Ulta Shopping Spree

If you didn't say before, I got a gift card that I could use anywhere in my stocking this Christmas. I used some at Zara when I went to Seattle, the majority at Ulta and the remainder at Petco. But, I want to go over some of my purchases from Ulta!

I bought a beauty blender, two Formula 10.0.06 masks, Nyx's Wonder Stick, Eylure Naturalite eyelashes, Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream in the shade Stockholm, and the Benefit Bar They're Real mini mascara.

I tried the Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream and I absolutely love it. The shade is gorgeous and goes perfectly with my skin tone. I've been obsessive with matte lip products because they're a new statement beauty product. I highly recommend this product because it's affordable and easy to get at Ulta.

You can never go wrong with trying a new mascara. I decided to purchase the mini Benefit Bar They're Real mascara to see what it does to my lashes. We shall see the results soon!

I've been wanting to try the cream contour product so I grabbed Nyx's Wonder Stick! This will be part of my day one of winter quarter makeup look. Stay tuned for it!

I am excited to try the masks because I am again obsessive with masks. They're amazing for the skin and great to have especially for pamper evenings with friends. I've also been dying to try a beauty blender to apply my foundation so we will see how that goes once I am back in Bellingham with all my makeup.

Eyelashes? I am obsessed with them because they make my eyes look bigger and amazing! I had ones the tapered out thicker, but now I have ones that are balanced in thickness to try.

Snaps of Seattle

Here are a few snaps from my first time in Seattle, please give credit if you take them to share with others. All photos were taken with a Canon EOS Rebel T5 camera that I got for Christmas.

Enjoy!

A gorgeous sunrise from the ferry.

Some of the Seattle Skyline with Mt. Rainier in the background.

Chihuly glass sculpture.

The next two are closeups of the glass work Chihuly Garden and Glass.

Pike Place.

The Space Needle and the Ferris wheel.

Christmas Splendors

This is probably my favorite gift of all the things Santa brought for me. I lied, all my gifts are my favorite.I love the collage of pictures of MudLynn my mom made for my new Erin Condren planner! Can't wait to brag about it when I am at school. 

I am not obsessed with my dog, I just love her so much I could eat her up! You have got to admit that she is the cutest ever. 

Oh gosh! I got the camera of my dreams this Christmas. The Canon EOS Rebel T5! I can't wait to use it! I am going to use it for taking photos for this blog, IHSA horses and maybe even start a vlog channel on YouTube! Here are some test shots of MudLynn who is forever my doggy model.

Mud was very spoiled this Christmas. She got a new toy, treats, a new set from Up Country which I am in love with and she also got some puppy stairs since she is getting older. She is on a joint supplement, but I am making sure I do everything I can to make the future years easier for her.

I also got some awesome beauty products and can't wait to write a review post about them!

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all are having a wonderful night and waiting for Santa to come deliver the presents! I am currently at home with Mom and MudLynn watching some NCIS before bed. However, we started a new tradition. So normally, I open a gift (aka pajamas) each year. Starting this year, Mom made a new one or rather an extended version of one. 

So now it is Christmas Eve box - pajamas, movie, book, a new mug, and hot chocolate. 

I got the Peacock Starbucks travel mug, pajamas from Victorias Secret, a small box of Swiss Miss k-cups, the San Andreas movie, and The Big Bang Theory Trivia Guide.

I loved the entire box! I love getting this kind of stuff since I am a college student now. You can never not want pajamas, k-cups, or travel mugs. We're usually short or in need of this little bundle of items.

Why You Should Go A Week Every Month Make-up Free

For over two weeks, I have gone makeup free and let me tell you; my skin feels amazing.

By going a week or two without makeup, it lets your skin breathe after being clogged up with makeup. A two week period of letting the skin breathe is smart. Although it's better to do over the entire summer if you're outdoors a lot. I know I was when I was working a camp that makeup would be unnecessary for my job; I was with horses from sun-up to sundown. Over those two weeks, I have been cleansing my skin to prevent it from breakouts. Since I am a subscriber to Ipsy, I receive beauty products that are catered to my skin type.

What I have noticed after the two weeks of being makeup free and taking care of my skin is that my skin is soft, glowy, and blemish free. I also, in fact, drink a lot of water which helps keep my skin clear. Even if you don't have an Ipsy subscription, it is good to have products catered to your skin type, you don't want to dry out a normally oily skin; you'll want to get a product that is specifically for oily skin. It's simple as that!

Winterize Your Beauty with AdoreMe

Are you looking for ways to transition your beauty from fall to winter? Maybe use a new shade of nail polish or lipstick? Scroll down and see how my beauty looks transition while being paired up with different sets of beautiful sexy lingerie from AdoreMe.

It is very important to have a little something new in the beauty area when it comes to the changing of the seasons. My transition from fall to winter is seen more so through my lip and nail beauty. My eyes stay the same with my signature winged eyeliner, but it is changed with shadow. Fall, I use a the two colors Foxy and Snakebite from the Naked2 Palette; blending the Snakebite in a v-shape on the outer corner of my eye and using Foxy on the rest of my eyelid. In reference to my nail colors; in the fall, I go more for browns and nudes whereas in the winter I turn to shades of gold, red, burgundy, silver, blue and maybe a nude/salmony pink for a splash of color. I'm currently wearing OPI's Schnapps Out Of It on my nails.

Greta is in between fall and winter for me. Pumpkin colors are versatile both in the fall and winter. I would pair this with a natural smoky eye from the Naked2 palette, Essie's Good as Gold polish and Cover Girl's Ravishing Rose lipstick. A pop of pink is classic with natural colors for eyeshadow. Compared to that winter beauty look, in the fall, I would have had a medium shade of coffee brown on my eyes, a bronze nail color, and a bronze peach-colored lip like the Bronzed Peach by Cover Girl.

 

Blues are perfect for winter because it shows the side of a winter wonderland at Christmas. In the fall, I would have paired this with a soft pink eyeshadow and a nude lip. For this set, I would also pair a beautiful blue polish, perhaps Essie's Aruba Blue polish for that jewel-like effect, a classic winged eyeliner and a soft pink lip like Guavalicious by Cover Girl. In the winter, I would have paired this with a silver polish, nude lip and cat eye for the classy effect.

Evergreen is so versatile in the fall and winter seasons. With this color, in the fall, I would have paired this with a light coffee colored eye shadow, a brown lip like Coffee Crave from Cover Girl, and probably Essie's Sequin Stash polish. I like pairing dark lip and soft metallic nail tones in the fall especially with this evergreen color. In the winter, that really changes. With this evergreen color, I would pair it with a soft cat eye and a mesmerizing red lip (Garnet Flame by Cover Girl) along with a nude nail polish.

Mmm, the iconic red bra. I love the color of the bra because it is a very festive red and the bow in the center adds some beautiful but subtle detailing. In the fall, I would wear a nude-pink lip like Cover Girl's Smokey Rose, a warm brown and black smokey eye and a red polish like Essie's Forever Yummy. I like having something in beauty to match the lingerie set. In the winter, I would go for a cat eye, a medium red lipstick, and a soft fuschia nail like OPI's Bogota Blackberry. 

This beautiful set oozes purple and fuschia colors. With that in mind, you want to make sure you don't overload on those colors when making your beauty look. In the fall, I'd normally pair this set from AdoreMe with a cat eye, a dark plum lip, and a dark purple nail polish. Again, fall is when I go for dark colors. For the winter, I would pair this with a light violet smokey eye,  a soft nude lip, and OPI's Schnapps Out Of It nail polish. With this purple, it is better to keep the eyes bold and the nails and lips subtle.

I love peach colors and this is just timelessly beautiful. For fall, I would have worn Maybelline's Truffle Tease lipstick, the neutral nail color of A Great Opera-tunity from OPI, and a soft brown smokey eye. If you can see from the previous sets, brown is very popular and my personal go to in the fall. For my winter look, I would wear the same smokey eye, but I would wear a berry lip shade like Orchid Ecstasy from Maybelline and a metallic golden shade for my nails. With lighter colored lingerie sets, I like having a bold lip and keeping the nails and eyes somewhat neutral.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about how my beauty changed over the fall and winter. Comment down below if you have any beauty items that you save just for the winter season!

The Week Ahead

Outside my window… The weather is cold and a bit overcast. I would love some snow right now.

I am thinking… about finding a good supporting job.

I am thankful… that I am home for Christmas.

From the dining hall/kitchen… I had an apple and some cereal for breakfast.

I am hearing… The clicking of keys as my fingers type on my Macbook and Netflix.

I am watching/listening… Sons of Anarchy.

Always one of my favorite things… is watching Netflix and riding.

I am reading… Nothing.

I am making… a blog post for AdoreMe.

I am writing… This blog post and another for AdoreMe. All my articles for the Odyssey have been sent in for the holidays.

A Few Plans for the Rest of the Week… Today - I had breakfast and did some chores around the house for Mom. Wednesday - I have no idea what we are doing. Thursday - it's going to be Christmas Eve so it will just be me, Mom and MudLynn. We'll probably go out to dinner and rent a movie for the night since Dad has worked. Friday - IT'S GOING TO BE CHRISTMAS DAY. Saturday and Sunday - relaxing until Mom and Dad take me and MudLynn back to Bellingham.

MudLynn Update… She is doing well, snoozing on the couch in her new bandana.

College Update… I am all registered for classes next quarter! And I have officially decided to change my major to Recreation. I want to pursue a career in Therapeutic Recreation using animals (dogs and horses) to work with disabled kids and war veterans.

Riding Update… I am hopefully going to be showing at the next shows at OSU, UoO, and our home show! I am going to work very hard training with both Kim and Suzie, mainly Kim's cause I can work lessons off doing paddocks at Creidmount. 

WWU DOG

I am obsessed with my dog. It's really an obsessed love. But look at what Dad made for MudLynn! If you noticed in some other photos of MudLynn, you'll see that she had a bandana that had a Patriots fabric. Now, she has one for WWU Vikings! She will be sporting this on campus and at any games she attends! She mainly comes to WWU hockey games cause they're the only games that work with my schedule, so let's say she'll be the most envied dog at the games and be the center of attention. 

All Dad did was cut the emblems out of a pennant, sewed some navy blue fabric to make a bandana that slides on her collar and bam! I swear, Western needs to make more items for pets and they really need to make WWU fabric! I would have a fleece blanket in a heart beat!

Beauty Travel Hack for College Students: Ipsy Bag Subscription

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Are you ever traveling back and forth from school to go home for breaks? I bet you pack a lot of things like books, laundry, and, of course, your beauty products? Don't you wish some of your products were smaller and easier to fit in a small bag? Well, here is that chance!

Ipsy is an amazing company that matches beauty products with the results of a quiz that you take in the beginning. You can pay either $10 a month or $110 for an entire year. The subscription is so worth it!

Click here  for my referral if you would like to start a subscription with Ipsy!!

Ipsy Bags are perfect because you can get an array of products from makeup to cleansers and moisturizers. I travel quite a few times each year for horse shows on the weekends, so these tiny products come in handy. I tend to pack 2-3 of each beauty product (moisturizer, cleanser, and such) so that I have a backup if one ends up running empty. Again, I recently just did that because I went home for Christmas and piled a handful of Ipsy products into a cosmetic travel bag!

Another great thing for college students is that the bags can make great packaging for Christmas or birthday gifts. You can put little goodies like perfume samples, makeup items, and even jewelry. I swear I have a years worth of these bags in my bathroom; all piled under my sink. You could probably make your own Ipsy bag for your friends or loved ones.

Hope you enjoyed this beauty hack post, more are sure to come!

In Five Years I See Myself...

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Graduated from College... 

I hope to find myself graduated well before the 5 years, I hope for maybe within the next 2 years. I am preparing and researching study habits to help me when it comes to midterms, tests, and finals next quarter so that I can gain a higher GPA.

In a serious relationship...

Ya know, this one has just been tricky for me. Guys in college (in my opinion) don't want to date or commit to a relationship. Or at least, that is the type of guys I've crushed on this past year at Western. So, right now I am going to focus on me and hope and pray the Mr. Right comes along the way.

Working at...

I plan to see myself working at a therapeutic riding center or at a center for wounded veterans as a recreational therapist or working for a Girl Scout Camp within the horse area. Those are my dream jobs. I came to reality for the recreation major when I found out that my final grade in my recreation class was higher than the grade in my journalism class.

Living in...

I hope to see myself renting a nice house somewhere in Bellingham after college. A house that has a nice yard for dogs to run around in, a kitchen for dinner parties, and a living area for game nights and movie nights. I would just like to live in a home that has enough rooms in case my parents come to visit for holidays or horse shows.

Owning...

Hopefully by the end of the 5 years, I would like to see myself owning a horse and maybe a couple more dogs...

Update on MudLynn's Life as a College Dog

Mud has been doing great as college dog. She tends to nearly go everywhere with me, except to class. I wish she could go to class with me.

I do sometimes find it hard to balance life and her. I have lessons, which keep me out of the house for around 3 hours; shows, which pull me away for an entire weekend; and classes, which sometimes keep me out all day.

However, there are perks to having her with me. I take her to a lot of the riding team meetings where she gets tons of love from my teammates who live in the dorms or in apartments that don't allow pets. She does go to some sporting events such as the WWU Hockey games when the team plays at home. She used to go to work with me when I worked at the barn I ride at, so she used to have a lot of outdoor time. I can't wait till she has her new bandana that Dad is going to make!

The only hard part of having her at the apartment during college is the issue of the vet. She has a bump on her back, which will be seen by the vet soon. The problem is that I am at school or riding most of the time and don't have time to watch her after a surgery or miss school to rush her to the vet.

I talked about this with Mom tonight and she may be going to Virginia with her. Part of me wants to let her go with Mom and Dad and then part of me wants her to stay. She's getting old and I don't want to be on the opposite side of the States if I get a phone call from Mom saying "We should take away her pain." It's hard to think on what I should do in MudLynn's case.

We'll see where my life is at close to this time next year then we will make the one hard decision.

Life Last Week: 2015-5

Bests:

1. School has ended! Yay! Time to sit back and relax and ride.

2. I got a B in my Recreation class! Proof that I need to major in that degree!

3. I found the major that is truly for me and I have filled an application that will remain on file in case a spot in the major opens up for Spring quarter.

Worsts:

1. I think I got two C's. I mean, C's do get degrees in reality even though A's are what college students would love to have on their transcript.

2. My electric bill was almost $100 this month. #1 reason why I sometimes hate winter and not having a fireplace.