My Nighttime Shower and Skincare Routine

I.Love.Showers. Best thing in the world! I love how I feel afterwards: squeaky clean! Showers are probably my favorite part of the day for me; a time to relax and reflect about my day. (Also, I won't show you my hair care products since I don't wash my hair everyday. I can do a separate post for that if you guys want!)

So the first thing I do is find a nice clean pair of clothes to wear. I picked my New York Shirt, a pair of sweats and fuzzy socks.

Next thing I do is jump in the shower, obviously. I pin my bangs back and put my hair in the bun and wash off all of my makeup.

 After that, it really depends on the day for what comes next. Sometimes I use a scrub if I wore a lot if makeup that day, but lately I've just been using a face mask because it hydrated my skin while also helping with my acne!

Now this next step isn't something I do all the time because it's too harsh but I love using body scrubs to really deep clean my skin.

Then I use this awesome stress relief body wash from bath & body works. It smells amazing and the scent lingers for a while!

Then after that, I hop out of the warm, enticing shower and it's time for skincare!

The first two products I use are an acne cream and moisturizer both from clean & clear. I've been using this moisturizer for YEARS. Perfect for my hormonal teenage skin.

After that, I apply argan oil to my eyelids. I know, sounds a little weird but my kids get extremely dry in the winter time and they flake and hurt and this has really been helping out!

To top it all off, I use a moisturizing spray which to be honest I'm not too impressed with. I probably wouldn't buy it again but it does feel good! I want to try the Evian one!

Well that's it! Like I said, I really look forward to this part of my day. What do you use in your shower routine?

Thanks for reading!

-Amanda 

January 21, 2014 Outfit of the Day!

I wanted a comfy yet stylish outfit for school today. I had a good 3 day weekend but I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, LOL. So this is the outfit I've come up with this morning:

Both sweaters are from H&M. The white sweater is a medium and the grey sweater is a 2x from the plus size line. 

The leggings are from Old Navy and are an XXL. The shoes, the best part, are from gojane.com. 

Hope you enjoyed my OOTD! What are you wearing on the fine Tuesday morning?

How I Cover My Acne

I have dealt with pesky acne for a few years now and it has come and gone in various places among my face and left scarring behind. It's one of the things I'm most insecure about on my face but I've found a way to make it "*magically*" disappear. Hear are the products I use:

I lost this foundation for the winter (which is when I break out the most) because it's medium-full coverage with a matte finish. It doesn't feel heavy which is something I look for the most in foundations. I use the shade 150 Buff.

I use this foundation with the Sigma Round Top Kabuki. I just dip it into the foundation and apply it straight to my face.

This is the best concealer I've ever used. I've had it for a year to a year and a half I believe and it's still going strong (Although I've lost the cap haha). It stays put all day long, as you can see its waterproof. It is so full coverage it will usually cover the darkest spots. I believe I use the shade number 3.

The brush I use for my concealer is a double ended brush that came with the Naked 2. It is a synthetic brush and I don't typically like synthetic brushes for powder eyeshadows so I've started using it for concealer. I squeeze out a little concealer on the back if my hand and dip the flag shader end into the product. I then apply the product to the blemish and blend the edges out with fluffy crease brush end. This blends it seamlessly into the skin without taking away the product on top of the blemish.

I then use my bareMinerals concealer in powder form to set everything in. If I have an extra strong blemish that can't quite be covered, adding this on top will cover it completely.

The brush I use for that is the Signa Medium Angled Shading Brush. It has the right mixture of stiffness and and fluffiness. 

Here are the before and after pictures of my skin:

No makeup whatsoever.

After foundation

After Concealer

I put on the powder but I won't show you what it looks like because it didn't make too much a difference since the foundation and concealer covered everything nicely.

Have you tried any of these products? What did you think of them? Thanks for reading!

What's In My School Bag & How I Stay Organized!

I have the hardest time staying organized even though I can't stand not being organized. (If that even make sense?) So today I thought I would post about the system I've found helps me stay most organized for school and also show you what I store in my bag for school!

I got this bag from H&M for Christmas and I LOVE it. It's the perfect size for all of my notebooks and binders. It has straps where you can hold it in the crook of your arm or it has a removable shoulder strap which is what I use most of the time.

 Here are some closeups of what the inside of the bag looks like. One side, there is a zippered pocket where I keep all of my pens and pencils as well as my keys and my cell phone. On the other side, there are two open pockets where I don't really keep anything other than my stapler. I'm a bit paranoid about my stuff falling out, haha.

So these are the notebooks/binder I use for my classes. I take statistics, psychology, government, and rhetoric. I only have four classes because I already have enough credits to graduate. 

I always make sure that whatever notebooks or binders I get have the pockets on the inside. This, for me, makes it so much easier to stay organized and it takes up less room although in my experience it was harder to find notebooks with the pockets on the inside. Most of mine are from staples and walmart. When I would have loose folders in my backpack, I would be too lazy to put my papers in the separate folders and then I would have papers floating around my backpack and it would drive me nuts. This way, it's much easier when the bell rings to just stick them in the same place.

I got my wallet from Target and I obviously just keep the usual stuff in there: Drivers license, debit card, gift cards, library cards, rewards cards, you name it, I have it.

I also keep in my backpack the book I'm currently reading (which I love so far and you should totally read it if you like John Green), my TI-84 Plus Graphing Calculator and pens, pencils, lip gloss, mirror, and stapler.

I hope you found this helpful and you enjoyed reading! What do you keep in your bag? How do you stay organized?

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Travel

*Sigh* As I'm only 17, it doesn't seem that travel is in my near future as I am unemployed and underage. Oh well, at least I can look at pictures online? Here are my top 5 places I would love to travel (no order):

New York City. I've been once a few years ago but I don't think I appreciated it as much as I should have. (I was dealing with some stuff at the time.) I'm from a small-ish town in California where it's always hot and boring. I plan to make NYC my home one day.

Portland, Oregon. This might seem weird to some people but I've always thought Portland was so beautiful and it's really not that far away from me. It's about the same distance away from me that L.A. is. Maybe I'll visit when I turn 18 in September. ;)

New England. This one's a little bit vague but I just mean all of those states in general. (I'm not sure where exactly this photo is from). The buildings (I have a thing for architecture) and the history over there is outstanding. And I mean, look at that beautiful weather! We don't get colors like that where I come from.

London, England. This one's a no brainer, I mean you had to have seen this one coming. Remember, I have a thing for buildings! :)

Paris, France. This is definitely one of my top picks. The buildings, the fashion, the macarons (!!!!). The entire parisian lifestyle is so chic but effortless and uggghhhh I would love to just live there for a month. (Study abroad program? If only!)

Christmas Eve & Day Outfits

Dress - Dorothy Perkins US 18
Belt - ASOS Curve US 16
Tights - Target
Shoes - Forever21

Sweater - H&M size Medium
Skirt - ASOS Curve US 16
Tights - Target
You can't see my shoes but I'm wearing these.

Saturday Music Picks

"Well uh oh, oh I love her because she moves in her own way
Well uh oh, oh she came to my show just to hear about my day"
-She Moves In Her Own Way - The Kooks

"So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light
'Cause oh that gave me such a fright
But I will hold as long as you like
Just promise me we'll be alright"
-Ghosts That We Knew - Mumford and Sons

"I wanna make you happy,
I wanna make you feel alive,
Let me make you happy,
I wanna make you feel alive at night"
-Junk of the Heart - The Kooks

"But I'm just trying to love you
In any kind of way
But I find it hard to love you girl
When you're far away
Away"
-Seaside - The Kooks

"But if you wanna come back it's alright, it's alright
It's alright if you wanna come back
Do you wanna come back? It's alright, it's alright
It's alright if you wanna come back to me"
-If You Wanna - The Vaccines