Hellooo, it's October. Not quite the ideal fall weather yet here in New York, but the mornings and nights are getting chilly with crisper air, so that means fall is officially starting. It's no secret that I love fall. As my mom says "it's my season". It's such a cozy time of year. Bundling up, spending time with loved ones, sipping hot tea, and the warmth of fall colors all around you. I'm really sad that my fall is going to be super busy with heavy rotations, but I'm trying to have some fall fun in the bits of time I have off. But as a tradeoff, I'll have a lot of free time during the Christmas/winter season, which I'm very happy about. I also have real Thanksgiving plans this year unlike last year. I'm going to one of my best friends' house for Thanksgiving dinner and then planning on hosting Friendsgiving at my place on the Saturday after.

Moving on to fall favorites, you'll notice that a lot of these are more lifestyle favorites. I've gone through a bit of makeup breakup in the past few months. I just haven't felt like wearing makeup and have been going bare faced to work most days. Working on changing that, but for now these are the things I've been calling my true loves this end of summer/fall season.

NARS Blush in 'Sin' - plummy-golden blush that's perfect for autumn looks

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blush in 'Flushed'  -- a brightening, beautiful coral-pink blush perfect for days you need a little pick me up.

ColourPop Pressed Powder Shadows in 'You Know The Drill', 'Wake Up Call', 'Bel Air' -- creamy, beautiful, blendable, richly pigmented, and only $5 a pop. Enough said. My two favorite mattes are "Wake Up Call" and "Bel Air" which work great as transition shades or even by themselves for a soft everyday look. "You Know the Drill" is a beautiful champagne-rose gold that is the perfect shimmery shade for everyday looks. I never get complimented on my makeup, but whenever I wear this shade I get multiple compliments a day, no joke. 

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in 'Radiant Light' -- you guys know I'm not a highlighter fan but this highlight just lifts up the cheeks for a very subtle, office-appropriate glow

OGX Thick and Full Biotin & Collagen Shampoo and Conditioner -- I've only used these once but I'm already obsessed. Even after one use, my hair feels so much stronger and fuller. I can't wait to see how this fixes my hair with continued use.

OGX Nourishing Coconut Oil Weightless Hydrating Oil Mist -- coconut oil has a bad reputation of weighing down hair. This product, however, adds a ton of shine to hair, but is uber light and smells amaaaazing. Another fave OGX product.

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte & Maple Pecan Latte -- what's a fall favorites post without some sort of Starbucks drink? This year, both the classic PSL and the new maple pecan latte have been my favorites. The maple pecan latte sounds like it would give you a toothache, but it's a very warm blend of spices and nutty flavors with just a hint of sweetness. Really a must try this fall season! 

Spotify Autumn Acoustic Playlist -- Guys, I have to say that subbing to Spotify Premium is one of the best investments I make each month. This month I have been obsessed with the "Autumn Acoustic" playlist. I listen to it constantly when I'm at my desk just internet surfing or catching up on work. It's a super relaxing playlist full of acoustic indie tracks, and feels absolutely heart-warming on cold fall mornings and nights.

Bath & Body Works 3-Wick Candle in 'Pumpkin Pecan Waffles' -- Each year I have a favorite BBW candle and this year, Pumpkin Pecan Waffles take the prize. Smells like a bakery inside your house and has a very strong throw!

Half Baked Harvest Cookbook by Tieghan Gerard -- Last but certainly not least is this cookbook...aka my new obsession. I'm trying to get into cooking and healthy eating, but I can't stand a lot of "diet" blogs because they make such bland, disgusting food. Enter HBH. She has so many recipes that are easy to make, easy to add vegetables to/customize, healthy but still delicious, and best of all they're very comfort-type of foods, which are my favorite. The way she presents the recipes is perfection. I kid you not, every recipe I try off her book or blog turns out delicious. If you're like me and want to start eating healthier, but still want flavorful, easy to make food, go check out her blog and buy her book. Best $20 ever spent.

Warm & Toasty Turtleneck

Happy-almost-Halloween, y'all! I was painting my nails this morning, and I was inspired to do a blog post about it along with just a basic life update. But, first I'll talk about the polish. As the blogpost title suggests, it's called "Warm & Toasty Turtleneck" by Essie. This shade was actually released as part of their limited edition fall 2013 (I believe) collection and I remember a few beauty gurus talking about it in their videos. I remember reeeeally lusting over it and wanting to get it, but I never did mainly because of the price tag I think. In retrospect, that seems dumb since I've spent useless dollars over other makeup items before. As fat has it, I was shopping at Marshall's this past spring and saw this nailpolish in their beauty section! For those who may not know, Marshall's actually sells retired high-end nailpolish colors for half the price! They have brands like Essie, OPI, Butter London, China Glaze, etc. So naturally when I saw it on sale for $3.99 I knew I had to buy it. Heck, I would've bought it even if it was the full $8.00!

I bought it this past spring and I kept it in my box waiting to use it for fall. Well, I finally popped the bottle open and put it on my nails this morning. It's SUCH a beautiful fall color -- a muted purple. I wanna say it's almost a taupey sort of purple, if that makes sense. My only complaint is that since I have darker tan skin, it doesn't look as stunning as it would on lighter complexions. But still, I won't let that stop me from rocking this shade for the rest of the autumn and winter season! As far as application goes, it applies opaque after 2 coats. Applies very evenly as well. I topped it with my Seche Vite Top Coat for a glossy finish. What I love most about it is that it's a break from the typical fall shades like crimson red or oxblood. So if you're like me and need a break from the reds, pick up a shade like this! Or don't be cheap like me and pick up a shade from a fall nailpolish collection.

Okay so that's that for my nailpolish this Halloween. Thinking back, I guess it would've been exciting to do a Halloween nail design, but oh wells. This shade truly makes me feel warm and toasty, so no regrets! Next, I wanted to update you guys really quick. I recently got done with my Step 2 CS exam! Wooooo, so pumped that's over with! My only fear is that I'm going to be one of the 6% who fail. That's such a scary thought. I prepared 4-5 days before the exam and made sure I had a routine down so I could breeze through everything. Overall, I think it went okay. I definitely didn't do a perfect job and left a lot of stuff out like a bunch of physical exam maneuvers, asking about certain histories, and maybe counselling a few patients. But what scares me is that apparently there was a manual online with new instructions for the exam, especially with the way the test is graded. I really really really hope that I still did everything and received a high score. I'm super worried about the mistakes I made, stuff I forgot, and I'm praying that the patients found me empathetic and nice enough. Looking back at the practice CS exam our school makes us take, I did average-slightly below average. And that was with zero preparation and I remember being really nervous and flustered for the mock exam. So I'm hoping that I did enough things right to pass the actual exam this time around. It would really be crushing to fail the exam. I was reading online and it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to retake the exam, but it would honestly cost in terms of being stressed out for ranking, graduation, etc...not to mention the extra $1500 I would have to shell out! I know if I had to retake it I would rock it and definitely pass, but still. Let's hope I don't have to cross that bridge. Fingers crossed that statistics is on my side!