The Clunkster

spooky scary skeleton

BeautyKristenComment

Happy Almost Halloween! Since I had so much fun creating my Teenage Frankenstein look, I decided to try the glam skeleton makeup I’ve been seeing all over my Pinterest feed. I’m SO proud of how it turned out! I looooove skeletons and skulls, so it was pretty cool to turn myself into one. 

I would highly recommend trying this if you still don’t know what you’re doing for Halloween! It’s all about contouring and blending, two things I’m not necessarily good at but can get away with for a spooky look :) Here’s the tutorial I followed. I’m so happy with this, you guys have no idea.

teenage frankenstein

KristenComment

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year, mostly because I have the ultimate excuse to play dress-up! The number of spooky looks I’ve been seeing on my Instagram feed inspired me to buy some cheap Halloween makeup off of Amazon and go to town with absolutely no plan whatsoever.

I sat in front of my mirror and started painting my face green because it was a pretty color and ended up with black and blood and stitches and here I am, a teenage Frankenstein (cue Alice Cooper…). Maybe it’s not as great as other Halloween looks you’ve seen, but I’m honestly so proud of it. And it was the perfect way to get into the spirit of spooky season (as if I needed help)!

five high heel hacks that'll save your feet

StyleKristenComment

Settle in bad bitches, it’s time to learn how to wear five-inch heels to the club, dance all night, and fall safely asleep without the soles of your feet throbbing like your hangover headache. 

Or, if you just wanna wear heels to the office sometime, that’s cool too!

  1. Don’t Push Yourself

    Okay, first things first. If you can’t walk in the heels, don’t wear them. I’m serious. I know they’re cute, but they’re not worth the medical bills when you break your ankle trying to bust a move to “Truth Hurts.” That’s not cute at all, and Lizzo would be disappointed in you. And honestly, you won’t look that cute in heels that you can’t wear because even though everyone said you looked great I’m here to tell you that you’re walking like a baby giraffe and, say it with me folks, that’s just not cute (unless you’re actually a baby giraffe; in that case go nuts and rock that blue tongue).

  2. Stick to Thicker Heels

    I know stilettos are super sexy and make you feel like Venus the Goddess of Love herself, but again, how much of a goddess do you feel when you’re supporting the entire weight of your body on teeny tiny sticks? Newsflash, you’re not Rihanna. There are plenty of cute, thick, supportive heels out there that probably look better with your outfit anyway.

  3. Cut Your Toenails

    Have you ever stubbed your toe? I did last week and it actually started bleeding and now I have a bruised toenail. Anyway! Wearing heels with long toenails is the pain equivalent to ramming your toes into that end table (you know, the one that’s been there forever but you seem to have no spatial awareness of?) repeatedly. You should keep your toes and feet clean anyway to ward off fungus and infection. So for everyone’s sake, give yourself a pedicure.

  4. Wear Grip Socks

    If you’re wearing closed-toe heels, I highly recommend wearing the grip socks you wear to Barre class. I read this hack in a Well + Good article recently, and guys, it’s changed everything. My feet tend to slide forward when I walk in heels, so my toes are constantly digging into the front of my shoes (another reason to cut your damn toenails!). When I wear grip socks, I feel like I have a lot more control over my stride, and my toes can breathe, which means more dancing to Lizzo.

  5. Invest in Shoe Inserts

    There are so many different shoe inserts out there for different purposes, you just need to find the one that works for you! My personal favorites (#notsponsored) are Foot Petals, which I reviewed last year. I wear their Tip Toes to protect the balls of my feet, but they have so many different solutions for foot pain, like back-of-heel inserts, Tip Toes with slices at the top for flip-flops, and even teeny tiny ones you can cut and stick on the ends of your shoes to protect your precious pinkie toes. 

Essentially, just do what feels best for you and your feet! Those bitches hold up your entire body, and we need to treat them with love.

Let me know some of your favorite heel hacks in the comments!

ch-ch-chaaaanges

KristenComment

at my old apartment in boston

Hey, boogers! I’ve missed you all so much. I figured I’d give everyone a little life update to explain why I’ve been so MIA lately! 

Ya see kids, now that I’m ~growing up~ (gross), I’ve been going through a lot of changes (cue the Big Mouth theme), some that make me super excited, some that make me want to vomit, and others that leave me feeling really conflicted and confused. But I’ve been told that change is the only constant in life, so I’ve just been rolling with the punches, no matter how hard it gets.

Essentially, in the past nine months, I have had several quarter-life crises. The first was in December, when I graduated from Emerson College. Even though I was staying busy with work and plans with friends, things weren’t the same as I was used to. I had to learn what my identity was without academia or my sorority. That’s a crisis I’m still working through at the moment.

Then, in May, I walked at Graduation, which brought on emotions no one prepared me for. I was already upset that I was leaving, but now I had to deal with the fact that everyone else was leaving too. It was a weird culmination of things that I thought I wrapped up already. Of course, I was so proud of myself and my classmates, but I didn’t really have that “Fuck yeah, I did it!” feeling that everyone else did. I had mine, in December, when there weren’t sales on Graduation decorations at Party City, just a ton of snow and anticipation of the holidays. 

I sweat through Boston in the summer, where I kept myself insanely busy with two jobs and plans with friends. But there was that nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I constantly wasn’t doing enough. I’d crash on my couch after a long day at work, and I couldn’t even relax because my head was rattling off a list of places I needed to go one last time, and another of the places I never got the chance to visit. It was a weird feeling of nostalgia and failure that often comes with the end of the summer or moving to a new place, but it gets extra weird when those changes come together. 

my childhood room! i slept in this spot for most of my life.

Leaving Boston was so much more than leaving the city, it was leaving the chapter that I had been writing for the past four years. Four years! I started at Emerson when I was only seventeen years old. I always say that Long Island is where I grew up, but Boston is where I really grew. Though I knew that Boston was just a train ride away, and that I’d always have the memories, and that my friends and sisters would always find each other no matter where we were, my heart was aching for my adorable little apartment in the city. But, I stuffed my entire college experience into my dad’s pickup truck, and we drove back to Long Island, where I’d move into my family’s new house. Yup, another change. 

I should’ve been used to moving, as someone who changed living situations every year at Emerson, but this time things were different. We were moving out of my childhood home, which was quaint and small, way too small for three adults. The house that we moved into is beautiful - not far from where we were and in a great neighborhood. But it’s still a change. I was used to returning home on breaks to my pale blue childhood bedroom with a low wall that I smacked my head on often. Now, I’m putting together my new, ~adult~ space, and man, am I overwhelmed.

You’ve probably guessed that I’m into aesthetics based on the fact that you’re reading my fashion blog. But my physical comfort is also really important to me. If I don’t make my space my own, I don’t feel like myself. That, coupled with the fact that I am a horrible decision-maker, has made settling in a bit difficult.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m so psyched to be back with my family, friends from home, and my dog. I’m really pumped to get a job in New York City and start my career in the fashion industry, but I’d be lying if I said this all wasn’t very overwhelming. 

we planted this teeny sapling when i was in the second grade, and she grew beyond our wildest dreams!

we planted this teeny sapling when i was in the second grade, and she grew beyond our wildest dreams!

But I’m learning that that’s okay! In fact, I’m kind of lucky to have so many things to be overwhelmed about. I know that I’m a strong, adaptable person because I’ve adapted to changes before. This one is just taking a bit longer to get used to. I know that everyone goes through these changes, I’m just blessed enough to have them all happening at once.

That’s something that’s really important to remember if you’re going through something similar - literally every person deals with the transition that comes from leaving school, whether it’s high school, college, grad school, or further schooling if you’re hella ambitious (go you!!!). How else should we feel when we’re thrust into an education system against our will and then told to choose a career path based on a life we haven’t fully lived yet?

I’m getting a bit existential. My point of this post is that I’m going through changes, you’re going through changes, everyone is going through changes. Some we’re aware of, and some we’re not. Some we’ll even initiate and end up being miserable. That’s part of the game of life, my friends. 

When I started writing this post I didn’t intend to sound like your dad when your first goldfish dies, but hey, here I am.

the view from our beautiful new home :)