Little Reasons to Smile :)

Hello there! 

I haven't done a lifestyle post in months so I thought I would today. I've realized throughout life that big moments don't always come, sometimes we need to be content with all of the little ones and learn to smile while they're here. So here are some of the little reasons I smile :)

I really love sushi and having it in general just makes me very happy

I try to be a very optimistic person so any positive thinking always makes me happy and upbeat

I am a candy addict, it's a little bit of a problem but sour candy is probably my favorite

I really don't like sleep because I feel like I'm wasting time. Weird, I know. But when I wake up early feeling well rested I love the feeling of having extra time to do things and be productive. 

All last year I went through cycles of doing well on my routine then quitting and starting again but this year, all year, I've been doing really well and actually sticking to a very healthy lifestyle so I'm quite happy about that.

My cats are my life, I have about 500 pictures of my 2 loves and when they actually want to cuddle with me it makes me so happy. 

I've now read all of his books and while I usually stick to fantasy series, his young adult realistic fiction books were all amazing and I would gladly read them all again. (post on them on my second blog here)

I love the feeling of wearing dresses and floral ones are definitely my favorite and the most abundant in my closet. Dressing nice always makes me smile!

I have an obsession with fuzzy socks, literally my aunt got me some for Christmas and I was jumping up and down excited, they are perfect for cold days *gets up to put on fuzzy socks*

They're my favorite snack but I rarely buy them because I will eat them all and a few is fine but eating so many aren't too healthy so it's more of a treat food for me 

Sweaters are my favorite fashion of the year, every fall I get really excited to start wearing them again because they are fashionable and comfy. Its like an adorable clothing inception. 

If I had an inspirational word for my life it would, without a doubt, be dream. I have huge terrifying dreams and everyday I remind myself of how amazing they're going to be. 

(got the idea from another blogger though I don't remember who! Sorry... and all pictures are from http://littlereasonstosmile.me/)

So there's all of my little reasons to be happy and smile in no particular order, there are a million more so if you liked this post let me know and I'll do more :)

Comment below some of the little things that make you smile! I'd love to read

Have a Bright and Wonderful Day!

Mia B <3

Spring Decorating

Hello there!

So Spring hit last week and I am getting excited. I love all of the seasons and every new one puts an extra jolt in my step even though California is acting like winter at the moment. I especially enjoy redecorating my room to somehow match the seasons and Spring is no exception.

Today I went out to my front yard and cut some beautiful orange roses to keep around my room in these cute little glass jars. I liked the ideas of surrounding it with tiny flowers and leaves so I made one of each and love them both. 

I liked them on the sides of my cable box to brighten up a dull area

And next to my quote board to make my nightstand even more inspirational

I filled them both with water however my annoying kitten came in overnight and decided the roses were his new toys so they were destroyed and I refilled them with the smaller orange flowers. However I will probably just end up buying some fake flowers. 

I really want to fill my room with flowers, I found several ideas with flowers and other beautiful things on Pinterest (see my board here). 

For me, part of Spring decorating is Spring cleaning which I've done a bit of and hope to do more of throughout the season even though I'm moving in 4 months and will completely clean out then. 

I went through my dresser and weeded out things to give away and things to store until Winter rolls around again. I always find new clothes I've forgotten about and think of new outfits so double plus there.

This is my nightstand drawer, I always keep a few notebooks to write in (which I love doing), paper and whiteboard utensils, a lighter for the candles I always have burning, and random bits and bobs in the little bag. 

I feel like having a cluttered room (even when you can't see it) clutters my mind a bit and I always feel this sense of ease when everything is organized, maybe I'm a little OCD. 

Anyways, those are just a couple of things I've done so far, hopefully I'll get more done eventually. However I didn't realize how close I was to moving until I wrote this post and I'm thinking it might not be worth it until I'm in my new room...

Comment below: what's your favorite part of Spring?

Have a Wonderful Spring Day!

Mia B <3

Influenster Uni VoxBox

Hello there! 

Yesterday my first VoxBox arrived and I got really excited! I qualified for the Uni VoxBox a few weeks back and I'm looking forward to trying all of the products out and review them... here's what I got:

Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation*

This is without a doubt my favorite product in the box because I've heard so many great things about Rimmel's Stay Matte line and have been meaning to try it forever so I'm excited to finally be able to. 

NYC Expert Last Lipstick*

I was a little wary when I saw this lipstick because I've never tried any NYC products but now I'm really excited to. I usually go with red and orange colors so I'm really excited to try such a bright pink lip color. 

Red Rose Real Tea Water Enhancer*

So I believe the premise of this is that you can make low calorie tea on the go and I love that you can use it to make cold or hot tea. I would choose coffee over tea any day but I still thoroughly enjoy a good tea every once in awhile I love Arizona's raspberry black tea so I hope this one is something like that.

imPRESS Press-On Manicure*

I've never used press ons or any type of fake nail so I'm excited to try these and see what they're like, they're short in terms of fake nails but I keep my nails shorter than my fingertips to play guitar easily so I think these might be a bit long for my taste. I'll definitely try them but I can't promise I will keep them on for long

Pilot Acroball Pure White Pen*

As far as I can tell there's nothing particularly special about these pens, they're just white with colorful accents which is pretty cool. Being in school I always need pens but yeah... just a pen.

Anyways, those are all of my new products I'm really excited to try them all and I'll post reviews soon on the first four and if someone really wants me to talk about the pen I will but I can't imagine anyone will so yeah!

Have a Wonderful Day!

Mia B <3

*PR sample

Spring Nail Colors Wishlist

Hello there!

So I am a huge fan of Essie nail polishes but I haven't gotten a new color for quite awhile and I've found so many new colors I'm really excited to try them...

Resort Fling

I was skeptical of this color at first but I've come to really love it and I haven't even worn it yet! I love coral and pink colors and I'm really excited to have such a bright color that so excitedly expresses Spring

Mint Candy Apple

This color is definitely an Essie staple, I see so many people with it on right now and always hear people talking about it. Pastels have always been a Spring trend and mint is probably my favorite pastel. 

Find me an Oasis

While Mint Candy Apple is definitely a more minty green I love the icy blueness of this color in the Resort collection. I love wearing white and love wearing blue so I'm interested to see how this one, a mix between the two, will look on. 

Fiji

This may not look like in the bottle but this is such a beautiful pastel pink color, it reminds me of a light pink rose. It's just close enough to nude that it keeps a definite elegance about it without looking too fancy.  

Anyways those are some of the colors I'll probably buy soon to celebrate the new Spring and warmer days to come :)

Comment below: what colors are you excited to wear this Spring?

Have a Wonderfully Colorful Day!

Mia B <3

Beauty Trick: Making Tinted Moisturizer

Hello there!

So this may sound quite slow witted but I found out about this amazing trick and have been using it ever since. I goth hands on a sample of Nars tinted moisturizer and fell in love. However I didn't have enough money to buy myself a whole $40 tube and just kept using my liquid foundation. But I found this tip and I don't even remember where but I felt quite dumb after reading it. 

If you want to make your own tinted moisturizer all you have to do is put small amounts of moisturizer and liquid foundation on the back of your hand and mix them together! I got so excited and it really works, they mix easily and you can choose the concentration of both in the mix to get your perfect coverage and consistency ratios. 

I've been using Clean and Clear Morning Glow Moisturizer because it's sunny almost everyday here so I love the sunscreen and I only use it in the morning and it does give off a nice glow. I used to put it on before my foundation but mixing it with the thick liquid makes it easy to put on while still giving me a nice amount of coverage. It takes about 60 seconds to rub it in just like moisturizer, far easier than using a brush and I could not be happier with it. 

Left side has the tinted moisturizer on, right does not

For foundation I use Kat Von D's which is unusually thick and was a bit of a pain to apply every day but when mixing it with the moisturizer I use the smallest amount and gets amazing coverage so it works quite well for the current purpose. 

This foundation has gotten such amazing reviews for coverage and while mixing it with the non-tinted moisturizer does lessen this, I found that I didn't need all of the coverage and I just make sure to use concealer under this everyday on my dark circles just like I would with any other light coverage foundation. 

Anyways, that was my makeup epiphany for the month, hope you enjoyed!

Have a Wonderful Day!

Mia B <3

Hair Attempts: Flat Iron Curls

Hello there!

I've been quite envious of the flat iron curls (did a post on my hair aspirations) I see all around and attempted it a few times this week.

This was the result of curling my naturally curled hair w/o brushing with a 1 1/4 curling iron

Result of brushing my curly hair then attempting to wrangle the frizz into the 1 1/4 curling iron

Not too bad but then...

I tried the curling more brushed through frizz and didn't enjoy the overall effect

This was what happened after I tried to brush, straighten then curl my hair with a curling iron, I held it on there for 30 seconds and still got this result...

Then tried brushing my hair and doing straight away flat iron curls without straightening it first. They looked beautiful but for some reason only my blonde was getting any curl to them. My natural brown was stubbornly straight, then...

Within an hour they started fading into oblivion, while still beautiful, I couldn't do 3 curls without wanting to go back and redo ones that were straightening out

After about another hour I ended up back at this, semi-straightened hair that looks nothing but messy and my flat iron curls hope crushed. 

But I'm adamant to keep trying, maybe I just need to invest in some amazing hairspray but either way, I will find the ultimate nice curling method for my unruly naturally curly hair!

(Sorry for the terrible pictures, it was late at night and I was trying not to wake anyone!)

Comment below what your favorite method of curling is: flat iron or curling iron?

Have a Wonderful Day!
Mia B <3

Spring Break Wishlist

Hello there!

My spring break starts tomorrow and I am bursting with excitement. I happen to be lucky enough to live near the ocean and plan to spend a majority of my time relaxing at the beach. But before I do I have a couple of things I need

Swimsuit

I had my eye on this beauty all week and finally just bought it right at the end of Victoria Secret's sale for $30 swimsuits so it was on my wishlist when I started writing this but now I'm just wishing it will get here soon! I love the bandeau style for tanning and just because it's adorable, I originally wanted another color but these are so popular several were on back order. But I'm still really happy with this one :)

Books

I read a lot of books. I love to read, love stories, they just make me happy. But it's always so much easier for me to read e-books and now I actually have to go out and buy some paperbacks to take to the beach because I am terrified of breaking my iPad. I'm currently about to finish Divergent (movie out Friday!!!) so I'll probably get the sequel Insurgent if I can find it in paperback...

Tank tops

1. $17 
2. $20
3. $22
4. $10

There's nothing better for sweltering sun than a nice, cool tank top and this year I plan to go crazy with them. The first two are both Brandy Melville, I love the crop style of the first one and the cool moon graphics on the second. 

The third is more fancy but sheer and would look amazing at the beach or out to a nice dinner (if paired right), I love the versatility. 

The fourth is really just a simple, somewhat loose white tank top, this goes perfect with a colorful and/or patterned swimsuit or bandeau. Sometimes simplicity is key.

Anyways, those are some of the things I am/was lusting over for my highly anticipated Spring Break. The list is short and simple but for me that's the point of the break, a time to destress from school and life and all that fun stuff

Leave me a comment below... how's the weather?
That's all, just wondering

Have a Wonderfully Relaxing Day!
Mia B <3

Review: John Frieda Blonde Shampoo and Conditioner

Hello there!

So I have brown to blonde ombre hair and for months I ignored the blonde and used regular shampoo and conditioner but I recently decided to start caring about my poor blonde ends and got the John Frieda everlasting blonde color preserving shampoo and conditioner and thought I would review it today

I've been washing with these (every 1-2 days) for the past 2 weeks and the first thing I noticed about these is the silky smooth feeling they both give while in the shower, I love it so much. The shampoo is clear, the conditioner white. The formula is slightly more liquid than most hair products I've used but so far I'm in love! 

I've gone 6 weeks without a trim and while I use moisturizer, my ends were starting to get pretty bad. But these were obviously made for hair with bleach damage and there's a noticeable difference in the smoothness of my ends. Nothing could bring them back completely but these definitely helped. 

I had been washing my hair with normal shampoo for a month after my last color before using these products so I don't think there was any way they could have revived my color and it was already slightly faded beforehand so I'm not sure what the effectiveness as far as color preserving is but I'm excited to find out after my next color. 

In summary, these aren't miracle workers but they definitely helped my bleached hair and were completely worth the buy!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed my review on these products. What's your experience with color treated hair? I'd love to talk in the comments below!

Have a Wonderful Day!

Mia B <3

OOTD: Floral Skirt!

Hello there!

So in the spirit of my resolution to dress nicer (post here), I have begun wearing skirts more and here is one of the outfits I made out of one of my 4 year old short skirts for school the other day. 

(I should really figure out a better photography situation...)

Jacket: American Eagle Denim Vested Jacket $70

Shirt: Wet Seal V-neck Long Sleeve $11

Skirt: Forever 21 Green Floral Skirt no longer sold

Shoes: Aeropostale Navy Blue Flip Flops no longer sold

This was a fairly simple outfit but still nice enough looking and worked perfectly for the insanely-warm-for-winter days here in California. I love this springs extreme floral trend and I'm really enjoying wearing skirts lately. I rarely wear my denim jacket (highly opposed to denim+denim) but was pleasantly surprised at how nice it looked with the skirt.

So comment below... how are you? How's your day? Just because :)

Have an Absolutely Wonderful Day!

Mia B <3

Hair Attempts: Buns

Hello there!

So along with the rest of the world I've recently fallen in love with big buns near the top of my head. They're effective at getting my lion's mane of hair out of my face while still having a nice, put together look about them. So here are my attempts.

So this is my failed attempt at the 10 Second Top Knot, as taught by Emily on her blog The Freckled Fox here. I understood how to do it, the tutorial is very well explained, I just can't seem to make it look like the picture (if I had a nickel for every time I've said that). Maybe it's my curly hair, the extreme length of my hair or I just need practice, either way, I sort of failed. 

I felt pretty accomplished with this one. It's a topknot but not too far forwards and messy but not too out of place, an awesome feat considering how big my curly hair can be. My still-growing-out bangs are definitely a pain as they just barely don't fit back into the bun and I have to constantly adjust them in their bobby pin. And in the end I accented it with this adorable floral bow, a nice accessory to a plain outfit.

Anyways, those are some of my trial and error buns. Do you like the bun trend? Let me know in the comments below!

Have a Wonderful Day!
Mia B <3