Martha's Vineyard Weekend

We're bringing it way back, here. In an attempt to bring more lifestyle into my blog (as I've been loving the beauty blogs who've been incorporating more life posts), I decided to share a post on a trip to Martha's Vineyard I had way back in February. I'm pretty much in love with all of these photos I took on one morning when I was up for the sunrise on a beach. This was my first time to Martha's Vineyard and it's such a cute place that it's easy to see why someone would fall in love and live there all year round. I'm definitely excited to go during the summer, though, when the island is alive and full of people.

This is really just a post to share these gorgeous pictures and show the beauty of Martha's Vineyard. Sorry it might be a bit boring, but maybe once I get used to more lifestyle posts I'll be able to actually have a decent post! On that note, do you have any summer vacation plans? I've got a few things in the works and could not be more excited. BRING ON SUMMER!!

Graduation

So as I'm typing this up, I'm officially a high school graduate. Obviously my blog is not so much lifestyle, but I couldn't help throwing up this little post (mainly to have for myself later on). I just had my graduation ceremony and am now sitting in bed going through all of the pictures, liking all of my classmates pictures/statuses on Facebook, and retweeting all of the sappy tweets on Twitter. It's so weird to think that in September of 2009 I went into high school with only one friend from my previous school, and how much everything has changed.

I've drifted away from a lot of friends who were everything 4 years ago, when I was 14 years old. That being said, I've grown so much closer to a few old friends and made so many more amazing, new friends from my amazing high school. Words can't even describe how much they all mean to me and even though I have so much more coming up in college, I hope I at least remain in touch with them. This is a huge deal and going off to university seems so scary right now. I keep going through the phases of excitement and then nervousness. I can't seem to decide on one emotion! 

I know that in the grand scheme of things, high school is a mere four years of your life. People always say that you don't want to peak in high school, that there is so much more to come, but I'd like to think that it will always have a very special place in my heart. My graduation means the end of everything I've known. It's the end of a life at home with my parents, more independence, and the real start to creating my own life. It's so weird to even think about! Even though I hopefully don't think I've peaked in high school, I think I've had a pretty great time. I wouldn't change my school or my classmates for the world, even the ones who I wasn't close to. I've had the privilege to meet so many amazingly talented people who I don't think I'll ever be able to forget. It's weird to think that I may not even see every single one ever again. 

I obviously won't go into specifics, but I've met some pretty amazing people at this school. I don't think I could have asked for a more perfect group of friends. Along with that, I don't know quite how it's going to be without my family by my side 24/7 next year. I've got the best two little sisters a girl could ask for along with the most loving parents and best grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Just thinking about it makes me nervous, but excited because I want to do them proud, as most people do. 

I can't help but throw in a cliche: high school really did fly by. I remember at the beginning of this year, my homeroom teacher stood up in front of the class and looked at us all sternly to say that the year was going to go by in the blink of an eye and before we knew it, we'd all be getting ready for graduation with her. At the time, we all burst out laughing. Now, I completely understand. It seemed so overwhelming: all of my AP classes, the whole entire college process just beginning, etc. But, I was able to handle it. I shed so many tears this year, that I have to admit. Whether it was from pure stress and exhaustion, a bad test grade, a busy week, or sickness. There were times I felt so miserable and overwhelmed it was crazy. In the end, even though those days or weeks felt horrible and as if I'd never make it through, I always did. And the good truly outweighed the bad. I went on vacations this year, I was accepted into amazing colleges, I became closer to my friends and even made some more, and have so many memories I hope to never forget. I only wish I had realized this fact sooner and maybe payed more attention. I wish I took some more pictures and jumped at more opportunities. All in all, I made my experience the best I could have ever imagined and I wouldn't have changed all that much. 

I guess I'm just a big mess of emotions right now, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I hope this wasn't too annoying to read, especially if you made it all the way down to the end. I'll have a new post up in a few days. Thanks for reading and taking this peak into my life!

Would You Rather - Beauty Edition

This is not a post that needs much of an introduction! This tag has reappeared on the blog scene after Kayleigh from Couture Girl did it a week or so ago and everyone has jumped on board and done it as well. I absolutely love reading tag posts, although I rarely do them myself (I'm not sure why!). Anyway, I've enjoyed reading everyone's take on these questions and decided it was time to do it myself. Without further ado, here's the tag!

Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks, and lipglosses or lose all of your palettes and eyeshadows?

Ah, okay. We're starting off with a tough one. I think, right off the bat, that my gut would be to lose all of my palettes and eyeshadows. I'd be much more comfortable with bare eyes and the rest of my face covered instead of just having a nice eye look. I do love my palettes, but I'm afraid they'd have to go!

Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again?

If pictures aren't an indication, my hair is decently long. I've never really had it short (I think it's because I was bald when I was a baby for so long!). Ever since then, I've been determined to keep all of my hair. I don't think I could handle cutting it off!

Would you rather have a coral cheek or a pink cheek?

No question, a pink cheek! I'm so pale that coral does not typically work well on me, so most of my blushes are in the pink range. That being said, I do love Benefit's "Coralista" in the summer. However, it really only works for me in the summer when I have a little bit more of a tan, so I'll have to go with pink overall!

If you had £1000 to spend, Would you rather buy clothes or makeup?

Clothes. Clothes, clothes, clothes, clothes, clothes. I honestly wear the same few things over and over, so if I ever came into money, a major clothing splurge would definitely be necessary. I have to buy my own clothes and makeup, and I used to wear a uniform to school, so I'd always just spend my money on makeup! Now that school is over, I've realized how little clothes I have and the amount of shopping I'll need to do before school! Eek! If only money grew on trees!

Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick?

Now, this whole question definitely does throw me for a loop. In terms of a texture thing, neither option seems doable to me and makes me feel squeamish just thinking about it. I know for a fact that I would never be able to apply lipstick as eyeliner because that has the worst connotation for horrible textures, so I guess I'll have to go with eyeliner as lipstick. It would be kind of similar to a lipliner I'm assuming, and hopefully you can have some fun colors to try out!

Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora?

This is an absolute no brainer! I'd pick Sephora in a heartbeat without a thought. I absolutely love my Sephora (and have the VIB Card to prove it) and would rather spend my money there over MAC. I've never been a MAC girl, and although I'd like to expand my collection a little, I'm happier using different brands who are just as great. 

Would you rather only use one eyeshadow color or one lip color for the rest of your life?Would you rather wear winter clothes in summer or summer clothes in winter?

For the first question, I think I'd much rather use only one eyeshadow color for the rest of my life. I almost always just have a natural smokey eye, so it's quite boring anyway, whereas I love to try different lip looks and go super vampy to bright orange. For the second question, I'd rather wear winter clothes in summer only because of the fact that I honestly am so cold all of the time even in winter clothes, that I'd be absolutely miserable in summer clothes during winter. I am not a fan of winter or the cold, so I'd have to always be bundled up.

Would you rather dark nails or bright nails all year round?Would you rather give up your favorite lip product or your favorite eye product?

I'm a fan of bright nails, so I'd have to say bright nails all year round. I do wear darker colors in the winter, but I've never been a fan of black nail polish or anything of the sort, so most of my nail polish collection consists of lighter colors. 

If I had to give up one or the other, I'd probably chose to give up my favorite lip product. I'm a mascara junkie, and don't think I could ever give away one of my favorite mascaras as I love them way too much. It hurts either way, but keeping my mascara will help just a little!

Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a pony tail or a messy bun?

This question pains me. It literally pains me! If you knew me in real life, you'd know that I absolutely never wear my hair up. It makes me look much younger and it also just does not work with my face. I feel like it makes my face look bigger and highlights my tall forehead, which I've never been a fan of. So, I'd rather not wear my hair in either way! However, if I had to play along, I'd say a ponytail, just because you'd get more possibility with that.

Would your rather never being able to paint your nails again or never use lipgloss?

Easiest question yet! I would much rather toss out any lipgloss over any nail polish. I am a nail junkie and own far too many than need be and never ever wear lipgloss. Didn't have to think twice about tis one!

Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all? or sharpie them in everyday?

Not only am I a mascara/eye lash junkie, I'm also obsessed with eyebrows. I've always had a thing for thick, full eyebrows ever since I saw pictures of the model Bambi when I was younger. So, if I had to shave my eyebrows, I would have no choice but to sharpie them in. I could never leave them gone! I'm sure there's ways to make it more natural if you really took your time and perhaps used a brown sharpie? I'd find a way!

Would you rather live without makeup or nail polish?

The question I've been avoiding. I love nail polish, yet I love makeup as well. This is killing me! Honestly, though, I think I'd have to do I'd rather live without nail polish. Oh, how that pains me to say aloud (or via blog post)! I'm purely saying that because I am able to live for about a week without nail polish, whereas I rarely go more than a few days without some sort of makeup. Ah, I still feel bad! I think we're just going to pretend this question didn't really happen.


And that's the tag! I hoped you enjoyed reading my take on the questions and let me know if you did this tag yourself! See you next post. 

DIY Peppermint Lip Scrub

Hey, everyone! I'm super excited to share this little DIY with you all as I love a good DIY that I can recreate myself. This one is so easy that anyone can create it, and probably won't even have to go out and get anything to do it! I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I'm a huge fan of lip scrubs. I use my Lush "Sweet Lips" religiously every night and swear that lip scrubs help amazingly. As I'm such a fan, I decided that it was time to find a way to make my own, so in December I did just that. 

After doing some research and then deciding on what I wanted mine to be, I came up with this cute and simple little recipe that's easy enough for everyone. It smells absolutely heavenly and unlike any other lip scrub that I've tried before.

What you'll need:

-bowl

-spoon

-granulated white sugar

-dark brown sugar

-oil (canola, preferably)

-honey

-peppermint extract

First, you'll want to dish out about three tablespoons of white sugar and about 1-1 1/2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar. Mix it all together, getting the clumps out of the brown sugar.

After mixing the sugars together, I add about 1 tablespoon of honey and then 1 1/2 tablespoons of canola oil. The oil is the trickiest part and the aspect that you can decide yourself. I like my scrubs to be a bit more texturized, so I don't add as much honey and oil as I could. I like the scrub gritty to really get the dead layers off of my lips. However, if you'd prefer yours to be more moisturizing, then add some more oil and honey to get a "wetter" look to the scrub. The way I make mine remind me more of a Lush scrub than most handmade scrubs.

The best part of this is to add just a drop or two of Peppermint extract. I haven't had any peppermint lip scrub before, nor have I ever found any, so that's what I think makes mine unique. It smells so stunning and easy to lick right off the lips. If you find the same extract as me, however, be warned that a little goes a long way! I only need the drop or two and it is perfect.

And that's that! I love to jar mine in plastic containers which are only a few dollars at my local Container Store and even add a label if I'm feeling adventurous. I made a ton of these in December and gave my friends one, which I hope they loved. I think that these are perfect for yourself or making a fun treat for others. 

Let me know if you decide to make a homemade lip scrub or even if you've made one before! I'd love to try some more DIYs in the future as I think they're so fun.