September Sneak Peak

Hello to all of you who are still sticking around! Summer is drawing to a close, and I must say it has been a busy one. I'm back at school for my senior year (although I still can't believe it), and the business continues.

Autumn is my favorite season for many reasons, and I'm anxiously awaiting the days of colored leaves and sweater weather and hot drinks. And as an added bonus, I have several new posts planned that will start going up soon!

BOOKS

As we all know, summer is almost over. And that means it's almost time to start discussing and reviewing the Summer Book Club books! I'll be honest, even I haven't finished all of them since my library doesn't have them all. Regardless, I'll be sure to let you know what I thought of the books I did finish, and if you've read the others, you're perfectly welcome to discuss them in the Book Club forum tab!

LIFESTYLE

For many of us, fall means back to school. To me, that means waking up early, doing homework, and submitting college applications for next year. But thankfully, it also means shopping for new clothes, organization items, and stationary. You can expect to catch a glimpse of the things I've bought (or DIY'ed) to get my room and my backpack organized this year!

BEAUTY

Fall and winter fashion are definitely my favorites, and I'll practically live in a sweater and a pair of boots once the weather gets cold enough! I'm hoping to share with you a few of my favorite outfits that might hopefully help you through the transition into cooler weather. Also, I've been trying some new beauty and skincare products out over the summer, and I'm looking forward to giving you a review of those soon!

MUSIC

At least for me and my hometown, the return of autumn also means the return of marching band. While this certainly keeps me pretty busy with rehearsals, football games, and competitions, it also gives me some fun new things to write about and share with you!

I hope you're as excited about fall as much as I am! What are you looking forward to most? Let me know in comments!

6 Of My New Favorite Beauty Products!

Hey guys!

Like I mentioned a few days ago, I've recently bought several new makeup products, and I've really liked them! The most expensive thing I bought was $12 on sale, usually $20, but other than that, most everything was in the $5- $10 range. I bought these products from Target, Walmart, and Ulta, so they're affordable and pretty easy to find!

Starting off with the least expensive item, I bought the Ulta Super Blender for $4.99. Looking back at the website now, not all of the reviews are positive for this sponge. People complained that it was stiff, didn't blend well, and soaked up too much product. However, I haven't really had these problems. To be fair, I don't have much to compare it to, and it did take me a few uses to figure out the best way to use it. But now that I've figured it out, I've found it works really well for me, especially with certain foundations.

For the same price, I also bought the Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish lipstick in the shade 08. I ended up getting this one at Walmart, but I had to look for it at all three stores before I found it. This color must be fairly popular, because it was always out of stock! I was looking for this shade in particular because it's such a nice pink that isn't too coral or too purple in tone. I've worn it a few times, including prom, and I've really liked the way it looks and feels on my lips!

For $6.49, I bought the Rimmel Stay Matte primer at Target. I was looking for an affordable primer for prom makeup, and this is the one that I found that was the cheapest with best reviews. There were some complaints about how thick it was, and I will agree that it is definitely pretty thick. It looks and feels kind of like a moisturizer, but goes on matte. Again, this was a product that took me several uses to get used to, but now that I've figured it out, I do really like it. It doesn't make my makeup feel caked on, and it does help control oil for me.

For $6.69, also at Target, I bought the Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation. I'd seen a lot of good reviews of it on YouTube, and I thought it would be worth a try. This is a heavier coverage than the Almay foundation I reviewed a while back, and it claims to last 25 hours. Although I doubt that part is true, it did have nice coverage and it lasted pretty well for me, especially with the primer.

I found that the beauty blender was the best way to apply this for me, because it is a little thicker than my other liquid foundations. The brush didn't blend it as well for me as just using light motions with the sponge.

I will say, if you're not quite pale, then this probably isn't a good foundation for you. There is a small range of shades, and they're mostly pretty light. I'm fairly pale, and I bought the third shade down, whereas I'm used to buying one of the palest shades. I did notice that some shades were a little more pink tones and others a little more yellow, but they're still all quite light.

Also because I'd seen a lot of good reviews for it, I bought the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. I was disappointed not to find Real Techniques at Target, but I did find it at both Walmart and Ulta for $8-$9, varying a little based on where you buy it. This brush has a rounded, fluffy top, and I think it works really well to blend in liquid foundation seamlessly. I also used it with some mineral powder foundation, and it worked fine for that as well. I'm hoping to try some more Real Techniques brushes soon!

Lastly, and possibly my favorite of the bunch, I bought the Ulta Rose Gold eyeshadow pallet. I really like rose gold, and when it comes to eyeshadow, I also really love pinks, golds, and purples. So of course, this pallet and I were a perfect match. I got it on sale for $12, but it normally retails for $20. I really loved the colors in it, and there were a nice mix of matte and shimmery shades. I also thought the colors had nice texture and pigmentation, and it came with a nice eyeshadow brush as well. (I did also end up getting a few individual Ulta eyeshadows, but since I haven't used them yet I'll have to review them later!)

I used this pallet to create a pink and purple toned smoky eye for my prom makeup. I thought it turned out really nicely. Since my dress was pink, the colors matched well, and they lasted all night without creasing. I'll be writing more about my prom makeup look soon, so keep an eye out for that as well!

If you have used any of these products (or want to try them!) let me know what you thought in comments!

March Updates

Hey guys!

Sorry I haven't been able to post much this week! I've just been super busy with SGA and prom and my AP classes! But I promise I do have some cool things coming up, so stay tuned!

BOOKS

I know I didn't get a book review written for March, but I'll be writing one really soon. I reviewed Cinder last month, but I enjoyed it so much I went ahead and got the rest of the series to read! I'm currently about halfway through the last book, and so a review on the full Lunar Chronicles will be going up soon! Make sure you've read my last review here!

Also on my to-be-read list is the book version of Disney's 2015 Cinderella film, which if you've been here for very long you will know I'm obsessed with! I got this book for my birthday, and it's adorable. It's written by Brittany Candau, illustrated (yes, illustrated!) by Cory Godbrey, and based on the screenplay by Chris Weitz. As soon as I finish reading it, I'll have a full review up on it as well!

I also got a copy of The Selection by Kiera Cass from by best friend, and I'm looking forward to reading and reviewing that for you guys too! If you've already read it, let me know what you thought of it in comments! (No spoilers please!)

Last but not least, I just picked up a beautiful copy of the Grimm Brother's complete fairy tales at Barnes and Noble the other day, and I can't wait to read that either! I may not review it, or at least not all in one post, but let me know if you're interested!

BEAUTY

I just went to prom this week, and it was a lot of fun! I did get my hair done professionally, but I did my makeup myself. I bought several new products recently, and I'm hoping to review some of those for you soon!

Also, if you're interested, I may go into more detail about my prom makeup look and the products I used specifically for that!

LIFESTYLE

I'm really excited about the guest post I have coming up soon for you! My best friend is hoping to be a future med student, and she's been inspiring to me with her organized journaling and studying methods. So, I've asked her to write a post about it, and honestly it's as much for me as it is for you!
I hope to have that post up soon, mostly because I'm excited to read it!

I've also been trying to convince her to start a blog of her own, but she's worried she doesn't have enough to stay. But really, if any of you have ever thought of starting a blog, don't sell yourself short! I never thought I would have this much to say either, so you really might as well just start writing and see where it goes.

This past month has had my biggest number of page views so far, at over double my previous record! So thank you to everyone who has been reading this blog and helping to grow!

My Favorite Drugstore Beauty Products!

I reviewed some new Ulta products last week, but today I'm planning to tell you about all of my favorite drugstore beauty products, since I know some of us are on a budget and maybe can't afford to go spend $50 or more on one eyeshadow pallet. However, when I opened up my makeup bag to work on this post, I realized I had quite a few products to tell you about, so you might want to grab the popcorn and settle in for a long one!

While I'm calling these "drugstore" products, I actually bought most of them at Target. I'm not sure whether you would consider that a drugstore, but you can probably get most (if not all) of these products at your local convenience store. And if I'm not mistaken, most (if not all) of them were $10 or less! (Also just a heads up, this post is not sponsored in any way!)

So first off, I'll start with the elf makeup brushes. Besides the Ulta brushes I reviewed in my last post, most of the brushes I use are from elf. I have two professional eyeshadow brushes, one professional blending eye brush, the flat foundation brush, and the professional total face brush (not pictured below. It's really big and fluffy and I don't use it very often). I think most of these brushes were actually $3 or under, and I've never had a problem with any of them. I use them on almost a daily basis, and I really like them. And as a bonus, elf products are all animal cruelty free, now including their brushes!

Moving on to the Almay smart shade foundation because it does a really good job of adjusting to your individual skin tone. With marching band, my summer tans really come and go, and it's nice not to have to have multiple foundations for different times of the year. This is more of a sheer coverage foundation, which I like as well because I don't like feeling like I have makeup caked onto my face.

Next I'll tell you about the elf shimmer lip glosses I have. I actually got these in a set of 10 and gave most of them away to my friends (who also said they really liked them), but I did keep a few for myself. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I've seen these exact ones again, but if you do spot them, they're really nice. My two favorites are a bright berry pink color, and another that's more of a nude peachy color.

I really like elf for affordable makeup, but probably one of my favorite things from them is the elf smudge pot. It's a cream eyeshadow that works just as well as an eyeshadow base or as a stand alone color. I have it in the color Cruisin' Chic, which is a warm, shimmery brown and it's just so pretty. It looks just as good on if you have brown eyes or blue eyes, or probably any color in between. You can apply it with a sponge-type applicator or even just your finger, but be warned: if you use your finger you'll probably need makeup remover to get it off because this stuff lasts all day.

One of my other favorite things from is the elf shimmering facial whip. It's a small tube of liquid highlighter, and it comes in a few colors. I have it in the color lilac petal, and it's a nice, natural sort of pink. Highlighter can really add a nice finishing touch, and with this product a little goes a long way. It blends out well and gives you nice, glowing skin.

The next product is still fairly new to me, but so far I've really liked it. It's NYX Super Skinny Eye Marker. So far, this has been a good liquid liner pen, and it really does have a very skinny tip, which is nice if you're afraid of messing up or getting your eyeliner too heavy, like I am.

One other product I use almost every day is my Maybelline liquid concealer. I think I got this as part of their "Fit Me!" line, but it works just fine with other foundations. Again, with this product, I've found a little goes a long way and it blends nicely, so I really like using it for my concealer.

Another new product (and I do mean new, I only got this a few days ago), is a NYX lipstick. I'm not entirely sure what line it's from, but the color I bought is called Tea Rose, and it's a really lovely pink. The product itself has sort of a balmy texture and it feels like it's nourishing to your lips. Plus, I think it smells nice, which is good when the product is sitting right under your nose all day.

My current favorite mascara is Maybelline Full 'N Soft mascara, and I usually get it in waterproof (mostly so I can wear it in marching band and not sweat it off). I think this mascara makes my eyelashes look really nice, but my favorite thing about it is that it doesn't make my eyelashes feel stiff or crunchy. It really annoys me when mascara makes my lashes feel stiff, so it's nice that this one doesn't.

Last but not least, I'll include my two current favorite Pure Ice nail polishes. These two were part of the limited edition Fairy Tale Forest collection, and I bought them around New Years, so hopefully they're still around. If you've taken a look around my blog, you know I love fairy tales, and you know I love the colors blue and pink, so these are just perfect for me. The pink is called "True Love's Kiss," and the blue (my absolute favorite, I'm wearing it right now!) is called "Prince Charming." The collection had a lot of really pretty colors, but these are the two I bought and I'm really liking them!

So there you guys go! Those are some of my favorite affordable beauty products, most of which I think I payed less than $10 for! Have you tried any of these products? Did you like them as much as I did? Let me know what you think in comments!

Products Mentioned
Elf makeup brushes	Almay Smart Shade foundation	Elf shimmer lip glosses
Elf smudge pot (Cruisin' Chic)	Elf Shimmering Facial Whip	NYX Super Skinny Eye Marker
Maybelline concealer	NYX lipstick (Tea Rose)	Maybelline Full 'N Soft mascara
Pure Ice nail polish

ULTA Beauty Haul!

Hello readers! So this is pretty much the first post I've done on beauty and makeup and things of that nature, so let me know how it goes! Also, this isn't sponsored; I purchased the products myself, and all of the opinions are my own.

If you live near me, you would know that the weather last weekend was fantastic. You would also know that anytime the weather is fantastic and it's a weekend, it's a great time to go hang out at the local outdoor mall. So, of course, I grabbed a friend and that's what we did.

While we were there, I dragged this same friend into Ulta, since there were a few things I had been meaning to buy anyway. But lo and behold, if I don't see "Free Gift!" sitting right in front of me when I walk in. All you had to do was spend $20 on Ulta products to get a makeup bag full of more Ulta products. So, of course, I spent $20 on some Ulta products.

Basically, I ended up getting two matte lip creams, mascara, a blush/highlighter palette, an eyeshadow palette, primer, a double-ended eyeliner, an eyebrow pencil, three brushes, nail polish, and eye makeup remover wipes, plus a cute makeup bag. I did try almost all of these products, so I can give you an idea of what they're like.

I'll start with the primer. This came in a small black tube that just says "Professional Flawless Prime." So, I was a little surprised when it came out looking a bit like guacamole. But have no fear, my friends, it's not made out of avocados; it's just color-correcting. I don't usually use primer, so I'm probably not the best judge, but I thought this product did a decent job of smoothing out pores and reducing redness.

Moving on to the brushes. The free gift came with three brushes; a blush brush and two eyeshadow brushes, one "large" and one "small." I was excited to see the blush brush because I have one from Ulta that I got in a different free gift before, and I really like it. It's soft and a good size for me. Both of the eyeshadow brushes were smaller than what I normally use, but I thought they were soft and worked fairly well anyway.

Speaking of blush, I'll move on to the blush/highlighter palette. This came in the colors "Apricot blush" and "yellow diamond highlighter." The blush has a bit of an orange-y tint, so I'm not sure it would work best with my skin tone, but it might work well for you. I like the highlighter color, but I wish it was a little bit more pigmented on the skin.

Now for the eyeshadow palette. The packaging on this was adorable, covered in little purple watercolor flowers. I really loved the colors inside (I'll include an extra picture for you), but I was a little disappointed with the pigmentation and fall out. I didn't think it was quite as good as the other Ulta eyeshadows I have. Still, I'll probably use it because the colors are just so pretty.

I'm going to go ahead and combine the eyeliner and the eyebrow pencil. The eyeliner is a shimmery white on one end, and a dark brown on the other. As far as pencil eyeliners go, I liked this one because the colors and the pigmentation were nice. I had been wanting to buy an eyebrow pencil, and I really liked this one. The color (warm brown) worked well for me, and I liked the little brush on the other end.

I normally don't use Ulta mascara, and I wasn't extremely impressed with the last one I had. Not that it was bad, because it wasn't, it just didn't beat my favorite. So the mascara they included was a bit of a pleasant surprise. I'm not sure it'll top my favorite mascara (more on that soon!), and I don't know how prices compare, but it did do a pretty good job, in my opinion.

So, with all of this eye makeup they give you, it was nice of them to include some eye makeup remover wipes. These were pretty small, only big enough for your eyes, and I didn't like them as much as my normal makeup remover. That said, they did do a good job of removing my eye makeup. Which is what really matters, I suppose.

Moving on to the nail polish. The color is called "Lilac-ing You," and it's a soft, pinky-purple color that I really like. I haven't actually tried this one yet, but it's a nice spring color, and I'm looking forward to using it.

Lastly, there's the two matte lip creams. One of these, in "Artistic," I bought myself. It's a nice pink that's good for spring, and I liked the product itself. The other one, in "Allusive," came in the free gift. I thought it was a bit strange that they would include this color, with everything else looking so perfect for spring. It's more of a dark, purple-tinted berry color. It's a nice color, but better suited to fall and winter than spring and summer.

Lastly, there's the makeup bag everything came in. As you can see, t's a light, pinkish purple with a leafy cutout pattern, and has a wrist strap on the zipper. I liked the bag a lot, especially for spring.

So there you guys go! I know it's a bit of a long post, and it's something different, so thanks for making it this far! Have you tried any of these products? What's your favorite makeup for spring? Let me know in comments!

Why I Blog

Hello readers!

So I'll tell you up front, this won't be that serious of a post. (I do have some more real post ideas in the works, so you'll be seeing those soon!) It's really just me letting you know what's going on with TSM at the moment, but there's a part for you all to get involved, so really, it's worth the read.

I started this blog a little over a year ago, and at the time it was just something to do for fun and for a bit more writing practice, honestly. As you can probably tell by the fact that I only wrote 32 posts all year, I didn't take it that seriously.

However, lately I've thought a little bit more about the possibility of blogging becoming more than a hobby, and it's made me think a bit more about why I blog and what I want to say.

Let me be the first to tell you, there is a plethora of information out on the web about how to start a blog, what sort of posts to write, how your blog should look, how to make money blogging, etc etc etc. I've read a lot of those articles. And I've ignored most of them.

Yes, maybe doing some of those things would make me more popular or get me more subscribers. But then what would set me apart from every other blogger in the world that read those posts and did what they said? What's left to make me original or interesting?

Honestly, I don't like being told what I can and can't do when it comes to things like this. For example, one big tip is to find your niche or topic, and focus on that. I could call myself a book blogger and make that my focus. But is that the only thing I care about? No.

As I think I've mentioned before, I don't like being put in a box. I don't like being labelled. So while the internet tells me to pick one topic, what do I want to do? I want to branch out and write about more. Of course, I'll still write about books. I love books. But I want to write about music, beauty, lifestyle, art, etc etc etc. I want to have variety. That said, I don't want to write about these things because they might get me more page views. I want to write about them because I enjoy them.

So why do I blog? I want to write. I want to combine writing (which I love) and all the other things I love. I want to write about things that are important to me and things that are important in the world. I want to have a voice and I want to have a message. Of course, a message doesn't matter much if no one listens.

And that's where you all come in. You're the ones listening, after all. I have a few post ideas that actually involve hearing from you. I'm planning to start a few Q&A style posts, and so, obviously, I need questions! I'm certainly not an expert, but I'm planning to write about beauty/style, books, and music, so send in your questions on those topics! You can comment below, or contact me using the links in the side bar.

And as a bonus, it's in the works to do sort of a collab/guest post type thing with a Julliard flutist, so if you have any questions for her about music, Julliard, or anything like that, send those in as well!