Jingle VoxBox Unboxing

Hi!

I just got a late Christmas present in the mail today- the Jingle VoxBox from Influenster!!  I've been waiting on this box for about 2 weeks now, so I was super excited to see it in the mailbox today :)  As with all my other unboxing posts, I'm not going to include reviews or swatches in this post; however, I will do a followup post of my reviews of each of the products in the next few weeks.

In case you're interested, here are some links to my previous VoxBoxes:

• Mary Kay VoxBox
• Varsity VoxBox
• Uni VoxBox
• Jolly VoxBox
• Campus VoxBox
• Sally Hansen VoxBox

Also, here's a timeline just for reference:

December 14: Completed the qualification survey
December 21: Received the confirmation email that I qualified for the box
December 29: Received the box

Enough with the chit-chat, let's check out the box!
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DISCLAIMER:  I received these products complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster.com.  This is not a sponsored post, and all opinions are my own, as always!
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The Box

So, this box is jam packed full of some awesome products!  I can't wait to test them out and see how everything works/ tastes.

Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream ($8.99 - $15.99)

"Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream is a rich, quickly absorbing, non-greasy cream that provides long-lasting relief for even severely dry skin.  This unique formula attracts water to skin and helps prevent moisture loss."

I've never used anything from this brand before, but I've only heard good things about this cream from beauty bloggers and vloggers.  I'm thankful they sent this in the winter box: my skin has been pretty dry recently, so we'll get to see just how effective this cream is on dry skin.  Hopefully we'll have some awesome results!

Biscoff Cookies (250g $2.99)

"Since 1932, Lotus Biscoff Speculoos have been Europe's favorite cookie with coffee.  Delectably crunchy with a unique taste and flavor, Biscoff is perfect for taking the timeout that you deserve."

I.  Absolutely.  Love.  Biscoff.  Cookies!!!  I'm dead serious when I say these are my favorite cookies of all time!  I'm obsessed with cookie butter, which only makes sense because it's made out of these little godsends.  If you've never tried Biscoff cookies, you're missing out.  Needless to say, these will be gone as soon as I finish this blog post.  Maybe sooner ;)

Ore-Ida Tater Tots Coupon ($3.99)

"Ore-Ida, the inventor of the one-and-only Tater Tot, is looking for you to be part of the next big Tater craze.  Show us your creativity and be part of the #OreIdaTotchos movement!"

I'm not a huge fan of potatoes or tater tots, but my boyfriend is always up for some tater tots with his dinner!  Whenever we decide what product we're going to get with our coupon (which is really generous, btw, because it's a $4.00 value!), we'll review the tater tots for ya.

Hallmark itty bittys (Starting at $6.95)

"Hallmark's itty bittys give them a little something to love.  New characters in time for the holiday season include Star Wars, Barbie, DC Comics, Inside Out, Rainbow Brite, and many more.  Collect them all.  These make great stocking stuffers!  Available at Hallmark Gold Crown stores and Hallmark.com."

Ok, this little plushie is adorable!  How cute is little Rapunzel?!  I love the fact that Influenster sent me a Disney character (who happens to be one of my favorite princesses from one of my favorite Disney movies!); they know me so well!  I'm probably going to put this in my classroom and use it as a reward or something for my kids.  Maybe when you have Rapunzel, it's your turn to "gleam and glow"?  Cheesy, I know; but I am in third grade at the moment, and my kids love Disney characters.

NYC City Proof 24HR Waterproof Eyeliner ($3.99)

"City Proof 24HR Eyeliner is a water proof pencil that is perfect for your on-the-go lifestyle.  Just glide on for long lasting 24HR color!"

I received this product in the shade 932 Dark Brown.  I've never tried an NYC eyeliner, but I love 99.9% of their products.  This is one of the cheapest brands at the drugstore, but the products are usually comparable to high end products; this eyeliner (at first glance) reminds me of the Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners, which are my favorite liners.  I usually don't wear brown eyeliner, but I'm excited to try this one out.  I love that it's waterproof, so I'm hoping it'll last all day with no issues or smudging happening.

KISS True Volume Lashes ($3.99)

"Made with 100% natural hair, KISS True Volume Lashes blend beautifully with your own lashes.  The Tapered End Technology creates natural-looking ends that resemble real lashes but give eyes that perfect 'vavoom' without looking too made-up."

Although I don't wear false lashes on a regular basis, I have tried KISS lashes before.  I love the look of these lashes- I think they'll add some volume and length to my lashes while still looking pretty natural.  I wear glasses, so I'm not usually into long lashes, but these look pretty doable and shouldn't hit my lenses.  I'll probably wear these on New Year's Eve, just because.  

KISS Strip Lash Adhesive with Aloe ($3.99)

"Enjoy wearing false lashes without the irritation!  The KISS Aloe Vera Strip Lash Adhesive is a safe and long-lasting glue with the refreshing scent of aloe."

I've only ever used the Revlon Precision Lash Glue, so I'm excited to try a new lash glue, especially one infused with aloe.  I'm hoping this product won't have an overpowering scent.  I'm also hoping that this glue stays in place and keeps the lashes from sliding around throughout the day.

Pure Ice Nail Polish ($1.97 only at Walmart)

"Pure Ice is for the girl whose got passion for the hottest nail colors and trends.  Offering an array of nail polish colors and effects, from high-pigment creams to shimming iridescent pearls and multidimensional single coat glitters, our shoppers can always play with color!  Pure Ice is proudly made in the USA, without formaldehyde, toluene, or DBP."

I love these polishes!  Seriously, I have about 30 bottles of Pure Ice polish, and I've never tried anything from this brand that I don't like.  These polishes are an awesome value, and they last forever.  I don't think any of the polishes in my collection have dried out or gotten overly clumpy before the expiration date.  I love this color (it's called Bikini) because it's such a nice baby blue cream; I'm thinking it's going to take 2 coats to be completely opaque, but these polishes usually level themselves out and don't go on streaky.

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Hope you enjoyed this Jingle VoxBox unboxing!  Thanks again to Influenster for sending me these awesome products to try out.  Check back soon for reviews on each of the products included in the box :)

Keri <3

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

Hi there :)

I have to admit, I've never seen a single episode of Gilmore Girls (but it is in my Netflix queue!)... But, I have seen this pin floating around on Pinterest of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge.  Apparently, someone listed all the books that she reads or mentions throughout the entire series.  There is a grand total of 339 on the list!  That's a lot of books!!

One of my New Year's resolutions is to read more books, and just become more "well read" in general.  I thought this list was a good place to start.  I've looked it over, and it has a bunch of classics and well-known literary works that I probably should have read at some point in high school/ college.  Either way, I hope to finish this list some time in the near future, but it probably won't happen within one year (actually, I can almost guarantee you it won't happen this year).  But, I am going to keep an ongoing list and check each book off as I go.

Let's get started on this insane reading challenge!

Quick notes- I have bolded the titles that I've read, and these books are in alphabetical order by title (not author).

1. 1984 by GeorgeOrwell
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 

3. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
4. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay byMichael Chabon
5. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
6. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
7. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
8. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 

9. The Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
10. The Art of Fiction by Henry James
11. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
12. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
13. Atonement by Ian McEwan
14. Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
15. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
16. Babe by Dick King-Smith
17. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by SusanFaludi
18. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by DaiSijie
19. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
20. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 

21. Beloved by Toni Morrison
22. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney 

23. The Bhagava Gita
24. The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied theNazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by PeterDuffy
25. Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women byElizabeth Wurtzel
26. A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by MaryMcCarthy

27. Brave New World by AldousHuxley
28. Brick Lane by Monica Ali
29. Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner
30. Candide by Voltaire
31. The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
32. Carrie by Stephen King 

33. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
34. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
35. Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White 

36. The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman
37. Christine by Stephen King
38. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
39. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
40. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
41. The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty
42. A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
43. Complete Novels by Dawn Powell
44. The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton
45. Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker
46. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
47. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
48. Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac
49. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
50. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
51. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
52. Cujo by Stephen King
53. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by MarkHaddon

54. Daughter of Fortune by IsabelAllende
55. David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D
56. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
57. The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown
58. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
59. Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
60. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
61. Deenie by Judy Blume
62. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
63. The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by TommyLee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
64. The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) by Dante
65. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood byRebecca Wells
66. Don Quixote by Cervantes
67. Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
68. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 

69. Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by EdgarAllan Poe
70. Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
71. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
72. Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by MarkDunn
73. Eloise by Kay Thompson
74. Emily the Strange by Roger Reger
75. Emma by Jane Austen
76. Empire Falls by Richard Russo
77. Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by DonaldJ. Sobol
78. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
79. Ethics by Spinoza
80. Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by RickSteves

81. Eva Luna by IsabelAllende
82. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
83. Extravagance by Gary Krist
84. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
85. Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore
86. The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan
87. Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by GregCritser
88. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
89. The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
90. Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein
91. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by MitchAlbom
92. Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce
93. Fletch by Gregory McDonald
94. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
95. The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
96. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
97. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
98. Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
99. Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
100. Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
101. Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
102. George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdomof our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg
103. Gidget by Fredrick Kohner
104. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
105. The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
106. The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo

107. The God of Small Things byArundhati Roy
108. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky
109. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
110. The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
111. The Gospel According to Judy Bloom
112. The Graduate by Charles Webb
113. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
114. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 

115. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
116. The Group by Mary McCarthy
117. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
118. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K.Rowling
119. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K.Rowling 

120. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by DaveEggers
121. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 

122. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders byVincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry
123. Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare
124. Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare 

125. Henry V by William Shakespeare
126. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
127. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by EdwardGibbon
128. Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
129. The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton
130. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
131. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
132. How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer

133. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr.Seuss 

134. How the Light Gets In by M. J. Hyland
135. Howl by Allen Ginsberg
136. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
137. The Iliad by Homer
138. I’m With the Band by Pamela des Barres
139. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
140. Inferno by Dante 

141. Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence andRobert E. Lee
142. Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy
143. It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton
144. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
145. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
146. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare 

147. The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
148. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
149. Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
150. The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by RobertAlexander
151. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly byAnthony Bourdain
152. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
153. Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence
154. The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by GoreVidal
155. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
156. The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield
157. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
158. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

159. Lies and the Lying Liars WhoTell Them by Al Franken
160. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
161. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
162. The Little Locksmith by Katharine ButlerHathaway
163. The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
164. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
165. Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
166. Lord of the Flies by William Golding 

167. The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
168. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
169. The Love Story by Erich Segal
170. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
171. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
172. The Manticore by Robertson Davies
173. Marathon Man by William Goldman
174. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
175. Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir
176. Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman
177. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
178. The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
179. Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken
180. The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
181. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 

182. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
183. The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
184. Moby Dick by Herman Melville

185. The Mojo Collection: TheUltimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin
186. Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor
187. A Monetary History of the United States by MiltonFriedman
188. Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret
189. A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by JulieMars
190. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
191. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
192. Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff andJames Norman Hall
193. My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath bySeymour M. Hersh
194. My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken
195. My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by TimGuest
196. Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by MyraWaldo
197. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult 

198. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
199. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
200. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
201. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
202. Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by JanLars Jensen
203. New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
204. The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
205. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
206. Night by Elie Wiesel 

207. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
208. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism byWilliam E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan
209. Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, MagicWheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
210. Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski

211. Of Mice and Men by JohnSteinbeck 

212. Old School by Tobias Wolff
213. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
214. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
215. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
216. The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
217. Oracle Night by Paul Auster
218. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
219. Othello by Shakespeare 

220. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
221. The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by DonaldKagan
222. Out of Africa by Isac Dineson
223. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
224. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
225. The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by DonaldKagan
226. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
227. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
228. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
229. Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington
230. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
231. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeiland Gillian McCain
232. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
233. The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
234. The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche
235. The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and theEducation of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind
236. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
237. Property by Valerie Martin

238. Pushkin: A Biography by T. J.Binyon
239. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
240. Quattrocento by James Mckean
241. A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
242. Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers
243. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe 

244. The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
245. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by AzarNafisi
246. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
247. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
248. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
249. Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad byVirginia Holman
250. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
251. R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton
252. Rita Hayworth by Stephen King
253. Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert
254. Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton
255. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare 

256. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
257. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
258. Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
259. The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition
260. Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
261. Sanctuary by William Faulkner
262. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
263. Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James
264. The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum

265. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
266. Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
267. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
268. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
269. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
270. Selected Hotels of Europe
271. Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by DawnPowell
272. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
273. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
274. Several Biographies of Winston Churchill
275. Sexus by Henry Miller
276. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
277. Shane by Jack Shaefer
278. The Shining by Stephen King
279. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
280. S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton
281. Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut 

282. Small Island by Andrea Levy
283. Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
284. Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers
285. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant inthe Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore
286. The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
287. Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Juliade Burgos
288. The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
289. Songbook by Nick Hornby
290. The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
291. Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth BarrettBrowning

292. Sophie’s Choice byWilliam Styron
293. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
294. Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
295. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by MaryRoach
296. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
297. A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams
298. Stuart Little by E. B. White
299. Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
300. Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
301. Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett
302. Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber
303. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
304. Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
305. Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
306. Time and Again by Jack Finney
307. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
308. To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
309. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
310. The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare
311. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
312. The Trial by Franz Kafka
313. The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
314. Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
315. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
316. Ulysses by James Joyce
317. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath
318. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

319. Unless by Carol Shields
320. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
321. The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers
322. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
323. Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard
324. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
325. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
326. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
327. Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten
328. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
329. We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker
330. What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles
331. What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell
332. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
333. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
334. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
335. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
336. The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
337. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
338. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
339. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Total thus far: 38 out of 339 (as of 1/1/2018)
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Thanks for keeping up with my progress on this reading challenge.  Check back soon for more updates and new posts :)

Keri <3

Influenster Champion

Hey!!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve and Happy Holidays! I just received an early present from Inflenster.com in the mail :D

I participated in the Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs campaign on Influenster a few weeks ago, and apparently I was a top badge holder. Don't know how that happened, but I'm excited! Anyways, I received a little green box in the mail containing a Sally Hansen nail polish. 

Let's check it out together. 

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This is the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear polish in the shade 445 Violet Voltage. I took pictures of the bottle in artificial light (1st picture) and natural light (2nd picture) just to show you the true color. 

I haven't tried this color out yet (my nails are kind of short at the moment...), but I know I love this line of polishes! When I do try it out, I'll leave my opinion on the color/ formula down below. 

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Until then, hope you're having a wonderful holiday season so far! Talk to you again soon :)

Keri <3

Unpopular Opinions Book Tag

Hey there!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything new to my blog (although I have been updating my 2015 reading and movie lists, if you want to check those out!), so I figured I would do yet another tag.  If you've been here for a while, or if you've looked through my posts, you'll probably notice that I am obsessed with tags!  I found this bookish tag on TheBookArcher's YouTube channel.  Check her out if you're a bookworm like me :)

Quick little disclaimer before I get started: this tag is meant to be about my UNPOPULAR opinions on POPULAR books.  That being said, please don't take offense to anything I might say about books you enjoy.  I'm just giving you my opinion, and you are 100% allowed to disagree with it.  I'm not, by any means, trying to offend anyone or hate on popular books.  I just tend to have different opinions than most people on social media.

Ok, let's get this tag started!

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1. A popular book or series that you didn't like
I do not like the Moral Instrument series.  At all.  I wasn't even able to finish the whole series (and that never happens)... I started reading the first book about two years ago because one of my favorite YouTubers was talking about how amazing it was.  The first book was alright, but I didn't really understand the hype.  I got about halfway through the second book and had to put it down.  The plotline was ridiculous, and the story just kinda fell off for me.  I don't know, maybe I'm just not into the whole Shadow Hunter thing.  I feel like it's already been done so many times (although this series does put a slight spin on the overdone teen-romance, demon-fighting, vampire, whatever genre).

2. A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love
Everyone seems to hate on the Matched trilogy by Allie Condie (at least everyone I know), but I loved that series!  I'll admit, the second book was kind of a waste of time- why did they need to go back up the mountain??- but the series overall was fantastic.  I love the character development, the plot twists (although some of them were pretty predictable), and the overall story arch; plus, Condie's writing style is incredible.  Yes, this is another teen-romance/ love triangle/ dystopian series.  But, if you take it for what it is, I think it's a great set of books.

3. A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with
Ugh, I hate love triangles.  Is it possible to find a book without love triangles anymore?!  Anyway, I'm still not happy about the ending of The Hunger Games trilogy, even though it makes the most sense logically, and is the ending most people wouldn't have expected (myself included).  No spoilers here, but I'm not thrilled about who Katniss ends up with, and I'll probably never get over it.  Sorry not sorry.

4. A popular book genre that you hardly reach for
I'm not into the vampire/ fantasy creatures genre at all.  I feel like it's way too overdone, and almost every book I've read from the fantasy genre that includes vampires/ werewolves/ fairies/ whatever is almost exactly the same as the last.  I know it's not fair to judge an entire genre based off the few books that I've read, but if I had to pick one, I'm kind of over the teen fantasy genre at the moment.

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like
A lot of people aren't going to be happy about this one.  Gus Waters and Hazel Grace are some of my least favorite characters in teen fiction.  Seriously, I don't understand the obsession with The Fault in Our Stars or the characters.  I feel like they're so static, the book is beyond cheesy, and the plotline is predictable.  I'm sorry, I just don't understand the love for this book, or John Green in general.  He's not a bad writer (in fact, I actually enjoy his writing style), but this book was so choppy to me.  Let me explain: there are parts that are written beautifully, and then there are parts that seem like a 12 year-old wrote it.  I get that Hazel is going through a lot, and she's still a teenage girl.  But, if you're going to write from that perspective, you should stay in that perspective 100% of the time.  Green throws in some well-written, fantastic sections that almost sound like Shakespearean sonnets, but then goes back to the typical teenage girl thoughts ("oh my god, he's so hot!").  I'm gonna stop before I go too far.

6. A popular author that you can't seem to get into
Ok, I can't really say I've tried to read anything she's written, but I cannot see why everyone is so obsessed with E.L. James and the Fifty Shades of Grey series.  Let's make one thing clear- I'm not at all against the subject matter of the book (in fact, I'm kind of into it).  For one, this is NOT an accurate representation of the BDSM community in the least. From what I know about the triology and the parts that I have suffered through, these books glorify a ridiculous relationship between an egotistical man and a weak woman who doesn't know what she needs/ wants from a man. Anyway, I'll stop with that. What I don't like is the way the book is written and the concept that it's based on.  I can't stand Twilight (yes, I have read all four books...), so I'm positive I wouldn't like a book that started out as a fanfiction of the series.  From the few pages I have read, E.L. James' writing style doesn't appeal to me in the least.  Sorry, I just can't get into a book that is written poorly, and has ridiculous inner dialogue.

7. A popular book trope that you're tired of seeing
I. Am. So. Tired. Of. The. Love. Triangles.  Please, make it stop!!  Honestly, you can write an incredible series or book without including any romantic aspect at all; but, if you must include some sort of mushy whatever, please keep it between two people and not three.  I'm so over the love triangles, it's not even funny.  I love The Hunger Games series partically because Collins does a wonderful job of balancing the violence and political components of the book perfectly with a little bit of love and teenage angst/ drama.  She does a wonderful job of not over-exaggerating the love triangle between Katniss, Peta, and Gale, and she keeps the characters believable and realistic.

8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading
I've already mentioned this series in #6, but I have no interest in reading the Fifty Shades of Grey series.  I'm not interested in the movies, I'm not interested in the spin-offs, blah, blah, blah.  In all seriousness, I don't think James does the BDSM community any justice by the way she portrays the relationships in this book (but, like I've said, I haven't read the books, so take my opinion for what it is).  I could write you an entire dissertation about the subject, but I'm gonna keep this short and sweet: I will not read this series.  Period, end of story.

9. The saying goes, "The book is always better than the movie," but what movie or TV show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?
I can honestly say that there is not a single movie/ TV show that is better than the book.  However, I want to mention the Harry Potter series, simply because I think the movies are AS GOOD AS the books.  The books and the the movies are different enough that I can appreciate both for what they are, even though the movies don't follow the books exactly.  The only other movie I can think of that even comes close to being as good as the written text is August: Osage County by Tracy Letts.  The play is incredible, and the movie is phenomenal- the casting is absolutely perfect, by the way.

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Thanks for checking out this tag.  I encourage everyone (especially bookworms) to complete this tag! Talk to you again soon :)

Keri <3