Review + Swatches: Maybelline's Super Stay 14 Hour Lipstick in "Ravishing Rouge"

I love red lipstick. To me, it's the epitome of sexiness and femininity. So, how some bloggers are suckers for blush, I'm a sucker for lipstick. So when the lovely Lisa Eldridge did her "Ultimate Guide to Red Lips" video, she mentioned a gorgeous lipstick she's been loving. Plot Twist: It's from the drugstore. In the UK it's called "Non-Stop Red" and here it's called "Ravishing Rouge". Safe to say,  I obviously bought it.

The Packaging

One of my issues with drugstore makeup is the occasionally bulky packaging. This packaging, however, is small and sleek. Another pro to the packaging is that it shows the color of the lipstick on the outside, making color selection easier since you can't actually swatch drugstore colors here in the US.

It's small enough to fit in my shirt pocket but easy enough to find in my bag! 

A definite A for packaging in my book!

 The color

The color is a gorgeous, universally flattering firetruck red. I truly don't think that there's a person out there that would look bad wearing this color. Unless, of course, you have a very red face. Red face + Red Lipstick = nono. Luckily there's foundation for that, but I digress. I'm a lipstick lover, as stated earlier, but I don't have a red in my collection that looks anything like this. Obviously, photos don't do it justice, but still.

From top to bottom:

MAC Russian Red

Tarte Firey

Maybelline Ravishing Rouge

Revlon In The Red

The formula

I'm a full time student, so wearing a high maintenance color isn't particularly an option for me. Luckily, this formula is true to its name. It doesn't last 14 hours, but it lasted an entire school day for me, which is from when I apply my lipstick (around 7AM) to when I get home (the day I was purposely wearing it to review, it was around 3:30). That's around 8 hours, give or take a few. 

No touch ups. No reapplying. How crazy is that!?

It can be a tad drying sometimes, so make sure to moisturize your lips before applying.

The lipstick at around 3-4 hours of wear.

Overall, I absolutely love this lipstick. It's a gorgeous color, it wears amazingly, and the packaging is just right. I'm definitely looking forward to purchasing more and, for around $10 a pop, it isn't breaking the bank.

Until next time,

Ashley

Review + Swatches: New Wet 'N Wild Pallets!

Hello there! I hope you all had an amazing weekend. Mine was filled with cupcakes and exercise, yay!
Anyway, earlier last week I bought some of the new Wet n Wild Pallets from Walgreens and I refused to touch them until I got this post up. After almost a whole 5 days, I broke down and swatched galore! So in this post, I'll be going over each pallet, showing you some swatches, and telling you my thoughts.
Oh, and please do forgive the photos. They were taken at 9:30pm, so not the best lighting. Or angling. But so be it!

From left to right:

Drinking A Glass of Shine *Limited Edition*

Comfort Zone

Sparkle Til Morning *Limited Edition*

This pallet is completely matte. Yep, you read that correctly. Completely. Matte.

Matte anythings are very few and far between in the land of the drugstore, so having Wet N Wild come out with an all matte pallet is fantastic. This pallet is half neutral colors: a beige, light brown, dark brown, and black and half colors: a white, green, blue, and purple. They all swatch beautifully and are extremely pigmented, like any other Wet N Wild shadow. I'm completely head over heels in love with this pallet and I'll be doing a tutorial on this very soon.

Comfort Zone is a repurchase for me, as I accidentally shattered mine earlier this year. Unlike the previous pallet, this one is all shimmers. It's, again, half neutral: a shimmery white, light brown, dark brown, and darker brown with what's either red or gold glitters. The other side of the pallet has all olivey colors: a shimmery light olive, green, dark green, and a duochrome brown/green blend. Quite interesting. Like the former, they all swatch gorgeously (is that a word?) and wear beautifully. This pallet is a definite staple in my collection.

Last but not least, is the pallet Sparkle Til Morning. This pallet, like Comfort Zone, is all shimmery eyeshadows. And, like the previous two, it's split in two. One side is has all neutral colors: A shimmer champagne, bright gold, toned down gold, and dark brown. The other has more color: a shimmery yellow-white, gold, bronze, and blue. Again, swatch beautifully. If I end up going to a New Year's party (unlikely) this pallet will most likely be the one I wear.

All in all, these pallets are absolutely stunning. For a drugstore eyeshadow, they're absolutely remarkable. I would compare the quality of these to that of Urban Decay and Mac, they're that amazing. Plus, they can't be more than $4.99 which is an absolute steal.

You can pick these up at Walgreens or anywhere else Wet N Wild is sold!

Keep an eye out because I'm planning on featuring each of these pallets in upcoming tutorials!

Until next time,

Ashley

A Week In Review

I don't know about you, but my thanksgiving was a success. Football, food, cupcakes- talk about a good time! The only not-so-fun part was the food coma but that's to be expected.

Anyway, it's Friday (cue the Rebecca Black song) which means it's time for another weekly recap. This week was better than last week, so we're ending this week on a positive note! Let's talk about some of my favorite things from this past week, shall we?

Hair:
I've been loving the Miss Jessie's Quick Curls Creme that I got in my birchbox a while back. After shoving this product in my sample drawer for months, I decided to break it out and have been thrilled with the results. I have naturally wavy hair and it defines my waves and adds texture without making it look frizzy or greasy. Mind you, this isn't a volumizing product, but it adds texture and dimension to my hair, making it an A+ in my book!

Lippies:
My two lip loves for the week are two of my holy grail lippies. I've had both of these before (well, technically my mum had one but I was always using it..) and when they were gone I missed them terribly. They're the Lush Ultrabalm  and Mint Julips. I've briefly talked about them in this video, so I won't go too much into detail here. Mint Julips is a sugar based lip scrub that really gets everything yucky off of your lips. My lipstick goes on so much smoother after using this and, when I didn't have it, I found myself constantly missing it.  Ultrabalm is amazing for moisturizing lips, elbows, cuticles, knees, everything. I personally smack it on my lips as often as possible, and it leaves my lippies feeling nice and hydrated.

Candle:
I have a lot of candles, as you can see from this post, and this past week I've had to say goodbye to my favorite of the bunch, my Eucalyptus Mint candle. It was my favorite for two reasons: it burned beautifully and smelled to die for. It filled my room with a very clean, fresh scent that I'll definitely be missing. Luckily it's a permanent candle so I'll be picking some more up the next time Bath and Body Works has their 2/$20.

That's all for this week! I hope you all had an amazing week and have an amazing weekend!

Until next time,
Ashley

What I'm Thankful For

Happy day before thanksgiving, everyone! I'm so excited for tomorrow! I can't wait to stuff my face and play football and hang out with family. I've been eating super super healthy so I'm excited to absolutely pig out!

But I thought I would share with all of you what I'm thankful for this year, let me know what you're thankful for down below!

The basics:

This Thanksgiving 2012, I am thankful for:

My health (physically and mentally)
This time last year I was a completely different person in a completely different mental state. I look back on who I was and, while I'm glad everything happened, I'm much happier with the person I am now. I'm so thankful for my health in more ways than one because, without it, you're a shell of your former self.

My family
My family is my rock, my guiding light, and my stress. We all drive each other mad but love each other unconditionally. I would not be where I am today without their never ending love and support, so I am forever thankful for the amazing family that I'm lucky enough to call mine.

My friends
My friends are very few and far between, but the relationships I've made have gotten so much stronger over the past year and the people that I call friends are the greatest people in the world. I absolutely adore them with every ounce of my being, and am so thankful to have them in my life.

My education
I feel like education is something that's completely taken advantage of. While the public school system is, well, public, most people don't have access to the type of education that I'm lucky enough to have. While school is a huge pain in the butt, I would literally be nowhere and no one without it, so I am very thankful to be able to learn at such an amazing school with amazing teachers and classmates.


The opportunities I've been given through YouTube and blogging:
Let's just be honest here, I'm nowhere near YouTube or blogging famous, nor do I think I am. However, opening myself up on the internet has made me a better person in more ways than one. It's given me more confidence to be myself, to try new things, and to experience new things too. It's given me the courage to go out and express myself confidently and freely, whether it be through clothes or music.
Overall, being a YouTube and blogger has made me a better person in more ways than one, and I wouldn't have been able to do any of it without you guys. So thank you for supporting me and reading my blog and watching my videos! It means the absolute world to me.

What are you thankful for?


Until next time,

Ashley

Book Review: The Casual Vacancy by Jk Rowling

Well hello! I hope you all had an amazing weekend! I am currently procrastinating from reading something for History and internally crying because I have yet to collect the Harry Styles Teen Vogue cover which is pathetic because he's my favorite. But, we're not here to talk about that today. We're here to finally talk about The Casual Vacancy by Jk Rowling!

To start off this review, the cover is gorgeous.

As a complete and utter book nerd, I think that covers are important. You shouldn't choose a book by the cover, of course not. However, it's always nice when you know a book will look good on your shelf. So, yes. It's a gorgeous hard cover and the slip is lovely and I love it.

The Plot

"A BIG NOVEL ABOUT A SMALL TOWN ...

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils... Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?* "

My Thoughts

I enjoyed this book, I did. I think it was really well written and quite entertaining. This book was really nice to read because, since I'm a student, I don't have time to sit down every single night to read for hours on end, so being able to pick up a book and know exactly where you left off is something I'm fond of.

The book is separated into parts, containing seven parts total. I enjoyed parts 1-3, 4-5 and part of 6 were really, really boring, and part 7 was a great way to wrap up the book. The book was nice overall, but there were certain parts that I merely skimmed instead of delved into, you know?

So, would I recommend it?

No, I wouldn't. I can honestly say that the only reason I bought the book was because Jk Rowling wrote it and if you know me at all you'd know that Harry Potter takes up at least 50% of my life. However, this book really wasn't up to Jk Rowlings standards. The plot was nice, but got boring after a while. There weren't enough exciting things happening in the book to keep me 100% entertained 100% of the time. 

This book also has a gloomy vibe to it, which I personally like, but most people won't.

If you're a Jk Rowling fan, like myself, and you want to support her, or you're merely curious about the book, I'd pick it up.

However, if you're just looking for a simple, entertaining read, I'd hold out on this one.

It's hard for me to say I don't like a Jk Rowling book, but this one was just a no-no.

Have you read the Casual Vacancy? What did you think?

Until next time,

Ashley

*Summary from Goodreads

A Week in Review

Today say that this week has been terrible is an understatement. My anxiety has been through the absolute roof, whether it be due to grades, friends, or life changing news, I've been a mess. A crying hyperventilating mess. So this week hasn't been the best of weeks, nor have I been in the best head space. But a few good things have come my way, and I thought I would go over those and share with you some random bits and bobs I've been loving this week as well!

Good things to happen this week:

• We found out who Bloody Face is on American Horror Story and I could not be more thrilled
• A person I've been wanting to be friends with for a while and I have been speaking more regularly and I'm quite fond of him. Yay for friends!
• One Directions new album came out on Tuesday. 'nough said.
• I finished a really good book (review to come) and I've started a new book that I've been meaning to read for ages

So those are the good things to happen to me this week. On with the random bits!

Skincare:

My Boscia daily hydrator has been a godsent. I hauled this, along with a bunch of other things, in my most recent youtube video and I'm very pleased with this product.

Makeup:

My NARS concealer has been the love of my life this week. I can't exactly say why, but I've been enjoying it very, very much.

Perfume:

Stella by Stella McCartney. Floral and lovely and girly and I'm in love.

Music:

One Directions new album, Take Me Home and Little Mixs song DNA have been on repeat all. week. long.

So that's it, basically. Like I said, this week has been absolute crap, so my favorites are very few.

But, I hope you all had an amazing week and have an amazing weekend!

Until next time,

Ashley

Bumble Bee

Well hello there! Todays post is another fashion post, this time shot by yours truly. Yep, no help from my mum, this was all me! I almost wore this outfit out to brunch on Monday, but it was 70 degrees here in Boston so I changed into a tee shirt. But, this was a cute outfit nonetheless!

Top: Gap

Everyone calls this my bumble bee sweater, but I think of it as either my Karen Gillan sweater, as she has a similar one, or my hufflepuff sweater, because I'm a hufflepuff. And, if you didn't know, hufflepuffs are very good finders. (10pts to you if you get that!)

But this sweater is very lightweight and slouchy, making it a really fun piece for fall!

Leggings: Hue

Shoes: Mum's cowboy boots

I kept the rest of the outfit really simple with some basic black leggings and my mums old cowboy boots. The shoes are really comfortable and, while they are eye catching, don't take too much away from the top and vice versa.

Hue makes my favorite leggings as they're thick enough to wear in the autumn and winter, but light enough to get away with wearing in the spring and summer. I can be found in black leggings 99% of the time, so prepare to see a lot of those in upcoming fashion posts.

That's all! I hope you're having an amazing week!

Until next time,

Ashley

Denim, Red, and Litas

Good morning everyone! I hope you all had an amazing weekend! Todays post is another outfit post. I'm trying to do these more frequently, but I'm a student and my mum works so it's hard for us to find times to take photos. But, we managed to squeeze in 5 minutes yesterday to take photos of this outfit!

Shirt: Forever21 Mens Section, last season

Leggings: H&M

Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell Litas 

Bag: Marc Jacobs [from almost 3 years ago]

Sunglasses: Rayban

I wore this outfit to go to lunch with my mum, cousin, and nana and I got a lot of really weird looks. Apparently people aren't used to seeing others wear high heels? Their loss. These shoes are so beyond comfortable and easy to walk in, I forget I'm wearing heels half of the time! I'm planning on doing a full review similar to the one I did for the 99 Tie (click here), so keep a look out for that.

The shirt is also, weirdly enough, my "sunday shirt" because I find myself wearing it every single sunday. By accident, of course. Usually I leave it open and wear a shirt underneath, but it's getting quite chilly in Boston so I kept it closed. 

The leggings are staples in my not-so-little legging collection. They're $9.99 from H&M and come in Red, Black, Navy, and I think Grey? They run true to size, but they look a lot smaller when you're holding them than they do on. 

The bag I've had since I was 15 and I love it wholeheartedly. It's a good size bag (it can fit a decent size textbook, computer, some papers, a calculator, two books, pencils and pens, my wallet, and phone. Although it's a tight squeeze) and it's neutral enough that it can be worn all year round. You don't find many olive green bags nowadays, which makes me love it even more!

So, yes. That's what I wore to lunch yesterday! 

I really need to start doing more outfit posts, I absolutely love them!

Until next time,

Ashley

Friday Favorites!

And we're back for another friday favorites post, which means another week has come and gone! Cha ching! Friday Favorites are quickly becoming my favorite way to wrap up a school week, I get to blab about some random things that make me happy! Yay! Let's jump right in!

Skincare
I've been loving the Philosophy When Hope Is Not Enough Replenishing Oil this week. I've had this little bottle for a while but I've recently picked it up again. After removing my makeup at night, I put a few drops on my hand and rub this all over my face. Since I have combo/oily skin, you'd think that putting an oil on my face wouldn't be the best idea, right? Wrong! It's so light and sinks into the skin right away, and it doesn't make me look shiny or anything! On the Philosophy website, it says that "our lightweight oil hydrates dry skin, while helping to protect it against environmental attack. the nurturing formula helps maintain skin's elasticity." 

I don't have dry skin, as stated above, and I don't exactly know what elasticity is, but this oil makes my face feel really nice and I like it.

Books

Last night, after on-and-off reading since September, I finished Jk Rowlings The Casual Vacancy. A full book review will be coming sometime next week, but I really liked it. Parts 1-3 were really interesting, parts 4-6 were meh, but the last part (7, I think) was so good and talk about a plot twist holy crap! But yes, a full review will be coming soon!

Music

Rock me by One Direction. Their entire album has been leaked (because their management team are absolute idiots and I'm pretty sure they're the spawns of satan) and Rock me is probably my favorite song, next to They Don't Know About Us for obvious shipper reasons. This song is just so catchy and amazing and so not like One Direction that it makes me happy. I definitely recommend checking it out, yes sir. 

I've also been loving Zac Brown Band, which is really weird as I don't often listen to country. But it was recommended by a friend and, he was right, they're amazing. The songs I have are Whatever It Is and Goodbye In Her Eyes and they're really lovely. 

Perfume

Unbreakable by Khloe and Lamar has been my staple fall scent since last year and it's still going strong. It's a really musky, unisex fragrance that I'd get my boyfriend if I had one (cue HAHAHAHAHA's here). Fragrantica describes it as "The composition opens with notes of Italian bergamot, sparkling clementine, Asian saffron and green apple. The heart includes a bouquet of African Geranium, jasmine, lily of the valley and red fruit, lying on the base of dark chocolate, tonka bean, vanilla and Texas cedar wood."

Sure, let's go with that. It's delicious either way.

That about wraps it up for this weeks Friday Favorites! I hope you all had an amazing week, and have an amazing weekend!

Until next time,

Ashley

Jump Then Fall: Earth, Fire, and Mahogany

Hello there! I'm back today and sharing with you the most recent video I've put up on my youtube channel. It's a tutorial using the Stila In The Know pallet (talked about here), a limited edition Maybelline color tattoo shadow (review of the permanent line here), and a few other bits and bobs!

November is going to be full of tutorials, which I'm so excited for! They're fun to do, easy to edit, and people really seem to enjoy them! I have some thanksgiving themed ones coming up, a drugstore one, an eyeliner tutorial and a purple lip tutorial. Then when December rolls around it'll be HOLIDAY TUTORIAL TIME! But, more on that some other time.

Hit the play button down below and let me know what you think!

Until next time,

Ashley

5 Ways to (attempt) to Cheer Yourself Up

Bad days are, well, bad. And I've been having a really bad 2-3 weeks, plagued with school work and a lot of cognitive distortions. So, this post is about ways to cheer yourself up when you're having a bad day. Whether it be a regular day, or a day plagued with cognitive distortions, these are my top 5 tips to cheer yourself up!

1. Tea. I'm a firm believer that a good cuppa can change the world. Tea is just peaceful and lovely and heavenly and mystical and it just warms my heart and soul. One of my favorite teas is called Get Happy (link here), which is a tea marketed for lifting your spirits. And it smells like sunshine, and you can't go wrong with some sunshine.
2. Music. Take it from someone who probably knows better than you, listening to sad music while you're sad doesn't help anyone. Instead, listen to some happy music! Yay! My favorite music to listen to is anything written or sung by Ed Sheeran. I have a never ending, limitless love for that little ginger. Anyway, his songs Drunk, Gold Rush, and Little Bird are some personal favorites of mine. 
3. Comfy clothes! Throw on your old, ratty sweats and a big ole' sweater, toss your hair up and slip on some slippers. Being comfortable relaxes you, and when you're sad being relaxed is good. 
4. A good book. I'm probably the biggest book worm that you'll ever meet, so along with tea, books are my go to. I'm currently reading The Casual Vacancy by my queen J.K Rowling, and Tricks by Ellen Hopkins. Both are really good, definitely recommend them. Book reviews to come!
5. And, finally, surround yourself with people who make you feel good. That means not hanging out with your girlfriends who love to gossip, or even the guy you like. No, surround yourself with someone who isn't involved in your friend group, someone who's trustworthy and knows how to have fun without going out and getting absolutely plastered. Surround yourself with the type of people that you'd want your children to one day hang out with.

Sorry for being kind of down-in-the-dumps, I'm not in the best headspace at the moment. But, I'll pick myself back up soon, never fear!

Until next time,

Ashley

Random Friday Favorites

I'm currently sipping on a cup of lovely tea and have just finished watching a hot chocolate video when I thought I should post something tonight. I didn't end up filming for my youtube channel tonight because I was quite down-in-the-dumps when I got home from school, plus it takes 3+ hours with all of the editing and importing and I wasn't having it tonight. Plus, blogging is more calming and less time consuming, therefore making it more appealing to me than pushing out a video. So here we are!

I haven't done a Friday Favorites since July and, since I'm a lazy old lady tonight, I thought I would share some random things that I've been enjoying this week!

Book

I'm slowly pushing through the Casual Vacancy, but during school I've been reading Tricks by Ellen Hopkins. She wrote one of my favorite books, Crank, and her novels are very real and "heavy" in substance. Tricks is about 5 different teenagers from all over the country dealing with their thoughts, feelings, and lives in similarly different ways. To see a more formal review, click here. Aside from the fact that her writing is absolutely lovely, she formats each page to read like a poem, with the beginning of each chapter having a few words pushed to the side to form mini-poems of their own. It's lovely!

Here's a sample of what she wrote, photo taken from my Instagram.

Once I finish the book I'll be doing a more formal book review, but I thought I would talk briefly about it here.

Music

I'd be lying if I didn't say that Little Things by One Direction hasn't been playing on repeat since it came out. I'm not a fan of pop music, I like the band because of the band members not necessarily their music, but this song is so different from everything else they've done because it was written by Ed Sheeran, who's my favorite singer in the entire universe.  He's also been on repeat as well! One of his new songs has been leaked and I got my hands on it, and it's so lovely I could cry.

Accessory

A weekend or two back I picked up a necklace that looks quite like the House of Harlow one, except for $26 as opposed to +$100, and I've been in love with it ever since.

Photo taken from my instagram.

Television Show
American Horror Story. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but this show is the most f**ked up show on television and I absolutely love it. It's been my favorite show for a little over a year and it gets better and better and better every single week. The cast is flawless, the acting is impeccable, and the storyline is so screwed up. It's fantastic. Plus, Evan Peters is on the show again this season and I've had a massive crush on him since his Disney Channel days, so seeing his bum a few times isn't something I'm going to argue about.

Drink
I'm a tea junkie and have been since 5th grade. My mum and I picked up some of the "Get ______" teas last week and I've been absolutely loving the Get Gorgeous (for clear skin), Get Charged (for energy, and Get Happy (for a mood boost). All of these teas are divine, and they can be found here.

That's all for this weeks Friday Favorites! I hope you've enjoyed! I've really missed doing these, I may have to do the random ones more often!

Until next time,
Ashley