My Trip to Puerto Rico

My family doesn't travel... like ever. Every time in the past when I have had the opportunity to leave my small hometown in New Jersey, it was either with a friend's family or a school trip. My mom has always been a creature of habit and thus, never wanted to leave home. However, this past year my granddad passed away, which sucked, but it finally convinced my mother that life was too short not to go to new places and learn new things. So we went to Puerto Rico, spent a couple weeks in my granddad's hometown.  Pictures below of where I stayed in Juana Diaz.

Puerto Rico was full of fun pool parties, clear blue waters (which is not a thing in New Jersey) and beautifully vintage-looking architect. A lot of people tend to stay in San Juan (biggest tourist spot in PR), but I learned that the real parties happen once you leave San Juan. I attended a huge pool/waterfall party in the mountains in Caguas. I got to drink Piña coladas (and not the virgin kind), dance to Latino pop music with cute Puerto Rican guys, and spend some quality time with family I haven't seen in ages. I had a blast and I would recommend to everyone to travel to PR and actually venture out of San Juan. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

P.S. Did you know that most of PR landscape is mountains? Yup, there are actually a lot of main roads and towns on huge mountains! Scariest thing ever to travel on by car at night. 

Ciao! 

Ashley xo

Mac + Lush Haul

I may have a shopping problem. I recently went on a mini shopping spree and ended up spending about a hundred dollar in both Mac and Lush. For a broke college student with an unknown blog, that is a lot of money that I can't really afford to be spending. However, I couldn't help myself! I will link all of the products purchased during this haul below.

From Mac, I got three new lipsticks and some foundation. About a month ago, I was gifted my first ever Mac lipstick, Syrup. I instantly fell in love, even though it wasn't the best color for my skin. Now, I have Del Rio, Taupe, and Whirl to add to my mini Mac lipstick collection. I'm so excited. Del Rio is quite dark on me. Its a deep red-ish nude and I've only worn it once this past weekend to a party. I wouldn't wear it on a normal day to class or work. Now Whirl is my all time favorite because it is a nice pinky tone nude that looks very natural and subtle. I've been wearing it on a daily basis and I can tell already that I will be making a repurchase. Next, Taupe has a nice deep brown undertone that doesn't look that well on me, at least in my opinion because my skin is naturally cool tone. But it is a very pretty, professional color. I like to put it on my lips and apply Syrup, which is a light pinky nude (lighter than Whirl) over it. Finally, I got the Mac Pro Longwear Foundation in the color NC30. It is like the most perfectly skin color matched foundation that I've ever owned, which is great and would probably make this my go-to foundation. It is also very liquidy and doesn't feel heavy on my skin at all. However, after a few wears, I noticed that this foundation is breaking my skin out in little whiteheads and pink bumps. I naturally have acne prone skin and get the occasional pimple that one time of the month. Now I have like ten new acne bumps after wearing this foundation, which is killing me, so I will most likely be returning this. So if you have sensitive acne prone skin like me, I recommend you not buy this foundation.

From Lush, I repurchased the Magnaminty face mask, which is amazing and helped me (along with other products, of course) to clear up my acne. The YouTuber, Melanie Murphy, was the girl who originally introduced me to this face mask, along with a couple of other things to clear up my skin, a couple of months ago. If you don't know who Melanie is, I'll link her channel below. Check her out, she's awesome and so sweet. Now another product I got was the Cup O' Coffee face mask and it is my new favorite face and body mask. It smells like coffee, obviously, and I am a huge fan of coffee (HUGE) and it leaves my skin feeling so fresh. I've already noticed a difference in my skin. It has made my skin look brighter and more radiant. Finally my last purchase from Lush was an impulse buy at the register. I saw the little display with lip balms, and I quickly noticed Latte so I bought it to go along with my little coffee themed purchase. Also, Latte is like a pinky lipstain so it leaves a light bronze-like color on your lips. At first, I wasn't a fan of the color, but it grew on me and it looks kind of like a shimmery orangey nude. I keep it in my bag and put it on when I'm running out the door with no lipstick on.

SO that's the end of my haul. Hope you like my blog and if you do, please follow me and tell your friends!

Ciao!

Ashley

Products Mentioned:

Mac Syrup Lipstick

Mac Whirl Lipstick

Mac Del Rio Lipstick

Mac Taupe Lipstick

Mac NC30 Pro Longwear Foundation

Lush Cup O' Coffee

Lush Mask of Magnaminty

Lush Latte

Person Mentioned:

Melanie Murphy

Morning Skincare Routine

Hi Lovelies!

Today I am going to talk to you about the importance of prepping your skin before you apply your base makeup. I had to learn through many years of trial and error that skin prepping is way more important than coverage. So instead of spending hundreds of dollars on high end foundations and concealers, you should be spending your money on good skin care products that work phenomenally on your skin!

First, let me just point out that I am not a professional in skincare or makeup; this is just what works for me and that's that. Now, the solution to beautiful, flawlessly gleaming skin starts with good skin prepping. Your skin will not look it's best if it is dry, tired, cracked or oily. On the off chance that you prepare your face accurately before you start on your actual cosmetics, you won't require as much makeup to "fix" or hide any given skin problems you may be suffering with, such as acne or dark spots.

You always start with a toner after cleansing your face. You put the toner on a cotton pad and gently press down onto skin; do not rub or swipe the cotton pad across your face because you could irritate your skin and/or spread oil from one spot to another. I personally use witch hazel and then I spray my face with Vichy Thermal Spa Water. You can use any type of skin soother, such as rose water or any type of water mist, for extra hydration. Next, I apply my moisturizer and my eye serum, which is Vichy's Normaderm Anti-Acne Hydrating Lotion and the Vichy Aqualia Thermal, respectively. (Remember if your skin is naturally oily, you will need a face cream that specifically says that it is oil free). Then, Bye Bye thirsty looking skin!

Now, I apply my primers, Mac Prep + Prime colour correcting and Maybelline's Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser. I use two because I suffer with both dark spots and really textured skin (due to acne), though you can only use one basic primer if you don't have these skin problems. Also, some days, especially in the winter when its really windy and cold, I apply Vitamin E oil onto my face before I put on my makeup.

Finally, I apply only one pump of my foundation, which is the Mac Pro Longwear Fond De Teint in the color NC30. I only ever need one pump for my whole face because of my skincare prep routine, which is saying a lot cause I admit I've got a big head. I hope this helps out someone who is reading this.

Ciao!
Ashley

Hello

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

"I stopped telling myself that I'm lost. I'm not. I'm on a road with no destination, I'm just driving with a hope that I'll find a place that I like and I'll stay there. I'm not lost. I'm on my way..."

Matte Lipstick, Winged Liner and False Lashes, Oh My!

Hi Lovelies! 

This is my first ever blog post. Ah, I'm super excited! That's me in the picture above. Look how excited I look! There are a few things you should know about me. I'm a make-up obsessed college student living on a budget. That always spells disaster, doesn't it? I spend most of my money earned through tutoring on make-up, skin care, and let's not forget food. But I'm not here to talk about food, no matter how amazing it is. I'm here to talk MAKE-UP.

I've been very passionate about make-up ever since I could remember. My mother has worked in the beauty industry since I was in middle school. I always used to ask her about new products; I also used to "borrow" lipsticks, mascaras, and eye liners from her make-up bag to play dress-up. Now I surpass her in knowledge about all things beauty. I've decided to share my knowledge, my growth, my mistakes in beauty with you guys (whomever you are that decides that they actually care to read my badly written and poorly planned blog). 

I plan to write about new products I'm using, old products I've used, maybe even "Look Books" for college or the seasons, the best make-up for certain skin types, beauty tips and tricks, and lastly but certainly not least, skin care.

I hope You enjoy reading my blog,

Ciao!
Ashley xoxo