NOTD: Julep Keiko and OPI Samoan Sand

Here is a little NOTD I did a while back but never posted on the blog. It's Julep Keiko with OPI Samoan Sand. I did the stripes using striping tape. Enjoy!

The September Issue: Fall 2015 Fashion Trends

Here are a few of this fall's hottest fashion trends and where you can get the item on a college girl budget.

ANKLE BOOTS

      

L to R: Forever21 ($40), Aldo ($60), Steve Madden ($160 preorder)

MILITARY JACKET

L to R: Forever21 ($50), AbercrombieandFitch ($50)

PONCHOS

Forever21($20)

GOLD JEWELRY

L to R: Dogeared ($78),  Fossil ($175), Marc by Marc Jacobs ($42)

What are your favorite fall fashion trends this year?

The September Issue: Cold/Dry Weather Essentials

Fall has arrived once again. And while this means, sweaters, pumpkin spiced lattes, and the holiday season, it also brings cold/dry weather which can mean chapped lips and irritated skin for some people (like me). I wanted to share with you guys some of my tips to fight the effects of the season on your skin.

Lip Balm

Chapped lips are more common during the cold season so I always try to have some sort of lip balm around. EOS is my personal favorite since the cute shape and unique scents make me want to actually use my lip balm (remembering to put it on is half the battle). The soothing ingredients in this brand's balm also work best on my lips. Try and coat your lips with balm all day long as a preventative measure instead of waiting until they are already red and cracking to apply a balm. It's much less painful that way. :)

Body Butter

I suffer from eczema so a really thick body butter is a necessity during the winter months.  I love the Body Shop's selections. Sometimes when my skin is really bad, I use it year around. If you check the tub, the butters are labeled "normal", "dry skin", and "very dry skin" so you can find one that suits your personal skin type the best. I love the olive oil, argan oil, and mango body butters the best.

Hydrating Face Cream

Dry skin doesn't only stop with your body; it can affect your face as well. The extra dry weather generated from the artificial heating units mean that our face creams have to be extra potent during this time of year. My personal favorite is the Murad Perfecting Night Cream.

Hand Cream

A thick hand cream before bed or whenever, my hands are dry is a must. Chapped, cracked hands are painful in the winter. My favorite's are L'Occitane's hand cream line or Lush's Lemony Flutter.

A Humidifier

If the weather is really dry or you have super sensitive skin, I recommend buying a humidifier. They come at a variety of price points so there is one for every budget. One of my favorite tricks is to save my hot bath water or fill the tub up with some hot water before I go to bed. Since my bathroom adjoins my bedroom, the steam provides some extra moisture. You can also place a wet washcloth in the room with you or place your wet clothes on a drying rack in your bedroom. This not only provides a bit of extra moisture, it cuts down your energy bill as well since you aren't running the dryer. 

Some final words of advice:

If you suffer from severe skin problems during the winter (or any time of the year), try to minimize the number of products you put on your skin and try to select more natural products with minimal ingredients. 

What are your cold/dry weather essentials?

Disclaimer: All opinions are MakeupandMasala's. This post is not sponsored.

The September Issue: Fall 2015 Nail Polish Color Trends

Today I wanted to share with you some of my favorite nail polish colors that are trending this fall and provide you with some examples for the upcoming season. I tried to pick as many polishes from as many different brands as possible that I am familiar with. If you have additional suggestions, feel free to share in the comments! I'll try to add them to the main article.

Deep Reds and Dark Berry Tones

Left to Right: Essie Bahama Mama, OPI Mrs. O'Leary's BBQ
Other Picks (not pictured): Julep Rayma, Julep Cassandra,  TrustFundBeauty Just Talk to My Lawyer

Nude/Neutral

      

Left to Right: Essie Picked Perfect, Essie Perennial Chic, OPI Bubble Bath (photo credit: Pinterest)

Other Picks (not pictured): Deborah Lippmann She Wolf

Brown/Chocolate

Julep Jess

Military Green
   

Left To Right: Dior Metropolis, Julep Roc Solid (photo credit: Julep)

Deep Plum
   

Left To Right: Lincoln Park After Dark (photo credit: unknown), Deborah Lippmann Miss Independent (photo credit: The Daily Varnish)

Deep Blue
   

Left To Right: China Glaze First Mate (photo credit: BeautyJunkiesUnite), Butter London Royal Navy (photo credit: The Daily Varnish)

The September Issue: Goals, a Book, and Fall Cleaning

A lot of people have New Year's resolutions. I, on the other hand, being very studious, had back-to-school or fall goals. One of my biggest goals this year is to tidy up and not accumulate so much stuff. I'm trying to live more simply and enjoy moments and people instead of things. I think fall is the perfect time to do this; as the weather gets colder, we tend to congregate inside more and spend time with our families and loved ones creating new memories. I'm a huge clutter-bug so tidying up isn't necessarily natural for me. For some help and inspiration I've started reading the book shown below by Marie Kondo.

I'm still reading this book, but it has given me helpful tips and insights into how to tidy up my physical surroundings and my mental space. Kondo talks about how younger siblings tend to accumulate more clothes since they are constantly getting hand-me-downs from siblings. Even though they may not wear it, they end up keeping it and it creates unnecessary clutter in their lives. I also love Kondo's mindset of only keeping things in your life that inspire love and passion. Why keep a sweater or a book or a pot, if you never use it and don't particularly enjoy it?

 My cleaning has also inspired my boyfriend to start cleaning as well as we try to simplify our lives. As a long distance couple, we have a lot of "stuff" in our lives mostly because we just have double of everything. As I am nearing the end of school and will be heading back to live with him soon, we are slowly trying to clean up the clutter and build a life together. If you want to hear more about our long distance relationship or how we are planning to consolidate our life, leave me a comment below!

The September Issue: Fall Scents and My Favorite Candles

Yay! It's officially fall! I love fall/winter; it's my favorite time of the year. One of my favorite parts about the season is all the warm cozy scents that are associated with the season: pumpkins, the scent of warm clothes out of the dryer, spices, etc. I always have a candle burning in my apartment which relaxes and soothes me especially in the fall so today I wanted to share some of my favorite fall scents. Many of my scents this year are favorites from Bath and Body Works. Just to clarify, I'm not sponsored by them I just really love how affordable their candles are and how big of a selection they have. Also it's a brand that is fairly common so everyone will be able to enjoy the scents I talk about today. I hate when bloggers talk about really hard to obtain products that they love because finding them can be a bit of a hassle. I also have a coupon code for 20% off your entire order (not just candles) until October 4. The online code is FA155953 and the authentication number is 5953 in case you need that. Anyways, on to the scents...

Black Cherry Merlot

This is part of Bath and Body Works Napa Valley Wine collection that debuted this fall. It smells really sweet and reminds me of communion grape juice at church. This extra memory that I associate with the scent makes it even better for me. It has notes of black cherry and amber.

Sweater Weather

This is a bestseller and a classic. I got it for the first time this season and  I think i'm going back to get more. It has a very clean, outdoor scent with notes of eucalyptus, juniper berry, and sage. Very herby and earthy.

Flannel

This candle is true to its name and reminds me of cotton and clothes fresh out of the dryer. The musk and bergamot notes also make it smell almost like a cologne so it's as if you are smelling a flannel shirt you happened to steal from your boyfriend.

Sparkling Pear Riesling

This candle is probably the fruitiest of the bunch and has a tendancy to make me hungry/crave something sweet when I light it. If candles can make you crave food, then this is probably best avoided when you are trying not to snack. The major notes are grapes and pears.

Leaves

This candle has notes of apple and berry. As the name suggests, it's like jumping in a fresh pile of leaves.

Mahogany Teakwood

This candle smells like the inside of an Abercrombie and Fitch store. I happen to like that woodsy scent so I always have one of these candles on hand and tend to burn it year-around. It gets extra love during the fall season, however.

Marshmellow Fireside

This candle smells exactly like you are roasting marshmellows and making smores. I love this candle but didn't actually purchase it this year because the vanilla notes in this one REALLY make me crave chocolate and I need to curb my non-stop snacking on junk food.

What scents are you loving this season?  

The September Issue: An Introduction

So starting tomorrow (September 1), I wanted to try a new series for the month of September. I've called it "The September Issue" after the hallmark magazine issue that debuts this month every year filled with all the best ads and the best shopping for the season. The September issue marks the transition from spring/summer to fall/winter in the fashion world. On my blog, since the seasons are changing, I wanted to give you my seasonal picks from everything from clothing, to nails, books, and everything in between to get you ready for the fall season, a sort of "September Issue" for MakeupandMasala. I am going to try to post every other day in September for you guys so keep checking back to see what's new. Hope you enjoy this and let me know what topics you would like me to explore in the future. Let Pumpkin Spice Latte season begin! :)

Swatch Sunday: Julep Jess

Phoenix Yard Coloring Books: The Second One and Only Colouring Book for Adults

So recently I was sent The Second One and Only Colouring Book for Adults by Phoenix Yard books for review. It's an adult coloring book that is going to make it's way to the US soon. I love the size of this book in particular. It's perfect for traveling since it is smaller than most coloring books out there. It's about the size of one of those composition notebook with a marble cover that you could pick up around the time that school begins. The page themes are very diverse so there are a lot of options for one's coloring mood (floral, abstract, mosaic, city). Again this is also a perk for travel since you only have to bring one book along to enjoy various themes. Below I have a few pictures of the themes in this book: 

I especially love this last picture because it reminds me of so many French coloring books that we do not have access to in the US.

There are a few not-so-great parts about this book as well for me personally. I am not a huge fan of  the floral image I posted above. It is an example of one of the few prints in the book that is too chaotic and complicated for me. I feel the lines are too tiny for adequate coloring using colored pencils, but they are perfect if you like to use markers (I don't).

The book also says that you can use it with colored pencils, crayons, acrylics, and some types of paints. I tried both markers and colored pencils:

The colored pencils worked great as shown above.

However, the markers (Staedler pens) bled through a bit when I used them as you can see above.

Overall, I am excited to use this book with colored pencils and will show you guys examples of my work in the future. Happy coloring!!

What are your thoughts on this book? Would you get it?

Makeup Mondays: Eye look using Jaclyn Hill Palette from MorpheBrushes

I used Shade 1 for the crease and then I brushed Shade 2 all over the lid.

NOTD: Pink Glitter

Polishes used: Essie's French Affair, OPI Which is Witch?, NYC Color White, and Wet n' Wild black

Polishes used: Essie's French Affair, Kiss Glitter striping polish, Wet n' Wild black

Polishes used: Essie's French Affair, OPI Which is Witch?, NYC Color White, and Wet n' Wild black

Makeup Mondays: Jaclyn Hill Palette for MorpheBrushes

Here's a look I created for everyday using the Jaclyn Hill palette for Morphe Brushes. The palette was limited edition, but you can still buy the shadows individually from the website.

I used Shade 1 to carve out a crease area. Then I placed Shade 2 on my lid. Finally I placed Shade 3 on the outer edge of the crease and blended until my arm almost fell off (as Jaclyn likes to say ;) ).

Swatch Saturday: Essie's Island Hopping

MAC Matte Lip Collection

So MAC came out with a limited edition (I think) matte lipstick collection. I love the shades that came out. I haven't been able to pick out any shades personally since I'm on a tight summer budget right now. However, I do have a few recommendations for unique colors after I swatched them in store. I really love Stone which is a grey/brown. It reminds me of one of the LimeCrime Velvetines (the name eludes me right now) or the NYX High Voltage lippie in Stone. I also recommend getting Whirl. It's the matching lippie to the lip liner that was made famous by Kylie Jenner. A must so that you don't always have to hunt down the never-in-stock lip pencil since the lipstick will last longer. 

NOTD and the Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen

This little NOTD is a bit of a surprise for my blog followers (I heart you guys! Virtual HUG!!!). Normally most of my posts go up on Instagram first but I wanted to save this one so you guys see it first as a thank you for being here. 

I used Ella and Mila for the blue polish. While I like the idea behind Ella and Mila (non-toxic and inspired by her children), I don't know that I love the polish, it applies a little too streaky and sheer for my taste. However, I felt this way about Essie when I tried that brand and now I'm all about that Essie life so Ella and Mila might meet the same fate. They do have some pretty amazing colors as well.

I am really excited about this design for one particular reason. As a college girl on a budget, I strive to walk a fine line between fashionista and budgetista. One of my goals is to help you all achieve the same balance. DIY nails are great because they are much cheaper than getting a mani at the salon. But I can understand the frustration of not being able to get perfect nails especially when nail art is involved. Enter Sally Hansen's Nail Art Pen. It is literally a pen much like a Sharpie but suited for nails. If you are like me, you have much better dexterity with a pen than a polish brush. This is great when it comes to nail art since you can free hand the leopard spots with a pen much easier than with polish (the black was freehanded with the pen above). The pen price is not that bad either (under $10) and that's much more affordable than a salon mani. Make sure to wait like 5-10 minutes before topcoating so that the pen doesn't smear; I used SecheVite above. This pen also comes in a pretty good selection of colors. I would personally suggest picking up a white and a black if you are really into nail art and accent nails.

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored nor was the author compensated for the opinions above. All products were purchased by MakeupandMasala.   

Product Empties #4 (Bath and Body Works Edition): Winter Candy Apple Shower Gel, Pink Chiffon Lotion, True Blue Spa Too Shea

Bath and Body Works Winter Candy Apple

What I Think: This product was my favorite when I was younger (middle school to high school). I bought a ton of backups every holiday season and I'm now over this scent and probably never buying it again cause I was so OBSESSED with it for many years. It's the perfect sweet, candy scent if you are into that type of scent. Around the holidays, if you are shopping for a young girl, this is sure to please her. Having eczema, however, I do find the product a bit drying on my skin.

Repurchase: Yes, but not anytime in the next 10 years because I think I'm over my obsession with this scent. :)

Bath and Body Works Pink Chiffon Body Lotion Mini

What I Think: This product has a nice girly, sugary scent. It lasts the same as most Body Works products. It isn't hydrating at all if you have dry skin or live in a dry location so you don't want to pick it up if you need something hydrating. I stick these minis in my schoolbag or purse to be used anytime I need a quick dose of moisture for dry/ashy skin or if I need a quick bit of scent on my body.

Repurchase: Maybe. I like it but I won't restrict myself to this scent since Bath and Body has so many nice scents.

Bath and Body Works True Blue Spa Too Shea 100% Shea Body Butter

What I Think: I loved this when I used it. It was very hydrating for severe dry skin. However, it does leave a greasy feeling behind and I found it had to apply because it was very thick. I didn't particularly like the smell and the smell only got worse as the product got older.

Repurchase: No. Too thick for my taste. It was frustrating to apply this because it was so thick so I have switched to using the body butters from the Body Shop.

What products have you used up? Have you used any of these products? What did you think (let me know in the comments below)?

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored nor was the author compensated in any manner. All products purchased by MakeupandMasala.