Ringing in the New Year

...with style.

I just took a shower after finishing my last college essay (2-3 pages for Cornell...), and I thought I would report back to you guys. Fresh-faced, towel wrapped around my head and all. Shabby webcam pictures, but a report back no less.

What can I say? I'm F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S.

Let's hope these bags go away soon...

How does one come back blogging in full force after being gone for so long, slaving away at applications? This is quite a dilemma for me as photographing products (or anything in general) and typing up posts have flown out of my routine as of late. The posts on this blog this past month have been...a mess, I don't even know. Very bleh. I don't quite remember how to approach this right now. But I'm sure I'll come back to my senses soon enough.

But huzzah! I am done with college applications! At long last, I. AM. DONE!!!!!! 

This year has been great, however. It was nearly a year ago when after a long mental tug-of-war that I decided that I'd give blogging a go again. I really did miss it, and I'm so glad I came back. I reconnected with old blogging friends while making new ones. I know I haven't been the best blogger so far, but I really do hope to be a better one this new year. It's definitely one of my resolutions.

But anywho, I hope that you're all enjoying this lovely New Year's Eve with your loved ones! Let's ring in the New Year with warm, positive attitudes. I'm going to go enjoy the local fireworks tonight with my parents. Do you have any New Year's Resolutions?

Merry Christmas!

I hope you're all having a lovely holiday/day off with your loved ones. I'm going out to watch Les Miserables today with my family. A really unorthodox, and kind of...y'know sad, celebration but hey, we all love the book so dearly, so we gotta make seeing the movie a family affair! I'm excited.

This Christmas was a lot more low-key and a bit rough (emotionally) for us, but the important thing is that we have each other. For better or worse. 

Didn't really get to photograph any festivities, so here are some recycled snapshots from last year. I've also been too busy to even touch my camera (it's been so neglected this past month).

Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful day, and I hope Santa brought you bountiful gifts. Let's hope you don't get a case of Present Face, though. ;)

Hello hello

Meep.

Remember me?

Hello everybody. I've done it again. I've disappeared again. But really now, I'm back. It's finally Christmas break, and I can get back to posting and reading your blogs, which I've missed so dearly. I've been so M.I.A. from the blogosphere and Twitterland (and even Instagram, shocking!) this month. I've been getting at most 4 hours of sleep a night these past two weeks, which hasn't been very good to me. The bags under my eyes...not a pleasant sight at all.

Anyway, I thought I'd report back to you all and notify you of my return! And I can't leave this post photo-less, so here's another painting I've painted for my concentration. This time it was hair rollers. :)

The camera washed out a lot of my shading on the skin, boo. :(

I look forward to posting again and catching up on your blogs. Also, we survived the apocalypse! Huzzah!

Rosettes, Transepts, and Groin Vaults!?

Foreign terms to you, perhaps?

Well, they were pretty foreign to me before I started taking art history this year. I'm not really a religious person either, so churches were pretty far away from my designated niche. However, I've become fascinated with churches as of late. The architecture of these buildings is truly spectacular. There is so much attention to detail in almost every inch of these churches. And so many of them were built a long time ago (some nearly 1000 years ago!), so I am so shell-shocked by how amazing and well-built they are. They are so magnificent and just so beautiful to look at.

Anyway, we were assigned to pick a church in Boston and analyze it. I chose the Old South Church, which was built in a Gothic revival style in 1874. The exterior isn't very impressive, but I found the interior to be quite lovely. It was intricate, but muted. It was simple, yet beautiful. Something I'm inevitably drawn to: simplicity. This church, in my opinion, was the perfect blend of traditional and modern architecture.

In this "Color Play," I wanted to emulate the warm browns and vibrant jewel tones of the church. These colors in the church itself created such an inviting and welcoming atmosphere.

1. Stila Charmed Eye Palette: Jewel tones and warm coppers? This is basically the church in one palette.
2. L'Oreal HiP Pigment in Valiant: I wanted to imitate the stained glass windows, and this blue was the one for the job. It has such a pretty multi-dimensional effect.
3. MAC Eyeshadow in Moth Brown: This complex purple-gray-taupe was the perfect match for the exterior of the church.
4. L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Smoldering Plum: Y'all know I love this eyeshadow. It's exactly the color of the regal purple robes in the stained glass windows and icons!
5. Covergirl Outlast Lip Stain in Plum Pout: What's Christmastime without a little red?
6. L'Oreal Hip Eyeshadow Pencil in Unmistakable: And some more red!
7. Revlon Beyond Natural Eye Pencil in Brown: The rich, reddish browns of the Cherrywood furnishing.
8. MAC Fluidline in Rich Ground: Another warm, cozy brown that reminds me of the nave of the church.
9. Revlon Matte Eyeshadow in Rich Sable: There were darker brown bricks like this peppered throughout the faces of the church.
10. L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Sahara Treasure: To mimic the intricate caen limestone-carved screen, I decided to use this. The sheen adds some nice extra umph.
11. L'Oreal HiP Eyeshadow Duo in Gilded: A church has got to have some gold, so of course I added gold to my colors. In the church here, the gold is focused in the chandeliers and the cross hanging down from the ceiling.
12. MAC Blush in Loverush: This deep, maroon-y red is another jewel tone color that was used on the stained glass imagery and on the walls.

I thought it'd be nice to share these pictures since it's near Christmas! Like I said, I'm not really a religious person, but I've fallen (hard) in love with church architecture. Growing up I was a little creeped out by churches, but now I've come to really appreciate them! From an architectural and artistic standpoint, they are simply ah-may-zing. Unlike modern-day skyscrapers, these structures have been around for over a thousand years -- that in itself is something. Are you a fan of church architecture?

Guava & Pomegranate

On Black Friday, which sounds like quite a while ago now, I did a little bit of online shopping. So of course I had to go on Sephora. The selection in the sales section was a little disappointing, but I did get away with two things and a little mystery bag of samples. One was a lipgloss (which I'll be saving for something) and the other was this Korres Butter To Go Set. It was $15, which I thought was a pretty good deal for a full-size of the coveted Korres Lip Butter and a generous travel-size of their raved body butters.

This is such a great set to try out their products. I'd wanted their lip butters for such a long time, and at least I got my grubby hands on one! 

I've always loved Korres's minimalist packaging. So much kudos to their brand designer(s)! I'm such a fan! And I also love the fact that their products are really natural. Brand love aside, the set came with a Lip Butter in Pomegranate and a Body Butter in Guava. They both smelled delicious.

I'm a sucker for body butters. They (usually) have nice scents, and are of such a nice, thick consistency compared to regular old, runny lotions. I'd wanted to try the Korres Body Butters after hearing great things about them, but not as much as I wanted to try the lip butters. A lot of times guava scents are obnoxiously sweet, but for this Guava, the sweet was just right. The Body Butter sinks easily into the skin. There is no oily film, and it leaves my skin feeling nice and soft. Love! If there's a mango-scented version...SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.

These lip butters have been raved about for a while. I remember going to Sephora at various different times to browse, ending up with a lip butter or two in my hands intending to purchase them, only to put them back down reasoning that I didn't need another lip balm. A slightly pricier one at that. However, now that I've tried it, I realize that I really should've gotten them sooner!

The lip butter is smooth, creamy, and moisturizing. Pomegranate gives my lips such a healthy hint of color and shine, which is perfect since my lips have been rather dry and pale lately. It leaves my lips feeling back to normal, smooth and soft, after wearing off. And on top of all of this, it smells great! So much love. I am definitely going back for other colors.

Have you tried these cult-favorite Korres lip butters? If so, what are your thoughts on them? Love them or just another lip balm? Regardless, I highly recommend this set to you if you've been wanting to try Korres butters for a long time like me! And it's a great stocking stuffer. ;)

Cold Feet

Hiiii! *waves* I'm aliiiiiive! 

Sorry for the brief hiatus, ladies. I noticed that I gained quite a few followers during my absence...which doesn't make sense to me, but welcome to my blog! Right when I was on the high of having submitted half of my college applications, I was smacked in the face with a truck load of work. I still have so much due on Monday (yay), but I thought I'd take a quick moment to share with you the shoes I've been living in this fall and will be living in this coming winter.

Let me start off by saying: I love shoes. We all love shoes, don't we? They're the perfect accessory to dress up or dress down an outfit, in my opinion. Now, I don't have a super expensive, massive shoe collection (nor do I really want one), but I do have a nice selection to pick and choose from.

Clockwise from top: Payless ankle boots, Bare Traps riding boots, J.Crew moccasins, American Rag floral oxfords.

The pair of shoes I've been most frequenting this cold season has been these flat ankle booties from Payless that I got as a gift from my friends. I've always wanted plain brown ankle boots (because they're so versatile), so imagine my excitement when my best friends got these for me my last birthday. Sure enough, they go with any outfit. Whether I'm wearing jeans or a dress, they're so easy to slip on and run out the door. 

Since Black Friday, my feet have also been snuggling into these soft, fluffy J.Crew moccasins my brother got me. I know they're not the most fashionable things out there, but they are so. damn. comfortable. It's like I'm walking on pillows when I'm wearing them! I also love that they have actual rubber soles on the bottom. They were $21, which is such a steal for good quality moccasins...and from J.Crew, whaaat!? Thanks for the early Christmas gift, bro. :)

Some other shoes I've been loving are these Bare Traps riding boots (shown in an outfit post here) I got during an after-Christmas sale last year and a pair of floral oxfords I got at around the same time. My mom and I co-own the boots, and she's actually been using them more than me. They're just the perfect pair of shoes to dress up ANY outfit. These floral oxfords (or brogues? not sure which to call them) have also been my go-to shoe to wear when I feel like dressing up.

I'm sure you've noticed that brown and being flat-heeled are a trend in my shoe collection. If I had brown oxfords, I would definitely be replacing those floral ones with them. My mom bought these high-heeled boots recently, and she told me to try them on and walk. Needless to say, my ankles did not cooperate. The high-heeled life is not the life for me, which is quite saddening considering my (lack of) height.

Do you have a favorite pair of boots? What are your winter shoe essentials? Let's talk shoes, ladies. :)