review: dresses dresses and dresses (including engagement shoot options!)

Okay so I've been stock piling some review pictures from the past eight weeks, so I'm splitting them into a few different posts. Today's is all about dresses! Some were from when I was going down to Alabama and wanted a few cute dress options, some are for upcoming graduation celebrations, and the last ones are options for our engagement pictures. I'm excited to hear what you guys think!

Okay, first up are the casual ones:

wedding wednesday: save the dates, part one

Long ago, when I first discovered Pinterest, I also found a ton of wedding inspo, from fairytale dresses to venues to wedding invitations. I had a whole wedding pinboard even though I was 22 and years and years away from getting married. I remember I had this one pin of a wedding invitation that I was just in love with - it was white with curly gold foil font, and it was just the prettiest.

Like most gorgeous wedding invites on Pinterest, it was from Minted. I've been working with Minted on some of my favorite posts over the years (see here and here), so when they offered to collaborate on something for our wedding, you guys, I almost cried. I was so excited because I just love their stationery, and every Minted invite we have ever received has always been gorgeous.

Since we're about 14 months out from our wedding, since some of the big things are nailed down (we have our venue and our photographer), and since we have a lot more time right now than we will starting in July, I've been scouring the Minted website looking at their 1600+ options for Save the Dates. There are a couple of things I was looking for when picking out options:

• It had to match the overall vibe of our wedding. We are having a barn wedding, and therefore are all about a bit of a rustic, outdoor, pretty theme. Our wedding colors are probably blush and navy, and I hope to include a lot of greenery and whites into the wedding decor. Therefore our invites should convey a similar theme.
• I would love for it to include gold foil. Luckily a ton of cards have the options of customizing the colors to any color in the rainbow, or about five metal foil options, which I love!
• The main font has to be easily legible. I love the really swirly fonts, but also want it be clear to read. 
• Ideally, our names would not be the center point of the card. Both CR and I have longer names, but go by the shortened version in every day life, so I just didn't like the idea of our full names taking up the majority of the card. There were a couple of styles I loved so much that did have the names larger, but I just liked them so much I let it slide. 

So once I narrowed it down, the cards really started to fall into two categories - ones without pictures and ones with. Here are the final eight cards I settled on that didn't include a picture. I think if you made me choose right now, I would go with the diamante foil-pressed version. I love the greenery and the gold foil - isn't it gorgeous?!

one | two 

three | four

five | six

seven | eight

The other option is one with our picture on it. We have engagement picture session scheduled for mid May, and I think depending on how they turn out, I'd like to include them in the Save the Date. We keep all the Save the Dates we received on the fridge, and I just love looking at our friends and family every day. I also think it makes it a bit more personalized. For these ones, I'm having a really hard time picking out a favorite! I think my favorite is the XOXO card - they have a beautiful font, have the foil pressed option, and our names aren't the focus. I also love the whimsy of the We Do card, but it doesn't include a foil pressed option. But then I also really like the theme of the Vintage Love cards, although our names are the biggest part of the card!

Am I overthinking this? Maybe.

one | two

three | four

five | six

seven | eight

If nothing else works, we can always go with this very appropriate save the date for a couple who met in cadaver lab ;)

A couple of other things I wanted to mention about what I love about Minted. First of all, you can order a sample of any card for $1. Once we decide on our favorites, I'm going to order them in the style we want - I love that you can really get your hands on it before ordering 150 of them before you've even touched them. Also, and this is a big deal, is that they offer free recipient addressing on the envelopes. I sent out like 15 Christmas cards this year, and wrote the addresses by hand, and am not about to do that again x10, so this is definitely a huge perk. I'm thinking about getting a personalized stamp for the return address - we'll see what Pinterest finds for me! For now, I'll work on narrowing down our favorites, finding a dress for our pictures, and collecting addresses!

Please note that we are receiving credit for our Minted Save the Dates, but I was not paid to write this post, and of course as always, all opinions are my own!

all my beauty secrets, in one post

Okay, that title is misleading, because I have all of four beauty secrets. But I am going to share them today! These aren't those odd beauty tips like "use a potato instead of a beauty blender" or "use a spoon to apply eyeliner", but little things I've experimented with over the years that have really worked for me!

spray setting spray on a beauty blender instead of your face

I discovered using a setting spray about a year ago. I loved that a two second spritz could solidify your make-up and make it last all day (or night!). But I really hated spraying it on my face. It just felt wrong, and eventually I stopped using it because I didn't like the process. . Then one day when I was using my beauty blender to add a bit of liquid highlighter, I wonder if I couldn't use the sponge to also apply the setting spray. Turns out, I love this way of applying setting spray much more, for several reasons! One, you get a much more even coverage of the setting spray since you control exactly where it goes. Two, you don't have to spray anything on to your face. Three, it doesn't get in your hair. Four, since your pressing the setting spray into your make-up, your make-up not only lasts longer, but it also looks more natural!

how to: spray 2-3 spritzes of your fave setting spray (this is the one I use) onto a beauty blender, and pat pat pat!

use a dark eyeshadow + eyeliner brush to blend out liquid eyeliner

up close pictures of eyelashes are weird.

Liquid eyeliner is my go-to eyeliner, and has been for the better part of the last decade. I love that you can be really precise with it, you can easily get in between the lashes (important for blondies like me!), and it lasts all day (seriously). My favorite holy grail eyeliner is Stila's - I keep a stock pile now just because I love it that much. One of my favorite tricks for emphasizing the eyes is to "smudge" the eyeliner out with a dark eyeshadow. I like to keep my eye make-up pretty "minimal" during the day (minimal for someone who likes to play with makeup!) by just wearing a swipe of eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara, but for occasions like going out with friends, on a date, or to special events, I use this to add a bit of dimension to my eyes without going overboard with a bunch of smoky eyeshadows and more liner.

how to: dip an eyeliner brush into a dark eyeshadow (mine is a dark purple from this palette), then starting right past the outside of your eyeliner, brush it towards the middle, right over the liquid eyeliner. Finish with your favorite mascara (my go-to combo is Urban Decay's primer + Bobbi Brown's mascara).

apply dry shampoo before working out instead of after

sports bra | water bottle

I only wash my hair about every four days...but I also work out about 4-5 days a week. My secret to not washing my hair after every work out is to use dry shampoo before rather than after. I find this provides some cushion to get your styling to last longer - the sweat doesn't get in your hair as much, and it's less likely to get frizzy from the humidity. I also always wear a shower cap when I take a shower afterwards!

how to: spray a generous amount of your favorite dry shampoo (this is mine!) before going to the gym. Use a soft hairband to keep your hair back during your work out, take your hair down soon after finishing, and wear a shower cap while in the shower. 

use texturizing spray before curling your hair to help set curls

I have fine hair - I have a lot of it, but it's fine, which means it does not hold a curl very well. Multiple hair stylists have tried to prove me wrong over the years, and every single one has commented how "oh yeah, your hair DOESN'T really hold a curl, huh?". Yep. I have found a few things that have helped though with my eternal desire for hair with more curls and volume. The biggest thing I've found that makes a difference is using a texturizing spray before I curl my hair. I have two I really like - Oribe was my original favorite (it smells so so good...but is also pricy) and Living Proof's volume blast is a close second. I find that my hair curls quicker (less time on the iron!), the curls last longer, and bonus, you already used the volumizing spray so you don't have to disrupt your curls after.

how to: spray on hair, focusing on roots and ends, wait a few seconds to dry, and then curl your hair how you usually do.

And that's it! My little beauty secrets that I've learned over the years. I would love to hear what your own little secret is - I'm always looking for new tricks to try!

top three [04.02.2017]

one | two | three

on the internet

• If you binge Fixer Upper regularly like I do, you probably wonder what the houses look like after the staging. I thought this post was so interesting to see how the people decorate after JoJo leaves.
• 15 things to remind yourself of this week.
• Tips for dressing yourself while pregnant (I KNOW, another pregnancy post. I promise that I'm not pregnant, but when you read blogs for years and years, a lot of people get pregnant! I also am regularly asked about maternity style, and since I have zero clue about that, I like to point out other places for inspiration!)

spotted

• I'm obsessed with my distressed jeans, but since my exact ones are sold out, I found a very similar pair for under $70. 
• We've officially booked our engagement shoots for the middle of May! We've been talking to our photographer about locations, and I think I'm going to order this pretty white wrap dress as a possible contender for my outfit. I'm hoping it's not too short!
• How fun is this flowy giraffe print blouse? Just imagine it with some skinny jeans and cute shoes. I love it, even if may not look the best on me haha. 

throwback

• I spent all of yesterday catching up on Grey's Anatomy, so I had to go back to my post about when I went on the ferry boats in Seattle. I need to go back. 
• A style Q&A from 2015. 
• How Paula's Choice change my skin. I can't recommend their products enough (if you are looking for places to start, get the cleanser and the BHA liquid). 

ask me anything

• Can you give some advice on what to wear for Step 2 Clinical Skills exam? I'm an international med student so I'm not familiar with clinical attire of US docs. For example, while I'm comfortable wearing ankle-length dress pants for clinic in my country, I'm not sure is it considered professional in the US? Is dress code for the exam similar to that of residency interviews? What about blouse/shirt? Is there any preferred color (white?) or style (button down?), or it doesn't matter as long as it is conservative and professional looking? Also, flats or heels? 
• Absolutely. So my advice is to veer more on the conservative side for the Step 2 CS. I wore my straight dress pants (like this pair). While I too wear ankle length dress pants in the clinic, I wanted to go with the most professional option of pant I owned. I would say half the girls on my test day wore ankle length pants though, so if you only own ankle pants, don't feel like you have to go buy a more conservative pair. For my top I wore one of my Loft blouses (like this style) because it was going to be covering everything no matter how I was standing or bending over, and that way I wouldn't have to mess with buttons or worrying I was showing too much cleavage. Color probably matters less, just stay somewhat in the neutral or subdued range, and it's absolutely appropriate. Absolutely wear your most comfortable flats!! You are standing almost the whole day, and you don't want to be distracted by uncomfortable heels or new shoes digging into your heels. My belief is that if you just look like a normal person, they won't even factor in your appearance, it's when students look out of place that how they are dressed can affect how they do. Good luck!
• I need to find Cognac heels for a wedding in May. Do you have any recommendations? I'd love to find cute wedges that aren't too bulky and would be comfortable enough to wear all day.
• Well you know how much I love cognac, so I'm all over this! Okay, so Nordstrom Rack has a really cute pair of Steve Madden wedges that are a bit lower and look like they'd be really comfortable. If you're looking for something a bit taller and for a more casual wedding, Lucky makes a wedge espadrille that would look great with a sundress, and Jack Rogers has a pair that's just been price reduced. Splendid makes a cute pair of shoes that aren't technically wedges, but have a thicker heel, which makes them comfortable to walk in. On Amazon, Nine West makes a sleeker pair that would go with a ton of different dresses. If you want to go a bit pricier, Tory Burch makes a pretty classic wedge with a small peep toe!
• Any advice for a medical student starting a blog?
• I have several pieces of advice! 1: don't make your whole blog about medicine. I find blogs and instagrams that are solely about medical school kind of boring, because medical school for the most part is pretty boring. Definitely mix in other parts of your life to keep your readers interested and engaged. I only write a medical school related post maybe once a month, and I think since the majority of my readers aren't medical students, they don't really care how many pages of First Aid I read that day. 2: remember that if you share anything on the internet, it's about you and no one else. There are so many cool things I've seen the past two years, but I always share my side of the experience rather than sharing a patient's story. 3: Remember that nothing is anonymous on the internet, so write as if your parents, grandma, priest, and future program director are reading it. I've talked about this before, but I definitely am not as vocal on my blog and social media as I am in real life, and for good reason. Future patients can easily find me by just searching my name (it'll be harder once I change my name, but still), so I don't put anything on here that would be considered inappropriate. There is a lot of discussion in the medical community right now about physicians and social media (there are so many on instagram now, and plastic surgeons snap chatting their whole days!), so while I think the community as a whole is definitely a lot more open about being "public", you still want to be a professional. 4: Just have fun with it! It's supposed to be a creative outlet for you, not something you feel you have to do every single day. 

on franish

• on the blog: loved reading all of your comments about microblading! I'm still very much on the fence right now...
• on the instagram: the picture that got a bunch of spam likes this week. SO WEIRD.
• on the twitter: any suggestions? our future may have lots of hardwood in it :)

notable sales

• Ann Taylor: 40% off dresses, skirts, and more
• If you have a bunch of weddings to go to this summer, this simple lace dress will be super versatile and can be mixed with a bunch of different things to make it unique. 
• The reviews of their leather block heels can't stop raving about how comfortable and nice they are! Definitely worth checking out if you want a new spring sandal. 
• And if you're looking for a flat pair of shoes, how fun are these tassel tied flats? I think they are so cute. 
• Kate Spade: 25% off everything
• OMG. I waaaaaant this tote bag. It's just everything I want in a tote bag. If I wasn't planning on having a backpack for work next year, this is the bag I'd get. 
• I love the idea of this travel wallet - I'd even print out my boarding pass instead of using the app just so I could get the most out of it!
• Who knew they made rugs?! I'd like their rose one for my future office please (although I'll need more than 25% off to afford that...)
• Old Navy: 40% off everything
• I love the distressing on this denim jacket - it looks so much like the way more expensive jackets out there! Wear it all spring and summer long with sundresses and white jeans. 
• I have a feeling this one shoulder ruffled dress with the darling of bloggers this spring. Get it now while all sizing (including petites and talls!) are still available. 
• And speaking of wearing white jeans, pair them with this lace up striped top for a look that basically screams spring. 

at home

• We put in an offer on a house this week! Fingers crossed it all works :) Man, this process is exhausting! So much looking and searching and back and forth and papers! We ended up looking at around 25 houses (not bad for the 10 days we looked haha), and found what we think is the perfect house for us! I'm probably going to keep things a little quieter around the house searching process until closing (just because you never know what happens!) but I'm very excited about the possibilities!
• Next month I start my maternal fetal medicine rotation (the high risk Ob doctors). I'm excited that I get to spend a month learning from them just before starting residency because I know they are just a wealth of knowledge. It's getting so close!
• Did I tell you guys that my sister matched to a residency one hour away from mine?! It's going to be so nice to have her so close to me again - we haven't lived near each other since 2008 (she lived in Germany for six years for medical school). 

healthyish, vol. 14

This week was...not the best when it comes to working out and clean eating. We were running around most of the week, getting paperwork in order, going house hunting for two days, filling out forms, and have guests over. I went to my typical spin classes, but got lazy when it came to strength training. To be honest, I had worked out six days in a row (last Wednesday-Monday), and was a little burnt out. I also wasn't great about not snacking on sweets and ordering healthier options while we were out running around. This really was an example of how you can't out-exercise a bad diet, which is why I'm changing my weekly goals from three to just one this week. I've found myself half-assing the three goals, instead of really just focusing on one. So this week, I'm making just one goal, and I hope that helps me with sticking to it.

exercise:

Sunday: 1 hour spin
Monday: 1 hour spin
Wednesday: 1 hour spin
Saturday: 1 hour spin

diet:

When I'm good, I'm good - food I made this week included my favorite brunch bowl (sweet potato, poached eggs, and chicken sausage), fried eggs, left over brussel sprouts + chicken sausage, the zoodles + red curry sauce (my favorite!), and hamburger patties with homemade sweet potato fries. But when it came to the food I didn't make, that's where it got less healthy. We had pizza, Jimmy Johns, hershey kisses, and gummies - some of my favorite things, but not in moderation :/

goals:

I did like half of each of last's week's goals. I stretched some days, I drank 3 bottles of water some days, and I tracked my meals some days. This upcoming week, my only goal is to cut out sugar for the week. I've always been a savory person more than a sweets person, but I found myself eating more sugar this week than usual. I'd like to really cut out the sugar for the next week and focus on eating healthier snacks in between meals so I'm not as tempted by the gummies when I'm hungry.

treats:

Tonight we're getting together with the medical students and residents at my hospital for a little post-match day celebration. I anticipate a bit of champagne :)

weigh in: -0.2 lbs (total: -9.4 lbs) I was really hoping to hit the 10 lb mark this week, but I knew half way through the week that this week was not going to be the one.

march budget

Loft dress: originally $98, on sale for $59

Target vest: originally $30, on sale for $24

J.Crew Factory dress: originally $98, on sale for $47

March total: $130

Quarterly budget: $500 - $60 in February  - $130 in March = $310 left for spring!

This month I purchased three items I'm really excited about. I actually haven't shown you guys any of these yet, but will talk about the sizing and style of them next week in a review post (I was going to post it sooner, but we've been really busy with house hunting activities). The loft dress is really beautiful - it's a bit dressier than I thought, but it's perfect for those events where you have to dress up but don't want to look like you're over dressed (I'm thinking of wearing it to a graduation event). It's currently 60% off (!!!) which is pretty amazing - I went with a size 10. Same goes for the J.Crew Factory dress, which has a really cute white polka dots on black background. I love that it's black instead of navy, just because that makes it a bit more versatile (in my opinion!). And that vest....I have a lot of thoughts about how a style we all wore like four years ago is back right now, BUT I wore this vest like four days last week, and can't stop wearing it! I have a problem (and for under $30, you can have that problem too). 

I'm still waiting on my Gap order to see how much I love that embroidered top I mentioned last week, but as always, that will be included in April's budget. I am going to NYC at the end of April, so we will see where the money actually goes - if I spend it before we go in prep, or if I find something I love while there. A couple of other big purchases may be made during that trip (...eek!!), so maybe I won't want to do any other shopping!

As always, I want to mention what I received for my sponsorship work this month. I received a dress, shoes, purse, and ring from Kohl's, as well as the newest watch design from Daniel Wellington (as always, you can use the code FRANZISKA to save 15%). 

As always, looking forward to seeing how you did this month sticking to your budget! Please link up below, and don't forget to tell your readers to check out the other budgeting bloggers!

let's talk about microblading

I read a ton of blogs and magazines, so I've been reading about microblading for a while now. Microblading is basically eyebrow tattoos that look like natural eyebrows, rather than the old school tattoo eyebrows that looked anything but natural. They use a semi permanent ink to draw on natural looking hair strokes rather than just one blob of an eyebrow. It's semi-permanent, which means the ink isn't injected as deeply, so it doesn't last "forever" like a normal tattoo do. Costs average between $400-$1200, and some of the results I have seen are pretty amazing. But when I really think about someone tattooing eyebrows ON MY FACE...I get a bit more weirded out, no matter how great before and after pictures on the internet look.

But then I started seeing more and more bloggers that I really trust talking about it, and going through the process. It was specifically Dani's recent post about her experience with microblading that made me think, hmmm, maybe this wouldn't be such a bad idea! I spend a bit of time every morning drawing in my eyebrows with an Anastasia pencil (see the before and after above). My eyebrows are a bit crooked (my right eyebrow is higher than the left one) so I am constantly trying to make them even. Since I have blond hair, I also need a bit of color to them so you can actually see them.

Here are my thoughts of the pros and cons of actually paying someone to tattoo eyebrows on your face:

pros

• Less time every morning coloring them in. This is really the biggest reason I'm interested in this, and something I could be really thankful for on the really early mornings I'm going to have next year. It would cut 2-3 minutes out of my morning routine, which is a lot of time when you're up at 4 AM. 
• I'll always have even eyebrows, since they can fix the small angle discrepancy. 
• My eyebrows will always be on fleek (....cringe. but seriously, my eyebrows would always *hopefully* look good).
• They aren't completely permanent, which is either a good or a bad thing.

cons

• I don't know anyone in the area I live who has done this, so I'd be basing it all on internet reviews. What if they aren't good? What if they don't know what they are doing? 
• What if I don't like the results? So many things could go wrong - they could go too dark, it could be even more uneven, it could look really fake. 
• How long will it last on me? Will I really have to get touch ups every year? What if it's bad, how long does it take to go away? 
• Is it worth the cost to do it? It looks like places near where I live charge $250-$350, so it's not like the world's biggest expense, but it's still....an expense.
• How horrible will it look during the downtime between getting them done and them looking good? 

Anyway, I wanted to hear about if any of you have experience with microblading! We talked a bit about it on twitter, but would love to hear if you've debated getting your eyebrows microbladed, or if you have and love or hate it!