I Heart Rome!

Ciao from Italy! :)

Our days in Rome were crazy-busy, but they were SO much fun.

We saw:

• The Colosseum
• Roman Forum
• Vatican City
• Sistine Chapel
• St. Peter's Basilica
• Pantheon
• Trevi Fountain
• Twin Churches
• Piazza Navona
• Piazza Populo
• Spanish Steps

Long story short, we saw a LOT in two days. And we walked the majority of it! But it was so worth it to see the best Rome had to offer.

Also, gelato is AWESOME. I had my first official cup of joy when we went to the Vatican. Blueberry is my favorite flavor so far this trip. :)

Hope y'all enjoyed this little update! Wifi permitting, I hope to update again soon!

Buonanotte! :)

What's In My Travel Makeup Bag

It's the day before the big flight to Italy (OH MY GOODNESS YAY!) and I've been trying to figure out what to bring for my two weeks overseas. 

In doing so, I thought I'd put together this list of what makeup I'm planning on bringing to Europe. It should be applicable for domestic travel, too. :)

(Btdubs, the bag I'm using is from Forever 21)

Travel Makeup Bag Goods by savannahinwonderland featuring a waterproof eyeliner

Foundation - I've always loved Maybelline's Dream Fresh BB cream. It covers really well and has great SPF in it, so I thought it'd be a great staple for the trip.

Concealer - You can only find this in stores in the UK or online, but I love the Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer. I really like liquid concealers just because of how easy it is to blend and build them up if needed. This particular one wears well.

Eye Primer - Lately, I've been loving Urban Decay's Primer Potion in Eden, which is a matte nude shade. This will probably be what I'll use, because if I'm planning on wearing eyeshadow, I have to use primer, or else it will fade.

Eyeshadow - I decided to bring the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette. It lasts a long time with primer, looks excellent whatever eyeliner I choose, and is small enough to leave me room in my makeup bag. Yay! 

Eyeliner - I LOVE Urban Decay 24/7 eye pencils. I've used them since high school, and they last such a long time and come in an amazing rainbow of colors. I have to wear eyeshadow with them, though, just because they slide off on me if I don't. The colors I'll be bringing in these are Desperation (a matte taupe/gray) and Twice Baked (rich brown)

The other eyeliner I'm bringing is by Cynthia Rowley in black. I wore this to a wedding, and it stayed, so I figured that it would be a solid team member on my makeup bag's roster (My goodness, a sports analogy in a makeup post. Groundbreaking stuff here, folks.)

Mascara - My favorite mascara of all time is Too Faced's Lash Injection mascara. I have a hard time finding mascaras that flake, and let me tell you, this one is the only one that I've tried that hasn't done that. It's a fiber/tubing mascara, so it stays and stays and stays until it's removed with makeup remover and warm water. I'm on my third tube of the stuff, so if that's any indication of how much I use this mascara, there's that, I guess.

Blush - Tarte's cheek stains are great because they are easy to apply and look natural once blended. The shade I'm bringing is Flushed, and I was actually able to score a mini size of this as a perk from Sephora since I'm a Beauty Insider. I love when that happens!

Lip Products - I'm bringing a Maybelline Color Elixir in I'm Blushing (which I reviewed here), and two Tonymoly Petite Bunny Gloss Bars in Apple and Cherry. I think I'll really like the low-maintenance lip products while I'm travelling, just because I won't have to worry about reapplying lip color whilst taking in the joys of Italy (and wherever I go next).

I hope this makeup bag post helped y'all out! If you're traveling soon, have safe and happy adventures!

What's In My Carry-On Bag

I love plane travel. Regardless of whether I'm flying across the ocean (in 2 days!!!) or flying just a few states away, I love the idea of boarding a plane and flying somewhere new.

I've been packing my carry-on bag for Italy, and I've had to put some thought into what I want to put in my backpack. 9 hours of flying will mostly be spent sleeping, but I'll have connecting flights to reckon with, along with the time I'll have to spare before the plane lands.

So, besides my personal stuff (passport, boarding pass, cash, etc.), here's what I'm planning on having with me during the 9 hour flight.

(Btdubs, the backpack I'm using is a small backpack that was provided to us by our tour company. :) They're so nice!

Also, I own a lot of these items, but some are used to represent what I have since I couldn't find exact items on Polyvore.)

Carry-On Bag Goods by savannahinwonderland featuring Kate Spade

Headphones, AKA my fabulous neon yellow Beats Mixrs - These were a graduation present, and are the electronic I'm most excited about carrying on. I can't wait to use them on the plane, just because of the fact that they 1) sound awesome and 2) I don't have to worry about needing a pair of headphones to watch in-flight movies. (On a side note, I kinda hope they're playing Frozen on the plane. It would be fun to lip-sync to!)

iPhone - This will be my music player, camera, and general means of talking to folks back home. Not that I don't love my point-and-shoot camera, I just wanted to use my phone just so I could post pictures to Instagram and not have to worry about extra cords. Plus, my phone takes pretty good pictures, in my opinion.

iPad - My blogging tool and Kindle for the trip. Pro tip: download books before you leave so you don't have to frantically search for WiFi just to pick up the next installment in your favorite series.

Moleskine Journals - I'm bringing one large blank lavender Moleskine journal to write/scribble/draw/paste memorabilia in, and then I'm bringing the actual Moleskine Travel Journal I got as a graduation present to document the more detailed aspects of the trip. I'm excited about using both!

Laptop - Mainly to charge my devices, blog, write stories, and generally use the internet. :)

Makeup Bag - This will house the cosmetics I'm taking on the trip. It'll be easier to carry this in my backpack just so I know that things won't get crushed.

Lip Balm - I HIGHLY recommend bringing your favorite chapstick. Don't go out and buy a different brand just because it "prevents chapped lips" or is "medicated for fast relief" or something along those lines; you could have an allergic reaction and have to deal with that in combination with the dry air of your destination - that's no fun at all. My favorites are Eos balms and good old Chapstick.

Travel Pillow - I'm going to try to sleep on the plane because jetlag and I aren't exactly the best of friends.

Earplugs - see: Travel Pillow.

Face Wipes - These will be good to give my face a fresh start once the plane takes off. That way, I can do a fresh face of makeup before I land in Rome. (YAY ROME!)

Snacks - Food is always a good idea, whether you buy it after security or bring it with you from home (provided it meets TSA requirements). Plus, if you save it for later, you'll have something to tide you over before your next meal if you have something planned after you land.

If you're traveling soon, I hope this helped you out, and that you have happy adventures wherever you go!

Bleached Neons

I love, love, love the idea of bleached neon colors. That's why I was so excited when Maybelline released their Bleached Neons collection for the summer season.

I was in Walgreens the other day, and happened to see the display for these. I'd actually been looking for them since May, around when I was graduating, but they didn't have them near my college town yet. I'd heard great things about the products, along with the tutorials with them that I'd already seen on YouTube, so I was excited to finally check them out for myself.

So, here's what I picked up.

Nail Polish

Left to right: Coral Heat, Bleached in Peach, and Day Glow Teal

The nail polish caught my eye immediately at the store (which isn't surprising, given my track record of loving bright colors and my obsession with nail painting in general). The shades are so pretty in person.

I was excited in particular about Bleached in Peach. This pale creamsicle orange shade has been circulating among some of the bleauty gurus I follow on YouTube, and I was glad that they had this shade in stock.

I haven't tried these yet, but I have a good feeling about them. I like Maybelline Color Show polishes, especially their metallics, so I bet these will behave in a similar fashion to the existing line.

Color Tattoo 24 Hr Eyeshadow

This collection has two new shades of the Color Tattoo eyeshadow, and the one I picked up is called Shimmering Sea. The best way I can describe it is that it's a muted blue with gold duochrome.

The wear of this shadow is fantastic. I wore it yesterday, and it managed to last the entire day with little to no creasing (I used Urban Decay primer potion in Eden underneath).

The color is also gorgeous. I was a little nervous about wearing blue eyeshadow - I hadn't really worn a bright blue since high school - but it's such a versatile and wearable color and it looks great on. I think this will be a great color to throw on by itself, or layered under colors for special occasion/party looks.

Color Elixir

There were quite a few shades that were released for this collection, but the one that caught my eye was I'm Blushing. It's a sheer candy pink that's amazing as an everyday shade.

This wears great, too. I have to blend the color some if my lips are drier, but other than that, I have no complaints.

Have you seen the Bleached Neons collection? Have you tried any of the new shades? What do you think?

Posted with Blogsy

A June Playlist

I listen to a ton of music, and not just because I used to work at a radio station. Music has always been such a huge part of my life growing up, whether I played it, sang it in chorus in high school and college, or just popped on my headphones and danced around my room.

Since the summer has started, I've been favoring some songs lately.

The majority of these are ones that I keep hearing on the radio and wind up singing along to, just because they're so catchy. 

I have been really inspired by Lorde's music, though. A lot of the songs off of her album are really, really good, so I thought I'd put the whole album on the list above. I'm not brave enough to rock the dark lipstick she wears, though...she can pull that off amazingly well.

Also, I've fallen back in love with "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay. I guarantee this song is going to be my Italy playlist. It's so great.

Want to follow my musical adventures? Follow me on Spotify here! :)