Back in the swing of things.

top - H&M, necklace - Forever 21, earrings - Primark, rings - etsy & H&M, bracelets - Primark & various places

(these were taken when i got home so plz excuse my face & unpainted nails ;P)

Today was the first day back at school - a day i've been dreading for months now!  It's sad to think summer is over, it's so hard for me to let good things, like the feeling of complete bliss & freedom (minus work & summer hw) go.  Had so many good times this past summer!  It feels SO strange to be sitting in a classroom again, i did not miss it at all really!  It's so strange to think today was my last first day of high school.  Next year i'll (fingers crossed) be packing up & moving into college dorms.  So crazy to think about - wish time would slow down a bit :'(

We had a late start to school (freshmen had this orientation thing in the morn') so my friends & i went out to breakfast.  I had some super syrupy pancakes, crispy bacon, & some delish cinnamon raisin toast!  I do like a big breakfast :').  It was boiling out today so i just wore one of my new fave tops from H&M, which i tucked the front of into a pair of light wash denim cutoffs (also H&M), i carried around a bright red cardigan from my grandma to cover my shoulders/legs with as our AC system in the school is so dodgy - it's freezing in the morning & fluctuates between hot & cold the rest of the day.

As far as classes go, i'm taking a ton of really different classes in comparison to previous years since we had so many hours to fill each semester.  This semester i'm taking orchestra (if there's one thing i miss about high school, it'll be this class!), AP calculus, anatomy, approaches to critical reading, AP Spanish, world literature, and sociology.  My schedule is pretty good i think & i'm happy to have at least one friend in every class!

Hope everyone else who started school recently is doing okay!  Best of luck everyone, we can make it through this year. ;)

♥

Crochet & turquoise.

Still feel like a bit of a loon taking pictures of myself!  I think it's just that i feel a little pretentious knowing that i intend to post the photos in a blog post like "ooh, look at my face"... hence the "let's just get this over with" look in my eyes haha.  Why do i do these posts you ask?  Well, i do like seeing other girlies' faces of the day because they show the products 'in action', if you know what i mean.  Like, sure, you can talk about a product all you want, but it's always nice to see it put to use!  I also think it's nice seeing the different combos people come up with.  If i like, say, an eye look i see on someone, i steal the idea & try to incorporate it into my own makeup - i'm sure i'm not the only one who does this... that is the point of these 'face of the day' posts (in my opinion), isn't it? :)

This is basically how i do my makeup on a day-to-day basis, with different eyeshadow combos & such, but they are all essentially the same neutral kind of look!  I also tried out a lip stain that i got from CVS the other day for the first time - not sure what my thoughts are on it yet!  I toned it down a lot so it probably doesn't look like much.

I am in love with the top i wore as well, it a crochet sort of thing that is so breezy, yet still cozy.  I adore the length of the sleeves, and although it kind of hangs in all the wrong places, it's oh, so right!  It came with a tank top, but i just cut it out - much better this way, it was all polyester and cringey.  This was a little thrift store gem i found, but i know crochet is a big trend this season, so similar tops & such are out in stores atm!

I've also been loving little delicate necklaces lately & with the top, i wore this gold chain with a little turquoise stone in it - another thrift store find!

I wore this out to work & then out to a casual dinner at TGI Friday's with my girlies, so i just wore dark wash  skinny jeans on the bottom (rolled up into capris with flats for work & as full length jeans with sandals for dinner).

So here's my face/kind of-outfit.....

Crochet top & necklace - thrifted

Eyes

Barry M Dazzle Dust in Tan

GOSH Quad in Driftwood - medium brown in crease/darker brown in outer corner

Urban Decay e/s in Polyester Bride - highlight

Clinique Gel Liner in Black

L'Oreal Voluminous mascara in Carbon Black

GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Black Ink

Revlon Brow Fantasy in Dark Blonde

Face

Bare Escentuals Prime Time

MAC Studio Finisher concealer - on blemishes

Benefit Erase Paste - under eyes

Bare Minerals Original Foundation

Bare Minerals Warmth - bronzer

Sleek Contour Kit

Clinique blush in New Clover

Bare Minerals Mineral Veil

Lips

Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in Passion (faded a lot)

♥

Prom Night

I remember in the fifth grade i counted down the years until i could go to prom.  It made me feel so old at the time - i remember thinking "just six more years and we'll all be high schoolers and go to prom".  Now that the event has come and gone (it was on Saturday night-Sunday morning), it seems time just went by way too quickly.  It's funny how prom seemed like the biggest deal back in the day, and now that i'm actually at the age where i can go to things like prom and such, it's not that big of a deal anymore.  It seems overrated even.  That might just be my take on it, since a ton of people from school were sharing how super duper excited they were about the night on Facebook.  Maybe i'm just a party pooper?

We all met up at my house to put on our dresses and take pictures before the dance, where the limo driver met us as well.  Yes we hired a limo driver to haul us around for the night!  Are we cool or what?  Four people in a ten-person-capacity limousine.  It was quite the squeeze (that was sarcasm, obv haha).  We decided to go with a smaller group (sans dates) because we all just find it more fun, and with more people comes more drama in our opinion.

With my lovely mother ♥

I went with a fairly simple dress in a bolder color.  It was actually the first one i tried on and was so relieved that it was long enough (maybe too long as everyone, including me, was stepping on it!).  For my hair, i tried to compliment the dress as much as possible, but keeping it casual as well, so i just did a messy side bun on the opposite side of where the asymmetrical strap was, with little twists on both sides of my part.

For my makeup, i tried to do a bit of an Adele-inspired look.  She always looks so flawless and classic with her makeup - it's simple, but a bit dramatic at the same time, which i think is perfect for prom (or everyday if you're like me) and went really well with the dress and hair.  So for the look, i did some contouring & highlight of the cheeks, dark black liquid winged eyeliner, a shimmery lid with a defined crease, false lashes, white eyeliner on the waterline, and a nudey-pink lip.

Everyone usually gets their hair, makeup, and nails done professionally, but i don't trust other people with trying to make me look good for events like prom!  I'm also a bit skint atm haha.

Ooh la la!  Inside the limo.

Didn't take any pictures at the actual venue where our prom was held, but we went to this really classy Roman-inspired place, ate some delicious steak with prom king & queen, and tried to dance without looking like slags and without sweating too much.  Lovely image, no?  Wish people would actually dance and not ahem... do whatever you want to call how the kids are 'expressing themselves' these days.  I have to say the icing on the cake was when they played Friday by Rebecca Black - some hardcore dance moves and stellar singing ensued.

After prom, the prom committee every year organizes a 'post-prom' at the Y, which is basically a lock in that goes on from 12:30-3:30 AM, where everyone still has their makeup & hair done, but changes into sweats.  There's a ton of food, inflatable obstacle course, and fun times to be had.  The best part was the hypnotist though!  Can't even begin to describe that... People were genuinely hypnotized and it was the strangest, yet most hilarious thing i have ever seen.  Maybe next year i'll be able to actually be hypnotized, my brain wouldn't shut off & let me fall into the trance...

Another photo in the limo / A picture of the airbrush tattoos my friends and me got at post-prom!  Mine is the ace of spades card.

After post-prom, my friends and i came back to my house, where we stayed in the hot tub until the sun started to rise and then we passed out in the basement for a little bit.

Overall, it was quite a fun night!  Wish i could've let go a bit more and gotten into the whole 'prom experience'.

♥

Gosh & Sleek Loving.

Haven't done one of these 'face of the day' type of posts in a while, i'm sure you can see why. ;)  I feel a bit vain posting pictures of my mug up for the people of the internet to see to be honest, haha.  I figured i'd do one anyway to show some of the products i got from my trip actually put to use.

I've absolutely been loving the Gosh eyeliner and Sleek Contour Kit, they are both new staples in my collection.  The Gosh liner totally tops Urban Decay's famous 24/7 one in Zero like it's nobody's business.  If you can get your hands on it, definitely try it out!  And the contour kit was a total bargain, don't think i'll be able to live without it from now on!  Makes the skin look gaaaaaawgeous and hasn't broken me out, which many drugstore products seem to do *knocks on wood*.

The Two Faced 'Illuminating' Shadow Insurance in Candlelight is totally new to me, i hadn't heard of it until my sister gave it to me (i think she got it as a 500 point perk at Sephora).  I really do quite like it though!  It's not as opaque as the Urban Decay primers are (ie. Sin), which i actually prefer.  It's just as good as the original staying-power-wise and it does brighten up the eye area to help make it look like you actually got your 8+ hours of beauty sleep - hence the 'illuminating' bit - without making it look like you have packed a ton of product on your eyes (like i have below haha ;).  Mac's Shroom looks amazing over it btw. :)

Hope you're not too offended by this little 'mug face of the day'!

Said Sleek Contour Kit & Gosh Eyeliner

Eyes

Too Faced Shadow Insurance in Candlelight

Mac Shroom e/s all over lid and inner corner & brow bone highlight

Mac Satin Taupe e/s in crease

Barry M Dazzle Dust in Chocolate in the outer corner

L'Oreal Linear Intense in Black - winged out with a bit of Urban Decay's Oilslick e/s on top to set

Gosh Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Blank Ink

Clinique High Impact mascara

Face

Benefit Erase Paste under eyes

Mac Studio Finish concealer on blemishes

Bare Minerals Original Foundation

Sleek Contour Kit in Light

Clinique Pressed Powder blush in New Clover

Bare Minerals Mineral Veil to set

Lips

Carmex :)

Hair & outfit

Will do a little post on the hair at some point. :)

top - New Look, earrings - Primark

♥

currently enjoying...

Hello everyone!  It's been a while since i had a blog post with photos that i took with my actual camera.  I suppose it's just easier to snap a few photos on a webcam and upload them straight to Blogger than it is to take the time to photograph something, upload them to my computer, fix the balance & colors and add my watermark (aka edit them), then upload them to Blogger.  I don't want my blog to turn into just photos of me in crap quality, i'd rather them be pretty photos of other things :).  I'll try harder to do that, promise!

This is just a little post on what i've been enjoying lately.  I guess it's a "five things" post, as i just noticed there are five things that i'm loving at the mo!  Oh, and another thing - i haven't mentioned this in a post yet, but i've added a "subscriptions" page at the top of my blog.  This is a list of my favorite Youtube channels - beauty & comedy/vloggers.  Definitely check it out if you have the time ♥

01. My tripod ♥.  I got this for Christmas and i have already been absolutely loving it.  The legs are flexible, so you can attach them things, or adjust the height with them, etc.  It also helps to stabilize the camera, which i have trouble doing on my own because my hands are quite shaky.  This tripod is from Amazon and was quite affordable for what it does, in my opinion.  The link to it is here!  I used this tripod to take all the photos in this post - including the one of me above.

02. My new phone - HTC EVO.  I mentioned that i got a new phone in my last post, but here it is!  It's so gorgeous haha.  Excuse the black, bulky case on it - i am such a clutz when it comes to electronics, so a case is a must if i want this phone to remain intact for more than a week!  I blurred out my location for obvious reasons.  With this phone came a data plan (my parents absolutely spoils me...), so out goes my social life & in comes my internet addiction!  This phone is brilliant, but the battery life completely sucks.  Well, we can't have it all, can we?

03. & 04.  Classy by Derek Blasberg and The Vampire Diaries.  I talked a bit about Classy in my last post as well, but i'm still enjoying it - definitely recommend it so far!  So, i have been completely addicted to Vampire Diaries lately.  I admittedly finished the entire first season within three/four days (well someone has a life!).  I watched the first like five episodes or so when they first came on TV last year, but i guess i just got busy & didn't bother catching up on them - wellllll, my sister gave me this for Christmas & i'm am addicted once again!  Such an addicting show.  Need to start watching season two ASAP!

05. Victoria's Secret Kissing in Paris Sheer Fragrance Mist.  Another Christmas gift, this one was from my mom.  She said she got it for me because of the name, since i'm going to Paris next April (so surreal to think about).  I thought it was so sweet & thoughtful of her :).  The scent is quite lovely as well, i don't have anything like it in my collection so this was such a nice addition!  It is really fresh smelling, but not floral-y or fresh-laundry smelling either.  Very, very lovely :).

Hope you're all having a lovely week.  I don't even want to think about going back to school on the third.  Also, happy new year if i don't post until then!

♥

The Fishtail Braid ♥

I rolled out of bed this morning, with my hair all in a mess, not really sure how to tame it & style it in a way that would be suitable for the day.  Since i was going to be doing chores around my grandma's house & running a few errands, i wanted to keep it up & out of the way.  Because i have yet to master the messy bun -sadface-, i landed on a braid!

Braids have been really big this season, particularly the messy fishtail braid - it's one trend i'm definitely willing to follow :)

Are you sick of seeing this romper yet? haha ;)

After brushing out the craziness that was my hair, i back-combed a bit & attempted the fishtail braid and i really like how it turned out :).  As for my bangs, i simply twisted & pinned them back - which is becoming a daily thing for me as they're such a weird length, eep.  After the braiding of my hair & the twisting of my bangs, i simply played with it all for a bit (so it wasn't too neat) and sprized a little hairspray :)

Oh, and i had to add a flower of course ♥

Formspring / Twitter / Tumblr

♥

FOTD: Girly Nautical - Lush Times & an Award!

I feel like this posts contains waaay too many photos of me...hope i don't seem conceited :O

So as you may have read in my previous post or on Twitter (same on you if you don't follow me! Click here if you don't already! ;), i dyed my hair!  I'm still loving it & i've really enjoyed styling it :)  I thought i'd show you all one of my favorite looks i've had this week.

I felt so girly wearing this & actually had an "i feel pretty today" kinda day ♥  I wore my sailor shirt (i haven't worn this in for.ev.er.) which is fitted & very flattering and i wore my anchor earrings to match which i actually made myself, as well as a bow i made.  My hair is messy & looked better IRL than these pictures show..haha oh well.

I feel like my FOTDs are pointless because i pretty much do the same makeup look everyday..i just thought i'd post this anyway.

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F A C E

Bare Escentuals Prime Time primer

Revlon Mineral Mousse Foundation in 010 Light

Bare Escentuals Foundation in Fair to set

Bare Escentuals Warmth as bronzer

CoverGirl Cheekers Bronzer in Golden Tan to contour

CoverGirl Cheekers Blush in 110 Classic Pink

Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil

E Y E S

L'Oreal Lash Boosting Serum

UDPP

Urban Decay "Midnight Cowboy Rides Again" e/s (all over lid & into crease)

Lancome "Lezard" e/s (outer corner blended into crease)

Sephora "Aspen Summit 23" e/s (inner corner & eyebrow bone highlight)

Bari Cosmetics liquid eyeliner in Black Tie (upper lashline)

Love My Eyes by Bari Cosmetics Kohl-Kajal Eyeliner Soft Crayon in 808 White (lower lash line)

CoverGirl Lash Blast masacra in Black

Maybelline Define-a-Brow Gel

Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in 006 Hazel

L I P S

Maybelline Color Sensational l/s in Pink Please 025

H A I R

Tresemme Heat Tamer Spray

straightened with Remington straightner

pinned shorter layers up with bobby pins

Tresemme Tres Two hairspray

DIY bow

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I was flicking through my Lush Times the other day and came across this!  I LOL'ed & just had to take a picture to show you guys :).  It's a spoof on Twilight featuring one of Lush's Massage Bars!  Too funny ♥

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I also was given the Sweet Blog Award from Brooke, she's such a sweetie!  Thanks sooo much dollface :)

♥