Mug Swap - But First, Coffee

Hello all! I have missed writing on here a lot. I do apologize for my absence. 

I wanted to share an opportunity I had! Kallie from the blog, But First, Coffee facilitates a mug swap with her followers every so often. This first happened at the end of last year (I think it's honestly been so long now) and I was matched with the lovely Ashley Gabrielle. Once you have been matched with your mug swap partner, it is your alls job to get to know one another and then eventually send each other a mug! While Ashley and I both sent out mugs out a little late, we still got them to each other. I think she would agree with me when I say that the process of emailing back and forth and giving each other blurbs about each others lives was so much fun. We do have plans to continue to keep in contact with each other, and I honestly am so excited for that also. I think because of this mug swap, I have created a connection through the blogging world that we both enjoy, as well as a new friend :-)

Ashley is so sweet, and you should definitely go check out her blog! And I mean, you probably want to see what mug she got from me, right? ;-) 

And if you're here from Ashley's blog, hi and welcome! Like I said at the beginning of this post, I haven't put out a blog post in a while due to life events and school but I have a list and a folder of pictures ready to be edited for more posts this week :-) I think anyone would sympathies that starting to get into blogging consistently is challenging, but I'm slowly working on it :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful easter, and like I said, go say hi to Ashley and follow her! Just click here!

Happy New Years + Festive Eye Look!

Hello lovely readers! I love this time of year. I am constantly thinking. Literally there is something on my mind. So to have a time of year to be able to reflect on myself and look at what goals I would like to set for myself in the coming year is always refreshing to me. I've created a short list of goals for myself both personal and blog related!

1. Blog starting two times a week for the whole month of January & then expand on posts per week from there.
2. Create a theme for myself as well as some set days for blog posts.
3. Be more organized & utilize my planner more!
4. Go to the rec center at least three times per week for the whole month of January, and then expand from there, also.
5. Be more thoughtful/aware of the little things in life!
6. Keep in touch with my parents as well as other family more.
7. Always strive.

As far as my New Years goes, my parents and I have a tradition of going out to eat and seeing a movie. While I'm not sure on the dinner location I believe we will be seeing Mockingjay (incredibly excited). This is something very special to me, especially now that I am in college. I do not get to visit my family as much as I would like, so little traditions like this one truly mean a lot.

Finally, the eye of the evening! I posted the above picture on my twitter a few days ago. I had every intention of recreating this for my families evening out, but I ended up going with a smoky eye. Do not fret, though! I plan on doing a post with more detail on my twitter picture in the future. I instead went for a bronze, dark look only using the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette. It is safe to say that the chocolate bar palette made it to my favorites for sure! Unfortunately the picture I took does not do this look justice, because in real life the eyeshadows are darker. I am in desperate need of a new camera :-(

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year! What are some of your resolutions? :-)

A Reflection on my Makeup Journey - Collab with SatinMilk & Hannah Dolled Up!

I have never thought about how my makeup style has changed until I was given the opportunity to do this collab with Hannah and Ashley! 

While it was hard to find some pictures, I would have to say that my makeup style has changed tremendously. I started wearing makeup when I was in the 8th grade. I only wore eye liner, mascara and eye shadow. The trio of choice was Wet n Wild's Walking on Egg Shells ;-) That was it! I mastered liquid eyeliner at this age as well, because that's all I exposed myself too. Why I have no idea but I am grateful for that now. The following picture is from high school, and I cannot even tell you to this day how I got that lower lash line to look so good.

To reflect on this for an additional second, can we admire the lack of eye brow in this picture also? x3

As far as my skin care journey goes, I am still struggling with this to this day. For some reason I can never get myself in a good routine. Heck, I can't even figure out a good routine for myself! But, I do wash my face twice a day and that's even better than what I did back in 8th grade.

It is also to reflect on the fact that as I go through my personal social media, none of my current pictures show my every day makeup. Probably because this semester it seems that I have embraced an all natural appearance more than I ever have. That in itself says a lot, because when I first started wearing makeup I did the same thing every morning. Not kidding you! Now, I wear makeup on the days that I have time or my special events. This is currently something I am trying to hash out in my life to create a go to 10 minute face, because I genuinely do love to wear makeup!

My life is a mess, and makeup for me has evolved into the thing where I can sit down and make myself feel good for how ever long I allow it. I love the process of putting on makeup and I love trying out new products... So this post has really made me realize that I need to put in a little more effort. I started wearing makeup because I loved watching the girls on youtube do it, and not I blog about it! SO CRAZY! 

This is a really rambly blog post, and I will probably go back and edit some things, but the gist is that I have evolved into someone who is putting on makeup when I can, and enjoying the collection even when I am not using it. My goal is to create a easy routine for myself as well as produce quality insight of my thoughts as well as my looks and collection to you all - thanks to this collab I have realized this!

Remember to check out the other two beautiful ladies in this collab! :-) We each took a different spin on this so there is something for every reader to enjoy!!

Have a great day!

FOTD #1

Hello all! Hope you all aren't freezing like I am right now. I decided to share a look that has been my go to, ever since coloring my hair! I am not ready for this snow and freezing temperatures! Therefore this look represents my love for fall and the fact that I am hanging on for dear life with this season. All of the information for this look is listed below!

What has been your go to look lately? Leave me a comment! :-)

Face: 
L'OREAL Lumi Foundation in n1-2 soft ivory
Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 15 Fair
bareMinerals Mineral Veil
Rimmel London Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Transparent
Tarte Amazonian Clay Bronzer in Park Ave Princess
two cosmetics duo eyeshadow in Heartache (love this as a blush!) :)

Eyes:
E.L.F. Eyebrow kit in medium
Milani Bella Mandarin in the crease as a transition shade
Ulta Eyeshadow in Golden Olive all over the lid (sadly discontinued)
Urban Decay Naked 2 & Faint from the Naked Basics palette in the crease & outer V
bareMinerals eye liner in Black bean to line upper lid (discontinued)
NYX retractable eye liner in black for tight line
Covergirl Clump Crusher Extensions Mascara in Black

Lips:
Julep Lip Gloss in Awestruck

Happy Friday and a quick update!

Hello everyone! Hope this week has been treating you well. I myself have been pretty busy with school work as well has school band commitments. I thought I would get a post out to let you all know that I have created a twitter account! Like I have said (and probably will continue to say) I love interacting with people! This will be a great way for me to share posts from my blog, quick info on things such as sales, opportunities and even mini life updates/thoughts. 

Can't wait to see you all in the Twitter sphere!

@thatsamlife

OOTD #1: Casual Fall

Today was one of those days where I needed to get out of bed and get ready, but I didn't feel like doing much to my hair and didn't really want to do a face of makeup. So, I opted to (for the first time in a while) put together an outfit that looked nice but was super comfy. This outfit really is not anything special, but I figured I would post anyways because sometimes when I see OOTD posts it inspires me to put in a little more effort to my outfit the next day or think about my wardrobe and see if I have anything similar.

The shoes are ones I found at TJ Maxx a year ago. I will update with a link if I find one.

 You will soon find out that 80% of my wardrobe is from Old Navy. This bracelet along with the sweater are from Old Navy.

I don't have many necklaces like this, because I just never got into the statement necklace trend but I actually scored this one over the summer from Aeropostale for $5.00!

Let me know if you would like to see anything/know anything else with these OOTD posts. If you have any questions or ideas you can also contact me via email!

Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Tidbits

• Like the new look? I'm still playing around with it. Let me know what you think!
• The weather here will not make up its mind... Kind of annoying at this point.
• I am at that point in my semester where everything is happening at once in my academic life and social life
• My Dunkin' Donuts coffee and blueberry donut were just what I needed this morning :B

Happy Halloween!

Better late than never, right? Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Halloween weekend! Just thought I would drop this picture here to share my costume this year. My boyfriend and I decided to do a couples costume as Cosmo and Wanda from the Fairly Odd Parents on Nickelodeon! I use to be obsessed with this show back in my junior high years, and saw this on Pinterest.

I did not have a lot of time to do my hair, but I had practiced the poof prior to doing it this night. I wish I had a lot more pictures, but sadly with the amount of time we had I was not able to :-(. My boyfriend did not want to use colored hair spray, so this is also the best we could come up with for Cosmo's green hair. Did I mention we threw this together in 24 hours time??? I think it turned out pretty well! The wands we found at Walmart for 97 cents and I made the crowns using yellow cups, believe it or not (also found on pinterest).

Feel free to leave what you were for Halloween this year, and if you would like an in depth post about anything let me know!

Have a fantastic day!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello there lovely people! My name is Samantha and I am here wanting to start a blog that is beauty based as well as my life in college here and there! I also plan to combine these two concepts, because being a college student means that your money is tight. I still enjoy trying out new products and would like to share how I do this! For this blog I plan on doing hauls, reviews, tutorials (maybe trying to get into doing videos?) and a few other things that I think will be a lot of fun!

A little bit about me, I am 20 years old and am a 3rd year in college. I am majoring in AYA Integrated Social Studies (meaning I want to be a high school teacher!) I enjoy a lot of the simple things in life, including sitting down with my favorite people and drinking some hot tea, or just hanging out. My makeup/beauty collection is something I take pride in for the fact that I do not wear makeup because I feel the need to enhance my natural features. Heck, I don't even wear make up every day! But I do enjoy the process of applying makeup and getting to experiment with color. It's also aways enjoyable to watch what the beauty community comes out with and test the products for yourself! 

There will be more about me to come, so welcome to my blog! :-)

Also! I love bloglovin' to keep up with blogs that I enjoy reading as well as getting to connect with my readers! :-)

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