bailey bee

beauty, home and lifestyle blog

My Target Anniversary Collection Picks

My Target Anniversary Collection Picks

If you can even believe it, Target has only been around for 20 years. To think there was a time where people furnished their homes (and themselves!) without the option of Target makes me sad. I know we all have a soft spot for our fave red store and most of you likely remember the days when Target collaborated with top designers to create exclusive lines at the store. Target still does this today but not nearly as consistently as they did when they partnered with the likes of Isaac Mizrahi, Missoni and Philip Lim. Although there are a decent amount of throwbacks, they are even paying homage up into the early 2010’s with Lily Pulitzer and the recent Marimekko collab.

Target is celebrating their 20th birthday with a release of limited edition styles from some of their most iconic fashion and home partnerships over the years. Everything is labeled limited quantity and set to drop on September 14th. Today I wanted to share with you the things I am eyeing to pick up from the look book released on their site.

A. Women’s Snap Detail Short Sleeve V-Neck Shift Mini Dress – Zac Posen for Target Navy – $60

B. 3.1 Phillip Lim for Target Mini Satchel Handbag – 3.1 Phillip Lim for Target Black – $35

C. Women’s Lace Long Sleeve Ribbon Detail Shift Mini Dress – Anna Sui for Target Ivory – $60

D. Women’s Sleeveless Metallic Boucle V-Neck Shift Mini Dress – Anna Sui for Target Silver – $60

E. Women’s Long Sleeve Tulle Bow Blouse, V-Neck Lace Cami and Mid-Rise Lace Tulle Mini Skirt – Rodarte for Target Magenta – $25, $20 and $30

F. 7.1oz Colored Zig Zag Glass Jar Candle Tuscan Sunrise – Missoni for Target – $12

G. 72″x40″ Beach Towel White/Black – Marimekko for Target – $25

Which items are you most excited to pick up? I know 100% I am going to try to get that Philip Lim bag over everything else but fingers crossed it doesn’t fly off the (virtual) shelves before we’re able to grab all that we want.

Feel free to shop this post below on September 14th:

Announcing: Shop Bailey Bee

Hey there! I am so excited to announce that my Bailey Bee shop opened TODAY! My first products are hand painted doormats. I hope to expand my designs in the coming weeks and even open up to taking on custom commissions. Please feel free to take a peek at the shop here.

Below are some of my favorites released so far…

all are welcome door mat by shop bailey bee
All Are Welcome
trick or treat door mat by shop bailey bee
Trick or Treat
gather door mat by shop bailey bee
Gather

For all of you loyal readers, thank you for all of the continued support.

My Favorite Shampoos for Leaving Hair Smelling Great

one of my three shampoos that smell great - Briogeo's Scalp Revival
via Briogeo

My hair doesn’t hold onto scents. It just doesn’t. I figured everyone else was in the same boat until my sister one day boasted she was on day six of no-washing and her hair STILL smelled like her shampoo. I couldn’t believe it! It is because of that convo that I wanted to write this post for all of you. This is not for me because, as previously stated, my hair doesn’t hold onto scents. This is my list of scented shampoos for those of you whose hair does!

First up is Briogeo’s Scalp Revival. It markets charcoal and coconut oil as the main two ingredients but this stuff actually smells like MINT! It’s so refreshing and really fun to apply. It’s a bit gritty in order to clear away build up on the scalp. Aside from just the scent, I really like this shampoo in general.

Next, I received Gloss Moderne Clean Luxury as a sample from Sephora a few months back and I still think about it from time-to-time. It was such a pleasant cleansing experience! It has a fairly heavy vanilla scent that will be a dream come true for the right vanilla-loving person. It’s also just a really fancy, high quality shampoo in general.

Last is the previously-reviewed The One shampoo by Kristin Ess. This shampoo has such a strong floral scent that I almost thought I wasn’t going to be able to use it when I first tried it. To be fair, I’m pretty sensitive to scents and live my life pretty scent-free. I think my nose simply wasn’t used to it. I eventually did get used to it and ended up really enjoyed this stuff. This is the shampoo that has lingered post-shower the longest of all shampoos that I have tried literally in all of my life.

Let me know your favorite scented ‘poos below! I’m curious to see if any can unseat Kristin Ess’ in linger–ability. I’m always game to try out new brands of hair cleansers and conditioners.

Feel free to shop this post below:

The VERB Ghost Haircare Line

The VERB ghost haircare line

Before we get chatty over all things hair products, I wanted to mention that I received these items courtesy of VERB over the past few months. Although they did send them to me, I chose to receive these items specifically and as always, the below opinions are my own.

I’ve been a fan of VERB hair care since my college years. The low price point sucked me in but my love for the brand has only grown through the years. My go-to lines are typically the hydrating and sea salt ones but it’s no secret that the Ghost line is by-far their most popular. I’ve gotten a chance to try most of the Ghost line, minus their most popular within– Ghost Oil. The products I am reviewing today are their Ghost shampoo and conditioner, Ghost Prep, Ghost Hair Mask and Ghost Dry Oil.

If we categorized hair the same way we do skin, I would be “normal” (not dry, oily or combo.) I don’t have any particular hair needs so I have not needed intense hydration before but figured it couldn’t hurt. Now that I have tried the Ghost shampoo and conditioner, I’ve now tried all three lines of cleansers by VERB. My favorite is still the regular ole hydrating line. I don’t feel that I get any crazy differences using the Ghost line. As for the Ghost Hair Mask, the same applies. I don’t feel like my hair has been masked when I wash this product out. If it were to come down to deciding whether to purchase or not, I’d say pass. Unfortunately, I’m not super impressed with the in-shower side of this line however…

I love the styling products! The Ghost Prep is my favorite product for holding down my wild, wild hair after I sleep in it overnight. I have a bad habit of sleeping in completely soaking wet hair… it’s pretty wild looking when I wake up. Plus, my baby hairs randomly thinned out a couple of months ago and I have been working to grow them back out ever since. I love using this stuff to slick everything back in a tight, chic bun. And when I want to wear my hair down and curled? The Ghost Dry Oil is great for sprucing up some old, overgrown hair and giving it the sheen it needs. It also keeps things sleek while allowing curled hair to maintain bounce.

To recommend some prods out of this line would be to recommend the styling prods. They’re definitely my favorite of the bunch and the ones I think you all should try as well. With the current Sephora sale happening this week, why not? VERB is nice and affordable but have the quality ingredients and chic marketing that can keep up with the fanciest of brands.

Feel free to shop this post below:

My 2019 Sephora VIB Sale Picks pt. 2

My Sephora VIB sale 2019 picks

I did a round-up of my favorite products from Sephora when they had their last sale in May. Although my favorites haven’t much changed, I wanted to shoot this your way with a couple of updates as the fall VIB Sale begins NEXT WEEK (Monday for VIB Rouge, Tuesday for VIB and Beauty Insiders)

My two additions to my round-up are NARS lipsticks and Drunk Elephant’s Virgin Marula Luxury Facial Oil. As for the rest of the products, let me do a bit of quoting from my last post…

I rarely wear foundation but when I do, it is the Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Foundation. I wear 120 but really am more likely a match for 110. This is a matte, semi-sheer coverage foundation that dries down quickly and stays put throughout the day. This works wonders for my combination skin and I love that my freckles can still shine through when I’m wearing this.


In the same vein of Fenty, my favorite eyeliner currently is the Fenty Beauty Flyliner. It is a deep, dark black that doesn’t flake off and the pointed tip of the applicator actually stays pointy (unlike my old favorite, the Stila Stay All Day liquid liner). It continues to be super saturated and applies beautifully even with a bit of age.


The YSL Touche Eclat All-Over Brightening pen is a very bougie option, I understand, but it is incredible. This pen provides the right amount of coverage while not making the application area look cakey at ALL. I use this under the eyes to cover darkness, around the nose to cover redness and on blemishes as well. I feel really fancy when I click the bottom of the pen to dispense the product. It’s worth the splurge for that alone..
 heh. But really, you have 15% off, why not?!


I have begun using the Anastasia Beverly Hills clear brow gel for things other than my eyebrows. This stuff is liquid concrete for your brows and lately I have been utilizing it as a hardcore gel for my baby hairs whenever I wear a power pony. It slicks them back and they do. not. move. Love this stuff 4ever.


If you aren’t a gloss person, you’ll enjoy the Bite Beauty French Press lip glosses because they are the perfect formula for us “non-glossers”. The formula is really slick and plush so you won’t feel like your hair is getting stuck all over your lips. The French Press range has a great nude for every skin tone, too. It’s hard to go wrong with a nude gloss.


Next up is my tried and true Tarte Amazonian Clay highlighter in ‘Exposed’. This is the ideal powder highlight because it contains no base pigment and gives a perfectly natural, glossy glow. I use this every single time that I do my makeup and somehow I haven’t hit pan. Talk about a good value!


The mascara that unseated my favorite of MANY years (the Maybelline Colossal) is the Hourglass Caution mascara. This stuff is a rich, dark black and separates the lashes while simultaneously lengthening. It doesn’t flake off during the day but comes off easily with remover at night.

As for the newbies,

NARS recently reformulated their lipsticks and there really is no truer OG lipstick than a NARS lipstick. The formulas are comfortable and the pigment is never lacking. May I suggest Dolce Vita? It’s been my fave for years.

Also, Drunk Elephant’s Virgin Marula Oil has been my skin savior lately. It was briefly touched on in my recent Drunk Elephant post. I got a facial a couple of weeks ago and the esthetician told me my skin was very dehydrated. This was and is shocking to me because I am an avid moisturizer! She told me to try out a facial oil as it would penetrate deeper into the skin and provide more hydration than your typical facial moisturizer. I like to think that adding this heightened level of moisture has allowed my breakout to dissipate.

Let me know below what you’re thinking of picking up during the VIB Sale! I’m focusing on the more expensive things on my wishlist that can only be found at Sephora. Ulta has way, way better coupons on a much more frequent schedule so buying the other, cheaper things I want down the road shouldn’t be a problem. I’m trying to be a responsible shopper!

Feel free to shop this post below:

Battle of the Purple Eyeshadows

Makeup Geek Curfew and ColourPop Sleeper eyeshadows

Purple is a fun color to wear on the eyes because it can provide depth without deepening a look too dramatically. Purple is also supposed to be the “best” eyeshadow color to pair with my green eyes. It was because of that reason that I, once upon a time, purchased Makeup Geek’s ‘Curfew’ eyeshadow single.

Since that “once upon a time” I have hardly used ‘Curfew’ as it didn’t lend itself enough to my looks that needed that “depth but not deepening” effect. Curfew is fairly light and doesn’t pack much of a punch.

on-arm swatches of Makeup Geek Curfew and ColourPop Sleeper eyeshadows

I didn’t realize what I was missing out on until I decided to purchase ColourPop’s pressed pigment in ‘Sleeper’. Just LOOK at the difference between the two products! Although Sleeper has a leg up on Curfew as it is a pigment and thus, far more pigmented, the two are pressed into the same component and are used the exact same way. It is because of this that I judge them equally as well!

So, in the hunt for the best purple eyeshadow, I found ‘Sleeper’. If you’re looking for a bomb pop of color that isn’t all that scary, I highly recommend this shade of purp. I have a handful of other hues of purple that you can check out in my eyeshadow collection, too.

Wedding Wednesday: Save-the-Dates

front and back of our save-the-date

Back in April, I worked with Basic Invite to design my save-the-dates for our wedding. The service I received from them and the quality of their products were so impressive. I was messing around in Photoshop when I landed on the idea I wanted to execute for our wedding papergoods. I got to utilize the ‘create your own’ option with Basic Invite because of this being my own design.

In addition to the MANY incredible designs they have, Basic Invite also allows you to upload your own design to have printed on any of their different paper options.

Save-the-date with the fonts used
The two fonts I used on the front of our save-the-date were Brittany Signature and Courier.

This design was very simplistic in nature. I found two different typefaces that I liked and downloaded a brush set of differing paint strokes. I threw them all together on this card that has a postcard backing on it. This allowed us to save on postage as postcards only cost $0.35 to send versus your traditional letter that now costs $0.55 (!!!)

In addition to the print from Basic Invite, I also purchased these clear calendar stickers from a bullet journaling seller on Etsy that I customized to match the serif font from the front of the save-the-date. I took a gold gel pen and circled the date of our wedding as an acknowledgment that yes, our wedding will be on a SUNDAY. This is not a typo! This not only served a very practical purpose for planning but also filled up space on the backside of the piece so I didn’t have to write a corny message in place of it.

I finished the cards off with the cuter of the two postcard stamp options available at the post office— these coral reef stamps. The other option were seashells and I wanted to give off as few “coastal” vibes as I could as our wedding is going to be the COMPLETE opposite of coastal.

My OCD is happy I decided to design these myself. Doing so allows me to design all of the paper goods for our wedding with the same style and font choices. If you’re like me and have a design eye, I recommend utilizing Basic Invite’s ‘create your own’ avenue. If you don’t, you should definitely check out the designs they’ve created themselves because there are so many beautiful choices. I plan to use Basic Invite for our invitations, menus and place cards/escort cards. More posts coming in the future!

Head over to my Wedding Wednesday tag to read all or use this navigation to pop to a certain subject:

VENUE | PHOTO| SAVE-THE-DATES 1 | BRIDESMAIDS | DRESS

Shop My Home: Living

It’s not much, but our tiny cube in Raleigh is home for now. I made some design switch-ups when we first moved in but the current layout and design of our living space is likely what we’ll keep until we move out in the spring.

Today I’m sharing links to everything!

Wall art: Target

Couch: IKEA Kalstad with the ‘Coal Herringbone’ couch cover from Comfort Works

Black and white pillow (left): West Elm

Black and white pillow (right): CB2

Blanket: West Elm

Coffee table: Target

Accent chair: Target

Rug: Wayfair

White pillows: CB2

Side Table: Target

Floor lamp: Target

Media console: Wayfair

Oliver’s toy basket: Target

Planter: Anthropologie

Desk: Wayfair

Desk chair: World Market

Mirror: Target

That is everything! I’ve included it all in the shopping widget below as well. If you have any questions about any of the knick-knacks, let me know in the comments below.

If you’d like to read up on some of my other home content, click here!