New Blog

Hi ladies,

I just thought I'd let you all know I've started a new blog (that I hope to keep updated more regularly!).

Always Bright

Thank you all!

Kiki

Haul: Ulta & BBW

Skincare Routine!

June Favorites

Recent Reading Material

This post is in no way beauty related. I recently came across a list of 100 books that you should read at some point in your life (some are series of books, so the total comes to over 100). I love to read and have a small library worth of books, so when I came across the list I naturally had to read everything on it. I have already read nearly a quarter of the books on the list, and have about six that I intend to finish before the new year. (As it is already December 17th, I have to get cracking!)

The ones I am finishing up in the next week and a half are:

I am already half way through Jane Eyre and love it so much, I can't wait to see the new screen adaptation of it. I am a quick reader, but may need some luck finishing all these what with the holidays taking of most of my time. If anyone is interested, I'll post the list of books. Just let me know :)

Wish me luck!

xoxo

Presents!

So when Sephora sends out their annual Beauty Insider $15 gift cards, I try to make the most of them. The holidays are a time when my wallet is stretched really tight because of all the Christmas shopping I do for others. Although I have a list a mile long of beauty products I'd love to try, I restrain myself. Here is where the gift card comes in!

While the gift card states there is a minimum purchase of $40 in order to redeem it, if you redeem it online, there is no minimum purchase! What I ended up doing was finding a product that was just $10 on the Sephora website, and once combined with shipping costs (which the gift card covers! score!) and tax my total came out to only $1.93! Luckily enough for me, my sister passed her gift card along to me, so I was able to purchase another $10 item. Below are my purchases:

(Excuse the crappy Blackberry pics!)

What I ended up with:

• Stila Adventurous in Aspen palette which includes 4 shadows: Snow Angel, Icicles, Glisten and Ajax and a convertible color in Rosy.
• Nars lip gloss in All Night Long
• Mini Makeup Forever HD powder
• Mini Bobbi Brown lip gloss in Crystal
• NUDE Advanced Probiotic Skincare samples
• Narciso Rodriguez "Essence" perfume sample
• Gucci "Flora" perfume sample
• Stile one step primecolor in Bronze Babe sample
• Perricone MD Face Finishing Moisturizer sample
• Ojon Hair Restorative Hair Treatment sample

For a total of $3.86, I think I did pretty well!

What did you get with your Sephora gift card?

xoxo

In & Out

In:

- Christmas! I feel so festive around this time of year. I decorated the tree all by myself and just finished making gingerbread cookies for the children I babysit for.

- Tea. I've never been a tea person, but lately its just so cozy to be snuggled up under a blanket with a book and a warm cup of tea. The fact that its good for you is just an added bonus :)

- Being healthy. I've been trying to eat healthier since Thanksgiving left me feeling so lethargic. But I love cooking and I certainly love feeling healthy, so I've been coming up with healthy recipes to fight off that dreaded holiday weight gain.

- Glowy makeup. I watched MakeUpByTiffanyD's youtube tutorial on this years Victoria's Secret fashion show and have been recreating that look almost everyday since she posted it!

- Candles. I am absolutely in love with the large candles from Bath & Body. My favorites are seasonal - boo! The two I love are called Leaves and Winter Candy Apple. I am constantly burning one of these.

Out:

- Friends that disappoint. Pretty self explanatory.

- Stress. Holiday stress, school stress, work stress. It's all a big OUT.

xoxo

Masquerade

For years now my favorite part of Halloween has been to sit home and hand out candy to children. I know most people my own age prefer to get dressed up and go out (which I tried last year!), but I much prefer watching children run up my porch steps eagerly anticipating candy all the while dressed as funny/cute/frightening characters.

My sister was forced to get dressed up as she had a Halloween party she was required to be at for work. Surprise, surprise I was the one to do her make-up! She looked gorgeous but it made me a bit nostalgic for dressing up. Because it was already late, and impractical to get a costume just to hand out candy, I decided to draw a mask on my face. It was incredibly simple, took 15 minutes and only used a few products. While this post is probably late in the game, I just thought I'd share it with you :)

(pardon the funny expressions and quality - that's Photobooth for you)

Most of the children that came to the door asked if I could draw a mask for them too!

Let me know what you think!

xoxo

My First Youtube Video!

Hello girls! This is my first attempt at a youtube video. Let me know what you think

xoxo

My apologies..

Ladies--

I know I said over a month ago that I'd be getting back into the swing of things, but exams got the best of me. I'll be done with school in exactly one week, so expect a post then!

See you all soon!

xoxo