April/May Updates

Hey guys!

So I'm well aware that I promised quite a lot for April....and then delivered very little on those promises. Sorry about that.

This month I've been taking a much needed mental health break, and I've had a lot going on that I've had to deal with. I think it's important to take care of yourself, especially mentally, and so I think it's also important that I practice what I preach.

I know I said you could expect new book reviews, beauty tips, and lifestyle posts, and you still can. Other than my prom makeup look, which I think the time has passed for, you can still expect to get those posts coming soon. Keep an eye out for that!

Thanks so much for sticking around, and I'll try to be here for you all as well!

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!

Pantone Color(s) of the Year

Hey guys!

So this isn't really a very long post, and I'm probably pretty behind in posting this. But, in case you haven't seen the Pantone color of the year for 2016 yet, I'm going to talk about it for a minute!

I'd seen one of the colors listed at the color of the year this year already, but it was honestly only the other day that I realized that there were two colors that had been listed together! The first, the one that I had seen before, is called Rose Quartz, and it's a pastel pink. But the other one is really what caught my eye, and it's called Serenity. It's a cool, pastel sort of blue, almost with a slight purplish tint.

If you can't already tell by my blog design (and by some of my posts), I'm really liking this sort of color pairing at the moment! Not only is it fresh, flowery, and perfectly paired for spring, but it's just such a soft, soothing combination.

Not to mention that it reminds me a bit of some classic fairy tales, namely Cinderella's two dresses and the well-known battle the fairies had between pink and blue dresses in Sleeping Beauty.

Honestly, I'm quite proud of myself for having picked this color scheme for my blog before I knew Pantone had declared their color of the year and validated my decision! Guess I'm a trendsetter, huh?

If you want to read more about the colors and the decision to make them the color(s) of the year for 2016, you can check out the article here.

What do you think of these colors? Will you be incorporating them into your style this year? Let me know in comments!

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

Living a Healthy Lifestyle

It's March! Yay! Not only does that mean my birthday and spring break are coming, it means spring itself is coming soon. Since, among other things, that means more produce will soon be in season and that summer (aka swimsuit season) is coming soon after that, a lot of people are probably setting some goals. Many of those goals may have to do with eating healthier or getting in shape.

And along the line of goal-setting, if you set a New Year's resolution this year, let me encourage you for a moment and just say that you got this. And if you're still hanging on to that goal, congrats! Most of us would be burnt out by now.

That's the problem with some of these goals. If we do it only for the reward (for example, looking what we consider "good" in that prom dress or that swimsuit), then we will burn out.

Other people may not worry about what they look like as much, and they'll say "I just want to be healthy!" And that's great! Being healthy is, of course, a good thing. Let's just all keep in mind that being healthy is not starving ourselves, or making ourselves miserable, or obsessing over exercise. It may not even mean losing weight.

I'm not here to tell you how to live a "healthy" lifestyle. don't think there is one standard of a healthy lifestyle that is the same for every person.

Some people may need to lose weight, but other people may need to gain weight. Some people who are too busy may need to cut back, but other people may need to find something to do to give themselves purpose. Some people who have high blood sugar probably shouldn't eat that gigantic piece of chocolate cake, no matter how delicious it looks. But on the other hand, if you have low blood sugar... maybe that cake isn't so bad.

I believe you should do what makes you happy. But not only that, because you also have to consider instant or delayed gratification. For example, I know that gigantic piece of chocolate cake will probably make me happy while I'm eating it, but not later on when I have a stomachache from eating too much.

Basically, if what you eat or the way you live makes you feel bad about yourself, then it probably isn't that healthy after all.

People tend to forget about mental health and only think about their physical health. But really, mental health can be just as important. A healthy lifestyle shouldn't make you feel stressed, anxious, or depressed.

I think to be healthy you need to stick to what is right for you. Which also means that you need to know what is right for you- whether it's your morals, your mental state, your temptations, your medical concerns, whatever. Going through life feeling guilty, confused, or sick isn't healthy either.

If eating certain foods and exercising a certain way is what's right for you, then great! Do that. But if it's not, then that's fine too. Do what's best for you instead. Being healthy means doing what is best for your body, your mind, and even your soul.

What's your idea of a healthy lifestyle? Let me know below! And don't forget to send in Q&A questions for some upcoming posts!