Happy Halloween lovelies! I've done this tag every year since I've had a blog. Although it's a little later than last year, I update this thing for 2016! And what better day to do it than Halloween day itself. My goal is to do this post without rambling. Ready, set, let's go! Oh, and you can check out my I ♥ Fall tag from last year here. 

1. Favorite fall lip product
I haven't been using too much makeup this fall, but Almay's lip butters and Fresh Sugar lip treatment in Rose have been my go-to lip products recently because of the intense hydration both of these products provide, while still giving my lips a boost of color.

2. Favorite fall nail polish
I have been loving the way Essie's Bahama Mama looks on my nails in the fall.

3. Favorite Starbucks fall drink
While you can do no wrong with Starbucks PSL, their new fall drink, the Chile Mocha, is actually pretty damn delicious. Maybe even tastier than the PSL. I've been craving another one since I tried it a few weeks ago!

4. Favorite fall candle
Bath & Body Works Cinnamon Sugared Doughnut, yummmm.

5. Favorite fall scarf or accessory
I recently bought this burnt orange infinity scarf from Forever 21 that I have been obsessssssed with. I used to hate infinity scarves, but I love the color of this scarf and the way it drapes down around my neck. I also bought a crimson hair bow that I've been meaning to try out from there.

6. Haunted house, haunted hay ride, or haunted corn maze 
My answer is still that I'm mortified by haunted anything. But I went in my very first (non-haunted) corn maze this fall and it was actually a lot of fun!

7. Favorite Halloween movie
Coraline gives me the creeps every time I watch it. Hocus Pocus is another feel-good Halloween movie.

8. Favorite candy to eat on Halloween
Milky Ways and Kit-Kats! Although anything chocolatey is delicious.

9. What are you dressing up for as Halloween? 
Sadly, nothing since I was traveling home to my parents house this weekend :( going to be passing out Halloween candy to trick or treaters this year!

10. What is your favorite thing about fall?
Nothing beats going to a park, a nature trail, or a pumpkin patch on a cool, crisp autumn morning with gorgeous amber-red trees surrounding you while munching on cider donuts and drinking apple cider. 

Blog Refresh!

Whew. Intern year is a quarter (if not more!) of the way done, and I'm finally on my first two-week *paid* vacation! It feels sooooo good to lounge around and do nothing. I have a bunch of posts coming up in the next two weeks, so get excited. Much to talk about. I started playing around with makeup and beauty products again, so more beauty themed posts are going to be posted very shortly. 

However, before all that I wanted to do a much-needed blog refresh. I spent over an hour picking out a template (btemplates.com has a bunch of gorgeous blog templates, by the way!), editing the HTML, and colors....anddddd I gave my blog a new name! Cupcakes & Sparkles was nice, but didn't really sound right together. So I decided to rename my blog A Sprinkle of Sparkles. It sounds happy, positive, girly and I love anything sparkly. The content's still going to be the same. A mish mash of beauty, lifestyle, cooking, baking, and a sprinkle of fashion here and there. 

I'm absolutely in love with everything turned out. Hope you guys like it too! 

Ulta Fall Haul ♥

Did I need new makeup? Definitely not. But I couldn't resist! I was going through my makeup collection the other day and realized I hadn't gone makeup shopping in months. Seriously, I think the last time I bought new makeup was back in December. So naturally, I felt like I needed some new goodies to play with, and rushed out to Ulta. None of the products I got are new or limited edition. Drugstore brands haven''t really come out with exciting new collections this fall. So I decided to pick up a few things I've had my eye on for the past few months.

Makeup Revolution Iconic 1 Redemption Eyeshadow Palette -- This palette is a dupe for the iconic Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow palette. I lost my UD palette a few years ago at a hotel, but cringed at the thought of shelling out another $50 to purchase a new Naked palette. When I saw this palette at Ulta for $7, I knew I had to get it. The colors seem identical to the UD Naked palette, and the reviews on these look excellent too. Expect a blogpost with this soon if all goes well.

Almay Smart Shade Lip Butter in Berry Medium -- Back about five years ago, I was obsessed with the Revlon lip butters. Last year, their sister company Almay released their own line of lip butters. I owned every single color in the Revlon lip butter line and thought nothing could come close to their formula...but I was mistaken. The Almay lip butters are so much creamier and apply seamlessly on the lips. I already own two colors in this line, but picked up this gorgeous berry shade for the fall and winter season. As with the Revlon lip butters, my favorite part is that they are the perfect consistency between a lipstick and tinted lip balm, and are not too sheer but not too opaque either.

Palladio Shadow & Liner Herbal Crayon in Iced Coffee -- Palladio is another makeup brand that is new to Ulta. The crayons were on sale at Ulta, so I decided to pick one up and try it. The color is a cool taupe that I think would look pretty as a liner brighten up the eyes on a no makeup day.

NYX Cosmetics Hot Singles Eyeshadows in Sex Kitten and Gold Lust -- NYX makes some of the best drugstore eyeshadows. This particular formula is one of their older ones, but is my preference over their newer Prismatic eyeshadows. Mainly because I can depot these and pop them in my Z-palette. Second because the packaging and product is more sturdy. I picked up these two shades because they're gorgeous, everyday colors that make an essential addition to my Z-palette.

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blush in Flushed -- How gorgeous is this blush. Such a beautiful bright, watermelon pink color that's like a mattified version of Benefit's Bella Bamba. I definitely don't have a color like this in my collection, which is why I had to get my hands on it this fall. It would make a gorgeous color for the summer, but I could also see it giving that just-came-out-of-the-chill flush to the cheeks.

Nivea A Kiss of Milk & Honey Soothing Lip Care -- I have no shortage of clear lip balms. In fact, I have an embarrassing amount compared to how often I actually remember to apply lip balm. But I was shopping at Ulta, and I couldn't help but pick this baby up. It's one of my favorite lip balms out there. The scent is uber yummy and cozy, and the most hydrating balm I've ever tried. I prefer it to the EOS lip balm, Chapstick, Burt's Bees, etc.

Soap & Glory Rich & Foamous Body Wash
Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Body Milk Lotion

I swear I had no intention of picking up this product when I first stepped foot in Ulta. But of course I was perusing the aisles, saw that Soap & Glory products were buy one, get the other half off and had to get this. I hate the classic S&G scent. Most people love it, but it makes me nauseous. So I thought no way in hell will I ever use any S&G body products. But I was wrong. I am obsessed with their Smoothie Star line. It smells like oats, almonds, and brown sugar...the most cozy, comforting scent for winter time. Luckily, winter also happens to be the season when my skin becomes parched and cracked and in desperate need of body lotion. I used to get the Bath & Body Works body lotions and butters, but they're all so richly scented it's sort of become off-putting to me. So I decided to try the S&G body lotion this winter because of the pleasing scent, the fact that the lotion comes with a pump ( I hate greasy lotion hands), and of course the cute pink packaging. As I was picking up the body lotion, I of course decided to get the body wash with the same oatmeal sugar scent. Cannot wait to use these babies this winter <3

Recent Random Favorites ♥

Good evening beautifuls, and Happy Monday! I'm hoping you all had a fantastic weekend, I know I sure did. On Saturday I went to a corn maze in the Hamptons and finally ate some apple cider donuts!  And then on Sunday I went down to the city where I had brunch with some co-interns and then went to see Matilda on Broadway. I ended up spending wayyyyy too much money this weekend, but it was so worth it because of all the cool experiences I've had in just one weekend.

I'm currently on a very chill rotation where I literally work like 4-6 hours a day and it's all really cool stuff like teaching, going to the WIC office, and doing at-home assignments about the social determinants of medicine. Really cool, and very chill except for the day I'm floated to the floor and have an Urgi shift. But besides that it's incredibly chill. Much needed break.

I'm so proud of myself, I conquered my fears and went to the doctor last Friday. I've literally been so scared to go to the doctor, but it was very liberating. I cried after realizing how high my weight had climbed, but there's only one way from here. I bought a gym membership last month, but didn't get to use it because of my 80-90 hour weeks on NICU. Now that I'm working much less and have more breathing space, it's time to get back on the healthy track. So tonight I decided to relax one last night and order in some Chinese food as a last hurrah. Tomorrow I'm starting my diet....and need to stop spending so much money :X my loan repayment period officially begins November 22nd, so it's my last few weeks to spoil myself rotten until most of my paycheck goes to the loan gods. I've saved up an impressive $8,000 in my savings account which I'm super proud of myself about. Now that I have a good foundation, it's time to start making solid financial decisions and setting up that Roth IRA.

Enough adult talk. I wanted to talk about some recent random things I've been loving. These things are veryyyy random, and none of them are beauty related. I haven't touched my makeup since June. RIP Makeup collection. But the fall and winter's coming up meaning lots of events meaning resurrection of my makeup collection. So watch out!

Black Velvet Hangers

Cheese and Crackers!

INM Clear Bond Base Coat

Bath & Body Works Marshmallow Pumpkin Latte Body Spray

Bath & Body Works Cinnamon Sugared Donut Candle

Dana Buchman Slimming Pull-On Pants

Green Mountain Coffee Pumpkin Spice K-Cups

SaveSave

September Updates

Hey beautifuls. Welcome to October, it's offficiallyyyy fall! My favorite season of the year. Fall is especially exciting for me this year because I'm in a new city which means new adventures. What sucks is that I'm currently on the worst rotation that I've had thus far -- NICU -- and have zero time to enjoy the fall weather. It's incredibly overwhelming, a busy service, and I absolutely detest ICU care. The service is just so busy and understaffed that it's really really easy to get lost and burn out. I've been so stressed this month, and have resorted to my worst habits again. Luckily, I have one more week of the NICU and then one week of brutal nursery nights and then I'm on two months of easy rotations and a 2-week vacation! Super excited to get back to Pittsburgh and see my friends and family.

It's so easy to lose sight of things that matter when you're busy, overworked, and stressed day in and day out. Things like your emotional health, physical health, hobbies, happiness, relationships. And I'm honestly tired of feeling like that. I feel so bad that I come back from home so tired and worn out that I neglect my family when they want to talk to me. My physical health has definitely deteriorated. I come home everyday, immediately lay down in bed with takeout or junk food and binge eat. And it makes me feel disgusting that food has once again become my comfort. So I'm trying this new resolve where each day I do one good thing for myself. Whether that's catching up on beauty buzz, exercising, reading my new cookbook, making dinner, taking a bath, or even cleaning up my apartment. Just one productive thing per day to keep my mental sanity so I don't resort to binge eating.

So anyways, I was going to end this post with my favorites, but this post is already getting so long that I might just write a separate post. I haven't done a favorites post in sooooo long. Lots to update you guys on :) see you soon lovers <3