I am by no means a fashion expert. Having gone to a school with a uniform until university, I am still slowly defining any "personal style," finding out what works for my body type/colouring, and building up a solid wardrobe. Lately, I noticed I had a significant lack of cozy clothes that are a) comfortable enough to lounge around in, b) appropriate enough to go out and look cute in, and c) warm enough for Montreal's below-freezing weather. 

Unless you're living under a rock, you're aware that it was Black Friday and Cyber Monday last weekend, which has sort of extended into  a whole cluster mess of sales, bundles and discounts leading into December's holiday shopping season. Although some of the individual sales were super duper tempting, the gross amount of discounts advertised sort of overwhelmed me away from the whole experience. However, I did somehow make my way into Ardene and Target over last week, and took advantage of their reduced prices (not that they were all that high to begin with). Over the past week, I've barely worn anything else besides these clothes as they make the perfect spend hours "studying" at a cafe while secretly trying to justify visiting the Bay later as a reward for all your "hard work." 

Knee-High Socks (L to R):
- winter midi sock
- midi sock in black
- argyle midi sock

Leggings:
- knit effects legging
- winter texture legging

Ardene is a Canadian-only company, somewhat reminiscent of Claire's accessories and atmosphere. However, they have also recently increased their clothing selection significantly, with tons of low-priced sweaters, leggings, jeans, dresses, and even onesies! Based on its brand's image, most women above the age of fourteen tend to write-off Ardene as being cheap or tacky. While the clothing is definitely not high quality (they have more of the Forever21 vibe), at least the pricing reflects that! There's no worse feeling than actually spending significant amount of $$$, only to find out that the clothing purchased also breaks down after a couple of washes (aka they're made out of the same shitty material, and it's not like cashmere and silk are really in my current clothing budget). 

My one gripe with Ardene is that shopping there is reminiscent of when my mom used to quiz us kids on our math skills on our way to/from school (this actually happened frequently in my childhood). When you walk into the stores, which at least aren't as large and disorganized as Forever21, you're swarmed by pink labels indicating the price bundles: "3 for $10," "3 for $15," "2 for $15," "2 for $20"...you get the idea. But I digress, because most of the bundles are pretty good deals.

See those fun festive "midi socks"? All three of those pairs cost me a combined total of $10 CAD (individually they're 5.50, so it's legitimately cheaper to buy three pairs instead of two...screw logic). When these pictures were taken, I had yet to wear the regular black pair, so you can see how they came packaged. Since I have gotten these, I have worn one of the pairs every single day. Not only do they keep my feet nice and warm by trapping them in with my pants, they're also adorable paired with any leggings, especially when you see them peeking out of boots. Also, I think these are wonderfully versatile since they can be worn with with skirts, shorts and dresses in the spring/summer for a little preppy vibe.

A mere couple of years ago, I had never applied so much as mascara, and some occasional concealer on my teenage acne. Right before my seventeenth birthday, during my senior year of high school, my family took a relaxing beach trip to Jamaica. Unfortunately, while the resort was wonderful and Jamaica is amazing, it rained for the majority of our stay. After devouring the only novels I had brought, I ended up reading several beauty/fashion magazines cover-to-cover to pass the time. Somehow during that week, a love of beauty and makeup was born. Since I can have a rather obsessive personality, it didn’t take me long to find the online beauty community, both blogs and YouTube videos. Nowadays, several peoples’ livelihoods are being made by sharing their passion for cosmetics on the Internet, which means there is a whole lot of content added daily! Through reading several blog posts and watching tons of YouTube videos, I have learnt a whole lot about a whole lot pertaining to these beauty themes (makeup, skin care, body care, fashion, etc.) and my thirst for knowledge has only grown over the years.

Many people do not understand how/why I devote so much of my free time to learning about beauty, and I don’t expect them to, nor do I try and justify it (because I honestly don't know the answer myself). However, I know a lot of people who have turned to the online beauty community, either to search for specific information (a product review, a particular tutorial, etc.) or out of general interest, but have become overwhelmed and discouraged by the confusing terminology and customs that the virtual community assumes is general knowledge. I know that I would have greatly appreciated some sort of guidebook/dictionary/FAQ to help me out along the way, so that is precisely what I have chosen to write. Without further ado, I present: Megan’s Guide to the weird world of talking about beauty products on the Internet and other related inquiries. Unfortunately, if I tried to cram all of the weird aspects of the online beauty community in one blog post, it would still be very overwhelming. Therefore, I have decided to divide my guide into a three-part series, and today I present



Lesson #1 - Vocabulary

GLOSSARY: the most commonly used terms/abbreviations/acronyms of the virtual beauty world

• OOTD: “Outfit of the Day” - the clothes I wore today and where I bought them from
• FOTD: “Face of the Day” - the makeup I wore today (and sometimes how I applied it)
• NOTD: “Nails of the Day” - the nail polish I had on today
• MLBB: “My lips but better” - refers to a lipstick whose color is very similar to the natural lip shade that you possess
• HG: “Holy Grail” - a beauty product that cannot be lived without (or that you would really rather not live without)
• VIB: “Very Important Beauty Insider” - a Sephora acronym/title that you can receive when you sign up for a membership account with the company
• VIB Rouge: special Sephora membership status attained once you spend a certain amount annually on products (next step after having a VIB account and you get some added benefits)
• Cult product: a product that has a significant cult following of fans and is usually well-known to most of the beauty community, such as NARS Orgasm blush (though many people awkwardly do not like this) and Urban Decay Naked Palettes, which reminds me…
• Naked Palettes: Eyeshadow palettes by the brand Urban Decay that contain twelve full-sized neutral colors. These palettes are extremely popular, and Urban Decay has just released their third “Naked 3” version for this holiday season
• GRWM: “Get Ready With Me” - usually in the form of a video that takes the viewer on a journey of someone getting ready for the day or night out (clothing and/or makeup and/or body care)
• Swatches: what a makeup product looks like swiped on skin’s surface, usually on one’s hand or more likely on the inside of one’s arm (this is to show you a more accurate representation of how a product looks, since it often varies from how it looks in its packaging)
• Haul: to haul (verb) essentially means to buy; a haul (noun) refers to a shopping trip
• Dupe: a substitute of a cosmetic product that provides an identical effect to another; often used to showcase a cheaper drugstore alternative that can be used in place of a higher-end product
  
• “Creasing”: Our skin happens to actually have tons of little wrinkles and crevices, no matter what age you are. Creasing occurs when a product settles/clumps into the natural creases of your skin, which most usually occurs under your eyes (with concealer) and in the fold of your eyelid (with eyeshadow)
• DIY: “Do it Yourself” - an easier/cheaper way to substitute the benefits or effects of using a beauty product, often with household ingredients or items (this is an acronym that you probably should know already)
• “Hitting Pan”: when you have used so much of a product that you have hit the backing (or actual metallic pan, for powder products) of its packaging, which can feel like quite the accomplishment (you go Glen Coco)
  
• Beauty "Guru": When girls started making videos about makeup on YouTube, the only classification for their YouTube channels that made any sense was "guru," and thus many beauty vloggers/bloggers still follow the title of "beauty guru"
• High Street: British term that technically refers to the concept of the primary business street of a town/city. In beauty terms, this usually refers to what North American's refer to as "drugstores," or where you can buy cheaper makeup and cosmetic brands

Well class, that’s all the time we have left for today's lesson (since it’s almost 3:00am and I have actual class tomorrow, oops). Remember that Megan’s Guide to the weird world of talking about beauty products on the Internet and other related inquiries is only intended to serve as a helpful resource, and that these are not actual dictionary-defined terms.Thank you for your attendance and attention in today’s lesson, and I’ll see you next time for Lesson #2: Traditional and Routine Topics.

Now that cold weather has officially become the norm in Montreal, me and my fellow university students have come to accept that the our city's 5-month winter season is here to stay, and that we can/should dress appropriately. However, I will be escaping to sunny Barcelona as of 2014, and therefore have chosen to embrace winter fashion as much as possible until then. My latest obsession: head warmers. If right now you're wondering "what the hell's a head warmer?" then you probably just know them by some other name such as a head turban, head scarf, knit/wool head band, knit/wool hair wrap, etc. 

Below are some of my current lust-worthy warmers ranging from budget-friendly to as if prices:

How do I love thee head warmer? Let me count the ways:

1. They keep your ears warm - this can be underratedly necessary when it's cold as $h!t
2. They are much easier to throw in your schoolbag/purse than earmuffs.
3. They can also be thrown in the wash (for the most part) if dirty.
4. They can be worn all day to cover up greasy hair, though I would recommend a lighter option to prevent sweating i.e. more greasiness. Don't judge me...sometimes those extra twenty minutes of sleep are really more necessary than a shower.
5. Like scarves, you can wear the same head warmer every day without anyone really noticing.
6. Bad hair day? s'NO PROBLEM!
7. They come in a variety of colours and textures to coordinate with different scarves, moods, coats, and weather conditions.

So come on guys, let's stop complaining and moping around indoors all day. Embrace the cold! Love the wind! Or at least get a head warmer, and the next five months might not seem so daunting.