INSTA-GLAM: Instant Glamification Blog

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Look for Less: Vanessa Hudgens' 3-Stone Turquoise Ring

Vanessa Hudgens wearing the Soixante Neuf ring

Above, boho-style icon Vanessa Hudgens is wearing the Soixante Neuf Turquoise Tri Stone Shield Ring, $260 at BoutiqueToYou.com. For a much more affordable version of her ring, check out Forever21.com, where you can get this Beaded Knuckle Ring for only $3.80!


Forever 21 Beaded Knuckle Ring

Happy shopping!

Customize Your Own Forever 21 Charm and Tassel Necklace

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Ornamental Cluster Necklace, $5.80

Long Nose Pliers, $2

Step 1:
Lay the necklace out on a flat surface. (I put a paper towel down so that the charms wouldn't slip around as much and so it would be easy to find any charm connectors that fell loose from the chain.)

Step 2:
Using the pliers, carefully separate all 10 charms from the necklace by bending the little circle-shaped charm connectors just enough to release the charm from the cluster. (Make sure that you don't separate the charms from their charm connectors because you'll need those to re-attach the charms to the chain.) You should end up with a plain gold necklace, 9 charms, and 1 tassel.

Step 3:
Now you're ready to customize your necklace with any combination of charms you want! Just hook one or more of the charms onto the chain and rock it out! (Tip: If you're using several charms, hook their charm connectors together to form a drop chain instead of just hooking them onto the chain side by side.)

I customized mine with the navy blue bead, the jade green pendant, the multi-faceted turquoise bead, the gold flower with a rhinestone in the center, and the gold tassel. (Notice that all of the charm connectors form a drop chain so that only ONE of the charm connectors is actually attached to the necklace.)

Here's a picture with flash.

What do you do with the remaining charms? You can create another chain of charms to switch out with your other charms later on, using the same gold necklace, OR you can buy a separate gold necklace to put the other charms on and then you'll have two separate necklaces. Either way, don't throw any of the charms or connectors out because you may want to use them in the future.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

High-End Beauty Brands for Less

I can't be the only girl whose wallet (and makeup bag) is suffering because of the economy. When a trip to Sephora for a few "essentials" can run you about $100, you need to get a bit creative when it comes to finding high-end cosmetics for cheap.

One of my new favorite websites to find high-end beauty brands for less (besides BeautyTicket and AllCosmeticsWholesale) is BuyMeBeauty.com. You can find discounted items from Lancome, MAC, Bobbi Brown, Stila, Trish McEvoy, Borghese, Elizabeth Arden, Kiehls, Origins, Smashbox, Phyto Pro, Clarins, Clinique, Yves Saint Laurent, Adrien Arpel, + more. I bought my MAC Select Sheer Loose Powder there for only $16!