Celebrating my 18th Birthday at Disneyland

You really get the best of both worlds when you celebrate your birthday at Disneyland. All the cast members are so sweet, the attention to detail on rides is mind-blowing, and I mean, who doesn't want a week's worth of exercise? Despite the incredibly hot weather, I had a very lovely day with two of my best friends, Nicole and Emily. (And yes, one of my best friends is also named Emily which means we always get weird looks when we order one after another at Starbucks.) We went on everything from Indiana Jones Adventure to Big Thunder Railroad, and we had some pretty yummy treats like frozen cherry lemonade and the famous dole whip pineapple ice cream to cool off. I'm so excited to come back for Grad Nite at the end of May, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to party at 1 am in the morning if I was so tired at 8 pm this time around...

Big Thunder Railroad

my brave attempt at taking a picture while on the ride

Main Street USA

avoiding all the tourists by taking a picture on the side of the castle. duh.

the bridge that leads to Snow White's wishing well

Space Mountain, my second favorite ride after Splash Mountain

Have you ever been to Disneyland?

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-Emily

A Makeup Look | Fresh and Refresh

Well guys, here it is...my first ever makeup look! I am honestly quite rubbish at applying makeup on myself, so I'm not sure why I decided to be daring enough to put makeup on my cousin. I wanted to keep this look simple and bright, so I stuck to my everyday makeup routine with a slight hint of color on the lips and cheeks.

BASE | I started off with my favorite Origins Make a Difference Plus+ Moisturizer as it's hydrating yet extremely lightweight. It also gives off a beautiful subtle glow when worn under makeup. Next, I followed up with the bareMinerals Prime Time Primer. This gel primer works wonders for smoothing out the skin as well as reducing the appearance of pores when layered with foundation. I then used my favorite tool, the Beauty Blender, to seamlessly blend in the Covergirl 3 in 1 Stay Fabulous Foundation. I followed up with the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer to hide spots as well as to reduce redness around the nose. I also used my new favorite, the Maybelline Age Rewind Dark Circle Concealer, to conceal dark circles along with highlighting underneath her eyes. For a bit of color, I popped on my favorite blush, Exposed by Tarte, as it's long lasting and suitable for all skin tones.

EYES | I began by making a thin line with the Maybelline Master Precise Ink Liner Pen (which was so incredibly hard to do as I can't even draw a straight line on myself!) Next, I curled my cousin's lashes multiple times with my Tweezerman Eyelash Curler as though she has long lashes, they don't like to hold a curl. I followed up with my favorite mascara, the waterproof version of Maybelline The Rocket. Long, fluttery lashes were essential to this look as I wanted to create a refreshing, wide-awake appearance. For brows, I used a color that matched her hair color and created a slight arch to give them some shape.

LIPS | After using a lip balm to act as a moisturizing base, I applied the Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm in Vivacious (I just love saying that word) to the center of her lips then gently feathered it out to create a gradient lip, a very popular look in Korea. This has been one of my favorite ways to wear bright lips as the thought of applying it full on scares me a bit!

What are your go-to makeup products for a fresh spring look?

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-Emily

My 18th Birthday!

Ahhh 18! What a crazy, yet exciting age to be. It's crazy to call myself a legal "adult" as my friends still think I act like a little child (one of my friends thinks my spirit animal is a five year old fairy.) I also received a little birthday present from all of you the day after my birthday as I reached 200 followers on Bloglovin'! Blogging has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done and talking to all of you is what makes it fun. I have two more birthday posts coming up, one on my birthday haul and the second on celebrating my birthday at Disneyland. Oh, and if you're wondering who wrapped this beautiful present, it's none other than my sweet friend Nicole who is seriously a crafting genius. She mentioned that she reads all my posts in her letter (which was in a scroll by the way. yes, I said a scroll.) which genuinely made me so happy!

18 Favorite Memories Before I Turned 18

1. Window-shopping with my mom and giggling about the busy shoppers with a pretzel and lemonade
2. Jumping off the diving board into a 13 ft. deep pool for the first time when I was 3
3. Snorkling with sea turtles and schools of colorful fish in Maui
4. 6 years of ballet but especially the moment I got my first pair of toe shoes
5. Receiving the lead role in my first grade play. Yes, I was so proud I was the little hen with a whopping 10 lines.
6. Seeing my first snowfall one night while sitting in front of a window at my cousin's house
7. Going to the Hannah Montana concert in fourth grade (my first concert!)
8. My 10 year old birthday party- a huge bounce house with slides, pin the nose on the clown, and lots of presents
9. Attempting to learn how to ski in Lake Tahoe for two days but never getting past the bunny slope
10. Picking up my dog/younger sis Muffin for the first time. I don't have any siblings, so this day was so special.
11. Sixth grade was my favorite year of school. I had the funniest friends, a great teacher, and lots of pre-teen fun.
12. Being baptized on Good Friday
13. Seeing Hairspray, my first Broadway show, in NYC and running out in the rain to get the cast's autographs
14. Tutoring Snoop Dogg's (Snoop Lion) son and nephew and getting to talk to him at promotion about math
15. Making the mock trial team and (figuratively) killing it with my team at the courthouse four seasons strong
16. Joining my school's newspaper- stressful deadlines, lots of sarcasm, and Taylor Swift car jams
17. Playing bingo and making crafts with the lovely ladies and gents at my local senior home for two summers
18. Starting my blog three years ago while I was ever so bored over Christmas break (one of my best decisions yet)

Do you have any similar memories?

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-Emily

Review | bareMinerals Mineral Foundation

When I first started wearing makeup, I really had no idea what I doing. My mom was introduced to bareMinerals at the time I started wearing makeup, so she eventually bought me my first starter kit as well. I was overjoyed with the thought of wearing makeup (though foundation was the only thing I wore in middle school,) and my love for makeup shot off from there.

Coverage | Simply put, this foundation provides a light to medium coverage. It looks incredibly natural (and was essentially fool proof for 12 year old me.) It does a decent job at covering redness, but it doesn't help too much with acne and acne scarring. I like to call this my "weekend foundation" for those days when you just want a bit of light coverage. For those of you with great skin, this would be a wonderful foundation as it's not heavy or sticky like a liquid foundation. As for lasting power, bareMinerals claims that this can last up to 8 hours, but I say more like 5 hours if you have oily skin or if it's a hot day.

Shade Selection and Finishes | The shade selection is incredible with 20 shades from all over the spectrum, so no worries here.  They are categorized by undertones: cool, neutral, or warm. What's great about powder foundation over liquid foundation is that it does not oxidize. It blends in effortlessly with your skin, and no one will guess that you're wearing foundation. They have come out with two formulas, original and matte. I prefer matte to original as my skin leans more towards the oily side, but I honestly can't tell too much of a difference between the two.

Ingredients | We can't forget that this is a mineral foundation, and it contains no parabens, binders, fillers, or synthetic chemicals, meaning no weird breakouts. We all hate those.

Conclusion | I would recommend trying out a starter kit first before purchasing the full size. I am glad this was my first foundation, but I would have done fine with a drugstore mineral foundation for a cheaper price. However, the bareMinerals foundation ($28 USD) is cheaper than the Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Airbrush Foundation ($38 USD) if you want to put it into comparison. My final verdict is give a drugstore mineral foundation a try first (Loreal True Match Naturale is a great one,) and come to this if it doesn't work out.

Have you tried anything from bareMinerals that you loved?

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-Emily