Cozy Winter Essentials ♥

As I've ranted about a thousand times before, my life is incredibly stressful lately. Not that others don't have stressful lives! I've just been crazy overwhelmed and have barely had time to myself. It's work, study, sleep, repeat. That's just the way it goes when you're in this crazy (but rewarding!) profession. 

So one of the things that keeps me going is indulging in some cozy, comforting rituals. Here are some of the things I find most comforting this time of the year. 

Bath & Body Works Candles -- Marshmallow Fireside is uber scrumptious! 

Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Body Butter

Nivea A Kiss of Milk & Honey Lip Balm

Bath & Body Works Cashmere Glow scent

Philosphy Shampoo, Shower Gel, & Bubble Bath

Hot Chocolate! 

Hot herbal or green tea

Starbucks holiday drinks -- especially Gingerbread Lattes!

Snuggly oversized wool sweaters

Fuzzy cozy woolen scarves

Holiday songs! -- thank you for the Pandora Christmas station!

Christmas decorations -- and Pinterest surfing for ideas

Holiday cooking and baking -- especially adorable gingerbread men cookies!

Wearing snuggly socks while relaxing and binge watching Netflix and football games with the family :)

Fall/Winter Skincare Routine

Within the past few months I've completely changed around my skincare routine. It's not as aggressive as it used to be, but my skin is much more clearer than it used to be. I pretty much just wash my face in the morning, put on a BB cream (finally invested in one!!!), put some makeup on and at the end of the day, I just use makeup wipes to remove my makeup and go to bed. I haven't been moisturizing my skin at night, but that my change now that winter is coming up.

I've also changed most of the products I've been using. With so many new skincare products on the market, I figured it was time for a change. Here they are below!

That's it! These three products are all I have been using for the past one to two months and my skin has never been better! I'm not sure if it's because of the green tea scrub, if it's the fact that I don't use dirty makeup brushes anymore (thanks to my finger-application BB cream), or if I stopped using a comedogenic product...? I'm really not certain, but whatever it is about this routine, I'm going to be sticking to it for a while! The best part is that it's so quick and easy in the morning and takes me under five minutes to do.

Now that winter is coming up, I may add a few more moisturizing products to my regime. My skin is normally pretty okay in terms of hydration, but in the winter it just completely goes out of whack and cracks because of the cold weather. Here are some of the moisturizing products in my routine for extra hydration and supple skin:

Hello, November!

It's finally November, meaning that Halloween is past us and it's time to look forward to Thanksgiving and my favorite holiday, Christmas! :) The weather outside was super chilly this afternoon and it's the first time I've felt like it was officially fall-winter weather. Hot chocolate weather, my favorite! <3 I was also mildly surprised, yet happy, to see the return of red Starbucks cups...this early! Once the Starbucks red cups come out, it's officially holiday season in my book. I, of course, went in to treat myself to one last Pumpkin Spice Latte before winter/holiday time officially kicks in and saw that they've brought back holiday drinks. Mmmm Gingerbread Lattes! I don't believe I saw their newest drink, Chestnut Praline Latte, but I'm super mega excited to try it when it finally hits stores!
So I worked in the morning from about 6am-2pm, and was let out early by my resident (love her!). I was planning on studying, but instead I decided to take the day off, visit my family, and just relax. It's been a rough week! I love inpatient medicine and surprisingly don't tire after 16 hours days, but it is mentally taxing and time-consuming, and I don't really get a lot of "me time" during the week most days. So it was really nice having an afternoon off to just relax my brain. I decided to paint my nails in a holiday red shade to celebrate the turning of the seasons. Okay I know it's officially still fall, but it feels like winter since every store I go into screams Christmas! I'm not complaining though. I absolutely love this time of year. It's a time full of cheer, comfort, warm drinks, and cozy sweaters :) I do hope I have enough free time these next two months to enjoy the season! It's going to be damn hard with medicine, but I'll try to make some time for holiday cheer at least.
Well anyway, time for bed. Lonnnng study day ahead tomorrow :(

Holiday Cravings

Bath & Body Works Wallflowers

So I've gotten some new Wallflowers to add to my lil' scent collection and thought I'd sort them out by season. I love the BBW Wallflowers! They make so many pretty plugs, have a ton of great scents (you are sure to find one to fit any season or mood), and they often are on sale! The only problem is that some of them have a really strong throw and others have a really weak throw. In fact, my very first Wallflower (Cinnamon Frosting) was so strong that we had to take the scent plug out every morning so that we wouldn't have a headache! I haven't found such a strong Wallflower since, but I like me some Wallflowers that have a decent throw. Most of them last about 1 month, sometimes more. Even if there's alittle bit of fragrance left, I usually end up throwing it away and changing the scent every month.

Here is this year's Wallflower collection, sorted by month and season I plan on using them :) I absolutely CANNOT wait to use some of my fall and winter scents. I love love love warm, cozy winter/fall scents and even burn some of my Christmas candles during the summer months. Okay enough rambling. Here they are!

June -- Garden Strawberry

July -- Aloha Waikiki

August -- Sugared Lemons

September -- Cider Lane

October -- Marshmallow Fireside

November -- Frosted Gingerbread

December -- Evergreen