supplies needed to take my claws off at home – because after I thought about it, I refused to pay ten to fifteen dollars for something I could do from the comfort of my own bathroom. I grabbed a glass bowl big enough to fit both of my hands in, acetone nail polish remover, and nail clippers then I headed into the loo to take care of business.
I sat my sweet ass on the floor of the throne room and got to work by clipping my acrylics down to the nub. This was painful physically and emotionally. My clippers are obvs not salon quality so I had to apply hella pressure to get my nails declawed. With every snap crackle pop of the acrylic being cut off my heart sank deeper into my butt….But finally, the deed was done. I filled my bowl with the nail polish remover, pulled myself together, and descended downstairs to watch Arrested Development as my nails soaked off.
After my TV time, my nails were loose enough that I could pry them off and just like that, my acrylics were gone. I stared down at my bare hands and looked at them as if I were seeing them for the first time. “Jesus Christ…What did I just do?” I continued to gaze down at my nails with a critical eye and all I could see were stubby fingers and the most unhealthy nails ever and I seriously could have cried. After a “you’re a strong independent woman who don’t need no nails” pep talk, I did what had to be done…Apply enough lotion to fill up a bathtub onto my hands, put some socks on over them, and walk around my house performing sock puppet theater. #Ihatemyself
The next few days without my nails were weird, to say the least. Texting on my phone and typing on the computer without hearing my claws clacking away felt foreign and strange. Running my hands through my hair without feeling my talons grazing my scalp felt uncomfortable. Even scratching an itch with my bare nails felt unfamiliar. I was so lost…and then I got used to it.
I took my acrylics off for a reason, which was to get my natural nails healthy and damnit, that’s what I’m gonna do. It will definitely take some time to grow accustomed to life without my long fake nails, but that’s okay. It’s going to save me money to not have to get my nails filled every month and most importantly it’s going to get my real nails back to normal, which is something I’m taking very seriously. #gosarahgo
So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Farewell Fake Nails Edition! Have any of you lovelies had an experience similar to mine after taking off their acrylics or another beauty staple you use? What are some tips that you have for healthy natural nails? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hey everyone and happy Tuesday! So a lot of people have reached out to me about where they can find items from my wardrobe that I feature on here and now I can finally answer with “on http://www.lifewithlilred.com”! Every once in a while during one of my cleaning sprees, I’ll be posting my unwanted items on here that are up for grabs for a reasonable price. If you see anything that you are interested in, shoot me an email at sarah.mush6794@gmail.com! The descriptions of each item will be listed after all of the photos are posted and the prices will be determined by me and you! Take a look:
Item Descriptions:
Black wedges: Vera Wang, size 8 Med
Britney Spears Circus perfume, over 3/4’s of the bottle left
Harajuku Lovers Baby perfume, brand new bottle
Peace, Love, & Juicy Couture perfume, brand new bottle
L.A.M.B. perfume, over half of the bottle left
Nollie perfume, barely used
Cross locket necklace with the Lord’s Prayer on the inside
Beaded necklace from The Market Path, a fair trade store in Akron, Ohio
Floral necklace, PacSun
Monet umbrella pin, still in packaging
Owl coin purse from Thailand, never used
Satchel belt from ModCloth, one size fits all
Wrap around belt from Hollister, one size fits all
Betsey Johnson rolling luggage, there are a few rips in the material so this will be going for a great price!
Emerald green skating dress, Petite
Open back skating dress, Medium
Black dress with extra burnt orange crystals included, Child Large
Black sparkle skirt, Child Large
Black sparkle leotard, Adult Small
So there you have it, the items currently for sale on Lil Red’s Online Boutique! Once again, if you have any questions or are interested in anything, please email me at sarah.mush6794@gmail.com! What was the best thing you ever bought online? Do you have an Etsy shop that I should check out? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hi there everyone and happy Sunday! I hope all of you are having a great weekend! I thought we could take today to wrap up my posts about my vacation to Orlando, Florida with some more fun stories and cool pics! Take a look and let’s discuss:
Lil Red Vacation Pro Tips:
To go mugs of wine for the journey to your destination is always a must! To go further with that, it’s also a wise decision to eat a ton of Taco Bell in the car, take a sleeping pill, and snooze the drive away. Our excursion to Florida was made completely tolerable thanks to sleeping for thirteen of the eighteen hours! Best. Decision. EVER!
If you’re nice enough to the Hogwarts Express conductor, he’ll show you his pocket watch with “Hogsmeade” and “Diagon Alley” instead of numbers so he knows when the train is departing from each station.
Make sure you spend some extra time after the Minion Mayhem ride to get your picture taken with one of the silly little Despicable Me goofballs! I love them so much, so this was absolutely necessary.
Take a boat ride to the Portafino hotel resort and enjoy some pizza at Sal’s! My family and I did this one evening after a day at Universal Studios and it was so awesome. We ate our pizza and drank wine on their patio and we had a perfect view of the nightly fireworks show at the park.
When you get your nails done, know that it’s going to be extra money to get rhinestone decorations! WHOOPS. So worth it though! It was really nice to take an hour to get out of the heat and get some pampering done in a cute little salon in Orlando.
If you’re like me and don’t like getting your hair wet, it’s a good idea to wear a plastic poncho during the afternoon rain and water rides. My mom found a poncho from The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter crumpled up on the ground near the park lockers and stealthily snagged it. I’m so glad she did because this kept me and my beloved red locks totally dry! Score!
Always photograph your parents doing cute things. (See picture above!)
Park souvenirs are not always the way to go! My mom and I found minion socks, keychains, and magnets at Marc’s all for under a dollar and they looked exactly like the ones at Universal. Such a steal!
There’s nothing wrong with drinking a twenty-four ounce can of Redd’s Apple Ale on the car ride back to good ol’ Akron, Ohio.
There’s also nothing wrong with spooning with your mom during said car right. Uhhh…..
Most importantly, savor every moment of your vaca and relish in the things that you can’t normally do in your hometown. Last time I checked, Akron doesn’t have anything close to Universal Studios! 😉
So there you have it, some Lil Red Pro Tips to wrap up my Orlando vacation!! I seriously had the most amazing time during my Florida getaway but it sure feels great to be home! Did any of you guys go on vacation this summer? What was the best vaca you’ve ever been on? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Helloooo everyone and happy Tuesday! Earlier this month I ordered a black beanie that had a fishnet veil attached to it off of Amazon. Unfortunately, when it came in the mail last week I discovered that the veil on the beanie was torn in two. I was so disappointed and when I emailed the vendor to request a return she was totally awesome. She gave me a refund on the product and I didn’t even have to send it back to her. Now I was stuck with a defective beanie that I had no clue what to do with. I pondered my options and came up with a solution to make something out of nothing and I am very happy with the results, as you can see from my featured image photo! Let’s discuss the simple steps that it took to make my new Vintage Style Hair Piece Craft:
Step 1) Acquire veil. In my case, all I had to do was cut the netting from the beanie. #SCORE
Step 2) Find a jewel, feather, hat, or whatever you would like to pin your veil to. The feather and jeweled piece that I used came from an old headband of mine that I wore when my hair was longer. The feathers were attached to a circular elastic band which I don’t care to wear because it makes my hair tuft up in the back. But that’s neither here nor there. #Idigress
Step 3) Pin your accessory to your netting. I used two bobby pins to secure my veil to the feathers. One to keep the items attached and one to clip in my hair when I wear it. I know it looks super janky in the pictures because you can so clearly see the bobby pins, but it’s not noticeable in the slightest when it’s in your hair. #pinkiepromise
^^^ Honestly, those directions were so unnecessary. Lol, you guys are all smart and I’m sure you could figure this craft out on your own. But maybe this post will come in handy to those who are not the craftiest, like myself. When I’m not looking a hot wreck, I’ll be sure to post some pictures of me rocking my fun new accessory! OH YOU CRAFTY HUH?!
So there you have it, the easy how to guide for a Vintage Style Hair Piece Craft. I am so pleased with the little spark of inspiration that I had to recycle old items and make them new again. I found an unexpected use for a headband that I haven’t worn in years and a defective purchase. Not bad! What is your favorite craft that you made from a recycled item? Have you made anything similar to my hair piece craft? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
lifewithlilred 