Wednesday, April 30, 2014

April Favorites

Hey Lovelies!!!


It's that time again... Monthly Favorites!!! YAY! But before you get too excited, I have some kind of bad news.. Unfortunately, yesterday I had a pretty bad allergic reaction to something I ate (I'm allergic to ginger and it must have been in something that I ate and I wasn't aware of it) so this post is going to be kind of unimpressive. The day before I post is usually the day that I plan it all out and take pictures. So because I wasn't able to do that, I'm going to be using pictures from the internet just to make my life easier and not cram everything in today. I'm still going to be telling you the things that I've been loving this month, just not with my own pictures. I hope you can all understand why I'm doing this and no one is upset. So here we go!!

Fashion


♥ Daisy High-Neck Crop Top from Aeropostale - As you might already know, I work at Aeropostale so I spend a lot of time looking at their clothes. And they have some really nice stuff! So buying it to wear to work isn't so bad because I can wear it outside of work too! And I've recently been loving daisy prints, so this crop top was perfect for me. I don't wear this to work but I'm looking forward to wearing it this summer paired up with the orange skirt below.

♥ Orange Skirt from Aeropostale (pictured above)- Another fav from Aero. I'm a super girly-girl so I love wearing dresses and skirts. But I didn't have a bright orange skirt in my collection, so I figured this one would be the perfect addition, plus it looks amazing with the daisy crop top!


♥ Zodiac Tank from Aeropostale- Thanks to Andrea Russett, I've recently been loving tank tops like this one. They're kind of baggy and super comfortable to wear. And when I saw this one at work, I had to get it. And I'm loving it. It's super soft and has a cool bright green stitching.


♥ Tribal Scarf from Aeropostale- Another impulse buy from Aero. I was putting up these scarfs on the display and decided that I needed one of them in my wardrobe. And my favorite thing about this scarf is that I goes with almost anything because of all the colors in it.

Makeup

Nothing new this month :(

Nails

Again, nothing new :(

Skincare


♥ Jergens Natural Glow Body Lotion- Being a naturally very pale person, I need all the help I can to look tan for the summer. I tend to burn and never tan when I'm outside, so I need to use self tanners to get nice tans. While a lot of self tanners can make you look unnaturally orange, the Jergens Natural Glow line doesn't. It gives a very natural looking, gradual tan. I've been asked by many people if I went tanning or on a vacation, when all I've done is applied this a few times. Totally recommend for anyone who wants to try out a self tanner.


♥ Jergen Natural Glow Facial Moisturizer- Along with the body lotion, the face moisturizer in the Jergens Natural Glow line works amazingly! And an added bonus is the fact that it contains SPF 20. It's not the highest SPF but anything will help, right?!


♥ Dove Cucumber and Green Tea Body Wash- I've switched my body wash to something a little bit fresher and more appropriate for spring. Although it's not my favorite scent ever, it works really well and smells very fresh and clean. Plus, the bottle is huge so it should last me a while.

Hair

Nothing new this month :(

Scent


♥ Caribbean Escape Wallflower from Bath and Body Works- Always a favorite scent when it becomes Spring/Summer time. It smells of coconut and tropical flowers. I have this plugged into my wall in my dorm room and I have a candle ready to burn once I arrive home next week.

Food/Drinks


♥ Arizona Green Tea- I'm a huge green tea fan, and although this one has a lot of sugar, it's delicious and at only $0.99, it's impossible to pass up. I like the green tea flavor the best, but Arizona also has so many other flavors to choose from. You just can't lose with Arizona!

Entertainment

♥ I don't have anything really specific, but I've been loving listening to throwbacks from the 90's. I've been listening to them on iTunes Radio on various stations (Spice Girls radio, N'SYNC radio, Jesse McCartney radio). If you're a 90's kid, I highly suggest checking out these radio stations because I think it's impossible to not be happy when listening to throwback music.

Well, there you have it. I'm already feeling a lot better so I'm hoping I can put 100% effort into Sunday's post. Oh, and just a heads up, I working really hard making some changes to the blog appearance. It's a lot of changes and using tools I'm really new to, so I don't know when it will be finished, but I'll keep you all posted. So, I'll talk to you all again on Sunday, and until then, stay beautiful!!!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

How I Plan & Create Blog Posts

Hey Lovelies!!!

So I'm really excited to share this post with you all! Basically, I'm going to walk you through my process of planning and creating a blog post. For those of you who already do blogging, this might not be of much help to you. But hopefully to those of you who are new to it or are thinking of starting a blog, this post can help you out! For the most part, I've stuck to this system since starting back in August. Just a few small changes here and there.

So the first thing that I do, is I write down a list of ideas of blog posts. I keep this list on my phone so that I can basically write it down as soon as it comes to my mind, since I always have my phone with me. And if you look back at my blog posts, I've done all of these!! And there's also some more that will be coming up in the next few weeks.


Now, before I actually type and post to my blog, I like to write it down in my notebook first. And if you can tell, my notebook is covered in glitter, just how I like it! :)


Writing everything down ahead of time comes in especially handy when I'm planning a monthly favorites. I can write stuff down all throughout the month and then when it comes time to take pictures, I check off each thing as soon as I get it. This technique might not be helpful to everyone, but it's definitely helped me be more organized and get all my thoughts down.


Then it's time to take some pictures!! I love doing photography (when I have the patience) so this might be my favorite step in the whole process. My pictures haven't really been spectacular but I'm getting better every time. And I'm already saving up for a DSLR (which I'll need for a spring course at school anyways).


And just to be on the safe side, I keep all of my pictures from blog posts on this handy little thumb drive. And of course, it's pink. I don't know if you noticed from this pink thumb drive, the pink pen, or past blog posts, but I love the color pink (you should see my bedroom at home... Literally all pink).


And finally, I'm ready to publish my blog post. I usually just type it all out on Sunday and publish it right after. I would like to try and type it in advanced and just go on to Blogger on Sunday and hit publish. But to be honest, it's easiest for me to just do it all at once.

There you have my routine for planning and creating blog posts! Hopefully this post helped someone out there!! If anyone reading this is debating starting their own blog, PLEASE DO! I've had absolutely nothing bad come out of starting my blog and I'm so happy that I did start. I've made changes along the way to improve and it can only go up from here. And if you realize that blogging isn't for you, nothing's forcing you to continue; at least give it a try! I will let you know that I've discovered that blogging is much easier and more fun when I have a schedule. Last year, before I started posting every Sunday, it felt like such a hassle to post. Now that I do it every week, I love it!!

And before I go, I'll have another post on Wednesday since it will be the last day of April. So get ready for April Favorites coming real soon! Until then, stay beautiful!!!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Easter Outfit and Haul

Hey Lovelies!!!

Happy Easter!! I've been with my family all day, so I kind of threw together a quick and easy blog post. And I thought it would be really nice to show you what I wore for Easter and also what I got from the lovely Easter Bunny! :) So, here we go!

Here's my Easter outfit! (Sorry for the crap picture and messy background, I was in a rush) I'm wearing a pink and white dress from Forever 21 (I got it last summer) along with a tan leather belt that I have, no idea where it's from... On top of my dress, I added a baggy cardigan from Bethany Mota for Aeropostale since it was quite chilly. I wore some strappy tan wedges from Mossimo for Target (which are super comfy by the way). For my hair, I decided to curl it and take some small sections on each side and hold them in the back with a white bow. And for my makeup, I did my regular, everyday makeup (slightly darker) with a pink lip.


As for the gift, I got a lovely card from my parents and some money to spend:


And of course, it wouldn't be Easter without Easter candy!! Of course, I got a bag of Mini Eggs, which you've probably realized that I love by now. I also got some small Reese's chocolate bunnies and a big Snicker's bunny. YUM!! And I also got some watermelon Extra gum which is very tasty.


Basically, for Easter, we have a party with my Mom's side of the family. This year, we had it at our house. I wish I had taken a picture of all the food we had, because it was A LOT! This is the first year that we didn't do an Easter Egg Hunt around the yard. and we also didn't have our traditional bunny cake for dessert :( But it was nice to be home and around the family!

Before I end the blog post, I just wanted to let everyone know that these past few weeks have been excessively stressful and anxiety-filled. So I apologize for the fact that my past few blog posts haven't been quite up to par. Everything has been sorted out and hopefully that means that I can focus on blogging when necessary. Basically, I've been doing posts that don't require much time or effort at all. But I'm more than ready to go back to better quality stuff! So I hope you're all ready! So until then, stay beautiful!!!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

What's on my iPhone 5s?

Hey Lovelies!!!

I'm here today with a kind of random blog post, but I've seen it done and find it kind of interesting. I love seeing different apps that people use, especially photography apps. And let me tell you, I have a lot. Quite a few of my apps I haven't used in the longest time but keep for one reason or another. Without anything further, let's get into it!

Basically here's a really un-creative picture of my iPhone 5s. I'm absolutely in love with my case. It's totally nothing special at all. It's the Speck CandyShell + FACEPLATE for iPhine 5/5s in White/Raspberry.



Here's my lockscreen. Nothing special at all... And you can actually get my wallpaper from my last blog post: March Favorites


 After unlocking my phone, here's what you see:


♥ Messages

♥ Calendar

♥ Contacts

♥ Photography folder:


♥ Camera
♥ Photos
♥ Pic Stitch
♥ Lumie
♥Afterlight
♥ Facetune
♥ VSCOcam
♥Picfx

♥ Weather

♥ Clock

♥ Maps

♥ Videos

♥ Notes

♥ Reminders

♥ Stocks

♥ Game Center

♥ Newsstand

♥ iTunes Store

♥ App Store

♥ Passbook

♥ Compass

♥ Settings (yes, I know I have an update)

♥ Reference folder: calculator, voice memos, FaceTime

And here's the second screen of apps, which are all placed into folders


♥ Social folder:


♥ Facebook
♥ Twitter
♥ Instagram
♥ Tumblr
♥ YouTube
♥ Vine
♥ Snapchat
♥ YouNow
♥ JacksGap
♥ Blogger
♥ Bloglovin
♥ Skype
♥ Marcus Butler app

♥ Apps folder:


♥ Blackboard Mobile Learn
♥ Google
♥ Netflix
♥ TV Guide
♥ Bank of America
♥ Shazam
♥ Find iPhone
♥ Dayforce HCM for Aeropostale: For my work schedule
♥ Nike+
♥ iBooks
♥ Jibbigo: my favorite online translator for Spanish class (seriously, if you take a language class, get this app! It will save your life)
♥ Ticketmaster

♥ Shopping folder:


♥ Target
♥ Cartwheel
♥ Starbucks
♥ Forever 21
♥ H&M
♥ RetailMeNot
♥ Luvocracy
♥ 17 Insider
♥ Teen Vogue

♥ Games folder:


♥ DoodleJump
♥ Tiny Wings
♥ Fruit Ninja
♥ Traffic Rush
♥ Solitaire
♥ Sudoku
♥ Flappy Bird
♥ Cookie Clicker
♥ Monument Valley (this game is absolute perfection and everyone should get it even though it costs money. It's beautifully designed and so creative!)
♥ symmetrain

Sorry there wasn't much to this post, but I assure you, next week's post will be good. Next Sunday is Easter and I'll be home with the entire family, but don't worry, there will still be a blog post. So look forward to that. I already have something planned!! It's really late and I've been up late the past two days because of work (last night I worked a floor set from 8pm to 4am), and I have class tomorrow so I should go. But as always, stay beautiful!!!

Sunday, April 6, 2014

My Pamper Day/Evening Essentials

Hey Lovelies!!!


So this post is something I've wanted to show you for quite some time but it got put off farther and farther because of other posts I had to do first and also the fact that I had to be home to even take the pictures. This post is inspired by a YouTube video by one of my top favorite YouTubers (and bloggers), Zoella. Here's the video I'm talking about (go on, give it a watch):


Mine is slightly different and I do things all throughout the day. It can be really relaxing after a long day. I will say one thing though, if I'm really busy and don't necessarily have time for a pamper evening but I have one anyways, it won't make me feel relaxed or relieved, but rather add to the stress. So, just a heads-up, don't do this unless you have the time for it!!! Don't run yourself a nice bath and give yourself a facial if you have a paper and a huge test the next day!!!! (You have been warned) So here we go, my Pamper Day/Evening Essentials:

Look how excited I am to start my Pamper Day!!!


The first thing I do, is make my bed. It sounds weird but having a made bed makes my day so much better and makes me feel relieved.


After eating breakfast, I'm finally ready to starttttt


To start, I put in my contacts. Even though I like my glasses, it's just easier to not have to deal with them while getting ready.


The next thing I do is wash my face with the Olay Fresh Effects {Shine, Shine Go Away} Facial Cleanser with the brush it comes with.


Here's a a live shot of my washing my face.. Super exciting stuff right?! (And don't worry, I'm not naked. I'm wearing the polka-dotted towel wrap from an earlier picture)


Next, I use a toner. I prefer to use toner right after cleansing my face. Everyone's skincare is different so if you've heard of using toner at a different time, that's fine! It all depends on what works best for that person!!


Ooh, another live shot... Super cute...


Next, I hop into the shower. I love being home because I can shower in the mornings since I have a hair dryer there. And when I'm home, I use different products in the shower. Mainly so I don't have to pack it in my bags for just a weekend at home. The shampoo and conditioner that I use are the Garnier Fructis Pure Clean. I'm not completely in love with them or anything but my hair just feels really clean (yes, the title tells the truth) after using it.


Next, I scrub my face with the St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub which I adore and leaves my skin so incredibly soft!


Then, I use the body wash and body scrub from The Body Shop in the Moringa scent which is perfect for the spring time! And this also leaves my skin feeling super soft!


Then, it's time to shave!! I use the Satin Care + Olay shaving gel and the Schick Quattro razor.


After getting out of the shower, I put on a face mask. This is a new one that I'm absolutely loving!!! It has peppermint in it so it has a cooling feeling which is really nice and leaves your skin feeling really soothed.


Here's what it looks like on:


Then, I've got to use a spot treatment because nobody's has time to deal with acne breakouts. Let's be honest...


Next, it's time to moisturize!!


Then, I scrub my lips with a delicious sugar scrub and finish it off with a mint lip balm.


I finish off my body care with The Body Shop's Moringa Body Butter which is actually the best body butter/lotion that I've ever used, and I'm being totally honest. It leaves my skin so soft and smooth all day!


Then, I dry my hair so that I can go about my day.


After a long day of stressful or taxing events, it's always nice to take a nice relaxing bath with some lovely smelling (and looking) Lush bath bombs and bubble bars. Here, I'm using the Candy Mountain Bubble Bar and the Butterball Bath Bomb. The combination of the two was really sweet smelling and left my skin feeling super soft and moisturized!


And I love taking baths with a nice glass of ice water. This cup is in a Christmas wine glass because all of our glass cups were being washed in the dishwasher... But at least this glass is cute even if it is a little out of season.


Also, lighting candles while I'm in the bath really relaxes me. I'm able to turn off the lights and just have the candle light. It's really nice to have really low, minimal light while you're relaxing in the bath. I also really like to have a movie playing on my laptop (which I leave on the counter) while I'm in the bath. Having the movie playing makes me completely forget the stresses outside and focus on myself, the bath, and the movie.




I hope you all enjoyed this post!! I really enjoy doing pamper days/evenings. I try and do it every time that I go home. And I felt that I wanted to share with you my routine and my essentials in case any of you wanted to start doing this as well! If you guys do these pamper evenings, please let me know some of your essentials in the comments below, as I'd love to give it a read and maybe try some new things out. Anyway, that's all I have for this week. I'll be back again next Sunday and until then, stay beautiful!!!