Positive Thinking

I've had a lot of changes in my life recently, and a lot of motivation from the people around me to think more positively, and to stop being hard on myself, and stop pointing out my imperfections. I truly do believe that everyone is beautiful outside of makeup, outside of  what you look like, outside of your job or the things you own. In the long run, it doesn't matter. Surrounding yourself with good people and things that make you happy is really what will make your life a great one. And it's all out there, I can assure it. I'm starting to make less over-generalizations, and focus more on the now, instead of the future. I have a little challenge for you. You are beautiful. It may seem kinda weird to say it, even if I've never met you. But I truly to believe that everyone has a beauty in themselves. Now tell this to someone close. See how much it can make their day, because one little sentence can make such a difference. Then tell it to someone who you haven't talked to in a long time. And see the even bigger difference. Like a said, a bit of kindness can lead to a whole lot more positivity.

Happy Halloween!!

October is coming to a close. Now even though it's 20 mph winds and 37 degrees, it's still a wonderful time. My house is a hot-spot for cute little kids as Elsa's and zombies, as well as parents asking to use the bathroom. But my absolute favorite: pumpkin seeds. Every year we get two medium pumpkins, scoop out every last seed, and bake them. We set them in a baking tray, set the oven to 325, and put garlic salt all over the seeds. Baked until a nice brown tinge occurs, about 45 minutes (trust me it's worth it) this is literally one of the best parts of October. Not to mention it's full of fiber and great for you! I eat the seeds whole, and boy they are good. Wanna give a try? It's beyond easy, and if you don't want to scoop out a pumpkin or take them from a jack-o-lantern, you can buy plain seeds at virtually any store and put some of your own seasoning on them. You can get really creative too! 

So for anyone that has followed this blog, I know the month of October has been a little empty in terms of blogging. I promise, I have more time now and it's still something I love to do. The way for me to show my likes and dislikes, and little tidbits for me to share to the world is so amazing. I'll see you soon!

HUGE Sephora Haul!

As a reward to finishing ALL my college apps, I treated myself to a little Sephora fun. I actually went in store to try a bunch of things rather than looking online, which was awesome because I got a couple things I never would even look at online. I also got some help to find a better shade of foundation since the color match always makes me too pink. Here are my goodies!

Nars Sheer Matte foundation in Deauville: This is quite a change from the color Santa Fe, but the formula is so awesome that I wanted to stick to the brand. Nar's foundations tend to get darker as you spread them on the skin, so when you think you're a perfect match, I'd suggest going one shade lighter. I went multiple shades lighter because I'm losing my summer tan, and it also was a good balance of pink and yellow that more matched my skin tone. $45.

Urban Decay Naked2 Basics: Matching with the type of shades found in the regular Naked2 palette, the basics palette is 5 matte and one pearl taupe-y type shades. Every picture I've seen (even the one on the box) doesn't give it justice as to how beautiful the shades are. So versatile, I absolutely love playing with a ton of different looks. $29.

Anastasia Brow Whiz in Medium Brown: Yes, I'm late to the game on this one. And like everyone else who's tried this pencil, once you go whiz you never go back. Medium Brown is the perfect color because it's very grey toned, which makes my eyebrows look much more natural. The fine pencil and spooley work wonders on filling in brows while keeping a natural look. I seriously love this pencil, and it's so worth the money. $21.

Bite Matte Creme Lip Crayon in Aubergine: Holy crap the pigment is amazing. And the staying power. I'm new to Bite as a brand, but I'm very, very impressed. I tested a few of their lipsticks, and the vibrancy was the exact same. I wore this particular crayon, which looks like a cross between a chubby stick and a lip liner, in a very beautiful eggplant color. It lasted for a good 3 hours without any kind of lip prep. 3 HOURS. Towards the end it does turn a bit more red toned, but still very pretty. I'm absolutely going to try more from this brand. $24.

Tangle Teezer Compact Styler: Another newbie for me, and nothing to do with makeup, this small brush is used on wet hair to get out tangles. I have a lot of problems with tangly and damaged hair since getting it bleached. It's a great tool to travel with because it has the case, and it's very easy to clean, so it's great for the shower. I have medium thickness long hair, and it is much easier than a comb, but if you have thick hair, it might get a bit difficult to work with. Overall, it would work best with short, thin hair, but I'd give it a try! Definitely pulls less than a brush, and less damaging. $20

Disappointing Product Review: Mac and Clinique

I'm back to two more products that didn't quite make the cut for me, one from Mac and one from Clinique, which is unusual for those two brands. Usually I'm in love with all their products, but I'll explain why these ones weren't quite up to par.

I'll start with the Clinique brow powder, the one of the left. I had high hopes for this but it just didn't cut it. The formula was way too packed, and you had to work to get product evenly distributed in the brows. The color is also really off. Although it says it's soft brown, and the sample picture on the Sephora website gives it off as exactly that, the color ends up being way different. You can kind of compare it to the bronzer, but it is way too orange for the brows. The brush it came with was also really bad. Whereas most brow brushes are very thin, this one was rather thick and got product caked into the bristles, and it was very hard to clean out. Overall, I stopped using it after three weeks because I just got so frustrated.

The Mac bronzing powder was something I wasn't expecting to dislike since their mineral powders are so good. This powder wasn't anything like those. It picked up on the brush poorly (and I tried two different types of brushes with different bristles) and I literally had to scrub the powder to try to get product. When applying it to the face, I needed a ton just to make my face slightly more bronze. I guess you could call it subtle, but I think for the amount of powder I had to use, it just didn't work well. It also has dried out a lot after just a few months, and I keep it closed and in a drawer, so I don't understand why it would do that. I tried testing it with my finger once, and absolutely nothing showed up, even when I tried the less dry parts. It just wasn't good enough for the money you have to spend on a Mac product.

The usual disclaimer is that whatever doesn't work for me may work wonders on you. It's all a matter of opinion. I hope that my reviews can give you some insight, but the only way to REALLY know is to try them (except I'd suggest sampling at the store versus buying). I hope you enjoyed this review!

Summer Wedding!

My cousin recently got married to his girlfriend of about 3 years (and they also have a little boy together named Jacob!). It was literally one of the most beautiful weddings that I've seen and it was great weather and a great crowd. About 100 people were there and it was at a privately owned lot with a beautiful lake and vineyard. I'll give ya a couple pictures:

The wedding was held by the lake with a bunch of blue little poms in the trees and a beautiful wooden arch that was made by the bride's step dad. The best part was instead of traditional rice, all the younger kids got a little bubble gun and shot bubbles at them after the ceremony. 

Now onto what I wore, there were two different outfits, one for the ceremony and one for the night before which was a little wine tasting at the vineyard just to get everyone together. My dresses were both from little non-chain shops but I do know you can get my ceremony dress at Modcloth. My shoes were both from DSW, and jewelry mostly from Silpada. The shoes for the second dress were red patent leather heals, which you can't see.

P.S. ignore the super crappy quality from my phone…

I love weddings so much, and I love wearing different things. My cousin and his wife looked so happy, and her dress was beautiful. Overall everything was so much fun and considering they did all the work by themselves, the wedding went flawlessly. The next thing I have to ask is who is next…?

See you soon!

Life Gets Busy…

Hi everyone. I haven't posted in quite a while. I apologize about that but I think everyone can contest that it happens. You can't do everything. I do promise a wedding post (not mine a bit too young), but it's filled with all the things you'd love about a wedding. But I don't guarantee it soon. It's just one of those times. I don't have time to breathe. But I love doing this and it will continue. See you all sometime!

August Favorites!

Hi everyone! I'm doing a favorites again finally. I have a lot of fun stuff to go through and links to be clicked so enjoy!

Lot's of makeup favorites this month. I've mentioned a lot of these in other posts, but I can't get over the amazingness. I'll attempt a left to right type of organization so here we go. 

The Pore-fessional Primer: I've definitely mentioned this before. So, so, so nice. It creates a nice matte base that really does reduce the look of pores, which I think is better than an illuminating base because my skin gets oily in 30 seconds. Love the feel of it on my skin, it's just awesome. 

Tarte 12-Hour Blush: This is a new one for me! I never was a blush girl because I always found it hard to put on light enough to not make it look like I painted my cheeks. This Amazonian-clay formula in Captivating is a very pretty peachy pink. I just put a really small amount on a Mac 150 and it is just gorgeous. 

Repetto Perfume: Again, another new kind of product, I never really took to perfumes, and this again changed that. It's a sweet smell, which I think is better for me because I'm still pretty young all things considered. I still save it for more special occasions and keep to body spray for school because it is a stronger scent, but dab a little on my neck and wrists, and I smell like vanilla, rose, musk and whole lotta other goodness.  

Make Up Forever Lipstick: I mentioned this when reviewing Sephora's birthday gifts, and I still love it. It's probably my most worn lipstick for August. The formula is wonderful, and keep my lips pretty hydrated (something I've always had trouble with Mac formulas), and the color. Oh the color. N9 aka Copper Pink is so gorgeous for everyday (it looks much darker than it is). I will soon be getting the full sized one. I just love it so much. 

The Classic Physicians Formula Green Powder: You're probably bored of hearing about this one. But too bad, because it will continue to be in my favorites. Pop a bit on a zit, zap on some concealer, and poof it's gone. It's magic. 

Two non-beauty favorites here. And don't mind the weird wick. It tilted and then got stuck in the dried wax. Oops. 

Brick and Mortar Candle: So some bad news is I can't find this specific candle at the store website, but good news is I found it here! First the store. Brick and Mortar is a furniture store in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. I don't have my own home, but going there makes me want 20 different houses so I can take the whole store and decorate them all in different ways. The things there are high quality, and so, so, so cute. It's a wide range of styles and seriously there is so much to find there you never go out without finding something you like. The online store is great, and their sister clothing stores are some of my favorites. Onto the actual candle. Heaven in a really cute jar. It's made of vegetarian wax which is great for conserving those honeybees. The smell is indescribable unless you have put your head into a honeysuckle. It really does smell exactly like honeysuckle, and the jar is a very pretty pink, and very sturdy. Plus 120 hours of burning. Can't beat it. I've been burning it so often, and I just love it so much. 

B&BW Body Cream: AGAIN, this isn't actually on the website, but I did find it in the store. This body cream, in apple blossom and lavender is a great scent, and a good kind of transition scent from summer into fall. I love the two scents together, they work really well. It's a nice big tube too so it will last me forever. 

So not much variation but here it all is. Sorry it took me forever to do another favorites but with the extra day off tomorrow I had the time. Have a great Labor Day weekend!