I’ve been looking forward to writing weekly updates on my personal life, and not just ramble on and on about beauty on the blog. There’s something so refreshing and more relate-able when I read about someone else’s life on their blog and makes me feel so much more connected with them. It sounds so silly and almost stalker-ish, but I’m not the only one who feels this way right? Right? Plus, in an effort to save up for future trips, I’m telling myself to not look or buy any more beauty things until I’ve reached my savings goal!
1. Dealing with Post-Vacation Blues & Culture Shock
I make a point of being a traveler than a tourist whenever I’m going somewhere. Finding myself so immersed in another culture means facing some kind of culture shock when I’m back. I don’t mean to sound condescending but I sometimes feel so guilty in taking things for granted! I keep reminding myself how fortunate I am to be able to see things from so many different perspectives and only can express gratitude for the experiences!
2. No More Eyeshadows & Blush
I’ve been simplifying my makeup lately so much so that I’ve completely cut out the blush and eyeshadow from my routine. Problem is that I’ve built such a collection of them… and I can’t be bothered to reach out for them anymore. Do you ever feel like that and do you eventually come back to it?
3. Planners and Agenda Madness
Like many, I am obsessed with planners, and agendas. As much as everything has become so digitized and that planners were supposedly obsolete, I am still a pen and paper kind of gal. So, I finally dropped the $38 on a 2016 Kate Spade planner after much indecisions because I wanted the ban.do “I am Very Busy” (sassy) planner. Not only was it cheaper, but the ban.do version felt playful and young. In the end, I went with the large Kate Spade planner as it had the ring binding and plenty of space for personal / blogging / travel related items that I will be jotting down.
4. Perfecting Another Recipe – Moules au Vin Blanc
… which is the fancy way of saying that I followed a Pinterest recipe and my meal turned out great. Actually, it turned out fantastic. I’m a huge fan of seafood. Whilst in Cape Town, I had plenty of seafood due to the fact that it was available in abundance and tastes incredible fresh. My first meal though, was the mussels cooked in white wine sauce with garlic which I instagrammed. It turns out the recipe was so easy to re-create, and it came out perfectly the first time!
5. Chapters, Indigo
Lately, I’ve felt the need to pop by Chapters every. single. day. It doesn’t help that I live 3 minutes walk away from one, and that place is a sucker for my wallet. It used to be a bookstore and I could stay away from it because I’m a huge fan of reading off ebooks/PDFs. Then they added the home décor section, and recently introduced a Kate Spade in house brand that looks quite fun. Aside from purchasing the Kate Spade planner, I ended up placing a couple of orders for bits and trinkets to decorate my place and so I can better organize my files. My only condolence is that the cost of buying the same filing system at Staples is almost the same, but without any of the fancy / inspirational quotes to boot.
6. A Surprise from Formula X
One day I received a package with the Sephora Formula X To Go set from someone I didn’t know. A freakout session immediately ensued – I mean, I’m very diligent when it comes to sharing my address with PR companies so yes, I was a little creeped out. Went to the Canadian Beauty Bloggers group to get advice, and did a little more digging when I discovered that a whole bunch of other Sephora beauty insiders also received it! The reason? The gift bag from the Sephora Spring Love Note Event included a Formula X nail polish that many had complained to be of poor quality – think goopy formula, and separation in the formula in the bottle which made it seem that the gift was insincere. The parent company of Formula X set out to right the wrong and sent everyone who attended the event, the set (Worth $19). Great PR move!
Now it’s your turn! What have you been up to lately? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Share with me comment section or through Twitter or Instagram!