Although I try to switch up my makeup on a daily basis, I always have my "go-to" look of the season, which I actually end up wearing most days of the week. For winter, I tend to stick to warm neutrals and a glowy, dewy makeup. 

I've shown the entire pile of products I use from the time I get out of the shower to the time I hit the door. My 'base' products and hair products don't tend to change too much from season to season, but the makeup products I use usually do change. 

For the winter season, my emphasis is on hydration hydration hydration. I like to hydrate my skin as much as possible using body butters, which are more moisturizing than plain jane body lotions. I also become more aggressive about hydrating my underye area, which can get very wrinkly during this season. As far as my haircare goes, I also tend to go a bit more aggressive towards keeping my hair soft. I've been using moroccan argan oil, but I think I might switch over to something lighter as the weather gets a bit better because putting a dry oil on my hair weighs it down significantly and makes it feel very greasy within a day. I've been washing my hair more often since I've been using the dry oil, which actually worsens the situation by stripping my hair of moisturize and can sometimes exacerbate the frizziness.

Body Care Products

Bath & Body Works Body Butter in Warm Vanilla Sugar

Aveeno Smart Essentials Daily Nourishing Moisturizer SPF 30

Clinique All About Eyes Rich Eye Cream

Secret Powder Fresh Deodorant

Hair Products

The Wet Brush

John Freida Frizz Ease Daily Nourishment Leave-In Conditioner

Organix Renewing Argan Oil of Morocco Penetrating Oil

Makeup Products

bareMinerals Matte Foundation in Golden Tan (in picture above)

bareMinerals Mineral Veil (in picture above)

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser in Honey

Milani Secret Cover Concealer Stick in Medium

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Lorac Champagne Dreams Eyeshadow Palette

CoverGirl Lashblast Clump Crusher Mascara

Physician's Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Bronzer

Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Dollface

L'Oreal Glossy Balm in Lovely Mocha

Pink, glowing cheeks and a neutral makeup look

Up close with more sunlight. See how a highlighter and light pink matte blush work together beautifully to create a "lit from within" glow? Plus, you can see how the combination of a liquid + cream concealer cover up my hideously dark under eye circles.
Plus, see how full my lashes look with the Lash Blast mascara? Loving it. 

My Winter Makeup Bin

Lo and behold, I'm sick again.

For some reason, I've being getting sick so much during this fall-winter season. I want to say this is my third or fourth time getting sick this season alone. I had a cold back in October, I got the flu a few weeks back over New Year's, and I have a cold again. I feel like I may have gotten bronchitis or a pneumonia now? I had a raging fever on Wednesday and I've just been coughing and hacking since.

I've also been having a lot of negative thoughts raging through my mind lately. One of my biggest goals this year is to stay positive, but sometimes life just brings you down so hard and it's really hard to get back up again. I'm really trying to turn my mood around and get things flowing again (because I literally have spent the entire weekend doing absolutely nothing), but I'm on a miserable rotation during a very crappy time of the year, so it's very very hard.

But anyways, without further moping, I wanted to talk about some makeup today. Talking about beauty products makes me happy so this post is a perfect pick-me-up for me on this crappy weekend. I always find the months of January and February to be a little awkward because it's right in between the holiday time and spring. It's also a very dull part of the year because it's always snowy and cold and gross out, and the time that seasonal depression rates skyrocket. To perk things up during this dull time of the year, I like to use glowy skin products and keep things neutral on my face. I bust out my bronzers, highlighters, and sparkly eyeshadows to make things look more alive while keeping my makeup looks as natural and nude as possible. So as you see my most used products of the month down below, you'll see that neutral tones, sparkle, and shimmer is the theme for my January-February winter makeup bin.

Here's what I keep in my everyday makeup bin on my dresser for the wintertime. I do switch things up every now and then (especially my lip products), but these are my everyday reach-for beauty products. I didn't mention any foundations or face concealers or powders, but I go back and forth between my bareMinerals foundation and the L'Oreal True Lumi liquid foundation, with my bareMinerals Mineral Veil as a setting powder.

Eye Products
CoverGirl Lash Blast Clump Crusher Mascara
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser in Honey
Milani Secret Cover Concealer Stick in Medium
Wet & Wild Eyeshadow Trio in Walking on Eggshells
Lorac Champagne Dreams Eyeshadow Palette
Sephora Glitter Eyeliner
NYX Retractable Eyeliner in Golden Olive

Face Products
Physician's Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Bronzer
Tarte Fantasy Cheek Stain Champagne Highlighter
Milani Baked Blush in Red Vino
NARS Blush in Deep Throat

Lip Products
Almay Butter Kiss Lipstick in Nude Light-Medium
MAC Lipstick in Creme in Your Coffee
NYX Butter Gloss in Tiramisu
Benefit Ultra Plush Lipgloss in Coralista

$10 Sundays: Almay Butter Kiss Lipstick & Beauty Sponge

Bringing this post to you a little late this week since I actually bought the stuff on Monday.

For this week, I decided to get a few stuff I've been meaning to try. First off, I wanted to get a beauty sponge for my liquid foundation. I wear powder foundation on most days, but over the past few months I've been wearing more liquid foundation because it takes less time to put on in the morning and it's a bit easier to work with than loose mineral foundation. I've been applying my L'Oreal True Match Lumi Healthy Luminous Foundation with my bare fingers, but I find that it leaves it looking streaky and patchy on my face this way. Also, I think applying the foundation with my fingers causes me to waste product. I've heard how wonderful the Beauty Blender is, but I just cannot bring myself to spend $20 on a tool I have no idea how to work with. Therefore, I figured I'd try a $5 beauty sponge from Walmart before I go on to buy the Beauty Blender. Who knows, I might not even need to buy it! I like it because it has both a rounded and precision end, just like the actual Beauty Blender. My only concern is washing the sponge, since it looks like a mecca for bacteria. Hoping a little brush shampoo will do the trick?

Next, I really wanted to try the new Almay Butter Kiss Lipsticks since I'm absolutely head over heels about the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters, which are similar to the new Almay lipsticks. I've raved about the lip butters in multiple lip-related posts ever since their release. They are definitely my most loved lip products, and I own nearly every single shade in the collection. Since Almay and Revlon are the owned by the same company, I've been super excited about the Almay Butter Kiss Lipsticks. From reading the reviews, I hear they're sheerer than the Revlon Lip Butters, but also more hydrating. I'm a huge fan of sheer lip products so this product is a win-win for me. As far as the shade goes, I struggled a little bit to find the one I wanted to try first. I have several berry-toned lip products, the pink shades didn't look too appealing to me, and I'm not a big red lip fan. Therefore, I decided to pick up the Nude Light/Medium shade because from the swatches online, it seems like it's a sheer red-brown shade which makes it a perfect everyday MLBB color. I love those types of lip products because I can throw them in my bag at work and slide some on without having to fuss around or even use a mirror.

I'm super excited to try out the products I got this week! I'm working on a "Winter Makeup Routine" post and I'm pretty sure these products will get some sort of mention because they seem like they're good everyday products (if they work out of course).

Crafting Fridays: Spring Cleaning

I haven't done a Crafting Friday in a while! Adjusting back to school has been quite difficult and I honestly haven't had time for too many craft projects. Next to time, I think one of the biggest obstacles that prevented me from starting a craft project was the fact that my room has been so cluttered. I had bags of crafting hauls that I hadn't put away, and the art stuff on my bookshelf was a huge, disorganized mess. So this weekend, I decided to deep clean my apartment a little and get things more organized. I know it's not exactly an 'art project' but having an organized life and space is very important and sets the foundation for having a happy, healthy, productive life which is my biggest goal for 2015.

I took some snapshots and here are some of my triumphs over the weekend.

My new and improved crafting shelf! In my huge pink box, I have a bunch of random bits and bobs including construction paper, wooden crafts, felt projects, a small blank canvas, etc. I went through the whole box and did end up distributing out some stuff, so it's much much much cleaner than before! Right next to it, I have a pretty little wooden pink box containing some of my most used acrylic paints as well as a vase for my paintbrushes. I haven't painted in quite a while, but I'm hoping to get back into it sometime soon! Right next to my 'paint station', I have a couple photo albums and then also a small snapware box containing some random jewelry pieces. And then finally on the right is my scrapbooking station. The sparkling silver box contains photos, memorabilia, letters, stickers, gems, etc for scrapbook designing. The three-tiered snapware box contains extra gluesticks, more paint tubes, pom pons, glitters, etc. And on the very right I have scrapbooking paper and my scrapbook album.

I finally cleaned my kitchen as well, which needed some serious deep cleaning! I re-organized my fridge, shelves, pantries and also cleaned the surfaces. The countertops do look a bit cluttered but that is because we have a very very small space and a lot of appliances, so we have very minimal space for other things. But this is much much better than before, and I'm overall very happy with it.

Our new dish closet! The plates and bowls are on the left (most of them are still in the dishwasher) whilst the cups and mugs are layered alongside it. Needless to say, we have a lot of mugs and drink ware at our place. And then the second shelf has our bigger bowls for cooking and baking, as well as some tupperware and travel mugs.

Our much-loved tea & coffee section. Lots of herbal tea, some green tea, hot chocolate packets, random coffee sachets, K-cups, etc.

My new and improved closet! Again, lots of stuff in a small space but much more organized than before. I've arranged them according to type of clothing. It progresses from tanks to t-shirts to long tees to cardigans to chunkier sweaters to hoodies. And amongst each type of clothing, they are arranged by color. I also went ahead and threw away any old, ragged pieces of clothing I had that I knew I would never wear (turns out I had a lot!).

And lastly, my shoes. I obviously photoshopped this picture to maximize the brightness so you can see clearly. I threw away a lot of worn out shoes and arranged my new shoes according to ones I would wear most. I also have some boots and flip flops that wouldn't fit in my shoe rack.

So there you go, my big spring cleaning! I still have some more things to clean out, but this was a good start. It feels great to start the new year off with a clean, organized house. Now that my things are cleaner and more organized, it makes starting a crafting project a lot easier since I know where things are and I have space to do it. Having an organized home is much much less stressful than coming home to a disorganized mess every day.

Hope to have more crafting projects up in the next few weeks! My next project I think is going to be my inspiration board. Stay tuned!

Becoming A Morning Person

Ever since I started my surgery/anesthesia rotation, I've been waking up a lot earlier than usual. For anesthesia, I've been trying to get to the hospital by 6 AM so I have ben waking up around 4-4:30am each morning to make the bus that would get me to the hospital by that time. And this isn't even the worst part. Once I'm on surgery, I have to be there by 5 AM, so that means I'll have to start waking up around 3:30 each morning! While I have always been more of a morning person, waking up this early has been pretty difficult since I'm not used to it and lets be honest, it's a little extreme waking up at 3 in the morning!

Readjusting my sleeping time has been one of the biggest challenges for me during medical school. My usual bedtime is around 11-12 at night, and it's been hard to change gears and start sleeping at 9pm. On top of that, I have low thyroid function, which means that my body really freaks out if I get less than 7-8 hours of sleep. So, having a good night's sleep is pretty important for me. It hasn't been easy forcing myself to sleep when my mind is still awake. With practice, I have gotten better at it, although I still struggle from time to time. Here are some of the best tips I've found for getting a more restful night of sleep.

1. Find what sleep-aid works for you
For me, watching some Netflix while I'm in bed helps me relax and puts me in sleep mode. I have sooo much stress and catecholamines rushing through my body during the workday, which I often bring home. So it's nice to watch a little bit of The Office or New Girl to help me relax and calm my mind, which then allows me to drift off to sleep. Now, this strategy doesn't work for everyone. In fact, most research shows that watching TV or looking a computer screen before bed actually makes for a harder time falling asleep since the light emanating from the screen acts as a 'daylight' signal to your brain and shuts off melatonin production, a hormone that helps you fall asleep. Therefore, watching Netflix before bed isn't a reasonable idea for everyone.
Other things that help people drift off into dream world include sipping hot (herbal) tea, listening to music, doing breathing exercises, reading a book, finishing up their to-do list for the day, taking a hot shower, or even exercising. Find what works for you and stick with it.

2. Avoid caffeine at night
No matter who you are, it's a terrible idea to drink any sort of caffeinated beverage after 6pm (even earlier if you're more sensitive to caffeine!). Obviously coffee and tea are big sources, but even soft drinks or energy drinks can contain hidden stimulants. I used to drink coffee up to 8pm at night to help me study, but that caused me to have a very poor night of sleep once I got done studying. Therefore, I swear off all caffeine beverages after 6pm and if I do get a caffeine craving or if I want a jolt of energy, I opt for decaf coffee. It still has a tiny bit of caffeine, which gets me through a slump if I need to get some last-minute errands done, but still allows me to fall asleep at night.

3. Avoid sleeping pills
Yes, I will admit I have used Benadryl and even benzodiazepines when I've been feeling extra anxious and needed major help falling asleep. And yes, it does numb your mind and help you fall asleep faster. However, I absolutely do not recommend sleeping medications unless you really need them because it makes you extremely fatigued the next morning, and can even cause you to sleep in and miss that important morning meeting. Every single time I have used pharmacological sleep agents, I've felt terrible the next morning and needed multiple cups of coffee to get me through the day. On top of that, some sleeping agents can be very addicting, and you can soon find yourself not being able to sleep without those medicines.
Now of course there are some people who need medications for sleeping. If you have a medical problem that prevents you from falling asleep or if you have serious depression or anxiety that affects your sleeping habits, then I think it's a great idea to seek medical advice.

4. Wake up at the same time each morning 
Weekends can often ruin sleep hygiene. Many people, including myself, tend to stay up later on Friday and Saturday nights and then find themselves being wide awake Sunday night, unable to fall asleep. While it's very hard to do so, try to wake up at the same time each morning, including Saturday and Sunday, no matter what time you fell asleep the night before. Yes you're going to be groggy and need to reach for the coffee pot, but you will be able to ease yourself to sleep much much easier that night and won't have to readjust your circadian rhythms come Monday.

5. Coffee is not the enemy
Many people have this thing against coffee. I hate when people come up to me and are like "damn you drink coffee every day" or "damn you always get Starbucks in the morning". I'm a busy medical student who has a jam packed day and the way I treat myself in the morning is coffee even though I get a good amount of sleep each night. I absolutely love coffee, especially Starbucks, and for me, coffee sets the tone for a good day. It's just one of my daily rituals that makes me happy and plus, I love the taste of coffee.
There is nothing wrong with drinking coffee on a regular basis. It's not a poison and it's not going to kill you. Now if you're chugging down four cups of coffee a day or if coffee makes your heart pound and gives you palpitations, that can be an issue. But 1-2 cups a day if you can tolerate it is not bad. And yes, that includes Starbucks. Just don't drink it too late in the day, and don't let yourself consume massive amounts and you'll be fine. Don't listen to the haters.

Words | Happy & Healthy #1

For years, I've tried to be the girl that doesn't listen to what other people have to say and just does my own thing. Back in high school, I always let others' comments get to my head and by the time I got to college, I vowed that I would never do that again. But flash forward several years later, I find myself reverting back to the same pattern as in high school. I let what everyone else does or says get to my head.

Take for example, school. I'm in a class with some of the most brilliant students in the country and I definitely do not shine amongst them. As a result, my self-esteem has been very down over the past few years to the point where I've resorted to very very very unhealthy ways of coping with the stress. And therefore, I've gained over 20 pounds in the past 2-3 years.

Am I proud of it? Of course not. I know that I look horrendous in the mirror and it's not even one of those "embrace your body" deals...I'm actually very unfit and unhealthy. I don't have curves, I just have stores of fat everywhere -- my arms, my face, legs, waist, everything. My diet is horrible and consists of fried foods and carbohydrates. And it's gotten to the point where others have noticed too. One of my really good friends nicknamed me "fatty". While I know he doesn't mean to be vicious when he says it, it's quite embarrassing and offensive. And it's not his fault, I know he's trying to encourage me to exercise more since we used to be gym buddies before I lost control of my eating behaviors. Even my family nags me about my weight every single time I go home. My mom also endorses various negative names for my weight include "cow", "fatass", "obese".

I would be lying if I said that these words and labels didn't hurt me. I think it is so incredibly discouraging and rude to call someone by those names, especially when you don't know their full story. Nobody has asked me why I've gained weight or if everything has been okay. They're just quick to label me, judge me, and say I need to change without even knowing my story or offering to help. At the same time, these words also motivate me to work hard and reverse this negative label that has been thwarted on me. Also, continuing on this lifestyle of an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle will eventually lead to major medical problems for me down the road. I need to start changing now.

So without more moping or going into the details about my recent major weight gain, I just wanted to dedicate this post to the beginning of a long, but hopefully fruitful journey. I've been on the weight-loss bandwagon for several years now and it's a very very challenging thing especially if you have binge eating disorder and a low-functioning thyroid on top of being super extremely busy. I do take thyroid replacement pills, but even then I feel like my metabolism is slower than most people's. I gain weight very fast and my body is very salt- sensitive. I'm one of those people who needs to watch what I eat very carefully and exercise regularly to prevent weight gain. It's not fun and it makes weight loss VERY hard, but I know it's possible.

This week I've tracking my nutritional intake on a regular, but restricted, diet. Here's what I've learned from this week so far:

1. I need to watch my sodium intake
Right now, I'm tracking about 2500-3000mg of sodium a day. Not horrendous but it could be better. My goal for the upcoming week is to eat < 2500mg sodium per day.

2. Less carbs, please!
I think this is the area that needs the most work by far. Right now, I'm tracking about 250g of carbohydrates a day, which calculates to about 60-70% of my caloric intake. That is absolutely horrible. Carbohydrates get converted directly to fat, so it's best to restrict them to < 40% of your caloric intake daily for weight loss. My goal for this week is to start off slow and cut it back to about 180g a day. That should measure out to about 50%. The trick to this is eating more protein. I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and bought several packs of tofu and a pack of chicken, which I'm hoping will boost my protein intake and reduce my carbohydrate consumption.

3. Exercise
I haven't started exercising yet because I've been focusing on my diet, but I'm planning on starting light cardio this upcoming week. I want to start off Monday by doing a stretching routine to rev up my tight muscles. I haven't exercised in a long time, shamefully, so I want to make sure I have my muscles stretched before moving on. Having looser muscles improves my motivation to workout and makes it seem like less of a daunting task.

4. Water
The never ending battle: hydration. My goal for this week is to drink at least 6 cups of water/day.

Beauty Brands I Want To Try In 2015