Summer {Beauty} Essentials

Hey all! I've been trying to write as often as I possibly can this summer. On Saturday I will be leaving to work at summer camp until August 16th. It is nuts to think how I won't be home all summer. 
   
  Anywho, on to what I planned to write about. I have to admit that I am a self proclaimed beauty addict. I love all things makeup and hair even though most of the time I tend to be in sweatpants with my hair tied up in a pony tail, but that is besides the point. I don't really know how it started. I always loved doing hair and playing around with makeup. I guess I just saw it as a way to extend beyond a typical canvas of paper and the typical mediums of paint, pencil and marker. I love how by using simple techniques you can change an entire look. So in this post, I plan on sharing some of my summer beauty essentials. (Sorry to my dudes that read this, it may not be all that entertaining to you. But I promise, I will have some more "man- friendly" posts coming up soon!) Anyway, on to my summer essentials!

**Also, I am a college kid. I do not have an abundance of money to spend on things like these. All of the things that I have listed down below can be found for under $15 at local drugstore like Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Target and Walmart.**

1. Sunscreen: There is really no explanation for this. I think it goes without question. Sunscreen is super important, especially in the summer months, mainly to help prevent skin cancer. I am totally notorious for being all like "oh, I don't burn, I just tan." Lies Susanna. Complete and total lies. I burn like a lobster and when I burn, I peel. It is terrible. So protect your lovely skin and do me a favor and just put some sunscreen on. *Don't forget the tops of your feet, ears and your lips! They burn easily and hurt wicked bad if burnt!*
   -Suze's pick: I really like spray sunscreen. I don't know why. I think I am just too lazy to rub stuff in or what not. Plus it is easier for me to get hard to reach areas without having to ask for help (because I'm stubborn like that.) I tend to lean more towards "Sport-proof" sunscreen, which is basically just a fancy schmancy way of saying waterproof. I go for that mostly because if it is hot out you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be in a pool, lake, river, ocean, slip 'n slide or sprinkler. I'm all about water activities. 

Spray sunscreen. My favorite. 

2. BB Creams: I will be the first to admit that my skin is not perfect and I completely envy people with flawless skin. Most of the time I lean toward full coverage foundation, but in the summer, full coverage totally stresses me out. In the summer, my typical foundation routine is just not acceptable. To be honest, most of the time in the summer I wear no makeup at all. I am just far too lazy to put it on. Lately though, I have found myself applying a BB almost every day. BB basically stands for "Beauty Balm".To me, it is basically a tinted moisturizer with a little more coverage. It is super simple to apply in a hurry and really light on your skin. Also, most of them include SPF which is awesome!
    -Suze's pick: I love the Garnier BB Cream Miracle Skin Perfecter for combination oily skin. It gives me just the right amount of coverage that I look for in the summer months and feels super light on my skin. It is also really easy to build the coverage up, so if one day I want a heavier coverage, I can just add on another coat.

My all time favorite BB Cream.

3. Waterproof Mascara: We have all seen it happen. You go to a friend's house for a pool party and you see that one girl come out of the pool looking like a raccoon. I'm totally not about that. Personally, I always use waterproof mascara, mainly because my eyelashes are pin straight and waterproof formula helps hold an eyelash curl. In the summer months, waterproof mascara is good because you can go swimming without having a fear of your mascara running down your cheeks.
    -Suze's pick: I have been loving 2 different waterproof mascaras lately. I love The Rocket by Maybelline and Volum' Express One by One mascara by Maybelline as well. These two hold up in water and hold a curl really well. They are also easily removed with eye makeup remover. 

One of my most recent love affairs. I am a sucker for mascara and this one does not disappoint!

4. Cream Eye Shadows: I will be the first to admit that I love my BH Cosmetics Neutral Palette with all normal style, pressed pigment eye shadows, but in the summer those just aren't practical for me. Normally to keep my eye shadow lasting all day long I have to wear a primer underneath or else my eye shadow will crease. In the summer, I just don't feel like taking that extra step so I just eliminate it completely and opt for cream eye shadows. Most of the time they are very pigmented and hold up really well through water and heat. Plus one swipe across your eye and you are ready to go out the door. They are on the top of my list for lazy day makeup!
    -Suze's pick: Lately I have been obsessed with Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24 Hour Cream Gel Shadow. These are literally the holy grail of cream eye shadow and they are pretty cheap in makeup terms. The only thing that I can really compare them to is MAC's Paint Pots (even though the Maybelline ones are the clear winner to me, mainly because they are way cheaper. MAC Paint Pots retail for around $20 each while the Maybelline cream shadows retail for about $6 each.) I personally own 4 of them and keep having to turn the opposite direction when I see them in stores so that I don't pick up one in every color. 

I literally want every single color. I mean, I have no idea why I would need a bright yellow eye shadow, my only reasoning is that I just want it.

5. Lip Tints: I love lip products, or lippys, as I like to call them. I like everything about them, especially if they smell yummy. I like lipstick and lip gloss, but summer is just super impractical for those products. They just tend to get all kinds of sticky and melty in the summer heat and melting lip products just is not fun, at least for me it isn't. So in summer, I love lip tints. They are so easy and WATERPROOF (I guess waterproof is my word of the post. woop!) The best thing about lip tints (besides being waterproof of course!) is that they stay on all day, they don't rub off easily (summer romance...cheeky. jk) and they are super light on your lips.
     -Suze's pick: The Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain is one of my all time favorites. They have amazing colors, they stay on all day, they are smooth to apply and they smell yummy. Plus you can find them at most drug stores and they are pretty inexpensive. 

I love these. They are like jumbo twist up crayons and they go on super smooth and they stay on all day long. 

6. Moisturizer: I am a moisturizer addict, but I have really sensitive skin, so it is really hard for me to find a lotion that doesn't make my face freak out. I love to exfoliate my face a lot. Like a lot a lot. After you exfoliate it is always good to moisturize your skin. (Basically, after you exfoliate your skin is really thirsty, so moisturizing it is like giving it a nice drink of water.) Moisturizing helps make oily skin less oily and dry skin less dry (it seems like it doesn't make any sense, but trust me, it will eventually.)
     -Suze's pick: I have recently been loving Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion. I use this on my face after I wash it in the morning and I use it before I go to bed at night. I like it because it isn't heavy and it doesn't leave a greasy residue on my face after I put it on. Another thing I also like about it is how it doesn't have a scent. I like scents, I really do, but I really don't care for overpowering smells on my face. Putting something super potent all over my face is just like me abusing the smeller that is situated smack dab in the middle of my face. Anywho, I love this moisturizer and it is pretty cheap so thumbs up for broke college kid livin'! 

You get so much for so little. I think a bottle of this is about $9 for  16 FL Oz. I have had my bottle for about 6 months  and I use it every day, twice a day and I am not even halfway done with it. So worth the price!

7. (this is my lucky/favorite number so this might be a little random) Hair Treatments: During the summer my hear tends to get really dry and not shiny. Needless to say, I don't dig dry, dull hair. Recently I have been looking at deep conditioning treatments that I can buy at Target or Walmart and they are all so expensive (I'm talking like $30 for a bottle expensive. Yeah, no. I don't think so.) So I was Pinterest-ing the other day looking at hair treatments and I found one and I was like "what the hay. Let's try it." So I did. And I love it. Here's what you do:
  -In a small bowl combine 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons of water (or if you have dry hair, substitute olive oil for the water).
  -Wet hair. (I did this in my bathroom sink.)
  -Spread the egg mix all over hair. (I warn you it kinda smells and kinda feels disgusting, but trust me, it is worth it.)
  -Put hair up in a shower cap or wrap in saran wrap and let sit for a minimum of 15 minutes. (I let mine sit for an hour because it really needed it.)
  -Hop in the shower and rinse the egg out of your hair. WARNING: rise out with cool water. Reason: you do not want scrambled eggs all up in your hair.
  -Don't condition your hair in the shower. Just use a tiny bit of shampoo to get rid of all the egg and to mask the smell a bit.
  -Style hair as you normally would. 
I did this today and immediately noticed a difference in my hair. It is super shiny and I honestly can't stop touching it.

After I do this hair treatment all I want to do is whip my hair back and forth because it is just so shiny and smooth. 

Well this was an obnoxiously long blog post, but I hope it kinda helped with somethings that I have been loving for summer. I will try to write again as soon as I possibly can, but no guarantees as to when that will be.

Love and summer beauty products on a budget,
Susanna

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Summertime Lovin'

     Hi all! Yeah, I know, it has been FOREVER since I have written a blog post. I could tell you a lie like I have been climbing Mount Everest or backpacking through Europe, but like I said, that would be a lie. In reality, I have been catching up with friends from home before I head off next week to work at camp for the entire summer. I have to tell you, I could not be more excited to go to camp. This past week I have been up there twice, once on Thursday to help with a field trip group and I was up there today for a camp open house. Both days were so much fun. Today, a lot of the staff was there which was cool to meet the people that I would be spending the entire summer with. Today I also got to meet a bunch of the kids that will be attending camp this summer and their parents. I leave for good next Saturday for staff training for a week and then the campers start coming. This week coming up I plan on packing my bags, cleaning my room, saying goodbye to my friends and unpacking all of my college things that are still packed up in the basement. I know, I'm a little behind on the whole unpacking thing. Other than that,  nothing too interesting has been happening around here, but I am sure in a couple weeks I will have some better things to write about!

Love and summer fun,
Susanna


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Blogger Milestone

    I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that reads my blog. Yesterday, my blog reached 5,000 page views which absolutely boggled my mind. THANK YOU SO MUCH. It is truly incredible to me! People that read this are the reason why I love writing it so much. I couldn't do it without all of the endless support everyone has given me (especially my SMC Blogs family!).
THANK YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK! 

5000. Say what now? CRAZY SAUCE!

Love and more love
Susanna

Florida Adventure!

   Hey all! Sorry I haven't written in like eternity! But ain't no stressin'! I'm back now! So as you hopefully know, it has been summer break for me for about 2ish weeks! YAY FOR SUMMER! I start work on June 15th (and I am super exited about it! #summercampswag). But for the past couple of weeks I have been having a little bit of fun. Last week I was in Orlando, Florida and it was totally lovely! My family and I haven't been for Florida since my brother and I were around the age of 7, so it was super exciting for us! We stayed at a lovely resort called Silver Lake Resort. It was beautiful and our 2 bedroom condo was enormous! There were 4 pools on the property plus a hot tub, tennis courts and a massive game room. Plus all week it was 87 and sunny! Now that is the summer weather I was hoping for! 
 

One of the lovely pools at the resort!

View from the plane!

   On Monday we went to Island Of Adventure which is part of Universal. My brother is a huge fan of Harry Potter so of course we had to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was fantastic! Hogsmeade looked exactly like the movies! We went on all the rides and went in all the little shops. My favorite ride probably had to be the Dragon Challenge roller coaster, but I preferred the red side to the blue. The butterbeer was also delicious. Nick, my brother, got the carbonated soda-like one and I got the frozen one. Personally, I liked the frozen one better! Nick also got Pumpkin Juice which tasted like apple cider, it was pretty yummy! After about an hour or two in Harry Potter World, it started to get pretty crowded, so we ventured out to the rest of the park. I was stunned at all of the architecture within the park. Each section looks completely different which was amazing to me! 

Hogwarts!

ButterBeer!

Just hanging with my friends!

Pumpkin Juice!

The cutest train conductor ever!

    On Tuesday we went to Universal Studios. It was a little less crowded but still as cool. The first ride we went on was the RockIt roller coaster and holy crap. I will insert a picture down below so you can see what I mean but the initial climb was a solid 90 degrees. I was screaming before the roller coaster even went down the hill! Universal was really awesome though. It was split up into different cities, so there was a New York City section, San Francisco and so on. Each place looked so real! We saw a lot of fun shows there too, like an Animal Actors show and a Horror Makeup Show. 

Universal!

This show was hilarious and pretty interesting!

Just me chillin' at my New York City apartment. 

This is the RockIt. Just look at it. Insane right?

   Wednesday my brother and dad went to Cape Canaveral to see the space station while mom and I stayed at the resort and hung out by the pool. It was a beautiful day of relaxation with my mom and my brother and dad loved the space station.

   Thursday we decided to go back to Island of Adventure. We didn't stay as long as we did on Monday because there were many more people. We rode all of the rides that we really wanted to ride then headed back to the resort around 1:30 and hung out by the pool for the rest of the day!

    Friday was our last full day in Florida, sad, I know. We just relaxed by the pool all day because the weather was gorgeous. Later in the night we went out to eat at Bonefish Grill (if I can remember correctly) and the food was delicious! After that we had to participate in a typical Shigo family vacation game of mini golf. We found this pirate mini golf place and played. I lost. Badly. But it was a beautiful night and the sunset was magnificent. 

The beautiful sunset. It is almost as pretty as the ones at SMC!

    Saturday we were up bright and early to catch our flight to Hartford. We got stuck on the plane with all the screaming little kids, but it wasn't that bad. Now we are all home and settling back into some sort of routine. I am trying to see all my friends from high school before I leave for the summer to work at summer camp. 
   Overall, my start to summer has been amazing! Also, I have been getting a lot of questions from the Class of 2017 on Facebook. If you are reading this and have any questions that you would like me to address in a blog, tell me! If you have a question about something, chances are another person has the same question! So don't hesitate, I love hearing from you all!!

Love and summuhhh time!
Susanna

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(this song below has been one of my favorite summer songs!)

Classes for Next Year!

     Lately, I have been getting a ton of questions about what classes I am taking next year. So I figured, why not tell you!? Earlier this semester I declared my major as Media Studies & Digital Arts (with Journalism) and I could not be happier! I am so excited to really start taking classes in this major as it really interests me! In the fall, I will be taking 3 media classes and 1 other course to satisfy one of my LSCs.

The classes I am taking are:

MJD-110: Digital Media: Art, Culture and Theory (Monday & Wednesday from 1:30-3:05) with Professor Swope.
The course description is as followed:
"Digital media have changed radically the ways words, images, and sounds can be manipulated and delivered and, in the process, have altered the ways in which humans communicate, express ideas, get information, and conduct relationships. Students are introduced to new technologies used to create digital art and develop basic proficiencies in digital imaging (Adobe Photoshop), digital illustration and animation (Adobe Illustrator), and web design (Adobe Dreamweaver). Students are introduced to the critical examination of the digital revolution, including issues connected to privacy, consumerism, artistic/creative expression, media ownership, multitasking, and mediated representations of reality."
*Course descriptions copied from KnightVision*
I am really excited to take this course. I am so stoked to start learning photoshop, as I have always wanted to learn. I have heard great things about this class which makes me even more excited!

MJD-213: Media Law & Ethics in the Digital Age (Tuesday & Thursday from 9:45- 11:20) with Professor Griffith
The course description is as followed:
"This course explores the political, historic and philosophical roots of the First Amendment. Particular emphasis is given to the legal and ethical problems of the new communications technologies; other topics include libel, privacy, obscenity, news gathering, copyright, and the free press/fair trial dilemma. The class also provides insights into how the legal process works and an understanding of the principles and philosophies that underlie the restraints on and privileges of the media. After analyzing what the law says journalists can do, the course moves into the ethical component of what they should do. Using basic philosophical theories, students analyze ethical dilemmas through the use of case studies. Using multimedia, guest speakers and current events the course considers media law and ethics and its impact of journalists' ability to fulfill the historic function of the press to inform the public."
I had Professor Griffith this semester for Media Revolutions and I really enjoyed her teaching style. She is very knowledgeable about the subjects she teaches and you can see her passion in the subject when she is teaching. I am really interested in the legal side of media so I think this course is right up my ally. I am really interested to see what this course has to offer. 

MJD-219: Magazine Writing (Tuesday & Thursday from 8:00- 9:35) with Professor A. Cleary
Course Description:
"Various topics, ranging from women in the mass media to advanced Web design and theory to literary journalism."
I know I have said that I am excited for all of the previous classes, but I am REALLY excited for this class. My advisor said that this class hasn't been offered for a while so obviously I jumped at the chance to get into this class. I love reading magazines so it will be really cool to get a glimpse of what it would be like to write for one. Even though this class is early in the morning, I think I will find it interesting enough to get me out of bed bright and early!

GG-102: Intro to Physical Geography (Wednesday & Friday from 9:45-10:50 w/ lab Friday from 1:30-4:30) with Professor Stroup
Course Description:

"This course is a systematic study of elements that compose the Earth's physical environment: weather/climate, vegetation, soil, and landforms. The emphasis of the course is on these processes, but human-environment relationships are also examined. Labs promote hypothesis testing, sampling, and experimentation on processes and interactions occurring in the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere." Ok, I am the first person to admit that I stink at science. As part of our liberal arts requirement we have to take a science class with a lab. One of my good friends, Lida, was planning on taking this class, so I figured why not just take it. So that's what I am doing. I am not really sure how it is going to go, but it seems pretty interesting.  It is just so crazy that the end of this semester is coming up so fast. In 3 days, I will be 1/4 done with my college career. How crazy is that?! Love and classes, Susanna Questions? Comments? Just wanna say hey? Email Me! Tweet Tweet @shigosusanna Leave a comment down below! What am I listening to? (I know, I have been a bit on a country kick lately. I guess it is a side effect of all this warm weather!)

    

Last Full Week

     So this is really sad. My time as a freshman here at SMC is coming to a close way faster than I ever would have expected. I know I say it a lot, but it seems like just yesterday I was moving in to my room in Lyons. Now, I am planning on moving out. It has all just gone by so fast. This past week has just been a jumble of finishing classes, studying and going on adventures. My friends and I have recently been on an adventure kick. They are just such great ways to get away from the stresses of the upcoming finals and the fact that in a week we have to say goodbye to each other. Adventures give us time to hang out with each other without having to worry about classes. My roommate Mar is headed back to the Netherlands next week and is not coming back next year. Earlier in the semester, she made a bucket list of things she wanted to do while she was here, so we have been gradually crossing off the last do-able things on the list.

     The weather lately has been amazing. Sunny, warm, not a cloud in the sky type of days. Most of our adventures have taken place outside lately because, I mean, come on, who would want to be stuck inside on amazingly beautiful days?! One adventure we took earlier in the week was over to the view and then down to the train tracks. Lida, Mar, Candice, Keri and I all ventured down there and Lida took some amazing pictures. Here are some below!

(l to r:Candice, Me, Mar and Lida)

(l to r: Candice, Me, Mar and Keri)

one of my personal favorites!

such a good picture!

(l to r: Lida, Mar and Candice sitting at the view. Camel's Hump in the background)

Typical Suze face and Keri's imitation of it!

     One thing on Mar's bucket list was to eat a Vermonster from Ben & Jerry's. For those of you that don't know, a Vermonster consists of 20 scoops of ice cream, 4 bananas, 4 ladles of hot fudge, 3 chocolate chip cookies, 1 brownie, 10 scoops of walnuts, 2 scoops of 4 toppings of your choice, and whipped cream. Lida, Mar, Candice and I were planning on eating it, but then had second thoughts. Instead, we opted for a half Vermonster. It was much cheaper and saved us from being severely sick. After that, we ventured down to the waterfront because it was a beautiful 77 degree day. The sun was shining, people were playing football on the green and the water was lapping up on the sandy shore. As we were walking back to the bus, we remembered another thing on Mar's bucket list: eat a maple creemee. After that half Vermonster, just the thought of more ice cream made us all want to vomit, but she had to get one! So we stopped at a little stand near the water front and Mar got her first taste of a maple creemee. We then headed back to a fun night of studying like mad women for finals! 

about to dig in!

the aftermath! 

the beautiful bushes near the lake!
(l to r: Keri, Lida, Me, Mar, Colleen and Candice)

Love and ice cream overload,
Susanna

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***Thank you bunches to my friend, Lida, for letting me use some of her amazing pictures on this post! 

P-Day Weekend!

     This weekend was one of the best times I have had at Saint Mike's this whole year. Since I started in August, I have been hearing a ton about P-Day and how much fun it was, but I still did not really know what to expect. P-Day weekend all started on Thursday night. 

     On Thursday, Saint Mike's campus was graced by the presence of Macklemore. Amazing. Over 3,000 people packed into the gym to watch him perform and let me tell you, it was FANTASTIC. He not only was great live, but he took the time to express his love for our community here on campus. One of our own SMC family members was diagnosed with leukemia and was unable to make it to the concert. Macklemore took time out of his day to go visit him at the hospital which tells a lot about his character. Then at the concert he told everyone that he went to the hospital and let me tell you, I was on the verge of tears. Between the jumping, dancing and singing (badly), I don't think I will forget this concert.

MACKLEMORE!

Macklemore sitting on the crowd

ladies ready for the concert!

     Friday was a pretty normal day. I don't have class on Friday's so for the most part it was like every other Friday. At around 12:30, all of the dance classes had their recital on the lawn between the library and Tarrant/ Ross. It was so funny to see some of my friends preform dances that they have been learning all semester. Later that day, both of the rugby teams on campus had their last games of the season. It was really sad to know that I won't be back out on the pitch for a couple months. I will really miss all of our graduating seniors. They have taught me so much over this past year and have become some of my close friends. It was also really nice to see a lot of Saint Mike's students come out to the games (it could have been because Alliot dinner was moved out there, but they still got to witness two awesome games of rugby!).

one of the dance classes. I believe they were pretending to be monkeys but I am not entirely sure.

The ever fabulous Gabbi Hall doing ballet!

My lovely RA Bizzy dancing her little heart out!

All of the dancers preforming Beat It!

     Saturday was the day that we have been waiting for all year. Saturday was P-DAY. WOOOOOO! That morning I woke up early because the rugby teams were signed up to do a three mile walk for Multiple Sclerosis. There were about 50 of us and it was a great time! We raised a ton of money for research and got to enjoy the beautiful morning! After that we all headed back to campus to celebrate the biggest campus holiday. P-Day is sort of what other colleges would call "Spring Fest", only ours is way better. We have a trike race, inflatables, live music, and free food! A lot of people make shirts with all their friends and just lay out and have a blast. Later in the night there was a mind reader/sword swallower and he was insanely amazing. Some of the things he did I was like "how the heck is that even possible." After that performance everyone found their way to Alliot for Late Night Breakfast. All I can say about it is that 1.) I wish it happened every weekend and 2.) it was so entertaining. 

The beautiful view from the MS walk!

The girls!

You can clearly tell that I adore Kallie!

     Sunday the campus was pretty quiet. As the hours passed the weather became amazing and a ton of people flooded the library lawn to do homework, play music or throw frisbees. Yesterday was the perfect end to an amazing weekend!

Sunday evening: sitting on the library lawn with Keri as she blows bubbles. 

Love and sunshine,
Susanna


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