What are you Reading?

Holy mole guys! It's June! Halfway through the year. I love this time of year. The weather, no classes, relaxing, vacations. But it is also... new planner time!

So exciting! I'm shooting for a Erin Chondren but we'll see what others I find that I like. Since it's officially summer I've been reading quite a bit and wanted to share what I've been reading/loving.

I love to know what other people are currently reading. I love getting recommendations from others.

The past few months I haven't had a ton of time to read because I had classes and clinical but classes got out in the beginning of May. So I now have time to read for fun.

This year I have been really into books about Buddhism. I was at Barnes and Noble today and I had a person ask me how I got into reading about Buddhism.

I had to think about it for a second but then I remembered Jhene Aiko had posted a few paragraphs on Instagram from a book that Buddhist/Zen master/peace activist Thich Nhat Hahn wrote and I needed to read more!

So over the past few months I've been reading a lot of Thich Nhat Hahn's books. They are amazing. The current one I am reading is The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching:

I like his books because they explain meditation, mindfulness, and Buddhism in a way we can understand in today's society. I also love learning about Buddhism and the Buddhist culture. He has books specifically on mindfulness, peace, happiness, anger, love and more. Just about everything.

Kind of like a self help book but it's not self help. Hope my recommendations can help you guys out. Post a comment letting me know what you're reading and what authors you recommend!

Starting a Thing

So I started a new thing.

Well, not necessarily new per say.

I started writing again. 

At first I was intimidated because how do you write a full length novel? That's like, what, over 90,000 words? I'm not 100% sure honestly (I should probably know that, huh?) 

Anywho after hours upon hours of crazy researching in the wee hours of the morning I decided you know what, you just gotta go for it. 

Jump in. 

All in. 

So I did. And it's partially terrifying because I have no idea where this is going; all I know is that I'm doing it and it's happening and I'm afraid to fail. But if we are afraid to fail at something, shouldn't we do it?

Shouldn't we do the things we are afraid of? Even if we fail, we learn. We grow. We move on. 

So I decided to just go for it. 

Writing makes me happy so I'm doing it. I'm going for it. 

No excuses this time. I've actually started writing a few times. I've started books before. I was too afraid of failure to finish those books. This time I understand that it's okay to fail. So I'm doing it. 

Thank you to Rachel Higginson (one of my favorite authors, go check her out!) for putting ideas in my head and inspiring me and making me believe that I can do this. Because if she can with her schedule I can too. No excuses this time! 

So I'm writing again and I'm excited and scared and happy. I'm excited for the process and to see where this is going. Here's to starting new things and being happy about them!

 

Inspiration

I love hearing people talk about whatever they're passionate about. People literally light up when they talk about things they love or things that inspire them. Especially if you really listen to them talk. 

When people tell me their hopes or dreams or what they want to do in the future I tell them do it! 

They always look at me like I'm crazy but honestly do it!

That's when the self doubt kicks in. I think people are afraid to follow their dreams. They are afraid of failure, they doubt they can even do it, and they are worried about what other people will think of them.

Myself included. 

And it could be a number of things but I usually encounter people who love to paint or draw or want to start a business or want to get back into shape.

Why not at least think about what could happen?

So you love to paint and do art. So paint and do art. Then make an eBay or an Etsy account and sell it! The worst thing that could go wrong is that you don't sell a ton of your art.

But if it's what you love to do and what you put your mind to and you dedicate yourself to, then it will succeed and blossom. 

That was just a random example but I LOVE hearing about other peoples dreams. I'm like a little cheerleader and I love motivating people to do what they want. I'm like you can do it! Try it! It'll be great!  

I believe as long as you try your best, (and I mean REALLY best, don't half ass anything) then you have no room to do anything but succeed. 

The best part is you grow. On your journey to doing what you love you grow and you learn. If it doesn't end up working out in the end then you learned what works for you and what doesn't work for you. It's honestly a win-win situation. 

So go out there and be awesome and follow your dreams!

Comment below and share what your dreams are and what you want to do. 

"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." -Walt Disney

Making Changes

Okay. 

So as you can see, I've changed a few things. I honestly just got sick of talking about makeup so much. 

Don't get me wrong, I love makeup and I talk about it and think about it all the time. I will spend two hours in Ulta looking for one thing. Seriously. 

I just don't want my whole entire blog to be just about makeup. 

There's so much more to me and my life. I love giving advice. I love traveling. I am going to be a nurse in a year. I aspire to write books. So much more. 

When I pictured creating a blog I always wanted it to be about everything and life in general and to not restrict it to one subject. 

Which I did. Then I stopped posting because I got sick of it. 

So I have now given myself the freedom of doing what I want. Because what's the point in doing anything if it doesn't make you happy? So here I am. 

A lot of factors helped me make this decision. First off, classes are done for the winter semester (yay!!) and I have all summer to relax. (More like study for NCLEX and deep clean the house). 

Second, I have been watching my husband follow and create his dream and build a brand and business. That has inspired me to actually do the things I have been dreaming about. And one thing I have always wanted to do was write. And a blog, to me, is a great place to start.

So here I am. 

I'm excited to see where this goes and I hope that I can inspire others on my journey. 

Leave a comment and let me know what inspires you and what you dream about doing. Then go do it.  

It's been a While...

So I haven't posted on my blog in almost a year... that's so bad guys! I have been thinking about my blog for a while now and I'd really like to get back into it. So here I am. I would also like to blog more about life in general instead of just all makeup related items (even though I'm still obsessed). I love writing and makeup and giving advice so that's what I'm going to do. I just wanted to put it out there that I'm back and I'm excited to be back and I've got some good things planned for my little blog here and it's gonna be great!

What's in my Ipsy Glam Bag: April!

Hey everyone! I got my April Ipsy Glam Bag today so I wanted to share what I received!

Let's start with the bag: the theme this month was "Beauty Rocks" and it's really cute. I always like the bags but this one has a little record on the front and I love it. It also looks a little bigger than the last few bags which I'm happy about (the bigger the bag, the more things you can put in it!).

Starting from the left the first item I got is the Cailyn Tinted Lip Balm in "Apple Pink". I was really excited to get this lippie because the color looked gorgeous on the website. It's coral and coral is one of my favorite lip colors. The packaging is kind of weird though. I appreciate that it comes with a cute little brush, but it feels cheaply made. The formula goes on kind of dry so I had to use some EOS to make it smooth. I will not be purchasing this but I'm glad I got one because I love lippies. Full size is $19. 

The next item I received is the Big Sexy Hair Root Pump Hairspray. I wasn't exactly excited to try this but I was interested because I have heard good things about it. Let me tell you I'm impressed by how GOOD it smells. YUM. I haven't used it yet, I'm not really a hairspray person but who knows, I might be obsessed with it.

The eye shadow that came in my bag this month is CUTE! The packaging is adorable and the formula is super creamy, almost whipped. It's "White/Gold" and the brand is called City Color and it's described as a highlight mousse. I will use this probably as an eye shadow base or just as an eye shadow. I really do like the color it goes on white but it shimmers a pretty gold color in the light. LOVE!

The item that I was most excited about for this month's bag is the Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-On Pencil in "Black Velvet". OH MY GOODNESS it's SO smooth! I cannot wait to wear this and make a nice smokey eye with it. GORGE! 

The last item in my bag this month was a sample of the Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant. This is an item I'm not really sure about. It smells like someone shoved a lemon in your face. So hopefully it doesn't break me out. 

That's what's in my Ipsy Bag this month! Hope you all loved it! I'm really happy with my Ipsy subscription. Let me know if you like any of these products or comment below with any questions.

Thanks for stopping by! 

My EOS Lip Balm Collection!

Hi guys! 

Long time no talk! Sorry about that, it's been an insane week and I'm glad it's calming down. Recently I went shopping with my mom and she knows I have an obsession with my EOS (Evolution of Smooth) Smooth Sphere Lip Balms and Ulta had the purple one (I've been wanting it and looking for it for forever) and she bought me the little two pack it came in. And she also got me some other colors and now that I have almost all of them I wanted to share my obsession with you. 

Just look at how freakin' cute they are! 

So the reason I'm obsessed with these lip balms are because they work so well when my lips are chapped. I have tried so many other brands (I love the Vaseline lip therapy and my Nivea lip butter but you have to dip your finger in those and I work at a hospital so I can't take those to work- gross!). The EOS balms smell so good and they go on very creamy. I use them under my lip glosses and lipsticks as a moisturizer as well.

The colors/flavors I have (from left, middle and right) are Raspberry Pomegranate, Strawberry Sorbet, and Summer Fruit. 

From left, the purple one (I know it looks pink, but it's like a light lavender color) is Passion Fruit (it's limited edition but they have it at ulta right now) the blue one is Blueberry Acai (yum), the mint colored one is Sweet Mint, and the yellow one is Lemon Drop and it has SPF 15 in it. 

I would have to say my favorite one right now is the Passion Fruit because I love the way it smells. I love all of them but I've been carrying that one the most in my purse. I really like that they last a long time too. I think it took me like two or three months to get through a whole one.

Those are all the EOS balms I have right now, I think there is a green and orange one I am missing but I don't mind. I want to get a pretty glass container to put them in when I'm not using them. I have used up two of them but I like to keep them since the packaging is so darn cute!

That's all for my EOS collection, do you guys love them too? Let me know what other lip balms/ chap sticks you've been loving. I like to try new ones out!