Bye Blogger!

This is goodbye to Blogger...and hello to my new site! You can still check me out at my brand new website, Macarons & Mascara, by clicking right here. I hope you enjoy my new website!

Tea Tree Oil Skincare System

I'll be the first to admit that I break out regularly, sadly. Finding a product to banish my breakouts has always been difficult for me, since many products don't seem to do what they claim. I discovered The Body Shop back in May and have been eyeing their products longingly. I began buying their products during the summer and really liked them. First, let me just tell you a little bit about The Body Shop. The store has awesome products made from natural ingredients - perfect essential daily products to keep in your skincare routine. I also love that they often do promotions where you can buy 3 items and get 2 free or buy 2 items and get 1 free. #Savings #iLoveGreatDeals! Anyway, the first thing I bought was the Tea Tree Oil facial cleanser, which performed well but I still felt like there was something missing...

On t.v. acne treatment systems are always advertised. It made me wonder what was so great about 3-step systems that include a wash, toner and lotion. But maybe that method works? That's what I figured when I decided to buy the Tea Tree Oil system from The Body Shop. Maybe this is it. Maybe this method will effectively banish my breakouts. I went to the store and sat with one of the consultants who showed me exactly how to use their system and walked me through each and every one of the products. I happily purchased all four products.

The routine I followed goes like this: I washed my face with the Tea Tree Oil exfoliator twice a day. Afterward, I use a cotton pad to apply the TTO toner. I then apply the Drops of Youth serum and finish with the Skin Clearing Lotion. I've been following this routine for nearly two months now and I feel that if there might be any progress, I'd start seeing it now. I realize that all products take time to work (trust me, you don't need to tell me that twice). Here's what I have to say about each product:

1. Tea Tree Oil Exfoliator: 
#1 in the system is the Tea Tree Oil Exfoliator, which I paid $15 for. I like exfoliators because they help lift away dead skin cells. This scrub did not irritate my skin at all and always left my face feeling refreshed. Maybe the scent also has a hand in this, but regardless, I always feel energized after using this scrub. A dime-sized amount is really all you need because, as you can probably see from the picture, I am nearly out of exfoliator!

2. Tea Tree Oil Skin Clearing Toner: 
Toners seek to balance your skin. They also further clean off whatever leftover dirt might have been stuck in your pores. What makes this toner special is that it contains a special powder formula that leaves your skin matte after application! I was super excited about this because I have naturally oily skin and when I wear foundation, I don't like to see that greasy shine on my face! In order to activate this formula you must shake the bottle well before every application. The scent is as delectable as that of any toner. I definitely felt like this toner had a hand in drying up some breakouts, which is fantastic! I also love that the bottle is rather large. Two months in and I still have about 1/3 of the bottle remaining! I paid $18 for this toner because I got the 13.5oz bottle. There is a cheaper option (8.4oz) which sells for $13.

3. Drops of Youth Serum: 
I usually don't try to buy anything that claims to "defy age" or basically anything with the word "youth" in its name but here's what got me to put up the money for this product: The consultant told me that this brightening serum works to fade acne marks. She had me at acne marks. They basically dominate my face and any system that includes a product to fight them sounds pretty good to me. The serum is light and extremely non-greasy. In two months I definitely noticed a positive difference in the appearance of some marks on my cheeks so I'm really happy about that! The only problem I saw with this product lies in the packaging: It's supposed to be a dropper-type complex but you don't squeeze a rubber thing at the top to draw the product. Instead, you press down on a raised section on the cover. This is extremely annoying and ineffective. I feel that a normal pump would have sufficed. I paid $10 for this product because I chose the smaller-sized bottle but this product comes in a larger bottle for about $18, I believe.

4. Skin Clearing Lotion: 
I was just a tad bit iffy about putting up $14.50 for this product because I usually don't like applying lotions or creams to my face because I have oily skin and can only see them making my face even oilier. Like the toner, however, this lotion works to mattify your skin after application. It didn't disappoint! A little goes a long way, so beware - if you apply too much you will inevitably see a greasy T-zone by the end of the day. I don't think that the lotion itself does anything to physically clear my breakouts, HOWEVER, I feel that it is an essential addition to the system because the Toner tends to slightly dry out certain areas of your skin. For me, the area around my mouth were beginning to become very dry so applying this lotion saved my skin there!

Overall, I'd say that I like the outcome where my skin is concerned. If you get small breakouts from stress or certain foods or anything along those lines, this system will have your skin revitalized and de-pimpled in as few as three days. However, I breakout hormonally as well and found that this system was NOT effective in treating my big hormonal breakouts. It still, however, managed to make sure that my skin was kept clean at all times, though the hormonal breakouts took a while to subside. I'd like to continue using this system, nevertheless since the overall appearance and texture of my skin has improved.

What's your favorite skincare system? 

Ulta Limited Edition Nail Lacquer

I'll let you in on a little secret: I've never ordered anything from ULTA - until now, that is! I'll give you a moment of exaggerated gasps...In any case, the other week I placed an order from our amazing makeup super-store and was not disappointed! My order arrived quickly and with everything in tow. Among my order was the ULTA limited edition nail lacquer. It's the holiday season and that means seasonal makeup and beauty products are lining the shelves and our web browsers. As you might already know, I'm obsessed with nail polish. I've been doing my nails since the sixth grade and I have never once looked back. I was browsing ULTA online one night and came across an amazing deal: 5 items for $5! The limited edition nail polish immediately caught my eye as I was captivated by the holiday-inspired colors. 

I hurriedly added four bottles of nail polish (plus blue mascara, french manicure strips, and eyeliner) to my cart, satisfied with my latest snag. There are more than four colors in the collection but I chose these four because I didn't have colors like them (and now I'm glad I do!) ULTA nail lacquer usually sells for about $6 a bottle but because of the deal I paid $4 for all four instead of $24! Thank you ULTA!! 

These nail polishes are very pigmented. At most, I applied two coats of polish, though, some of them didn't need two coats. They are also rather quick drying, which is a huge plus for me because I'm always busy and, even though I like to get my hands dirty, I can't say I'd be too thrilled by messing up a freshly manicured hand! So you can see how gorgeous these colors are, here are some swatches: 

'Let it Snow' is a glittery white nail polish. It's my favorite glitter nail polish ever because it's so concentrated that it only takes two coats to become opaque and and oh-so enchanting!

'Peppermint' is an icy light blue that is the opposite of sheer! I'm in love with this color because it maintains a cool tone while still being vivid. I can just imagine myself curling up to a steamy peppermint mocha when I see this color! 

'Naughty or Nice' is an electrifying purple. The color is sassy but sweet and it's awesome for showing off at a Christmas party!

'Silver Bell' is a perfect silver, kind-of gunmetal shade! It's absolutely brilliant and eye-catching. This color is the perfect epitome of the graceful silver ornament our Christmas trees have come to know. 

If I had to pick a favorite, I'd say Silver Bell rocks the vote, but Peppermint is definitely up there! Like I said, I'm extremely impressed with ULTA brand nail polish and I would like to delve deeper into their awesome products! 

Which color is your favorite? 

"Fruit Punch" Nails

Need a design that's really easy but a little more than your plain Jane? I call this design my "Fruit Punch" nails because the vibrant magenta I used kind of reminds me of Fruit Punch. Don't these nails make you feel like you have a nice, cold glass of Fruit Punch right in front of you? 

The color I used on all but one of my nails is from L.A. Colors and is called Electra. I like this color because it's extremely bright and fun! On my Ring finger I used a regular white nail polish from New York Color to paint the entire nail white. After it dried, I used nail art brush to paint small wedges for flower petals. First I did this with Sally Hansen's Electra-cute! and once it was half dry I used Wet n' Wild's Oops as an inner color. I only had enough space to make four wedge shapes instead of five since I, accidentally, painted them on too big. 

Once the petals dried, I took a small dotting tool and dipped it in black nail polish to create three tiny black dots for the seeds of the flower. Afterward, I took Revlon's Posh, a dark green polish, and used the same dotting tool to make oblong shapes for leaves. 

I used a top coat to seal in my design and I was done! This whole design took less than an hour to complete, so it's definitely not too time consuming! You can recreate this look with other colors! I recommend switching Electra and Electra-cute for a bouncy, orange mani! 

How To Be Good at Being Busy

Midterms, homework, projects, clubs, and social life - they can all keep you super busy! As much as we love chilling in bed and not leaving the comfort of our rooms for anything, responsibility is a basic aspect of life, especially if you’re a college student! Because of this we might be tempted to only participate in the bare minimum of college life, which is homework, exams, and social life. Over the last month, I went out of my way to do the opposite of this - I went out of my way to stay as busy as humanly possible. 

I say “humanly” because I’m not a robot - I still need to eat, sleep, and have some chill time by myself. I’ve been going out of my way to make academic and career appointments for myself and scoping out cool events happening on campus. I’ve also been undertaking projects for the on-campus clubs and organizations that I’m currently part of. Another super productive and experiential way I’ve been keeping myself busy is through something super awesome that happened to me just last week: I became Editor in Chief of Odyssey at Stony Brook University! As you can imagine, this involves a ton of professional planning and organization, as well as recruitment! 

I recently saw a Facebook post targeted towards college students that implies that we cannot possibly balance all the aspects of college life that I previously mentioned all while having enough time to get well-deserved 8 hours of sleep. I’m here to say that this is actually possible! 

First of all let me just say that I am not a fan of anything that explicitly or implicitly states that millennials are “lazy”, “incapable” or anything along those lines so, despite the growing majority, I did not ‘Like’ the post or that page and I was determined to get to writing about my own personal experiences with staying busy and living a balanced college life. 

As I told the Managing Editor at Odyssey, there’s a difference between being busy and being good at being busy. Many students, unfortunately, struggle with the latter. It’s not our fault if we stumble a little with that process (and maybe actually trip once or twice) but it is our fault if we don’t do anything about our screw ups. Without further ado, here are my tips for being good at being busy: 

1. Find things to keep yourself busy. 

The first step to being good at being busy is finding things to keep yourself busy! I know some people who only concern themselves with class, homework (if they choose to do homework) and exams (if they choose to study for exams). You have less to worry about so you give yourself more leeway to mess around and be lazy. I usually advise people to find other things to occupy themselves. Join a fitness class at the gym and make it your duty to attend weekly. Join a club or organization on campus that will keep you engaged! These are simple ways you can busy yourself if you’re one of those people who are basically married to Netflix. 

2. Keep a schedule and update it weekly. 

Every Sunday I update my schedule for the week to include all the new appointments, meetings, events, and things I have going on. I usually start by adding my classes first followed by fitness classes then I include appointments and meetings and such. Afterward, I like to allot for study time and homework time. A schedule is helpful because it allows you to keep track of everything that needs to get done without any hesitations. It also provides a visual way for you to gauge your availability on any given day and time. You never want to double book yourself or schedule an appointment for a time you think you’re free only to find out that you have another commitment at that time. This wastes your time and the time of the person you were supposed to meet. The default calendar app on your laptop is great for creating weekly schedules that you can stick to! Hint: this will only work if you’re diligent about actually updating it every week! 

3. When updating your schedule, consider all aspects of your life. 

Don’t just include class and appointments for the week; make sure your schedule reflects the time you allow for workout sessions (if you go to the gym a lot), study time, and homework time. If you have errands to run make sure you include those errands. Surely, you have more than just homework and exams to worry about so make sure you can express that in your schedule! 

When I want to meet with friends to go to an event I mark that down in my schedule so that I’m aware that I have a commitment at a certain day and time. I realize that friends aren’t as important as studying and work but if you want to have a little downtime make sure you can allow time for such by considering everything you’re supposed to do. 

4. Be diligent about sticking to your schedule. 

Don’t just add things to your schedule without a plan to actually do those things! You’re reading this to learn how to be good at being a busy person so I assume you’re already expressing your willingness to give into your diligence. By continuously adhering to your schedule you’re building good habits and a good work ethic. Staying organized and following through on commitments will become easier and easier. Keep in mind that good habits can be difficult to form but if you keep at them you’ll have no problem staying on top of a busy schedule. 

5. Have a little patience! 

You certainly won’t get good at being busy overnight! Like I said, good habits can be difficult to form but easy to break. It might take a good two weeks of practice in order for you to get the hang of your schedule and all the things you’re taking on but if you persevere, this will become a  familiar thing. 

6. Know your limit. 

I find that staying involved in a variety of things definitely helps you get your foot in the door by keeping you active within your campus community and it forces you to stay on top of all your plans, however, you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew! We all have different limits to the amount of commitments we can handle and it’s your responsibility to know yours. Aside from classes other commitments I have are: Pink Gloves Boxing, I’m a teaching assistant, Campus-Community Emergency Response Team, Contributing Author at Her Campus (my school’s chapter), Editor in Chief at Odyssey (my school’s branch), Marketing & PR for Camp Kesem, Zumba Toning, and, of course, my blog! This is pretty much as busy as I’d like to get. Some people might think this is nothing and some people might think I’m insane! You can’t be good at being busy if you can’t efficiently manage the things that keep you busy! 

7. Make room for a little fun!  

Make sure you can treat yourself for all your hard work! If there’s something going on on campus that you think would be fun to attend then definitely go for it! You’ve earned it, after all. This is a good way to just relax and a good way to spend your down time (I promise you will have some amount of down time if you orient your obligations properly!) I found that people who are less organized have less time to do something enjoyable. Sometimes, they’ll make plans only to cancel at the last minute because they suddenly realized that they have a test to study for or homework to finish. Make sure you can enjoy yourself when you want to! 

How To Be A Better Interviewer

Interviews can be like a door at the end of a dark hallway - we kind of have to go through it to get to other opportunities but at the same time we get really anxious of what lies behind it. Do we get the position or are we rejected? Does the company not need us at the moment but would like to stay in touch? I did an article a while back on tips for interviewees which you can check out right here but what about interviewers? Does a book of guidelines exist somewhere? Are there helpful hints to get you on your way to conducting a splendid interview? Possibly! But if you don't want to dig through the many layers of the internet to find one then here's one just for you!

As you may or may not know, I'm a current college sophomore and I'm involved with a few organizations on campus where I'm in a position to conduct various interviews with students. One such position is my membership on the recruitment committee of my campus emergency response team. This required a strict degree of professionalism with more rigid organization-selected questions. At the same time I'm also an author for my college's chapter of Her Campus, where you can check out my articles here. For "Campus Celebrity" interviews that I conduct, I can design my own questions for my interviewee.

It's only been two months of school and I've already conducted so many interviews with people! Here, I share with you hints and tips that I've come up with and used for conducting a fruitful interview:

1. Obey question limits.
Sometimes your editor may put a cap on the number of questions you can ask your interviewee. Make sure you obey this limit even though you secretly think it really sucks. If you don't then your editor will just cut some questions when you submit the interview and you'll be unhappy anyway. For a recent interview I pitched to my person in charge, I was told I could only ask my interviewees 5 questions each. I didn't agree with that because I felt there was so much more I could ask and I really couldn't show off these people in just five questions. There are actually ways around this! Read on to discover them!

2. Ask meaningful questions. 
If you are in charge of the questions you ask make sure that they are questions really probe the interviewee and force them to dig deep. For Campus Celebrity interviews that I do, I already know why this person stands out and why I picked them so my goal now is to discover each of their stories. You can't discover anything if you aren't willing to dig. This is where your interviewee can get really personal and therefore give you some great stuff. Your questions should serve as a trigger to this gold mine. Some good trigger questions have to do with asking your interviewee to describe their growth from a situation or what their idea of a related concept is. To see these kinds of questions in action you can check out my interview with Campus Celebrity and Pink Gloves Boxing Co-Instructor Krista Pullen here.

3. Make sure your questions cannot be answered with 'yes' or 'no'. 
If your question can be answered in just a word then it is not a good question and you need to work on that! A question like this does not allow an interviewee to share anything more than just a few fast fun facts about themselves. Try to structure your question in a way that forces the person you're interviewing to elaborate without you having to ask them to do so. Plus, it'll just annoy you to have to ask multiple times for them to continue. If it is at this point then the quality of the interview is extremely forced and very subpar. This is also one way I get around having to conduct a very limited interview.

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4. Ask two-part questions. 
This is another tactic I like using when I have a limit on the number of questions I can ask my interviewee. You pretty much compile two questions into one number so you still kind of adhere to the cap but you're still working around it. For example, a question I asked an interviewee was "How did your role within the organization foster your growth as a student and how do you use this growth in everyday life?" Allow your interviewee to answer in two parts so it's not just one big jumbled mess. Doing this contributes to the quality of your interview because you ask two important questions in one and this promises a quality response.

5. If your group interview is separate you must do this! 
Recently I was working on a Campus Celebrity piece where I had three people as the subject of my interview. Interviewing more than one subject at once is absolutely ideal however it did not work out for me that way. All four of us were free at different times from the others so I could only interview them one at a time on different days.

Only I'd know that the group interview was separate but if you want to make it look like this was done when you were one big group then here's what you should do: When asking your second and third interviewees questions, give them a brief summary of what their colleague said. You don't have to go in depth - one sentence is fine. This ensures that your interviewee doesn't repeat information. You absolutely positively do not want repeated information all throughout your interview! It's extremely boring to read your interviewee could have put more thought and energy into answering the question from an untold point of view.

6. Always arrive on time if not early.
This is important because first of all, it's a basic code of professionalism - even if you're conducting a fun, silly interview you must be professional to some degree. Second, this asserts that professionalism because it shows your interviewee that you take your task seriously. Third, if you're late it cuts into your interview time, which is a big deal if you have more interviews lined up right after or if you're operating on a tight schedule. For one Campus Celebrity interview I was conducting, I was 1 minute late to the interview because I woke up a little late. You're probably thinking that 1 minute is no big deal but in my mind it was, especially since my interviewee was waiting for me when I got there!

7. Have your interview materials ready. 
Don't fumble for your interview materials in front of your interviewee! This is also a good reason for you to arrive early when interviewing someone. In case you were wondering, for that one interview where I was 1 minute late, I already had the question document pulled up on my laptop so all I had to do was sit, open my laptop, and begin the interview. There was no searching for the document or any last minute question corrections!

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8. Start off with light conversation.
I like doing this because it calms down a nervous interviewee. You don't need to summarize your whole day but just a few words of exchange before the interview are ideal. You could discuss the nature of the interview if you'd like to talk about something related.

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9. Tell your interviewee when you are getting into the actual questions.
Especially if you have a light conversation with them right before, let them know when you will begin asking questions pertaining to the interview. Something along the lines of "We will now begin the interview" is completely fine. If they know that basically everything they say from that point on will be recorded for the interview then they are going to try to give their best formulated answers. It would suck if two questions into the interview your interviewee finally realizes that the previous questions were not part of light conversation!

10. Let them know you will be taking notes during the interview.
Not everyone feels acknowledged when the person they're speaking to is heatedly writing on a piece of paper or doing something that doesn't allow them to make eye contact. I like to let my interviewees know that even though I'm looking down writing or typing I am still listening to everything they say. This tells the interviewee that every part of their response is noted so they will want to make sure they give substantial responses.

11. Don't be afraid to push them for more detail. 
Ask a follow up question even if you didn't plan to do so. If your interviewee can provide more details in response to a question then make sure you ask questions such as "what do you mean by this?" "can you give an example of ____?" "how did you feel about ____?" These are all good ways of politely pushing your interviewee to elaborate. You certainly don't under any circumstances want to say "can you add more to your answer?" or anything along those lines! This will make them nervous and less likely to provide good answers for future questions. Keep in mind that by pushing them to elaborate you are essentially making your interview piece better - no one wants to read a super boring, underdeveloped interview. Your name is attached to this - build a good reputation with good interviews!

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Whenever I feel like an interviewee is lacking in his or her responses I always ask the above stated questions, especially if they aren't hitting a point that I want them to hit. As an interviewer, I care a lot about the interviews I submit and I don't want to add completely fresh sentences to the interview afterward because I feel like it's dishonest since your interviewee didn't explicitly say that exact thing. These questions are designed to help your interviewee along without basically talking for them.

12. Acknowledge what your interviewee says.
By this I mean you should find something to comment on in what your interviewee says. In one interview I conducted, the guy I was interviewing was talking about how he chose to be part of a certain organization because he hadn't done anything with his college career yet and wanted to get involved with something. I then proceeded to relate that many students on campus feel the absolute same way and, off the record, we spoke briefly about how students feel they can get the little push they need. Acknowledging a response in this sense makes an interviewee more calm and less nervous (if they were nervous to begin with). Furthermore they might end up saying something that you would like to include to further supplement the interview.

13. Don't praise their responses.
Ummmm...what? When I was an interviewer for the emergency response team, one of my partners would always tell the interviewee "Good answer, that's what we're looking for". Please don't do this if you're interviewing an applicant who would like to gain admittance into your professional organization. First off, since they now know that that's the kind of answer you like to hear, they're going to try to tailor the rest of their responses so that you hear what you like. This doesn't give you a true feel for whether or not the applicant is a good fit for your organization. You could end up accepting someone who shouldn't have been accepted.

Second, you will make them think that they have some kind of huge advantage and will likely get into the organization. Even if you like what they said for question #4 you may not like the rest of the interview or your colleagues may not think it's a good idea to accept this person. Avoid saying anything that will give your interviewee false hope.

14. Ask for them to repeat themselves. 
Do this as necessary to ensure that you have recorded everything that was told to you. You're probably afraid that if you ask them to repeat themselves a few times it means that you're "inattentive" but truth be told, how inattentive will you be when you have a rockin' interview? If you're interviewing from a journalistic point of view then you should know that the job of a journalist is to get the best obtainable version of the truth. If you aren't catching what that person is saying and not asking them to repeat themselves then you're missing some pretty good pieces of the truth. Don't set yourself up to return home after the interview, take a look at the responses and then say, "crap, I didn't catch that part!"

15. Tell them it's okay to take their time. 
Don't rush perfection - or anything close to perfection! If your interviewee wants to take their time to formulate a response then it's actually better for you because of the quality. I know, I know, long awkward pauses will get on your nerves as soon as they stop being awkward and are just long but handle this professionally and let them know they can take their time to respond. For a professional organization, however, this may be a bad sign if the interviewee is taking really long to respond to a question. Nevertheless, letting them know that you will wait will make them a little less nervous and spazzy.

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16. Handle your mistakes politely. 
Hannah Montana once said, "Nobody's Perfect," and she couldn't be more right. Sometimes we interviewers will make a mistake ourselves. It's completely fine but it's how you handle that mistake that speaks volumes. Don't laugh really hard and obnoxiously - it's cool that you can laugh at yourself when you make a mistake but please don't bring that oh-so wonderful "good sport" attitude to this situation. Say "excuse me" and correct yourself or "I'm sorry I meant to say ___" because this sounds way more professional. This goes for any kind of interview you're conducting - it doesn't have to be just for a professional organization. Bringing this as an interviewer is a good way for you to practice this kind of etiquette which will be extremely useful anywhere you go in life. Your interviewee will not judge you for tripping over your words but you don't want to be seen negatively by your colleagues because you giggled like a school girl when your brain didn't match your words.

17. Do your best to write down everything that is said. 
You don't want to miss a beat! Even if your interviewee says something you think is strange or unrelated now, you might like it later or realize that it can be used for something else. You want to make sure you keep a record of everything that is said. If you're typing the responses as they're said then this makes your job relatively easy if you can type faster than you write. If you must write, try using abbreviations or write in script since your pencil hardly leaves the paper when doing that. Only write in script if it's readable and you can understand what you wrote without having to think too hard.

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18. Worry about grammar later. 
When I type during an interview I save grammar for last. I focus on writing things the exact way the interviewee says them, even if they don't have splendid grammar. I don't capitalize everything that should be capitalized because in my mind it saves me time when I'm not pressing Shift or Caps Lock during an interview. Other than periods, I don't use punctuation during the interview. I save all that technical stuff for afterward when I'm reviewing and editing the interview. If you're going to fuss about misplaced commas while the interviewee is speaking then you aren't going to catch everything they say and you will likely miss some pretty good stuff.

19. Don't delete anything, even if they ask you to. 
During one of my Campus Celebrity interviews, my interviewee gave me a response that I thought was nice and then he paused and said, "actually, completely scratch that, I want to redo that part." Of course, I allowed him to redo that segment and I really liked what he said the second time around but there were a few things he said originally that I wanted to keep. This being said I was glad I didn't delete anything when he told me to. Try to hold onto things you think are essential. The interviewee may not see it as great but you have to go with your gut on this. Chances are, saving that should-be-forgotten response will pay off.

20. Let them know they have reached the last question. 
I like doing this because to be honest the interviewee is probably wondering when the interview will end. As an interviewee at a certain point you just want to get out of the hot seat and put that interview behind you even if you think you did really well. Also, some people just don't like having the spotlight on them so knowing that they are nearly at the end of the line is reassuring. The interesting thing is that knowing that they have reached the last question actually motivates some interviewees. At the end of one of my Campus Celebrity interviews, I said that we were on the final question and my interviewee said, "okay, I have to really make this one count." The person being interviewed is more likely to try to give one heck-of-an answer if they know that they only have one last chance to do so.

21. Ask if there are any questions they'd like to return to. 
Sometimes your interviewee may be worried that they didn't get the chance to say everything they wanted to say. Don't lie - we've all been there at some point and we just really wish we could go back and add that one extra point to really seal the deal. Once every question has been answered, I say, "At this point are there any questions you would like to return to?" This improves the quality of your interview as well because your interviewee gives you more details to make everything way more substantial.

I hope you enjoyed these tips and will consider implementing some of them if you're an interviewer - or if you aren't then I just hope you liked reading this =) Remember that these interviews have your name and reputation attached to them so do your part to make sure you put out work that you're proud of!

Sugar Skull Makeup Look

Halloween is my favorite holiday and in recent years I've been experimenting around with Halloween face painting kits that you get from Target. This year I decided to turn my face into a Sugar Skull from the Mexican Day of the Dead Holiday. I find the design of Sugar Skulls to be extremely intricate and artistic. The bright, jubilant colors are appealing against a white background so they really stand out.

Traditionally, symbols and figures of Halloween are always dark and spooky like the Grim Reaper, however, Sugar Skulls introduce a new personality to our ghoulish holiday. This being said I got myself yet another face paint kit from Target and decided to transform into a Sugar Skull.

I started off by priming my face with the Benefit Porefector primer, which I bought a while ago from Macy's for only $10 since I picked up the sample size package. Once my face was matte I used my fingers to spread around the white cream makeup from the Halloween kit. The makeup was very buildable and pigmented and easy to work with. I did not apply this around my eyes. The only thing I'd do differently next time with regard to this is using a makeup sponge to apply and spread the makeup.

Afterward, I began working on my eye area. I took a very black eyeshadow from my Makeup Essentials Classic 10 palette and applied that to my brow bone, eyelid, and undereye area. Below that I applied a bright sky blue eyeshadow from a palette I bought from Macy's. I didn't apply any of the black cream makeup from the Halloween kit since it isn't recommended that you get this product anywhere near your eyes.

I applied the black cream makeup to my nose, however, in somewhat of a triangular shape. This was extremely pigmented and creamy so less is more! I used the colorful grease-based makeup from the Halloween palette to apply pink, orange, and blue dots around my face in an unplanned pattern. My goal was just to add enough color without overdoing the look.

For my lips I applied a hot pink lipstick that I got from Walgreens. I used Wet n' Wild's Don't Blink Pink which went really well with this look and also looks great as a regular everyday lippie. The lipstick added more fun to the look!

Lastly I topped it off with a spookily cool headband (see what I did there?) I bought it from Walgreens and, to be honest, this headband is what inspired me to do this look. I was with my brother checking out decorations and this headband was hiding on the bottom shelf. The colorful flowers and the skull on top reminded me of Sugar Skulls and I knew I had to buy it and create this look!

There you have it - my Halloween Sugar Skull makeup look!

Happy Halloween! 

Halloween Nails

My favorite holiday is right around the corner! Of course it wouldn't be Halloween if I didn't paint my nails to match the occasion! There's a different design on every nail which makes the overall look interesting because there's so much going on on your hand but it all comes together enchantingly. 

Thumb: 

On this nail is a super simple jack-o-lantern. I used Electra-cute from the Sally Hansen Gel line. After two coats of this bright orange polish dried I took a really fine dotting tool that I bought from Claire's and dipped it into black nail polish from Sinful Colors. I carefully painted two triangles for eyes and one smaller one for a nose. The fine dotting tool was great for this because I still had a lot of control over what I painted so it was efficient in getting the job done. I used the same dotting tool paint on a large smile under the nose. Then I used the same black nail polish and dotting tool to make lines across the mouth. I guess my jack-o-lantern is somewhat scarecrow-esque because of that! That's okay - being 1/4 scarecrow is awesome anyway! To finish off this nail I took Revlon's Posh and with my dotting tool I made a tuft of green at the top. 

Index Finger: 

This nail is a colorful sugar skull, which will match my sugar skull makeup look for Halloween! Sugar skulls have been getting a lot of attention in recent years. If you didn't already know, they are used in the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration but they have been arising as part of Halloween now too. 

For this nail I just took a regular white nail polish from New York Color, which I really would like to get rid of in favor of a different brand because this brand leaves a streaky finish with the white nail polish. After the white nail polish dried, I took a larger dotting tool and, using the same black nail polish from before, I made large black dots for the eyes and used my tiny dotting tool to make a triangular nose. Unfortunately, this sugar skull is not part scarecrow but we love him just the way he is <3. I then took various colors such as yellow, green, pink, and aqua to create tiny dots all over my sugar skull since they are so brightly colored! 

Middle Finger: 

This one is all about Frankenstein - our walking science experiment with stitches. For this I used Innocent from Sinful Colors - a shocking green. Once it dried I took the black nail polish and a thin brush and started painting on Frankie's hair. It's completely fine to get a little messy with it since his hair is a tad bit unruly. I made two white dots with small black dots inside them for eyes and painted on the mouth the same way I did for the jack-o-lantern nail. 

Ring Finger: 

This one is a magical gradient nail. First things first: I painted the entire nail with white nail polish. This will help your gradient show up way better! This is pretty much rule #2 of painting gradient nails. (Rule #1 is to have colors to use in your gradient!) I used a purple nail polish from Fingr's which came in a kit, a really pretty magenta from L.A. Colors, and Electra-cute. I applied these three colors to a makeup sponge and dabbed and rolled it across my nail. This is our gorgeous Halloween sky. 

Once our gradient sky dried I took black nail polish and with a striper brush made lines for cross tombstones and painted on two bats that look like birds. 

Pinky: 

This is the easiest Halloween design ever - I painted a solid purple background using the same purple nail polish from Fingr's. Once it dried I took a large dotting tool and dipped it into white nail polish to create eyes. I Also used black nail polish to create pupils. Done! You now have a spooky monster residing on your pinky! 

This array of nail art is wonderful for Halloween and your friends will hardly believe that you did this all by yourself! This is no trick - this Halloween nailart is actually very easy and replicable. You can also do your entire hand with just one of these designs! Happy Halloween, y'all! 

'Pretty in Pink' Nails

I was really feeling PINK this week, especially because I felt the color would look great with my all new BLUE HAIR!! But in all seriousness I decided to think pink this week for a couple of reasons: 

First off, my weekend was extremely busy and I really didn't have the time to create any elaborate nail art *sad face* so doing this was extremely simple yet it looks somewhat elegant and girly. 

Second, yesterday I got to meet Author and New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow at a special Breakfast and autograph signing that took place at my college! My plan was to wear a light pink blazer that I had bought that weekend and I thought these nails would look great with it! 

Lastly, my college is doing something pretty awesome right now - they're fighting for a cure using the #CollegeForTheCure on Instagram. Students take a picture of something pink and post it to Instagram with the #CollegeForTheCure. For every picture posted $1 is donated towards finding a cure for Breast Cancer. I decided that pink nails would be a great way to help the cause! 

The gold glitter nail polish I used is from Pure Ice and is called Studette. This can definitely work as a stand-alone nail polish and it's one of my favorite glitter polishes to wear. If you don't apply a coat of a solid color before applying this nail polish then you will definitely have to apply at least 4 coats of nail polish in order to get the opaqueness you're looking for. 

The pink nail polish I used is New York Color's Preppy Pink which is definitely one of the coolest pinks I've ever used. It's very pigmented and dries quickly and it costs no more than $1! 

In the picture all the way on the left you see an...interesting design on my thumb nail. Originally, I had intended to just have baby pink polka dots on that nail - which is exactly what I did! However, my plan to add polka dots was pretty impulsive and so I painted them on my nail about one hour before going to my boxing class. Obviously we certainly aren't standing still during boxing! I got my wraps on, got my gloves on and got down to business! Unfortunately for me, by the time I took my gloves off, the pink polka dots had become deformed and smeared. 

I kind of anticipated this, however, since there are NO mistakes in art (thank you to my first grade art teacher for teaching me that) I decided that I'd have to roll with what I have and just find a way to work with the smears. I took white nail polish from New York Color and grabbed my really thin dotting tool and got to work! All I did was smear tiny droplets of the white nail polish over the pink nail polish smears and voila - the design on my thumb nail was born! 

This is a design that you will get a ton of compliments on because it's classy but the glitter adds just enough oomph to the look! 

Fire Safety Survey - Please Read

HELLO Everyone! I'm currently working on an article about fire safety on college campuses and I'm doing a bit of info gathering...If you're a current COLLEGE STUDENT please take a few minutes to take my survey at this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bfyZHiHtKyKjI9CVcXGLGzU7zbdH4nGeLw8KgSpuQoE/viewform?usp=send_form
I'd appreciate it SO much and your responses will only make my article better! My goal here is to relay ACCURATE information to YOU, my readers so I would be so grateful if you could complete this survey!
Thanks in advanced!

How To Enjoy Halloween From the Comfort Of Your Dorm

Not feeling the party vibe on the spookiest night of the year? Is a Halloween Monster-Movie Marathon not cutting it for you? Rest assured that there are still some fun ways you can enjoy Halloween right out of the comfort of your own dorm room! All you’ll need is some friends, a cozy residence hall, and a little Halloween spirit! 

1. Bake Halloween-themed treats with friends. 

All you bakers out there will definitely enjoy a chance to get elbow-deep in sweet treats for Halloween. Even if you aren’t good at baking, grab some friends and let your creativity run wild. It’ll be fun because you’re with company and you get to devour whatever you make - after taking pics for Instagram! 

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2. Host a Halloween bake-off in your building.

You don’t need to be an RA to plan exciting events for your fellow residents. Hang up flyers around your building a week or two in advanced to advertise your bake-off. Teams are always welcome! You can meet new people this way and it’ll be a fun night filled with spooktacular goodies! 

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3. Give out candy to “trick-or-treaters”. 

Have you ever wondered if people in college still go knocking on the doors of their residence halls as trick-or-treaters? Now’s your chance to find out! Tape a sign to your door to let people know that you are willing to give candy and just have a bag ready. This is also a fun way to meet the people who live in your building! 

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4. Throw a face-paint party in your room. 

Grab some friends or advertise in your building. You’ll have fun trying out monster and special effects makeup and you’ll feel like quite the makeup artist! Looking to make a little extra cash? Offer to paint people’s faces for money, especially since a lot of people would like some special effects makeup for parties and such. 

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5. Tell creepy campfire stories. 

Your room is the dark forest for the night! Get your friends together, grab some blankets and snacks, and turn off the lights save for a flashlight in the center of your circle. I know, I know, that sounds beyond corny but you’d be surprised at how long you could keep up telling freaky urban legends and scaring yourselves crap-less! 

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6. Carve pumpkins to decorate your residence hall. 

This will be especially exciting if you’re a newbie to the art of carving shapes into big, orange fruit (yes, pumpkins are, in fact, fruits). You can buy a pumpkin carving stencil kit ahead of time as a guide and make creepy pumpkins. Place the pumpkins around your building or outside the building. Of course, you won’t be able to put candles inside them for an ominous glow but it’s the thought that counts!

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How To Make the Perfect Fried Oreo

Whoever thought that dipping cream-filled cookies in batter and deep frying it in greasy, fattening oil would be a fabulous idea...thank you. I truly appreciate your genius. I made these delicious little treats yesterday when I went home for the weekend and, if I do say so myself, they came out looking and tasting amazing! No one in my family could stop at just one or two! The idea behind fried Oreos is that you dip an Oreo cookie into a batter of flour, milk, sugar, and an egg. I have seen people use pancake mix in place of those ingredients. Here, I'll share my secrets to amazing fried Oreos!

1. Replace whole milk with buttermilk. 
I usually substitute buttermilk for regular milk in my baking because buttermilk gives my cake or cupcakes an overall more moist texture. The buttermilk in the fried Oreo dipping batter definitely gives the dough a lighter and slightly buttery taste, which is good because you don't want a doughy taste to ruin Oreos for you!

2. Less is more - go light on the sugar. 
If you're making your own batter for dipping the Oreos in, you might not want to go sugar-crazy. Oreos are already sweet and you don't want an overly sweet fried dough to accompany it. I used just three tablespoons of sugar in my batter to accompany 1/2 cup of flour.

3. Don't be afraid to get your fork dirty. 
I used a fork to help coat the Oreos with my batter. Once the Oreos were covered, the slits in the fork let the excess batter drip back into the bowl. You don't want too much dough around your Oreo. I also used the fork to lower the Oreo into the hot oil. My fried Oreos came out looking really neat using this method.

4. Go for the gold. 
You want the dough to turn slightly golden brown when frying - that's when you know you've hit the mark! The dough is perfectly cooked and the cookie will be nice and gooey on the inside. Make sure you don't burn them! They will not take too long to get to that light golden brown!

Follow these four tips and you'll just about have perfect fried Oreos in the palm of your hand!

DIY S'mores Breakfast Bars

The popular campfire treat has become enjoyable even without the need for a campfire. We see s'mores flavored drinks from Starbucks and in many other tasty treats. Does not having those warm, crackling orange flames take away from the experience? Maybe. But as a college student who's always looking for creative ways to enjoy breakfast, I was willing to omit the wood-burning for now.

Yes, you read me right - I made these delicious s'mores breakfast bars in the comfort of the kitchen in my dorm building! These are super easy, require minimal effort, and are absolutely delicious! The ingredients and materials I used are:

• Cascadian Farms Graham Crunch cereal 
• Marshmallow fluff
• 2 Hershey's chocolate bars 
• two spoons 
• one mixing bowl 
• one small plastic storage bowl 
• microwave 

Step 1: Break up the chocolate bar into squares and place them inside a microwave-safe bowl. The chocolate takes a bit of time to melt so you'll want to soften and slightly melt it beforehand. 

Step 2: Measure out the desired amount of cereal. When the chocolate comes out of the microwave, add the cereal and a few spoonfuls of marshmallow fluff. Mix it all together thoroughly. 

Step 3: Microwave the mixture for just 5-10 seconds to get it gooier. Afterwards, spoon the concoction into the plastic storage bowl. Make sure it's evenly spread out. 

Step 4: If you have a mini fridge, put it in there for about 30 minutes to set. If you don't have a mini fridge in your room then it's cool - they will just take a little longer to set. Once set, cut into them and enjoy! 

Why I'm in love with them:

• This is not just a sweet snack; I used actual cereal so it's great for putting a spin on a boring bowl of cereal and milk! 
• The cereal I used is organic, relatively low in sugar, and high in fiber so it's a great way to get that graham cracker taste without the usual amount of sugar and more fiber. 
• These breakfast bars are surprisingly less sweet than most granola bars on the market. You're probably wondering how this is even possible if I used chocolate and marshmallow fluff but rest assured I can never lie to you! This is a huge plus for me because I feel that though most granola bars claim to be "healthy" they taste beyond sweet, which defeats the purpose. 
• They are super easy to make and don't require many ingredients! 

These delicious s'mores breakfast bars are a great twist on breakfast and something you can just grab and go. Get creative and try other combinations with other cereals.