Product Review

Well, I promised you all that I'd do a product review, didn't I? I'm someone who sticks to my word, so here goes nothing...

Sephora Color Daze Blockbuster Palette <-- If you click that link, you'll be introduced to one of the most beautiful Sephora palettes of all time. Why? Hmm, I don't know...maybe the fact that it has 12 eye-liner cream eyeliners, 6 top coats, 22 eyeshadows, 48 lip glosses, 6 lip and cheek creams, 3 blushes, and 3 luminizers has something to do with it? Seriously, this palette is absolutely amazing...I probably won't have to buy any more eye makeup until I'm well around the age of 50! (Possibly even by the time I'm 80. Hey, you never know with this stuff.) 

Bare Minerals "Bare Skin" Eyecolor <-- This is more of a ground-up, powdery eye shadow that I use in my everyday makeup routine. It's super easy to apply and stays on all day without flaking off. Plus, the color lasts all day, which is really helpful on days where I leave the house super early and don't get him until super late.

"The Fun Palette" by Urban Decay <-- I recently got this eyeshadow palette for Christmas, and as bad as it may sound, I didn't start using it until yesterday! I love blending different colored eyeshadows from this 6 color palette to create a unique, beautiful, shimmery look.

Pacifica Color Quench Lip Tint <-- This is the lip tint (which, in my opinion is more like a faintly-tinted chapstick) that I use every day when I'm in a rush but want to add some color to my lips (while keeping them healthy and moisturized). Swipe some Chapstick onto your lips and then apply this lip tint for maximum effect. :-)

Wet n' Wild Mega Plump Mascara <-- I used to use a different type of mascara, but then my mom picked this one up for me once by accident and I ended up loving it. It's super inexpensive and it glides on easily without clumping, leaves lashes long, dark and beautiful.

I'll have to continue this blog entry another time, because quite a few people are begging for my attention via OoVoo, and as you all know, I hate to keep my peasants waiting! xx               

xoxo,

Jessica
The Pastry Queen 

Quote of the Day:

"Fall down seven times, stand up eight." -Austin Mahone

Overworking Yourself

I'll be the first to admit that I'm terrible with stress and pressure. I know I've done an entry about handling stress already, which can be found here, but this entry is a bit different...if you go to my school or know me at all, you can figure out that tomorrow begins the dreaded Midterm Week. Alright, be honest...how many of you just cringed while reading that?

Well, either way, we have a bunch of 1 1/2 hour tests that basically require a whole lot of studying, mental breakdowns, and crying. Lots and lots of crying (well, that is, if you're as bad at handling stress as I am..)

So if you're one of the people sitting up trying to procrastinate studying for whichever midterm you have tomorrow, DON'T! Here are some tips so you don't overwork yourself (& these tips can also help for overworking yourself in general).

1. Note for next time -- Don't just study the night before. It may be too late for you now, but maybe you'll learn for next time...some people claim that studying the night before helps them "retain information"...yeah, alright. That CAN be true, but just one night's worth of studying for a huge exam is hopeless.

2. Take breaks. No, surprisingly, this doesn't mean you're procrastinating! Try using the study method that I use (which, for the record, can actually help you study for easily 5-6 hours without realizing it)...study nonstop for 30 minutes, then take a 20 minute break and walk it off, then study for another 30 minutes, another 20 minute break, and so on. It's actually pretty helpful.

3. Commit it to memory. Recite the facts in the shower, in your sleep, whenever! Try recording yourself saying some of the facts and set it as your alarm tone for the next morning. It works!

4. DO NOT STAY UP UNTIL 2AM. Staying up all night will just make you exhausted and information will slip the next morning!

5. Do review packets. Yeah, yeah, extra work that you aren't required to do...maybe dig it out of your backpack and try it anyway? The questions in the review packets are obviously designed to resemble questions on the midterm...which can give you a background in what to expect on the real test.

6. Take your review sheet with you all morning. The morning of the test can be pretty stressful...does wanting to climb under a rock and die seem like a familiar feeling for the morning of? Read over your review sheet up until the last possible second: while eating breakfast, brushing your teeth, doing your hair, on the bus, and in the class before you're told to put everything away. Cramming is bad for you, but last minute refreshing/cramming just to make sure you retained the info isn't bad.

7. Reading over your notes will not help you. Sadly, it won't help. You have to either re-write your notes, or write down the answers to the review questions. Skimming your notes will make you even more confused.

8. SLEEP. I can't stress this one enough! Go to bed no later than 10:00-10:30pm. You'll feel refreshed and (sort of) ready to take on the test.

So I hope these tips will give you guys a new study habit to try tonight! Good luck on all of your exams!

xoxo,

Jessica
The Pastry Queen

Quote of the Day:

"I've stopped waiting for people to do the right thing and I've just learned that if you need something to be done correctly, you have to suck it up and do it yourself." -Unknown

Changing Sides

I felt the need to blog today, but I didn't have enough time to get started on the whole "project review" thing...so I'm going to just simply share a poem that I wrote instead! It's kind of weird and hard to understand, but I don't normally share some of my hardest writing pieces, so I thought I would:

"Changing Sides"

You're on the outside, looking in.

I'm on the inside, looking out.

Rain thunders down onto you;

Soft light filters down onto me.

You wonder what it's like to be included;

I wonder what it's like to be set free.

We came from the same place,

Yet we stand of different sides.

I want out,

You want in,

But in reality,

I need you and

You need me.

That's all.

You want to feel soft, warm light;

I want to feel thundering rain.

But it's too late now,

The decision's been made.

You're locked out;

I'm locked in.

The door is shut,

Our paths have been chosen;

Nobody's changing sides anymore.

Dark, I know. But do ya like it?

And yes, it has a bigger meaning. It's not really about a person in the rain and a person in a building. Every piece of writing has a meaning, big or small.

The question is, are you smart enough to figure it out?

xoxo,

Jessica
The Pastry Queen

Quote of the Day:

"If you kicked the person most responsible for all of your troubles, you wouldn't be able to sit for a month." -Teddy Roosevelt

Wreck This Journal

Before I begin telling you guys about the topic for today, I have a few things that I wanted to let you know:

1) I'm stealing an idea from my friend Daelyn (Hey, at least she's getting credit! ;D)...but I'm going to be doing a product review blog entry soon! So, if you want to, let me know what kinds of products to review. Either way. I'll be picking some of my favorites and my least favorites!

2) I was officially elected as the Junior Vice President (there's also a Senior Vice President...and no, before you ask, I'm not a Junior!) of my school's Fashion Club! :D Ahh, I'm so excited! Especially since I also work on the fashion website that you can check out here...anyway, this is a big step for me!

Okay, I'm well aware that you probably didn't care. So back to the topic of the day. I've officially purchased a Wreck This Journal! In case you were wondering, this is what it looks like:

So, in case you didn't know what this book is, it's completely AWESOME! In case you couldn't tell by the title, the purpose of this book is to destroy it. (*Gasp*...could it be? Can a book-lover actually be able to DESTROY a BOOK? Impossible!...except, that's the point of it.) It has tons of crazy things that it wants you to do. It tells you to burn a page, take the book in a shower, take it for a walk, eat colored candy and then draw with your tongue...tons of creative stuff! Definitely something that a creative Pastry Queen like moi would enjoy.

(LOL I'm so cliche sometimes. It's kind of sad.)

So I'd love to stay and chat, but I have places to go and people to see. TTYL!

xoxo,

Jessica

The Pastry Queen

Quote of the Day:

"Drunk people run stop signs. High people wait for them to turn green." -A. Montalvo

La La La

I'm just going to start off by saying that this blog entry is just going to be a whole lot of nothing. I felt like I needed to blog, but I don't really have that much to blog about.

I can start off by saying that it's a brand new week, and it's officially the start of one of mine and my friend Sam's biggest New Year's resolutions...to be healthier. So, yeah, as lazy as I may feel, you can catch me in our school's fitness center every Monday afternoon from 2pm-3pm. -_- <-- (I don't know if you can tell, but I'm not very happy about that.

In other news, the fashion site that I work on is having its 1 year anniversary in 10 days. It may seem pretty small compared to big businesses, but our Twitter (@YouAreTrueBlue) already has 569 Twitter followers and Twitter (as well as other companies) have already asked us if we'd like to advertise on their site/for them.

La la la la la la la, I have nothing to blog about so this is wasted space...

lalala.

I'm so sad that the Christmas season is officially over :( I love the holidays and everything about it, so seeing it be gone makes me really sad D:

Well I'm rambling now, and I have an AP Biology quiz on Mitosis to study for. Yaaaay.

See you all soon!

xoxo,

Jessica
The Pastry Queen

Quote of the Day:

"Always be yourself. You never know who will love the person you hide." -Unknown

Hello 2013!

Why hello there! This is my very first post in the year 2013, and I'm very excited about it. Some of my blogger friends Sam and Daelyn have already blogged about their New Year's Resolutions. I touched briefly on mine in my last post, but I'm going to do into further detail now and tell you guys just exactly who I want to be this year by mentioning some of my goals:

~Be independent. I'm done relying on other people to help me get the job done, because, frankly, that doesn't work out and never truly will.

~Aim for a healthy life. This doesn't really mean losing weight. I just want to be healthy, you know? Maybe go running. Work out harder during dance. Choose an apple over a bag of chips (although never over Nutella...I'm not THAT crazy!)

~Do my best in school. I'm not bragging when I say that I'm not a bad student, but there's always room for improvement, especially in AP Biology, and I want to work my hardest at that.

~Stay classy. Too many people are starting to lose this aspect, and it's kinda sad. I don't want to be like them.

~Be the approachable one. I want to be the person that people turn to when they need someone to talk to.

~Always excel. I want to give 110% in all that I do, always.

~Always stand up for what is right. I've always done this, but sometimes I'll not say anything instead of during the true right thing. I don't want to do that anymore. 

~Don't get involved in any drama. I'm going to give this one my all and really mean it this year. Too much happens when one person gets involved in ONE little issue, and it ends in a huge blowout with hurt feelings.

~Don't succumb to peer pressure. I've never done this and I don't want to start now. 

~Take after my idol, Alli Michelle Simpson. I know that nobody's perfect, but in my eyes, she's very, very close. ♥

~Meet Cody Simpson. I WILL do this, I swear by it!

~Take care of myself. I'm officially dedicating a "Me Day" to myself once a month. I'll lounge around, sleep in, eat what I want, take a nice hot bubble bath...whatever I'm feeling at the moment.

~Keep secrets that are meant to be kept. As much as we all want to deny it, does the phrase, "And you didn't hear it from me!" seem eerily familiar? If you're wondering why, it's because we've ALL said it before. Don't deny it.

Well, those are just some of my goals. I've actually got to get started on a page on the fashion website that I run with my friends :). You can check that snazzy stuff out here.

Now if you'll excuse me, this Pastry queen has some style tips to dish out on the World Wide Web. :-*

xoxo,

Jessica
The Pastry Queen

Quote of the Day:

"When I Tweet, I Tweet to kill." -@danecook