DIY Pamper Night + GIVEAWAY!

Hello everyone! I took a little break from blogging during the past couple of months, but I am so, so happy to be back now. While I've had the time to relax, I'm not sure all of you had, so I wanted to do a post on a DIY pamper night. Let's face it, spa's are mighty expensive, so here are a few of my tips to host your own spa night right from the comforts of your own home!

SET THE MOOD WITH RELAXING MUSIC
Spotify has been an obsession of mine these last few months, and one of my favorite features is their playlists. A few great playlists for relaxing are Relax & Unwind, Evening Chill, Evening Acoustic, Totally Stress Free, and The Most Beautiful Songs in the World.

TREAT YOUR BODY
I love to take out my face masks on pamper nights, and a favorite of mine at the moment is Maple Holistic's Dead Sea Mud Mask to tighten up pores and remove any excess oil on my face. I then like to prepare a nice warm bubble bath while my mask has time to work its magic. If you're not too much of a bath person, take some extra time in the shower to pamper everything from your hair to your skin. I get a bit lazy with conditioner on regular days, but I always make sure to use my Maple Holistic Silk 18 Natural Conditioner for soft, smooth hair on pamper nights.

READ, READ, READ
If you really want your body to unwind, it's best to set your phone on airplane mode and to close your laptop for the night. The blue light from your technology will make it hard for your brain to relax, so a great alternate is reading a good book or magazine. Any Nicholas Spark book should be a great accompaniment to a relaxing night, and my current favorite is The Choice, a cute story about two neighbors, Travis Parker and Gabby Holland, who slowly develop an attraction to each other but are ultimately led to the question: "how far would you go to keep love alive?"

DRINK A CUP OF WARM CINNAMON VANILLA MILK
Milk has properties to help you fall asleep, so a great bed time drink is a warm cup of cinnamon vanilla milk. To make this simple recipe, pour a cup of almond/soy/regular milk and mix in a teaspoon of vanilla extract along with a teaspoon of agave nectar/honey. Warm up the milk in the microwave for a minute and then sprinkle a dash of cinnamon on top.

Maple Holistic is a great hair, skin, and bath brand that focuses on creating natural, holistic products, and they have generously offered to giveaway their Hydrate Shampoo and their Silk 18 Natural Conditioner to one lucky winner. Unfortunately, this giveaway is U.S. only, but I will try my best to have an international giveaway in the future! This giveaway will be open for two weeks (closes on September 23, 12 am EST.) will email the winner once the giveaway closes, and they have 48 hours to respond. If they don't respond by then, I will randomly select another winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What are your tips for a nice at-home pamper night?

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-Emily

*Maple Holistic kindly offered to send me these products to try out, but all my opinions are my own.

Summer Nail Polish Favorites

Summer time is sandal time! (But to be completely honest, I wear flip flops 365 days a year, so I guess summer is just a socially acceptable time to reveal my toes.) As you can see, I have a great adoration for open-toe shoes, but feet are not always the prettiest things, so a bit of bright nail polish goes a long way! Whether you like to have matching mani's and pedi's or if you're into mixing and matching, here are my four favorite nail polish shades for a bit of fun in the sun.

Topshop Celestial | For those who don't know, I have a bit of a blue obsession. I went through the typical stages of liking pink and yellow, but I can say for certain that I am now a full fledged blue girl. (My latest love has been Greece, and I completely lust over the beautiful blue and white buildings, which is why I have made it my inspiration for decorating my dorm!) Back to the actual nail polish, I was stunned by this gorgeous creamy blue shade that reminds me a bit of a slightly darker (and cheaper) version of Essie's Bikini So Teeny.

Loreal Boozy Brunch | I usually don't go for shades this bright, but I mean this shade of orange is just so eye-catching! It looks gorgeous on the toes (and even more gorgeous with a tan.)

Loreal Club Prive | Again with the blues, Club Prive is the amped up version of a light blue and is the perfect bright summer shade for beginners.

Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Sure Thing | Even though I never really had a thing for Pokemon, I sure did learn one thing. You gotta to catch 'em all. Revlon's Colorstay Gel Envy is my favorite nail polish line of all time. The polishes are so opaque and have the best no-chip ability out of all the polishes I've tried. I can go a good week with very minimal chipping! I picked up this classic white shade for a crisp, modern manicure.

What are your favorite summer nail polish shades?

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Emily xx

The Maybelline Mascara Comparison

If there is one brand to rule the drugstore mascara world, Maybelline would be it. However, every time I go into a store to pick up a new mascara, I am overwhelmed by the plethora of colorful tubes. Hopefully, this comparison will put you at bit more at ease next time when you're out to pick up a Maybelline mascara.

Lash Sensational | I was very dissapointed with the formula of this mascara as it was so wet that my lashes drooped within seconds. I made the misatke of not getting the waterproof version, so I will give it the benefit of the doubt that it might be better at holding a curl. I will say that this mascara is very black and would provide great definition if your lashes can hold up the extra weight. Dislike

The Rocket (Waterproof) | I like to think of this as the perfect everyday mascara. It holds a curl with thin lashes, provides definition, and does not clump. The fat brush (pictured below) does a surprisingly good job at keeping clumps at bay. I wouldn't go out to say that it lengthens or gives crazy drama, but it does its job perfectly for a go-to mascara. Like 

Illegal Length | I loveee this mascara. I wouldn't wear it alone as it does not provide much definition, but it does the best job at adding extra length. The tiny fibers attach to your lashes and give the appearance of eyelash extensions! The skinny brush makes it easy to precisely apply the fibers to your individual lashes. It's quite magical when layered with another mascara (like The Rocket), and I would recommend this one to anyone. Like

The Falsies Flared (Waterproof) | From the first time I tried this mascara, I was a bit confused as it was so dry. It provided absolutely no definition or length. I was honestly better off with no mascara. I'm not sure if I just got a faulty product or if this is truly the formula, but I really did not like this mascara. Dislike 

What are your favorite and not-so-favorite Maybelline mascaras?

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-Emily

5 Minute Spring Hairstyles | Easy Faux Waterfall Headband

Words cannot begin to describe my love for this hairstyle. Cute Girls Hairstyles made a video on it, and ever since then, I've been recreating it on all my friends. It's so simple to do but the outcome is quite beautiful.

1. Create a deep side part to the end of one of your eyebrows.
2. Where the part begins, grab a section of hair about an inch thick. Since this is a headband, don't take hair from the very front of your head but rather, pick up the hair a little further back (see video).
3. Braid that hair into a tight three strand braid, and tie it off with a small elastic.
4. Open up the first stitch of the braid and pull a one inch section of hair through. Continue this until you reached the other side of your head.
5. Pin the braid to your head and pull hair over the pinned section to create a seamless look.

What is your favorite hairstyle for spring?

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-Emily

The (Un)favorites No. 3

bareMinerals Blemish Therapy | This tiny pot of powder claims quite magical powers. Said to both conceal and heal, this treatment seemed extremely enticing. However, after trying it out a few times, I can say that it sadly falls short in both categories. It does not provide enough coverage to conceal, and it frankly did nothing to help heal my acne. I was never one for powder concealers as I find liquids to be much more effect, and I don't think I will be trying any anytime soon.

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer | Let's set things straight. I am in love with the product as it does a fantastic job at concealing anything from blemishes to undereye circles, but the packaging just sucks on all levels. At first, I never noticed anything horrendous about the packaging, but I gave it a few weeks and I saw how messy this product got. I am fairly clean person, and I like to keep all of my products clean as well, so believe me, I did not try and get concealer all over the sides of the tube. Somehow, the product builds up where the wand and tube meet and you are left with an absolute gunky mess. It's also not the easiest thing to clean off as the concealer itself has great staying power. The only way I can travel with this product is if I put it in its own plastic bag, and even at home, it leaves concealer all over my bathroom counter.

Elf Pencil Eyeliner | This must be the worst pencil eyeliner I have ever tried. It is extremely waxy, doesn't apply smoothly, and smudges like crazy. No, no, no. All the products I've tried from Elf have been such a disappointment so far!

Maybelline Falsies Flared Mascara (waterproof) | I know how highly loved this mascara is to many beauty bloggers out there, but sadly, this just did not work out for me. It was extremely dry from my first use, and I found it to be quite flaky when I applied it to my lashes. For a mascara named "falsies," I expected a much wetter formula, something to provide volume and drama, but sadly, this fell short of my expectations and I much prefer Maybelline's Rocket Mascara (waterproof).

Physicians Formula Super BB All-in-1 Beauty Cream | This was my first ever BB cream and probably my last. The coverage was surprisingly great for a BB, but the poor shade selection (three shades) made it hard to match my actual skin tone. The worst part was how much it oxidized. I had an atrocious orange face in natural light, and it was quite the disaster.

Covergirl Outlast Lipstain | I am all for the idea of a lipstain as I love a natural lip, but this little guy just fell short of my expectations. I will give it the benefit of the doubt because I've had it for a while, but the tip is completely dried up. Also, it applies quite patchy which makes it very hard to get an even application, only adding to the fact that it's very hard to blend out considering that it's a stain.

What have been your (un)favorites recently?

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-Emily

5 Minute Spring Hairstyles | The Effortless Side Braid

When I think of spring, I think of fresh, natural style. I like my hair to reflect that, so I am starting a three part series called, 5 Minute Spring Hairstyles, in which I will show you three extremely easy hairstyles that take less than five minutes. The great thing is that all three hairstyles work on any length hair as I did these on my cousin who has short hair. The first one is something I'm sure most of you know how to do, but I had to include it as it's just too pretty! I wore a version of this everyday in my 8th grade, but I did it awfully tight which was such a shame as this looser version, which I like to call the effortless side braid, is so much prettier.

1. Part your hair to one side (I like to only part about halfway down my head to "fake" bangs.)
2. Grab a section of hair from the front of your head, about an inch thick, and divide it into three sections.
3. Loosely french braid your hair down the side of your head at a downward angle, but add different size sections of hair each time to create a textured look.
4. Pin back the braid with two criss-crossed bobby pins and then hide the pinned backed section with hair from the back of your head.

What are your favorite hairstyles for spring?

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-Emily