The Art of Planning: Techniques for Better Planning

While far from being a pro, I've been planning for nearly 10 months now, and the difference between my planning at the start of the year and how I plan right now is night and day. I'm still learning, but I can say that after careful trial and error, experimenting with different techniques, and developing my own preferences, my approach to planning is now vibrant, fulfilling, and expressive. This post will detail my journey of growth and the tips I have to offer to help you harness the true value of planning.

Tip #1: Transform plain planning by utilizing decorative elements like stickers, flags, color coded markers, and labels.

When I first began planning, I only wrote in my planner using one pen. Needless to say that it became apparent to me just how one-dimensional and lackluster my planner looked. I eventually learned the importance of utilizing tools like stickers, sticky notes, color coding, and doodles to break up the monotony and effectively differentiate and convey all the ongoing aspects of my life.

Take for instance, the sample below. Study the color coding. Orange = business appointments, green = social events, and black = errands.

Color coding as demonstrated on the Erin Condren website

With study, I realized the usefulness of Erin Condren's Designer Do-It-All Dots, which call visual attention to specific activities. They're essentially markers. I line up my Do-It-All Dots to create a legend just like in the sample below, and designate each one to a different activity that I want to monitor and track through the week, i.e. to mark when I write a blog post, when I post a YouTube video, whether I wore my retainers that night, whether I spent under $20 a day, etc.

Color coding with Do-It-All-Dots demonstrated on Erin Condren's website

Stylized flags and post-it-notes are another great way to dress up your planner, and they're super functional. Use them to highlight to-do's, reminders or to emphasize a point. They add color and dimension and really help words to leap off the page. Bonus points for being able to sketch the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge like the example below. >< Jealous. Being artistically gifted at sketching also gives you another way to make your planner visually appealing.

Stickers are also essential in planning. They make an enormous difference and allow you to decorate your planner with ease, a big plus for those who aren't especially handy with a pen. I buy bundled packs of stickers that come with a million symbols and phrases, perfect for decorating and categorizing everything I need. 

 

Tip #2: It's not necessary, but nice handwriting helps.

The form your content takes is incredibly pivotal to the presentation of your planner. And guess what your planner is covered in? Your handwriting. I've come to accept that my handwriting is unfortunately little more than chicken scratch, no matter how hard I try to strive for continuity, let alone gracefulness. Some of the Erin Condren planner page examples are etched in handwriting so nice, they look like fonts.

Not only is artistic handwriting a great ace to have up your sleeve, but doodling is, too. Unfortunately I can't doodle to save my life. I can't even doodle an even circle or a straight line, so I depend on stickers to add flair to my planner. Side note, earlier this year, after one of my planner study sessions (can you tell I try hard?), I noticed that a lot of the time, planners write in capital letters. I decided to follow suit. It makes things look more categorical and uniform :)

Here's gorgeous handwritten inspiration: 

Tip #3: Personalization makes things fun.

Personalizing your planner really helps to make your planner your own. Many planners come with customizable options, such as the Erin Condren LifePlanner. You can monogram your initials on your planner cover, order custom photo stickers, and even buy interchangable covers that vary in design. Photo stickers really help birthdays, holidays, and plans come to life. Below is a screenshot of my personalized planner cover and some photo stickers I've had made.

Tip #4: Don't planner shame yourself. 

I can't tell you the number of times I embellished plans in an effort to feel social. At the start of the week, I didn't have much to write about, so I would sit and try to think of things to write. The underlying tone of emptiness led to me writing down just about anything I could, including half-baked possibilities and plans I concocted. I just felt this pressure to use my planner to the fullest of my abilities because of how much it cost. But by the end of the week, I had all this junk marked down that I hadn't fulfilled or didn't end up happening.

Instead of filling your planner with random content, plan what you know at the start of the week and leave space for what's to come. Call the fluff for what it is - fluff. Fluff isn't worthy of going into your planner and shouldn't take up space that could be better used expressing and emphasizing true, accurate, significant life content.

Tip #5: Writing in third person helps. 

Now, for a departure from what we just discussed, this tip is another stylistic one. Notice that all of the planner examples are written in short hand from the third person. Go ahead, take a look! "Move In Day," "Nail Appt.," "Register for fall classes," "Bake cookies for neighbors." These are statements, not sentences. As for the rest of the content,  there is no "I" in anything else. Homework assignments are listed, not written about, and so are reminders and to-do's. Events, deadlines, appointments, reminders, and projects are the focus of each day and the reader isn't required to know a lot of context to get to the point. This makes planning neat, easy to read, and organized.

Most of the fun comes from using creative, different handwriting styles, doodling, and stickers.

Tip #6: Sharpen your itemized thinking skills.

This goes hand-in-hand with what we just discussed. If you're going to plan well, you'll need to get good at categorizing and itemizing your life. Almost anything can be turned into planner content. I've become adept at breaking down my life into checklists, reminders, goals, events, and to-do's. Is Black Friday coming up? Make a list of places to shop! Do you have things to do for school? Group them under a flag that says "School." There are a ton of ways to represent your life events expressively.

Tip #7: Get creative.

Talented planners take pleasure in creating visual storyboards in whatever form inspires them. Their creativity knows no bounds, and they aren't afraid to venture out of conventional page spreads to express themselves and create artful content. Take a look at the example below. As you can see, the monthly spread has been transformed into a whimsical, wintery-themed layout that bridges events across days/weeks. Stickers have been placed over intersecting lines and stylized flags highlight important points. It's colorful, memorable, creative, and functional.

Tip #8: Get real. 

Back edits will happen quite a lot. Plans change and you don't always end up doing what you set out to do. White out is essential, and to this day I think ordering erasable pens would make my life a whole lot simpler. Not everything is going to look picture perfect, and you shouldn't hold yourself to the standards of professional scrapbookers. I've learned to refrain from jotting down hangouts until they're set in stone. Still, sometimes friends cancel last minute and I have a wasted photo sticker on my hands. Life is unpredictable, but at the end of the day it's just a part of the territory, so know that you can't account for everything ahead of time and embrace it.

Tip #9: Make it work for your needs and preferences.

Speaking of not holding yourself to perfect standards, planning is an individual experience. Regardless of outside influences, your planner has to work best for you. For right now, the most functional way for me to use it is as a life tracker.

My planner has become a hybrid between a diary, a progress log, a daily checklist, and a general description of my own life. I am extremely forgetful, and need to write everything down in order to know what I'm doing every day, what I did the day before last, and where I stand in terms of progress. I monitor the following on a daily basis:

• Attendance (when I get into the office)
• Outfit (work outfit repeats are not cute)
• Spending 
• Work productivity 
• Social plans 
• Projects and content creation 
• Progress on my career search 

I try to write down the results of each day, and it serves as a reminder to me of when I was maximizing my creativity and productivity. While I'm glad I found a process that works for me, my goal in 2017 is to pare my planner down and get creative with how I plan. After combing and archiving all this inspiration, I'm determined to turn my planner into more than just a smorgasboard of color and stickers.

As promised, here are some of my planner pages:

Lol my original way of planning. ^

Thanks for reading this in-depth blog post guys! I'd love to read any comments if you feel like leaving one below. Happy planning!

The Basics To Getting A Finished Looking Face

This post is dedicated to going through  the basics of a finished face. It discusses the must-haves and must-do's of makeup. It is a comprehensive guide, meant to inform in an in-depth manner, because the people who most need these tips describe themselves as clueless when it comes to makeup. It is an introductory guide, so don't be scared by the length!

1) Cover-up
Cover-up is the most well known of the beauty products, and for a reason. Everyone has a different word for cover-up, whether it be base, foundation, or corrector. Cover-up refers to makeup that covers the redness, acne scars, marks, spots, and unevenness that Mother Nature gave each of us. Using cover-up is crucial in getting an even and flawless face. In this picture, taken from Benefit Makeup's site, a model is pictured with her natural face and then with her face done, presumably using Benefit's Hello Flawless foundation.

Don't be fooled though, her face is definitely given some "wow" factor in the after picture by having completely done brows, eye shadow, mascara, blush, possibly/probably concealer, and lipstick/gloss. Don't panic! Some of those elements aren't totally necessary (although the result is pleasing, no?), and we'll be covering these topics next.

2) Concealer- Concealer generally falls within the realm of cover-up, but it is not absolutely crucial. Foundation is the big whammy of cover-up. It is the essential product that gives skin an even glow. It is for your entire face. Concealer is for stubborn problem areas, and adding a little extra coverage to trouble spots, or dark circles. Generally this is added after foundation, but some people choose to put it on before foundation. Their reasoning is that they like to concentrate on their problem areas first and then even out their face, while others like to get a generally even face and then tackle their problem areas. It's all personal preference. In this picture, also taken from Benefit, a model is seen in her natural state and then with Erase Paste concealer added to even her skin. Once again, don't be fooled. If you look at the circle picture, when she has added her concealer, the majority of her skin already looks clear. This is because she used foundation beforehand. This picture is somewhat misleading because it makes it seem as though Erase Paste is responsible for completely evening out her skin, which is most likely not the case. Also, she has on many other products for eyes, lips, cheeks, and brows in the finished result.

At this point, your face is done. The last step is to use a product to set your makeup. For most people, this is generally powder. Powder sets your liquid/cream makeup and helps it last. If using a powder foundation already, then putting powder over more powder doesn't make sense, so you don't need this last step. You can either choose a powder that matches your skin tone and foundation shade, or a translucent powder without any/much color to set your makeup. A well-received setting powder is MAC's Mineralize SkinFinish Natural. This, and all powder setting makeup should be applied with either a big fluffy face brush, or a kabuki brush (this is if you powder adds coverage and you want to buff it into your skin to get more of that coverage. Also used for powder foundations) 

A well-received translucent powder is Makeup Forever's HD MicroFinish Powder. 

3) Mascara- Mascara enhances the look of your lashes, the flirtiest part of your face! Long, thick, fluttery lashes make a girl look extra feminine and alluring, not to mention sexy. Mascaras come in different colors and formulas. Generally the old stand-by is a black mascara, and I would recommended getting one that has several benefits listed on it's packaging, such as volume AND length. According to advertisements, Maybelline's Great Lash is the most popular mascara in America (as in sold the most out of all drugstore mascaras I believe). This is a nice mascara for having natural but definitely more noticeable lashes.

My personal favorite is Maybelline's Colossal Volume Express Mascara. This one promises 9 times the volume. 

* A Note about mascaras: Mascara is generally regarded as the one product you don't need to go to a high-end beauty department store to find. It is a product that drugstore brands do extremely well, and there is no reason to spend a lot of money on high-end mascaras when drugstore mascaras do a comparable job. Also, mascaras come in water-proof formulas. Grudgingly, I have switched to mostly wearing water-proof formulas, because I'll rub my eyes sometimes and with regular mascara this might smear or when your eyes get watery your mascara goes everywhere. With a water-proof formula, this isn't a problem. Also recommended for the beach/rainy days. However, I say I have grudgingly switched because water-proof formulas generally do not work as well as their non water-proof counterparts. For example, the water-proof version of the Colossal Volume Express Mascara only volumizes up to 7x whereas the original volumizes up to 9x.

4) Eyeliner- Eyeliner is not necessary, but I would say it is used more then eyeshadow when in a pinch and full lashes just aren't enough to make you look as refined as you want. Eyeliners come in cream, gel, pencil, and liquid formulas. They are generally quick to apply, unless you are going for a specific look, such as a winged eyeliner, which takes some time and practice. 

Generally though, if you want to add eyeliner in a hurry just smudge some on your upper lashline to make your lashes look thicker. Alternately, you can swipe some on your lower waterline to give a darker more smoldering effect. When I go without my glasses, I can't not wear some on my bottom lashline. I just don't look awake without it. You also don't have to choose between eyeshadow or eyeliner. For a typical smokey look, you'd wear both. Even for everyday, it sometimes makes sense to wear both. They compliment each other. I say that eyeshadow isn't mandatory because I didn't get into it until literally 2 years ago, but it really is  the only way to create a voluptuous smokey eye. However, for minimalists, eyeshadow isn't a must-do or a must-have. In a pinch, swipe a nice taupe brown color on your lid.

5) Brows- Some girls don't need to do this, and most girls don't have to. I fill in my brows because I have way over-tweezed brows and I need something to not make me look crazy and half-brow-less. For this you can use either a brow powder, a matte eyeshadow that matches the color of your brows, or an eyebrow pencil. You basically just want to lightly fill in areas where the hairs are sparse to create a more consistent look. I also like to extend my brow pencil past where my natural brow ends to look more refined. There are plenty of expensive brow products, and among the most well-acclaimed is Anastasia's Brow Products, sold at Sephora. I however, just use Wet N Wild Eyeliner/Eye Brow Pencil in Dark Brown. Costs about a dollar at Target.

6) Lips!- You can use a lip pencil, a lip stain, a lipstick, a lipgloss, or even balm if you want. The most muss-free product is probably a nice chapstick type product that has a hint of color. A great product is A Kiss Of Shimmer Pearly Shimmer from Nivea.

Some girls prefer lip gloss to lipstick but I don't. Lipgloss can be sticky, tacky, goopy, and messy. Your hair WILL get caught in it on a windy day and it WILL be a hot mess. I like neutral lipsticks for everyday wear. I LOVE any and all MAC pink/neutral colored lipsticks, especially Modesty from their Cremesheen formula.

 Credit for this picture goes to http://make-upoverdose.blogspot.com/

I haven't mentioned blush or bronzer, because those products aren't essential, just for adding some color to the face. When done right blush and/or bronzer gives the face a nice glow and extra radiance. Highlighter is also being left out. Highlighter is for getting a dewy sheen, a glow on the cheekbones, browbone areas, cupid's bow of the mouth, and down the bridge of the nose. It just gives a pearly luminescence that makes it seem like there's a spotlight on all the right areas of your face. If you want suggestions about these, just leave a comment! :) 

Two amazing Makeup Gurus doing quick, effective five-minute makeup:

A WEARABLE Smokey Eye Tutorial

My biggest challenge when I began to try out makeup was learning to work with my eye shape. I had watched countless YouTube videos, figured out all the main brushes I would need, seen tons of different application methods, techniques, and styles, and I was ready to start. I wanted to achieve a smokey eye! I was determined. I was excited to start recreating everything I had seen. I had watched tutorials on just about every look under the sun. I had seen bridal makeup, prom makeup, everyday makeup, arabic-inspired smokey eyes, glittery smokey eyes, cut-crease eye tutorials, and everything in between.

Unfortunately once I began trying, I realized that something had gone wrong. Even though I would follow the gurus step for step, I would just end up with a mess on my hands- or my face rather. I had no idea it would be so difficult.

Many YouTube makeup gurus have a standard eye shape, and are blessed with a lot of lid space with which to work. Lid space is important because from lid to brow bone is where you're applying all the shadow, liner, etc., and the more you have the easier of a time you'll have. With more lid space you can do bigger sweeping motions. With me, everything is detail work. Since figuring out what works for me, it has been a walk in the park. I'm going to share my own personal tips and methods for achieving a smokey eye. I think this is important because there aren't many YouTube gurus who have an eye like mine. I have a hooded eye shape, and it is extremely hooded. When I do a line of eyeliner and look up, pretty much all you see is liner. That thin line will take up my entire section of lid. My crease is not clearly visible, so I do what a lot of asians do, and shade in the socket bone area. This is where your crease would normally be, and it is the deepest part of your eyelid, so that's the part you really want to add dimension to.

Smokey eyes are not all alike, and there are tons of methods in achieving stunning looks that can be dramatic, subtle, neutral, colorful, shimmery, or matte. There are different ways to apply, and different ways to achieve dimension and depth. Typically on a day-to-day basis, I go for extremely simple. I'll throw on a main lid color, and smudge a darker color into the crease and outer V and boom, Smokey eye is complete with some mascara and liner. However, for this post's purposes I used a lid color, a crease color, an Outer V color, and a highlight. The effect is a nice neutral smokey eye, not too loud, not too crazy.

With that said, this is how I do a neutral, office and school- appropriate smokey eye:

1) I prep the lid with a primer to make the eyeshadow last and keep its vibrancy all throughout the day. Urban Decay Primer Potion is notoriously the best, and Too Faced Shadow Insurance is also a great option. Many Gurus use a base instead of, or sometimes with a primer, to enhance the color of their shadows. NYX jumbo eye pencils are popular, as well as MAC paint pots. In this look, I used Urban Decay Primer Potion.



2) I then go ahead and put on a main lid color.

The starred shadow is my lid color (Toasted, Urban Decay Naked Palette)

This is the primary color in my look, which I smoke out with other colors. I usually apply this on my lid and into my crease. After generally applying all over the lid I sort of push the brush into my socket area and move from the middle of my lid to the outer part. The key during all these steps is to make sure you're not being heavy handed, or else you'll get a blotchy result.



3) After this, I add depth with a crease color. The circle on the shadow in the above picture (Hustle) is what I used. I smudge this starting from the outer portion of my eye into my socket area. I use a very light hand because it can quickly look too dark or not well blended.






3) Finally, I added a little black (triangle above) to the outer V and shaded slightly inward




4) I added Naked (the shadow with the square over it) as my highlight color, underneath the brow bone

5) I threw on some mascara and smudged a little of Hustle and Creep underneath my lower lashline, and just a bit of eyeliner on the outer third of my bottom waterline. Look complete!



























Voila! Your basic, simple, wearable smokey eye :)