'Tis the Season

Hello, dear readers, 

Today I thought I'd search for a winter-related tag to do so that I would have something to give you in between now and my winter break (I started writing this last month! It's now the end of my break. Oops!). I struggled to find one that wasn't strictly about Christmas, as I realize not everyone, myself included, celebrates it. Luckily, this 'Tis the Season Tag is more neutral! Warning: This will be wordy! Let's get into it:

❄ Top 2 Winter Beauty Essentials 
Moisturizers for face and body, as my skin gets very dry and flaky. My face is dry/combination, but it gets drier in the winter, and my hands get chapped and red. Specific products: Any of the Avon Moisture Therapy hand creams are great and have either little or no fragrance. For my face, I use Neutrogena Oil Free Moisture Sensitive Skin. It's not rich, but it does the job. 

Source

Moisturizing lip color. I just received the Clinique Taste of Honey holiday gift set for my birthday [Thanks, Mom, if you're reading!], which contains four Almost Lipsticks: Luscious Honey [a sheer deep red], Shy Honey [a sheer baby pink], Flirty Honey [a sheer bright pink], and Black Honey [sheer deep wine/burgundy]. These are moisturizing enough that I don't need to wear a lip balm underneath, and the sheer color is definitely buildable.  Other good moisturizing lip colors are the Clinique Chubby Sticks and Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters.

❄ Top 2 Winter Fashion Essentials

Cardigans/sweaters. Throw on a cute top from the warmer months, top with a cardigan, and you have the recipe to my cold weather wardrobe. I do have to say, though, that I've been loving throwing on pullover sweaters, because they're so comfy and easy to wear.

A cute winter coat. I've struggled with bulky, puffy, coats before, and I've also found myself matching both toddlers and moms in my Columbia jackets. I now have a belted, longer winter coat from Victoria's Secret that is both functional and [I'd like to think] fashionable.

❄ What shoes do you tend to wear the most in the winter?
This year, I've been wearing my riding boots from Alloy. There hasn't been a lot of snow yet, so I've been able to get away with that.

❄ Favorite Winter Accessory
To be quite honest, I don't really have winter-specific accessories. I don't wear scarves or hats or anything like that.

❄ Favorite Winter Nail Polish
In the winter, I always love a good red nail polish. Hands down, my favorite red this season is OPI The Spy Who Loved Me. It's a gorgeous bright red with red and gold shimmer.  The other two polishes from my OPI Skyfall trio are great cold-weather colors as well. Goldeneye is the perfect glimmering, warm gold. Skyfall is a strange brownish burgundy, which isn't usually my cup of tea, but I love it for the winter. 

❄ Hot Cocoa or Apple Cider?
Hot cocoa. No question.

❄ Favorite Winter Candle?
I don't ever buy scented candles, but I did receive a Slatkin & Co. mini candle in an Influenster Beauty VoxBox a couple of months ago. The scent is pumpkin cupcake, and it smells delicious enough to eat. 

❄ Snowboarding or Skiing?
Neither. I'm terrified of both.

❄ Have you ever gone Ice Skating? Are you any good or do you FAIL miserably?
I've only gone a few times in my life, and none recently, but it takes me a while to get my footing. I was never very good.

❄ Does it snow where you live?
Yes.

❄ Have you ever made a snowman?
Yes.

❄ What holiday do you celebrate?
Hanukkah.

❄ Favorite Christmas/Holiday song?
My favorite is actually technically not a holiday song at all. It's "Winter Wonderland," particularly Jason Mraz's version. 

❄ Favorite Christmas/Holiday movie?
I never saw all of A Nightmare Before Christmas, but I feel like I really enjoyed what I did see. As a child, I love A Christmas Story. Now, the only holiday movie I watch with any sort of consistency is Elf.

❄ What is your favorite winter treat? (candy cane, gingerbread, etc...)
Hot cocoa is my favorite. I can't think of a dessert that I particularly favor over any other in the winter.

❄ If you were to ask Santa for one thing and you were guaranteed to get it, what would it be? (even if you don't celebrate christmas)
A guarantee that my next semester of college goes well. Is that cheating? I don't think so.

❄ Do you have anything fun planned for this winter?
Since I'm filling this out after the holidays, I've already fulfilled plans to see movies with friends and family and have a holiday party. As for the rest, I'm not sure.


That's all, folks. I hope you enjoyed this tag!

xEsther

Lately I've Been Loving

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• OPI Mermaid's Tears. As I mentioned in this post, this particular nail polish was rather difficult to procure, and it's all I've lately been wanting to wear. I wore it for about two weeks and planned to reapply, but, alas, my nails are still bare. It's in the same family as China Glaze For Audrey, but it reads slightly more teal with a hint of gray. The best part: It's from the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Collection. [Side note: I don't understand why so many people hated the movie. I just took it for what it was: A silly pirate movie, starring the fabulous Johnny Depp, that had nothing to do with the first three in the series. If you don't like Jack Sparrow, don't watch it!]

• Beauty blogs. You can check out my blog roll on my Complete Profile page. Those are just some of the blogs I read. I enjoy looking at the blog rolls of other people whose pages I regularly read, but I don't want eight million blogs on my subscription list, so I just tend to browse tons of blogs outside my own regular reading list.

• Glamour magazine. My friend subscribes to this magazine and, since we basically share each other's collections, I've been really loving it. It's a super quick read, but it doesn't feel ridiculous like magazines geared toward teens. There are plenty of pictures with articles interspersed throughout the pages, but there's nothing too dense. It's ideal light reading material for when my brain doesn't want to work too hard.

• Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Sweet Tart. I got this on a major sale, with a gift card and a coupon, so it was a little under $2 when I purchased it. I find it to be super easy to apply quickly before class, especially since I constantly think I'm running late. [This doesn't explain why I always get to class 15 to 20 minutes early.] The shine isn't too drastic, and the color shows up a vibrant pink on my lips. I love how it looks against my complexion and hair. I can't leave my dorm room without some sort of lip color on, or I feel way too washed out. With one or two reapplications, it wears down to a bit of a stain, so there's always a hint of color on my lips.

• Parks and Recreation. I literally just started watching this show yesterday, but my friends showed me some clips of the character Tom Haverford over the past weekend and now I can't get enough of it! I watched this clip on repeat before actually starting from the first season.

• New Girl. I'm so happy this show is back! The cast of characters is as ridiculous and lovable as ever, and I can't wait to see where this year's plot goes.

• Living close to home. Even though sometimes I consider whether I would have preferred living at home, I don't think I'd like commuting to school at all. That's why I love the fact that my college is close to home. I'm about an hour away from my house, which is just far enough for me to feel like I can have my own life but still have a safety net and a place to visit more often than I could at my previous university.

• "Uncharted" by Sara Bareilles, "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain, and "Us" by Regina Spektor. The first is one of my favorites by Bareilles, though I do love all of her songs. She's a pretty brilliant lyricist and has a fantastic, sassy voice. "I'll Be" got stuck in my head after watching the finale of The Glee Project: Season 2. Despite the fact that I don't watch Glee, I really enjoy that show. The winner, Blake, sang the song as his final performance, and I've been listening to it pretty often ever since. I also enjoy harmonizing to that song. [I enjoy harmonizing to any song, actually] "Us" is a song that I wouldn't normally like at all, because I don't particularly adore Regina Spektor's music or voice. However, because it's the opening song of 500 Days of Summer, one of my many favorite movies, I've recently been hooked on it. I still have no idea what it means. I do realize that not one of these songs is new.

• Family and friends. This one's a given, but particularly since I've started school, I'm very aware of how lucky I am to always have someone to call when I'm feeling unsure of myself or just need to talk. It's a great feeling.

[Aside: I currently have midterm exams and papers to write, and my reading assignments never end, but I'm certainly not going to stop posting.]

I hope your September has been great!

What have you been loving lately?

xEsther