January has already come and gone. How crazy is it that we're already one month done with 2017? The best part is that I only have 3 more ED shifts left and am sooooo close to finishing the worst block of the year. I'm stressing hardcore about taking Step 3 in just two short weeks. I really hope it is as easy as people say it is.

Let's switch gears and talk about my favorites from this month. I'm going to try and get better about being on top of my monthly favorites this year #newyearresolution. Since I skipped my December favorites this year, I have a ton of things to share with you guys. Not too much makeup, but lots of new skincare and haircare favorites, a lot of which have been game changing for me.

NYX Hot Singles Eyeshadow in Sex Kitten -- I ordered a bunch of new eyeshadows this month, but I've had this NYX shadow sitting in my Z-palette for months. I finally used it this month and really love the color -- a rosy gold that leans more brown than rose. Plus, this shade has a gorgeous satin finish and stays on all day.

Revlon ColorStay Creme Eyeshadow in Caramel -- I just bought this eyeshadow a few weeks ago and am already in love. The color is absolutely gorgeous. The consistency of this cream shadow is super smooth and it stays put all day without creasing. 

BareMinerals Lasting Line Long-Wearing Eyeliner in Lasting Brown -- I've never been a huge fan of eyeliners, but on my days off this month I've been reaching for a brown eyeliner. I love how creamy and easy this pencil is to apply and it smudges easily for a smoky effect.

NYX Glitter Primer -- You guys know that I love me some glittery eyeshadows. This primer has changed my life. It is super tacky, like glue, and helps chunky glitter shadows stay on all day. I put this under cream eyeshadows and super chunky shadows like the ones in the Lorac Metal Pro Palette and it helps the shadows stay in place without causing massive glitter fallout under my eyes. LOVE.

Revlon Kiss Balm Lip Balm in Berry Burst -- Very creamy and great for casual days when you just want to slip on a lip balm. I just noticed that these have SPF 20 which is a bonus!

Soap & Glory Rich and Foamous Body Wash -- this is the body wash I've been using all month. It has a very exhilarating oatmeal-sugar scent. It's a creamy body wash that doesn't lather all that well, but leaves my skin very supple and moisturized. Not sure if I'll repurchase it because of the hefty price tag, but this has definitely been a favorite this month. 

OGX Quenched Sea Mineral Moisture Shimmering Weightless Moisture Replenisher -- This product might be the star of the show this month. I haven't always advertised it on this blog, but I've always had a horrible relationship with my hair. It's okay on the days I wash and condition, but the next day it becomes very dry, coarse, and tangly to the point where I actually broke my Wet Brush earlier in the month trying to fight with second day hair. I started using this product on my second and third day hair two weeks ago and it has changed my life forever. Not only does this have a refreshing beachy 'just got out of the waves' scent, but it hydrates and softens my hair without weighing it down. This is exactly the kind of holy grail hair product I've been looking for all my life and I finally found it. This has changed my hair game to where it is smooth, healthy, shiny, and bouncy all day everyday even on days where I don't shampoo. I could rave about this product all damn day, so I'll just stop here. 

Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Treatment Masque -- This is the second part of why my hair has been so healthy this month. In fact, I ran out of this product and just repurchased my second tub. It has natural ingredients in addition to keratin that smoothens, strengthens, and restores my hair (just like the label says). I use this once or twice a week and my hair already feels thicker and stronger after using it for a month. I've since tried its counterpart shampoo and conditioner, which isn't that great, but this masque is THE best drugstore hair mask I've tried and is very affordable. Must try if you have dry and coarse hair like me. 

Revlon Spring 2017 Mini Haul & Swatches

Happy Sunday! Actually not really one of the better Sundays I've had. This month on ED has disoriented me so much. I'm switching from evening shifts to overnight shifts to daytime shifts all over the place. It's been such an exhausting two weeks, can't believe I have two more left. The only good part is that it's going to be smooth sailing from here on out once this rotation is over. To make matters even worse, I woke up feeling sick this morning and only got 4 hours of sleep because I'm on backup call today. Oh and I'm taking Step 3 in less than a month and have been spending my rare days off studying. Pretty much the lowest point of intern year thus far.

I wanted to share an Ulta haul today. I bought a few goodies last week and have been playing with them over the last few days. Revlon products were buy one get one free so I decided to pick up a few things from their new spring collection. There are soooo many new products at the drugstore this spring. It feels like every single drugstore brand is putting out a new collection. Revlon has always been one of my favorite drugstore brands, so I was super excited to try out some of their new launches!

Revlon Kiss Balm Lip Balm in Berry Burst -- I'm a sucker for tinted lip balms. I like the way these smell and the packaging. It has a pleasant fruity, berry scent and applies quite smoothly on the lips. I've been loving a sheer berry lip during the winter, and this one is perfect for those no-makeup makeup days. It's also buildable so if I do want a more opaque lip, it's achievable with this. The only con about this product is that it's not as hydrating as some other tinted lip balms out there.

Revlon Ultra HD Gel Lipcolor in Desert -- I haven't played around with this product all that much yet, so I can't give you my full opinion its application and longevity. However, it's a gorgeous pinky-brown that applies very smoothly on the swatch. I thought these would be full on opaque, but I like that it's more of a medium-opaque shade.

Revlon ColorStay Creme Eyeshadow in Caramel (710) and Chocolate (720) -- These cream eyeshadows are packaged very similarly to the Maybelline Color Tattoos so I'm assuming they are meant to be dupes. However, I personally think that these are better than the Color Tattoos. These apply much more evenly and smoothly compared to the Color Tattoos. I've worn the shade Caramel a couple times on top of my NYX Glitter Primer and I'm honestly in love. It's a gorgeous medium golden-bronze color brightens up my eyes and it lasts all day without creasing. The trick with these cream shadows is using a tacky primer underneath, such as the NYX Glitter Primer. My biggest gripe with the Color Tattoos was that they were a pain to apply without patchiness or fallout. What I love about these Revlon cream shadows is that they come with a mini brush that is perfect for applying the shadows and to evenly spread the color evenly.

I haven't played with the shade Chocolate yet, but I was a bit disappointed at how dark the color is. I'm going to try and play with this some more, but it might end up being more suited as an outer corner or crease color more than an all-over-eyelid color. But the color still applies very evenly on the swatch, so the formula is very similar to Caramel.

Berry Burst, Desert, Caramel, Chocolate

Here are some swatches of the products above. Expect a few more hauls coming up in the next few weeks! Oh and plus, this weekend Ulta launched a 20% off coupon so expect a few more goodies from Ulta to be showcased here in the next week! :)

Bath & Body Works Haul

Survived the first week of my Emergency Medicine rotation! Oh my gosh, even though it's been only one week, it feels like it has been a whole month. The shifts go by fast, but it is just so exhausting especially during the cold and flu season. I have today and tomorrow off, and it feels soooooo nice, even though most of my days off have been spent studying for Step 3.

Like every year, I bought a crap ton of stuff from Bath & Body Works during their winter Semi-Annual Sale. I love their shower gels, so I stock up each year during the winter sale. I think I got a good mix of stuff this year, so I'm super excited to be sharing it with y'all.

Yummm, the shower gels. I picked up 7 scents this year. I've been a huge fan of the B&BW shower gels for over two years now. They lather so well and the scent lingers even after I step out of the shower, which is a huge plus. This year, I tried to get a mix of scent families. Amongst my favorites Snowflakes & Cashmere, Peony, and Velvet Sugar.
My favorite of the bunch would have to be Velvet Sugar. I love the packaging and the shower gel smells just like candy, but it's not sickly sweet like Vanilla Bean Noel is. Vanilla Bean Noel has a veeeery sweet sugar cookie scent, but I'm hoping that it's not as overpowering on my skin. I'm obsessed with Cashmere Glow scent, but they didn't have it in the full size, so I purchased the travel size instead for trips and such. Snowflakes & Cashmere smells pretty similar to Cashmere Glow, so I'm happy I snagged that baby up. I was a little sad that Peach Bellini and Mango Mandarin smelled so similar to one another. I still love the freshness of each scent and can't wait to use them during the summer. Of the bunch, Freesia was a huge disappointment. It smells like laundry detergent. Yuck, that's the biggest downside of ordering online -- you can't really smell it before you purchase it. But still beats shopping in a busy little boutique and standing in the long line.

I also picked up some foaming hand soaps. Again, love these. I used to buy just regular Up & Up hand soaps from Target, but I bought a few for my new apartment last summer and fell in love. And never looked back! I currently have holiday-themed hand soaps in my kitchen and bathroom, so I picked up some for the spring when those run out. The pictures on these look so spring-y!

I burned through the last bit of my favorite candle, Marshmallow Fireside, so of course I had to pick another one up. The packaging on this year's candle looks oh so adorable.

I finally ran out of antibacterial hand gel, so it was time to restock. These 5 came in a set, I'm blanking on the name. I love the packaging and honestly there's not a scent I dislike in this bunch. My favorite is "On Christmas We Wear Pink". Super sparkly and smells like a cupcake.

Last but not least, I got a new antibacterial gel holder. This is sooooo sparkly and gorgeous, the picture does not do it justice. Looks beautiful on my black crossbody bag.

That's it for this haul! I've been shopping a ton over the last few weeks, so be expecting a Target and Ulta haul soon. January is definitely going to be the month of haul posts! Toodles <3 

Updates, New Year 2017 Style

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Hey guys so long long time no post.
Actually only a few weeks not that long. I know I stopped right in the middle of Blogmas, and there's a few reasons behind that.
The holiday season was going great, but then my vacation rolled around. I was like "oh I'll pre-date a few of my posts" because I had been so busy with packing and getting adjusted to the floors. But holiday break was a huge disaster this year. My parents got into a huge fight a few days before I arrived in Pittsburgh, which meant that our annual trip to Oglebay was horrible and cold. Instead of enjoying as a family, my parents exchanged sneers whenever they could and it didn't really feel like we were "together" like you're supposed to feel during the holidays. On our Christmas Eve brunch at my favorite brunch spot in Oglebay, my family got into a HUGE fight and we pretty much left the lodge abruptly and came straight back to Pittsburgh. As soon as we got home, my mom took a few sleeping pills and went to bed for all of Christmas Eve Day. My dad was MIA and my brother was in his room on his computer for all of the day. What a wonderful Christmas Eve, right? Christmas Day was a little better, but still felt cold and not warm like the holidays are supposed to feel.

Flash forward to December 27th, my first day back to work. The first few days back I was on day shifts. But then December 29th I started night float. The morning of the 29th I was pre-call so I had the morning off, so I thought I would be productive and clean my apartment and get stuff done before my Step 3 studying spree began. Oh boy. I was taking out the trash at 8:30am wearing my backless slippers when the basement door chopped off a huge chunk of my heel, leaving a huge laceration that exposed my Achilles' tendon. Horrified, I stumbled down to the ED (thank god I live right next to the North Shore Hospital system) and had to get stitches. I was also told that I needed to buy a boot because I needed to keep my ankle immobilized. But the nearest medical supply store had orthopedic boots for $150, and after paying an ED co-pay of $200, I really wasn't feeling it. So I ACE-bandaged my ankle, slept a few hours, and then went into work at 6pm. I ordered an orthopedic boot online, but haven't even worn it because it makes my wound hurt even more due to the pressure it places at the back of the heel. The wound was excruciatingly painful for the first week, but now that it's been about 9 days or so, it's starting to feel a lot better. I can finally walk on it without limping. I'm nervous that my tendon might scar because I didn't listen to the doc's directions and immobilize my ankle, but I'm hoping that's not the case. The wound isn't healing pretty, but it's healing. Part of the skin was hanging off, so it was sutured on, but there's still a 1x1 area where the skin got chopped off and it's soft tissue with granulation tissue forming on top. It still hurts to put on shoes that dont' have an open back, but I'm hoping that gets better too. Luckily I have ED next so I can wear my spots shoes that I've smashed at the back to keep the area backless where my wound is. ANd I can wear scrubs that cover my wound nicely.

Even though the situation could've been a lot worse (such as having a tendon rupture or something), I'm still very traumatized. I haven't felt like talking to anyone and been more depressed than usual. I'm hoping to get back into my element soon, but it's hard when something so traumatic happens unexpectedly. I don't think I'll ever be able to rock summer shoes again without having an ugly scar at the back of my heel, even though I know I should feel grateful that at least the scars weren't on my face or that I'm not immobilized from a damaged tendon.

So 2017 didn't start off well for me, but here's hoping that the rest of the year bodes good health and prosperity. <3

Blogmas 2016 : Day 13 : Holiday Cards

One of my favorite things about the holidays is sending holiday cards. I love writing holiday cards to my friends and family each year. Gift picking gives me tons of anxiety, and can get very expensive, and nothing is more upsetting than when your friends don't even like the gift you got them. So this year, I'm giving presents to my immediate family and sending all of my close friends and family a holiday card. Giving cards is a great way to let someone know that you're thinking about them during the holiday season without spending a lot of money or tons of time picking out a present they may or may not like.

Usually I get my holiday cards from HomeGoods because they have a really good selection of unique cards for a low price. However, even though I went in mid-November this year, I was so surprised to find that all of the good holiday cards had been picked over. So this year's holiday cards are actually from Papyrus, which is a paperie chain with really cute card designs at an affordable price. I got a set of 15 foiled Christmas cards with a really cute envelope design for only $9.95, which isn't too shabby. They even came with gold envelope seals, which added a luxurious touch. The only thing I didn't realize until I got home was that the card actually had a Christmas message inside, not a holiday one. Usually I prefer to send cards with generic holiday messages, but I totally forgot to check carefully this time around. Oops. Most of my friends celebrate Christmas so it didn't end up being a big deal thankfully. And I just loved how the cards turned out this year!

And just a few extra card writing essentials -- a fine tip Sharpie pen and this super cute black book of addresses! Next year, I'll probably buy an additional pack of cards because 15 ended up being a little too less. I also want to custom print return address labels from a stationary store so I don't have to write my return address on every single card. 

Blogmas 2016 : Day 11 : Holiday Apartment Tour!

Get ready for a veeery photo heavy post! 

I'll be less verbose in this blog post and let you guys just focus on the pictures. This year, I decided to just decorate my living room/dining room space. Next year, I may branch out to the kitchen and bedrooms as well. Hope you enjoy! 

Let's start off with the sofa. You might recall the crimson side pillows from my fall apartment tour. I kept those the same and changed out the accent pillow. 

This accent pillow is also from HomeGoods for $24.99. I went holiday decor shopping in mid-November and was so surprised to see that everything, including the decorative pillows, had all been picked over. I got super lucky with this find! It's a beautiful standout piece and pops against my dark gray sofa color.  

I looooove the way my side table turned out (don't mind the white chips in the table, though). I'm obsessed with the gold flecked mini Christmas tree, which was only $9.99 from HomeGoods. It may be hard to see in the picture, but the branches are speckled with gold glitter. I hung some mini snowflake ornaments that I found at Walmart for only $1.99. The block sign is from HomeGoods for $3.99. Under it, I put these cute mini gift boxes I got from Michael's last year. Of course, I couldn't resist getting these cute wood animals decked in winter gear that I found at HomeGoods for $5.99 and $4.99.  I just love how festive this side table looks!

This is my coffee table centerpiece. Again, the gold tray is recycled from my fall apartment decor; I purchased it at Target over the summer for $16.99. I also recycled the pine cones from my fall tour. I love how pretty ornaments look mixed together with pine cones! These red and gold sparkly ornaments were from Dollar Tree for only $1! The mason jar vase is actually from my parents' house. My mom was planning on throwing it away, so I took it and decided to use it as part of my holiday decor. The gorgeous stem inside it is from Michael's for only $7.99 (and by that I mean $3 with sales and coupons). It's super sparkly and looks like freshly fallen snow on pine branches, very festive!

This is my Christmas tree this season! I couldn't get the lighting for the photo right so sorry it looks a bit off in this photo. It's a cheap-o pre-lit 7.5 feet artificial tree from Walmart for $39.99 that took me about an hour to get the branches splayed just right so that it didn't look bald. It doesn't look perfect by any means, but for the price it's not too shabby.

Here's a close-up of the Christmas tree. So, surprise, it's actually a black Christmas tree. I misread the box and didn't realize it until this morning when I was looking at my tree up close. You can't tell in the evening, but in the daytime it definitely sticks out as black. The ornaments are from Target, a box of 24 was $5.00 each and they have tons of color schemes to choose from. I picked up a box of red, green, gold ornaments and then another box of blue and silver ornaments. Love the way they look together! I didn't put any specialty ornaments this year, but I might next year.

Here is my dining table decor. I'm not completely satisfied with the way it looks, to be honest. It looks a bit plain and could benefit from a table runner. But, for now it will suffice! The poinsettias are artificial stems from Michael's for $9.99 (approx $4 with sales and coupons). Placemats are from Kohl's for I believe $7.99 each, but were on sale for $4 each. Tablecloth and cloth napkins are from HomeGoods for $14.99 and $5.99, respectively. Crockery is recycled from fall apartment tour and is from Pier 1 Imports. 

Here is the view from my dining table. Love how lit, warm, and inviting the space looks with these additions.

Along my furnace, I hung some clear white holiday lights that I picked up from Target for only $2.99. On either side of the heater I hung my mini stockings I got from Michael's a few years ago. These are soooooo cute, not sure if they still sell them, but they were only $4.99 regular price each!

I finally found the perfect piece for my long furnace area! For the last few months, I've struggled with what to put in this area. Luckily, when I was in Pittsburgh over vacation my mom was also planning on getting rid of this cute little dish/tray. But I decided to take it and use it for my furnace since it's so long and fits so well! I wanted to put some large ornaments inside, but didn't have a chance to go pick any up from the store. Instead, I put some small stems I had from Michael's and extra ornaments that wouldn't fit on my Christmas tree. 

Last but not least, I have to talk about this light pink Christmas tree on my work desk! Not the best picture, but I'll have better shots in my work desk decor post coming up in a few days. I loooove this tree. I think it might be one of my favorite pieces from my holiday decor haul this year. It's a baby pink-gold glittered bottlebrush tree from Michael's that was only $4 after sales and coupons! This fits my bedroom decor so well, and really makes my work desk pop.

#healthyholidays Day 11: Ahhh, nothing major today. I guess I'm happy that I didn't binge this weekend! 

Blogmas 2016 : Day 10 : Little Holiday Haul

Hey guys! Do you like how focused that picture is? I figured out why my uploaded pictures were showing up so blurry on Blogger. For some reason, saving it as a JPG file was making it look blurry. So I changed the format to PNG and under HTML, made sure the resolution was showing up as 1600, and wabaam my pictures look soooo much better now.

So today I wanted to share a mini holiday haul from this weekend. I spent most of today shopping. Totally unplanned, but I realized I needed an outfit for the holiday party this upcoming week, so finding an outfit took forever. Plus, I wandered a bit around Target, went to Trader Joe's, and hit up Ulta since it was right next door. Later on in the evening, I got a craving for Panda Express and drove to Forest Hills at like 8pm at night. Huuuge mistake. I absolutely hate driving in Queens, and my trip tonight definitely confirmed that, lol. The streets are so narrow and the traffic is horrendous so it makes for a bit of a dangerous driving situation. I had to squeeze my way through an illegally stopped car and the opposing traffic in a small side street. So grateful my car didn't get scratches everywhere. I'm pretty sure I also ran a few reds on my way there.  But I made it back in one piece, along with my car, whew! And the Panda Express chow mein and orange chicken really hit the spot.

I picked up a few festive items that I thought I would share with you guys. Target has some of the cutest holiday gift wrap at a very affordable price. I had such a hard time deciding on which pattern gift wrap I wanted to get this year. I finally decided on this adorable blue-white gift wrap with ice skating raccoons and polar bears. Each roll has 75 square feet and was only $2.50! They had lots of cute gift bags, tags, ribbon, and bows but since I'm only giving gifts to my immediate family this year, I just stuck to the gift wrap. I got the gift bows from Michael's. They were so unique and I think the red/gold is going to look stunning against the ice blue wrapping paper. Ah I just love buying Christmas gift giving stuff, definitely gets me in the festive mood!

While I was Michael's I also picked up a mini hot glue gun and glue sticks. I'm getting ready to make mason jar snow globes and realized I didn't have any glue in my art bin. I've been wanting to get a hot glue gun for ages, and this was the perfect opportunity!

Lastly, I picked up another crimson nailpolish. I've been alternating Essie Shearling Darling and Essie Bahama Mama on my nails every fall and winter for the past two years, so thought it was time for a change! I picked up Essie Nailpolish in Limited Addiction, which is a nice medium crimson shade. I love Shearling Darling, but I feel like it's a bit too dark and almost appears black. I wanted more of a red-crimson shade, so this looked nice on swatches online. So pumped to wear it this season! :)

#healthyholidays Day 10: Didn't binge eat my Panda Express takeout! :) ate half tonight and saved the rest for tomorrow :)