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

Skincare Lineup

My struggle with my skin has been a rollercoaster of different products and different outcomes. My cleansers, toners and moisturizers may come and go but there are a few things that stay the same. I've previously done a post all about my favorite Masks and, while most of my masks are featured in this post, I thought I would show you guys the skincare regime I'm doing tonight.

Since everyone is out getting candy and/or getting drunk, I decided to treat myself to a mini spa night! 

Tonight's lineup goes as follows:

Philosophy Micro-delivery Purifying Peel is a gel mask that really gets deep down into your pores and gets rid of the dead skin cells. I picked up a sample of this mask from Sephora and I've been loving it! While it's really nice, I don't know if I can shell out almost $40 for a mask, but we'll see.

Origins Out of Trouble 10 Minute Mask is a lifesaver for acne prone skin. This mask contains Zinc Oxide (whatever that is), Sulfur, and Salicylic Acid so this little guy is preeetty powerful. While it doesn't clear my skin 100% overnight, I definitely do see improvements in the morning. 

Origins Clear Improvement Mask is awesome for blackheads. While I put the 10 Minute Mask almost all over my face, I put this mask on my chin and nose where I'm prone to blackheads. Like the previous mask, you don't see immediate results. However if you use this mask for a while, you definitely see less and less blackheads so it gets an A+ in my book.

*A bit out of order here, my apologies!*

I remove my masks with the DevitaRx Rc Pre-Treatment Clarifier. This is a toner that my mum gave me because she has a little left and wanted me to try it. It's okay, not great. Definitely not worth the hefty price tag. My neutrogena toner will do just fine, thank you!

Next I slather on the DevitaRx C-Pro Plus Serum. This little guy is packed with vitamin C which is amazing for your skin. While you're supposed to put this on in the morning, I put it on at night because I'm not a fan of wearing serums under my makeup. Unless it's sunscreen, but sunscreen doesn't really count as a serum.

I'll then treat my spots with the Origins Super Spot Remover which I've gone on and on about (read this post if you'd like to hear more about it) Pair this spot treatment with the 10 minute mask and you're golden, pony boy (10 points for you if you get the reference!)

I'll wrap up the night with putting on a bit of the Neutrogena Light Night Cream on some dry spots (ie: around my nose) and then put on the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask which is the best hydrating mask I've ever used. I've spoken about it briefly in this post and I'm planning on doing an entire post about it too.

After all that, I'm going to curl up with a cuppa and my snuggie and watch some American Horror Story!

Hope you all have an amazing night!

Until next time,

Ashley