A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Class...

Incidentally, this is the exact hair dryer and kit that it came with when I bought it. The straightener has since been replaced. Source

 

 

 

 

Hello, dear readers,

I seem to be at a loss for what to write about whilst delaying the charging of my camera and taking pictures. I also know I owe you some posts that I promised to write towards the middle of the summer. You will see them! I just can't promise when.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you a very strange observation I made this afternoon, and it is this:

I loathe the way my hair looks blow-dried. 

Yes, you heard that right. Now, I'm not sure if it's because I have a rather elderly blow-dryer [it's from the days when the word "ionic" was revolutionary- about six years ago!] or what, but I just hated the results. If you've read my hair care routine post, you will know that my hair is super low maintenance. You may also know that I try to use heat as sparingly as possible. Today is the second time all year that I've used heat at all.

Today I also had to get to class in the cold and the rain, and the last thing I wanted to do was go out with wet hair. After I took my hair out of the T-shirt, I put on some more shine serum and leave-in conditioner, and started drying it. The dryer sounded a little suspect, but worked just the same as alway. I used the diffuser like a good curly-haired girl, and I hated the results!

The blow-dryer took out most of the natural curl and wave, leaving my hair rather shapeless. I decided to act fast before my hair was dry [funny, really, as my hair takes ages to dry]: I pulled my hair over to one side and managed to get most of it in a fish-tail braid. After I did my makeup, about ten minutes later, I took it down. Alas! The wave was back in my hair and it looked much prettier and livelier.

I honestly don't know if I should be using some sort of scrunching product, which I own, if I blow-dry, because I don't seem to need one if I let my hair air dry. In any case, I was highly disappointed. I don't see myself getting a new dryer anytime soon, so I'll have to figure something out.

If any of you have wavy or curly hair and have any tips on making your hair look nice with a dryer, do let me know!

Until then, I hope you're having a good hair day.

xEsther

Fall Loves Tag

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Hello, dear readers,

This is another tag that has been going around YouTube for a while now, and I thought I'd try my hand at it. If you've been reading for any amount of time, you'll know I can't help myself when it comes to tags.

Alas, here we are:

 

Beauty & Fashion:
1) Top 5 fall makeup items?

• Hard Candy Glamoflauge Concealer [Shade Light]

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• Clinique High Impact Lip Colour in Extreme Pink

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• Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Latino

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• Avon Ultra Color Rich Lipstick in Berry, Berry Nice

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• L'Oreal Colour Riche Lipstick in Tropical Coral

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I chose these products because I really can never live without concealer, and the lipsticks are ones that I either a) think are good fall colors or b) I wore throughout fall last year

2) Favorite fall hair product?

This is a year-round favorite: Generic Value Products Smoothing Serum, but it's even more important in the colder months because for some reason I just like my hair to look more polishe, whereas I don't mind it a little frizzier and more textured in the summer. It's the exact same as Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum, and it is a must to tame the annoying frizz and flyaways. [Links are to the reviews, by the way]

3) Favorite fall nail polish?

This year it has to be Milani Bijou Bronze polish. I especially like it layered over a black nail polish because it shows up even brighter and more metallic.

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4) Favorite fall scent?

I like this scent year-round, but Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar is particularly great for fall. I also just love the smell of fall foods and spices, like pumpkin and cinnamon. 

5) Most worn clothing item & accessory?

My most worn clothing item is, without a doubt, a cardigan. I live in cardigans throughout the colder months because I really don't like long-sleeved shirts. It's also handy because temperature differs from classroom to classroom to dorm to the outdoors, so it makes it easy to be comfortable when you can just add or remove a layer. My most worn accessory is my watch, but that's year-round. I don't have specific seasonal accessories, because I don't really own scarves or anything like that.

Random fall Questions:
1) Who's your fall style icon?

I don't have a style icon, per se, but I do love Taylor Swift's style.

2) Going to a corn maze, what do you wear?

I don't think I've ever gone to a corn maze, but it brings up the image of a black or white tank top, plaid button-down, jeans, and riding boots. I don't actually own riding boots; it's just that a corn maze makes me think of a stereotypical country-cute outfit.

3) Favorite Halloween movie?

I don't recall having seen too many Halloween movies, but you can never go wrong with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. It's such a cute movie.

4) Favorite Halloween candy?

I love anything chocolate, so Butterfingers and Reeses Cups are always favorites for candy. As for Halloween-specific candy, I do enjoy candy corn. I haven't really had Halloween candy in at least a year, though.

5) What are you being for Halloween?!

I'm not entirely sure, because I'm not sure if I'm going to any Halloween parties or not. I do have a flapper-style dress I got from Forever 21 two years ago for a 20s-themed party, so I could always wear that.

So those were my answers to the "Fall Loves" Tag. By all means,  feel free to do it yourself if you like. I love reading other people's answers just as much as I love filling in my own!

I hope your weekend was splendid!

xEsther

Piecing it Together

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Hello, dear readers,


Thank you for sticking with me through my sporadic posting. I'd really like to get back on track with more regular posting, but at the moment I'm trying to put myself back together for various reasons. I have to focus more on my school work and on myself, so I will, as so often happens, be on and off here with a certain amount of irregularity. I'm still keeping up with my blog reading, but I don't quite have time to put together ideas for posts, much less compose them. 


In the meantime, I've finally declared my major at my university, though I'm planning to declare another major and possibly a minor in the near future. So that's a step in the right direction. I've also been doing a fun project with my lip products lately. Each week a put several products in a cosmetic bag, and I can only use those products to come up with a different look every day. At the end of the week, I take out all the products I've used and replace them with new ones. The ones that remain unused also remain in the bag. I don't have an endless lip product collection with me, or at all, really, so there will be some overlap. It's quite fun, though, and I hope to post at least once with a picture of my products of the week, once I get the motivation and time to get my camera up and running.


So that's what is going on in my life at the moment, just picking up the pieces.


I hope you're all enjoying your week!


xEsther

Lately I've Been Loving...

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• Journaling. I've been the proud owner of about three diaries since I was around nine years old, and I haven't even filled up the first one yet. Recently, I've been going through some emotional and personal issues, and I find that writing it down in a diary, or even just writing random happenings in my life, really helps to relieve some of that tension. My goal is to finish my first diary at some point during college!

• Fishtail braids! I finally mastered the fishtail braid, albeit a messy one. My hair is not quite long enough for all the hair to actually stay in the braid, so what I've been doing is going to bed with two fishtail braids to give my second day hair nice waves. I find it looks so much nicer than when I wake up after putting in regular braids, because the waves come out looking more natural. I look forward to the day when my hair is long enough to go out with a nice fishtail braid.

• "I Need a Dollar" by Aloe Blacc. This song is apparently not new at all; in fact, it may be from 2009. I came across this when one of my recommended YouTube videos was a recent cover of this song. This video was made this year, however, and I can't quite figure out why. I never knew about Aloe Blacc until I heard this, and I love his voice and the style of the song. 

• Jon McLaughlin's new album, Forever if Ever. In my last Lately I've Been Loving... post, I put the link to my current favorite song off his album, "Summer is Over." Another that I've really been enjoying is "What I Want," which you can listen to here, if you like.

• Listening to music in general, including many of the songs by the artists that I've loved since the end of my high school years. Examples, besides McLaughlin, are Jason Mraz, Juanes, Luis Fonsi, the late Gregory Lemarchal, Sara Bareilles, and Eric Hutchinson.

• Milani nail polish in Bijou Bronze, particularly over black polish. I just painted two coats of this over one coat of Wet n Wild's Black Creme. Using a black base actually makes the bronze show truer to color and emphasizes how metallic it is. I love it. I have a feeling this combination may be one of my fall favorites, if not my favorite of all.

• My daily makeup routine, which has remained the same except for one new product. I'm trying out the NYC Smooth Skin Loose Powder in Translucent for the time being, just to change things up a bit. I actually like this better than the other powder because it does not get cakey and it gives more of an even finish and a tiny bit of coverage. I definitely need that at the moment since my lack of sleep astounds even me. I don't know how I'm still functioning properly considering how little I get. And while I do get a ton of homework, my sleep deprivation has to do largely with the fact that I save everything until the last minute and have an 8 am. class. So my makeup seriously brings me back from the dead. It's not Halloween just yet! No need to scare everyone so soon.

• Friends and family are always on this list, if I can recall correctly. I'm sort of discovering who I consider a true friend this year based on what friendships should be. I need friends that care just as much about me as I do about them, and I am not getting that from all of my friendships. My family is always extremely supportive and they're trying so hard at the moment to make me happier. If the blogging slows a bit, it will probably be because I'm not in exactly the best place in my head, if that makes sense.

• Singing. In my room. Along with my iTunes or YouTube. I love coming up with or learning the harmonies to songs because it's something I'm pretty good at. I'll probably be rejoining choir next semester, because this is the first time I haven't sung in any kind of choir since...preschool? And I know I am far from the best singer in the world, so I'm not bragging in the least. It's just that singing in a choir is like walking and talking to me by this point, so it's strange not being in one.

Let me know what you've been loving lately!

Happy almost Friday!

xEsther