M-L's January Favourites of 2016

          Hello everyone!

It's the end of January, the first month of 2016... Now is a good opportunity to write a favourites post since it's the end of month! I have been liking some pretty neat stuff these past few weeks so I'm excited to share with you guys what they are.

This dry shampoo is pretty popular, it's the batiste dry shampoo. Just like any dry shampoo, it's supposed to make your hair appear cleaner by absorbing all the excess oils, making it nice and clean. A lot of the times formulas in dry shampoo make your hair sticky, or it leaves a white powder in your hair and white powder in my hair will not look pretty because my hair is dark. But this doesn't do that! It feels odd, because it feels like it's doing a good job, but yet it doesn't look like it until you really rub it in. At first the smell seemed weird to me, it didn't smell nice, you know, like an artificial sweet or fruity smell. But it did smell clean and fresh, which I didn't mind. I got used to the scent, and this is probably my favourite dry shampoo to use now. 

This is a face scrub, and it's Sukin's Revitalizing Facial Scrub. I'm not all that too familiar with the brand, but it's from Australia, ooh. I really like this face scrub! It's really gentle for a face scrub, like you could use this everyday. What I like most about it is that it really doesn't dry out your skin. Your skin feels a lot more softer and actually, it feels hydrated. The exfoliating granules are from bamboo and ground walnut which is pretty awesome. There is also aloe, chamomile, jojoba and rose hip oil which is always great. The scrub smells super good as well! It has such a raw, natural scent to it and it just feels so nice.

I actually got these earrings as an unexpected Christmas gift! I don't have a lot of... are they called hook earrings? Well I don't have that many of those kinds of earrings, I have studs. I actually have earrings similar to these, except they're studs and they don't have that metallic rim around the flower (basically I have the flower as a stud). But these are really nice! I am hooked on them (pun intended, get it?). It's actually something of my style. I like how I can wear really casual clothes and put these on and it won't put on like, a big show. It gives off a really sweet, soft vibe, but with the metallic rim around the rose it actually kind of off sets it with being casual. 

I've started writing in a new journal and I am loving it!! Actually the pen and journal were Christmas gifts as well which is really nice, because I love writing, especially in journals. The journal is so pretty! The colours are neutral, but just the words in gold and the black polka dots tie it all up into a nice ribbon. The pen itself writes well! It glides really smoothly and the design is SO pretty!! I love the blue. They don't look flashy which is what I really like, even with the accents. The designs are so simple and... dainty? oh I just love it.  

There are fruit gummies, and then there are Welch's. THEY ARE SO GOOD OH MY GOODNESS. I used to be obsessed with these fruit snacks when I was younger, especially the dark coloured one, was that blueberry or grape? I still don't know! But now I'm getting back to being obsessed with these. They're so delicious! No one is ever too old for these kinds of snacks, amiright??!!

I've always loved Ferrero Rochers. And around the holidays, these little balls of deliciousness become more popular, because of how elegant they look for its price, which is not that expensive. I really had to cut back on eating a lot of these, but there were so good!! Haha, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if they sell these year round, I've never noticed! It was always around the holiday season that I knew "Oh Ferrero Rochers will be out on display!", but hmm... does anyone know if they sell Ferrero Rochers 365 days a year?

I bought this during boxing day and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. It's an Abercrombie and Fitch shirt but I got this at Winners. It's a simple navy t-shirt, but I don't know, something about it makes me love it so much! Maybe it's the buttons, or the silver lining along the neck line, or that the bottom hem isn't straight, but like a scoop, or that the length of the sleeves are not too short nor too long, but it's probably my new favourite t-shirt now! The fabric is soft too, and oh it's just... love it, LOVE IT. 

I also got this shirt on boxing day at Winners! I didn't think I would pull this shirt off but actually I really like it! It's a sweet and girly piece of clothing, it's really nice. It's uh... a really long shirt that's really flowy, like a dress. I won't call it a dress though because it's too short to be one. I wear these with black leggings. The colour is kind of hard to tell. It's like, a light purple grey. It's actually a pretty colour. The sleeves are at a nice length! They're like, about 3/4 length which is what I really like. The only thing I don't like about the shirt is the neck line... it's a little too low for me, and because of how light the fabric is, it tends to move a lot... But other than that, this is now one of my favourite shirts ever!

So these were my favourites of the month of January! Wow, I can't believe another month has gone by. I'm hoping to write more favourites posts, but I have some ideas planned out for the blog which I'm hoping to get to in time. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed reading this post! Until next time folks.

Keep Smiling,

M-L

A Blast of Books #2

          Hello everyone! How are you all?

I figured, might as well read more books this new year! So I was looking through my bookcase, looking at some books. I bought new and second hand books a while back ago, and I haven't read them yet, or haven't finished them yet. It's been a while since I've shown y'all a blast of books, so today I am coming at you with one!

Okay, I'll admit... I bought this book over the summer. I haven't finished it yet... This is a French book, called Je ne sais plus pourquoi je t'aime, by Gabrielle Zevin. I'm starting to lose my French, so I bought this book online, in hopes that it will help keep my French fresh and all. This story is about a teenage girl who loses her memory from the moment she was twelve and older, after falling off the stairs. So, basically she recalls everything that happened before she was twelve, but after that, poof. All gone. I haven't finished this yet, haha. It's been a while since I've read a French book like this, so I'm taking it nice and slow. Also, I've been reading other books heheh.

 

This is another French book called Le ciel est partout, by Jandy Nelson. This book is originally in English, but it was translated in French by... Nathalie Peronny..? I got this book online, the same time I bought Je ne sais plus pourquoi je t'aime, but I haven't finished yet. I haven't even started it yet!! To be honest I'm not even sure what this is about. I think it's about a love story, and coming of age... I will read this though, I didn't buy it for nothing haha!

 

This book is I Swear, by Lane Davis. As you guys know, I'm trying to branch out to different types of books. This book is about bullying and suicide, which is surprising for me to read. I'm not into really deep, emotional books, I guess it depends though. But haha to be honest, I bought this book because it was on sale at my local bookstore (originally $20, but I bought it for $2!!). It seemed interesting because the synopsis sounded like it held like, a mystery vibe. I wanted to give it a try. I actually really liked it! So the book has points of views from... at least five people? And it revolves around the suicide of this girl that the five (ish?) people used to know. They all had some kind of relationship with the girl who committed suicide. And I guess, the story is about how those people are connected to her, whose name is Leslie by the way. It's really good, I spent like a whole afternoon reading it even though I was supposed to do homework and chores! 

 

I really didn't think I'd like a book like this, but actually this book was pretty good! It's an old book called Pretty Little Devils by Nancy Holder, that was published in like, 2006. Oh my goodness, it was published A DECADE AGO. But if I didn't read the time it was published, I would've assumed that it was at least 2010. And I noticed, teenagers have not changed at all! At least teenagers in books heheh. Technology is changing, but teenagers are still... teenagers. This book is about this clique called the Pretty Little Devils, or PLDs for short. They're very popular, and this girl Hazel, is starting to get noticed and liked by the clique, so much that she gets invited to join the group. And... then it really starts getting into a roller coaster ride! There are deaths and secrets and backstabbing and oh my gosh. I'll admit it, a lot of parts in the story made me like, cringe because it's such a cliche, or unrealistic. But, it was good. If you want to read a mystery/thriller/YA novel, check this one out. 

This was a fast read, it is Pretenders by Lisi Harrison. It's a book about the Phoenix Five, the five most popular kids in school? Or not necessarily the most popular, but they're the most successful/best students in the school we'll say. It's from the point of view of the five students, but it's what they wrote in their journals. It was really cool because you knew them, in a way, because of the way they write. The characters were all very different and had their own personalities and you could clearly see it in their writing. What I also like about the book is that the characters are connected, and they write about each other in their journal entries. I'm pretty sure there's a second book to this, one because the way this one ended is not a good ending, and two because I searched it up haha. I'm hoping to read the second book but I haven't found it yet...

 

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEH! NOW THIS BOOK IS MY KIND OF BOOK. This is the Complete Sherlock Holmes book aaaaaaaaaah! It has everything that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote for Sherlock Holmes, every story. This was originally pretty expensive, I think mainly because of the size (it's like, at least 4-5+ centimetres) but I managed to get it for half the price!! ... okay. I haven't finished it yet, barely made it through at least a quarter, but I'm trying out this reading/comprehension technique. I really want to indulge in every chapter there is and understand what I'm reading and write down questions I have for every chapter I finished. So that's why I'm taking my time reading this. But aaaaaaaaaah!!!!! I AM LOVING THIS. 

 

I have been eyeing this book for so long! This is White Space by Ilsa J. Bick. The author has also written The Ashes Trilogy, which I have and love. That's why I was thinking of buying this book, because the author is amazing. AND LOOK AT THE COVER THOUGH. It is so beautiful and magnificent. It's a pretty big book too, not as big as Sherlock Holmes, but, it's a thick one. So... I started reading this, however... it's so confusing to understand! I know that Ilsa J. Bick does not tell the story but show the story, but she does it in a way that you have to think about what is actually going on. You have to concentrate hard on the sentences. That's what I really liked about The Ashes Trilogy. But this novel is on a whole new level! I know the story is about this girl who can "jump" into stories and supposedly it's like, Inception and the Matrix and Inkheart and all that jazz...  here is a link to this book on Goodreads, heheh. 

SO! Wow, even though I didn't have this many books this time, I feel like I wrote a lot for each of them. I really hope this got you motivated to READ MORE!! Stories are amazing. Here is a quote I found and really liked:

and this!

because I'm sure you can all relate to this post, especially you guys my book lovers!!

So yes, I will definitely stop here now haha! Until next time my fellow book lovers.

Keep Smiling,

M-L

My Music Playlist #7

          Oh my gosh! It's been so long since I've put up a post on the blog!! I've missed it, and you guys so much!

Ooh, already the seventh music playlist here on the blog! I have some songs I've been loving a lot and that I want to share with you!


1. I've been really loving BTS, a kpop boy group, these past few months. They had an album back in April, I think? Somewhere around that time or something... It's called The Mood for Love. I love the entire album, so I just have to put the whole thing here. BTS's style is like, I really can't explain it. I want to say edgy, not polished-ish, it's powerful...? I feel like you'll understand it better if you listen to it.

BTS - The Mood for Love

Aaaaand, their newest album The Mood for Love Pt. 2 is also amazing! It's so powerful and wow... And again, you have to listen to it, just do it.

BTS - The Mood for Love Pt.2

2. Hello - Adele: Omg, this song though! It has been my jam ever since I first heard it. It sounds so powerful and I just like, feel so compelled to belt out every word of that song!! I'm pretty sure y'all have already heard this song, but if you haven't, YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO IT. I'm telling you, that music video has more than 900 million views for a reason.

Adele - Hello

3. Love Yourself - Justin Bieber: To be honest, I didn't think I'd like Justin Bieber's newest songs this much, but they are really catchy haha. This song was actually recommended to me by a friend, and I'd thought I'd check it out. And I really like it! It has a really nice and slow tempo, it's actually like, a pretty mellow song!

Love Yourself - Justin Bieber

4. Better When I'm Dancing - Meghan Trainor: I haven't watched The Peanuts movie, but I heard this song and I immediately fell in love with it!! It's such an upbeat song without having the tempo be so... like, super crazy, do you know what I mean? I could definitely see this song as sort of pick-me-up/motivational song. I just absolutely love it!

Better When I'm Dancing - Meghan Trainor


So these were some songs I've been loving recently!

I'll try to put up more posts in the future, but this is what I have for now! I hope you enjoyed this post, and I especially hope you check out these songs if you haven't yet!

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Happy New Year 2016!

          HAPPY NEW YEAR! Oh my goodness, it's finally 2016. IT'S 2016. I don't know whether to be happy that a new year has come and that it's a perfect opportunity for new beginnings, or to be sad that another year has gone by and the world keeps spinning and time is flying by too fast to enjoy everything. Like, wow. 2016 y'all.

It's actually been awhile since I've written a post here. But since this is the first post of 2016, I don't know, I wanted it to be more of a like, chat, than anything else, you know? The thing is though, haha, I don't really know what to write about!

I hope everyone is happy and healthy, and that you're all surrounded with the people you love.

Do you guys have New Year resolutions for 2016? I need to think of mine, I haven't gotten to it yet. I feel very motivated to get it started though!

So, how did 2015 treat you? Good, bad, eh, don't know? For me, I'll say it was a good year. I mean, it sure was a roller coaster ride! But it's life, isn't it.

I've been asking some of my friends what their favourite thing was from 2015, and what they're looking forward to in 2016. Yes I know it's a really general question, but I just wanted to see how they would respond. Their responses were really insightful, it was cool! And then they would go "how about you?" and I'd be like UHHHHHH. I don't even know how to answer a question I asked!

So I've been thinking a little. In general, my favourite thing from 2015 was being able to be happy, or at least try to. I don't know, I found it satisfying that even throughout some hardships, I'd be able to at least try to smile. What I'm looking forward to in 2016? Lots of stuff!! I guess in a nutshell, I'm looking forward to being even more happy. For me, happiness is being successful, like getting good grades, and being a more responsible, independent person. It's being able to sort out my priorities so I'm not stressed or anything. And, it's just being with the special people in my life. And, yeah!

I'll stop here before I get too into it, and this post gets long.

Before I go, I want to ask you. What was your favourite thing from 2015? and What are you looking forward to in 2016? Feel free to leave an answer in the comment section, I'll be glad to read it =).

I hope 2016 will treat us all well!! May 2016 be an unforgettable year filled with positivity and joy. I wish you all a happy new year!!! =)

Keep Smiling,
M-L