2013 Christmas Playlist

This week is the last week of my semester, so finals will be taking over my life. Luckily, I have created a small Christmas playlist that will keep me sane while I study my butt off. Join me in singing along to these songs:

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1. Wrapped in Red — Kelly Clarkson
2. Baby, It's Cold Outside — Lady Antebellum
3. The Christmas Song — Colbie Caillat & Justin Young (I can't find this one on YouTube, but it's up on Spotify!)
4. Do You Want To Build A Snowman? — Frozen soundtrack
5. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas — Michael Buble
6. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas — Julia Sheer
7. Winter Song — Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
8. Merry Christmas Darling — Glee Cast
9. Santa Baby — Taylor Swift

I am especially loving "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?" and all the other songs from "Frozen," a new Disney movie. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm very excited to after hearing a lot of good things about it. I hope you guys are staying warm and drink lots of hot chocolate in this chilly weather.

Which version of The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) is your favorite? I'm on a hunt to find the best one, so let me know :)

Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Venom

If you're on the fence about purchasing a lipstick from Urban Decay, hop it and run yourself right to Sephora because you need this in your stash.



Urban Decay first came out with their Revolution lipstick line back in July and I've been eager to review it. Although I wanted to purchase all 22 tubes, it comes at $22 (plus tax) a pop so I had to control myself or I'd end up being in debt. I chose Venom, a dark plum with a hint of shimmer. It wasn't as creamy as I thought it would be, but I think that's a good thing because it doesn't smear all over the tube like Revlon lip butters do. The wear time of Venom is great — even when it comes off, a nice stain remains :) Both the packaging and formulation deserve a full five stars.



If you are looking for a quality lipstick to give your best girlfriends for Christmas, any of the Urban Decay Revolution lipsticks will not disappoint you.

Have you tried any of the Revolution lipsticks?

Unplug & Read: December 2013

Happy December! (Can you believe 2014 will be here in less than 30 days?!) I love the holiday season — Christmas music, candles and warm tea/hot chocolate complete me. Luckily, those are all perfect to accompany a good book :)



As you can tell, I really wanted to go with the winter romance theme. Since it doesn't snow or get too crazy cold in California, I might as well read about it and live vicariously through all the characters!

Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Lauren Myracle and Maureen Johnson
I'll be honest — John Green caught my attention and made me want to read this book. I'm really excited for this one because a review on Goodreads labeled it as having the "feel of an ABC Family made-for-TV holiday special" ... YES PLEASE.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Priscilla, also known as The Readables on YouTube, gave this an awesome review so I'm reading it. I don't have any expectations of this book because I don't know what it's about (and I'm going to keep it that way until I read it because I don't want to be affected by anyone's opinion!)

Icing on the Lake by Catherine Clark
Although I read this around four years ago, I wanted to read it again because I remember enjoying it. Brain, don't fail me now.

Love on the Lifts by Rachel Hawthorne
Another book I've read before, but I have no recollection since I zoomed through this on an airplane ride to England. It'll probably be just like I'm reading another new book :p

Although I only read three out of the four books I chose last month, I will definitely be able to finish four this month since I'll be out of school on December 13th. It also happens to be the same day as Taylor Swift's 24th birthday, which means we'll both be celebrating (but for different reasons, haha.)

Anyway, which book (or books) are you planning to read in December? If you're going to join me, let me know so we can have a discussion :)

Unplug & Read: Delirium

Hi guys, I hope you're getting your reading on this Thanksgiving weekend :)

I was thinking about putting all of November's Unplug & Read books all in one post, but I decided against it because I thought that each book deserved its own. (In case you missed what I planned to read this month, journey over to this post!) I wasn't able to read the Uglies because of time constraints, but I bought the book so I can come back to it in the future.

Apologies for the mediocre image — I forgot to bring my camera home this weekend!

Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Pages: 441
Rating: ★★★★

Delirium is a dystopian novel about a society where love is considered a disease. Lena Haloway, the main character, is eager to receive the "cure" for love but has to wait until she's 18. She is convinced that love is a dangerous and horrible thing, especially since it killed her mother. As you may have guessed, she ends up falling in love with a boy with an interesting past. She discovers some mind-blowing information about her family while her morals are challenged throughout the whole story.

Although I abandoned this book the first time I read it, I'm glad I decided to pick it up again. Love as a disease is a strange concept, but Oliver did a pretty good job providing solid examples (i.e. death due to love in Romeo and Juliet.) I really enjoyed playing this book like a movie in my mind, especially the thrilling and heart-pounding parts.

I have to give this book four stars for the interesting storyline and ability to keep me flipping onto the next page, even when I was tired. It didn't reach the status of AWESOME because it took a while for the story to actually start, I think it would've made a really good TV show though. (It was supposed to be one, but FOX cancelled it! Shame on FOX.)

I would recommend reading this book if you're looking for a twisted love story.

Which book would you like to hear about next — Allegiant or The Maze Runner? Tweet me at @amarisafloria to let me know! Also, do you have any guesses as to what December's theme will be?