Senior Year

My graduation cap! It only took two hours to glue everything in place and cut out the glitter states.

In a little over a month it will be time for me to graduate from undergraduate with my Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education! This semester has been a long semester of student teaching, working on my teaching portfolio, having multiple positions in my sorority and sorority council, finishing my graduation cap, and trying to squeeze in as much time planning for my future as I can.

Recently, I found out that I have been accepted to graduate school and beginning in August I will begin working towards my Masters of Education in Higher Education - Student Affairs. I also found out that I was accepted into my dream assistantship and I am very excited to begin my the newest chapter of my life in an entirely new place.

This last month of college is going to be crazy, but then I am finally going to get some time to relax and visit family and vacation and basically do what I want before graduate school captures me and I am so ready for it to begin. However, part of me is also sad to let undergraduate go and I have been spending a lot of time reminiscing about my time in undergrad; my RA experiences, my friends, my sorority sisters, and all of the wonderful and influential people I have had the honor of working with or beside these past four years.

But even though I am anxious about what is to come in the next two years all I can think is...bring it on!

Holiday Sets I'm Excited For

While the weather is just starting to cool down here in North Carolina, every store has already begun its preparations for Christmas. Hobby Lobby is decked out in trees and tinsel, Yankee Candle is starting to break out the Christmas scents, and make up companies are finally releasing their much anticipated limited edition holiday collection. 

Holiday collection are a great way to try out brands and colors for cheap since they usually contain a lot of shades in deluxe sample sizes.cHere are some collections I am looking forward to seeing!

1. Lorac MegaPro Palette - $59

With 32 shadows, this palette is Lorac's largest yet, with double the amount of shades in previous Pro Palettes. The price isn't bad when you consider the Lorac Pro still runs at about $40 for 16 shades. Lorac has always done a great job with shadows, and I prefer the Pro Palette to Urban Decay's Naked Palettes because they have the perfect amount of shimmer without being too glittery.

I love the diversity of shades between colorful and neutrals, and I am specifically looking forward to the berry colors (Merlot looks amazing). However, while I am a sucker for neutrals, it does seem some of the neutral shades are a little too close to each other to show a huge difference when applied.

The Lorac MegaPro Palette comes out on Lorac's website and Amazong on October 7th, so mark your calendars and set your alarms, because I have a feeling these are not going to take long to sell out!

2. Tarte Kiss & Belle Deluxe LipSurgence Lip Set - $34

This set seems like an amazing value to me. I have been eyeing the Tarte lip colors for quite some time and $34 for such a wide variety in shades and finishes seems like an amazing deal to me. 

This set comes with  four lip tints (Dreamy, Alluring, Innocent, and Dainty), 2 matte lip tints (Eternal, and Fancy), and 2 lip glosses (Kiss and Belle). If you are on the fence about trying Tarte lip products this is a great starter set (as the full size lip tints run about $18).

I do wish they had included at least one darker berry shade, but overall the colors seem to be worth it. This is definitely on my holiday wish list and it is already available online and in stores!

3. Too Faced Melted Kisses - $30

I have seen a lot of positive reviews of the Too Faced Melted Lipsticks, and while I have not had the chance to try them out for myself, this holiday set might just be the think that lets me.

This set comes with four deluxe sized shades (Nude, Peony, Berry, and Fuschia). I like the broad spectrum of nude to dark berry and from what I have heard and seen they are long lasting.

I honestly don't think I am going to make it through the season without picking this up because I have had my eye on them for quite some time. These are available at Macys and Sephora!

4. Tarte Chic to Cheek Deluxe Amazonian Clay Blush Set - $34

I truly am a sucker for Tarte so it is only natural that they appear again on my holiday wishlist. I have previously used the Tarte Cheek Stain and I loved it, but I have been looking to expand my blush collection for the upcoming winter months. The Amazonian Clay set is amazing and every time I have walked into Ulta I have debated picking up a shade, but every time I seem to talk myself out of it.

This set comes with four deluxe sample sized blushes in the colors Amour, Classic, Prim, and Daydream. I like the variety because I want to be able to switch things up whenever I want. The packing is beautiful without being unnecessarily bulky like some blush sets (I'm looking at you, Benefit!)

Just like the lip set, this collection is already available online and in-stores!

While this is just the beginning of the Holiday Collections, I think I have found some winners that are going to end up in my makeup drawer before 2014 ends!

Reasons Why

It's been quite some time since my last post, and while I hate to make excuses here are a couple of reasons why I have had such a quiet blog lately:

1. I was on vacation in for a week in August. I did not really have a lot of relevant things to blog about so I took the week to enjoy just laying around.

2. School started at the end of the month. Since I am now a senior things are getting pretty intense for me so I have been trying to keep up in these first few weeks so I don't fall behind on anything and mess up my semester. It is vital that everything goes perfect this semester so I can start student teaching in the fall and graduate on time in May!

3. I moved! I finally moved off of my college campus and into my very first big girl apartment. It has been a huge adjustment since I have spent so long being a Resident Advisor, but it has been exciting nonetheless. I finally have all of my furniture and I even managed to put some stuff on the walls.

4. Sorority recruitment took over my life. Guys, this is no joke, recruitment takes a lot out of you. It is a lot of long nights and practicing songs and preparing beautifully elaborate rooms and spending time with your sisters while also trying to find new women to add to your wonderful sisterhood. I am very happy to say that after all of our hard work Sigma Kappa took in a wonderful pledge class of amazing women tonight.

However, while it might take another week of getting everything settled, I should be back to blogging regularly within the month and I am looking forward to the next items to swatch. I am eyeing some of the newest holiday sets that are beginning to preview so look forward to that!