Look of the Week: Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Hudson

WHAT SHE WORE

In Chicago, Hudson signed copies of her book in a striped minidress, pave bangles, fishnet tights and lace-up boots on January 18.

Photo/Info courtesy of Instyle.com.

TV Fashion Looks on a College Budget

Have you ever wanted to recreate an outfit seen on your favorite TV shows? As I watch Gossip Girl, The Lying Game and Pretty Little Liars religiously their style has also been something to notice. Here are a few looks from this week’s episodes that you could recreate on your own without spending fortunes that they do for wardrobe.

In Gossip Girl this week, Blair had run to Dan to keep her secret. While running around town with Humphrey her chic down town outfit is great for the every day stylish student you are. Her yellow beret can be found for less than $7 at Forever 21 and a mustard bag can be bought for less than $25 at modcloth.com. The most expensive thing you will have to find is a dark grey cape coat that let you get a glimpse of her yellow chiffon blouse and print skirt. Wear your best leather Mary Jane’s and you’re ready to walk all over campus.

Fashion Inspiration Tips and Tricks

I love flipping through Vogue and Seventeen as much as the next girl. But does anyone without a seven figure salary actually emulate the styles that appear on their pages? Vogue’s clothes are just too expensive; Seventeen’s are just too out of the box. So what are realistic sources of fashion inspiration for young women? I’ll share some of my secrets with you in this week’s post.

As I mentioned above, it can be hard to get inspired from fashion magazines. Vogue’s pages are filled with designer signature pieces that are just way out of budget for us working girls. Sometimes Seventeen has interesting looks, but mostly I find myself asking, “Would any normal person wear that?” My favorite magazine for fashion advice is definitely InStyle. I will admit that their clothes are frequently pricey, but here’s the catch: the same styles can easily be found at budget stores – H&M, Forever 21, Target. InStyle does a good job of putting together wearable outfits that are appropriate for a wide range of age groups. My favorite part is that InStyle takes staple pieces and shows how they can be styled for different occasions – work, date night, or casual weekend adventure.

Best, Love, and Other Misused Words

Start up your laptops, students, and open up a new page in Microsoft OneNote – today we’re going to refresh your vocabulary. Don’t worry, for most of you, this lesson should be an easy A.

It’s no secret that many words in the English language get used, abused, contorted, and slang-ified to fit modern day standards. Some words, however, should never be tampered with. The following words are some of the most important words used in your everyday relationships (whether friendly, maternal, or romantic) that have strayed from their original meanings. Electronically flag this next section, students, because this will be on next week’s quiz.

Best [best]
Modern Definition: the term ‘best’ is often associated with schmoozing or greed. A person may call you a best friend if you spot them a twenty, give them a ride to the other end of town, or agree to provide an excuse for their absence.

Throwback: Yesterday’s Pop Music vs. Today’s

Brtiney Spears, Christina Aguilera, N’Sync and The Backstreet Boys.  What do they all have in common you may ask? They all represent the “Golden Age” of Pop music.  A perfect formula for Pop music is; an individual or group, who’s young & attractive, capable of carrying a tune and makes catchy music teenagers wanted to dance to.  Remember when they all dominated the Billboard charts” They were constantly everywhere.  Over exposed and in high demand.  These teen Pop sensations were probably a poster plastered on every inch of your bedroom walls,  and all over your notebooks or T-Shirts.  In the year of 1999 (13 years ago to be exact)  women of all ages shamelessly chased after the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync.  While singing I Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys) and Tearin’ Up My Heart (N’Sync) and crying profusely.  Britney Spears was teen Pop royalty and Christina Aguilera was a Genie in a Bottle, who splashed onto the scene with her impeccable vocals.  Artists such as these were apart of a once in a lifetime experience.  What may have impressed fans the most was that they were relatable, as the Pop stars were teenagers themselves.

How Studying Abroad Changed My Life

For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamt of seeing Europe and known I’ve wanted to live there at some point in my life. So when the time came to apply for college, there was really no question that one of my top priorities was a university with a strong study abroad program. I can definitely attribute one of the reasons I ended up at Elon to my desire to study abroad. There was no question that I wanted to apply to study a semester abroad as a junior, and when I got accepted into the Elon Centre Abroad in Florence, Italy, I couldn’t have been more excited to get started on three months that I had very high hopes for.

This past semester that I spent in Italy feels like a dream. Sometimes I catch myself forgetting that it even happened. Other times I wake up thinking I’m still there. I catch myself going through my pictures, reading my blog and Google imaging Florence knowing how nostalgic it will make me. Those three months changed my life in more ways than I can even express. I made a foreign city my home. I budgeted, planned and organized to make the best of my time abroad. I experienced the culture and beauty of one of the most unbelievable cities in the world. I traveled to incredible places that I never dreamt I would see.

Hair 101: Keeping Hair Healthy

Your hair. Nearly every girl has qualms about her hair – it’s too straight, too curly, too flat, too big. While it seems that nothing will stop us from complaining about one aspect of our hair or another, the least we can do is keep our hair healthy. Healthy hair is beautiful hair, after all! Even if you don’t like everything about your ’do, keeping it healthy can make things look ten times better. So here’s a few tips that will help you do just that:

Washing Your Hair

While it’s a common assumption that you have to shampoo your hair everyday, it’s not true! That can actually hurt your hair by stripping it of its natural oils. Only shampoo if your hair is oily or if you’ve just exercised. But don’t worry if you skip a day or two, it won’t hurt! Also, make sure to use a conditioner after you shampoo (leave-in conditioners are great because they provide longer protection against harsh elements).

After you’ve washed your hair, gently squeeze out the water and use a comb to go through it. Don’t be rough while drying it out, and don’t use a brush; this could cause breakage.

Top-grossing Films of 2011

If you’re like me, you like knowing the results of a year’s past: best in fashion, top selling books, and top selling films. The year 2011 was a year of big movies and big box office results. Many of the films released in theaters made millions, but then there are those movies that made more millions. Let’s take a look at the top grossing movies of 2011.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 $381,011,219

Yes, that’s a lot of numbers and money and ultimately the top-grossing movie of 2011. This Harry Potter film was the last one of the series, bringing this magical book and movies series to an end. Harry Potter fans showed their love for the Harry, Ron and Hermione by flocking to the theaters over and over again. This last movie follows the three back to Hogwarts to destroy Voldermort, ensuing a huge battle and displaying the excellent special effects in the film.

Napping My Way to Graduation

I didn’t like first grade. Sure, the school part was fine, making friends was easy and time-out’s weren’t horrible; but nap-time? Come on, the last thing I wanted to do in a room filled with toys and 20 available playmates was curl up on some scratchy carpet square and pretend to sleep for twenty minutes. I don’t think I actually took a nap once that entire year and I still graduated to second grade so what was the big deal? Now that I’m in college and brag about 5 hours of sleep, I look back at first grade and wish someone would schedule in a nap-time for me. With the spring semester starting up in a few days, I decided to do a little investigating and see if napping was really worth it. The following is what I found.

According to WebMD, napping is the way to go! Just twenty minute power naps have shown to significantly improve focus. Several other websites supported naps too. I found that twenty minutes of shut eye not only improves focus, but also improves alertness, memory, overall health and mood. If that isn’t enough, napping has shown to decrease the likelihood of developing heart disease. All that in just twenty minutes of bonding time with my pillow? I’m in.

Five Ways to Defrost Your Sex Life

With the worst of the winter still ahead of us, it’s important not to get stuck in a rut with your boyfriend or close male acquaintance. Along with the cold weather and snow comes the warm comfort food and the big bulky sweaters. As tempting as it may be to curl up in your snuggie and dig in to a warm apple pie, it’s important not to neglect your man or your sex life. Here are a few ideas to get both of your temperatures rising.

1. Take a hot shower or bubble bath together. Put down the apple pie and strip out of that sweater, leave a trail of clothes to the bathroom and meet your man in a steamy shower or bath. To make the bubble bath more appealing to his masculinity, use a moderate amount of bubbles and arrange them in all the right places, leaving just enough to his imagination.

Must See TV in 2012

A new year calls for new television series. This raises one question, what should I be addicted to this year? If you’re so over the high school drama, murder mysteries or the next big talent types, here are a few shows debuting this year to add to your already long list of addictions:

Fashion Star
Have you missed a Project-Runwayesque TV show? Here is one to definitely watch this year. Fourteen unknown designers will be competing for a multi-million dollar prize to launch their collections in America’s largest retailers: Macy’s, H&M and Sak’s Fifth Avenue.  We’ll see a few familiar faces, as Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie and John Varvatos will be mentoring the designers. At the end of each episode, America will be able to purchase the winning designs. Watch the premiere on March 13 on NBC and get ready to shop!

GCB (Good Christian Bitches)
From being high school’s Miss popular in the hit WB Television show Popular to GCB mean girl, Leslie Bibbs aka Amanda Vaughn will be heading to Dallas to face her past. Though, escaping the past will be tougher than she thought with the group of girls she bullied now turning the table. You won’t want to miss the sin, payback and of course a little dose of bitch in this new ABC series starting March 4.

New Year’s Resolutions: Are they worth it?

With New Year’s just a few weeks behind us, the excitement and enthusiasm we may have had to change in 2012 is probably already wearing off. It is for me at least, so I find myself wondering, are new year’s resolutions really worth it? After doing a little research, I realized that overwhelmingly the number one most common resolution is either “getting fit” or “losing weight”. Like many, I, too, am hoping to get in better shape in 2012 but like previous years, after the first few weeks of unwavering dedication I find myself slipping back into my old gym-less routine.

Alright, so at least I’m not in denial. But, how do we overcome this resolution plateau? Here are a few tips to sticking with your resolution (whether it is to get fit or not!).

Be realistic and set an attainable goal.
Or, readjust your goal to be more achievable. Let’s be honest people, getting your dream body probably isn’t going to happen overnight. I’m not saying that having a overall big goal isn’t worthwhile, but instead break up your goal into smaller more attainable goals that will lead to this larger goal. In my case, my goal of ‘getting fit’ is not very tangible, right? My fix: every week I’m going to focus on “shaping up” a different part of my body. The first week of January, I made a goal of doing 10 push-ups a day. Not a huge goal, but an attainable one. The second week of January, I did push-ups everyday (15 now) and started doing 10 lunges each day.

Every morning, the first thing I do when I wake up is roll off my bed, onto the floor and into the push-up ready position. I may not be dropping major poundage but I am getting more toned arms and I feel proud that I’m actually sticking to my goals. Cheers for a self-esteem boost!

Collegiate Clothing

One of the general education courses that I was required to take last semester was the ever-thrilling Intro to Communication. At the end of the semester, each student had to give an informative speech dealing with some aspect of communication. Sticking with what I know, I opted to do mine on fashion as non-verbal communication. In technical terms, clothing and accessories are artifacts that convey status, power, and personality. After this project, the craziest thing happened: I started viewing people, and their clothes, in a totally new way. It is amazing how much you can deduce about a person from what they’re wearing. Clothing tells about the wearer – no matter who you are, where you are, or what you’re doing! So this week I want to talk about clothing styles on college campuses.

I admit it: I am extremely guilty of outfit creeping. At the beginning of class you can find me nursing my coffee, checking out the styles that come into the lecture hall. Here are some of the outfits, and corresponding personalities, that you are guaranteed to see if you try it:

• The Stereotypical Freshman: Reveling in her newfound freedom, she slept in until the last minute possible, and as a result is scrubbing in sweats, comfy boots, a messy bun.

• The Greeks: As soon as rush begins, the Greek girls emerge, proudly announcing to the world that you simply must check out their sorority. They’ll be rocking their Greek letters across their chest or butt, usually paired with tight pants, and stunner shades.

New Year, New Movies

The year 2012 looks bright for the future of movies. Whether you are a sucker for romance or are looking for action, this year’s movie lineup looks promising! Here are a few movies that I CANNOT wait for…

The Hunger Games (March 23)

This book became a hit and was flying off the shelves so I can only imagine how the movie is going to be. The story follows teenager Katniss in her pursuit to survive in a competition where the winner gets to keep their life.

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20)

This movie comes almost three years after The Dark Knight became a huge hit at the box office. This is definitely one of the most anticipated movies of 2012 and you bet it’s going to be a blockbuster at the box office. 

Makeup 101: Form and Function

Hi readers! First, I’d like to say thanks for all the great feedback I’ve received so far for my column. It really means a lot to receive comments and hear that you guys like what I’m writing. Keep it coming!

For my first real post, I thought I’d keep it simple and help you guys understand the forms and functions of basic makeup. It seems pretty simple, but you’d be surprised that a lot of people are actually using makeup the wrong way. Knowing what each type of makeup is for can help you create the look you’re trying to achieve. So let’s get started!

Foundation

Foundation is an important part of your makeup look because it sets the base for everything else on top of it. Foundation is used all over the face and the beginning of your neck to create an even skin tone and cover small blemishes. You can find foundation in three main types: liquid, powder, or cream. It’s important to find a foundation that works with your skin type; some foundations are targeted towards people with dry, sensitive, or oily skin. Play around at your local Sephora or other similar makeup store to find a shade that’s right for you.