Hey friends! So today I have a different type of post for you guys. You all know how much I love Ellie Goulding right? You don't? Well, here's a specific post on all the great reasons she is one of my role models and favorite person of all time. So, Seventeen Magazine is one of my preferred magazines to read. It's interesting, youthful, fun, stylish, and full of inspiration and honest advice. This month's cover was Ellie Goulding and I was so excited when it arrived in the mail. The things she said in her interview actually inspired me so much to write this post!
Seventeen called her, "honest, unpretentious, and totally relatable" and I couldn't agree more. The article states that as a child, Ellie has dealt with social anxiety at school, boy troubles, divorce, insecurity, and body confidence issues. It's obvious that Ellie has worked very hard to get to where she is now. She is an amazing, talented musician, but she is also a great woman inspiring others to follow their dreams. The segment says that Ellie "wants [young girls] to know that everything is going to be okay" and to always look for the positives. I really look up to and admire her for that. If you all want to learn and read more, you can read here.
I have loved Ellie Golding's music for so long now. When she released "Lights" I was hooked on her unique and beautiful, wispy-like sound. She has deep songs that make you think and upbeat songs that just make you move. She has this specific way of connecting with you that I think no other artist has ever done. As a matter of fact, I'm listening to her new album, Delirium, right now! I have it on repeat because it is just so good.
Not only is Ellie Goulding a great musician, a strong woman, and a lover of exercise and her two cats, Wallace and Lennon, she is just a real person. Yep, you guessed it. She's real. There's no cover-up media nonsense or fakeness about her. I would love to be her best friend one day and work out with her or something. She's just so cool.
I listen to her on the radio, at school, and I love listening to her when I exercise. She is like a maniac when it comes to working out (she's also like a Nike representative so that's cool, too) and her songs really make me motivated and focused on doing the workout for myself. Whether it be running or yoga, I am automatically pumped and I push myself harder because I know Ellie Goulding would too. I always remind myself that if I want to better myself by exercising, I am only doing it for myself. I am not doing it for anyone else. I am not doing it to make myself skinny. I want to be really strong— just like Ellie.
I also really love how Ellie Goulding believes in all women. She gets what we go through and how hard it is for women to sort of make something of themselves in our society. She comes from a loving and caring mother that raised her all by herself and she's surrounded with a huge "squad" of strong women. I love that in a role model.
Here are some of my favorite songs of hers that I relate to and love listening to:
"Animal"
"The Writer"
(I have listened to this song every time I feel sad. It's just so pretty.)
"Anything Could Happen"
"I Do What I Love"
(I feel so bad ass when this song comes on. It's like a fight song sort of. It has a great tune and reminds me of Bollywood for some reason... maybe the percussion or something)
"Around U"
(I love jumping and dancing to this song.)
"Army"
(I love this song a lot because instead of it being like a love song, it's about having great friends and support from your army of peeps and not needing a man to be fulfilled and loved.)
"Something In The Way You Move"
(I love working out to this one. It's mah "lady jam".)
"Here's To Us"
(I believe that this is a new song of Ellie's that was just released for the Girls album. It gave me all the feels! It's quite a beautiful anthem about love. My favorite lyric is "You’ve fallen on your feet giving everything up / There’s something in the way love is never enough,".)
I have always enjoyed Ellie's electric tune and poppy feel. Her past albums like Lights and Halcyon Days were a bit darker I feel and her new album Delirium is like an awakening of bright sounds and anthems. She has a great variation in her music and I think that a lot of people like her because of how different she is. When I first heard "Lights" on the radio, I had no idea who she was! She didn't sound like anyone else I have ever heard. Maybe her British accent intensifies her voice, but I have never heard another singer sing like she does, and it's beautiful.
I am so insanely excited to see her perform when she comes to Chicago for her Delirium Tour and I know it will be one of the most amazing performances that I have ever seen. Ellie Goulding doesn't really make her way "across the pond" that often. So, this will probably be the only time I will ever see her. Besides her coming to Lollapalooza this summer.
Ellie Goulding has made a huge impact on my life and she taught me that no matter how hard you want something, no matter how hard you work for it, you will get there. She inspires me to be stronger, physically and emotionally. She also inspires me to just be a better version of myself, to just let loose and dance. I'm sure she has inspired many others; she will always hold a special place in my heart.
Xoxo, Nat
Hey everyone! I have had a great spring break and school starts very soon. Ugh. That doesn't mean the party stops on my blog! Today, I have an awesome set that I found on a different blog post someone recently did. This new Sephora Favorites "Paint it Pink" box is one of the best Sephora Favorite sets they have sold in my opinion. First of all, it's only 40 bucks. You get three original sized items, including a beauty blender which is $20 on it's own. You really are getting a great deal with this box. The whole theme is pink which I think is great for spring. It could be a deal breaker for some that don't like to wear pink makeup, but I think it has a variety of products that will suit just about anyone!
Here is everything in the box that I found online either full-size or travel-size if you want to purchase one or two of these separately with the prices (I still recommend this box as a whole because of how awesome the value is. Plus, you can try out these items without paying for the full-size):
*Items marked with an asterisk are not full-size in the set
So the box says that all of the products are a $122 value noting that many are travel or mini size. Obviously, they wouldn't include all full-size items, but some of the items listed are exclusively mini to the set and aren't sold separately.
The Beauty Blender in this set was maybe one of the reasons I purchased it. I still think that $20 for a sponge is a bit much, but you get seven other great products so the total value of this set was incredible. I have always wanted to try the Beauty Blender anyway and I think that it was worth spending the extra twenty for all those other prestige cosmetics.
This Becca Shimmer Skin Perfector is quite an amazing product. It's a beautiful color and in ROSE GOLD. It's really pigmented and pretty, but I found that this shade was a bit too orange to put on my cheeks. I found that it was also a little too chalky. It would dust off my cheeks and wouldn't blend into my skin like I wanted it to. I used this as an eye shadow instead and it looked way better on my lids than it did on my cheeks! Since it is a mini size, it kind of looks like a full-size eye shadow. I guess this product is better off as a pigment or a shadow than a blush or highlighter.
I was really excited to try out the Benefit Roller Lash mascara. I went to one of Benefit's beauty bars to try it out and it looked like I had false lashes! I already had too many mascaras at the time so I passed on it that day. Now I can try out this awesome mascara and review it for you all! I love how it curls my lashes and makes them big and voluminous.
Another product I was so excited to use was this Deborah Lippmann nail polish. You guys know that I have been loving the "nude nails" look and I love this color on my nails. I was so excited to use it and I put it on as soon as the package arrived. You can see that it is pretty sheer, but I only put about one or two coats. It lasted for over a week and I think that if you wanted, you could use more than two coats or use it for a french manicure.
I was really impressed with Sephora because I was so happy and shocked that they would put a full-size Laura Mercier product in here. This is a really pretty pink shade and I love how it looks for spring! I don't wear pink lipstick that often, but this shade was perfect for my skin tone and is more pink-taupe than a bright, hot pink.
I was not that impressed with this lip gloss though. I guess it looks cute. That's about it. It's just a mini, sheer lip gloss and that's all I can say about it. Good for travel and just making your lips look glossier I guess! It looks like it gives off color on the swatch, but on the lips it just doesn't.
I have never really tried Tarte before and I have heard so much about all "Amazonian clay" what-not. I have to say, this is a really great blush. I have been looking for a nice, warm, peachy shade and this is just what I wanted! It's super blendable and isn't so strongly pigmented that you end up looking like a doll or something. It looks great for springtime!
This was another one of the full-size items in the set and it's one of the best ROSE GOLD (gotta keep emphasizing how much I LOVE rose gold) eye shadows I have ever used. Lasting power to the extreme! It stays on all day and gives off great color without being chalky and icky. Nicely done Urban Decay. I will have to purchase more singles (and palettes of course) from them next time. Plus, I love the packaging!
Pardon my under-eye circles, here I used the Urban Decay eye shadow on my lid and the Becca Shimmering Perfector in the crease (if you can tell). I really like how fresh and pretty this look is for spring!
I think that this set can please just about anyone. It has great, quality products. Three full-size items and five mini/travel-size items, too. It's worth $122 and you can get it for just 40 stinkin' bucks! Some people may not like the color theme and I think that Sephora should do other colors like red or berry as well! I really enjoyed all of the products in this set, even though there were some I could live without.
What I really loved/"Out of the ballpark" products I enjoyed:
I really loved how Sephora included the Beauty Blender into the set. I think it's a great deal once you think about it. I have always wanted to try out the sponge and I always thought that it was an insane amount to pay for just that. However, I have been using it every single day I wear foundation and I love it. I would totally buy this set to get more for your money.
I also liked how they included a full-size lipstick in the set. Laura Mercier is a pretty expensive brand and this lipstick is worth about 30 bucks. That's a lot for a lipstick in my opinion. I think that it made the set even more worth it.
What I didn't really care for/The "strike" products I didn't enjoy:
I didn't really think that the mini lip gloss was really necessary in the kit. Maybe it was just like a "bag filler". I could totally live without it and wouldn't really care if they didn't include it in the set. I could still use it for travel and things like that though.
I guess I also could have lived without the nail polish. It wasn't an amazing color, but it was a great formula for a polish. I have wanted to try Deborah Lippmann's polishes. How come they didn't include like a nice pink shade or something?
I hope you all enjoyed this very lengthy review. I was really excited to get this box and do a review on it for all of you. I really loved this set and I recommend it to all of you makeup lovers out there! I have had an awesome spring break and I think I am ready to get back into the swing of things. What did you guys do over spring break?
Xoxo, Nat
Hey guys! So today was a very VERY fun day. I live in Chicago yet I've never been to Chinatown. Today was the day I got to explore more of my beautiful city!
This is a candid of me and one of my best friends, Alyssa. I went with my little sister, my mom, and her friend as well!
While we headed to lunch, we found these awesome statues of the Chinese zodiacs and we were all reading the little plaques that tells us what each sign means. I'm the rabbit!
So we headed to this restaurant on South China Place in Chinatown and it was so delicious! My friend recommended this place and it is now one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in Chicago. I totally recommend it!
This restaurant had tons of choices: noodle dishes, soups, meat dishes, rice dishes, and a ton of bubble tea options on their menu! I love bubble tea so much! I feel like it's a hit or miss with some people but, I really enjoy the tapioca balls and the amazing range of flavors you can get!
We stopped in one of the small bakeries in town and I forgot the name of this one but, they had an awesome selection of Chinese pastries. I had this red bean sweet bun type thing. I have always wanted to try red bean. It kind of tasted like almonds or an almond paste in the middle. It was really good!
Another thing I bought was this really cute (fake) jade bracelet. Alyssa and I decided to get matching ones. I loved how it looked with my watch.
There were a ton of stores filled with a ton of stuff. Sometimes it was just your basic needs like dishes, kitchenware, clothes etc. There was a lot of random stuff too. It was all really cute though.
Here's my little sister being a little weirdo. Haha she loves me so much. She was like, "Nat, I want to model like you do in your blog!". Whelp, there's my sister for yuh.
There was a ton of beautiful architecture around Chinatown. It all looked so detailed and someone really knew what they were doing with this building.
You probably can tell that I am not that educated on the Chinese culture. I'd love to learn and know more about it. I loved experiencing this new part of my town that I'd never seen before. Chicago is so diverse and it made me happy that I got to explore and experience it all. Sure it's not actually China, but I met a lot of really nice people and I've seen a lot for what it's worth.
Traveling and exploring for me is only going to continue due to my love and passion for learning about different cultures and meeting new people. I had a really fun day and I hope to come back another time!
Xoxo, Nat
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