50 Quick Ways to Cheer Yourself Up When You're Feeling Lousy

We're always on-the-go these days. There's always another task to accomplish, an errand to run, a project to finish, or an appointment to get to in time. But when we're always looking ahead to the next task and stretching ourselves too thin, it's common to experience burnout. The easiest way to fix that is to focus on yourself for a change. Try one of these self-care methods next time you could use a pick-me-up.

For when you're feeling stuck...

It's easy to feel stuck in life sometimes. We live in the age of the newsfeed, and we're often bombarded with the exciting news of promotions, new jobs, engagements, and even babies. It's easy to feel inadquate when there's nothing exciting to report on your end. Whether you're feeling stuck because you're unemployed, underemployed, or you just wish you were at a different place in your life right now, here are some ideas to get you going again.

3 Spooky Books You MUST Read This Halloween!

Halloween is here! If you're not yet in the mood for ghosts and ghouls, or if you'd rather stay in than go howl at the moon, feel free to curl up with a nice cup of tea and one of these hauntingly good reads. These aren't just your run-of-the-mill spooky stories, by the way: these works of horror have been hand-picked by yours truly to make your skin crawl.

6 Mugs You Didn't Know You Needed Until Right Now

Mugs are personal. It's ritual, it's routine. You choose one in the morning to accompany you on your journey to wakefulness, one in the evening to comfort and help you drift off to sleep, or one for any other time of day when you need a drink. Then there's your choice of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate... full strength or decaf... and whatever flavor you're craving at the moment. Whatever you decide, the choice of mug is just as important. The above six are beautiful ones that I wouldn't mind at all adding to my collection... because your favorite drinks just taste so much better in a pretty mug. (And let's be real: mugs are one of the greatest things you can collect.)

Blogging Tools I'm Using | 2014

I love blogging. There, I said it. It started as a hobby, but it soon grew to something that I've become quite passionate about. I've found that regardless of the topic I choose to pursue, I found a love for creating content, scheduling, sharing, researching ways to improve, and oh, the productivity tools. For the curious, I've compiled a list of things I use. Let's get technical, shall we?

It's my Birthday!

No, this really isn't a bragging blog post. I've never been one to religiously count down the days until my birthday, celebrate the whole week, or use my birthday as an excuse to be a butthead. (Last year, I barely even recognized that it was my birthday.)

Graduation Thoughts

This is a picture of me that was taken just a few days ago. I was sitting near the stage in a crowded arena with roughly 8,000 people in it. I look pretty calm, but boy, was I terrified.

Shopping online? Here are 10 secrets to help you save money.

Shopping online is a gift to the world. It's useful for when you don't have the time, transportation, or desire to leave the house in order to make a shopping trip. From groceries to cosmetics to clothing, you can buy anything online these days. 

I've done my fair share of online shopping. I've even picked up a few things along the way. Keep these tips in mind the next time you shop on line:

Closet Warfare: My Top 7 Wardrobe Pieces [New tag!]

I've been in a bit of a blogging rut lately. Whenever I'm feeling uninspired and otherwise down in the dumps, I like to change into my favorite clothes to cheer myself up. Then, I got an idea...

Happy Birthday, MW!

I can't believe it's been a year since I first started this blog! Mascara Warrior has been my first big blogging project, but it's never truly been a chore at all. Writing is a creative outlet I adore, as are makeup and lifestyle things, so combining these passions of mine together was one of the best decisions I've ever made. 

My favorite Pinterest boards!

I've got a problem, and her name is Pinterest. Whenever there's real work to be done like working on my resume, writing a research paper, or trying to write a blog post (guilty), there she is, looming on the horizon like the time-killer you know you'll end up succumbing to. You know there's no way you'll ever slay her completely: you've cultivated too many recipes to try, DIYs you'll never do, and fashion pieces that you can never even hope of owning. But, the real question is... Why would you ever want to give her up? She makes you feel fancier than you already are. (Or, if it makes you feel any better, you could totally give it up anytime you wanted to. The first step is to stop referring to a website as a "she.")

Stressed out? Here are five ways to stress less.

Sometimes too many projects pile up on top of each other. There are times when all those meetings and other things you have to go to happen within a short time period. Other times, we just don’t know how we’re going to get through the week. We’ve all been there. When too many things begin to pile up before me, I tend to go into automatic shutdown mode. (My ever-graceful and very effective method of coping is laying face down on the floor. I can’t even fix things from down there.) Worried that everything that’s been weighing on your shoulders is getting the best of you? Here are some ideas to get you ready to get back in control.

Snowy Day Essentials ❆

Sometimes, it's really nice to wake up to an email saying that one or two (or all) of your classes have been cancelled! That's what happened to me just an hour ago. Well, maybe just one class of mine has been cancelled so far, but what better way is there to celebrate it than to stay all snuggled up indoors with a few of your warmest favorites? (None. There is no better way.) So, in case you were wondering what to do on a snow day, or if you just wish you had one right now, read on.

My Tea Collection! (The Obsession Continues.)

If you know me in person, then you're probably rolling your eyes at the fact that I made this blog post. And you know what? I don't blame you. 

It's no secret that I'm obsessed with tea. My friends and family like to make fun of me because I will probably never drink everything I had even if I tried. But you know what? There are different teas for different scenarios--you definitely don't want to have one all-purpose tea. Would you really want to relax before bed with a caffeinated cup of tea, or try to wake yourself up in the morning with a soothing bedtime  tea? What if you want to settle your stomach? You probably wouldn't want something crazy-flavored, would you? Of course you wouldn't. 

Yes, I know I have a lot of tea. I have more tea now than I could probably ever use in my entire lifetime, and I have more than I did a year ago. I know I have a severe problem. However, I'm sure there are people out there with more than I have. Let's all just get along for a second and admire the pretty pictures I took of my tea collection, conveniently broken up into categories. (You're welcome?)

Top Netflix Picks!

Though I'm embarrassed to admit it, Netflix is one of my favorite things. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to have a cozy night in watching your favorite shows. It can be a little overwhelming at times, however, because there are so many different things you can watch. If you ever find yourself wondering what to watch on Netflix, you've come to the right place. Here are some good things to watch next time you're feeling uninspired:

13 Things I Did in 2013 ☆

A lot of crazy things are going to go down in 2014. I'm going to graduate college, leave all the friends I've made, hopefully get a big girl job and my own apartment and start a life on my own. But before all the madness happens in May, I'd like to take some time to reflect on how wonderful 2013 was for me. So, without further ado, here are 13 things I did in 2013:

December Life Favorites! | 2013

Hello, friends! As December comes to a close, I thought it would be a good idea to post about what my favorite things during the month were. Because why not, right? 

Here we go!

10 Things That Got Me Through Finals

Finals week is finally over! All my final papers, hating myself for not studying for exams sooner, and over-studying for those exams have finally ceased. Now that I'm on winter break until January, it's time to not do anything productive whatsoever and watch lots of netflix. Because that's what responsible adults do, right? But first, here's a look back at the ten things that helped get me through finals week the most:

Favorite Etsy Finds | Back to School Edition!

Hello, friends! I've been on a major Etsy kick recently. While it started off innocently enough with looking for a new, cute phone case, soon enough I found myself looking at wallets, bags, art prints, and beads. However, I found that most of what I had been admiring had a common theme... they were all things that I could use during the upcoming school year!

With my last year of undergrad quickly approaching, I thought it would be a lovely time to treat myself with a new book bag and some other essentials (and not-so-essentials). Before I placed the order that would surely make my wallet weep, I wanted to show you all what I'd been wanting to purchase! 

The Liebster Award!

Hello, everyone! I hope you're all having a nice weekend. I took a nice drive through some nice scenery this morning with the radio on and my windows down. It was really nice!

I was recently nominated for a Liebster Award by handful of  lovely bloggers! Before this, I had seen this award floating around, but I wasn't really sure what it was. I did a little poking around and found out that the Liebster Award is more like a tag than an actual award for bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. I did some research on it, and I tracked down one of the original posts--it used to be for blogs with fewer than 3000 followers! I guess this "award" is just a bit like a big game of Telephone... it means a little something different to everyone. 

Because of this, the rules were different from each person that I was nominated by, so I just decided to mix them all together. Here are the rules: