New Years

It's funny because last year I made a post similar to this about starting over. However, I failed terribly to update this blog regularly. But whatevs. New year, new start.

I'm a little nervous going into the new year because 2015 didn't go the way I wanted it to. Things are changing in my life and in some ways it's exciting, but in others it just makes me anxious for what's to come. I'm in my sophomore year of school. I turn twenty in April. Adulthood is upon me and I don't feel like I'm ready.

I've never really been one to make New Years Resolutions, but there's no harm in starting. In all, I have ten things that I want to get done before the end of the year, but here are five main ones:

1. Be more financially responsible.
2. Update blog regularly
3. Work on photography
4. Work out at least twice a week
5. Be more adult/independent.

These are things that I want to get done for myself or just need to get done in general. It would be terribly cliche to say that I hope that 2016 will be my year, so instead I'll just say I hope to finish 2016 in better shape (mentally and physically) than I did 2015. Wish me luck.

Beignets From Sunday On a Monday

Summer's winding down and I leave for school again in a little less than a week. I'm not used to having such a long summer. In high school, we would get out at the end of May and come back in early August. Now, I get out early in May and leave in late August. That's almost four months of summer, which I'm totally greatful for; but I'm excited to get back to school.

I don't really know where I was intending to go with this post, but the above picture is of some beignets that I made yesterday morning. When we went to New Orleans, we brought back some Cafe du Monde mix. I was a little nervous and actually messed up the first set of batter, but the second set was much better and even my mom said that they were good.

For the next week, I'll be helping my mom out in the library at her school along with getting things ready to move back into my dorm on Saturday. I've also started thinking a lot about the direction of this blog and what content I want to feature, so hopefully I can start making the adjustments as needed and start posting regularly again. I'd preferably like to do at least two posts a week.

It Starts (Again)

I've been a bad, bad blogger. But I have a good reason for not updating since August. Before I went on hiatus, I had just gone off to college. Now, my first semester has come and gone and I'm proud to say that I've found my niche. I joined my school's newspaper staff to get in the practice of writing in that style, working as a member of a staff, and also to feel like I was actually doing something as far as working towards a career in journalism. Everyone on the staff is great, I've met a lot of cool people, and from the first meeting I attended I just knew I'd found my people. I also joined the yearbook staff, which doesn't have as many people, but is just as awesome and fun to write and take pictures for.

As a freshman, for my first few years at school I have to focus on getting my core classes (the 101s and 102s) out of the way, and then I can focus on my major. Not that I'm biased or anything, but the Mass Communications major at my school is the best major. I took the Intro to Mass Media Course last semester and my professor was so great and engaging and really showed that he was in love with what he was doing. Whenever I have teachers that show that they're passionate about what they do, that helps me a lot because then I get excited about the subject as well.

So, as you can see, school kept me pretty busy, but now that I know how much work to expect and how much free time I'll have, I'm ready to come back to this blog and start updating regularly. Blogging is something that I genuinely like doing and there's more freedom in blogging than in writing articles for the newspaper. Now I can have the best of both worlds.

Maybelline Fit Me Collection: Review

I've never really been that big on makeup, but I figured that since I'm starting college it would be a good time to at least learn the basics of it. The main reason I decided to stick with the Maybelline brand is because I already use their Falsie mascara and I've been really pleased with it. Plus, I didn't really want to spend a lot of money on MAC products because I don't think I'll be wearing it that often.

The Fit Me collection has a wide range of shades which I liked. My shade is 330 in the foundation and powder, and 30 in the concealer. The concealer is the product that I particularly like because I can just dab two or three dots on the dark spots under my eyes and rub it in. I didn't think that I would like wearing the powder because sometimes it can look cakey or dry your skin out; but it's actually very light. I take pretty good care of my skin so I won't really have a need to constantly apply the foundation, but I like that it doesn't make my face feel greasy or oily.

It seems that I've gotten it right on the first try with selecting a foundation/powder/concealer trio.

VMA Predictions

I look forward to the VMAs every year. Everything is voted on by the fans, literally anything can happen (feel free to Google Miley Cyrus's performance from last year), and you can tell that the artists are having just as much fun as the fans. Here are my predictions for this years' awards:

Artist to Watch
- Five Seconds of Summer
- Charli XCX
- Fifth Harmony
- Sam Smith
- Schoolboy Q


My Pick: Five Seconds of Summer
The band has had a really good year in the US, which tends to happen when you tour with One Direction as their opening act (twice!). And let's face it, you couldn't go anywhere this summer without hearing "She Looks So Perfect".

Best Collaboration
- Problem ft Iggy Azelea - Ariana Grande
- Drunk in Love ft Jay Z - Beyonce
- Loyal ft Lil Wayne & Tyga - Chris Brown
- The Monster ft Rihanna - Eminem
- Dark Horse ft Juicy J - Katy Perry
- Timber ft. Kesha - Pitbull


My Pick: Drunk in Love
If you're going to work on a secret album and then release it without any promo, you might as well feature your superstar husband on the first single with you. I've lost count of how many times I've attempted to do the little hip swivel move from the video (emphasis on attempt). #surfboardt

Best Pop Video
- Problem ft Iggy Azelea - Ariana Grande
- Wake Me Up - Avicii
- Fancy ft Charli XCX - Iggy Azelea
- Talk Dirty ft. 2 Chainz - Jason Derulo
- Happy - Pharrell


My Pick: Problem or Fancy
I can't decide if I love the mod vibe of "Problem" or the Clueless theme of "Fancy". Either way Iggy Azelea wins and Ariana Grande will still be a flawless siren.

Best Hip Hop Video
- 3005 - Childish Gambino
- Hold On, We're Going Home ft. Majid Jordan - Drake
- Berzerk - Eminem
- Black Skinhead - Kanye West
- We Dem Boys - Wiz Khalifa


My Pick: 3005
I've been raving about Childish Gambino and Because the Internet lately and when I saw that "3005" was nominated, I was pleasantly surprised. His music has just now started to get regular radio play, so he's breaking into the mainstream. As much as I really want him to win, I feel like "Hold On, We're Going Home" could take it as well.

Best Rock Video
- Do I Wanna Know - Arctic Monkeys
- Fever - The Black Keys
- Demons - Imagine Dragons
- Until It's Gone - Linkin Park
- Royals - Lorde


My Pick: Do I Wanna Know
The Arctic Monkeys are one of my favorite bands and it was a bit of a surprise to see that they were nominated this year. As amazing as AM was, I didn't think that they were as famous over here as they are in the UK.  I think that "Do I Wanna Know" is easily the best song and video in this category, but there's also a chance that "Demons" by Imagine Dragons and "Royals" by Lorde could win.

Best Male Video
- Sing ft. Pharrell - Ed Sheeran
- The Monster ft Rihanna - Eminem
- All of Me - John Legend
- Happy - Pharrell
- Stay With Me - Sam Smith


My Pick: Sing
I love Ed Sheeran and for anyone who has yet to jump on the band wagon, I play this for them. It's hip hop-esqe, but it's still completely Ed. Plus, it was produced by Pharrell so it has to be a winner, right?

Best Female Video
- Problem ft Iggy Azelea - Ariana Grande
- Partition - Beyonce
- Fancy ft Charli XCX - Iggy Azelea
- Dark Horse ft Juicy J - Katy Perry
- Royals - Lorde


My Pick: Partition
Where do I begin to describe the perfection? Beyonce playing the role of the seductress? Jay Z's cameo? Or maybe the hella sexy chair dance at the end? I think this one is just a given.

Best Lyric Video
- Don't Stop - Five Seconds of Summer
- Really Don't Care ft Cher Lloyd - Demi Lovato
- Mmm Yeah ft Pitbull - Austin Mahone
- Problem ft Iggy Azalea - Ariana Grande
- Birthday - Katy Perry


My Pick: Don't Stop
This is a new category for the award show, but it shows that MTV is keeping up with the times; seeing as lyric videos are becoming more and more popular. The lyric video for "Don't Stop" actually matches the real music video for the song, featuring the band's superhero characters in comic book form. This is the only award that is voted for via Twitter. MTV's website shows the number of votes that each video has, and currently "Don't Stop" has 40,800,000 votes, with Demi Lovato's "Really Don't Care" close behind with 40,500,000.

MTV Clubland Award
- Summer - Calvin Harris
- Grab Her! - Disclosure
- Turn Down For What - Lil John & DJ Snake
- Animals - Martin Garrix
- Stay the Night ft Haley Williams - Zedd


My Pick: Stay the Night
It was interesting seeing Haley Williams do something outside of Paramore for once, and I'm really glad that she lent her voice for this song. This is one of the few songs that I can hear on the radio and not get sick of. Since it is still in constant rotation on airwaves, a lot of people have heard it so it's chances of winning are very good.

Best Video with a Social Message
- Battle Cry ft Sia - Angel Haze
- Hey Brother - Avicii
- Pretty Hurts - Beyonce
- One Voice ft Mikky Ekko - David Guetta
- Crooked Smile - J. Cole
- Dirty Laundry - Kelly Rowland


My Pick: Pretty Hurts
What I love about "Pretty Hurts" is that it shines the light on insecurities and images of "acceptable" beauty in a setting that anyone can understand: a beauty pageant. She shows herself working out, having her body critiqued, purging. There's even one shot of an already very skinny contestant eating a cotton ball to stifle her appetite. Both the song is very compelling, and I love the cinematography of the music video.

Video of the Year
- Drunk In Love ft Jay Z - Beyonce
- Fancy ft Charli XCX - Iggy Azalea
- Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus
- Happy - Pharrell
- Chandelier - Sia


My Pick: Drunk In Love
Beyonce has always been a VMA favorite, so there's no doubt in my mind that she'll take home the moonman for Video of the Year. To quote Kanye West, "Beyonce had the best video of all time!"

MTV Video Music Awards Fashion Spotlight

VMA Style by jasmynewearsthis on polyvore.com

With the VMA's coming up this Sunday, I thought it would be a cool idea to shine a sartorial spotlight on three of my favorite nominees: Sia, Charli XCX, and Lorde.

Sia is a bit of a mystery both in her music and her fashion. She doesn't seem to dress too out there, but she doesn't seem like a big trend follower either. I really like this printed black and white silk/wool shirt dress from Victoria by Victoria Beckham for her because of the silhouette of the girl on it. It makes the dress a bit dramatic, but the black and white keeps it toned down. She'd probably go for a simple boot, like these Pull and Bear ones. Accessories would be minimal, so instead she would opt for this black Alessi watch and white Givenchy clutch; the white of the clutch helping it stand out from the rest of the ensemble. Also, because she prefers to sing with her back to the audience as to not take attention away from the music, a paper bag to put over her head; much like she did for her Billboard magazine cover.

Charli XCX is a wildcard when it comes to fashion. She could, and can, wear anything and it look amazing on her. I can see her pairing this cropped Mickey Mouse sweatshirt from Forever 21 with distressed J Brand boyfriend fit jeans. If she chose to roll the cuffs of the jeans, these peep toe boots from Topshop would be perfect. I think she would be a fan of large circular sunglasses, and a small crossbody bag like this one from Celine would round out the ensemble.

I have no shame in admitting that I have a girl crush on Lorde. She speaks her mind and could not care less whether you agree with her or not. Her style, ever evolving, is what I would describe as dressy, goth, grunge; but this is mostly when she's performing. On an off day, she would probably stick to basic items like this sweatshirt crop top from H & M. She's shown a preference for high waisted pants and rings, so she'd probably love these high waisted jeans from The Ragged Priest and this set of rings from Asos. With footwear, she leans towards chunky heels/soles, but I personally would love to see her with a pair of Vans. When I originally made this set, I was listening to the Tennis Court EP so I added a Chanel tennis racket set and some circular sunglasses from Pretty Green for fun.

I'm thinking I might try to do more posts like this. Thoughts?

Boohoo Lottie Cutout Buckle Boots Review

After lusting after these boots all summer, I decided to buy them. I'm beginning to develop somewhat of an obsession with shoes, and my obsession with these began with the Balenciaga Buckle Strap Ankle Boots. Although those boots came out a few seasons ago, they made a triumphant return to the fashion world in the Boot Craze of Fall/Winter 2013. It just seemed like these boots were featured on every fashion blog and that anyone who's anyone owned a pair. Naturally, I wanted to join in on the leather soled fun, but then a sad truth hit me: the boots were $1,275.00. For a while, I gave up on my Balenciaga boot dream; but then I found these beauties.

Although they aren't exact lookalikes, these boots from Boohoo are just as perfect. They do run wide, so I ordered them in a size seven instead of my normal size eight. Luckily, I ordered them before they went out of stock (there were less than ten pairs left). I'm currently brainstorming different ways to style them, but I think that they're versatile enough to where you can dress them up or down.