The Sunshine Award

The wonderful Amy, over at Small Budget Beauty has nominated me for The Sunshine Award! I'm so excited and thankful for it, so thank you very much Amy! You're awesome :)

 
So what is the Sunshine Award? It's an award given to those who inspire us and bring sunshine into our lives. That's pretty cool!

There are a few rules as well:
- Include the award logo in your blog post
- Link to the person who nominated you
- Answer 10 questions about yourself
- Nominate other bloggers

Here are the 10 questions from Amy!

1. What is your favorite time of the year? 
This is a tough question because I pretty much love all seasons and whatnot, but I love the month of December because it's Christmas time, and my birthday! 

2. What do you like most about blogging?
I like that I get to have the creative freedom of writing about what I love. Even when life gets busy, I still love sitting down and writing up a post!

3. Do you match your toe nail color to your finger nail color?
Gotta be honest, I haven't painted my toenails in years! Sad, I know but I can't be bothered with it. I barely paint my fingernails

4. What is your favorite quote?
I'm going with Amy's and that is "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." We need to have more people in this world follow this quote

5. Do you save old greeting cards and letters, or throw them away?
I used to save old birthday cards and some Christmas cards, but I don't know what happened to them. I don't remember taking them with me when I moved out of my parent's house, so they could've gotten thrown out

6. What is something about yourself that you hope will change, but probably never will?
This question is kinda deep man! Wow. Honestly, probably me wanting to better my life. I think in my head so much that eventually I'll have a better job that I love, I'll live in a nice house and drive a nice car and live comfortably. I just don't have the drive most times to make all that I want to happen, actually happen. Most of what I want is pretty unattainable anyways, but hey, I guess I can still dream

7. What is one of the scariest things you've ever done?
Get married? Lol, just kidding! Sorta. Probably actually going on my first date with my husband. I don't know if I've mentioned on here before, but my husband is my first boyfriend, first kiss, first everything really. It was pretty scary! I never ever in my life thought that when people told me, when you meet the right person you'll know, that they were right! I know this might not seem scary to most people, but for me it was!

8. If you could try out any job for a day, what would you like to try?
Hmmmm, I think being an actress seems like it would be challenging and fun. Little fact about me, when I was younger I wanted to be an actress! My parents have this picture of me standing on steps at our old, old house and I have this dress on with star shaped sunglasses and a little purse pretending to be a movie star. It's such a funny picture

9. Have you ever met any celebrities?
Technically, no. When I was at Cruefest one year, I was sitting right next to the sound area, and when Sixx:AM started playing, Kat Von D showed up there along with Bam Margera and his then wife. After Sixx:AM was finished and Motley Crue went on, James Michael and DJ Ashba from Sixx:AM were literally standing about 5 feet away from me! I was too stunned to do anything, so I didn't say hi or take any pictures :(

10. If you had an unlimited shopping spree at one store, which store would it be? 
Oh man, this is tough! If you gave me categories like makeup, clothing or shoes it would be different. If it was makeup, definitely Sephora. For clothing, it's tougher because I haven't really bought myself new clothes in a really long time. Maybe for one-stop shopping, I'll say Target, because I can get makeup there (even though Sephora is way better!), clothes, shoes, there's even a grocery section in mine (not sure if every Target has a grocery section)

This was so fun to do! Thanks again to Amy for nominating me! Now onto who I nominate:

1. Natalie Loves Beauty
2. BeautyqueenUK
3. Blushing Antics
4. Kate Spitz

I really like the questions I was asked, so I'm asking the same questions to my nominees above! :)

The Versatile Blogger Award!

Kimberley over at Happy Pretty Blog nominated me for The Versatile Blogger Award back in January and I'm just now getting to post it! Thanks so much for nominating me Kim!

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award (of course).

2. Include a link to their blog.

3. Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve discovered recently or follow regularly.

4. Nominate those 15 bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award (include a link back to your post!)

5. Finally tell the people you nominated (&other blog readers) 7 things about yourself

7 Things About Me! 

1. When I was younger, I hated makeup! Seriously, I couldn't stand the look of it or anything, but now I love it!
2. I'm coming up on my 3 year anniversary where I work. 
3. My fiance and I recently set our wedding date (finally!) to September 14th of this year! So exciting!
4. I've been engaged for over a year and a half now, which is why I'm excited we finally set our date lol
5. I may be 24, but I still love Pokemon games as much as when I was younger. Seriously, the one I have for the Nintendo DS is so much fun! (I know, I'm a massive nerd)
6. The spending ban I put myself on January 1st is killing me, but I've been doing so well so far!
7. I can't wait til April 1st, which is when my spending ban is over and I can start buying makeup and skin stuff again! Yay!

Now I'm gonna cheat on this part (sorry!) because I read so many amazing blogs and I have some lovely followers, so I want anyone who wants to do this little tag to do it! These things are so fun and it really helps getting to know someone! 

Talk to everyone later!
-Katy

Liebster Award! I was Nominated Again :)

 

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to be nominated again for the Liebster Award! This time, I was nominated by Jenny over at IBDFM. Thanks Jenny! She's another beauty blogger like me, so definitely check out her page!

Anyways, if you don't know what the Liebster Award is, it's an award given to new and upcoming bloggers with less than 200 followers in recognition of their work. There are some rules I have to follow as well for being nominated so here they are!

1. The nominees must link back to the blogger who awarded them.
2. If you are nominated, write "11 random facts" about yourself and answer the 11 questions the awarder wrote for you.
3. Make up 11 new questions to be answered and nominate 11 other bloggers. (I'm not sure I'll do this. I have to look up who's been nominated because I don't wanna be annoying with it.)

11 Random Facts About Me!

1. I love chocolate and pretty much have to have some everyday even if it's just a little bit
2. I'm still a really messy person and I'm still trying to fix that :/
3. I hated school when I was younger, now I'm thinking about going back!
4. I can hear my fiance, David, snoring on the couch as I write this LOL (Sorry, I can't think of things to write about myself!)
5. When I first started blogging, I was actually terrified no one would read it, but I'm so excited with how much it's grown since I started back in August 
6. On my days off work, I like to be a bum even though I feel like I have so much to do still
7. I hope I can do my 3 month no buy! It's only 5 days in and I already wanna buy a new eyeshdadow or mascara!
8. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this in my other Liebster post, but I love my dogs! They're the best puppies ever, especially Emma. Molly can be a butthead, thinking she's a german shepard or something big, but she's only a mini dachshund -_-
9. I really hope this year I can do great things with my blog and expand it to maybe doing beauty videos on Youtube. This has been a secret dream of mine for a while and I honestly want it to be my job eventually.
10. I love it when I'm talking about tattoos with people I always say, "oh I definitely want another one" and people look at me like, you have a tattoo?! No way! Yes, I do have a tattoo on my shoulder blade and no one ever really sees it because it's covered 99% of the time. 
11. I hope this is the year my fiance and I can set a wedding date and get married. I've had the engagement ring for over a year and a half, but I wanna add the wedding ring soon!

Questions from Jenny

1. What's your middle name?
Lauren

2. How long have you been blogging for?
Since August 2012, so about 5 months

3. What started you blogging?
Well, I love writing and my love of makeup really blossomed about 3 years ago and I always thought about making my own blog about beauty and whatnot, but I was always scared, but then I was like, I'm gonna do it regardless of what people think, and so far I'm very happy with what I've accomplished

4. What are your resolutions for this year?
I have a few I wrote a post about, but I mainly just want to be happy and more successful in life.

5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Ah, though question! I, hopefully, see myself married with maybe one kid and I'm doing my dream job that I've been trying to go after. It'll happen, I know it will. Just takes time and patience

6. Have you ever broken a bone?
Nope, just sprained my foot when I was in 5th grade. Thought I broke it though with how painful it was

7. What was your favorite gift you got for Christmas?
That's a tough one too, because they all mean something to me, so I can't just pick one. 

8. What would be your dream job?
Ha! I got ahead of myself a few questions back, but blogging and becoming a beauty guru on Youtube is my dream job :)

9. What is your most used beauty product?
Another tough one! I try to switch up my eyeshadow alot, I don't typically use the same blush every single day, so does my Clarisonic count?

10. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I'd go everywhere! Seriously, I want to travel the world and go to Australia, Italy, New Zealand, just everywhere

11. What are your hobbies?
When I'm not at work, I like to come home and cook, blog a little, play on my Nintendo DS my fiance got for my birthday/Christmas. I'm pretty boring in the hobby department

Well that's it! I was looking through people I follow and so many blogs have grown and they've been awarded the Liebster Award, so if anyone reads this and hasn't been nominated, please feel free to definitely do a post, but use Jenny's questions! (Because I suck at asking questions too! Haha)

Liebster Blog Award!

 Hey everyone! So last night something really cool happened. The lovely Nikki from Heaven Has Cupcakes, nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award! This is my first award, and Nikki has a wonderful blog and she's so beautiful, so definitely check her out!

For those of you who don't know what the Liebster Blog Award is, its basically a nomination from someone who loves your blog and wants to show it some love. The blogs that can be nominated for this award are seen as being the up-and-coming blogs and they must have less than 200 subscribers.

As a nominated blogger, there are some rules I have to follow:

- Reveal 11 random things about myself
- Answer 11 questions that the person who nominated me has set
- Create 11 new questions for my nominees
- Tag 11 other blogs with less than 200 followers and let them know they've been nominated. No tag backs either!

So here are the random facts about me!

1. My absolute favorite color of all time is pink. I don't care what shade of pink it is, but I do love the bright hot pinks the most!
2. I'm engaged to the most wonderful guy I can imagine and his name is David. He's just the best :) 
3. I work in a major retail store and I'm so OCD about folding clothes and making sure my department looks nice or else I feel like I didn't accomplish anything
4. I have two miniature Dachshunds, Emma and Molly, who live with my parents and they're the cutest dogs ever, especially Emma. She's my baby
5. I have a strong aversion to chapped lips so I'm constantly putting on lip balm
6. I'm such a messy person, if you came into my house you'd just see piles of paper and lots of unorganized stuff everywhere. I'm trying to fix this though.
7. I love pajamas. Once I get home from work, the first thing I do is change into pajamas. Even on days off, I stay in my pajamas all day, unless I'm going somewhere of course
8. I absolutely hated makeup when I was a teenager. I liked lip gloss sometimes, but I couldn't stand other makeup, now I'm basically obsessed
9. Folding clean laundry is surprisingly very relaxing for me
10. I have a stuffed bear I call Bear-Bear. I've had him since I was 1 day old, so he's an old, but very loved bear
11. I love to cook! My dad's a chef so he taught me how to cook from a very young age and I get told alot that I can cook very well

Here are my answers to Nikki's questions

1. Why did you decide to start blogging?
I started blogging because I love to write, but don't want to write a book, and I love anything that has to do with skincare and makeup so I thought this was a good way to talk about what I love.

2. Do you have a vlog channel? If not, would you ever consider vlogging?
I don't have a vlog channel, but yes I would consider vlogging! I'm pretty shy so once I get over my shyness and have access to means of being able to vlog, I'll definitely start my own channel :)

3. What is your absolute favorite beauty product?
This is kinda hard, but I gotta say any eyeshadow. I love to play with my eyes the most and I feel that doing my eyes up brightens up my face and makes me look more awake

4. What is your favorite store to visit when shopping for beauty products?
Definitely Sephora! The only Sephora near me is inside JC Penny but I love going to Sephora stores more because they have a better variety to choose from

5. What is your favorite clothing store?
Goodness, I haven't really shopped for clothes in a while but I really seem to like Charlotte Russe. They have very cute tops and their long maxi dresses are very comfy. 

6. Where did you grow up?
I was born and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Still here and probably won't ever live too far from home either

7. What has been your favorite purchase in the last month? (Not just beauty or fashion - anything!)
This is so hard, but it's gotta be the Hot Buttered Rum candle from Bath & Body Works. It just smells heavenly and I went the other day to pick up another one because there was a sale

8. Where do you do most of your blogging? (Your bedroom, your dining room, a coffee house?)
I do most blogging on my couch in my living room. Sometimes I'll do it in my bedroom if I'm feeling lazy but I'm in my living room 95% of the time

9. What's a current beauty or fashion trend that you wish would go away?
Honestly, I'm over the really dark red, burgundy, oxblood lips. Ugh, Cant stand it. I love those colors for nail polish, but on the lips, I personally feel it's just too much

10. Who is your inspiration?
Honestly, this is such a hard question because no one really inspired me to get into blogging, but I have tons of support with this from my fiance, parents and a few of my co-workers as well. So, I guess they really inspire me to keep doing what I love

11. If you could be a celebrity for a day, who would you choose and why?
Another hard one. I'm not too fond of celebrities because I think they're all pretty annoying but it might be interesting to see what it would be like to be Kim Kardashian and how she lives her glamorous life. It may not be as glamorous as we all think.


Well there you have it! I want to thank Nikki again for nominating me for this. I'm completely shocked and flattered and I hope everyone checks out her blog because it's awesome!

Talk to everyone later! :)