Hello lovely blog readers! I had the pleasure of working with GlassesShop.com recently, and it was a fantastic collaboration! The let me pick out three new sets of glasses to try out their store and I am happy to report that I really like all three of them!

If you’re interested in checking out this site, you can use the code “KristinaX20” and you’ll save 20% on your own pair of frames! I am extremely happy with mine, and they’re so cheap!

This first pair is called CouncilBluffs Wayfarer and I got it in blue. I think these are my favorite of the three, but it’s so hard to decide!

The second pair is called NorthPlatte Wayfarer and I chose green for this set. I don’t like these quite as much as the other two, but they’re not bad for a backup pair.

I am obsessed with this third pair. I kind of threw these in as a spontaneous last minute decision, but they are so much fun! Most of my glasses frames throughout my life have just been black, so having a pair this bright and exciting is just great. I think it compliments my eyes and hair pretty well, too! These are called RedWing Wayfarer, and I got them in, of course, blue.

Let me know if you decide to order any new glasses – it’s easy to put in your actual prescription and personally I like having options for accessorizing! Don’t forget to use my coupon code if you do!

I love Renaissance Faires. I really love them.

Usually I manage to make it to about one a year but in 2014 I’ve had the good fortune of attending THREE. I got to check out LA’s Pleasure Festival back in April, then I finally finally finally got to attend Faerieworlds down in Oregon in July, and I wrapped up my Renaissance circuit with the Midsummer Fantasy Faire right here in Washington this past weekend.

I figured I would put together a compilation of photos from the events to share the experiences with you, dear readers. Photos go a lot further when it comes to these events.

Row 1: The SoCal Pleasure Faire with Ariana, Tyler, Sammy and Joe! This one was so big we didn’t even realize we’d missed a whole section of booths and shops until the faire was almost over! We spent the day shopping, eating, and enjoying the fact that it wasn’t 100 degrees out, like most Faires we usually attend.

That second picture has detail shots of all my new medieval swag (the best part of attending a Ren Faire is adding to your outfits each year; I’m totally guilty of overspending all the time). The third picture was just a funny vendor that made me laugh.

Row 2: Faerieworlds is my new favorite event of all time. It’s sort of a Renaissance Faire meets music festival, and it’s right outside of Eugene, Oregon. I attended with some of my best friends: Eia, Joe, Justin, Ariana, Jenn and Liz. You set up camp, you shop, you dance, you listen to live music and you seriously unplug from everything else. We started the weekend in elaborate mythical creature costumes and ended up wearing next to nothing as it got hotter and dustier.

That second picture is a bunch of us hanging out in a yurt that Ariana was totally in love with… they just left it open all the time, so it became our go to chill space when it was too hot during the day or too cold at night.

The stage with constant folk music playing was a serious highlight, as was the fact that most booths and food vendors stayed open at all hours of the weekend. However, my favorite part was that there were workshops and activities for everyone – I spent a good amount of time with hula hoopers, learning new tricks (as you can see in the third picture) – while the others were at sword fighting workshops. It was truly amazing.

Rows 3: This was our first day at the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire with Eia, Ariana, Joe and Meagan. It included immediately getting my hair braided (because it was way too goddamn hot) and putting Eia in jail. It was her birthday, so it seemed like the thing to do. These guys publicly “arrested” her and dragged her over to be contained until she tap danced for them and sang Happy Birthday to herself.

We’re great friends.

This is the Faire I’ve been going to since high school, so it’s always fun to run into familiar faces and delight in how much the event grows each year.

Row 4: The second day of the faire was absurd when it comes to impulse buys for just about everyone involved in the trip. Also Liz joined us. I bought mermaid ears (can you believe it!? mermaid ears that look totally amazing!) and a crystal flute. I’m not even joking you. If someone told me as a child that I would spend my hard earned adult money on mermaid ears and a crystal flute… well… I probably wouldn’t have been surprised. I was a weird kid.

So that was my Renaissance Faire experience for the year, and I’m terribly saddened that it’s over for now. There are always yuletide feasts to look forward to, but I’ll miss the dusty paths of the faire, the turkey legs, the bards, the bodice ice. Until next year, huzzah!

It’s the heart of summer right now, which means beach days, lazing around in the sun and my personal favorite… POPSICLES! I have always been a popsicle fiend, and recently went on a little Etsy adventure to find the cutest popsicle related things I could. I was amazed at how much there was! Clearly I am not alone in this love of frozen treats.

Here’s a little compilation of some of my favorites, with links to the stores they came from down below:

1. EyelashJewelry // 2. FushichosGallery // 3. AlbrightIllustration
4. pigletminiatures // 5. Ploosh // 6. LushTartApparelShop // 7. acookiejar 
8. bearandrobotstudio // 9. HappyKawaiiSupplies

What is your favorite summery dessert? Let me know in the comments!
And check my previous Etsy Roundup on Sailor Moon here!

I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of different clothing companies recently, among which Sheinside, Choies and Dresslink. These are the three online stores featured in my most recent clothing haul video, the MEGA HAUL!

Not much else to say about it; click above to see a lot of pretty new clothes and my thoughts on them. Thanks!

Disneybounding as Bo Peep, complete with a tiny sheep necklace and one of the only items that exists in the world that’s white with pink polka dots. I’m not even kidding.

This past Sunday I was at Disneyland with a whole group of my friends, and we decided it was time to take Disneybounding to the next level. We put a good amount of pre-planning into this trip to the park, but picking a single movie, assigning roles, and managing quite the impressive group Disneybound.

We chose Toy Story. It was a good choice, since it spans three movies and includes more toys than I can even count. We didn’t even begin to cover every character with our group, but we did a pretty good job!

I also managed to convince Joe to choose Woody, which was almost more fun to help put together than my own outfit. His little cow-print bow tie (which I found here!) is just too cute. We’ve done a “couples” Disneybound once before (Ariel and Prince Eric, as blogged about here) but this newest one is by far my favorite.

Overall it was an amazing day, everyone looked great, AND we hosted a big meet up over my Small World that an amazing amount of people showed up to! If you stopped by and said hello, thank you! I was so impressed by everyone’s outfits and I’m just so pumped on costumes right now that it really was the best way I could think of to end VidCon. What a great trip.

Have you ever Disneybounded? Who did you pick, or if you haven’t done it – who would you LIKE to Disneybound as? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for stopping by!

Last summer, a handful of my friends and I attended the Canterbury Renaissance Faire down in Oregon, where we became acquainted with a small business called Rose and Thorn Armory. We chatted, we tried on their sweet armor, we hung out together later at the bar – basically, they’re good people, they make great armor, and we became friends. I’ve been meaning to do a little spotlight on them for awhile now for this blog, but they recently sent me a few pieces of their armor for a photo shoot, so now seemed like a good time for it.

The armor they make is awesome not just because it’s actually totally battle-ready, but can also be just as easily used for costumes (which, as you probably know, I am all about). For this photo shoot I didn’t dress it up too much, since I wanted to be able to show off the armor itself (it’s just as stunning worn simply on its own as it is turned into a full-fledged warrior princess costume, trust me). I roped Joe into the shoot as well, to show off the male variety.

I hope you enjoy! And if you like what you see, please go check out their kickstarter! You will not be disappointed.

If you like any of the items we’re wearing above, I’ve got the female warrior princess top and a matching gorget in a combination of purple and black. Joe’s got on a red and black shoulder pauldron and some simple black short arm bracers. You can throw these over a renaissance fair outfit for some added durability and badass-dom, or you can great an entirely new costume out of them! I never even know you could buy armor this legit before I found this company, so I thought it would be fun to share with all of you.

I’ll be back soon with information about everything I’m doing at VidCon – have a great day!

Somehow I think I accidentally skipped last month’s Ipsy bag and never got a review up, and since we’re well into June – I didn’t want to make the same mistake with this bag! Especially since it’s a good ‘un.

First I’ll start with the bag itself… it’s one of my favorites to date! It’s soft and has a gorgeous design and it feels really summery. Unlike some of the slightly more plastic-feeling bags, this one just has that “natural” and “simplistic” vibe. I can definitely see myself using this one often for overnight trips or just for tossing in my purse when I need to bring a few products with me for whatever reason. I really appreciate that Ipsy makes the bag an important part of the presentation, and I use all my various bags for tons of different things.

Here’s what was inside this month:

Avéne Thermal Spring Water: This was a funny item to get in this month’s Ipsy bag. Generally I would have been like “wtf this is just a can that sprays water on your face” but I got it right in the midst of my horrendous sunburn – and I can’t tell you how amazing it felt on my burnt skin. That’s not to say a spray bottle filled with water couldn’t do the same thing but having water in aerosol form during a sunburn was kind of magical. I can’t see myself singing this product’s praises on any sort of normal day, however. If your skin isn’t burnt to a crisp and crying out for the gentle mist the Avéne Thermal Spring Water can offer… it’s just water in a can.

Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer: I’m gonna be honest; I’m still not totally certain how to wear bronzer. And this particular bronzer seems extremely dark, in my opinion. I read that a good bronzer should only be about two shades darker than your actual skin tone… I feel like if I used this one, it would look like I rubbed chocolate all over my face. So I haven’t tried it yet. I do like Too Faced though, so I’m sure I will figure out something to do with it.

Hang Ten Natural Sunscreen in SPF 50: Similarly to the Thermal Spring Water, on any normal day, this would just be a tube of sunscreen. But because I started this summer off with the Worst Sunburn Of My Life, I was happy to receive anything to help prevent it happening again. This is pretty basic sunscreen, but the packaging is cute and it fits in my purse, so kudos to ipsy for keeping our skin safe and beautiful this summer.

Eva NYC Therapy Session Hair Mask: I think this is the third hair mask I have gotten from Ipsy in the past few months. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since it’s been sort of nice to try out the different brands to get a sense for which ones I like. I wouldn’t mind getting a little more diversity in the products I receive, but that’s not to say I don’t like hair masks – I just think three is a little excessive. They all do basically the same thing. This one claims to repair and strengthen (which is something I’ve been looking for in a product since I have naturally fine and sort of limp hair) so we’ll see if it delivers!

Pacifica Natural Beauty in Duo 1: A cute little eyeshadow duo! I’m always down for more simple base colors to toss in my makeup bag, and this one did not disappoint. The shadows have just the right amount of shimmer/sheen, they work nicely together, and the packaging boasts the product to be cruelty free – which is always a plus. That’s something I often need to look up myself when I get Ipsy bags in the mail so I appreciate it when companies put it right there on the label.

Despite sometimes being displeased with a certain product here or there, I’ve been extremely happy with Ipsy and it’s a lot of fun getting a bag full of surprises each month. If you’d like to join in the fun, sign up here!

Let me know if you’re already subscribed and which products you got last month!

I’ve been working on so many new things recently – cosplay, getting into comic books, doing more with fashion on YouTube etc. – it’s been somewhat difficult to balance everything I am trying to do all at once. However, I recently attended a “Bloggy Boot Camp” here in Seattle put on by SITS Girls that was hugely motivating and inspiring, so let’s get back on this wagon, shall we?

Here’s what I’ve been up to.

1. COSPLAY! Eia and I have been hard at work planning our cosplays for the summer, which currently include a fantasy costume for Faerieworlds in July, and the overly ambitious prospect of 3 different costumes (each!) for PAX in August. We’ve luckily got a fair amount of time to get started on all of these, and what with ordering wigs and things from China, it’s really never too early to start. If you want to follow our progress this summer, we’ve just created a Facebook page where we’ll be posting updates, photos and musings about the whole process. Be among the first to follow it!

2. READING! Not only have I been inspired to make reading more a part of my daily regimen for Answerly Books, I’ve also made the executive decision to dabble a bit in the BookTubing world on YouTube. I’ll admit, part of this decision was spurred by the jealousy I felt watching people have so much fun at BEA this past weekend, but jealousy is just as valid an emotion to start doing something as any, right? I’ll be starting reviewing YA books, fiction books, and even the sporadic comic book on my channel so make sure you’re subscribed if that sounds interesting to you!

This Comic Book Haul was sort of my first foray into that new direction on my channel, and it seems to have gone over well.

3. FASHION! I don’t know when it really clicked for me, but it just did. I think I was looking at old pictures of me from my touring days, and just honestly couldn’t believe anyone ever let me out fo the house (not to mention ON STAGE) wearing the stuff I used to own. Not to say you HAVE to have good fashion sense, or really that I was even doing anything wrong, but let’s be real sometimes I really could have used a little help getting dressed in the morning.

This all leads me to my point which is, lately I’ve found fashion to be extremely fun and rewarding and I’ve loved finding ways to mix geek with chic (I know, so original) but really, it’s still a new concept to so many people and I love being a part of that journey. A good place to follow me if you’re interested in this aspect of what I do is Instagram. I’ve also done a few fashion haul videos already, but here’s my most recent one:

That’s all my news for now, though I also put up my standard monthly favorites video if you missed that. Book related favorites have been creeping in more and more to these videos, and if you haven’t noticed, I’ve also recently developed a pretty permanent anime category in these videos. It’s been a year of self discovery, for sure. Revisiting old hobbies I loved from my childhood (anime) and discovering new things about myself I never knew I was passionate about (comic books, costume making, clothes). I’m so happy that it seems my viewers are along for the ride and enjoy whatever I throw their way, and please keep suggesting more things you think I might like! You probably have no idea how often I take your advice.

Thanks for keeping up with this blog as well, and be sure to check back soon – it may be getting a total redesign in the near future! Exciting!

Have a lovely day and remember to get outside if you can. Our weather has been beautiful and I have not nearly taken as much advantage of it as I could.

Yesterday I posted this brand new video on my channel – it’s a drugstore makeup haul I acquired on an impromptu late-night shopping trip with my good friend and fellow YouTuber Mallory!

If you want a serious trip down memory lane when it comes to beauty products, I think you’ll like this one!

Have you ever been invited to the beach and just as you’re heading out the door, realized that “fuzzy” isn’t a strong enough word to describe the state of your legs? What about trips you go on in the winter, when “being beach ready” isn’t even something on your radar – and it turns out your hotel has a pool? No one’s gonna pass up a bit of pool time, but how do you handle those hairy legs?

I’m not saying it’s totally unacceptable to go au naturale – I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve thrown some nude tights over my unkempt legs and called it good. I am a walking ad campaign for shaving laziness since nine months out of the year, it’s really not necessary to even pay attention to your legs, as Seattle does us a solid and offers perpetual pants weather.

Thanks, Seattle! *high five*

But those three months we DO get to bare our legs to the world, it is quite nice to be smooth as can be. And for the emergency moments when I know my legs will be mingling with the great outdoors and I wasn’t prepared, I’ve resorted to some funky solutions. Grabbing a crappy two blade razor from the front desk at a hotel, “borrowing” a razor from a friend and hoping she won’t notice, or even just grin and baring it – hoping no one will notice the two months of apathy growing out of my legs.

We carry around gum, lotion, sometimes even emergency toothbrushes for similar situations, but it was never very practical to carry around an emergency razor – until I found out about the Venus Snap! I realize this sounds very product placement-y, but at the same time, I have no problem talking about products that are legit lifesavers.

These are so great. All the conveniences of a normal razor, in a cute little compact case that won’t raise as many questions as a normal loose razor would floating around in your bag. I can say with confidence that this will be a permanent staple in my travel bag, regardless of where I am going. You never know when you’re going to need it!

A few of my other favorite travel items, in fun little “airplane friendly” sizes.

This discovery came at the perfect time, since I’ve spent most of this week getting ready and packing for a family trip to Vegas for my uncle’s 50th birthday party. It’s supposed to be in the 70’s and I heard our hotel has a pretty sweet pool. Bring it on, Vegas. My legs are ready.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.