Whats on my desk….

I think how a person decorates really says a lot about the person. I think it is a great way to express personal style. So in lieu of that I thought I would show you what is on my desk.

My desk is a really important part of my room. I do a lot of homework on it so I like to be surrounded with things that make me happy and inspire me.

Magazine holder- from Target. I love magazine holders, they’re very functional and I love to display things and I love how this one has gold hardware and textured fabric.

Ceramic dog- I love frenchies and I am determined to adopt one one day. I found this cute little guy from home goods and it is happily sitting on top of my desk guarding my candle

Candle- I always have to have a candle on my desk, it easily changes the entire atmosphere of my room relaxes me. This is one of my favorites from diptyque. I really just love the way these candles look and the smell is sweet but not sickening, it is a cult scent for a reason

Books- I keep these books near by so I can be reminded to read them and I like the way they look. From bottom to the top: MLA handbook- I’m a PR/Mass Comm major so this style book comes in handy. Wuthering Heights- it is my favorite book and from time to time I read it again and love it more each time. He’s just not that into you- haven’t read it yet, so thats why its here. Tina Fey Bossypants- such a funny, light read, I love Tina Fey, I highly recommend this to anyone. Northanger Abbey/ Persuasion- I love Northanger Abbey because I share similar characteristics to the main character, Catherine. I bought this book from amazon because I just really loved the way it looked and I love having hard copies of books I love.

Perfumes- I just love to look at perfumes, I think they look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I’m a very picky person with scents and these are the ones in my rotation. Ralph Lauren Romance- Classic. It’s the one scent that I will always love and turn to no matter what. Viktor and Rolfe Flowerbomb- hmmm….I loved this in the beginning but now I really have to be in the mood to wear this. Giorgio Armani Si- This is my favorite of the three right now, I wear this everyday because I love it so much. It is sweet, feminine but not sickly.

Pencil Cup- this is just a plain mason jar I got from Hobby Lobby that houses all my pens and highlighters.

Ring dish- This one is from anthropologie and I love France/French culture so I had to have this Eiffel Tower ring dish.

 

What I am TIRED of hearing…(about 50 shades of Grey)

Okay so unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of years or so, you would know what 50 shades of Grey is. Basically a series about a couple who has a BDSM relationship. Basically. Of course, there has been tons of blog posts about people giving it such a hard time for it being a terrible book, all it teaches us is that domestic abuse is okay blah blah blah and I am so tired of people saying that. First of all, have you read the book? anyone that has read the book would know that “domestic abuse” isn’t really whats going on here. A billionaire who seduces a innocent, young virgin and abuses her isn’t really whats going on here. If you read the book, you would know that there is basically an entire chapter talking about how its suppose to be recreational and Anna (the girl in the book) consents to all of these things and when it got too much for her, she ended the relationship and he accepted that. Domestic abuse doesn’t really work like that. And Christian (the guy in the book) didn’t purposely lure her in because of her virginity and again anyone who actually read the book would know that. It takes two to tango in a relationship and Christian warns Ana about his type of lifestyle and he only engages in that BDSM relationship once there is an agreement from the both parties. Second, enough about how these books are terribly written. Get a grip people, these types of books aren’t suppose to be award winning, mind-challenging types of novels. It’s for entertainment so quit putting the book on some level it will never reach. There was an article that I read recently about the novel and I would just like to point out a few things.

1)If you’re good-looking, rich, or successful, you can develop a violent sexual appetite and people will be okay with it.
– okay seriously, demonizing the author for making the main character attractive. Obviously you (the article) isn’t okay with him being the way he is so him being good looking doesn’t really matter does it?

2) sex is completely for pleasure and all love/romance should be removed from the situation.
– have you read the books? and trust us, there are many things in the world that promotes the same thing said above so the novel is irrelevant to that.

3) Girls: If you hang around long enough and put up with a guy’s “issues”, eventually he might love you and change
– no thats the whole point she ended up leaving him was because she realized he couldn’t love her in the end. again. read the book. and there was a part in there about how she stayed with him for all the lavish gifts he gave her. if you read the book you would know she hated all the gifts and found them extremely uncomfortable.

4) Guys: You can do whatever you want to a girl and she’ll just take it because… she’s a girl.
-It takes two to tango! Read the book.

I am not saying that I am a die hard fan of the book and will defend everything about it but its articles like these that anger me because anyone who has actually read the book will know that the series is beyond just BDSM sex and that the sex is really only a minimal part of the entire series. so before you go and say that the entire series is all about an abusive relationship, go and actually read it and tell me if you still think so after.

Cake in a mug thats actually pretty good?

(not the best picture but it was so good that I forgot to take a picture before taking a bite so this is the best I got)

It is 9 pm and you have a craving for a nice chocolate cake but you neither have the patience to bake a whole cake or go to the store to get one. So you get on pinterest and type in “cake in a mug” and you see tons of results with pictures that look delicious. You pick one that you like and 3 minutes later, you got yourself a cake in a mug. It tastes nasty. like a watery sponge with a hint of chocolate is a nice way of putting it. I know, we all been there! I thought cake in a mug is just something you make when you are so desperate you don’t even are you care eating edible sponge.

I have recently came up with a recipe that is surprisingly pretty good and it will make you re-think cake in a mug all over again.

Chocolate cake in a mug

4 tbsp of sugar

4 tbsp of self rising flour

2 tbsp cacao powder (not coco powder unless thats all you got)

2 tbsp of melted butter

2 tbsp of water

1.5 tsp of vanilla extract

dash of salt

mix it all up together and the consistency should be like a brownie batter. honestly I could have just eaten it like that but for the purpose of finding out if its actually edible once cooked in the microwave I had to stop myself from eating the batter

microwave for 1-1.5 minutes. Always start with 1 minute and take it out to see if its done. If its not microwave it for 30 more seconds.

Top with reddi whip and some strawberries and you got yourself a chocolate cake.

I used cacao powder since its actually good for you (not that i’m saying this cake is healthy because obviously its not) instead of coco powder since coco powder is refined and have all the added nasties.

trust me, its good! (or at least better than all the other edible sponges you have tried from pinterest…)

Hi MTV and welcome to my crib!

It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve been back to college and I am so glad to be back! I have definitely missed the people, atmosphere and even classes. This year I am living in an apartment owned by the university. It is fully furnished and move-in ready. Now, I have had some issues with pests and AC unit being broken and finding a dead bird in my bathroom exhaust fan, this still feels like home. I am so glad to be here and I can’t think of a better place to be than San Marcos.

So in effort to make my new home feel more like me, I have been trying to decorate. This is by far not complete but I am comfortable here as of moment. So here are a few pictures of my bedroom…

From across the pond…

If there is one thing that frustrates me about following beauty blogs bases in the UK is that, sometimes the products mentioned and raved about are not available in the US. To name a few, Bourjois is kinda hard to get your hands on (asos and feel unique carries them), max factor, collection, Charlotte Tilbury and etc. Even drugstore products are different in the UK than in the US. My recent trip to target last week had me think otherwise. Here are a few things that are available to us americans that have been available to Britons  for quite some time now.

I’m a Wild Ginger

I am neither wild or a ginger but I am wearing a lipstick thats called wild ginger by Tom Ford. (haha, get it;)) I have finally braved up enough to wear this (not in public but around the house. baby steps here you guys). Red is really one of those colors that can boost up your mood and perk up your face in my opinion. Now this lipstick is ridiculously expensive ( I realized that the prices have been beefed up  $1 more than they were before tisk tisk Tom Ford) and I would not recommend just casually strolling past the Tom Ford counter and picking  it up. Its definitely one of those items to be left on birthdays or christmas wish lists.

A year full of lessons and discoveries…

Whoop birthdays! Today marks the 19th year I have been on this Earth and its really crazy to think that 19 has already come. (okay honestly, 19 isn’t a significant birthday in my opinion but nevertheless, a celebration is indeed needed).  Today has been a low key relaxation day filled with my favorite Haggen Daaz ice cream (caramel cone incase you were wondering) and doughnuts (I LOVE doughnuts). Birthdays definitely aren’t the world’s hugest celebration anymore like when I was turning 9 or 10, now its more of a family get togethers and relaxing days and lazy days (which is completely a-okay with me). So for today’s post I would like to share what I have discovered and learned this year.

So about that fitness thing…

I vowed this summer that I would actually set aside some time during the week dedicating myself to daily exercising. When I was in middle school, I was definitely the sporty type. Now, whether I was actually good or not is the question. I just really wanted to do everything so I joined volleyball, basketball (which I am WRETCHED at. How did I ever make the team is blur) track and golf. I actually quite enjoyed running and volleyball and I continued volleyball until sophomore year in high school then I didn’t want to do it anymore because 1) my skill level in volleyball really never grew. le sigh. 2) those 6 am practices and 2 practices a day in the summer= death. So after that I really enjoyed the freedom of not dragging myself to practice and forcing myself to workout all up until now which is approximately 4 years since I’ve had a regular workout routine. I do occasionally workout here and there and jog every once in awhile but I never really stuck with anything until recently. Partly because I didn’t have a coach that made me do laps around the gym and burpees ’til my legs literally fell off  if I didn’t come to practice.  So for all of y’all trying to get into the healthy fitness routine I have some tips for you that seems to be a charm on me.

Skincare issues pt.2

okay so if anyone is interested in knowing, I am going to be continuing my skincare issues on this post.

so since pt.1 my skin has gotten A LOT better! Since I stopped using the rose hip oil I noticed a dramatic difference on my active breakouts. It really is a shame that my skin is allergic to the rose hip oil because it was a bit pricey and it was something I was really excited about in trying.

I also recently remembered that I had an eye cream sample from Mario Badescu with rose hip as one of it’s ingredients and I remember that I had tiny little pimples under my eye after using it so I chucked it away. Thus I put two and two together and figured out that rose hip is the problem. I also took some benadryl pills yesterday and the night before so that probably helped a lot with the whole allergic reaction problem. So right now my skin is still healing, no active breakouts, just one or two that I had already and A LOT that is trying to heal and now I am dealing with hyper pigmentation problems from acne scars. If anyone has any tips about hyper pigmentation I would definitely appreciate your advice.

So now the only big issue I have is the oil. what should I do with it? Beauty Bay (where I purchased it) won’t accept any returns after 7 days and I don’t even have the original packaging anymore.

It is the pai bioregenerate rose hip oil. (the really hyped up oil in the blogger world, you know the one) If anyone loves it and would love to buy it off, please feel free!! It is hardly even used and the bottle is full. Such a shame, such a shame for a real hyped up and praised product…

skin issues…

So for the last couple weeks I have been dealing with probably the worst breakout of my life. I may sound a bit dramatic here but its true. Even when I was younger and my teen acne was in it’s prime, it has never been so bad like this. So naturally I am wondering what the heck is going on with me? I am breaking out mostly on the left side of my cheek and all over my chin.  I know this is irregular because I NEVER break out on my chin. Never. I don’t even think I ever had a pimple on my chin before…til now. It could be hormones, it could be the junk food I have been eating, an allergic reaction or the products I have been using. Little by little I am eliminating the possible suspects and praying that my skin will clear up.

lets look at the possible suspects

Junk Food: well well well….ever since I have been home I have come to the land of abundant food and snacks. The constant snacking and junk food consuming could be the reason. I have cut out 90% of junk foods for the past week and i’m not expecting major results that quickly but so far, nuthin.

Allergic reaction: the only food allergy I have are kiwis. I break out BBBBAAAAADDDD from those bad boys. One time consuming that demon fruit when I was 10 and I never looked back. However I just found out my mom has snuck in the devil fruit in a sauce she made for spring rolls. tut tut bad mommy. could this be the reason why? She said she put a tiny amount in and a little bit can’t possibly make me break out this badly?

Hormones: it was that time of the month for me 2 weeks ago and when this all started….maybe this is why? but this is crazy! My hormonal breakouts have never been this bad.

New products: I have introduced rose hip oil to my skincare routine since coming home and rosehip oil is suppose to be good for the skin so I’ve used this every day since receiving it. However, after a week of using this and when my period started is when all the troubles began. Also, I’ve noticed that the new foundation I have been using the CHANEL perfection lumiere velvet gives me one or two pimples every time I wear it.

So possibly it could be the combo of the perfection lumiere velvet, mother nature and the rose hip oil that is causing all this. So I stopped rose hip oil in my routine and I am going to continue not using this. perhaps this is the culprit? I don’t know:( what do you guys think? what is making my skin freak out like this?