Blogmas 2014: Day 31 ~ Looking Back & Moving Forward

I'm sad to say that today is not only the last day of my Blogmas, but also the last day of 2014! 2014 was a fairly good year for me for the most part. I'm looking forward to starting over again in 2015 and I have a few things planned that I'd like to change. This post is just going to be a bit of everything like resolutions, throwbacks and photos! I can't believe that I started my blog just last year. I hope you enjoy!

I started using my new camera this year and noticed a huge change in my photo quality. I tried a ton of new posts such as fashion, food, decor & more lifestyle posts. I also tried a ton of new photo backgrounds and props!

I went to San Diego over the Summer which was a really fun experience. That was actually the only place I traveled this year!

This year I surpassed 100 and 200 posts! I also drastically changed my blog design to a much simpler theme. I was nominated for a Liebster award earlier this year which was very flattering!

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS 

 

I've always made resolutions and never really stuck to them. this year I'm making more achievable goals so I can carry through.

1. Genuinely eat healthier and stay active

I don't expect to eat only healthy foods, but rather incorporate healthier foods into my diet and cut out some bad things.

2. Be more open-minded & try new things

I'm very uptight and scared of trying new things. This year I want to step out of my comfort zone and stay open-minded!

3. Work towards happiness

I'm not always the happiest person but it's something I'm willing to work towards.

4. Find a hobby

I really don't have any hobbies other than blogging. I plan to try to find an activity that makes  me happy. Other than blogging of course.

Those are all of my resolutions. I thought I'd keep it short and obtainable. I think that's about it for the last post of 2014, thanks for reading & see you next year!

Blogmas 2014: Day 30 ~ December Favorites

It's the last favorites post of the year! This month, I wasn't buying a lot for myself, with all of the Christmas shopping I was doing. Therefore, my favorites are slightly limited this month. I didn't try many new products but I did switch up a few of my products. Might I mention, I did take these photos outside since I have so much trouble with lighting in the Winter! I'm really happy with how the turned out however it's very cold and snowy outside. Maybe the lighting it worth it, we'll see. ;) Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

 I've always seen the Tresemme hairspray but I've never tried it. My curls having been holding very well lately so I tried using this. I sprayed quite a bit, I mean I sprayed a ton! This made my curls hold all day and even into the next day! I will definitely continue to use this. I believe it's the Tres Two extra hold hairspray, not quite sure.

I was obsessed with the Vanilla Bean Noel Ultra Shea Body Cream from bath & Body Works this month! (That's a long name..) Too be honest, the lotion doesn't work very wall. It lasts barely 5 minutes and I find myself reapplying every hour. I purely use it for the scent! It smells so amazing this is my favorite scent from BBW.

Hair creams are my favorite products to apply to wet hair. I feel like it distributes easier than spray and I can notice it working. I found this Garnier Fructis Leave in Conditioner Cream on sale for $3 and picked it up. I've used it ever since and I really like it! It's very smooth and makes my hair feel silky.

The OPI nail polish in OPI Red is the PERFECT red polish! It had the very slightest metallic-y undertone but it's hardly noticeable on the nails. It goes on smoothly and looks so nice on the nails. I think I've found the perfect red polish!

I went back to the L'Oreal Voluminous mascara since I noticed my lashes looking a little "un-volumized". This brought some life back to my lashes. I definitely got a ton of use out of it this month.

My skin has been paler than ever this Winter. I was wanting a bit more color so I brought my Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzer back out. This is great for contouring or just bronzing the face & I love it!

Lastly, I've been loving the Nivea Lip Butter in Raspberry Rose. It smells divine and lasts a really long time! it's also extremely moisturizing.

Those are all of my favorites for the month. My next favorite will be next year! ;)

Blogmas 2014: Day 29 ~ Decmeber empties

I can't believe I completely forgot to post yesterday, so I apologize about that. Anyways, today I'm doing my December empties, the last one of 2014! I didn't finish up too many products this month. Of course shortly after I took the photos, I finished a few more things!

Aussie Volume Conditioner 
This was a fairly average conditioner. I didn't notice much added volume however my hair also wasn't weighed down by it.

Nivea Essential Lip Balm
 I love this lip balm and could never say enough good things about it!

E.l.f. Essential Eye Primer
This eye primer works fairly well especially for $1! I would definitely repurchase again.

Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara (sample)
I love this mascara and my full sized is almost done! It gives so much volume and fullness!


Sheseido Perfect Mascara Full Definition (sample)
I finished this quite a while ago and forgot to throw it out! I remember it worked fairly well.
 
Cresdt 3D White Glamorous White Toothepaste
 I honestly don't notice much difference with the color of my teeth. I think I need something a bit stronger for whitening.

Dermal Royal Jelly Mask
I enjoyed all of the Dermal masks and haven't noticed too much difference between them all.

Kirkland Makeup Wipes
These are in every empties. They're so inexpensive so I can't see myself stopping using them.

That's all for my empties! I'll make up for yesterdays post in January!

Blogmas 2014: Day 27 ~ Boxing Day Haul

I always look forward to Boxing day shopping. It's like Canada's Black Friday! I enjoy finding some great deals and It's just another excuse to go shopping. I usually don't get too much since Christmas is the day before. This year was a really great year for me! I didn't find many great deals but the ones I found were great for me! If you'd like, you can check out my haul from last year. I did all the math for the values of the products very quickly so I hope they're correct! Also, I realize I'm extending Blogmas a bit but it's just an excuse for me to post more!
ENJOY

 Bath & Body Works had an amazing sale going on, however I have a ton of BBW stuff already so I just picked up a few hand sanitizers. I found these hand sanitizers in a small bin for 90% off! The scents aren't even too Christmas-y! So these turned out to be $0.20 each for a total of 80 cents!

Worth $2.00 each ($8.00 for all 4)

Sephora was the store I was most looking forward to! All of the great deals I found last year excited me. There weren't too many of the $10, $12, $13 items that caught my eye this year. I picked out 4 items to give as gifts throughout the year. They're great to have on hand for birthdays and such! I picked up the bareMinerals crowd pleasers set for $12. I got one of those for myself as well. I also got the Smashbox bestsellers kit for $13, the Buxom Dealer's Choice set for $13, and the Too Faced Better Than Sex Amazing Eyes Set for $13. These were great deals since some of the products are full sized and some and very generous sample sizes!

 Worth: $47

 Worth: $42.02

 Worth: $33

Worth: $35.85

This is my Mum's but I thought I'd share it anyways! This 3 piece Living Proof set was on sale for $30 from $42. She loves the brand so this was a steal for her!

Worth: $47.48

This set is also my Mum's. It comes with a full sized scrub as well as 3 deluxe samples. This was on for $42 which was a great deal for what it's worth!

Worth: $78.90

I've always wanted to try First Aid Beauty so I decided to pick up this 4 piece set. It was $53 and it comes with 4 full-sized products!

Worth: $108

American Eagle was having 40% off the entire store I believe. I picked up this baseball tee from the sale rack for $11.99.

Worth: $24.95

I also grabbed this really cute layered necklace. It fell apart as soon as I came home which I was pretty annoyed about. I got it for $9.30

Worth: $15.50

That's about it. I hope you enjoyed, have an amazing weekend!

Blogmas 2014: Day 26 ~ What I got for Christmas!

I hope everyone had an absolutely amazing Christmas & Holiday season! I'm sad to see it pass, however I really enjoyed it while it lasted. Today I'm going to be doing my 2nd "What I got for Christmas" post. Here's last year's post! I understand these posts can be very controversial so I thought I'd give some disclaimers. I know everyone says this, but I am honestly not trying to brag in anyway. I do these posts so I can look back on them and relieve happy memories. I am also extremely thankful for everything I received as well as all of my amazing family and friends! I had an absolutely amazing Christmas and wouldn't change anything about it! Christmas isn't just about gifts, it's about spending time with people you care about. So if this just isn't your type of post, feel free to not read :) Anyways, after all of that, enjoy!

BEAUTY

CRAFT & READING

FOOD!

 SLIPPERS & SOCKS

Lastly I got an iPad mini! I was completely shocked when I opened this and I am so thankful! I can tell I'll get a ton of use out of this.

What was your favorite part of the holidays? Mine was spending time with family and eating yummy food! ;) Bye =)

Blogmas 2014: Day 25 ~ Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their day whether you celebrate or not! It's just a super short post for today since I wanted to spend some time with family and what not. So enjoy your Christmas and I'll see you tomorrow for day 26!
Bye :)

Blogmas 2014: Day 24 ~ Bioré Pore Strips Review

Merry Christmas Eve!? Is that a thing to say? Anyways, Christmas is tomorrow and I cannot believe how fast the holiday season went by! Today I thought I'd do a quick review on the Bioré Pore Strips. I picked these up a while back since I had always wanted to try them. Recently I've noticed my pores a bit more and the ones on my nose are often clogged. I thought I'd try out these strips to see if they help! I hope you enjoy!

The first time I tried these, I was extremely surprised at how painful it was to peel off. When I first applied it, it was very easy to smooth down. When the time was up, it felt hard like paper mache. I've used these 3 or 4 times and I don't know if I will use them again. They are very painful to peel off and I didn't notice a ton of change. The strip was fairly clean afterwards, it didn't remove too much. I still saw a few clogged pores on my nose which disappointed me. With the pain and it not working as well as I hoped, it wasn't really worth it for me. It cost around $8 and it also came with 4 single use face masks which I'll review in a separate post.  I wouldn't repurchase these or recommend. I've heard many positive things about this, and as there are many different skin types and what not, it may work for others while it doesn't work for me.

I hope you have an amazing Christmas eve & Christmas if you celebrate! Enjoy your day! :)

Blogmas 2014: Day 23 ~ Vanilla Bean Noel Ultra Shea Body Cream & Fine Frgrance Mist

Christmas-time is my favorite time of the year for endless reasons, and Bath & Body Works' Vanilla Bean Noel scent is one of them! I purchase something of this scent every year. I've loved it for as long as I can remember. Bath & Body Works often carries very perfume-y scents which often give me headaches. Vanilla Bean Noel is different in the sense that it's less harsh and simply sweet!

I bought the spray a year or two ago, so it's still he old packaging. I picked up the 21 hour Ultra Shea Body Cream this year as well as the Deep Cleansing Hand Soap. These all have the same classic scent that I love. The scent doesn't linger for too long with any of these which I don't really mind. Throughout December, I've been using the body cream daily and I love it!

I much prefer the deep cleansing soaps to the foaming soaps. I feel like this does a better job at cleaning.

This cream doesn't last very long, which was a bit disappointing, but the scent is worth it. I also have the body lotion which I completely forgot to add to this post!

This body mist is a nice, light scent and it's not too overpowering. This bottle is HUGE and as you can tell, I'm having some trouble finishing it!

Have you tried Vanilla Bean Noel?

Blogmas 2014: Day 22 ~ Mani Monday

I didn't paint my nails last week, so I was super excited to do them this week. Since Christmas is this week, I had to paint my nails with some Christmas love. I cut my nails a bit too short by accident however I'm still really happy with how they turned out, so enjoy!

For the main color, I used a new OPI polish I got called OPI Red. It's the perfect classic red color and I fell in love. it's fairly opaque but I did 2 coast just in case. If you can tell, there's actually a little bit of a shimmery undertone to the color which I'm obsessed with!

For my accent nails, I used China Glaze's Ring in the Red. It goes perfectly with the OPI red and it's the perfect Christmas look!

I hope you enjoyed today's Mani Monday!