Getting Summer Ready: With Influensters Spark VoxBox

I love experimenting with my hair, skin and makeup during the summer. I think taking a couple of months during summer to discover new techniques and routines is a perfect way to add new tricks to your beauty routine.

Just in time, I received a complimentary VoxBox from Influenster! This is actually the third beauty box I have received from Influenster but because of graduate school, I hardly had any time to review some of the products I was sent. I’m so happy I finally get to talk about how I’m using these products with you!

Pure Silk Contour 6 Razor System

Firstly, because it’s summer and my legs are out every 5 seconds, a shave is an absolute must. Granted, I’m not a really hairy person but I love a smooth shave and a good razor. This razor was pretty fun to use because it has dual moisture bars at each end of the head. This means that I didn’t need to use a shaving cream because it moisturizes the skin as I shaved and avoided any nicks or cuts. It was really convenient to use and I just loved how cute the pink packaging was!

Live Clean Coconut Milk Lotion

 

Once I’ve gotten a clean shave, I pop on my Live Clean coconut milk moisturizing lotion. It’s a light weight body cream that hydrates and restores the moisture balance to dry skin. This is perfect for me because I’m obsessed with body lotion. My skin gets dry really quickly after a shower/shave so I always need a moisturizer.

That being said, I think the hallmark of a good body lotion is being able to moisturize the skin without being too oily or greasy. This lotion is all of that! It also does not have any overpowering scent and it lasts long. It has also become my new leg lotion to pop on before heading out of the house.

Swisspers 100% Cotton Makeup Removal Wipes

Lets face it: it’s sweltering hot in summer and because of this, I usually need to take off my slimy makeup at the end of the day. I usually look like melted chocolate by this time. LOl.  I’ve been using Swisspers 100% cotton makeup removal wipes to take off my makeup. These wipes are very soft and they remove my foundation and eye makeup nicely. But they’re unfortunately no match for my waterproof mascara! However I don’t mind since I’d usually shower in a few hours!

Pantene Daily Moisture Renewal Foam Conditioner

 

This conditioner is possibly the least favourite product I was sent by Influenster. Not because it doesn’t work, but because I have no use for this conditioner on my “actual” hair at the moment. I am in the process of getting dreadlocks on my natural hair and I am supposed to be avoiding conditioners at this time. Because of this, I can’t use conditioners. This makes me slightly sad because this conditioner smells heavenly. But overall I’m just happy to not be using too products on my hair at the moment!

There is still use for this product though, I own an unhealthy amount of human hair wigs  so they definitely need conditioning lol. The conditioner is really light weight and is meant to be used in the shower and rinsed off. It’s a mouse like consistency and it conditions fine-hair without weighing it down!

That’s it for the Influenster Spark Voxbox products! Have you tried any of these products? Whats your summer go to beauty product?

 

 

 

The Introverts Guide To Having A Social Life

Most people I meet in real life seem to be shocked that I am an introvert. I think it’s because introversion is mostly confused for being shy, or socially awkward. I’m neither of those, I just get drained and over-stimulated in social situations. This has been a source of some social anxiety for me because on one hand, I love connecting with people but on the other hand, I just want to sit and chill in my room alone all day.

I think another thing that most introverts can attest to is how much they detest small talk. I’d rather stand in a room in front of 20 people and give a speech than make small talk, thinking about this makes me less nervous than sitting face to face with someone new. I think I’m more anxious of a personal interaction than public speaking, but this anxiety may be only peculiar to me.

However, small talk is a struggle sometimes. I usually just want to go about my day not speaking to anyone but someone bursts my little introvert bubble then I have to derive the mental strength to think of something to say. It sounds dramatic, but it happens often, especially after I have been in a social situation for more than a day. So without further ado, here’s my introverts guide to having a social life, from an introvert, me!

Don’t Sweat The Small Talk…

One thing I would say about becoming more social is to not be afraid or annoyed by small talk. It’s a basic nuance of life. It’s also not really important so it’s not something that much emphasis should be placed on. When I don’t have the mental capacity to make small talk I just smile, or laugh and nod.

It’s Okay To Blend In….

It’s okay to blend in the background of a conversation. Especially in a group setting. I understand the pressure of trying to not seem quiet when there are 10 + people screaming over each other. Introverts often want to pretend like they are extroverted in a social setting. This makes you put up an act that can drain you mentally very quickly.

I always appreciate the fellow introvert in the group who only speaks once or twice within a 5 minute period and just listens to everyone talk. Observing other people can be so much fun (and eye-opening), especially since we are very introspective people. There are things I would have never noticed about people if I was talking the whole time.

Listen And Observe, Our Most Powerful Quality

Listening to other people and asking questions is our most powerful tool. I’m usually relieved when people tell a story to me because it takes off the pressure for me to say or think of something. I also enjoy stories because they draw you nearer to the person you’re speaking to. This makes me feel closer to them and much more comfortable. People generally love to talk about themselves so this makes it easier to take the pressure off you!

It’s Okay To Be Uncomfortable…

Strive to get out of your comfort zone. This is different for everyone so I can’t give hard figures and advice. For me, my comfort zone is sitting at home week in, week out reading a book. Leaving my comfort zone means going out and meeting new people. Because of this, I started following a rule of saying yes to almost anything I was invited to.

It’s okay to be uncomfortable and anxious in social situations. Those nerves are irrational when I really think about it. But they’re there regardless. What are you really afraid of? Embarrassment? You’ll choke up and have nothing to say? Awkward silence?

And when all of that happens. So what? But did you die? LOL in fact you’d find that it was a learning experience. My most awkward and draining experience as an introvert was when I went to a party where I knew absolutely no one. For the life of me I could not mesh with this crowd. Trying to make conversation became tiring very quickly. I just picked up my self and went home calmly. What I learnt from that experience is that my interests do not jive with every crowd, and that is okay.

It’s okay to be uncomfortable, but if you are consistently dreading the thought of hanging out with people you meet often, it may be less of introversion and more of social anxiety. It can also mean that you just don’t like the people you hang around so much. I’m not a big lover of massive, crowded events and parties. This is something I do very rarely. I love travelling, eating out and museums, so if someone consistently invites me to places I don’t want to hang out in, I’d know that our interests at a basic level do not match.

Final Thoughts….

It’s okay to say no. You’re not the life of the party and that’s okay. You’re the sit in the corner kinda girl. The only have two friends kinda person. The only person in your friend group that legitimately looks forward to doing nothing on a Saturday night. Prefer to text than call. Just an all round cute little, introverted potato.

I guess this whole post is just trying to say that you should embrace the introverted side of you. It’s what makes you unique! You don’t have to fundamentally change your personality, you just have to exit your comfort zone more often.

Thanks for reading! How do you balance a social life as an introvert?

Graduate School: A Semester In Review

I think I should skip a long winded excuse and give a perfectly good reason for my hiatus; Graduate school has been kicking my butt! It really hurt me to not blog consistently but I could not give a hundred percent to both blogging and school. One had to suffer. In this instance, it was the blog. But I’m so glad to be back!

I started graduate school in January after a looong gap year. The gap year was fun (and very much needed) but I was excited to go back to university and study again.

A Steep Learning Curve…

Right off the bat I knew my degree would be challenging. My Masters is completely different from my Bachelors degree because it requires more Math knowledge than Biology (which is not my strong suit).

In my Bachelors degree, I studied cells and peered down microscopes. But in my Masters, I’m staring at codes and computer screens. I’m really lucky my program required no formal college background in computer science, but there was a learning curve at first. Learning programming languages is challenging, but so rewarding and fun in the end.

I’m Married To Coffee

Before graduate school, I was a very casual coffee drinker. By casual I mean a Frappuccino at Starbucks once in 2 months. Now I guzzle down record amounts of expressos every few days. My coffee relationship started because all my classes are taken at night (7-10pm), which is a huge adjustment for me. However I fancy myself sort of a night owl now!

Grades Don’t Really Matter….Or Do They?

They never really did, but this is more emphasized in graduate school. As long as you’re not flat-out failing and you understand the basics of the program, you’re in the clear. However, the failing grade is B-, below a 3.0 gpa which is a HUGE oxymoron. They say that it’s more about what you know, than cramming and getting A’s, but your grades must still reflect your knowledge. But the perfectionist in me is still irrationally obsessed with grades and if I don’t get an A or A-, I’m usually not happy. So thanks, but no thanks. LOL

Moving To America

I have been visiting the U.S for over a decade now, but studying and living in the U.S is a different beast of its own. It was not so difficult moving to the U.S so much so as it was moving to a new place where I knew no one and had no family nearby.

There are things that I’d usually brush off for my brother or father to do for me, especially the stereotypical “manly man” jobs. But this time I had to do everything myself because I was on my own. It was a fun experience to be much more independent but I’d rather not do that again. Lmao

So here’s to next semester! AND PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LET THERE BE NO MORE GROUP PROJECTS OR THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Jk, not really, okay bye.

I Don’t Know What To Blog About Now….

That being said, I missed you all! I’m going to have to slyly infiltrate the blogging community again because no one will remember who I am at this point. I’ve also been gone so long that I don’t know what to blog about any more. I need a fresh dose of inspiration. Suggestions?

Do you have any questions about graduate school? I would love to answer them. Please comment below!

What Does Love Mean To Me?

Love is such a strong and peculiar emotion that is very interesting to me. I have never been “In love” but I have loved and experienced the love of other people.

In the spirit of Valentines day. I thought I should revive one of my short, rambling posts and publish it since it’s so fitting for the season! What does love mean to you?

Here is my understanding of love. Love to me is like a sacred, safe place. It’s knowing that I will be always be a part of you, no matter what. I will always have that person to turn to. They are not afraid to tell me the truth, chastise me, and they always do things with my best interests at heart. They always want the best for me and consider you at every step of the way.

Love can mean being vulnerable…

Love can mean being vulnerable. There is that element of trusting someone with your innermost feelings and insecurities in the hopes that they will comfort you, accept you or understand you. It’s scary and liberating at the same time. I used to be afraid of being vulnerable with someone, but I strongly believe you can never experience great love without being vulnerable.

I cannot put conditions on the people I love…

Love isn’t selfish or self-serving. I cannot put conditions on the people I love. Meaning that if they don’t do XYZ I will decide to take my love away and stop loving them. I may be disappointed, sad or hurt but I will still love the person.

Love is being able to trust that person with your life. I can’t imagine anyone I love having bad plans or hoping something bad happens to me. I always hope for the best for the people I love and I genuinely want them to progress in life. No jealousy!

Love to me means forgiveness. This is huge, but I think a great hallmark of love is the ability to forgive. First things first, people are irritating as hell, lol.  Someone is always going to do something that will annoy you. And you can place your trust in people,  but they’ll eventually disappoint you. I can’t hold their mistakes against them and this means forgiving and forgetting. Love is not perfect!

Romantic love is peculiar to me seeing as how I’ve never experienced it. I’ve never been at that height of emotion with any one, but I personally think it is a beautiful thing for two people to care so deeply for one another. Even more so when they decide to tie the knot!
I don’t consider myself to be a very romantic person. I’m pretty simplistic in my views when in comes to love. I don’t believe in the concept of a “soul mate” or “prince charming”.  I am definitely open to idea of falling in love but the thought of falling deeply in love with someone is completely unfathomable at this point.

I just wonder how the transition from “boy I think is cute” to “I want to spend the rest of my life with you” happens? I just don’t understand it yet. I hate people too much for that. Lmao

How did you celebrate valentines day? I went to class, stayed at home and watched One Punch Man! Very uneventful for the occasion, but also relaxing!

Anndd how did you know you were in love?

What does love mean to you?

What To Do When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed With Blogging

I’m pacing up and down in my living room, phone in hand, thinking of how I’m going to complete a post about how to stop feeling overwhelmed with blogging when I’m encountering those feelings myself. Haha I’ve been overwhelmed with blogging so many times but I’ve always managed to come out alive and kicking!

Finding the motivation to write, publish and promote posts can be difficult for some bloggers. Blogging can be hard sometimes. And trust me, I totally understand how difficult it is to keep up with writing posts, sharing them, promoting and engaging with your community. It can easily turn into a full-time job.

Overwhelmed with blogging….

I usually overwhelmed when I have a mountain of tasks I need to complete. I wake up some mornings dreading all my Pinterest pins, blogging posts and Instagram pictures I have to keep up with. Then instead of actually doing it, I shut down and do nothing at all.

Once I have a long to-do list I begin to prioritize what is really important and that can leave my blogging as a second priority (I know).

I often shut down because I ask myself “why is this causing so much anxiety for me? Is it even that serious”. The answer to me is no, nothing is never that serious. Which results in me pushing all my blogging duties aside.

It can also be extremely demoralizing when you are pushing out posts and you’re not getting the engagement you want or you are working for. It’s in those times that it is most tempting to ask yourself if you should to quit or keep going?

And sometimes…it’s just not fun. That’s the one thing I dread the most. I never want to get to a point in my blog where I feel like writing is a chore. I always want it to be fun and something I look forward to.

Ask yourself what is really important.

What is really important? Blogging to me is important but at this time in my life is it really important to cause more anxiety than my education? Or my health? No it’s not.

I’ve always gotten some form of anxiety/FOMO from social media so I always aggressively take action when I feel it creeping up again. I try to re-center my thoughts and focus on what is really important. Doing this removes those feelings of anxiety.

Only do the bare minimum and what is necessary

You’re not super woman. It’s okay to not be able to do 1000 things at once. Try to focus on one thing and do that well. Last week, I didn’t want to read any posts or pin on Pinterest. I guess you could say I took a break because I didn’t have the mental energy to do blogging stuff. I just wanted to binge watch Stranger things 2. LOL

All I did was like a few pictures on my Instagram. It really took the pressure off for a while and now I’m ready to go back in full force!

Always try to automate things that can be automated. Automate your Pinterest with Tailwind. You could even automate your Instagram. At the moment, I don’t do either because I don’t want to spend that money yet. But once I do, it will definitely ease the pressure of keeping up with blogging for me! I highly recommend it.

Force yourself to write, Even if you don’t feel like it.

When I don’t feel like writing, I write. Even if it’s the shittiest thing I’ve ever written in my life I’ll keep typing and finish the post. I can then later go back and edit it. Which usually turns out to be a really good post!

You don’t have to be completely inspired each time you write a post. I highly doubt that even the greatest writers were inspired each time they put the ink on paper. So write away!

Don’t get hung up on numbers

It’s fun when you’re growing in numbers but very discouraging when you are not gaining followers or even losing them! My fellow blogger friends often complain about losing followers so I can empathise with them over this situation.

Never compromise yourself for a few followers or likes. It soooo exhausting and burns you out faster than you can imagine. I know numbers are all the rage right now in the blogging world but I believe we are shifting towards an engagement-centric community soon. It doesn’t matter, as long as your 50, 100 or 1000 followers are engaged that is amazing in itself.

Your blog, your rules

It’s your blog and you make the rules. When I had 15 followers and now I have 2400, I always had an audience that genuinely enjoyed my content. I listened to them but I always blogged about what truly interested me. I made the rules as I saw fit and because of this, it’s more difficult for me to be overwhelmed with blogging.

At the end of the day, do what makes you happy with your blog and if something is making you feel unpleasant, scrap it! It takes the edge off knowing you are completely in control of your blogging outcome…

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I hope I’ve helped you with some ways to get over those overwhelming feelings over your blog.

I would love to know if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed with blogging?

What methods do you use to ease that pressure?