LIFE LATELY - AUGUST - Belle Meets World

Oh hi, friends! I’m starting a monthly series where I share all of the latest discoveries going on at the house of Belle Meets World related to style, beauty, music, food and drink, social media, blogging, and many other life events happening behind the scenes. It’ll be fun (I think)!

STYLE – PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL:

I know summer is coming to an end, so I can’t stop wearing my white jeans and off-the-shoulder tops as much as possible. This has been one of my go-to looks this summer, and the color navy has been one of my obsessions. Nearly everything I purchased this season was navy or some shade of deep blue, so this is a glimpse at my daily uniform. From a professional standpoint, navy work dresses will transition perfectly into fall, so I’ve been testing out a few styles like this one via Rent the Runway below.

BEAUTY – FRAGRANCE & PRIMER:

I mentioned really briefly in my Perfecting Bath Time post last week that I am loving Nest Fragrances – mostly because they smell amazing but also because the packaging it so beautiful. How gorgeous are these bottles?! I like the Paradise fragrance, and my sister has really been into the Dahlia & Vines scent below – it’s their most popular.

Also, on Instagram this week, I posted my love for the Hourglass Mineral Primer. It’s the best primer I’ve ever tried. It really does give you a silky airbrushed finish, so I’m highly recommending it to everyone – and several of my followers said they love it too! Here’s the pic I posted on IG below:

TRAVEL – LAS VEGAS AND THE GRAND CANYON:

My next trip will be to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with my bestie, Dina. I’ve never been to either, and I’m trying to figure out the best way to pack all the sequined things, and all the grubby hiking things in the same suitcase. Suggestions welcome on places to go and things to pack!

MUSIC – SLOW RUNNER:

While my finance’s band is of course my favorite, I’ve been listening to his friends’ band Slow Runner pretty much non-stop, on repeat. My favorite song is Auto-Happy off of their Damage Points record, which you can find on Spotify in a snap, and my favorite Album overall of theirs is Shiv! Our new apartment has a fancy Sonos sound system, so you can blast your favorite songs in all of the rooms. Now, if only I could figure out how to work it so I can stop bugging Evan to do it for me! Give Slow Runner a listen – you will thank me, so I am saying you’re welcome now.

INSPIRATION – TURNING 34:

Last Saturday was my 34th birthday, and I had a rather low-key day. I’m looking forward to sharing some of my thoughts on aging and what it means to me as someone who is so deeply (and voluntarily) entrenched in the world of beauty, blogging and social media. There are positives and negatives, so I’m trying to make sense of all my feelings. More to come. But in the meantime, check out my previous post with the most amazing LBD ever that I got to wear to my bday dinner. Here are some of the goodies I received from my family. I can’t wait to go shopping at my favorite spots!

FOOD + DRINK – MOSCOW MULES:

This summer has been all about learning how to make refreshing cocktails as you might’ve seen from my frozen rosé post earlier this month. Now I’m turning my focus to the Moscow Mule. Some friends gave us copper mule mugs as an engagement gift so I’m on a mission to make good use of them. Stay tuned for a blog post that shares my best recipe!

PINTEREST – NEW PINS:

I’m reinvigorating my Pinterest account and have been pinning a lot to breathe new life into it – especially home decor ideas since we just moved into a new apartment. I’ll share pics from our new place soon, but in the meantime, follow me on Pinterest to see what’s inspiring me!

BLOGGING – NEW RESOURCES:

I discovered an in-browser photo editor that I am really loving, BeFunky. It’s the first photo editor that will step up my photo game since I can’t quite afford Photoshop right now. Also, this is a great site – Blogging4Keeps – that was started by two of my favorite Chicago bloggers (The Golden Girl and The Fox and She) with tons of great advice for growing your blog.

SOCIAL MEDIA – INSTAGRAM STORIES:

Thank the social media powers that be for launching Instagram Stories last week! I’m too old to understand how to use Snapchat, so this has been so much easier for me to use. I’ve heard some folks complain that they miss Snapchat because they got to choose whose videos showed up in their feeds, rather than everyone they follow on IG, which can be a really long list. I have no idea what this means so I’ll simply continue to use Stories best I can. I love that it gives you the opportunity to add some extra details on your posts plus shows your followers a little behind the scenes on your daily life! Follow me here, and you’ll get some awkward up-close screen shots of me trying new products, like this Katy Perry for Cover Girl matte lipstick line in Pink Paws and these makeup removing wipes by The Body Wipe Company.

Like I said, this is a monthly series I’m planning to run to keep you in the loop of what’s going on behind the scenes in the life of Elise! Thank you for reading, and have a fantastic weekend. I appreciate each and every one of you!

Oh, and here’s one more fun outfit pic that I’ll probably never post about – just for fun because summer is running out and this was one of my fave rentals from Rent the Runway that I wore this season by Parker New York.