My Glam Bag/Ipsy for September

So this why my first month with my My Glam and they go and change their name to Ipsy. Who knows why. I kind of prefer the idea of the words Glam Bag, but hey, they didn't ask me. So if you don't know Ipsy is a subscription service that sends you sample cosmetics in a little clutch every month for $10. I liked the initial thought because it seemed to be one of the cheaper subscription plans that gives the most reward. There is the question about after so many months, what do you do with the little bag everything comes in? I guess I'll answer that when I have more than just the one black bag that came with my September pack. As you can see, this month was much more than some simple sample sizes. That is a full bottle of nail polish from Circus (Tightrope's the color if you're curious). It's so bright and eye catching. I've already worn it and could not stop looking at how bright my nails were. Some other bloggers felt that ipsy was going a little overboard with the right neon Circus nail polishes, but since this was my first, I was very excited. The Jane lip gloss is nice and a pretty pale pink color, but I'm not the biggest fan of glosses since my hair tends to get stuck on my lips and get all sticky. I hate that. The eye shadow is right up my alley since I tend towards the warmer bronzes/browns if I'm going to wear shadow at all. While it is a nice size (not just a sample) It doesn't come in it's own case so I just have an open circle of powder with the rest of my makeup. I guess I'll have to buy a compact if I want to take it anywhere. The smudge brush is nice, but mine wobbles a bit when brushing it on my eye, but hey, it's another brush so I won't turn it down. The split end cream is the only thing I haven't tried yet, which sis odd since I have crazy split ends. I'm sure I'll like it and again, it's a nice sample size.

Overall, I thought the bag was a good value for the money since the nail polish itself can run up to $8. I've had Birch Box in the past and thought that while the products were slightly higher end, they came in much smaller sizes and I ended up t using all of them. Ipsy just seems like a more practical option. I really love the idea of subscription boxes. I think it's the mystery behind them. You never know what you're gonna get. I've recently been getting into Stitch Fix and will shortly be sharing what I've received with y'all. I'm also currently on the fence about Little Black Bag. It sounds like so much fun, I just don't know if I'm in the financial situation to be spending $50 a month on another subscription. We shall see if I bend the knee to practicality or to whimsy.

If you're interested in Ipsy, you can subscribe for your own bag here.

I Got My Hair Did

Well, I had it done a few months ago, but I wanted to share the new me with those who haven't seen it yet. During my semester in London, I was constantly thinking about chopping my hair off and getting bangs. I haven't had them since I was 9, and even then they seemed a little too blunt and silly looking. I eventually chickened out of getting my hair cut at all while in the UK just because I could never find the time, and before too long, I was going to be back home. By the time I did go in to see my hair stylist, my hair was hurting. Half of it was dry and dead and desperately needed a trim and a touch up to fix my highlights that had grown out at least three inches.

So I went in looking like this:

 

And came out looking like this:

We decided that I needed a change. I knew I wanted the bangs, but we decided to go for the whole shebang. I think I ended up cutting 8 inches off my long hair. I was fortunate enough to be able to donate it to Locks of Love even though my hair had been color treated since my stylist said they recently changed their guidelines. Donating my hair has always been on my bucket list and I'm so glad I was able to do it.

I really love the way it looks. I've actually had to do something to my hair (blow drying) for it to look good. It's been fun and I love the way it looks both with and without my glasses. Only downside now is that they grow pretty fast and I'm a little to lazy/scared to trim them myself. I miss my super long hair and the weird things I was starting to do with it, but it's hair, and it'll grow back in no time. It's still long enough to put it up in various braids, but I'll be excited to when it's back to a longer length. I don't have many other pictures of the way it looks because I never seem to have a camera around whenever it looks good, but you know how it goes. I am loving the bangs and will probably be keeping them for some time.

P.S.- Sorry about the crappy image quality. You know how it is.

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

So I've decided that since I'm jumping back into the blogging pool, I would be a little more personal and sharing my life as opposed to only caring about what other people might want to read. That's what these things are all about anyway right? And here's an odd fact about me that you might not know.

I ballroom dance.

That's right, I'm a part of my collegiate ballroom dance team where I dress up in gowns and am whisked around the floor by my lovely partner. I drive to different schools to compete against other dancers in waltz, tango, foxtrot, swing, cha cha, and rumba. And I have a blast.

Sorry to be so mechanical, I just wanted to get the facts out there before I go into my more flouffy reaction to dancing. When I was a child I did tap and ballet for a few years, but quit after it looked like I would need more than one day to commit to an activity. I wasn't a very driven child. When I was in high school, my mother actually took ballroom dance classes in town and would also compete with her studio. She's probably the one that made me want to do it. When I was looking at schools, one of the main reasons I was interested in Clark is because I knew they had a ballroom dance team. Next thing I knew, I was dancing at the Brown University Competition in November, and never wanting to stop.

For me, the best part about ballroom is having fun. It can be super intense and competitive if you let it be, but it's really just about the fun and trust you form with your partner and team. You learn a completely new set of skills and your body begins to do these things that you never thought possible.

This is basically just a plug for the nation of ballroom. If you've ever thought about doing it, then go out and do it. It doesn't matter how old, how big/small, or how rhythmically challenge you might be. Anyone can do it and they should! Especially if you are either entering college or currently attending. It tends to be significantly cheaper than getting outside lessons then when you're out of school. You also learn with your peers so there's no pressure if you get anything wrong. The only way to fail is to not try. So why not give it your best and see if you love it as much as me.

I think the reason I started writing this was because I am currently deflated in my bed after two days of back to back ballroom practice getting a choreographed dance to be perfect and my muscles are pretty tired, and I'm exhausted, but I love it and would never want to stop dancing.

Here's the dance we were fine tuning for a performance we have next week in case you're interested.

I'm Back!

Sorry about the super long hiatus. After getting back from abroad I decided to spend most of my time with my friends and family at home and less time on the computer blogging. My summer flew by as I'm sure everyone's did and I'm back in Worcester to finish off my undergraduate career (yikes!). There are going to be a lot of changes happening in my very near future so I thought it would be fun to document them in one cohesive place. Maybe then people will share their similar woes about what the future might hold for all of us. Grad School? Work? Travel? There are just too many questions out there that only we can answer for ourselves. I'll soon have better posts to get back in the swing of things, and will hopefully publish posts everyday...ok, it'll probably be more like every other day since I apparently don't have much discipline when it comes to posting. This was more to let everyone know that I am alive and have a lot of things I would love to share about my past, present, and future. I'm so excited to be back!