30 Minutes and Out The Door

Now that it’s November, Iowan temperatures have been becoming colder by the minute. Each day, it becomes harder and harder to get up, which only leads to a shorter time to get ready in the morning. If you’re like me, you barely have any time to get dressed, eat breakfast, and head out the door. But have no fear; I have easy ways to make your mornings as efficient as possible.

How do you get up in the morning? By an alarm clock? IPhone alarm? Or your parents? Whatever you do, don’t have a snooze button. I know a snooze button can allow you sleep for an extra 10 minutes, but overall, you aren’t getting enough sleep than you could have. If you have set up 5 snooze buttons in 10-minute period, you’re just losing 50 minutes of uninterrupted sleep. I recommend to set you’re alarm clock at the time you usually get up, even if you have to make the most annoying alarm sound to get you to turn it off.

I also recommend washing your face with cold water in the morning. This can instantly wake you up and get you ready for the day. For me, I also use a morning cleanser to get all of the oils out of my face from last night. The one I’m currently using is the Biore Deep Cleansing Charcoal face wash. This cleanser has a fresh, citrus scent to wake you up and cleanses your pores.

For a faster way to get ready, make sure you have your clothes set out the night before. Choosing what to wear in the morning can take a huge chunk of valuable time, trust me I’ve experienced it. If you set out what you want to wear the night before, it will only take you 5 minutes max to put your clothes on.

For hair, I always say to leave it natural. Leaving your hair natural is a great way to not only keep your hair healthy, but also save a ton of time get ready. If you have wavy hair like me, I also recommend to purchasing a sea salt spray to give more texture to your hair. A few spritz of the spray can easily make your hair look like beachy waves instead of “I just got up and went to school.” If you did curl or straighten your hair, I recommend leaving it like that for the next day! Yes, some may say its “gross” to not wash your hair everyday, but it’s actually healthy for you to shampoo your hair every other day. By not washing it everyday, the oils can moisturize your hair more, if you wash it everyday, the shampoo can make your hair very dry. I just use dry shampoo on second day hair to make sure it’s still voluminous and clean.

If I’m in a hurry and I still need to apply makeup, I will only apply the things I feel necessary: foundation, eyebrows, and mascara. By only applying these 3 things, I won’t look like a zombie and it won’t take too much of my time!

Getting ready can be really hard; the last thing I recommend is to play some fun, happy songs to get you going for the day to come. Waking up should be a new, fresh start, not another 24 hours to endure. 

Stage Makeup

The stage is like a second a home to me. Ever since I started dancing when I was 3, I have fallen in love with the feeling of performing. Today, I'm actively performing in show choir, speech, theatre productions, one acts, and pageants, and I love every second of it. Being onstage for so much of my life, I have learned how to my makeup to ensure I not only feel, but also look great onstage!


On a stage, bright stage lights are lit to brighten the stage and the performers. Due to these extremely bright stage lights, a performer can look washed out wearing their day makeup, so they must apply heavy stage makeup. If I'm ever in a theatre production, I use stage foundation as a base to ensure my face won't look washed out. The stage foundation is much more thick and creamy, almost like a concealer as a foundation. By wearing stage foundation, a performer won't look washed out and have an even skin complexion. I also recommend applying a slightly darker foundation shade because the stage lights will make your complexion look whiter than usual.


For blush and bronzer, I recommend to apply a lot more than you're used to. Stage lights can easily whiten your face, so you need brush and bronzer to outline your face shape. Bronzer is especially important because you can completely change your face structure using bronzer. When I apply bronzer or blush for a stage performance, I was have the mind set of, "If you don't look like Kim Kardashian yet, you need more."


For eye shadow, it really just depends on what event you’re performing on stage for. If you’re in a big, flashy musical like “Chicago,” the more eye shadow the better. But if you’re performing a musical like “Spring Awakening,” it’s best you keep the eye shadow at a minimum. On the other hand, I think that anyone who is going to perform on stage needs eyeliner and mascara. Eyeliner and mascara can outline and emphasize the shape of your eye, so you need these makeup items when you’re performing. I also recommend wearing fake lashes, especially if you have short lashes like me, to open your eyes more.


All in all, just be sure to apply more makeup for performances than you usually would for a daytime makeup. You want to look alive in your performance, not dead!

Anne Hathaway: Fashion Review

Anne Hathaway. We all know her as the clumsy princess in “The Princess Diaries,” the sick, heartbroken mother in “Les Miserables,” and, in my favorite movie of all time, the famous Jane Austen in “Becoming Jane.” Not only is Anne Hathaway an amazing actress and has been in many successful movies throughout her career, she also has an amazing fashion sense! I always take fashion inspiration from her because she manages to look classy and sophisticated, while also tying in a modern twist into it as well.

For her street style, you can always see her in a well-put together look, rarely ever seeing her wearing sweatpants of a sweatshirt. She wears a lot of button-up shirts, blazers, fit and flare dresses, and mainly sticks to grey/black/blue color schemes. In the picture below, you can see Anne pairing a fitted white blazer with some jeans making her outfit sophisticated, yet still casual. Her scarf has purple and blue embroidery bringing a pop of color to her neutral attire and the tan/brown sunglasses and bag complement each other. It’s an outfit well fit!

Anne Hathaway’s red carpet style is always show stopping. I love seeing what she wears at every big event in Hollywood. You can always find her in the “Best Dressed” section and not the “Worst Dressed” section in the tabloids.  One of my favorite red carpet dresses she’s worn is a gorgeous sequined champagne gown that has an open back. The dress fit her perfectly and because every part of her body with covered with the champagne sequin cloth, it didn’t look too promiscuous when she had an open back. Anne worn this gown at the Golden Globes and she was truly golden at that red carpet event! Down below are some other dresses she’s worn at red carpet events that I have fallen in love with.

For Anne’s hair and makeup, you can always see she her in a simple, classic look. Anne rocks a chic pixie cut which makes it very simple for her to style her hair. Though she needed to cut her long hair for “Les Miserables” into a pixie cut style, I think she look lovely in a shorter length cut. Her hair frames her face perfectly and elongates her neck! For makeup, she always in natural look with defined eyeliner and on occasion, a red lip. She never goes too overboard with her makeup, not eve on the red carpet. Anne always looks very natural and fresh!

I not only look up to Anne Hathaway as an actress, but also as a fashion icon! She shows that Hollywood celebrities don’t go crazy with fashion, but can keep it classy and chic.

October Monthly Favorites

If you haven't noticed from my previous posts, I love watching beauty and fashion Youtube videos. One of my favorite kinds of videos are monthly favorites videos. In these videos, the Youtubers review their favorite makeup, hair, and fashion products they've used in the past month. I've decided to create a monthly favorites blog post on my blog to review some products that I have really enjoyed using this past month!

My first product I've loved using is my Cover Girl Clump crusher mascara. This mascara can seriously make you look like you've put on fake lashes on! The brush on the mascara has fine, small bristles that make sure every lash can have product on it. Since my lashes aren't very long, I like to use dry consistency mascara. The Clump Crusher is the perfect consistency, not too dry that I can’t apply mascara on and not too wet that all my lashes clump together.  

My next favorite product is the Victoria Secret body spray “Bombshell.” I have been using this body spray everyday! The smell of “Bombshell” isn’t too sweet like you’re inhaling cupcakes and its not too floral where you feel like you’re in the middle of a flower garden. It’s the perfect in between. It has a hint of floral and sweetness, while also giving off a fresh citrus smell that makes you feel refreshed and clean.

My next favorite product is a clothing item. There are my knitted scarves and hats. Since fall is in full swing and winter is just around the corner, I have began to knit more scarves to make sure I’ll be warm this season. I love wearing all my scarves because they’re not only one of kind, but they can keep me warm in the cold Iowa weather! My previous post explains why knitting is a great hobby to take up and the many different kinds of scarves and hats you can make!

My final favorite product is a Too Face bronzer called “Chocolate Soleil” in the color chocolate. This is an amazing bronzer for the winter season. I love using a matte bronzer in the fall and winter months and this product is the perfect matte bronzer. It has great pigmentation and can blend very well. Plus, it even smells like chocolate!! The only downside to this product is that it doesn’t stay on as well as some of my other bronzers so I have to reapply.

I hope you like my first October Monthly Favorites posts, until next month!

Knitting 101

Last year, I began doing something I never thought I would do until I was at least 60 years old. I started to learn how to knit. Yes, you read correctly, a 16 year old in high school decides to take up the hobby of knitting not because she was forced to, but because she wanted to. I saw some of my friends begin to knit and I thought, why not? Since fall is now in full swing and winter is just around the corner, I have began to knit again to have some new, warm clothing items for the new season.

 You can create so many different kinds of scarves, gloves, hats, headbands, and even sweaters from knitting. You're able to choose what kind of yarn you want to use, the size of needle you are using, and what accessory item you want to create! Knitting really allows you to make something that is unique to your fashion style. There are so many different colors and textures of yarn that works for every kind of scarf you want to make. I personally like using really big needles and a thick, soft yarn to knit a looser scarf, that's still warm to wear.

Knitting also is a great stress reliever. Whenever I'm too overwhelmed with everything going on in my life, I like to take a step back and start knitting. Doing the same repetitive movement in knitting is almost like meditating. I can just focusing doing those same movements and all the other worries I have disappeared. I also love knitting when I'm watching a movie or a TV show. If you're like me, you always need something to do with your hands, especially when you're watching TV. This usually ends up with me eating a whole bowl of popcorn without me even knowing! Knitting while I'm watching TV can allow me to do something with my hands and not gain 15 pounds!

Big, knitted scarves, hats, and headbands are all the crave in the fall/winter fashion trends. Knitting these scarves and hats can help you save money on the expensive store brand scarves and hats. Buying a $8 roll of yarn allows you to knit at least 2 scarves, if you go out and buy a knitted scarf, it should cost around $15-$20!

Knitting can be a great stress reliever and can create some beautiful winter items for your closet. If you have nothing to do one night, start learning how to knit! It's a lot more fun than you think, I promise!