Maegan Mariee | Thoughts & Lifestyle

Hello everyone!
Like most bloggers out there, I'm a fan of Zoella, aka, Zoe Sugg. I've watched her for years and I just think she's an absolute doll. So when she came out with the first range of Zoella Beauty, I of course ordered it. As I did with her expansion. I might be a little late on the band wagon here to review the range, but as I live in the US, it took a while for my items to get here.

I was a little sad when it finally did show up, as the body scrub had a crack in the tub and it leaked a bit. Thankfully it's one of the thicker substances and I didn't lose all of it. I'll just have to re-tub it.

Now, again, because I don't live in the UK, I wasn't able to get the spray, as it has something to do with shipping and... well, it's just sad. I would love both from her collection, but no can do unless I go over there myself. In time.

Anyway, as you can see, I did get everything else. The lotion, yes. It is one of the best things in the collection. I expected the scent to be much stronger than it is, but it's very subtle. Which is nice, considering I was afraid I would literally smell like candy after using anything. However, I have been smelling my arms and hands since getting and using this. So. I guess there's that.

The fizz bar I won't be using until we move into a new place with a tub, so it will sit with the original fizz bar until then. I still find it hilarious that they actually need to note that it's not a candy bar. Some people... though kids, I understand.

Moving on, the scrub, although arriving cracked, is my favorite out of everything. I love a good scrub anyway and this one is just perfect. Like the lotion, the scent is subtle but you can really smell it in hot water and it leaves the skin feeling so silky smooth afterwards! I'll probably try to buy this in bulk next time, but I'm hoping it won't crack. :(

I haven't personally used the shower gel yet, but I imagine it will be lovely. I'm currently using the original Soap Opera as a body wash, as it doubles as that and bubbles. I might switch them soon, just so I can smell tutti fruitti all the time. HA. And lastly, the lip balm. I have to say I'm not really a big fan of tinted balms, but I got this with the understanding that it's build-able, so I could just use a little bit and be fine. I've only used it once since getting it, but it's not sticky and it's smooth to put on, which is soooo nice. I was afraid that it would smell like that generic drug store sticky lip gloss that EVERYONE has had in their lives. Big relief.

All in all, I think I would give the entire range a good 7.5 out of ten. Mostly for the lack of spray and the fact that my scrub came cracked and leaked everywhere.

Have you tried this collection yet?
♥

Hello lovelies!
So after months and months of growing my hair, I've been getting a little bored, as you do when you have a hairstyle for a long while. I thought about dying it, because that just makes sense after growing it for so long. And then I started seeing images of everyone with cute, little bobs.

Oh god. Now I want a bob. Like... Lucy Hale style bob. But would I even look right with a bob? I've never had my hair that short. I found a trick that a lot of people seem to swear by and it was created by John Freida himself!

It's called the 2.25 rule. You're supposed to take a ruler and a pencil and basically measure to see if your face was made for shorter hair. Holding the ruler vertically under your ear and the pencil horizontally under your chin. If the pencil hits a point that is less than 2.25, your face was made for short hair! If it's past that, short hair might not suit you. But, personally, I wouldn't personally let that stop you. If you want short hair, go for it!

According to this, my face was made for short hair. It's definitely something to think about, but I've worked hard for my hair to get to this length, so I might just hang on to it until I reach my goal length.

What about you, will you use this method to determine if you should cut your hair?
♥

Hello lovelies!
This month has just flew by and I've only now just realized how I've lacked in posting. Not just here, but on Glossyfinds as well. My motivation has been lack luster lately, but I'm hoping this will help me find it again. But in my absence, I've been burning through quite a few books and I have so much to share with you!

Image from Goodreads.com

I'm going to quickly breeze through the first one, since I kind of found myself pushing through to read it. The title is Royal Babylon: The Alarming History Of European Royalty by Karl Shaw. In a nutshell, this book is about all of the outrageous behavior of thousands of years of people who held the crown or were related to it in Europe. It highlights the crazy antics and mental illnesses of the monarchs, not to mention their insane and, sometimes incestuous, sexual relationships. In the beginning, it was easy to read because I found it interesting. But once I got halfway through, it seemed to get repetitive and the author was very... I don't quite know how to describe the tone. Hostile?

Image from Goodreads.com

The next book I started is part of a series that isn't quite complete yet. But it was so good. Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige was amazing. I first found this at Target and as I looked over it, it didn't seem very interesting. So I put it down and moved on. I decided to finally give it a try when I noticed my library had it. How do you turn down a free book anyway? So when I started reading it, it was pretty obvious that there was no way I could put this thing down. The simplest summary I can put together is this; The story follows Amy Gumm, a girl from Kansas who lives in a trailer park and is kind of an outcast. And just like how the original story began, she gets swept away in a tornado to Oz. She grew up knowing the 'story' of Dorothy and this wonderful, made up place. Only it's not made up and this is not the Oz she read about. Dorothy had somehow come back and changed everything, making a mess of the beautiful utopia that it should have been. This was such an amazing take on a story that I think everyone knows.


Images from Goodreads.com
The Wicked Will Rise is the second installment, though much shorter. It continues the story but leaves off with such a giant cliff hanger that you know there's going to be a third book coming out. I have that anxious thrill waiting for it. In the meantime, the author wrote three mini books in-between, with a fourth coming out this month! No Place Like Oz focuses on Dorothy's life in Kansas after Oz and her return. The Witch Must Burn on everything that she's done to make Oz a terrible place, and the people who are trying to rise against her, and The Wizard Returns giving us an insight into the 'wonderful wizard'. The fourth will focus around the Tin Man.

Image from Goodreads.com

I then started on a new series by Sara Shepard, which most of you probably know is the author of Pretty Little Liars. The Perfectionists is quite similar to PLL, I must admit. It was an almost welcome kind of feeling, getting back into that kind of mystery, though somewhat repetitive. It centers on five girls who all hate this one particular boy at school, who has done different, horrible things to each of them. They have an innocent conversation about how they would kill him, and the other people in their lives that they have something against, though they definitely don't mean it. Everything is innocent until these people start turning up dead in the way that they described. Suddenly these girls are dealing with this sudden deaths and being put under the spotlight for murder. All the stress from PLL with different people.

Image from Goodreads.com

The second installment, The Good Girls, more than makes up for it though. It has such an amazing twist that I'm biting my fingernails to stop myself from typing it all out! You start getting the feeling that it's going to happen about halfway through, but it still hits you like a ton of bricks when it's finally revealed. This is where the plot goes down a completely different road from PLL and it was such a surprise that I've fallen in love with Sara Shepard all over again.

Image from Goodreads.com

Whoo, this has been a long post! The book I'm currently reading is All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I won't get into it too much because I'll want to save it for a future post, but it's good so far and I'm sure I'll zoom through it in no time.

As always, please tell me what you're reading and what you would recommend!
♥

Hello lovelies!
It's the middle of July already! This year is just flying by. And like every year, there are always new things in beauty that I want to try. This year isn't any different, so I thought I'd make a list so you can see what I'm interested in and also to use a reminder for myself.

As if I need more mascara... This is the Lights, Camera, Lashes waterproof mascara by Tarte. I think it's mostly the packaging that has me interested in this, though there is always room for a good waterproof mascara in anyone's collection.

This is a regenerating cleanser by Tata Harper. I want to try this because the description on Sephora says it's a 'gentle, daily exfoliating cleanser that acts as a four-in-one product to purify, minimize the appearance of pores, improve glow, and protect the skin's natural hydration balance'. My nose has a lot of pores that I'm trying to minimize and this has a lot of good reviews, so I want to give this a go.

Image not mine!

I was recently going through my makeup collection and realized that I have NO EYELINER. I mean, I have two pencil liners that have been rarely used, and when I went to try one out, I figured out why. They are scratchy and don't apply well. A nice liquid liner will be better.

Image not mine!

This is kind of a random choice, as I have a good concealer already. I stumbled upon this on tumblr, believe it or not. Apparently, it's really good for covering up tattoos and scars. And it's super durable. I've noticed this collection in Wal Mart in my travels, so I figured I would give it a go.

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes | $10.00 | 0.1 fl oz.
Tata Harper Regenerating Cleanser | $38.00 | 1.7 oz.
Virgin Mojito Body Scrub | $20.00 | 8.4 fl. oz.
Maybelline Line Stiletto Eyeliner | $4.55 | .05 fl. oz.
Hard Candy Glamoflauge Heavy Duty Concealer | $6.00 | 0.71 fl. oz.

What's on your list of products to try this year?
♥

Hello lovelies!
I was recently browsing through the MAC website and spotted a shade of lipstick that I immediately knew I needed to try. 'Velvet Teddy' is what it's called and I'll throw an image of it below for you to marvel at. However, it seems that no matter where you look for it, it's sold out everywhere.

So there's the swatch and isn't the color absolutely lovely? I LOVE my nudes, if you didn't already know. I still haven't quite made it into the whole 'daring lippie' colors yet, though I'm slowly working on it. But when I see colors like this it just makes me really happy. So as you can imagine, since it was really hard to find the MAC version anywhere, I went browsing around for similar colors and the internet did not disappoint me. I found a wonderful dupe for literally a quarter of the price!

My search led me to Wet n Wild's Bare It All lipstick. It is basically an exact copy of Velvet Teddy and I will admit that I've been wearing the heck out of it. I also decided to get a lip liner, my very first because I was recently the victim of 'bleeding' or whatever it's called and it wasn't very fun to go through. This is Wet n Wild's 712 lip liner. And for the price it is a really good consistency and easy to apply.

The both of them together cost me all of $3.00 at Kmart and trust me, this was such a good investment. I've never really purchased a lot of items from Wet n Wild before, but I will probably be going back! The lipstick does get all over the place, as in on the cover, but surprisingly does not spread around the face much. Which is good, overall.

The packaging for the lipstick is a little shaky, but I couldn't expect much else from something that cost just under $2.00. But as I mentioned already, I love the color and will be re-buying this as I'm sure the one I currently have will be gone within a few short months!

Will you be purchasing Bare it All?

♥