No Buy Challenge | Weekly Wishlist #05

38/100: I've been naughty. Super duper naughty. I bought some things *ducks flying objects* I was in a place of unhappiness and turned back to shopping for comfort and I ... caved. I'm sorry! It was just two things and I paid $44 for them but I'm returning one of them so it's like I only spent $18! Are you wondering what I caved to buy? It was a MakeUp For Ever Eyeliner in the color 2L. It's this beautiful bronze brown that when I put on made my blue eyes just pop and I couldn't resist! The other thing I bought was the Bobbi Brown Corrector which I'm returning because a.) I feel guilty that I bought it and b.) I feel so bad that I can't convince myself that I like it. So I've decided it's going back if I'm not completely smitten with it. I apologize. Here's what I've been craving all week and it is literally, at this point, killing me not to buy. [sidenote: I don't recall others having this much difficulty with the challenge, no fair!]

• Benefit Dandelion Box O' Powder Blush | This color is so gorgeous for pale folk like myself. It lightens up your cheeks and makes you look like you have a healthy glow. I'm also on this weird mission to own every Benefit Box O' Powder blush because I think they are just so pretty!
• Origins Well Off Fast & Gentle Eye Make Up Remover | It's so hard for me to make sure my mascara and eyeliner are taken off each night. A simple wipe doesn't cut it anymore. I've seen really good reviews for this (lightweight, no oil) and may give it a go after this challenge is over!
• Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation | I've been looking everywhere for this this foundation. I'm convinced it's not yet sold in the United States. Which I find to be a good thing because then I would've had three things to be sorry for buying! It just sounds like a really good foundation for natural and awake finish to the skin. That, alone, has sold me on it.
• Chanel Tigerlily Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadow | GORGEOUS ORANGE COLOR AND I WANT IT. GARRRRR. 

As you can all see I am completely sane and this challenge has been a piece of cake for me and I urge you all to start because we all know that we have better things to buy than all this make up that we may very well never need and run on sentences are just the bees knees and ... *twitch

10 Day "You" Challenge | One Picture of Yourself

Tadadada!!! I've finally managed to finish my first challenge! Today is the final day of the 10 Day YOU Challenge and I am ending it with a picture of myself because ... well, it told me to! It doesn't say anywhere what sort of picture of yourself it needs to be or if it needs to be fairly recent. So I went through my pictures and stumbled across this one! It was when Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Pt 2 (what a mouth full) had come out and I was ready to go see it with my Gryffindor shirt, scarf, and Hermione's wand (even though I'm technically Hufflepuff!) I love this picture. It makes me all smiley every time I look at it. My hair is it's natural color in this picture. I miss it so much! I'm also wearing a bow in this picture. It was my favorite bow and I have no idea where I've gone and left it. So after this I am on a mission to go find it! Thank you everyone so much for reading and commenting on my 10 Day YOU Challenge. I hope you enjoyed reading it and learning more about me and that it inspired you to do the challenge as well! Leave me links to your posts if you've done them! Talk to you all real soon! :D

#NerdAlert

Hooray! A back to school post :D I'm sure many of us are finishing up our first week of school or just about ready to begin! I'm a sophomore in college this year (woohoo! no longer a freshie ;) ) and studying half of my general education requirements as well as Psychology. I hope you guys have eased into classes quite well. No one has to tell me how difficult it can be sometimes to start a fresh year! I've already had some of my classes and am actually excited to go to them! Okay, except for one which is just complete rubbish. Cultural Geography with a teacher who pauses at 5 minute intervals to gather his thoughts. Mr. Professor aren't we supposed to be ready before class? I'm not sure yet if I'm going to continue with it. I have enough attention problems as it is! The class I'm most excited for is my Child Psychology class. The teacher is absolutely brilliant and made us blow bubbles on the first day of class! She also said that if wanted to we could wear footie pajamas, bring out stuffed animals, and wear glitter if it helped us remember what it was like to be a kid. Easy peasy for me because, frankly, I never forgot! I'm so excited for Psychology and I think I found a major I'd love to declare (*knock on wood). Friend wise, I'm just happy to have people to talk to in class. I've tried being "hang out pals" with them but these people aren't the type I like to hang out with (either too stuck up, or too into GETTING WASTED, WOO) Soon I'll transfer and just be glad to be in the city!

Overall, my first week was a success. I have Child Psychology tomorrow again and I can't wait. I also have work but I heard we're ordering four 5ft heroes for the whole Operations crew so my tummy is excited! Hope you all had/are having a terrific week! Good luck to all of you who have started or are starting soon!

Happy Studying!

10 Day "You" Challenge | Two Songs

Don't have much to say today as I've written it all done in a post that'll be up after this about school and such! Straight into the challenge and today is Day 9! I'm going to share my two favorite songs as of right now that I cannot stop listening to on my iPod. I have very eclectic taste in music, most of the time it's in Top 10 sort of music because somehow even indie songs that I listen to end up on the radio!!

♫#1 // Little Green Bag | George Baker

This song was the intro song for Reservoir Dogs. Grab a pair of Ray Bans and just listen to this song. It makes me feel so cool when I'm walking on campus listening to this. I feel bad ass, not gonna lie ;)

♫#2 // Gold on the Ceiling | The Black Keys

The Black Keys are awesome cakes covered in amazing sauce. Their sound is old school with a more modern twist, I guess you would say? I don't know if that makes sense. I just know I love them! This is my favorite song of theirs. Mihai likes them too and he said I jinxed them because now this song is on the radio, too. Haha I've done this with three other songs as well. I like knowing popular bands that aren't ever heard of on the radio, but as soon as I like them they end up there. Oups!

Just have a listen to these two songs! I'm not sure how many of you will enjoy them, I think you will but then again I'm not sure what kind of music you all are into! Hmm, you know what? I think you guys will like them a lot. Grab some Ray Bans and just chillax :)

10 Day "You" Challenge | Three Films

I should most definitely be doing the reading for my Psychopathology class instead of painting my nails, helping my mom play Family Feud on her phone, and typing this up. I'm still not used to the fact that school is in session and that I actually have homework! Alright, I promise I'll start reading right after this. Day number three of the 10 Day YOU Challenge and I bring you three of my favorite films to watch! I'm usually that person who can't name their favorite movie when asked so I'm glad I was able to name three for you today :)

♧#1 // Reservoir Dogs

This. Movie. Is. Just. UGH. I love it so much. Go on Netflix and just watch it. It is one of the best movies I've ever watched. You don't expect anything to happen. It's so amazingly written and acted and directed and ... oh goodness, Quentin Tarantino ... you're doing it right. If you like movies like Inglorious Bastards and Pulp Fiction, you'll love this.

♧#2 // Mean Girls

It's a classic. I feel weird calling a movie like this a classic but it is! It's hilariously funny and I'm pretty sure you all have seen it. If you haven't I would say that you are missing out on a million jokes and laughs.

♧#3 // Burn After Reading

I've watched this movie very recently. Brad Pitt is in this movie, along with George Clooney and how can you go wrong with the both of them in a movie? It's so, so, so (I'm sorry I can't think of other assisting adjective thingamobs) funny. I don't know what it is about this movie. It's sort of got that same Reservoir Dogs feel but it's hilarious.

As you can see I am no movie critic. I think a movie critic will wonder why I didn't change this topic to something else! The three movies I picked though are my favorites at the moment. I may not be able to adequately explain why but at least you know what they are!

10 Day "You" Challenge | Four Books

I'm back from 2nd day of school with a whole lot of books and a brand new notebook *sniffs Nothing beats the smell of a new notebook ... besides my lovely Cinnamon Sugared Donut candle. I sort of giggled after reading the comments on yesterday's post because it seemed like you guys are really intrigued right now and I am so happy to be sharing the sweet smelly love! Today is Day numero siete (I'm taking Spanish this semester, haha) and I bring to you four of my favorite books/the ones I will never tire of reading. Vamos a la ... libro! (Let's got to the ... book. Oh lawwwwd.)

✎...#1 // Harry Potter

The series that I will forever want to read again and again. This was one of those books where I didn't care if there was a love story in it. I just loved the adventure and friendship! I think I'll be making my kids read this one day :)

✎...#2 // The Maze Runner

I feel like this whole series gets over looked because everyone so closely connects it to The Hunger Games. Which, if I'm honest, the two are not alike in anyway. It's not like if you've read The Hunger Games, you've read this book. The Maze Runner is thrilling, and insanely more suspenseful than The Hunger Games. Not hating on it because I do love the book, but as a whole series I feel The Maze Runner is better written from the first book to the last. I couldn't put this down and I loved it so much I never returned it to my high school library, shhh!

✎...#3 // A Farewell to Arms

This book is one of those books they give you in class to read and you dread it. Mihai actually told me to read this and said I would really like it because the characters reminded him of us (which was kind of true, but not always!) Mr. Hemingway described every little things in his story (sometimes a bit much) and it just painted this beautiful picture. The story was really touching and heartbreaking. Had I read it at night before bed I would have sobbed.

✎...#4 // Caribbean Cruising

Hahahaha. Ahahaha. Okay so this book holds a very near and dear place in my heart. If I read it now I'd say it was complete rubbish but still an adorable story. This was the first young adult book I remember reading when I was like 10 or 11. I was so proud at how big it was and it was a mushy love story (that would make a great RomCom). I've read this book about five times and because of this book (for some odd reason) I began to love to read.

Zer you have eet! Think of this as my favorite books and recommendations for books I think you guys should check out (well except the last one if you're over the age of 20) actually never mind check it out if you're bored! ;) I shall see you all for Day Number 3 tomorrow! I have some awesome movies to share with you guys :D

What are some of your top 4 books at the moment? I'd love to have some more reads :)

10 Day "You" Challenge | Five Foods

I'm so proud that I've managed to keep up with this challenge and posting it everyday! We're at the halfway point and I hope by now you guys have learned a little more about me or are just enjoying reading these! Today's challenge is to list five foods! YUMMMM. This is my delicious area of favorites expertise! Et Viola!

☆#1 // Chipotle

Hands down. Favorite fast food restaurant. I see chub forming around my chin. My tummy is happy but the rest of my body is not agreeing with it.

☆#2 // Fajitas

I love the bold and spicy flavors of Tex-Mex food and fajitas are my absolute favorite because you can build them up with however much chicken, lettuce, cheese, and pico de gallo you want. Oh, the pico de gallo ...

☆#3 // Greek Salad

Cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, Feta cheese and some unknown slices of dried up meat. There's one restaurant in my town that makes their Greek Salad like that and I love it! It's so fresh and tastes so healthy (although with all the Feta cheese it's probably not, haha) I also love dipping fresh baked bread into the left hour oil. Agh, I don't like this challenge. I'm starting to get hungry.

☆#4 // Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce

Before I fell in love with Texican food I used to swear up and down that Italian food was my favorite, especially pasta. I still love it but now my favorite dish is just spaghetti, drenched in tomato sauce. Mmm, I'm getting hungry now.

☆#5 // Duck Salad

Last but not least is my new found love of duck. I had duck salad once at a really shmancy restaurant in the city. Duck is just indescribable. Tastes sort of like chicken but more tender and paired with walnuts and crunchy leaves, GAH. Delicious! I had some on my cruise to Alaska and it was just as good, if not better!

Great guys, now I'm hungry at 10:41 at night! Hope you hate all the things on my five foods list otherwise you will be left in the same predicament as me. Hungry, and with no food in the fridge!

Cinnamon Sugared Donut: The Orgasmic Candle

I am going full in right now. Take your money out of your wallet, place it at your nearest Bath & Body Works and walk away with the Cinnamon Sugared Donut candle. Don't skimp on the baby one and not even the medium sized one, grab the BIG KAHUNA. This candle is so amazing that it's getting it's own review. It's burning the way you see it in this picture right this very second. Cinnamon Sugared Donuts is my holy grail of candles. I bought the medium sized candle of it last year and fell so in love with that I went back in two days to grab the big candle. Unfortunately, they were sold out! I also didn't properly burn it so it died before I even got to use half! I've patiently waited a year for this baby to come back and I've snatched it up!

There's only one way to properly imagine the scent: Picture yourself in a small baked sweets shop. The shop is small and there's no where for the scent to escape. It's snowing ever so lightly outside the window and a crisp night has just fallen. Inside the shop you become enveloped in the warm, sugary scent of it all. It literally wraps you up and every corner of the room. It doesn't suffocate you but plays with your senses.

GAH! This candle is just too die for and I swear my nostrils and eye balls bug out every time I walk into my room and smell the sweet deliciousness of it all! I realize it's still summer time and we're not ready for it to go, but this candle is too delicious to pass up! Leaves? Psh, Cinnamon Sugared Donut is more like it! (And hey, soon they'll have a 2 for $20 Candle Sale so you can get both! ;)

I'm off to soak in the scents!

10 Day "You" Challenge | Six Places

Ello! Bonjour! Ciao, and Privet! Today's 10 Day YOU Challenge takes us to places we've never been to or places we want to be. The next six places are countries/cities I've never been to and know that I can't die without going to visit! There's not to much philosophical reasoning to want to go to these places but I'll try to explain as best as I can! Allons-y! :)

✈#1 // London

I want to meet the queen. I want to shake her hand like an obnoxious american. I want to play around with the guards. I want to take pictures of every freckle I see. I want to meet Big Ben. I want to see through the London Eye. I want to shop till I drop and I just want to be in London.

✈#2 // France

I don't care where. Actually I do care, I want to go everywhere in France. The north, the south, the east, and the west. It looks absolutely gorgeous and stunning and I just love everything about it!

✈#3 // Greece

Not sure where in Greece just yet. After seeing Mamma Mia and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants I knew I wanted to visit Greece for the amazing beaches

✈#4 // Italy

Bring on the pizza, spaghetti, and amazing architecture! 

✈#5 // Russia

My family is Russian and all come from some part in Russia so I'd really love to go there and see where they grew up and just soak up all of it's Ruski-ness.

✈#6 // Switzerland

I just love Swiss cheese. No, haha! Switzerland has always been one of those place where I know I really want to go one day, I just don't have a fair idea as to why ...

A bit scattered today for my six places. I love and want to travel a lot in my life so there are smaller and more personal reasons I want to visit these places that I didn't want to take pages writing about! These six are just on the top of an exceptionally long list! See you all tomorrow for my five foods! Can you guess which will be at the top? ;)

10 Day "You" Challenge | Seven Wants

You know what I don't love about streaming movies online? Those websites that only allow you to watch 60 minutes of a video and then tell you to either sign up (not gonna happen) or wait another 30 minutes. 30 minutes doesn't seem like much but when you're so invested into the 6th episode of the 4th season of Drop Dead Diva and it cuts you off mid way, it sucks!! So I figured now would be a most opportune time to do the fourth day of my YOU Challenge! Today's challenge is to talk about seven wants! I wasn't sure if I was supposed to take this as seven realistic wants right or any sort of wants, so I decided to mix in both! Here we go ...

♤#1 // All the mermaid-esque nail polishes

Truth. I want to collect them all. Sort of like Ash Ketchum wanted to collect all the pokemon. Mermaid-esque nail polishes are always absolutely gorgeous colors and I hope to own them all! Right now I have my eyes set on Orly's Mermaid Tale and Zoya Charla.

♤#2 // High-waisted Shorts

I've been on a look out for the perfect pair of high waisted shorts all summer. What constitutes my perfect pair? For starters, they fit nicely; they flatter my figure; they don't expose my cheeky bum; and they are good quality at a reasonable price. No such pair exists for me, unfortunately. Still ... I search on!

♤#3 // Chipotle

I even just had dinner and am craving Chipotle. You are free to slap me across the face with a fish and tell me to "Snap out of it!" I will completely understand.

♤#4 // Ankle Wedged Boots

Preferably black. I think ankle high boots with a decent wedge on them will look absolutely amazing this coming fall and winter. I'll be able to pair them with all my pants, jeans, and dresses. They're what I will call my 'staple' shoe for the fall!

♤#5 // Peppermint White Mocha

So badly, am I craving one now! I can't wait for the holiday season. I don't even celebrate Christmas and I look forward to it every single year! Everyone is just happier and jollier! All the stores have beautiful light displays and New York City is my favorite place to be every winter holiday. No place I would ever rather be. Whoa, off course there. Holidays = Peppermint White Mocha. White Mocha's are my favorite drink and that kick of Peppermint is just sheer perfection. Bravo to you, Starbucks *salutes

♤#6 // Impeccable Make Up Applying Skills

Look me in the eye, yes you! And truthfully tell me you, as a beauty blog reader and/or writer (which you must be as you are here on my blog) would not want to have amazing skills. I would love to just wake up every morning and know that my day may be horrible but at least my make up is flawless *hair flip I can dream, can't I?

♤#7 // SoHo Shopping Spree

Everything is in SoHo. All the best shops (TopShop, LUSH, Sephora, Victoria's Secret, Forever 21, blah blah blah) are in SoHo. I want to be able to just one day weave in and out of every store and shop as I please without a care in the world. Again, I can dream, can't I? Haha!

Gosh darn, I just looked at the clock and I still have another 10 minutes to wait before I can freely catch up on the last couple of episodes of Drop Dead Diva. Hilarious show. Makes me want to aspire to become a judge and tell people I will hold them in contempt if they don't behave. Ah, it'd be brilliant. Hope you guys enjoyed reading about today's challenge! I've been reading a lot of yours recently and I love them! This is one challenge I will not tire reading about! Have a goodnight everyone! :)

Review: EOS Lip Balms

EOS Lip Balms. If you aren't sick of hearing about them yet you will after this post! EOS Lip Balms are the spherical, out of the box, and chubbiest of all the lip balms in the lip balm world. They come packaged in these adorable orbs and instead of being shaped like a stick, they are shaped like a dome. I love EOS Lip Balms if it wasn't already clear from the nubby pink one and the two back ups, haha! It looks as though they would be extremely inconvenient to use, but just the opposite! Cause of the rounded shape you can easily moisturize your top and bottom lip all in one swipe (although I do like to swipe more than once to get the delicious flavor!) They are also very moisturizing. Not so much that your lips slip and slide, just enough so you know your lips are nice and hydrated!

These lip balms also come in a pretty big variety of flavors so there's one out there for everyone to love! My favorite (by far) has to be the Strawberry Sorbet (the pink one); nicely sweet and fruity, it was perfect for the summer time! The other two are Sweet Mint (in the mint packaging) and Summer Fruit (in the red/orange packaging). I go between these babies and my Maybelline Baby Lips religiously. I've had some scary dry lip spells and these have saved me from crackly and cut up lips!

Also, the cherry on top of this amazing lip balm, is that they are an absolute joy to decorate! Strange right? I made my first ever EOS Lip Balm (from about two years ago) look like an out of this world space ship! I slathered these three with my favorite polishes to give them a 'Jessica' touch. The pink one was painted with a Wet N' Wild clear glitter polish. The mint one was painted with my Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream and lastly, the red/orange one was painted with China Glaze Riveting. If you can make it sparkle, why not? ;)

What do you lovelies think of the EOS Lip Balms? Have you ever thought to decorate them with polish or pens? If not, you should give it a shot! Moisture and sparkle, what more can a mermaid ask for?!

10 Day "You" Challenge | Eight Fears

Day numero tres of the 10 Day "You" Challenge! I haven't gone to sleep yet so it's still considered to be Friday! I'm gonna start putting these up daily now because I can't wait an extra day anymore :) Today's challenge is all about eight fears. I was surprised that I couldn't quickly choose eight straight off the top of my head! Also, I left my blogging book in my friend's purse so I'm doing this as I go along because I forgot what I wrote! So ...

☠#1 // Bees

This deserves the first spot because I am absolutely mortified by bees, wasps, and hornets. I once jumped underneath my desk in the fifth grade (bomb drill style) in the middle of quite reading time because a bee flew through the window 25 ft away from me. *shudders They scare me to bits.

☠#2 // Heights

I'm 5' 7" and I'm afraid of looking down. I get really awful vertigo when I'm standing on the edge of a really large height. I feel like someone is going to push me off. Even when I'm standing on the edge of subway tracks. But yes, as the oxy moron goes, I LOVE roller coasters and always say the taller the better.

☠#3 // Not having enough money

How superficial is that? This still always scares me though. I am afraid of not being able to live comfortably and not have to worry about my financials. It's not so much about owning lots of stuff but being able to have a place to live, afford food, and satellite tv, haha!

☠#4 // The Future

Who isn't though? Especially since I have no idea where my future is headed at the moment, it makes everything 10x scarier.

☠#5 // Drowning

I love the sea and the pool and the water but I am terrified of drowning. When people dunk my head under water I start flailing around and freaking out. 

☠#6 // Getting Old

Psychically and mentally. I'm convinced that I won't let it happen but no one can stop mother nature from doing her thing.

☠#7 // Theme Park Characters

They freak me out! As soon I was old enough to realize that the characters walking around theme parks, like Disney World, were just people inside suits I started getting paranoid. It's such a weird and sudden phobia. 

☠#8 // Losing this blog

In this short amount of time this blog and my lovely readers have come to mean so much to me. I've been through phases of starting blogs and then leaving them. I don't want this to happen with this blog as I've invested so much time and love into it! It kills me to even take two days off of not posting!

Only seven more days left of the challenge! That's a lot, isn't it? Haha! Looking forward to posting the next one tomorrow and every day from now on! Leave me links to your challenge posts if you're doing this as well! As always, hope you enjoyed :D

No Buy Challenge | Weekly Wishlist #04

31/100: Notice anything different about today's wishlist? Yup, no product pictures, just a bunch of brands listed because I WANT THEM ALL. I have an itch and it kills me that I can't scratch it. I wants all the stuffs. I couldn't even limit my list to just 5 things that I wanted in a matter of a measly seven days. I haven't been feeling all too great emotionally for the past few days as I prepare for school to start. It's only making my craving for a shopping high just that greater. *le sigh

I can honestly say that I've been very good though! Haven't bought anything besides some Starbucks and Chipotle because, come on? ;) Hopefully this urge to splurge will go away next week. I'm terrified it'll just intensify during the school year. Depressions = Shopping = no bueno.

What's this 100 Day Challenge? Why am I doing it? Read about it here! Have you decided to partake in the challenge? Let me know how you're doing in the comments!

10 Day "You" Challenge | Nine Loves

Day two of the "You" Challenge! I always picture someone pointing harshly at me when I type "You"! Today's challenge is talking about your nine loves (whoops, almost wrote nine lives would have been an entirely different post haha) You guys already know about my love of mermaids (although that was a biggie so I put it in as number one anyway), shopping, Harry Potter, and hot sauce. So I thought I would find some things you guys didn't know I loved! Away we go ...

❤#1 // Mermaids

If I didn't, would I be the The Mod Mermaid?!

❤#2 // Mihai (aka my boyfriend, aka the boy who winces at such a title)

I love him to bits and pieces. He makes me angry and happy all at the same time! If he reads this he might not like that I wrote that or called him the b-word. In the words of Mihai "I am not your boyfriend ... I am your best friend." 

❤#3 // Chipotle

You know how you can crave a food and as soon as you get some you are completely satisfied? This never happens with Chipotle. I can sit there and eat a Chipotle burrito bowl one after another, after another. I never stop craving it. My body probably thinks it's some sort of spicy drug and it can't get enough!

❤#4 // Coffee

I had my first sip of coffee when I was 5 years old and have been addicted since. I don't know why I love it so much. Could be the taste or definitely the smell! In high school I wasn't allowed to have any coffee because it made me super hyper. It still does but I'm an adult now and no one can tell me what to do anymore :P

❤#5 // Art

In high school I was an art major and went to an art school. Art has been a passion of mine since my dad taught me how to draw a table in perspective. I'm not very good, really average, as loads are better than me so I didn't pursue it in college as a major. The picture above is of one of my dry-etched prints of the eiffel tower. Every time I look at this I get mad and then sad that I'm not continuing on with it. 

❤#6 // Reading

Reading is an escape. Ask anyone who reads because it truly is. I love immersing myself in someone else's life and reading about their story. I love how I get to imagine what every thing and everyone looks like. Everything just fades away when I read.

❤#7 // Dressing up to go out

Who doesn't love to get all dolled up in your favorite hair, make-up, outfit, and shoes and go out on the town with your friends or family. I don't get to do this often so I love when I do. I feel so fabulous ;)

❤#8 // Scents

This may sound weird but I love really amazing smelling things. I sometimes get attracted to people because of the wonderful way they smell. I love the Bath & Body Works Fine Fragrance Mists! Mostly though, I love the way men's cologne smells. MMM, MMM, MM!

❤#9 // The UK

I've never been but I am in love with the United Kingdom! Everything about the places and the people and the accents and the culture ( I could go on and on) just entices me so much! I always have this dream of living in London. Not for very long, but I want to experience it all as a resident, not a tourist. (P.S. - A good 1/4 of my wardrobe is donned with the Union Jack haha)

There you have it! Nine loves. I hope you guys are enjoying this challenge; participating and/or reading it! I shall be here on Friday to tell you about my Eight Fears! OoOoO!

New Blog Button!

Hey lovelies! Quick message. I've remade my blog button and I think it looks loads better now and a lot cleaner! If you've already grabbed my button feel free to switch 'em up or not if you do so choose :) The new code will be in the left side bar and also at the bottom of this post for easy access (oh goodness, haha) Have a very goodnight and I shall talk to you all in the morning! :)

<center> <a href="http://themodmermaid.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="The Mod Mermaid" src="http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj628/themodmermaid/Button2-1.jpg"/></a></center>

Z-Palette: The Depot-ing Sensation That's Sweeping the Nation!

Why is make-up artistry and adoration not a sport? Don't look at me like I've lost my nutty mind, I'm completely serious! Have you ever tried to depot something? Even with heat it's about the toughest and roughest thing I've ever done physically and mentally. Trying to come up with a way to expertly remove shadows from their plastic packages of doom and not destroying the shadow is tough work! Then actually putting that plan into action takes an insane amount of patience and dedication! Haha, okay I'll stop now!

Depotting eyeshadows is really fun when you know you're about to save a ton of space and your make up becomes 10x more accessible. When you depot these eyeshadows you are left with the metal pan and your lovely shadow inside. So ... where do you put it? There are a lot of palettes out in the market. The most well known ones are the M.A.C. palettes, the Unii Palettes, and the Z-Palettes. Now before I depotted anything I went back and forth a bunch of times deciding which would be best for me. I can't really say why I didn't choose the others but I'm going to tell you why I chose the Z-Palette and why I love it!

• It comes in a variety of sizes and colors to fit your style and need!
• There's a clear, plastic lid! Why was this important? Well, it makes it a lot easier to see what you've got inside. You won't be pulling out and opening up all your palettes to see what's inside!
• The bottom is magnetic and almost any metal pan will stick to it! And if it doesn't? No biggie because they send you round magnets to use :)
• It's a lot sturdier than people made it out to be. I've dropped it tons and my shadows are still in tact. It is made from cardboard but I can't imagine it deteriorating unless it's drowned in a tub of water.

I do like how the neat and tidy the M.A.C. palette's look but I just love the Z-Palette's to reflect the person's personality or the personality of the shadows inside! I'd highly, highly recommend you check out these Z-Palette's for your collection and you're thinking of depotting! If you become a fan or 'like' their fb page they'll give you a 10% coupon off your entire purchase! Also, a little birdy has informed me that there will be a sale soon! Their sales are brilliant and I would definitely pounce on it if you've been thinking of getting one! :)

What do you lovelies think of depotting? It's quite therapeutic! Do you prefer a Z-Palette or any other palette? If you'd like I can share how I depotted my M.A.C. shadows and my Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette! Just let me know if you'd be interested :)

10 Day "You" Challenge | Ten Secrets

Joy of joys, today marks my last week of summer. I'm back at college on Monday morning. I'm the only one out of all my friends who is not thrilled to be going back. My summer vacation has been a long one! Which will make it even harder for me to get back into the swing of things. Which is also why I bring to you this challenge! I've seen many bloggers do this tag and I absolutely love reading it! Since I might need a little time to figure out how to blog around my school schedule I thought this would be fantastic! Easy and it'll be quite entertaining, I promise! These'll go up every other day so I can put up a beauty review or two in between! I'll begin with the first day which is 10 secrets!

Secret 01 

When I was reading the Harry Potter series I created my own character and rewrote segments of the book to fit her in. She was Sirius Black's daughter and a mermaid (are you surprised?(; ) who falls in love with Harry and is killed by Voldemort in the Deathly Hallows.

Secret 02 

ADD runs in my family as my mom, cousin, and I have been diagnosed with it. Also, denial runs in our family. We think our doctors weren't all there when were diagnosed. It's a running joke in our family.

Secret 03 

I dislike shopping with others. I prefer to shop by myself as I never feel judged for how much I spend and I don't feel bad for taking my sweet ol' time in the store

Secret 04

I have a serious shopping problem. Oh wait, that's not really a secret is it?

Secret 05 

Whenever I'm home alone I like to put on my iPod and dance around my living room in my jammies.

Secret 06 

I have a collection of 5 different hot sauces. My favorite is Cholula Hot Sauce in Original.

Secret 07 

I'm not a big fan of sweets. If I have a cookie or slice of cake I instantly crave something salty and savory. 

Secret 08 

I have a sick obsession with Chipotle burrito bowls (white rice, no beans, chicken, tomatoes, mild salsa, cheese and lettuce) If you follow me on instagram (@jkruuu) then this will not have been a secret, hahah! 

Secret 09

Sometimes I'll slip into an English accent whilst talking with people. To note, I've never had anything other than a New Yorker accent. #suchaposeur #imashamed I once got someone in the city to believe I was from the UK. It didn't end well as I had no idea which part of the UK my faux accent was from, haha!

Secret 10 

I have a sock monkey named Marty that I've have had for three years and I take him every where with me because I love to snuggle when I sleep. Although he'll end up on the floor in the morning.

Wowza, didn't think I had 10 secrets! If you're doing this challenge let me know as I'd truly love to read them! If not, why not start? Tags and challenges are always fun :D

Skincare Routine!

I've been waiting a very long time to write up this post! Ever since my first blog post I dreamt of the day I'd be able to write up a skincare routine. I've never been happy with my skincare routines in the past. I didn't feel they were effective enough to share. I never noticed any brightening, or diminishing black heads and acne. It wasn't worth sharing if I couldn't recommend the product to be helpful for others as well as myself. I'm super happy to say that I've finally found a skincare routine that works for me quite well that I've actually noticed my skin getting better! Two things to note before I begin: 1. I have combination skin, closer to dry skin and 2. I only ever wash my face at night. It's only at night, but every night. So without further ado, here's what I use to make my skin all nice and spiffy!

LUSH Ocean Salt Cleanser | My face loves to be scrubbed and exfoliated. If my cleanser isn't scrubbing away and leaving scratches, my face is not liking it and it won't be effective. LUSH creates the perfect cleanser for me. There's avocado and coconut in it which hydrates your skin. The lime and vodka (yes, vodka!) work as an antibacterial to clear up blackheads, pores, and blemishes. The sea salt, which is the majority of it, scrubs away to give your face a really deep clean and wash away all the dirt. It's one of their best sellers which makes sense considering how amazing it is! Now, you're not supposed to use this every day and I can just hear every Lushie gasp in horror after I say this; I use it every night. The sea salt is very drying for the face which is why it's not recommend for every day use but my face loves this stuff and just stays hydrated, smooth and clean! I haven't felt it lose more moisture!

LUSH Eau Roma Water | I like to use toners to wipe away any residual cleanser that I didn't fully wash off of my face. I dampen a small cotton ball and then wipe at my face. Sometimes I'll spray some toner on my face if I feel I need to be extra clean. This toner in particular is really lovely because it's suited for drier skin which is why I think I don't have any problems with using Ocean Salt every night. The fresh rose petals infused in this toner give a tad more hydration as well as reduce some of the redness on my face.

LUSH Imperialis Moisturizer | This moisturizer is geared for combo skin. I can't quite remember what's in this but whatever it is works brilliantly. I never have that overly greasy feeling to my skin and it sinks in super fast. It's designed in a way that allows the drier areas of your skin to produce more natural oils and for more oily areas to not produce as much oils. It's a great balancing moisturizer and when I wake up in the morning it leaves my face looking bright!

LUSH Mint Julips Sugar Scrub & C.O. Bigelow Lavandar Salve | Whilst I wait for my moisturizer to sink in I'll sometimes (other times I forget or am just too lazy) give my lips attention. I'll scrub away the dead skin with the Mint Julips lip scrub and then apply a nice hydrating lip balm. I love the C.O. Bigelow Salves because 8 hours later, rolling around in my bed, they still stay hydrated when I wake up!

Mario Badescu Drying Cream | I don't know what's in this magical cream and frankly I don't care. It's a miracle worker and probably the sole reason for sharing my skincare routine. This cream is meant for applying on problem areas such as white heads which I had a lot on my chin and forehead. Before this I was calling my forehead a mountainous region. Well that region no longer exists because of this cream! I only have small sample of it and when I run out and get the full size pot I will do a more in depth review on this. For now, just take my word that this guy just completely turned my skin around.

So that's it for my skincare routine! It's mostly LUSH centered but I'm glad I've ventured into other brands as they seem to be working wonders! I forgot to mention that I like to use the Caudalie Beauty Elixir before my moisturizer sometimes to refreshen and help my moisturizer sink in faster! It's fairly new to my routine so we'll see how it holds up with the chosen kings, haha!

Now I'd love to hear about your skincare routines! What's your holy grail skincare product? Do share!