Top Picks | Summer 2015 Lip Options

I hear it's summer back in the States but here in London, we're in our second day of June and barely hitting 60 degrees. I'm not complaining though as the sun terrifies me and I prefer sweaters to sweating any day. While I literally wear any lip color any time of year, I do tend to pull out more pinky/nudes, oranges and a peach number during the sunnier months. I also don't stop with the borderline Goth/vampy matte lip products of dreams though so anything's fair game. Below is a lineup of lip products that have already made permanent settlements in my handbag and I hope the seersucker "Au Revoir" clutch channels some south of France summer vacay vibes for you (please excuse the state of my Bourjois Lip Crayon as it had a near-fatal accident this past weekend. It's too soon to discuss; I'm still sobbing about it).

Study Abroad No. 2 | Packing

There are two pieces of advice I wish I had listened to when I first studied abroad: create a budget and stick to it and pack lightly. While I'm still working on the best budget approach (i.e. I actually have a budget this time around. Sort of heh heh), I feel confident to relay packing knowledge and advice this time around (for those of you who are new, this is my second time studying abroad; see post here). This is a very detailed post as it is meant to serve as a guide/help for people wanting to study abroad so you can skim the text and look at the photos because yes, I've included lists of things I've packed as well as photos of most of these items (very few things are missing because they were added last minute/I just totally forgot about them). I'm comparing the packing from my first study abroad experience in 2013 to now as well, so that might help people gauge what is/isn't important.

Freebies | Topshop Beauty #Playland

My roommate and I went to Regent St. in central London this past Sunday because Magnum, the ice cream company, was hosting an event all along the street. For those of you who don't know, Regent St. is one of London's main shopping streets, encompassing a variety of shops while bringing in locals and tourists alike. It intersects several other popular shopping streets like Carnaby and Oxford Street.

Review | Empties #1

I've been hoarding empties for months now and I wanted to do a few mini reviews on all of these products because I love reading about things people actually manage to finish. While I'm very into makeup (obvs), I am also very practical and don't like to keep too many products at once so writing an empties post helped motivate me to get through as much as possible.