Life Lately | Ready for Sweater Weather
Fall is by far my favorite season of them all. Sometimes I debate between Spring and Fall because I get excited for the longer and brighter days along with dresses and sandals. But Fall is on a planet of its own as I get to bring out all my sweaters/boots and cozy up with a candle burning on the daily. Plus all the crunchy leaves - I will definitely go out of my way to step on a crunchy leaf. Anyone else? I'm feeling a bit unmotivated with beauty content lately so I thought I'd do a little life lately chat and continue experimenting with new photography styles.
Since I'm in a space much bigger than my bedroom, I've been going a bit overboard with burning candles. I'm nearing the bottom 1/4 of 2 candles and I'm happy to be working my way through my candle collection! When I moved, I had an entire crate dedicated to candles + accessories. My bf said I was certifiably insane. But it's so nice feeling cozy and having a candle burning. I do need to pull out my cheap Ikea candles soon tho as those ones can easily burn for ambiance without burning a hole in my pocket too. I'm on a bit of a candle ban, but do let me know your favorites so I can add them to my never-ending list.
I've wanted to dabble with more fashion/lifestyle related posts so I hope you guys are okay with that! I don't want this space to be solely a beauty place, although it probably is for the majority. I recently got a brand spanking new - and rather large - mirror, and I just know I'll want to take a lot more outfit selfies. I'm unsure if I'll document it for the blog, but I may start doing occasional OOTD type posts over on IG! I feel like I'll be going down a dark hole as I'll start validating new clothing purchases as "doin' it for the blog.' But in all realness, I have tons of clothes and I'm going to use the new mirror as an opportunity to photograph some clothing items and put them up for sale on Poshmark. On lifestyle side I wanted to post some snippets of my apartment. I finally got my order from West Elm delivered over the past weekend and have been working to incorporate them into my space and personalize them to my liking. Hopefully soon I'll be able to show you guys!
As part of PALM, a network for influencers, I opted in to receive a copy of Jolene Hart's book, Eat Pretty. For one, just look at how gorgeous the print is. It's a book that goes over a few different topics, including foods that have beauty benefits to helping out with life management - a little bit of everything. As someone trying to be more intentional about self care, it's a book I'm excited to get crackin' on. I'll be sure to do a more in-depth post going over my findings from the book! As I recently moved out, I've been cooking a lot more and am trying to be mindful about eating healthier. If you know any good easy-to-follow cookbooks, send them my way! Just a note, I haven't cracked this open because I'm in the midst of reading my book for my office book club. I am so behind and I need to do a lot of reading ASAP. // Looking at my frames from Firmoo*, I realize that they're over 2 years old and I am realllly in neeed of some new frames. I've been toying with the idea of clear frames as they look so chic and stylish! But sometimes I think nope - not cool enough. But then again I really only use glasses for reading (I am a straight grandma). I'm eyeing a pair from Warby Parker, but if you know of any budget friendly frames or brands - please let me know!!
I have some exciting products that came in at the end of last month / early this month and I'm excited to photograph some new content as well as catch up on a ton of things that I've let slide over the last few weeks (erm - months). One of those exciting packages was a giveaway I won from Verb Products* with my girl Celina - we are seriously so lucky with giveaways as we've now won two "you + a friend win" giveaways. I've been eyeing the entire Ghost range they have as a goood amount of people have been posting about their products left and right. I have a sh*t ton of hair products to get through and I'm nearing the end of some of my current bottles on rotation and I'm persevering through and trying to use them up before I crack any new ones open! I also wanted to try doing some more experimental type photos and looped my boyfriend in. I love typical product shots but I looove more personalized photos where they're being held or are in mid-use. I'm working on my angles with my bf (lol) and we're trying to learn what works best. It's all a work in progress, but I'm seriously so excited to have a live-in Instagram husband at my beck and call.
TBH - I'm feeling a little overly stressed with the amount of catch up I have to do and my recent move has kind of (really) stressed me out to see the mass of products I've accumulated since I started this whole "blogging" thing. I am a bit of a hoarder by nature and I want to try things out! It makes it that much harder to get rid of products. I also don't want friends to feel like they're getting my old and unloved things. Truth be told, a lot of them are products I love but just don't have time to use! My goal is to be a bit more intentional with the products I use and if that means I can't finish a product up, it's not the end of the world! I've done pretty swell with my empties posts over the past year and if giving things a good test for a month or two and then passing them on is what needs to be done, so be it! So if any of my friends are reading this - hit me up with your "in need of" list and I'll work on gathering up some products for the next time we see each other ;).
As I've recently moved out, I'm putting myself on a sort of spending ban. I hate saying spending ban, it should be more like a stricter and more mindful way of spending and adding new products to my collection. But I think having a ton of products to test out makes it a bit easier, and my "Ulta Cabinet" of products makes it feel like I'm going in and shopping every day! Definitely an added plus.
On a non-blog related note, I've been binge watching so much TV lately. My show of choice right now has to be Jane the Virgin. I had seen episodes here and there when Hulu played them on auto play. But having finished binge watching through Friends again with my bf, I've turned to Jane the Virgin upon recommendation of friends in three different friend groups. I'm glad I listened to them because I've been watching it in all my spare time. The one thing I love (and hate) about the show is that it's in Spanish. It's fun to learn a few new words here and there and Jane's abuela is the cutest human ever. But that also means I can't multi-task too much as I do need to read the subtitles to understand. I'm the type of binge watcher that likes to clean / write posts / photograph / etc. and shows & movies in foreign languages make it difficult to do multiple things at once. But it's good cause it gets me to really wind down and focus on one act instead of being the busy bee I usually am.
One thing I've been wanting to do for the longest time is a post about my pup - Ollie ! Moving in with my boyfriend also meant I get to live with my pup 24/7, and although it's been an adjustment, it's been so fun! Having him there every time I get home, leave for work, go to sleep - he. is. there. He'll clearly be featured in a lot of photos as our place is small and he makes such a good and easy model. My boyfriend turned to look at me and tell me that Ollie was a far better model than me. But I do have to say, I agree ! If you guys want to see a pup post, please let me know. And please also let me know if there are any specifics you'd like me to touch base on :)
Something I'm looking forward to is a trip with my work that's planned for next month in November! It's my first work trip (pleasure, not business) and I'm so so excited! We're going on a cruise (which will also be my first time) to a warm destination so it'll be a welcome change from the cold weather. I'm still debating what to do when I'm gone during that time but I think I'll just take my phone and go easy.
This whole post was basically pure rambling but I hope you guys liked it :) Let me know what you've been up to lately!