January Favorites

I cannot believe that January is over already!  I started this month back home in San Francisco, and I finished it here in Manhattan.  January is always a bit of a monotonous month.  The holidays are wrapping up, people are going back to school and their jobs.  To be perfectly honest, there isn't much to look forward to, and it's cold!  I found myself curled up reading a book most of the time!

You will see from my post that a lot of this month's favorites are conducive to being chilled out indoors.  I am a California girl who doesn't particularly care for the below freezing temperatures that have been the norm in NYC this month!

My first favorite this month is tea.  Earl Grey, to be more precise! There is really nothing better than a warm cuppa and a soft blanket when there is a blizzard outside!

#ravenclawpride

As I said, I have been curling up with a lot of books this month.   However, my favorite has got to be Tam Lin by Pamela Dean.  This book is actually the reason that my sister decided to go to a small liberal arts school, as it is set at a liberal arts college in the midwest in the 70s.  It is a modern retelling of an old Scottish folk song by the same name.  The original song begins, "I forbid ye maidens all that wear gold in your hair to travel to Carterhaugh, for Young Tam Lin is there..."

I have not just been sitting around reading books, however!  I am working on some pieces of my own writing, for which this Kate Spade notebook (a gift from a friend) has been incredibly helpful!  It is always nice to carry around something that I can jot notes down in when inspiration strikes!

Since I didn't start back at dance officially until the 20th, I spent a lot of time at the gym to keep myself in shape.  I have to take very good care of my feet because they are quite literally my livelihood!  I only recently thought to put my orthotics in my Nike Free 5.0 running shoes, and to be perfectly honest, I don't know why I didn't do this sooner! My knees are less ache-y, and all of my discomfort that I generally have when I exercise has disappeared!

My next favorites are hair related.  I mentioned in my last favorites post that I had recently run out of all of my skincare products.  Well, the same thing happened with my hair products!  I repurchased one of my old holy grail products, the Blue Malva shampoo from AVEDA.  I honestly don't know why I stopped purchasing this!  It smells amazing, and it gets rid of brassy tones in any hair color!  I tend to wash my hair ever day because dancing makes me seriously sweaty, and this shampoo is gentle enough where I can use it daily, but strong enough where I feel like I am getting a really satisfying wash!

My next hair favorite is the Macadamia brand Deep Repair Masque.  I bought a couple sample packs because I didn't want to shell out money on the larger size without knowing whether I liked it or not.  Well, I don't like it.  I love it!  I use it twice a week, and I seriously think that my hair has grown since I started using this product!  I have also gotten a lot of comments about how shiny and luscious my hair looks! It might be too heavy for the summer, but I am loving it for the winter!

I haven't been doing much in the way of makeup.  What's the point, when I'm mostly inside by mylself?  However, when I do go out, I have been loving the Holika Holika brand BB cream with SPF 30.  I have the "clearing" one, which has tea tree oil and sebum controlling powder.  This is probably the best BB cream I have ever used!  The coverage is better than some foundations I have used, and it seriously lasts ages!  The best part? It was only $7!

I have also been loving the Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural lipstick in the color N9 Copper Pink.  This was a birthday present from Sephora, so it is just a mini.  It is very close to my natural lip color, so when I just want a little extra definition, this is what I go for.  A great drugstore dupe for this color is actually the Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in the color 637 Blushing Nude! (Make Up Forever- $20 Revlon- $7).

My last favorite this month is the Vine app.  I honestly don't know why I haven't gotten into Vine sooner, but I am hooked!  I think I spent two hours straight watching six second videos of Thomas Sanders and Arielle Vandenberg! I have no shame!..... OK, maybe I have a little shame...

That is it for this month's favorites!  If you liked it, let me know in the comments below.  What have been your favorites this month?

-Fly high, little birds!

Unboxing- Sephora & Etsy

Hello all!

I recently got some stuff in the mail, and I thought I would share it with you!

First off, I made Dean's List at my university this past semester! For those of you who don't know what that is, it just means that I got straight As!  As a present, my parents got me a pendant to hold my Fitbit.  A Fitbit is one of the many calorie/exercise/sleep trackers out there, and it usually comes with a variety of brightly colored plastic bracelets to choose from.

However, these bracelets are not the prettiest.  This generally means that one either has to suck it up and wear the ugly plastic things out on the town, or one has to forgo recording all of the calories burned on the dance floor!

It seems I am not the only one who has noticed this particular discrepancy in design.  Fitbit recently partnered up with Tory Burch to design a line of chic gold/rose gold/silver jewelry to fix this issue.  However, I wasn't really a big enough fan of any of the designs to drop $175 on one.

Enter Etsy!  It was my mother's idea to look there, and I found a plethora of gorgeous designs! I picked a sterling silver pendant from the fitjewelsSF shop.  I love it!

 The other box that I got was from Sephora.  Yes, I know I have a problem.  In my defense, I was replacing two items that I had just run out of!  However, the best part about Sephora, is the free samples that I can get!  I think I got more samples than paid items!

 I got two fragrance samples that I'm super excited about! I like to change my fragrance a LOT, but I don't necessarily like dropping the big bucks on a full-sized bottle.  I got the Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet, which I am so in love with! I just might be getting the full-sized version for the springtime!  It has notes of peony and rose with white musk.  The other is lovely as well, the Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.  I have had a sample of this before, and I loved it.  It is an oriental fragrance, with vanilla, sandalwood, and violet. The other sample pictured below is the Josie Maran Argan Matchmaker Serum Foundation.

 I just finished off my Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask, so I was in the market for a new evening moisturizer.  I have loved everything that I have ever tried from First Aid Beauty, so I decided to try their Facial Radiance Overnight Mask.  Maybe you will see it in a favorites post soon!

I am nearly out of my lovely Touche Éclat Radiant Touch, so I replaced it.  I have the color 1 Luminous Radiance.  I have used the 2.5 Luminous Vanilla in the past.

My rewards points got me these lovely deluxe samples!  I am most excited to try the First Aid Beauty Skin Rescue Deep Cleanser with red clay.  I have heard rave reviews about it!  I also got the Boscia Tsubaki Cleansing Oil-Gel, and a Sephora brand waterproof eyeliner in the color 29 My boyfriend's jeans.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! Have you recently gone and made any exciting purchases? Let me know in the comments!

-Fly high, little birds!

Battling that Sweet Tooth

Nothing satisfies me like a good Diet Coke.  I know that the stuff is awful for you, but there is nothing like that aspartame aftertaste that just is so delicious.  Ironically, I enjoy it way more than normal Coca Cola!

I'm also a huuuuuuuuuge fan of anything sweet!  Chocolate, ice cream, candy, pie, cake, you name it, I love it!  I'm not just into normal sweets.  I like weird sweets too, like salted black licorice.  This means that I usually don't have an excuse like, "Oh, I don't really like chocolate," or "Pie really isn't my thing."

This means that I have to find other way to satisfy my sweet cravings.  For a while, I tried using artificial sweeteners like Splenda.  I figured it was way better than aspartame, and it was made from sugar, so it couldn't be all that bad! Little did I know that these artificial sweeteners actually have shown to cause weight gain and they mess with the super lovely bacteria in our guts.

So, in an effort to create the best me I can be, I have cut out all sugar except that which comes from fruits.  I know. Terrifying, isn't it?

However, what I have found is the less sugar I eat, the less sugar I want to eat!  Not going to lie, it has been really hard!  Especially when the food delivery system here in Manhattan is so amazing! A lovely slice of lemon meringue pie is just a click away...

Fruit infused water has probably been my biggest savior.  As many of you know, what we confuse as hunger signals in our bodies are often just misunderstood thirst signals.  With the flavor of strawberries or cucumber and lemon, I am satisfying my thirst and the unwanted cravings that usually accompany it!

It's certainly not a perfect system, and I still have a long way to go.  I know that many of you probably have new years resolutions about being healthier, and I thought I would put my two cents in about what has been helping me!

Do you have any tips or tricks for me?  Tell me in the comments below!

-Fly high, little birds!

xxx