review – Rosie Culture

The Hookup On: Rootie The Rootlifter

I’m not gonna lie guys, I don’t wash my hair a lot. Mostly because it’s not good for my hair, my hair is dry enough as it is, and I kind of hate showering so I just want to get in and out as soon as possible.

My second day hair often falls flat. It already has some dry shampoo in it and is just not feeling the love. That’s when I use Rootie the Rootlifter that was gifted to me from Voloom!

The Rootie essentially looks like a straightener with checkerboard type plates. It works almost like a crimping iron – I know some of you might not know what that is and have never crimped your hair in your life time. Yikes. But, you crimp the under layers of your hair and bring the top layer over it, adding some awesome volume!

This would work great with really thin hair or hair that is often flat at the roots. It works perfectly for my second day hair and I’m thrilled with the results. I also might try it to crimp my hair – we can bring it back into style right???

The Hookup On...

The Hookup On: Rosegal

I ordered a bunch of new clothes from my fall wishlist and just received the package! Fall clothes are my favorite because they are so cozy, cute, and I can put an edgy spin on anything I wear. It’s safe to say I feel the most confident in my fall wardrobe. Now all I need is for fall to actually make an appearance because it’s been 90 degrees here – it feels like the peak of summer!

I ordered a couple of things from Rosegal for this season and I am obsessed!! The price just can’t be beat and I got my package in two weeks. It was worth the wait. I bought a bomber jacket, sweater dress, knee high socks, and a set of rings.

Cute jackets are a fall necessity because as the weather cools down, you don’t want to have to cover your outfits with bulky and boring jackets. That’s why I’m so excited about the bomber jacket – even the sweater dress will come in handy because it has long sleeves and will still keep me warm!

I’ve been eyeing ring sets for a while now, but haven’t purchased any. I love the ones I got from Rosegal! They are so cute and edgy and great quality. Everything I received really blew me away in quality for the price I paid. All this for under $40! It’s a steal.

I can’t wait to pair what I’ve bought with my very large collection of beanies and flannels. What are your fall fashion staple items?

Use code RGEN at checkout on Rosegal.com to get a surprise discount!

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are mine.

PostGrad

The Hookup On: Plant Nite!

I am obsessed with all these sipping and crafting nights that are popping up recently. Plant Nite was such a fun time! Basically, you are given the materials to create an adorable succulent arrangement while being able to sip on some drinks and socialize. You can check out the one I attended in Central New Jersey at their Facebook page.

The night starts with a cute little oath about keeping dirt out of our drinks and not saying the word moist (yuck!), then you are given step by step instructions on how to make the perfect terrarium for your succulents and how to care for them!

I went with my mom, but this could be a great night with any family member, friends, or significant other! You can check out pictures on their Instagram page here. Anyone would enjoy this, my mom isn’t the most social person (and I have inherited that trait), but we got along so well with the instructor and our table. My mom even took pictures like a true blogger!

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I’m super happy with my final product, it’s currently sitting on the windowsill in my office. I’ve been wanting to do a Plant Nite for a while now and was so glad to attend this one, the crowd and the drinks were great! This was seriously my ideal night out and I can’t wait to go to another one.

I received a ticket to this event in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are mine.

Have you ever done a Plant Nite? Let me know in the comments!

travel

Nashville Visit & AirBnB

This past weekend I was in Nashville, Tennessee! I had an absolute blast on the trip. Nashville has become the #1 most popular destination for bachelor/bachelorette parties so I would definitely recommend it if you wanted to go on a fun trip with your friends that like to go out and party. The bars were great, the people were great, the music was great, and the food was great!

Places we ate:

The Farm House
City Fire
Puckett’s
Bakersfield
Another Broken Egg
Café Coco
Dose Café

I would recommend all of the places above – the food was amazing!! City Fire had $14 endless mimosas for brunch, Puckett’s had AMAZING dinner food, Bakersfield had awesome tacos, and Another Broken Egg had great brunch and mimosa pitchers! Those were definitely my favorite 🙂

Places we visited:

Pantheon
Belle Meade Plantation
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Hatch Print Show
Shoppes on Fatherland

The Pantheon was cool to see as well as the Country Music Museum. I loved the prints at Hatch Print show! Belle Meade Plantation was cool and had a free wine tasting. The Shoppes on Fatherland also had great shops, I loved Rusty Rats Antiques!! We purchased a $75 Music City Total Access Pass that was very helpful.

Places we drank:

Tequila Cowboy
Honky Tonk
Hick Chick Pub Crawl
Margaritaville
Rippy’s

I don’t really know all the places we drank, but anywhere on Broadway has good music and is a good time. I would 10/10 recommend the Hick Chick Pub Crawl – it was soooo fun! I had great moonshine at one of the bars on this tour.

Once again, I used AirBnB for my weekend trip. We stayed three nights, four days and it was around $400 – split 4 ways, it was very cheap. I do recommend using AirBnB, I’ve had nothing but good experiences. The apartment was beautiful and a close uber ride, the host was extremely helpful, and I think it makes for an overall better vacation experience.

I loved Nashville! It’ll probably be a one time trip for me, but the experience was great 🙂

travel

My First Airbnb Experience: Toronto

Over Memorial Day weekend, I visited Toronto.

I chose to book a room through Airbnb for a couple of reasons.

I heard it was cheap
I wanted a great travel experience

I kind of thought of Airbnb as the Uber of hotels. It’s easy, cheap, technologically advanced, and geared to my age group. Just like Uber, which I use often and LOVE, so I decided to give it a shot.

It was a great decision. If you ever decide to visit Toronto I would 100% recommend the airbnb I stayed at. The host was SO friendly – he gave us a huge list of things to do and places to eat. We were staying in the basement apartment of his house, which had it’s own entrance, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. It was so well decorated and cozy – it had everything a hotel would have.

We ran into our host twice and each time had a great conversation and really got to know the perspectives of a Canadian. They said that Canadians were rude and in America the stereotype is that Canadians are too friendly! We said New Jerseyans are often considered rude, and they said they thought Americans were very friendly! We also chatted about marijuana (because they have dispensaries all over and in New Jersey it’s still pretty illegal), politics, the upcoming elections, etc.

We spent $330 for three nights and four days. To stay a long weekend in a beautiful weekend in Toronto – and to split it three ways – it was so cheap considering how amazing the trip was!

It took us 8 hours to drive and 8 hours back, of course we hit a little bit of traffic considering the weekend. Between the tourist attractions, food, drinks, gas, airbnb, and ubers we took to get to some far places – we probably spent around $300 each on an amazing weekend vacation. Cheap!!!

In Toronto we visited the CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium, the Music Garden and the market, as well as Toronto Islands. We brunched every morning (shout out to Old School because their food is AMAZING!) And we went to the bars at night – The Pilot was an awesome rooftop bar! And H Bar had awesome food to chow on while we drank. And the bartender at the Dog’s Bollocks was super funny – plus the drinks were so cheap.

Over all, Toronto is a beautiful city. Much cleaner and friendlier than any other city I’ve been to. The food service is very slow (especially compared to America) but that just means we got to relax and allotted more time for eating!

I would love to live in a city like Toronto – maybe in the next five years I could end up living there 🙂 But if you’re thinking of visiting, definitely make the trip! And I will give you the information of my Airbnb host because he made the experience a thousand times better! Now I’m just wondering when I can go to Toronto again!

PostGrad

Buying Cruelty Free: Wet N Wild Setting Spray

So I got a free sample of Urban Decay setting spray from Sephora once and didn’t start using it until a year later. Then I was unsure how I ever lived without a setting spray for my make up!!! Like it’s a must. And pretty inexpensive.

I read a post here that recommended Wet N Wild Photofocus Setting Spray. I just so happened to run out of that free sample at the time and basically went out and bought this the next day 🙂

I have been attempting to make my life as cruelty free as possible. As a vegetarian, I was completely unaware that most of my make up products were tested on animals. I just ignorantly believed that in 2016 most major companies wouldn’t see a need to test on animals anymore.

Is Wet N Wild cruelty free?: As a Peta-certified, cruelty-free brand, we’re proud to say we have never and will never test on animals. We also make it a point to work with cruelty-free, third-party vendors. wet n wild® loves our furry, scaly, and feathery friends!

They do also have a large listing of vegan products 🙂

I snagged this setting spray for $4.99 at Target. I do most of my make up shopping at drugstores because I’m pretty basic, but a lot of those drug store brands aren’t cruelty free so you need to be careful!

All in all, I love this setting spray! Keeps my face on during the work day and stops it from getting overly shiny and oily. It’s a big bottle for such a cheap price and I would definitely recommend!

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Relationships

A Month On Match.Com: A Review

So I paid $20 for a month on Match.com because I figured the only thing I had to lose was 20 bucks. I just got paid that week, my life was kind of boring, it was like one in the morning and the term “yolo” heavily influenced my decision.

Admitting to paying for a dating app is definitely not something I wanted to do, but if I can help someone or just offer some general advice, then I will suck it up and admit it.

Dating sites like Match and EHarmony often advertise with “Start for free today!” What they don’t tell you is that the free versions are actual garbage. Match would let people see your pictures and profile, but when you got a message you couldn’t read it unless you upgraded. EHarmony let you see messages and profiles, but you couldn’t see their pictures. Most of us are at least the tiniest bit shallow, so pictures kind of seem like a must. And obviously so is the ability to read messages.

EHarmony was really expensive and made me sign up for months at a time, Match just happened to have the $20 option available through the app store.

It was a huge waste of $20.

Everyone on Match was kind of odd and I rarely even received messages. They were also a lot older than me and when they did message me it wasn’t really something I wanted to answer. At least on EHarmony they gave you a really intense dating profile that matched you with people (I’m assuming accurately).

Match didn’t have a lot of people in my area which is pretty odd because on all the free online dating apps there were plenty of people in my area. Almost too many. And when I would swipe through the discover page, the app would show me people from all over the world. How is that helpful? I’m a 22 year old from New Jersey, I’m not going to meet someone from Alaska. That’s weird.

In a nutshell, you’re way better off trying the free apps before you try Match.com. I’ve also read many reviews stating that they will give you a really hard time with cancelling your account. Many people are overcharged. I signed up through Itunes so I’m hoping to avoid this debacle, I’ve heard that people’s memberships just keep getting renewed and they are charged without being to contact anyone in customer service or get their money back. I read enough reviews about this to mention it because it’s definitely something to worry about and keep in mind. But honestly I knew Match sucked after just two days on it. Don’t waste your time or money.

photo by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/spyrospapaspyropoulos/