FAVORITES | August 2014

hey nerds whats up?!

Today's post is all about my favorites for the last month.  There isn't going to be any mutual video with this post this time around, but be sure to check out my channel for my August Wrap up on what I read as well as September's TBR pile!

MAKEUP

I only have a few makeup things I want to talk about specifically, and the first two go together.

I just posted a whole blog for these two babies, so make sure to check that out for a more in depth review.  These are the Revlon Colorstay 24 hour Foundation and the Sigma F82 round topped kabuki brush.  I used these two products basically every day this month when I put on makeup. They are divine.

The last makeup product I have here is the Revlon lipstick "wine with everything"  It's such a good bright red, but not too bright that it's not wearable for everyday.

FASHION

I've been trying to pair this kimono from Forever 21 (thanks Dilara for the hammy down :D) with every outfit this month.  I haven't actually worn it that many times but I just want to have it on all the time.  This summer has been super hot and this gives me plenty of air but covers enough so that in the evenings I'm not shivering.

Here's a link to an instagram photo of me in it

BOOK

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  Once again, an entire blog post went up about this book last week, so check it out here for a full review.  This book was beautiful though, the writing was just wonderful, and I couldn't get enough of it.

RANDOM FAVORITES

The first thing I want to talk about is a tv show: Orphan Black.

I have been obsessing over this show, and I'm not quite finished with season 2 yet so I'm not all caught up.  But Tatiana Maslany is a god, I swear.  Her acting is AMAZING in this show.  For those who haven't seen it, it's on BBC America and the plot is basically that someone years ago decided to make a human cloning experiment, and Tatiana Maslany plays all of the clones!  WHICH IS WHY SHE'S BADASS (and really attractive if I do say so myself).

Tatiana Maslany as Cosima.  My favorite clone.

The show's editing is also amazing, because the clones are in scenes together and you can't tell where the editing is!  It just looks like two Tatiana Maslany's were in that shot when they filmed!

There's lots of unknowns in the show too, so the expense is always a fun time :)

Another random favorite has been Vietnamese food this month.  I personally have become a huge fan of cold vermicelli noodles with chicken, and I usually get a side of peanut sauce to dip the chicken in and oh god it's mouthwatering!

Lastly in the randoms section, I recently deleted the Facebook app from my phone when the messenger app became mandatory in order to get fb messages on your phone.  If you didn't know, the when adding the messenger app onto your phone, you're okaying them opening up your camera whenever the app wants, as well as access to pictures and personal messages and all sorts of things.  So because I don't like that and don't like the fact that I needed to apps to have access to the full website basically, I got rid of the fb app altogether.  And I HAVE BEEN LOVING IT.  I'm not staring at my phone as often, and I've been using twitter more often than Facebook now, which I love.

YOUTUBER(s)

I have basically 2.5 you tubers to talk about, sort of lol.

Firstly PolandBananaBook or Christine May has been my favorite book tuber this month! This girl is hilarious!  She's such a little spazz in her videos (which is a compliment okay guys) and she does silly accents throughout her videos and it's so fantastic! 

Secondly is ZALFIE lol, better known as Zoella and PointlessBlog separately, I have been loving all of their videos that they've been doing together.  Whether they're doing challenges or just plainly vlogging together, I just find myself cracking up at the two of them, and always smiling watching their daily vlogs.  They're great!

That's everything for my August 2014 favorites! Comment down below what you've been loving this month!  See you guys soon :)

PRODUCT REVIEW | Revlon Colorstay 24 Hour Foundation

Hey nerds what's up?

Today's post is all about the foundation up there in the title, the Revlon Colorstay 24 hour Foundation.

I've been using this foundation consistently for about a month now.  AND I LOVE IT.  

My favorite thing about it is that it's not too runny! But it is still definitely a liquid foundation.  I usually put the product on the back of my hand and then use a brush to apply it from there to my face, and it stays put on my hand rather than running down to the floor.  When foundations do that I get so mad!

They also have a wide arrange of colors, in my opinion, until it gets to the darker spectrum.  Unfortunately the colors taper off before getting too dark which is of course a problem a lot of foundation lines have.

I personally only have one in the shade ___ which matches my skin during the summer time after I've gone out and been tanning, but I haven't gone out and bought a lighter shade for the colder months yet.

As far as application goes, my favorite brush to use with this foundation is the round top kabuki face brush from sigma (F82).

With that being said, I've applied this foundation with flat top kabukis, tapered, and a stippling brush as well.  With the exception of the stippling brush, all worked well with this foundation.  However it was a little too thick of a consistency to work well with the stippling brush.

Overall I give this product a 4/5 stars :)  I will definitely be repurchasing!

BOOK REVIEW | The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I recently finished reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern to read a long with the Booksplosion book of the month Goodreads group (check that out here).

Also for a short review, view my review I made on goodreads here :)

I will warn before I get into spoilers in the post! So no worries yet!

I gave this book a full 5/5 stars because of the writing and the suspense.  The circus arrived with no warning, and throughout a good chunk of the book you're only getting bits of information, and you don't have all the answers until the end of the book, when everything comes together in some way ;)

The writing is so fucking gorgeous in this book, I can't even explain.  The best way I can describe is that it's like reading a dance. A VERY GOOD DANCE.  And if you're into dance like I am, you'll be able to picture it, I hope.

There are two love stories going on in this story, and one is crazy and unreal and shouldn't be happening while the other is so innocent and divine, with a love at first sight sort of feel.  I ended up rooting for both, when at first I only took to one of the couples.

I highly highly recommend this story. EVERYONE should read it! :)

SPOILER ALERT

I loved finding out about Tsukiko's story, and how it felt for her to lose her fellow player when she won her game.  It was so heartbreaking, especially since we really don't see her get emotional before then.

I hated Isobel.  She was so irrelevant for me, and so it frustrated me even more when it turns out that she had a very important part to the survival of the circus.  I just wanted her to go away the whole time.  When she first showed up, I thought she was Celia, and I was disappointed when that didn't turn out to be true.

My personal favorite part of the entire story was Bailey and Poppet.  I almost wish Poppet hadn't been written with a twin because although I loved Widget, there wasn't enough play into the love story since Widget and Poppet were so inseparable.  Although I really did love the twin's story of birth at the beginning of the circus, and having their powers of past and future because of their birth before and after the birth of the circus. ONCE AGAIN wonderful storytelling by Erin Morgenstern!

I guess that's really all I have to say about this lovely story.  Comment down below your favorite character or scene or magical place that Marco or Celia made up as part of the circus :)

High School Essentials & Tips for studying and organization! (ft. my sister Lauren)

My sister is back here on the blog!  Once again, she helped me out for this week's theme week: GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!

Today's post is all about what you need in your bag every day as well as some tips to help with studying in high school (for my own tips on college click here)

So let's start with what Lauren keeps in her backpack!

She carries a purple jansport backpack with just a main zip and a little zip on the front.

Into the big zip: One 1in binder with a notebook for each class

In the binder she carries some free college lined paper along with a tab for each class as well for hand outs.  She takes daily notes in the notebooks and uses the free paper for assignments that have to be turned in as well as homework.

That was easy enough.  Now for the small zip:

Of course hand sanitizer and chapstick are givens because chapped lips are the most distracting thing every when you're trying to focus and those desks are dirty.

Headphones: CAUTION HERE. if your school is really strict about electronics, don't take these babies out on school grounds. 

Then for the little bag in the back that carries pens and things:

Every girl with hair needs spare hair ties and bobby pins because that shit can get annoying when it's in your way.

And of course a medley of pens and pencils for note taking.

Lastly, Lauren carries her wallet, which if you have a license yet you obviously need.  She's not however, so she keeps her school ID in her wallet along with cash for the vending machines and things.  Bus money would also be important to carry on your person if that's your mode of transportation.

NOW for some study and organization tips from Lauren, as well as myself:

1. Avoid procrastination. Of course, this is the obvious one.  Everyone does it.  And everyone says not to.  But nobody really explains how.  The following tips will help work on this one, I swear

2. Give yourself routine small breaks.  Don't burn yourself out! Of course make sure the majority of time as a whole of "study time' is indeed spent studying.  But its best not to work longer than 30 minutes at a time, especially if you're having trouble focusing on the task at hand. Give yourself a 10 minute break; grab a snack if you haven't eaten, or read a (fun, enjoyable) book, or watch some shitty tv.  Get on tumblr. BUT SET A TIMER SO YOU DON'T GET LOST.

3. Don't pull all nighters. Especially in high school when its almost guaranteed you have to be back at school by 9am. The time spent studying is not worth the loss of sleep. Even if you did learn any of the facts you read that night, your brain will not be able to recall that information because of lack of sleep.

4. Set a schedule. AND STICK TO IT. This gets harder of course if you have a job with changing hours and things like that. But with after school activities such as sports/dance/etc those are usually scheduled. So plan your week out. Make sure you know when you'll have time to study and actually use that time to do so.

5. Avoid studying in areas with distractions. Which is hard. If you have the freedom to do so, I would say the library is a good choice, as well as a coffee shop - put your headphones on and listen to some music WITHOUT lyrics. Your brain has to focus on the lyrics in order to let you hear the words. Which means you're not focused on the homework you're doing; you're not retaining the information as well as you would without trying to hear lyrics at the same time
** Don't do homework in bed either.  Your body knows that this is where you sleep, so you will get tired quicker in bed than anywhere else.

That's everything Lauren and I came up with to help out a little with some studying tips.

Comment down below where your favorite place to do homework is, and I'll talk to you guys on Thursday!

OOTD | Lauren's Going to be a Senior!

This is my sister Lauren and she's awesome and it just so happens that she'll be a senior in high school this year!

Since I've now been out of high school for almost four years now, I decided to ask her to help me out this week on da blog.  Today I'm going to be showing off the outfit she picked out for her first day back as well as the make up I did for her for the day we hung out :)

She also made a list of some tips on studying and organization for high school, and that will be coming to you on Thursday!

So first: the make up.

I didn't bring any of my own products with me because I specifically wanted to use what she had so she could recreate the look on her actual first day of school if she wanted to.  I started with the Neutrogena Nude Skin Clearing Oil Free foundation with a foundation brush she got in a gift set of makeup brushes (unfortunately there's no brand name on the pouch they came in so I can't tell you that...)

I used a bare minerals mineral powder with no pigmentation to set that.

Lauren doesn't own any bronzer so I skipped that step and blushed her up with a pink blush from the Revlon Impressionist Photoready palette using a brush blush from the previously mentioned set.

I used a shimmery off white color from the same Revlon palette to highlight her cheekbones, nose, and cupid's bow.

For Laurens brows, I also improvised, using dark browns from that palette to fill them in.

then I used three different nudes and warm brown tones to shade her eyes.

For her liner, she has the Maybelline Master Precision eyeliner, and I just used the Scandaleyes Show Off mascara, without curling her lashes because her curler broke and she hadn't replaced it at the time.

She slapped on some clear Baby Lips chapstick, which has a nice sheen to it, and she was good to go!

Lauren chose this "shorts" romper from GStage which tends to slide down in the front, so she added a black tank top under that.  The shorts may be too short, depending on your school district's rules so bear that in mind when shopping :)

Because those classrooms can get a little chilly with the AC running, she added the jean jacket, also from GStage, on top of the tanked romper.

Personally, I think this necklace from Forever 21 is the best part of the entire outfit.  It's super long and I just love how delicate the individual strands are.  I want it for myself to be honest!

For her hair, Lauren just braided the parts around her face and pinned them back.  Her hair is naturally as straight as you see in the pictures, so that's all it took!

Me being the crazy brained Kassie that I am, I didn't actually get any pictures of Lauren's shoes! But she went with some classic white converse, which is a good choice considering most high schools have rules about open toed shoes :p

If you're interested in seeing my own first day back to college makeup, hair, and outfit, check out my video here!

Leave a comment down below what YOU'RE planning on wearing your first day back to school (or what you wore if it already happened) and keep an eye out for some tips on organization and studying coming your way on friday!

In Honor of Robin Williams

So today's post was going to be an outfit for going back to high school, but I felt this would be more appropriate.

Of course, I didn't personally know Robin Williams.  I never met him anywhere, I've never seen him in person.  But it would be silly to deny that he was so much a part of my growing up.  When I was in middle school, and again in high school, we had to write bucket lists.  And on both, I wrote to meet Robin Williams.  He was the only celebrity I cared enough about where I actively wanted to meet him.

So I thought I'd post some fond memories I have of Robin Williams in the great movies that were loves of mine, and some influenced me in other parts of my life.

"You ain't never had a friend like me"

Aladdin.  Most of us 90's kids probably remember this as their first Robin Williams movie/memory.  The genie's songs were my favorite, and of course he was hilarious.

"Stop giving me things that come apart!"

Jumanji. This movie scared the living daylights out of me the first time I saw it.  I even had a reoccurring nightmare that involved the bullet that goes backwards at the end when the game is finally ending (SPOILER ALERT).  I did love this movie when I got a little older; however I still consider it pretty dark.

"carpe dentum. Seize the teeth."

Mrs. Doubtfire. This movie was one of my favorites.  There is just so much gold.  My favorite scene was always when they're making him a woman, going through the different options and they sing a part of Matchmaker... I still laugh.  I also made my little brothers watch this about a year ago now, and they ended up watching for the next two weeks straight at least once a day.  So it's surviving through the generations.

"I know that sounds bad, but I'm just doing musical arm farts... They're hard to do because we're made out of metal, but that's where the skill comes in."

Robots.  This one may be a bit random, but this movie came out when my brother was little, and so we watched it a lot.  I would CRACK UP throughout the whole thing, even after watching it days in a row.  Robin Williams did the voice for Fender, the red robot.  He's a bit eccentric and it's great.

"You're a... you're a complex Freudian hallucination having something to do with my mother and I don't know why you have wings, but you have very lovely legs and you're a very nice tiny person and what am I saying, I don't know who my mother was; I'm an orphan and I've never taken drugs because I missed the sixties, I was an accountant."

"To die would be a grand adventure."

Hook.  This is a big family movie for me.  My aunt and mom both love this movie so I remember watching it a lot on holidays when we were all together.  I love Peter Pan in general, but this was just great, watching snooty adult Peter remember how to enjoy childish things again.

"Yes, I wear foundation. Yes, I live with a man. Yes, I'm a middle-aged fag. But I know who I am, Val. It took me twenty years to get here, and I'm not gonna let some idiot senator destroy that. Fuck the senator, I don't give a damn what he thinks."

The birdcage.  This may be obscure for some, but this was a big one in my older childhood days.  My mom loves this, along with Too Wong Foo, and so we often watched those two movies one right after another.  There's a lot of serious shit happening in this one, but in a setting that is pretty laughable, and the gay maid is great comedic relief when everything else starts getting serious.

"what's true in our minds is true, whether some people know it or not."

What Dreams May Come.  I first saw this movie in a theater class in high school, and the visuals are magnificent.  I just was in awe watching this movie, and watching it a second time, the effect was much the same.  I'm ending this post here, because Robin I hope you're in that painting not in your own personal hell anymore.  

Depression is something that a lot of people deal with, and I just want anyone reading this to know that even if you can't find anyone in your life that cares, there are people who do.  And I'm going to leave the number here to call if you ever feel you need it. 1-800-273-8255

In honor of Robin Williams, you will be missed, and you are loved, even from afar. Rest in Paradise.

OOTD | Beach life

I just wanted to show off what I wore to the beach the other day :)  

shirt: Wet Seal (on the sale rack).  I have to say that although I love how this shirt looks, and how it flows and everything, I've washed it once now and the fringe on the bottom all around the shirt is just destroyed.  It frayed like crazy and got all tangled, so I decided to spend three hours cutting the fringe so that all the frayed pieces were gone.  It's still wearable, but I'll never wash it again.

Shorts: which you can barely see, are black high-waisted jeans, and they're from a little shop in San Luis Obispo.  I love these shorts, I wear them so often.

My bathing suit is from Target, and its teal alter top with fringe on the breasts.  And the bottoms are teal and orange striped.

I was wearing Color Club nail polish in "blue-ming" (lol get it... blooming) and this color is so pigmented, I used two layers, and there's no stripes or anything, it's so smooth! I love it. AND IT'S SO BRIGHT!

This is my friend Dilara who went with me, and she's just awesome so I wanted to share the picture with her, as well as the little compilation I posted on instagram :)

Hope you're having an amazing day, comment down below what you wore to the beach last time you went and what your favorite nail polish color is for the summer time!

JULY FAVORITES 2014

I had quite a few favorites this month! If you want to check out my video on youtube click here!

I'm going to divide this post into sections, much like a did in the video, so lets start with makeup :)

First I want to talk about the 24 hour Revlon color stay foundation.  This is the bom.com!  I know every body always talks about BB creams and tinted moisturizers during the summer, which is nothing like this high coverage foundation; however I have been working (I'm a server at a restaurant) a lot lately, and so I like to have a full coverage foundation on while I work.  It was also awesome that this foundation stayed in the same place all day, I didn't feel like it was melting off my face.

The Maybelline "the rocket" mascara was also a favorite of mine this month.  I love the plastic bristles of the wand, and I feel like it really lengthens my lashes.

I have been loving this eyeshadow combination as well! I use the Maybelline color tattoo "inked in pink"  as a base and then use the pink color in the palette on top of that all over my lid.  I use the white color to highlight, the dark brown in my crease, and I've been brushing the yellow color across my lower lash line.

For my everyday life, I usually wear liquid eye liner, with a wing; however when I go to work, as I so often do, I like to just smudge some black stick liner on the outer half of my lid, and then use it on my water line as well.  When I do this, I've been grabbing for two different liners: the Korres natural products eyeliner as well as the Smashbox limitless eyeliner.

Here are all the swatches for all those products mentioned, plus the Revlon lipstick in "demure."  That's my last favorite make up product of the month, because it's a wonderful orangey nude color.

Now for fashion:

Every time I have these shorts clean, I want to wear them.  I pick them straight out of the clean basket of laundry and plan to wear them the next day because they are so fashionably chic (in my opinion at least) and they're comfortable! They're just slightly high wasted and they're not too short so that my butt's just hanging out.  They're from Windsor fashions.

I've also been using both the sunglasses (from Windsor) and the flip flops (Lauren Conrad) every day.  I have really sensitive eyes so I am constantly wearing sunglasses if I'm outside, or even in the car, and these are the ones I've been reaching for every day this month.  And the flip flops just fit really well, and are really simple so they go with everything, and they're not painful for the in between the toes part.

Lastly in this picture, I want to talk about my phone case! I own an iPhone 5 and I bought this case from amazon (which you can see the seller and everything here) for about $15 including shipping, and it's the same idea as an otter box, which are super expensive!  They also have a lot of different colors and prints and everything to choose from :)

Now for the skin cares:

Because I am now moved into my own apartment (with my boyfriend Matt) and have all my belongings in one location, I have refound my clarisonic, and have been loving it every morning when I use it!  I have found though, that I'm not a huge fan of the brush part anymore, so when I have to buy a new one I will probably be trying out a new type of brush.

I have also been loving the Dermalogica pre cleanse makeup removing wipes, and they are amazing, especially if you have to money to splurge on things like this (which is why when I had to repurchase makeup wipes, I did have to switch products).  They are a bit pricey for what they are, but I really feel like my face is completely void of makeup after I use these.

Last but not least, I have been loving the EOS hand lotion in the cucumber scent, because it's not too strong smelling, and it's moisturizing enough, but it doesn't feel nasty while it soaks into the skin.

And that is mostly everything I've been loving this month!  There are some extra random favorites I talk about in my video though.  Make sure to check out my channel and subscribe if you're interested in new videos every Monday/Friday.  I post on here every Tuesday/Thursday so keep in touch :)

Comment down below what your favorite skincare/makeup products were this month!