- - ayiMori - -

With Christmas tomorrow, my friends and family are really excited! I'm happy to be with family and have everyone in the same place, but I know the younger kids are excited to open their presents. And let's be honest, everyone gets some excitement over receiving gifts.


While I've been trying to give you guys gift ideas this whole month, I realized that I haven't shared all the things I've asked for on my wish list this year! My list isn't as large as kids, and it tends to have some more expensive things on it, but hey I guess this is my life as a broke college student!


{Frends Headphones}

Since I've been working out more, I've been trying to drink a lot more water. Now I know I can have any type of water bottle, but I've already broken and gone through 3 different water bottles. Anyways, I saw this water bottle on Pinterest, and so many people rave about it. There are so many different colors and sizes!

Find it here.

The year is ending and so all my reward programs are starting to end too. ULTA is my go to place for makeup and hair products. This year I managed to reach Platinum status with ULTA, and so I celebrated by spending some of my saved points.

If you haven't heard of the program  yet, check it out here.

Anyways, I promise as I go through some of these products (mostly the palettes) I will post a review. But until then here is my haul, with products going from left to right!


{Face Wash}
Philosophy Travel Purity Face Wash

I have yet to use this face wash, but my housemate uses it all the time. She loves this product and has purchased it multiple times, claiming that it really does get off all your makeup without having to do multiple cleanses or use other cleansing products alongside it.


{Dry Shampoo, Original}
Batiste Travel Dry Shampoo

I love Batiste! I know it's probably not the best product or the most environmentally friendly, but it works so well! I use the full size product regularly, to help out with my second and third hair days. I usually use the Fresh scent, but I couldn't find it so I bought the Original instead.


{Tarte Eyes and Face Palette}
Tarte Rainforest After Dark Palette

I haven't used this product, but I've seen a lot of people rave about this product online and youtube. I got this product because it's perfect for travel, seeing as it has blush, bronzer, highlighter, and eye shadows all in one. I'm also hoping that the amazonian clay will help keep my oily face at bay. Anyways, I'll keep you all updated with this one!


{Stila Eye Palette, Soul}
Stila Eyes Are the Window Palette, Soul

This is another product that I got to treat myself. I never heard about this product until I started watching Claire Marshall's youtube channel. She raved about this palette and says that it's useful in so many different looks. Zoella is also a fan of this palette, but she is more in favor of Mind. I love watching Claire's videos, so I'm really hoping that this palette becomes one of my new go- to's. I'll try and review this one too soon!


{Sculpting Brush}
Real Techniques Sculpting Brush

Real Techniques is my go- to makeup brush company. I bought the starter kit a few years ago, when I seriously started getting into makeup. But since then, I've tried a few other brushes too, and I always come back to this brand. Anyways, this year contouring has become really popular, and I have jumped on that bandwagon too. So in order to help my contouring, I bought this brush.


{Starter Brush Kit}
Real Techniques Core Collection

This is the brush kit I started with, that I mentioned above. I didn't actually get this kit for myself however. I ended up getting this kit for my cousin for Christmas, because she is new to makeup and was asking for some brushes.

So I'm sure by now you've been hearing holiday music all around. However, if you're like me you might be getting tired of hearing the same songs over and over again, especially if they're slow and mellow. I mean it is finals, so I really don't want to be listening to festive music that will make me sleepy!

Enter Punk Goes Christmas. This album is part of the Punk Goes... series, where alternative, punk, and rock bands create their own cover versions of popular songs, and in this case Christmas songs. This album is the second of the Christmas variety, and I'm still not exactly sure of how I feel about it.

Hey guys - wow have I dropped the ball on Blogmas. I just wanted to apologize for my lack of posting these past couple days. I have recently gotten home and because of all the people who are back in my house, we crashed the internet. Well now it's up and running, and I will get around to posting again until Christmas!

Stay tuned!

It is sadly that time of year again... finals. Que all the crying and stress that accompanies these exams.

Anyways, I have some quick tips for finals that I follow. And I mean quick, because you should quit procrastinating by reading this and start studying.

{one}
Make a study schedule

Making a study schedule is always a good idea, because it forces you to look at all the stuff you need to review or get ready to write about before hand. That way you know everything that's on your plate, and you can decide how to efficiently tackle it all. I tend to start my study schedule a week before any exam or essay is due, and then I can break apart each task into more reasonable daily tasks, allowing myself to work on just a little bit each day.


{two}
Sleep

You've probably heard this a lot already, but sleep is really important for you. I know that pulling a late night to cram in those final notes seems important, but in reality the next morning if you're so tired you can barely function, are you really going to be able to efficiently recall everything you were studying. My professor has told us countless stories of students falling asleep during her morning finals, or just not showing up altogether. With that in mind, what I do is follow my study schedule, and then the night before the exam I go to bed a reasonable hour. The next morning I quickly skim through my notes and read my TLDR review sheet during breakfast, right before my exam.


{three}
Workout and eat right

This also sounds like your parents preaching to you.. but it is important! Working out can relieve stress, whether it be running or yoga. This is a great way to help your body, but also give yourself a short break. Another reason why this is important is because of all the things people tend to eat during finals. I myself am guilty of this, but when exams hit I eat anything, and I don't care if it's healthy or not. This is bad because not only am I consuming bad things in excess for my body, but when you stress your body already naturally produces more glucose. This means you have extra sugar, that will get converted into fat if you're not working out or eating right. Besides, an excess of sugar can also make you feel more sluggish and tired, two feelings that you don't want while studying.


{four}
Study groups

I'm sometimes a bit iffy on study groups. I think if you're the type of person who will benefit it, plan some! It will force you to pick a time to study or write with other people, and you have to stick to these plans! Plus you also get to work with other people, so if you are unsure about something, you can always ask them for help.

However, my concern with study groups is feeling overwhelmed. I have found myself in a few instances where everyone is stressing out so much, that I leave the study group feeling more stressed out than I did in the first place. Definitely not something that helps.


{five}
Use your professors

If this is something you haven't been doing all year, you should probably start now. Professors and TAs are around and willing to help you out with your exam. No one actively is going out of their way to fail you, so you minus as well use all the resources you have and ask for help! I'm currently a TA and I have to say that students who ask me questions tend to do better, because I can clarify and reinforce things they were wondering about. I know that professors also will do the same, and sometimes better than TAs. Everyone understands that finals are stressful, they just want to be able to help you.