January/February Favorites | 2017

Happy March guys! How have two months already flown by this fast? It seems like just last week we were preparing all of our poppers for New Year's celebrations and waiting to countdown the seconds until 2017 began. But some how its already March and here I am with a semi-monthly favorites. 

Sidenote: Nearly every product in this favorites post was given to be my friends and family for my birthday and Christmas. So, thanks fam! I love you!

SKINCARE

These past two months I have been taking the time two make sure that my skin is happy and hydrated. With the cold San Franciscan air whipping on my face 24/7, my skin has been so dry, but nothing a good skin care regime can't curve the effects of. Two of my new favorite products I have been using to rehydrate my skin during these cold winter months is the Kiehl's Clearly Correcting Dark Spot Solution and Midnight Recovery Concentrate. I apply the Dark Spot serum in the morning and the Midnight Recovery serum at night right before I moisturize. Not only do these two add an extra layer of moisture to my dry skin but they also have been really helping to reduce my acne scars, an issue which I have been struggling with for years and is finally on the road to recovery thanks to these bad boys. 

Second, on the list of skincare favorites is Origins' Clear Improvement Charcoal Face Mask. For literally forever I have been looking for a mask that would really clean my face but not leave it dry and wrecked by the amount of chemicals in the product. So when my fam got me this one for Christmas I was over the moon.

MAKEUP 

I don't even think words can express how much I love these makeup products. Like ahhhh they are just so great and I love them all so much and how they make my face look!

My NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer is definitely one of my favorite concealers of all time, its up there right next to my Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer. I adore this concealer because its so light that you almost forget that you are wearing it at times, but it still has great coverage and is able to cover all my blemishes and scars without looking cakey. If you guys have acne scars or a blemish or two or three, I highly recommend that you give this concealer a try. 

Okay so these next two products are in my makeup bag thanks to my beautiful roommate. For my birthday she gave me a ColourPop highlighter in the shade "Wisp" and a ColourPop super shock shadow in the shade "KathleenLights." I had always been curious about the ColourPop brand and why there was such a cult following around them. But after having    these two gems in my makeup bag for a while, I now understand the hype. They are so creamy and pigmented that it makes application so friggin' easy. I really can't do these products justice but they are so beautiful. You get the point I love them so much.

Lastly, is my new favorite brow product, Anastasia's DIPBROW Brow Pomade, which my best friend gave to me for Christmas. I love Anastasia's Brow Wiz so I figured that I would love this one too and boy was I right. You have to be a little careful when applying this that you are not to heavy handed because a little really does go a long way, but overall this product makes my brows look like a million percent better. So if you're looking for something new to spruce up your brows this is definitely something worth checking out. 

BOOKS, MUSIC, & OTHER STUFF

Now that I am in college I barely have any free time to read for fun. But it's okay I'm making tons of memories and lots of friends so its worth it. But this winter break and I was home away from the thrills and demands of dorm life, I finally had time to read! The book I loved reading most was Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians, which was actually a recommendation from my mom. I don't want to give to much of the plot away but to sum it up really quickly. The book focuses on Asia's wealthiest families who reside in Singapore and all the crazy drama that comes with them, influenced by the world Kevin Kwan the author came from. I loved how this book reads so fast and keeps you hooked until the very last page. 

While I may not have a ton of time to read for fun in college, I do have a lot of time to listen to music while I study, which leads to a constant need for new music. These past two months I have been a really big fan of Bastille's Wild World, this album just has so many great lyrics on it. Besides the fact that Bastille is one of my favorite bands and I would probably listen to a song they wrote about french fries, they always come out with such great pieces of music. 

Secondly, in the music category is John Mayer's new EP The Search for Everything - Wave Two. This EP is just filled to with happy vibes and sweet acoustic melodies. If you're a John Mayer fan and haven't listened to this yet you need to go check it out. Since this dropped on the 24th of February I have probably listened to it at least 20 times. I listen to it when I walk to class or when I'm doing homework, I just makes me so damn happy every single time.

My very last favorite of January/February is Conan Gray. Conan is a YouTuber from Texas who I think I stumbled upon when I was being my nerdy self and watching room decor videos on YouTube. I literally have been watching his videos throughout these last two months and am literally in love every single one. You can see the amount of time and effort he puts into each one, and just how amazingly talented he is at not only art but also music. Also I hardcore related to him when I watched one of his videos, where he mentioned that he considers himself to be a grandpa because I too consider myself to be a grandma. So I felt we were low-key hindered souls in that sense. But seriously if you are looking for a new YouTuber to watch I highly recommend you check him out.

See you real soon. Lots of love. 

-Jackie

A Chat About Anxiety & Change

Side Note: Even though I look super happy in this picture and I was, I was also a hundred percent terrified that I would fall off the side of this rock landing on top of this very tall hill. But in the end it was all worth it for the shot.

Today I thought I would talk a little bit about something that has been a rather big part of my life lately and something very personal; anxiety and change. 

Since I was little I remember being anxious. I wasn't a mess of a child sitting unable to play with friends and do normal everyday kid things, but when something unexpected happened in my life I remember freaking out inside while my friends on the other hand continued to laugh and play like it was NBD - which it usually was. This is how things have been for as long as I can remember. I over think things and tend to keep everything in my head. 

This was an issue before I started college and since I have started it has been something more and more on the forefront of my mind. Something that in 2017 I aim to continue working on. I feel like since starting college my anxiety levels have gone up because I have this unforgiving fear of fucking up. This sprouts from simple things like managing my budget correctly - which I am still working on finding a way to do - to big things like picking a college major. 

Before I walked into college I felt like I had everything figured out. I had the major I wanted to pursue, the school I was going to go to, and the job I aimed to get after I graduated. (I know some of you probably think I am crazy for having my future planned but this is just how my brain works.) So when things just didn't end up working out - for various reasons - I started freaking out. I began doubting if I will ever move to that city I had always wanted to live in - which now seems like an even harder dream to achieve, but I am still going to give it my all -  and if I will ever find that major that fits my needs and passions. 

I feel like the majority of my first semester has been me stressing about whether or not I have been making the right decisions, and I feel like because of this I have been missing out on some of the amazing opportunities that come along with being in college. But because of this and this realization I have been proactively searching for ways to handle my stress and anxiety better.

Something to also mention is that while I am a very anxious person and the majority of this anxiety stems from what the future will hold. I am also a person that strongly believes that everything happens for a reason. Which is rather ironic, I know.

So what have I found?

Well for starters talking to my friends and family about my anxiety and where it's stemming from has really helped. I am a person that is pro at bottling things up inside to the point where I feel as though I am about to burst. So talking to them and seeing what there thoughts and opinions are, is really great for me and because of this I have learned I am not the only one worrying about these things. But while this is great I have also realized that too much of this can actually lead to me feeling even more overwhelmed and confused, which is never a good thing.

Secondly, journaling has really helped. Wether that's on my phone, on my laptop, or in an actual journal, jotting down my thoughts has been really helpful. It can be really nice not to have to worry about how someone will react to what I am saying but still be able to get every emotion I'm feeling out of my body. Plus, being able to look back at how I was feeling on a particular day and know that things will get better/have gotten better it always a nice thing to be able to do for myself. 

Going to the gym has been another really big help. Every time I come back from the gym I feel less stressed and like I left my worries in the gym. This is because of what my best friend and I like to call the 'happy endorphins' kicking in after the gym. Lately this has been one of my favorite methods to help reduce my anxiety because it works at bettering both my mental and physical health so I feel even better and happier after finishing a good workout.

Lastly, I have been working on giving myself time away from thinking about the things that make me anxious or stressed. Whether this be a couple of hours or a couple of days doing activities that take my mind off my anxieties. I am learning to validate my need for time away from these big anxieties of mine. This not only gives me time to finally relax but also allows me to walk back into the situation with a less cluttered mind. Usually making it easier for me to figure out what was making me anxious about the situation in the first place and how to solve it. 

If you're still reading this, thanks for sticking around on this rather long post and I would really love to know if any of you can relate to how I am feeling and if so what has helped you.

See you real soon.

- Jackie

Hello 2017.

Wow 2016 is finally over and what a year it was. While it might not have been all fun and games, there were some pretty awesome moments that happened like... I graduated from high school, went to Harry Potter World, and started my first year of college. So as a very last tribute to the ever so interesting year that was 2016, I thought I would put together a little blog post with some of the life lessons I learned throughout the year. Because while New Year's might just be another day I think its a great time to look back and reflect on your own personal growth.

1. Literally, for your own good, stop over thinking everything

2. This goes along with number 1 but don't take yourself seriously all the damn time, life can actually be more fun this way

3. Stop wasting time on little stupid things and do more of what you love and want to do, that means get off your phone and your ass and go do something that excites you

4. It's absolutely 100% okay for you not to have everything figured out, you'll never have everything figured out and that's just part of life

5. Taking time for you is something you should not feel guilty about, you work hard and you deserve a break

I would love to know what you learned from 2016. 

I hope you all have a fabulous start to your new year and that 2017 sends you all the positive vibes. See you real soon.

-Jackie