The New Branch of the Courtney Alexandria Empire

I launched www.shopcourtalex.com, on April 6, 2018 at exactly 5:11 pm. I now sell handcrafted soaps, hair/skin butters, and jewelry. The Courtney Alexandria Empire now includes Courtney Alexandria Blog (this blog) and Beauty By Courtney Alexandria. Continue reading to learn more about the birth of the new edition to the Courtney Alexandria Empire.

Growing up one of the many calming activities in my life always involved working with my hands. At the age of 12, I remember viewing other's creations in stores and saying, "that'll be me one day." At this time, I am selling my handcrafted jewelry, and in the future, I plan to add clothing and accessories. Creating anything whether it is baking, cooking, drawing, painting, sculpting, styling, or crafting always bring me joy and now I get to share that with my customers.

Cruising down the aisle, examining the labels of various skin and hair products, sitting on the many of shelves, I wonder which to take home and try. I read the ingredients of the twentieth product, phone in hand, typing the ingredients into the web page to see what it does and would it help my skin and hair receive the much-needed moisture. After settling for the products purchased, I use it, and to my horror less than halfway through my day, my skin is ashy, dry, and cracked. It is the middle of summer I am showing my ashen greyed elbows and legs to the world. My hair is covered with a hat or head scarf because the product did not moisturize my hair enough and it is near impossible to comb through. For the umpteenth time my products had failed me, and now money has gone down the drain. My eczema is crying, begging me to scratch it raw, my skin is looking like a freshly erased chalkboard, and my skin is red from something in the product the has irritated my skin. I end up beyond annoyed and working an extra shift to make up for the lost funds.

I take a shower expecting to come out feeling wonderful and smelling divine. For a while, I do feel relaxed and fresh. As soon as I get ready to moisturize my skin, I start burning and scratching. Something in the soap made my skin irritated and my skin is not moisturized. I began researching for natural remedies, and at the age of 19, I started making my own soaps and hair/skin butters. Over the years, I created and used the products offered at Courtney Alexandria. I worked tirelessly to build my brand and offer my future customers the top of the line products handmade by me.

I can finally say that at the age of 24, 12 years after my claim, I am a business owner. I am not only making products for myself but for the people whos, skin and hair struggles resembled mine. I get to share my crafting abilities with my customers and allow them to smile as they finally find the products of their dreams.

Starring...

My baby is two years old. Happy Birthday Love, 
 XOXO mommy.

First lets establish this: No, I don't have children. Secondly: Two years ago I started this blog and well, this is my baby. I worked hard on it and I have the right to call it "my baby". With all the revamping I've done, I couldn't be any more pleased with its outcome. Especially since I managed this by myself with two jobs and being a full-time student (I will touch upon that a little bit more in another post).

 Wearing all black has been my staple since I was 11 and at the time of this post I am 22, so yeah it’s been a long time. I noticed I've taken a liking to prints/print mixing and colors. Which is why I felt like Courtney Alexandria needed a revamp (hence the pop of red now found throughout the blog). 

This outfit was actually from a year ago, but I never gotten around to posting it. I love this T-shirt Dress, it's comfortable and casual cool. In my opinion it’s a little too short for me, so I decided to wear a pair of biker shorts underneath. I mostly wear this dress while running errands its light and the breeze always hits right! I threw on my favorite pair of converses that have been through a crap load of battles and my favorite backpack that has seen better days (like seriously, I keep having to crazy glue the flap to the closure). I grabbed my star necklace and bracelet that I made (sorry about the lack of close ups on my accessories, I'll make sure to start doing that).

T-shirt Dress 
Forever 21 ~ sold out
| Similar |

Biker Shorts
| Walmart |

Sneakers 
| Famous Footwear |

Bag
Aldo ~ sold out
| Similar |
| Similar |

Earrings
Forever 21 ~ sold out
| Similar |

Necklace
Made by Me

Bracelet
Made by Me

Until Next Time,

Courtney

Money, Power, Glory

I want to do more. I need to do more. Even though I've been extremely busy,  I feel the need to set higher standards for myself. I watch so many people around me who aspire to just stay where they are, and I know for sure that's not me. May-be I push myself way too hard, but I got a taste of the real world, and now I want it all. As Lana Del Rey says, "I want money, power, and glory". We may not be talking about the same "money, power, glory", but none the less it what I want.

In this outfit, I did feel mighty powerful with a dash of glory. What I couldn't quite get in the picture was the sheerness of the shirt. It is actually very see-through so I opted for a really pretty bra from Ashley Stewart. Since the shirt was very see-through I decided to wear my duster. I threw on the skirt, shoes, and a ring I made and I was out the door.

Blouse ~ Old Navy

Bra ~ Ashley Stewart {click here}

Skirt ~ Forever 21

Shoes ~ Just Fab

Duster ~ Forever 21

Ring ~ Made by me

Lace 'N Legs

I actually got a lot of complements when I was wearing this outfit, which was pretty surprising to me. My favorite complement was a classmate who said "You got some beautiful chocolate legs". The dude just cracked me up and I totally started laughing hysterically. Anyways...

I love this romper from Forever 21. The lace arms were actually pretty cool. I was totally feeling myself! lol. Of course I couldn't pass up on wearing my favorite hat.

Romper ~ Forever 21

Hat ~ Forever 21

Belt ~ H&M

Earrings ~ Made By Me

Necklace ~ Made By Me

Ring ~ Made By Me

Boots ~ Asos

Kicking and Karate Choppin'

It was a very warm day in New York City and this gal has decided to wear a jean jacket and some boots. Well in my defense, I was in school all day and the air conditioner was kicking and karate choppin'! Awkwardness aside I loved this outfit, it was understated and simple. When I decided to put my hair in a hump and wear my hand made spike accessories it added an edgy feeling to my look.

 

Jacket ~ Macys

Tank Top ~ Forever 21

Skirt ~ Forever 21

Boots ~ Asos

Spiked Bracelets (Both Wrists) ~ Made By Me

Earrings ~ Made By Me

 

On the Spot

 

 When I looked in the mirror that morning, I had a moment of shyness where I almost ran for a cardigan. An extra-long bulky cardigan, but of course I put my big girl panties on and sucked it up, walked out that door with my head held up high.

 

Dress ~ Forever 21

Shoes ~ JcPenny

Necklace ~ Made by me

 

 

Pretty High

 

My ankles HATE me right now, but they forgave me when I put on the BACKUP FLATS.

At 5 1/2 inches, I admit the shoes are pretty high (emphasis on the pretty). But, of course I had a nice pair of comfy flats for backup. So in total, I only had the wedges on for about three to four hours. Whenever I sat down I slipped them off and when it got too much I slipped on my backup pair. After all, isn’t these shoes only for show? Do people actually keep them on all day? If so, do they hurt? If not, how in the world do you do it?! Tell. Me. Your. Secret.
 

This has to be my all-time favorite hat to wear so when the weather is about a cool 70^o or 80^o (which is rare in the state of New York's humidity) I wear it. Trust me, you will see this hat in quite a few posts. I know I kind of totally based this post on the shoes, but believe it or not, I based this whole outfit off of the pants. The shirt came in when I figured that I was wearing way to much black so I wore my black and white striped shirt and white bag. The bracelets where made by me!

Don’t worry, the relationship between my ankles and I is still going strong. LOL!

Hat ~ Forever 21
Shirt ~ Target
Pants ~ Old Navy
Shoes ~ Just Fab
Bag ~ Just Fab
Bracelets ~ Made by me
 

 

Skirt N' Chucks

 

This shirt is about two years old, I originally bought it at H&M. What I liked about this shirt was the yin and yang up against a dark grey background.  Usually when I see a yin and yang shirt the background is usually black or white, so to see such a grungy-grey as the background it was a little refreshing. The skirt was a last minute, “OMG I need to leave like now” moment. I haven’t wore this clutch (originally from Aldo) in a long time and all day I kept thinking about the song “Reunited”. You know that song, “Reunited and it feels so good”. Lol. Of course I wore my chucks (converses). What else would I wear with a skirt?

 

Shirt ~ H&M

Skirt ~ Forever 21

Clutch ~ Aldo

Shoes ~ Famous Footwear

Earrings & Jewelry ~ Made by me

 

Roar!!!

 

Ever notice that the shyest person is always the one person that ends up having the loudest mouth and the craziest things to say? Well that’s me once I drop my walls and kick back. Depending on the situation, that happens fairly quickly. Which brings me to my point, at work my presence was known and I made sure of that. Not only my pants, edgy haircut, or my statement necklace played a part in it but, I had personality both visually and verbally. I meant business. I had to take it down a notch so I wore my black wedges and sleeveless-button-down shirt with three simple bangles. The oversized cardigan was a key item to battle New York’s crazy, kooky weather.

I AM COURTNEY, HEAR ME ROOOOOOAR!!!!!!!

Shirt ~ Rainbows
Cardigan ~ Target
Leggings ~ Rainbows
Shoes ~ JcPenny
 Necklace ~ Made by me

 

                       

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