floating on dreams

scarf it down

I love scarves.  Always have, always will.  They’re an easy and awesome way of adding color or texture or just extra KAPOW to an outfit.  Scarves are also totally versatile in that they can really dress an outfit up or dress it down with some playfulness.  I’ve regularly worn long, chunky knit scarves during winter and fall, and only am now coming around to wearing thinner scarves throughout the year.  If you’re anything like me, it’s the challenge of learning how to tie them (well) that shies me away from scarves.  But have no fear!  Scarves.Net is here!  It is the most FABULOUS website and online store, and is an amazing resource for us scarf newbs.  Scarves.Net has an actual KNOT LIBRARY, where you can see videos on 40+ ways to tie scarves! UH-MAZ-ING!

That was awesome as is, but of course the awesomeness didn’t end there.  I got to pick out an early bday present for myself from Scarves.Net’s amazing selection!  They have scarves for all seasons and occasions, and they’re all under $40.  Seriously, you can search by season, trend, color, material, and another kajillion features and they probably have exactly what you’re looking for.

Of course I fell in love with the whole store, but alas, I could only pick one.  Too many choices.. what’s a girl to do?  I really liked the three above — the adorable heart print, the tango tangerine shade or the giraffe prints!  I  ultimately chose the Victoria Faux Fur Scarf.  It’s still a bit chilly and grey in NorCal and so I went against my fresh spring mood and retreated back to the comforts of this wintry black scarf. 

I just couldn’t resist the fringe or the faux fur.  It actually looks quite a bit different from the stock images.  It’s a soft but thick black fabric, and a lot wider than the image below.  It’s about 6’ long and 2.5’ wide, with dangly fringe on the ends and a luxurious fur trim along its length.  I LOVEEEE THIS SCARF!  You can wear it like a more traditional long scarf by rolling it up or you can wear it unfurled as a shawl over your shoulders.  It’s so different than my other chunky knit scarves and I’m really happy with it.

And now for the fun part!  I’ve had such a wonderful bday, I wanted to share some of the bday cheer with all of you.  Scarves.Net is offering one of my readers a chance to win one of their gorgeous scarves.  They’re giving one lucky winner a $20 gift certificate, and remember, all their scarves are under $40 and I think most are under $20.  My Victoria Faux Fur Scarf is now on sale for a whopping $16.96 if you want some furriness in your wardrobe, too.  Or maybe you’d like to try their square, bandana or winter scarves.  You can have anything your heart desires :)

How to Win!

Mandatory (1 entry):

1. You must be a public follower of “Floating On Dreams” on my Google+ Page.  (If you don’t have G+, add my Facebook Fanpage.)
2. Visit Scarves.Net and write a comment below telling me which scarf you’re just dying to have.  Also tell me if you’re a G+ or FB follower.  Be sure to include your email address in the comment form in order for me to contact you.  Entries will be verified!

Bonus Entries:

1. Add me on both Google+ AND Facebook. (1 additional entry)
2. Follow me on BlogLovin. (1 additional entry)
3. Follow my Twitter @floatingondream (1 additional entry)
4. Tweet the giveaway “I want to win the SCARF GIVEAWAY from @scarvesdotnet and @floatingondream! http://bit.ly/HWyURX” (1 additional entry)
5. Like Scarves Dot Net on Facebook. (1 additional entry)
6. Follow @scarvesdotnet on Twitter. (1 additional entry)

Write an additional comment for each entry and be sure to include your name if it’s not the same on G+, FB, in your comment, etc.  The contest will run from now to April 22, 2012 11:59pm PST.  Please read the Terms and Conditions.  Good luck, everyone!

**I received the product mentioned for review purposes only and have not been compensated in any other way.  This giveaway has in no way influenced my opinion of the products.  The sponsors will send the prize directly to the winner.  Once a winner is selected and their information has been forwarded to the sponsor, the responsibility of prize fulfillment rests with the sponsor.  Please refer to my Disclaimer section for more info on my PR and Disclosure policies.**

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i can see CLEEEEEARLY now, the rain is gone..

So my bday is coming up, and I received the most awesome, equal parts terrifying and thoughtful and rewarding, present from my parents last week.  After 13 years of glasses and contacts, I finally pulled the trigger and got LASIK!  Well technically, I got Epi-LASIK, which is essentially the same thing but is a blade-less procedure where no flap is made in the eye.  Learn more here if you’re curious.  I’ve been wearing glasses since 7th grade and self-conscious enough to start wearing contacts in 8th.  You’ll rarely see me in glasses, but I wanted to share this picture on my blog!  Of course the one time I’ll share a picture of myself in my D&G glasses… will the the last time I ever wear them!

I went in to the Laser Eye Center of Silicon Valley because my cousin previously had his LASIK procedure there and the great reviews online.  My ophthalmologist was Dr. Craig Bindi and he is wonderful.  Seriously the best bedside manner I’ve ever witnessed.  The free consultation was very pressure-free and informative, and you can tell they have their patient services down pat.  They’re really helpful with questions and totally easy to schedule with.  You could have your eyeballs lasered next week if you wanted!

The actual procedure was not painful at all but strange and maybe a little uncomfortable.  They definitely give you enough numbing drops, neuropathic pain medicine and Valium to get over the weirdness of having a speculum pry open your eyelids and have someone “squeegee” your eye - my sister’s words! I made her come to watch and enjoy the show hahaha.  Dr. Bindi was really patient, gentle and calmly talked me through the whole thing, all 15 minutes of it.  I definitely felt the immediately clear vision everyone describes after LASIK, strutting around saying “yeah, you see that sign over there? I can read the shit out of it!” 

I WILL say though that NO ONEEEEEEEEE ANYWHERE told me how PAINFUL the recovery from Epi-LASIK was going to be.  Online and in person, I was told the recovery time for the blade-less Epi-LASIK procedure would be 5-6 days and I would experience “discomfort and irritation.”  NO ONE SAID IT WOULD BE PAINFUL AS BALLS!!  After the initial euphoria of clear vision, the inflammation set in that night and I was pretty much completely incapacitated for 4 days straight.  I was in bed nonstop, wearing sunglasses in the dark, ice packs covering my face, popping ibuprofen and Vicodin like candy and begging the bf to turn off every single light possible.  Close the blinds, cover up the clock numbers and dim that laptop screen, STAT!

I would probably do it all over again and suggest it to people considering it, but definitely be aware that not ALL LASIK procedures are a walk in the park.  Those that opt for or are only eligible for Epi-LASIK need to be fully aware that the recovery is QUITE painful and be prepared for that, which I mentally was not.

It’s still healing, and I have a “contact lens bandage” in my eyes that will be removed this week.  My vision is improving everyday and it’s awesome to finally be able to walk around without sunglasses, day or night.  The pain is 99% gone and I am ibuprofen/Vicodin free!  It was disappointing to miss St. Patty’s celebrations, but I am in 100% better spirits than I was last week and super excited for my contact-free existence!  Although I’m still a little blurry and sensitive to light, I can finally handle the brightness of my laptop and iphone screens now and wanted to share my Epi-LASIK experience so far!  Fingers crossed!

PS. I may have to edit this post later in case my blurry eyeballs have __ a word or two ;)

draped in moto

I would describe my style as simple, feminine and clean.  Especially with outerwear, I love basic and super wearable pieces that drape well and flatter my shape.  I’ve been looking for a jacket to transition from winter to spring, something lightweight and good with layering thick and thin layers.  What great timing that I was given the awesome opportunity to work with Secret Krush Corner!  They’re a Northern California online retailer (whoo hoo, go SF!) that offers trendy and affordable women’s clothing.  Their ideal customer, the SKC Woman, is “hard working, but knows how to balance life with some fun. Their style is confident, daring, and pushes the limits on everyday fashion.”  I’d say that fits me and all you readers pretty well!

I was so lucky to get to choose any piece from Secret Krush Corner’s awesome selection to try out for myself.  They have a great selection of women’s dresses, tops, skirts, bottoms and outwear and specialize in dresses.  As I was in the market for a lightweight jacket, I was immediately drawn to their Crop Moto Fit Jacket.  I like the cut of moto and bomber jackets, and already have a faux leather version which can be a little heavy or bulky. 

I loved that SKC’s Crop Moto Fit Jacket was a knit lightweight jacket with the traditional features of a motorcycle jacket like the off-center front zipper, elbow ridges and the stand collar.  Seriously, the pictures on the website do not do this jacket justice.  It is so much more adorable in person.  I love how this jacket looks unzipped!  It’s just the most perfect drape and I liked mixing up the layering with a long tank underneath and a shorter cropped hot pink sweater vest.

Crop Moto Fit Jacket c/o SKC, Express cropped sweater vest, F21 jeans, Sam Edelman flats, Ray-Ban sunglasses, T&Co, Express, H&M & Ebay jewelry

I’m just totally in love with this jacket!  Like I said, it’s way way more perfect in person.  It’s incredibly soft, has that great effortless slouchiness I’m obsessed with and my favorite parts are the exposed zippers on the collar bone area and military style epaulet snaps.  It really was a surprising amount of subtle details on what looked to be a very basic crop moto jacket.  Love!

And to give you all a chance at some SKC goodies, SKC is giving my readers a special discount from now through April 2012!

• “FloatingOnDreams1” for 20% off all regular priced items.
• “DreamJacket1” for 25% off of the Crop Moto Fit Jacket featured here!

I had such a great experience with Secret Krush Corner and I’m in love with their beautiful moto jacket.  I can’t stop wearing this jacket and you’ll definitely be seeing it more often in my outfits.  Check out Secret Krush Corner to take advantage of this great discount and try out their gorgeous pieces yourself.  I’m really looking forward to their upcoming Spring Collection and what Spring will bring!

**I was sent an item of my choice for review purposes but I was not compensated in any other way. Please refer to my Disclaimer section for more info on my PR and Disclosure policies.**

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beauty and the bh (+giveaway!)

I just wanted to say a Happy (belated) 2 Year Bloggaversary to my blog and a big thank you to my readers!  To celebrate, I’m going to share a makeup review and giveaway from BH Cosmetics!  All you lucky readers get a chance to win the exact products I tried out in this post, and trust me, they’re good ones!

I was sent 5 products from BH Cosmetics: liquid eyeliner, 2 waterproof crayon eyeliners and 2 lip glosses.  Here is the company’s description:

BH Liquid Eyeliner:

Better than ever, our famous liquid eyeliner is back! This high-precision, long-lasting liquid eyeliner pen has a quick drying, smear-proof formula that will ease you into creating your perfect cat-eye or a lined & defined look. This perfectly portable liquid eyeliner was made for easy, on-the-go glamour.

Waterproof Eyeliners in Midnight & Frost:

Our new waterproof crayon eye liners are impossibly soft, creamy, and iridescent! Smudge them, blend them - the choice is yours!

BH Lip Gloss in Office Queen and Wine & Dine:

A collection of highly pigmented lip glosses in various colors that build creamy and shiny lips. The non-sticky, light weight formula with an easy-to-use brush is the ideal form of gloss that effortlessly creates head-turning lips.

BH Liquid Eyeliner on the top lashline, Waterproof Eyeliner in Frost on the bottom lashline and Wine & Dine Lip Gloss.

Lucky lucky me that I was selected to try out these different products!  I love makeup and playing with different colors and looks, but I have a pretty bad habit of collecting new products and not actually using them.  Normally, I stick with the same 3 products for my everyday look: gel eyeliner, liquid foundation, blush, done.  Maybe swipe on some lip gloss if I’m feeling fancy.  And a SUPER fancy night, I’ll even wear eyeshadow! ;)  I thought I’d give these new products and colors a try and see if they had what it takes to make regular appearances in my rotation.

First I tested out BH Liquid Eyeliner.  I’ve tried other pencil and liquid eyeliners and haven’t found anything I liked more than the gel eyeliner.  Store-bought liquid eyeliner usually applies a nice, dark line but really easy to mess up or smear when wet.  Maybe I have sensitive eyes, but other liquid eyeliners seem to really irritate my eyes and sting, which is an automatic fail for me.  The BH Liquid Eyeliner is really unique in that it looks like an actual fine tip felt marker.  It was really easy to apply and recreate the cateye liner because it was like literally drawing a curved line on my face.  It dried really quickly and didn’t smear at all.  It lasted all day long and I’m really surprised that this $4 marker-looking eyeliner lasts as long or possibly longer than my regular $15 Fluidline.  Shock!

I also received two Waterproof Eyeliners in Midnight, a dark tealish blue, and Frost, a glittery silvery white.  I tried on the Frost in the pictures on the bottom lashline to try to make my eyes appear bigger and lighter.  I think it was good in theory, bad in execution.  It is a somewhat creamy crayon eyeliner and applied smoothly on my skin, but I’m just not a fan of crayon or pencil eyeliners.  It isn’t quite pigmented enough for me, but it is waterproof and has good staying power.  I may use it over my regular eyeliner to add some color but I probably won’t use it as the main eyeliner.

Last but not least, I reviewed two BH Lip Glosses in Office Queen and Wine & Dine.  I love a glossy, bright colored lip gloss because it’s the easiest way to add a pop of color to a look.  Their Lip Glosses are highly pigmented and shimmery.  Office Queen is a sheer pinkish nude color and didn’t go really well with my skin tone.  However, I really liked the Wine & Dine color, although it initially looked like a muddy maroon color in the tube.  It was actually a great, vibrant reddish wine color.  I liked the high gloss and shimmeriness of both lip glosses and the Wine & Dine was a fabulous color on me.

Onto the fun part, BHCosmetics is giving you all a chance to win this exact set of makeup!  There are multiple ways to earn extra entries.

How to Win!

Mandatory (1 entry):

1. You must be a public follower of “Floating On Dreams” on my Google+ Page.  (If you don’t have G+, add my Facebook Fanpage.)
2. Write a comment below telling me which BH Cosmetics product you’re most excited to try and if you added on G+ or FB.  Be sure to include your email address in the comment form in order for me to contact you.  Entries will be verified!

Bonus Entries:

1. Add me on both Google+ AND Facebook. (1 additional entry)
2. Follow me on BlogLovin. (1 additional entry)
3. Follow my Twitter @floatingondream (1 additional entry)
4. Tweet the giveaway “Awesome Lip Glosses and EyeLiner giveaway from @bhcosmetics at @floatingondream http://bit.ly/yY2MRF” (1 additional entry)
5. Like BH Cosmetics on Facebook. (1 additional entry)
6. Follow BH Cosmetics on Tumblr. (1 additional entry)
7. Follow BH Cosmetics on Twitter. (1 additional entry)
8. Subscribe to the BHCosmetics Youtube Channel. (1 additional entry)

Write an additional comment for each entry and be sure to include your name if it’s not the same on G+, FB, in your comment, etc.  The contest will run from now to March 18, 2012 11:59pm PST.  Please read the Terms and Conditions.  Good luck, everyone!

**I received the products mentioned for review purposes only and have not been compensated in any other way.  This giveaway has in no way influenced my opinion of the products.  The sponsors will send the prize directly to the winner.  Once a winner is selected and their information has been forwarded to the sponsor, the responsibility of prize fulfillment rests with the sponsor.  Please refer to my Disclaimer section for more info on my PR and Disclosure policies.**

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Sponsored by Tomoson.com

em yêu anh i love you je t’aime

As the holidays wind down and stores take their xmas decorations down the day after NYE, what do they replace them with?  Valentine’s Day decor! I used to quietly dread Valentine’s Day, but you know what, it doesn’t have to be a day just for couples.  If anything, it should be a day where you spoil yourself or your friends with flowers and jewelry.  Valentine’s Day should be about tokens of love to your significant other, friends and family!

I was given the wonderful opportunity to work with NanoStyle cubic zirconia jewelry and spoil myself with an early Valentine’s Day/belated Christmas present!  I was given my choice of pendant with a silver setting, silver necklace and 24K gold engraving.  I spent a really long time pouring over their selection because it’s important to wear jewelry that are meaningful and personal to me and reflect my personality.  The more significant and special a piece of jewelry is me, the more I appreciate it and it will guarantee I’ll get more wear out of it.

NanoStyle’s contemporary jewelry comes in a wide range of semi-precious stone pendant necklaces and soon to be available rings.  What I found to be special about Nanostyle’s selection was that they offer a little something for everyone and anyone of all different faiths and beliefs.  NanoStyle pendants are made using an imprint technology, engraving 24K gold onto cubic zirconia stones and onyx.  The different collections they offer are Tokens of Love, Zodiac, Universal, Christianity, Judaism and New Age.  I really liked the Buddhist pendants under the New Age section, along with the Zodiac and Universal pendants.

The vivid colors of the CZ pendants were intriguing, but I was most drawn to the onyx jewelry.  I love the shine and deep black hue and my favorite pendants were their rectangular onyx pendants due to the shape and setting.  I eventually chose the “I Love You 120 Languages” onyx pendant necklace in the Tokens of Love section.  It is an oval shaped onyx pendant with tiny “I Love You”s engraved nano style in 120 different languages.  It is NanoStyle’s best selling, signature necklace and was sold out when I was choosing my pendant, but they were so kind to scrounge one up for me.  I was a little hesitant about how the silver setting of the necklace would look with the gold engraving, but I really wanted a Token of Love and adored the idea of wearing the words “I Love You” in 120 different ways.

When it arrived all the way from Israel, I was so pleasantly surprised with this gorgeous little necklace!  I was gifted the $99 “I Love You 120 Languages” pendant with silver setting and curb 45cm chain, which can be upgraded to 24K gold or TopGold settings and other chains.  Each purchase comes with complimentary jewelry box, metal keychain and magnifying glass so you can actually magnify and appreciate the precise and impressive engraving.  I really liked the personal touch that they add by including the magnifying glass and a large copy of the nano engraving so you can see exactly what’s engraved on the pendant.  I searched word for word if they included the Vietnamese words for “I Love You,” not expecting very much but lo and behold, they had both translations: “em yêu anh” and “anh yêu em!”  It was awesome that I could actually magnify it on the pendant and see it for myself.

The necklace is surprisingly delicate looking in person, compared to the picture in their online store.  The gold engraving really glitters in the light and you wouldn’t even think that it could possibly be words unless you look more closely.  NanoStyle’s quality and care in their craftsmanship and products are really evident when it’s in my hands and I can work it around my fingers.  The silver and gold compliment each other, and I think it’s a very classy, timeless piece of jewelry.  It would be a really great gift idea for any occasion, whether it be Valentine’s Day with the Tokens of Love, birthdays with their Universal or Zodiac pendants or religious holidays.  My mom has actually been eyeing my necklace after I showed her the neat magnifying glass and the engravings.  I think I know what her next Mother’s Day gift will be :)  If you’re looking for a unique and meaningful gift for someone special, NanoStyle cubic zirconia jewelry is the answer.  Check out their Facebook and Twitter for more info.

I have some exciting news for you guys!  Tune in on MONDAY for a chance to win yourself or a loved one a Nanostyle necklace for Valentine’s Day!

**I was sent a pendant necklace of my choice for review purposes but I was not compensated in any other way. Please refer to my Disclaimer section for more info on my PR and Disclosure policies.**

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