High School Graduation

Before I start this post.. I actually took a look back at my blog to August+September of last year and found my post about the first day of senior year!! Crazy!
It really doesn't feel like it's been since my graduation, but it has been over a week. The graduation felt like it took forever when I sat there, but now that I look back, it went so fast. It felt like I went through 4 years of high school for that night and I can hardly believe that it has already happened. Before graduation, our school had set up two days for us to practice. Though the practices were long and involved sitting around, I'm tankful we did them because without it, I'd be clueless of what to do!
My graduation was set to take place at 6, but for the students graduation, we had to arrive an hour early to prep. My family basically came with me at 5 since it made the most sense and coming early meant better seats for them to see me! =)

Before graduation, I had some prepping to do. I didn't plan to do much with my hair, but I wanted to play around with eye makeup. In all honestly, I rarely wear that much makeup.. usually just eyebrows and eyeliner, but with bigger events, I like to add some mascara and eyeshadow. (hehe not that much of a difference, but it makes me feel better!) For my makeup, I went for a slight smokey eye using my naked palette and my eye shadow tattoo.

I wish the quality on my phone was a bit better here! 

Now you might remember in one of my previous post where I showed off a gold baroque dress and I had mentioned how I wanted a baroque styled dress for graduation. Well I got two and I actually liked the way the other one fit me so I chose to wear it for graduation under my gown! What sold me on this dress was the pattern of it and the length of it. I've found myself to look the best in either skater dresses or bodycon dresses so I wanted one of those for graduation. The only thing that bothered me about bodycon dresses though is the length. Those dresses are already quite short, but I feel like on me, they are even shorter and I wanted to avoid anything like that for graduation. Luckily this dress reaches me knees and I find it to be very classy on!

I didn't know how long graduation would be, but I knew that I might be limited on time for pictures. After graduation, would be the time for pictures with my friends, so I decided to take some extra time beforehand to take pictures. I do have pictures with my sister haha, but I just don't share them because of her request. =) We started with taking a few photos indoors and then moved ourselves for more pictures. The weather for my graduation could not have been better. It was almost 100% guaranteed to be outside and it was warm, but not burning or even that humid! We were lucky!!

On our way...

The whole graduation took a couple of hours and I'll admit that it felt dragged on, but it was such a surreal moment for me. I sat there and just looking into the stands was crazy. I've never seen them so packed.. (not even for football games haha) and it was just overflowing with people. Everyone was energetic and it felt like they were all here to celebrate us. I looked around at us just sitting there and I felt very accomplished but also a bit sad at the same time.
As speeches were being given, I couldn't help but think back to my whole high school experience. I thought back to everything good and bad that has happened and how I've made it. I started high school as a freshman. I was super quiet and always hid myself. I kept to myself most of the time and had my mind focused on one thing only. Now as a senior, I've definitely figured out more of who I am and I speak my thoughts more. I've also gotten the idea of "balance" in my head and I'm putting it to use with my life. =)

whoo got prizes from the party!

 Right after my graduation, I had about an hour to myself to be with my friends before I was shipped on a bus to go to my all night grad party! I'm not going to go into to much details, but overall, the party was super fun and well worth it! (literally.. I got more money back in giftcards than was paid!) There were different events at the grad party and I got to try some new things and learn that I will never do it again.. lol paintball! I thought it was a great way to end high school. The night flew by and the strangest thing is, after the party was when I felt the saddest. When we were on the bus to go home, I realized that this was it and I almost started balling. I held it in though hehe. I think the mixture of graduation and a couple nights of no sleep caused this hehe. =) I just can't believe it's over, but I am so ready for college! It's a bittersweet feeling really!

I know I said that I wouldn't decorate my cap, but at the last minute, I decided to do so. (haha I'm slightly indecisive if you haven't realized) I know it's cliche to do a quote, but a quote was a must for me! I had a few quotes to choose from, but I ended up with 2 that I loved-

"Life is precious and it's what you do with it that keeps you alive on the inside. It's not enough just to live and take that gift for granted. Each one of us has fears, but the more we work to overcome them, the more we are able to enjoy our lives."

And

Always remember, there's a little girl inside of you... Treat her as if you just met her today. 

I loved both quotes, but I ended up choosing the 1st one and making it shorter it so it would fit on my cap! I thought the message from the 1st one was more fitting, though the 2nd quote holds a special place in my heart. =) Hehe, both quotes are from Demi Lovato in case you were wondering! =)

Do you still remember your high school graduation?

What are some of your favorite quotes?

Haha.. I might get some fun answers here... but when was the first time you pulled an all nighter? Mine was for the grad party.. and never again do I pull on unless it is an emergency! =)

Influenster Vow Voxbox

I'm quite excited for today's post since it is about a box that I have recently received. The box is from Influenster and it's my 5th box from them. If you want to see my reviews on the other boxes, check them out here: Something Blue Voxbox, Violet Voxbox, J'adore Voxbox, and my most recent one, MKglam voxbox.
I got an email about a month ago from Influenster asking me to take a survey to see which "summer box program" I could qualify for. A week or so later, I go an email back telling me that I had qualified for the Vow voxbox!! This box is "for the brides, bridesmaids, mothers-of-the-bride, wedding guests, and wedding crashers."

When I saw this description, it brought me back to the first ever voxbox I had received. The something blue voxbox was also wedding themed and I got it at about the same time last year. (wow.. it's crazy to think that a year has passed!) Hehe, I always wonder how I get chosen for these boxes since this box doesn't quite fit me, but I am loving the fun products inside so it doesn't really matter to me!
The box itself is a beautiful turquoise color perfect for summer. The color reminds me of a relaxing day at the beach and possibly of a wedding haha. I have to admit that the product inside seem to be targeted towards an age group slightly older than me, but I can see myself using most of the products in there on a daily basis!

Unboxing this particular voxbox was pretty easy for me as there was no mass amount of tissue paper and padding in it. I simply took the tape of the sides and popped the box open anxious to see what was inside. My first impression of the box was "wow, they did a good job fitting everything into this box!" Haha, the products were stacked onto of each other in such a neat and organized fashion. I had to memorize how they were placed so I could put them back in the correct way for pictures!

The first product in the box that caught my eye was the tiniest item. It is the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure. ($7.99) Sally Hansen was one of the first nail polish brands that I tried and I still love their polishes. This tiny little bottle of polish comes with 7 benefits in 1. There is a base coat, strengthener, growth treatment, salon insipired color, top coat, chip resistance, and a gel finish.
This polish comes in 56 shades and the one I got in my box is #360,
Barracuda. The color looks is a gorgeous shade of blue and resembles a tiffany blue. It's very pearl like in my opinion. One thing that I love about this polish is the aplicatior. It's more square and flat like compared to others. The only thing I disliked about the polish though was how many coats I needed to get it my desired color. It takes at least 2-3 coats to get your nails to an opaque look though I still love this color. It's perfect for summer!

The next item that intrigued me was the Ecotools Pure Complexion Sponge. ($5.99) This item was placed on the top and it got my attention pretty quickly. I have heard of the brand ecotools and I have tried some of their products before, but this particular sponge made me a bit hesitant. The sponge actually resembled and felt like a pumice stone to me first. It felt like a hard foam rock haha. However, to a pleasant surprise, once the sponge gets wet, it instantly transforms into a soft sponge that starts foaming with some cleanser (the sponge is super absorbent) and a little scrubbing. The sponge feels great against my skin and afterwards, my skin felt super soft. I prefer the sponge over a towel since it wasn't as rough, but it still made my skin clean and brighter.
The selling point for this sponge is that is is handmade with 100% natural ingredients including the Japanese konjac vegetable fiber. The sponge is intended to be an exfoliater that is gentle enough for daily use. If used and cleaned properly, it can be used for 2-3 months.

On the side of my box was a can of Pure silk Moisturizing Shave Cream. ($2.19) This product seems pretty nice and it smells amazing! Now I personally don't use shaving cream since I shave using an electric razor. I find electric razor easier to use since I don't end up cutting myself. It's a lot faster too and I don't have to use any extra products on my legs. I do believe though that this product works well. It contains added aloe for smooth legs and you really can't beat the sweet smell!

The next product in the box is the Tide To Go Pen. (3 ct. for &7.99) I have always been intrigued by this item since it's so tiny, but can be so helpful emergency situations! (such as a wedding or graduation party haha) I'm a clumsy person and I am always dropping food or spilling drinks on myself so this is perfect.
The pen is the perfect size and great to stick in your purse when you go out! It works well so I can see myself using this item a lot now in the future!

At the bottom was my favorite item in the box. It was the Olay Regenerist Luminous tone Perfecting Cream. ($30.99) This product claims to fade dark spots (hmm maybe it will help my sun spots and freckles..) in 8 weeks. I have yet to test this cream yet, but I plan to use it after my current cream runs out! I took a quick test of the cream and I have to say that it smells heavenly! It's one of my best smelling face creams and I can't wait to use it daily! My first impression of the cream was that it was light, but at the same time thick, so you don't have to use that much to cover your face. The cream is a bit greasy though which is a slight turn off, but if it can fade my sun spots + possibly my freckles, I can deal with it!

The last item in my vow voxbox was a card from Riley & Grey that features their website. Their site was created to cater those who are getting married by giving them their own wedding website. With their site, couples can easily keep track of guest and their information. I think it is a really cool idea and perfect for those who have a big wedding. The card in the box gives me a 50% off my own website, but I honestly don't think I will be using it for the main reason that I don't have a need for it now or in the near future.

Overall, I really like this box and I am so glad Influenster chose to send this box to me. I love getting and trying out new products! While I may not be a bride to be, I can certainty use most of these products in my day to day life. I cannot wait to start testing out the olay dark spot remover cream as well. I read reviews and they all seem to be positive so I'm hoping it works well for me! I feel like all the products in the box were designed to help a lady look her best no matter the occasion!

Are you a member of Influenster?
Which boxes have you received?
What products in this box have you tried/are interesting?

Gold Baroque

I cannot believe it! The past few days seem like a huge blur and even a dream to me, but a lot has happened. Well mainly, graduation has happened!! (which I will write about in a later post!) It all went by so fast and it was quite the experience. Right after graduation, our school had planned for us an all night grad party which was crazy! I literally pulled my first ever all nighter that night! I also played my first game of paintball that night and I'm glad I tried it, but let's say it will be a long time before I do that again!
I'm still recovering right now since I have not really made up for that night of lost sleep lol. I feel okay, but my mind is a little out of it and my body hurts! hehe. I got back around 6-7 am that day and slept for 3 ish hours before heading out again. My sleep cycle is slightly messed up right now so I'm working on getting it back to normal! (which explains my 2 hour nap in the middle of the day today!)

For my outfit today, I am wearing something a bit fancier. I was on the hunt for a graduation dress and I actually got two-three dresses that could potentially make for my dress. After looking around online, I found out that I really love the baroque design so I went to look for a dress that had it. I originally really wanted a gold baroque, but I could only find this one. Later on, I saw on forever 21, two dresses that I loved. One was your typical white graduation dress with roses while the other was a black and white baroque styled dress. I got those two and the dress that I eventually ended up wearing to graudation with was the baroque dress from forever 21. That's not to say though that the other dresses aren't pretty! I love them all! 

This dress from dailylook is quite unique! On the site, it is called the sequined baroque bodycon dress. I don't know why I didn't tie the name in with the dress, but I actually expected the dress to be a cloth type material. When I got it and opened it, I realized that the dress was actually covered with sequins. It was actually a pretty cool discovery. I was first worried about how tight the sequins were glues on, but they are on pretty tight! That's not to say that some didn't fall off when I wore it, but it was only a few. This dress will definitely survive many wears! As far as comfort goes, it is not at all itchy on my body, but I have to be careful not to rub my arms against my body to aggressively.
The dress is a bit of a bodycon dress, though the bottom is a bit of a looser fit. That just makes it easier for me to walk in hehe. The back of the dress is the same as the front with the addition of a slit from the top of my neck to my waist. I love the way the back looks personally!

For accessories, I chose to wear a pair of earring similar to the ones that I wore to prom. The dainty earrings are gold colored as well and are quite long. There are crystals at the end and a little heart charm. For my bracelets, I am wearing a set from forever 21. These are literally my favorite set of bangles! My shoes are a pair of tan heels.

Ohh man, the all night grad party was so much fun, (absolutely no regrets with going!) but if there is one thing I learned from it, it's to not pull an all nighter ever again! (hopefully!) It's day 2 after my all nighter and I still feel so out of it... I have a headache and I'm just sore all over for no reason! Whoo.. lots of naps for the next week. My body isn't meant to not sleep!

Dress- Dailylook
Earrings- Kohls
Bracelets- Forever 21
Heels- Macy's

Are you a fan of baroque?
What do you think of my outfit?
Have you ever pulled an allnighter? How did you recover?

I'm Quitting + Damaged Lips

I just had my graduation practice this morning (and boy was it hot outside!) and I'm super excited for graduation on Friday. We have practice again in the morning and then we graduate a few hours later! It is crazy how time flies, but I am ready for college. I feel like college life will be different than high school. I know there is a lot more studying, but I also have heard that there is more free/social time so I can't wait to experience that!

ohh I did not notice my face here.. at least the kids look adorable hehe! =)

The past few days have been super busy with my new job (which I have an interesting update about...ek), lots of errands/shopping, and numerous doctors visit (including some blood work for college!!). I was however able to catch up with one of old friends and her children. While my mom and sister went shopping, I hopped over to their house and spent my time with the children! They have 3 kids and sadly, one of them wasn't there when I went over!

I actually thought that the youngest child (the baby) was missing and I confused the kids up! It turns out the oldest one was missing!! I thought it was odd since I felt that the children's personalities had changed, but it turns out, I ended up mixing the girls up!! The baby was no longer a baby.. and the middle girl grew up! From what her sister told me, the older girl that I didn't see grew really tall and is now basically my height. That is crazy considering the fact that she is only 9!!! 

Another trip that I made this week was to Bestbuy to pick up a camera for my sister. She wanted a simple point and shot that took high quality photos. I love high quality photos, but the thought of lugging a huge camera around on trips is not fun. The camera that we chose to pick up was the canon powershot. So far, she has been loving the camera and the quality of the photos are very nice! It's also so much easier to carry around than a dslr which makes it easy for her to take on trips or to events! 

So while my sister was looking for her camera, I took a little mini walk around the store and came across the laptop center. I actually don't have a laptop and I know it is practically required to have one while in college. I am stuck between the two major brands for laptops- either an Apple or Windows...

An apple is a bit more costly, but bestbuy also has a deal going on right now where students can save $150. This deal makes the laptop a bit closer in price to a windows, but it is still significantly more costly. I have heard that apple macbook last a lot longer which justify the price a bit. Apples comes with virus and a Microsoft office type software, but at my college, they also provide that to us for free. Therefore it seems that windows is still the better deal price wise. I just wonder how long a windows will last compared to an apple laptop.. I feel like it's the same? 

After our shopping trip, we stopped to pick up some dinner. I noticed a coldstone near the shopping center where we were. I have this huge love for ice cream and froyo that I just had to stop in there after dinner. I am always craving ice cream hehe. The flavor that I got here is pistachio with gummy bears. I am a fan of pistachio ice cream and gummy bears though I have never tried gummy bears in ice cream. Well it turns out that even though I love gummy bears, they don't taste amazing in ice cream!! 

A few days ago, I noticed my lips looking odd. My bottom lip was slightly darker than the rest of my lip. At first I thought that was due to me eating chocolate and not cleaning my face. So I went to clean my lips and the darkness did not come off. This morning it hit me out of nowhere that I might have sunburned my lips. I googled sunburned lips and volia, I knew instantly that the darkness on my lips was a burn!! At my first moment of free time, I went out and picked up some sunscreen lip balm and some sunscreen.

I've been taking a closer look at my skin and it seems that the past 4 years of no sunscreen days have taken it's effect on my skin... I'm making it a resolution this summer to use sunscreen whenever I go out and I am not running. I still can't get myself to wear sunscreen when running, but I have been applying it whenever I leave the house! _________________________________________________________________________________

You may notice that my title says I'm quitting.. hmm well I actually decided yesterday that I would be quitting my new job... Hear me out on this... For one, this was my first real job and it was full time. I never knew how time consuming a full time job was!! I have a lot of doctor appointments to catch up on and I just had no time for them. I also wanted to go on a few trips this summer and having a full time job conflicted with those trips!

I thought I would love the job, but after doing it for a week, I realized that I could not see myself doing this for the rest of the summer. The fact that it gets hotter and sunnier as the year goes on scared me and I could not be outside in that heat for 6+ hours~!! It sounds a bit selfish, but my skin was going to die..! I decided to tell my manager as early as I could instead of holding it off or just not showing up. My manager is so sweet that I didn't want to disappoint her! It was the scariest thing ever, but I chose to tell her the truth and not make up a corny lie!!! Luckily for me, everything ended up well!! My manager understood where I was coming from and wasn't angry. She ever offered to help me find another job which is just crazy!! I kinda lied a little bit to her and told her that I had another job since I didn't want to bother her!! Ahh she is so awesome!!!!

So now I am jobless once again. I'm considering taking on a part time job instead of full time, but it is hard without a driver's license! I'm working on getting my license now, finding a job close to home, as well as scheduling a bunch of appointments before college.. (including wisdom teeth removal this summer!!) 

How has your week been?

Do you guys think an apple macbook is worth the cost? (specifically for college)

Have you ever left a job because you just didn't like it? I personally could not put myself under the sun like that for the entire summer. It bothered me to know that I was damaging my skin everyday so I figured it was best to leave instead of suffer. I'm still new to the working world, so I'll see if my decision is correct later! 

Senior Prom (Pic Heavy)

It's the post that many of you (including me!) are excited for!! I still cannot believe that prom was just a week ago. I am basically on break now since I don't have any classes and I'm just waiting for graduation to happen. I'm thinking back to prom (actually my whole senior year) as I write this post and it feels like a dream. Like am I really growing up? I'm having such a hard time accepting the fact that it's over. I'm excited for college next year, but it's just that I will never be actually back in high school again and it feels strange!

Okay back to prom! My younger sister seemed to be more excited about prom then me haha. Well, she was more organized than me for sure! She had meticulously planned out every second of my day from hair to makeup and to picture locations! Where would I be without her? lol. I'm not going to lie, anticipating and getting ready for prom is honestly half the fun!

Ignore the face haha. My sister was doing my hair at the time! 

The first thing I decided to tackle was my makeup. I was originally going to do my hair first, but I had just washed it and it was still wet. I also had to figure out whether or not to put my dress on before makeup + hair, but opted to put it on after. Walking in a prom dress is not easy!!
For my makeup, I chose to go for more of a gold smokey eye. I usually don't wear too much makeup and doing it myself was a bit intimiditing, but in the end, everything turned out great! I even had someone ask me who did my makeup for me??! I told them I did it and I felt so proud! lol
For my makeup, I used the naked palette and the colors "smog" and "creep."I also used the urban decay eye primer and after a night of dancing, I have to say that it works very well!! On my inner eyelids, I had a sparkly white shadow. For my eyeliner, I took things to the extreme with a thick cateye (gotta love my monolids) and I applied some gold liquid liner on top of that. The gold liner really sold the look in my opinion! For lips, I had on some nude gloss. =)

My hair was simple, but boy did it take forever to do! I was looking for a simple half up half down type hairdo and I eventually settled on this one. I knew for sure that my hair was going to be curled for prom. I asked my sister to help me since it'
s near impossible to get the hair in the back. My hair took over an hour, but in the end, it was worth it because my hair looked beautiful!! The reverse ombre effect that I had in my hair looked so gorgeous with the curls!! I loved the way my hair looked that night.

For my nails, I kinda cheated and brought my own fake nails to glue on haha. They actually turned out really nicely and people had though that I got them done somewhere. The only thing about the nails though are that it doesn't last that long.  (which can be a good thing since I had to pull them off before I could take my contacts out!!) Getting your nails done is quite costly and for my prom, the only thing I wanted to splurge on was my dress! Therefore, I reused my heels, did my own hair, makeup, and nails! 

Attempting to put the  boutonniere on.. .and failing ! 

Funny Faces are a must!!

I am the queen of either being super late/rushed or super early to an event.. almost never on time! So therefore when my date came, I was still in the midst of getting ready. Ohhh how embarrassing on my part! After my finishing touches, I came out and we exchanged corsages and boutonnieres! The corsage was easy to slip on my wrist, but the boutonniere was a struggle. haha. My main goal with the boutonniere was to not poke him which I accomplished, but I never got the flower on. I needed some aid after! haha We took a few pictures in our house and our backyard before heading off to another location.

My mommy and I!

Our 2nd location was a popular one for senior prom pictures. Everyone literally comes here for prom! Luckily for us, we got here quite early ( I actually think we were the first) so we had some time to ourselves before the crowd came. This gave me time 

Hunting for out friends lol.

We were able to get lots of photos by ourselves and with our family, but after about half an hour, we got worried since we saw no one showing up! So we resorted to whipping out our phones and began texting our friends. The majority of people did not respond to us, but the ones who did told us that they were running late! (That would be me if my date had not shown up lol!) phew.. at least we knew now that we weren't in the wrong place. We were just early! 

Once our friends finally made it, we stood around for a lot more pictures! I felt super famous with all those cameras pointing at me hehe.. I didn't know which camera to look into! I think we spent an extra half hour just having our pictures taken and my group of friends chose to leave a tiny bit early. Therefore, we wouldn't have to fight the traffic 

The Great Gatsby Themed Prom

The theme of our senior prom this year was "The Great Gatsby" and I loved it. The decorations were done nicely and the music was on point. The majority of the songs being played were from the movie!! The location of our prom was right on the beach which made for some beautiful pictures! We also took a lot of picture at prom and in the photo booth that they offered us.

Overall, my prom was sooo much fun!! I'm not going into too much details, but I really enjoyed it and it was a great way to end my senior year! I can't believe it's over still.. I just have my actual graduation and my overnight grad party left. Let me go back in time!! haha

I'll probably talk more about this later, but earlier this week, I was speaking with someone who I met a few months ago. We've hung out before and there are obviously fun memories, but it's just such a weird feeling. I really enjoyed those memories, but it hurts me a lot to know that they are now just that to me .. memories. As much as I try, I could never relive them. It hurts because I would do anything to just go back in time and relive it all with the same feelings, but I can't! I know making new fun memories can help cure this (which I am doing), but whenever I see something that reminds me of the past, I can't help but feel a bit sad but I'm still glad that it happened. 

Did you have senior prom?    
How did you end your senior year?  
Have you ever had that feeling that you just want to go back in time and relive parts of your life, but you realize that you can't? I'm struggling a lot with this right now, but I think keeping myself busy is the only cute at the moment!