Summer Skin Essentials

Hey everyone! So if you're anything like me, you're finally stoked that summer is approaching. However, with the change of seasons that usually means your skin is gonna go through some rough times and you'll have to adjust your skin care products. I know for me my skin goes from dry in the winter to normal combination skin in the summer. 

Here are some of my favorite summer skin care products that I use to keep my skin looking healthy:

Some of the most important products are face masks. A lot of people neglect to use them, but they really do change your skin for the better when used weekly or as needed. My favorite mask, by far, is the Origins Clear Improvement mask. I use this year round, but it really helps to clear your pores, especially when your skin is starting to feel oily. Recently, I'm also loving the Lush face masks. Here I have pictured Love Lettuce, but I've also used Catastrophe Cosmetic. Love Lettuce is just a great, general cleansing face mask, plus it smells so good. Catastrophe Cosmetic is maybe one of the best face masks for oily skin. It really works to set your skin back to its natural texture. I like to use this if I've been wearing a heavy foundation in the summer to clean my pores out. It also smells like blueberries, so that's a plus. So many of the Lush products are simply amazing. You can even get a free mask when you bring in 5 black pots from previous purchases. Recycling at it's finest!

Next up, is moisturizing your skin. Many people, especially with oily skin, tend to skip this step. Don't! Moisturizing your skin is SO important, especially if you have oily skin. I'm still obsessing over my Neutrogena Acne Stress Control Power Scrub, but it does dry your skin out over time, which will cause your skin to produce more oil and thus breakout. Balance is the most important part of skin care. After using any kind of face wash, or toner (I use the toner from the Acne Stress Control line), you should moisturize. My favorite moisturizer right now is my Renewed Hope in a Jar from Philosophy. This does a great job of making your skin feel soft, without feeling oily. The next product pictured is an oil, but it's one I like to use on my hands and other dry areas. The L'occitane Almond Supple Skin Oil is freaking amazing. First, it lasts forever. This is a beauty reward one I got from Sephora last year. Second, it smells amazing. It's so light and summery, with a hint of a nutty smell and it just makes me think of spring and summer. It's great to use on your hands or elbows, or any other cracking skin you have.

Lastly, some summer makeup products I love to use. I'm still raving about my Armani Luminous Silk foundation. This foundation is so light and dewy, without looking like you're even wearing makeup. It's a bit of a steep price to pay (62$) but I think it's totally worth it. My only issue with this foundation is I do feel that it contributes to my skin being more oily. So I wouldn't recommend this to anyone with oily skin. However, using a primer under this foundation is really the key to making it last all day and not making your skin feel oily afterwards. It's still the most incredible and natural foundation I have ever used, and the quickest one I've ever ran out of. I'm also loving the Maybelline Age Rewind concealer as both a concealer and a highlight. This concealer has such a natural, luminous glow to it. I've been using it under my eyes and to highlight my cheekbones, in addition to my nose. If you're on the hunt for a new concealer, check this out. Plus, it's Maybelline so it's so much cheaper than a high end concealer, but it does as great a job as any.

 Tell me what your favorite summer skin care products are in the comments! I'm also looking for new stuff to try.

Things I Learned in College

Well, this is a bit of a different blog post for me... However, freshmen year has come to a close and with a month already spent at home I've been able to reflect and look back. College was amazing. It is this life altering, incredible experience everyone says it is. It's also one of the hardest things I've ever experienced for a multitude of reasons. Anyway, I digress. Here's what I learned in my freshman year of college:

1) You're going to lose old friends, but you're going to make new friends. You'll keep the good ones, the ones you can't imagine your life without. Everyone else will slowly fade out of your life, for better or worse.

2) With that said, you're going to meet the loves of your life. I'm not saying you'll meet your soulmate your freshman year, but you'll meet fantastic friends who you would literally do anything for. Hopefully you'll get lucky like me, and your roommate will be one of them.

3) You'll probably fall hard, for the wrong guy...more than once. It happens, and what better time to be reckless in a relationship than these years.

4) You'll do at least one thing you regret. Probably more. You're gonna make a lot of bad discussions, like not studying for that midterm and watching Netflix. Just learn from it.

5) Taking off your makeup, especially when drunk is really, really important. Ladies, the best thing drunk you can do for sober you is drink a bottle of water before you go to bed and take off your mascara before your head hits the pillow. You'll thank yourself in the morning.

6) You'll probably forget how the real world works. With this, you'll wonder why no one is open at 2am to grab food. You'll also probably wonder how you made it through high school without breaks in the day, or having class at 7am.

7) The best thing you can do for yourself is to drink plenty of water, drink tea with honey, and take gummy vitamins. Colds, sinus infections, the flu, and god forbid you get mono. STAY HEALTHY.

8) Wandering out of your comfort zone will lead you to your favorite memories. I'm saying this as an introvert, it's hard to do, but when you can muster up the courage to, you won't regret it.

9) If a guy asks you on a date, go. It's a free meal, usually pretty fun, and you'll be hard pressed to find a guy who actually wants to do more than just hookup on the weekends.

10) You will probably never have this much fun in your life. While college is hard, and stressful, it's also the most fun you will ever have. Those late nights staying up with friends or a random house party you went to can become some of your favorite memories.

And really, let's be honest, number 5 is definitely the most important thing on this list.

Coachella Inspired

Hey Everyone! So I just thought I would share a recent outfit of mine. I've been super inspired by festival, boho looks recently. This was a very Coachella inspired look of mine, but it was still easy to wear while being fashionable.

I think my favorite think about this outfit is the high-low dress. First off the fabric was so soft! It was almost like a jersey material. It's also a super flattering cut. This dress could easily be worn alone as a statement dress even though it's very simple. This dress really plays up symmetry and symmetrical lines, which makes it feel structured even though it's made with such a light, summery material. 

I also am in love with this hat. I've been wanting to rock a felt hat forever but I had never been brave enough to try it. This one was on sale for $10 at Urban Outfitters, such a steal!

Kylie Jenner Makeup Tutorial

Hey Everyone! So the other day I did Kylie Jenner inspired makeup. I'll admit I wasn't a huge fan of her makeup to begin with, but recently I've been wanting to branch out of my makeup comfort zone and do some looks I wouldn't normal do. I tend to usually be inspired by makeup that's very classic and involves red lips. This for me was a totally different look than I usually wear, and I loved it.

So first off Kylie is known for her lips. I think this was the part of the look that I was most excited, and also nervous to do. I started off my makeup like usually with my Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. I did not use any powder in this look because I wanted it to look as natural and dewy as possible. I then used my Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess for countouring. I highlighted under my eyes using Bare Minerals Well Rested, which gives me more of that dewy effect.

On my eyes I used the color Limit from the Naked 3 Palette as my base color. In my crease I used the color Sketch from Mac. The key to this look was a lot of blending. I only used these 2 colors, but I did a lot of blending with Sketch to give a more natural appearance. You don't want any harsh lines in this eye shadow. I then used a Mac 266 brush and took Sketch and applied it under my lower lash line, and did not blend it. For my eyeliner I used my Marc Jacobs liquid eyeliner pen. On my water line I used a Rimmel white eyeliner. Any white eyeliner will do, as this will brighten up your eyes and give you that doe eyed effect. My mascara was my usual combination of Urban Decay Perversion and Subversion. I then applied Mac 43 lashes. There are definitely better eyelashes to achieve her look, but I personally really like how these look my eyes so they are my go-to lashes.

I used my Anastasia Brow Pomade in Ebony for my brows. Kylie has very strong naturally full brows. To achieve this I applied the product very lightly on my inner eye brows, giving them a hint of a shape, rather than using harsh lines. It really is up to you how you draw your browns in but Kylie has a very natural brow line and I choose to mimic that.

Pictured above: Limit, Sketch, Rimmel Lip Liner in 18 Addiction, and Rimmel London Kate Moss 08.

Lastly, the lips. I used a Rimmel Lip line and a Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 08 to achieve Kylie's over drawn lips. Kylie tends to wear a lot of Nudey Pink colors and Mac Brave is a perfect color for this. I decided to buy some dupes from Rimmel and NYX to test them out, however. I really love this shade from Rimmel and it actually wears extremely well for a drug store lipstick. To get her signature over drawn lips I used my lipliner and lined the outside of my lips just slightly beyond my natural lip line. You can't tell so much on the bottom, but you can see this more on the top. It's up to you to decide how much to line them, and it takes some experimentation. 

Here's the finished look. Hope you enjoyed!

Grungy Girly Makeup Tutorial feat Cashmere

Hey Everyone! So it's been forever since I last blogged, but I really wanted to do a blog post with my new lipstick. I finally got my hands on Limecrime's Cashmere today, which I've been pining for for months. I did a quick look with it today that I wanted to share with you guys.

So I started off by using my YSL Touche Eclat foundation. This has been a staple of mine for years. It's such a light airy foundation and it's pale enough for my skin tone in the winter. Recently, I've been concentrating on face makeup. Especially because your skin can look dry and washed out in the colder months.

After using my YSL foundation I used a stick concealer for extra coverage. I believe mine is from Covergirl. I then used New Romance which is a MAC mineralize blush. 

This color is so natural and has just enough sparkle to keep you looking youthful. I try to avoid heavy matte finishes because you can tend to look ashy. I then used my Covergirl powder all over my face to set my makeup. To finish off the face makeup I used Urban Decay's Naked Illuminated in the color  Luminous. This is absolutely my favorite highlight I have found. I've been on the hunt for the perfect one and have finally found it. It's different than most because it doesn't have much pigment to it. It's a very subtle sparkly highlight. I definitely would only recommend this to you if you like sparkles. I always find that most highlights look ashy on my skin and too fake. So in my opinion this is the perfect highlight.

Next I did my eyes. I used Groundwork by MAC as a base. Nylon by MAC all over my eyelid and then Scene by MAC in the outer corner of my eye. I then used my Marc Jacobs Liquid Eyeliner Pencil and Urban Decay Perversion Mascara.

For my brows I used the Anastasia Brow Pomade in Ebony. 

Swatches from Left to Right:

New Romance, Groundwork, Scene, Nylon, and (you can barely see it) Luminous.

Then for the fun part! I used Cashmere on my lips.

I am absolutely in love with this shade. I was a little wary at first when I put it on but it dried into a darker more beige purple tone on me. I love the Limecrime Velvetines Collection. The lipsticks all have amazing staying power and the colors are so unique. I highly recommend all of them.

Makeup in Sunlight:

Makeup in Florescent Lighting:

And one for fun...

In Depth - Taylor Swift Blank Space Makeup Tutorial

Hey Everyone! So I really wanted to show you guys an in-depth look at this Taylor Swift Blank Space look I did from her music video.

This is the look I recreated:

The first thing I started off with was my foundation. I used Armani Luminous Silk foundation. This is definitely a pricey foundation, but it's my favorite out of all that I have ever used. It literally makes your skin look flawless and it lasts all day. I think it's definitely worth the price, because the quality of this foundation is fantastic. I used my real techniques stippling brush to apply it, and then concealed with Maybelline Fit Me concealer. 

I then did my eyebrows with eyeshadow and primed my eyelids with a Mac Paint Pot. I used the color Groundwork. I love the Mac Paint Pots for priming, as I find they last all day and they can be used alone if you want to go for a more casual look.

These are the 4 eyeshadows I used. The first is Nylon by Mac, Twilight Mauve and Brandied Plum by Clinique and Scene by Mac. Taylor has a very matte look on her eyes followed with a very bold red lipstick. Nylon is not a matte color, but all of the other eyeshadows are semi matte.

I first used Twilight Mauve all over my eyelid as a base, making sure to cover up all of my primer. I then applied Nylon on the inner half of my eyelid, but not in the corners of my eye. Taylor's look is very dark and most of her highlighting is very matte. I also later applied Nylon on the center part of my eyelid as a highlight. This was the first round of eyeshadow.

I then used Brandied Plum on the outer corners of my eyes. I went from my lash line up and tried to keep it very angular. Even though this is a smokey eye, it's a very angular eye look. I then used Scene   in my crease. When I did this however I did it as a blended cut crease. I didn't bring it down to my lash line and only used it in my crease. I blended it a lot though because the eyeliner is the striking part of this look while the eyeshadow is very soft.

Here was the effect of the eyeliner. She has a very specific wing in this look. It's very thick until the middle of her eye and her wing is not curved at all. You definitely have to play around with this on your own eyes to find out how to make it look like yours. It's a very bold, dramatic look that some people may not like. I personally love it though. 

The finished look with Lipstick turned out as so:

I used my Urban Decay Perversion Mascara, and used a Mac Highlight on my cheekbones and nose called Too Chic. On my lips I wore the Rimmel Lipliner in the color Red Diva, Nars Dragon Girl (which Taylor Swift has worn on the red carpet), and Chanel Rouge Allure 58.

Here's how the Makeup looks out and about. Hope you guys found this helpful!

City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks...

Hey Everyone! I wanted to share my outfit with you from today. It's just a super casual outfit I put together to go out with some friends. I love the festive touch that the scarf adds to the outfit. Hope you all get some holiday inspo from this look!

Here's a more detailed picture of my bag. I recently got this from Urban and I am so in love with it. It's such a simple, vintage inspired bag and it goes with every outfit. It's a structured bag so it definitely has a more mature look to it, than a normal satchel. 

 Here's my full outfit:

And here is a close of of my shoes. I got these from Zara back in the spring on sale. I had been admiring them for months so when they finally went on sale, luckily they were still in my size. I love that they are patent though, it adds a very modern feel to this look.

Hope you guys liked the look!!

Parka: H&M

Leggings: Lululemon

Boots: Zara

Bag: Urban

Scarf: (My dad got it for me, I have no idea!)

Shirt: Eddie Bauer