November 2013 Playlist

This month's playlist is inspired by the music I would listen to in high school. The Killers recently released their first Greatest Hits album which made me reminisce a lot about the past. Unlike many people I happened to enjoy high school. Sure there was some drama, sad times, and awkward moments but overall it was a nice experience for me. My high school years was when I was first introduced to some great bands that I love till this day like The Killers, Phoenix, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

What I'm Thankful for This Year

If someone would had told me at the beginning of this year that I would be blogging, making videos, and meeting countless of amazing people along the way I would had thought he/she was absolutely crazy. The second half of 2012 was really tough for me. I had come back from studying abroad and reverse culture shock hit me so bad that I felt like a stranger in my own city and house. I felt severely disconnected from everyone and everything, even myself. All of that contributed to my life spiraling downwards until I fell back into depression. It was a horrible time filled with confusion, tears, and a couple of panic attacks here and there. Once 2013 started I promised myself that I needed to make changes, some of them weren't going to be easy but it was crucial for me to take some risks if I wanted to happy.

First Impression | Julep Maven Box

There's a subscription box for just about anything nowadays. There are some that include beauty samples, others that include a survival package for when you're PMS-ing (I'm not kidding, there are boxes out there), and then there's boxes for nail polish addicts like myself. I've never tried a subscription box before and I kept seeing the Julep ads on my Google AdSense both on YouTube and my blog so I decided to give their box a shot. I used the code FREEBOX to get my first box for free! In this box you get three Julep nail polishes plus a bonus gift. Each nail polish retails for $14 on their site so I thought the box was a really good deal. If you want to see my first impression and nail polish swatches just stick around to watch my latest first impression review.

Review | Sally Hansen Colorfast Tint + Moisture Balm

Everyone knows that Sally Hansen makes great nail polishes but did you know that they also do makeup? It seems like a couple of people didn't know that on my last haul but they did used to have a full line of makeup. The makeup line isn't as big as Maybelline or L'Oréal but it did have everything from face to lip products which have now been scaled down to nail, lip, and leg products. Despite knowing about the Sally Hansen makeup products and seeing it for years on What Not to Wear I had never tried a single product until I found the Colorfast balm on clearance. I figured you can't go wrong with a lip product.

Tutorial | St. Vincent

Last week St. Vincent announced her upcoming album by releasing a promotional image with dramatic makeup at around midnight or so. Naturally every St. Vincent fan (including me) went wild! Not only did she release promotional images but there was also a 30 second clip of a new song and European tour dates announced. Maybe that doesn't sound too exciting for everyone but when your favorite female musician and music innovator announces a new album, you better get excited! I found the look to be very eccentric kind of like David Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust era. I was very inspired by the picture so I decided to recreate the dramatic look. I hope you all like it!

San Diego Style Bloggers Interview

Hi everyone! You all know by now that I'm a member of the San Diego Style Bloggers community and last week I got asked to become the first vlogger featured on the website and I said "YES!" I got asked a few questions regarding YouTube, my first video, vlogging vs. blogging, and how I handle the haters. Here's the link to the interview if you wish to read it. I would love to see some of my readers and subscribers go and leave a comment, I think that would be amazing. Also I would like to thank both my subscribers and my readers for all the support. I recently reached 500 subscribers on YouTube and now have 400 Facebook likes and Instagram followers which just blows my mind. Thank you so much for everything, it honestly means so much to me.

Let me know what you thought of the interview in the comments below. I'd love to hear what you thought of it.

Review | Jordana 12 HR Made to Last Eyeshadow Pencil

I feel bad for admitting this but Jordana was always one of those makeup brands that I would just never pay attention to. Maybe it was because their display at the drugstore is so much smaller compared to the other brands, or maybe it was their very simple packaging. Whatever the reason may had been, I just ignored the brand completely for years. Most recently I've heard a lot of buzz about Jordana in the YouTube and blogging world so I decided to pick up a few products to test them out. One of the products I was recommended to try was the 12HR Made to Last Eyeshadow Pencil which is quite similar to a another drugstore product that I reviewed a couple months ago. In just a couple of weeks Jordana has gone from being a brand that I would walk past, to a brand that I can't walk away without something. Their products have really impressed me so far.

Empty Products #3

It's time for yet another empties video! In this video a lot of the products I finished were stuff that I have reviewed on the blog so I will leave a list of the reviews down below so you can check them out. I also burned through quite a lot of candles, including one of my favorites called London Calling. That candle smelled exactly like tea and lemon and unfortunately isn't available anymore (tell me why Bath and Body Works!). If you're a fan of empty product videos or are interested in getting mini reviews of products I've tried then you have to check out my latest video.

SD Style Blogger Glam Meetup at Emma Jane

Last Friday some of San Diego's most fashionable bloggers met up for yet another great event. The glam meetup was held at the adorable Emma Jane boutique in La Jolla. It was a fabulous night filled with amazing jewelry, great friends, and a lot of new faces. There were so many new bloggers at this event, many who has just moved to San Diego this past summer! So it was great being able to get to know them and exchange blog tips. It was also so great getting to see my friends again and just catch up with them. I took a couple of pictures at the event and of course I did some vlogging as usual, so I hope you're ready to attend a cocktail party with some of the San Diego Style Bloggers.

Sweater Weather Tag

Fall related tags are spreading like wildfire on YouTube and by far the most popular one of them all has to be the Sweater Weather tag. I put a sweater on for the occasion despite filming this video when it was 80º in San Diego. This was actually a fun tag to film and it allowed me to get to know some of my favorite YouTuber better. If you would like to know what my favorite fall candle is or what my favorite fall memory is just keep watching.

Tips for Luminous Skin

Disclaimer: This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Dove.

This is the third and final post in the #MujerDove collaboration with Dove. In this post I'll be sharing some of my personal tips of how you can obtain beautiful and luminous skin, even in the colder months. We're reaching that time of the year that our skin becomes dry and even a little dull due to the weather changes. Even if the weather wants to dictate the condition of our skin, it doesn't mean that it needs to have it's way. It is possible to have healthy and luminous skin year round and I'll be the one showing you how.

Derpin Eats | The Pilot Episode

In case you haven't noticed by the overabundance of food pictures on my Instagram, I like food. While I'm not the best cook in the world, I do have people in my life that are great cooks. I decided to start this new cooking series on my channel where I'll be sharing some recipes with a dash of silliness, or should I say derpiness. In this first episode my boyfriend attempted to replicate a udon recipe that he found on YouTube. Of course being the first episode, we didn't plan things very well so things definitely went wrong. At least we now know that he can make noodles! Apart from the noodles, all you're going to get to see are some very derpy moments that hopefully will make you excited for upcoming episodes.

Nails of the Day | Revlon Parfumerie Scented Nail Enamel in Moonlit Woods

This year we've seen a number of nail polish fads from textured polish to speckled, and now I present you scented nail enamel. Scented nail polish is nothing new, in fact I bought a bright green scented polish from Revlon a few years ago which was supposed to smell like lime but that wasn't necessarily the case. This new Parfumerie collection is divided into three categories: sweet & spices, fresh, and fruit and florals. Word of advice don't smell the polishes at the stores because the scent appears once the nail polish is completely dry. When I looked at the new permanent collection Moonlit Woods really caught my eye because it's not often that you see a metallic lilac shade in the drugstore.

How to Style a Pixie Cut

I recently got asked if I could do a video about how to style a pixie cut by a subscriber. Not going to lie, hair has never been one of my strengths that's one of the reasons why I cut my hair in the first place but I decided to challenge myself and create 3 very simple and quick hairstyles that basically anyone can recreate. If I can do them then you can do them too! The best thing is that you'll spend 10 minutes or less doing everything from applying product to drying and styling your hair.

Face of the Day | Cool for Fall

According to the makeup rules set by who knows who, you wear dark makeup in the fall and colorful makeup in the spring and summer. Well I'm not one that likes following the rules when it comes to expressing yourself, so if I want to wear coral lips in the fall then I can do just that. I also felt like look played up the purple and coral hues in my top by Roots Canada which features some beautiful Canadian scenery during sunset.  The look also incorporates some of the new drugstore products that I've picked up the past week.

Review | Dove Clear Tone Deodorant + GIVEAWAY

Disclaimer: This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Dove.

I feel like deodorant and antiperspirant are rarely talked about in beauty blogs and I honestly don't know why. Deodorant is part of our everyday routine, it can hydrate the armpit area, and also prevent body odors. There's a deodorant nearly for everything! There's some that smell like a field of flowers, others that moisturize, and then there's products like the Dove Clear Tone Deodorant that help lighten and even out the armpit area.

My Top 5 Makeup Products

I recently got tagged to do a video showing my top 5 makeup products and it turns out all of them are from the drugstore! In my latest video I'm going to share the products that I honestly cannot live without. Most of these products are multitasking, versatile, and most of all very affordable. This is a great video for those wanting to start a makeup collection or for those who simply want to discover some great products.

Review | LSTN Beech Wood Bowery Headphones

I think by now everyone who reads my blogs knows what a huge music fan I am, so when I got approached by LSTN to review one of their headphones I felt like it would be a very organic collaboration. Ever since filming my first impression review, I've been putting these headphones on various tests to be able to write a proper review. I've tested their noise cancelling ability, the bass, and also how they perform in a variety of situations. Perhaps the normal consumer wouldn't think of testing their headphones to the extent that I did but I'm certainly not normal consumer with a limited knowledge of headphones. I felt like my testing was crucial to figure out who would be attracted to headphones like these.

Haul | Urban Outfitters, Jordana, Sally Hansen + ANNOUNCEMENT

Soooo... I have another haul. What can I say? After that wishlist I had a serious case of the shopping bug. And as you saw in my wishlist I showcased a couple of very metallic shoes and look what I found- a pair of metallic and holographic shoes! I also have a couple of makeup bits in this video so if you're interested just keep watching. Also Spanish speakers you might want to keep reading for my big announcement. :-)

First Impression | LSTN Beech Bowery Headphones

I recently got approached by LSTN Headphones to review a pair of headphones. In case you don't know about LSTN they're a headphone company which sells headphones made out of wood! Not only does that set them apart from other headphone companies but they also give back to those in need. Whenever someone purchases one of their headphones, they donate a hearing aid to someone in need. Giving someone the ability to hear for their mom or music for the first time is a life changing experience. As a longtime music fan I can't go a day without listening to music for a couple of hours so I couldn't imagine not being able to hear a thing. I really loved the premise of LSTN Headphones, as well as their cause, so it only made sense for me to partner with them for a review. This is only my first impression, I will publish an in-depth review some time next week after I've tested for a couple of days.