Apology Letter 2.0

FRIENDS. I. AM. SO. SORRY.

As you may have noticed, I have been MIA for about 6 months now. What is my excuse this time? You may ask. It's a good one this time. I had a samsung chromebook that I used for blogging. This whole blog was set up on that thing. One day, I opened it up, and it was a black screen. I tried charging it, but the screen was still dark and full of sadness. I am pretty sure I must have stepped on it. I will be the first to admit that I put it through a lot. It is made of plastic so it could withstand most blows. It would seem as though it had enough with my abusive behavior towards it and it just left me forever. I tried blogging on the family computer, but we have had a problem updating flash, practically prohibiting our ability to use the computer to it's fullest potential, which includes blogging. The iPhone app for blogger was an absolute bust, offering little to edit with. Once i figured it out, it would take an hour at the least to type a proper blog post with images. I would rather not post than have content not up to the standard I try to keep it at. After all this blog drama, we come to today. I am typing this on my NEW LAPTOP!!! I cannot believe it! I saved my money (100 babysitting hours worth at the least) and invested in a nice laptop that will withstand blogging, school, and my netflix addiction. I don't want to say what laptop I got for security reasons (people who know me, in my house, and the potential story unfolds), but you can be confident in the fact that Two for Beauty is back!!! I missed this so much that I realized how important blogging is to me, and that I need to invest proper time into it. Next goal: acquire readers who will follow and read my blog! Here's to a new era of the blog.

Ella

School Makeup Bag

Hola amigas!

School has started up for me again, and I am pretty bummed. I mean, I like school and my friends, but the break was such a nice time to sit back and enjoy my family. This may be a tad weird, but I really like getting ready for school in the mornings. I don't know quite how to describe it! I do carry a makeup bag with me to school, so I thought I would share it's contents with you!

Here is the overview. I am using a bag from ipsyxForever21. It is small yet spacious enough to contain all of the products! I just stash it in my backpack and go. 

The first thing I carry is my revlon bold lacquer mascara. It doesn't clump and is easy to replace if anything happens at school. You will notice a trend amongst most of these products. I am not going to bring my too faced, tarte, kat von D, urban decay etc. to school because, although it is sad, I have had things stolen at school.  My next item is a rollerball perfume. I have recently been loving this pixie dust roll on by demeter. It has a sweet scent to it, almost like Prada Candy (a favorite of mine). I got it in my ipsy, and I am so grateful that I did! I use it everyday. For my lips, I am carrying my bareminerals marvelous moxie lip gloss in Spark Plug. It is quite pricey, but I have gotten packs of their smaller sizes two christmases in a row now, so I have backups. Plus, people are less likely to take any lip products beecause of COOTIES. Just kidding.

The tools I carry with me are my eyelash curler by sally hansen and my double ended (double the awesome) eye shadow brush by Crown brushes.I got the brush in my ipsy and it is actually quite stiff. I like this for school because i can just take a neutral color from my palette and dab it on a spot or along my under eyes to cover shadow dropping. I would say my eyelash curler is the one thing I couldn't live without at school. My lashes are really long, but they suck at staying up! 

My final school buddy is The Nudes Palette by maybelline. While it isn't the Naked Palette, it does the job for quick fixes and fill'ins. Also, if I don't have time in the morning to do eyeshadow, I can use this in between classes to look my best!

What do you keep in your makeup bag?

~Ella

Simple

I have started a journal for the new year to keep track of things and hopefully help to control my stress from school and life in general. I found myself setting rules for my journal and it got stressful to try and relieve stress. I have learned about a new program called Mindfulness. I do not follow the paid for curriculum, but I have started following the core principles of the beliefs of the program. You are here. You are taking a breath, releasing that breath, and taking it back. Taking notice of the smallest little things you do, and being mindful of your actions. I have found it to really work and help to chill me out. I have always been a really uptight, scheduled person. While that is great, it stresses me out and I just want to flow with the wind metaphorically. I let go of the limits and rules I have set for myself, and in return taken charge of my body and mind so I no longer need rules to get to my goals. I am also no longer rushing to achieve my goals. I have confidence i my mind that I will be able to get there in time. 

I tell you this because this blog is me through words and this is a big part of me. I hope you understand why it's not about beauty! 

Keep it simple, babes.
Ella

Spring 2015 Palettes

I made a list of the three palettes you need to know about for spring of 2015. I am loving the naturals and blues in these palettes. I just got the Naked palette for christmas and these are all very similar to it.

Tartelette Amazonian clay matte eyeshadow palette- This palette caught my eye with its adorable packaging and smooth naturals. I have not used tarte's eyeshadows enough to talk about their quality, but I am going to assume they are great quality. I would like to know how pigmented these shadows are, so let me know in the comments how they are!

purchase at sephora

Smashbox Double exposure palette-This palette is said to change shades while wet, which peaks my interest. This new palette is very similar to Naked by Urban Decay. I have read reviews that prefer this over Naked, which is saying a lot. I am hoping these are super pigmented. Also, it comes with a nice double ended brush. It is a bit pricey, so I don't know if I will be picking this one up.

purchase at sephora

semi sweet chocolate bar by Too Faced- This palette seems very similar to the other palettes released by Too Faced. It has different proportions and a very similar navey blue to the double exposure palette. This palette reall grabs me with its metal packaging and surplus of light and golden colors. 

guess what? It's at sephora!

Spring is coming! It may not seem like it now, but the flowers and sunshine are on their way!

Happy New Year.

~Ella

*P.S. We are now on bloglovin! Add us and make sure you never miss a post ;)

New Year's Resolutions

It is time to say goodbye to the year.

This year has been so good to me. I have gone so many new places, met so many new faces, and the blog has become a real thing. We finally have quite a bit of content, which is great. I just wrote a page in my journal about reflecting on the year and using that to create new resolutions. I came to the realization that most of my regrets for the year were about missed opportunities and times I just said no. So, my resolution for 2015 is to go for it. Take a chance and trust my gut. Who wants to live a life where you just sit there, drifting through your comfort zone, around in repetitive circles of familiar faces and places? 

That is all I have to say for today. What is your New Year's Resolution?

Good luck and best wishes for the new year,

~Ella

DIYmas FAIL.

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I, Ella, have failed.

One year, I will do all 25 days! I thought starting to write in November would give me enough time, but obviously not! I will have to change my approach next year. However, I did produce quite a lot of content this month and I swear I worked really hard. School is a lame excuse, I know, but it is truly my reasons. Finals for me are the last three days of school, which means stress and studying doesn't stop until the afternoon of the last day of school. I carry a ton of stress with me at all times and it makes it really hard to focus, which is the one thing you really need to make 25 days of beautiful content. I also had problems with the platform Blogger not publishing and crashing all the time. I am truly sorry for this. In the end, it is all my fault and I should of taken steps to ensure this would not happen.

Here's to a better year in 2015,

~Ella

Christmas Playlist| December 16th

Whilst decorating my room, I created a christmas playlist with some of my favorite tunes for the season. I have come to listen to it all the time and thought I would share it with you!

Here it is.

I hope you enjoy! Music sure makes wrapping presents so much easier :)

~Ella