The Wedding Series: The Bachelorette Party

The Wedding Series: The Bachelorette Party

Ok, I know it's a little weird to be broadcasting my bachelorette party- but honestly, I'm a blogger and textbook over-sharer. Nothing really phases me, and to add the cherry on top- nothing really scandalous happened. 

To put things in perspective- for my wedding, I have 0 bridesmaids.

"No bridesmaids?" I hear you gasp.

I know, I probably gave you all a shock that I'm not harassing my 5-10 best friends into doing a bunch of shit for me.

But here's the argument I lay at your feet-

My friends don't live close to me. One is in Texas, one lives in Southern California, one DOES live close to me- but she works basically 6/7 days a week and is a very busy lady.

It was just honestly unrealistic to ask a bunch of grown ass women to shuttle themselves back and forth for showers, parties, the dress fittings, finding MY dress, etc. And then on top of that, they have to shell out money for the dress, the hair, the makeup, the bachelorette party, help set up the showers and parties... it was just nuts. 

And to put it in perspective, when I told one of them I wasn't doing bridesmaids- her exact words were, "Oh nooo, you mean I don't have to shove myself in an ugly dress and be at your beck and call? What a disappointment."

Which, made me laugh real hard when I read it.

And also, here's my argument for the no-bridesmaids thing:

You get to include all your friends into the fun stuff.

Nothing is more insulting than trying to pick 5 out of 7 of your friends and designate them as "the best". And the truth of weddings is- bridesmaids are kind of a nightmare to pick, Because in addition to picking only 5 of your tight group, now parts of that list MUST be family which takes it down to 2 and God forbid you have more on your side than the groomsmen side- because apparently it looks "tacky" and "lopsided, and "really Samantha, do you have to show off how many friends you have?"

So, my option was to remove the entire equation and hit delete. It just seems silly to throw my friends in dresses than look like sausage casings and then separate them from their husbands to sit at a designated table where NO ONE ACTUALLY KNOWS EACH OTHER. It's stupid, guys.

So I should preface that my friends are really, really cool. I've known all of them for at least 10+ years and frankly more. (Some of them my whole life). They are also a very wide range of "types"- one is adventurous, one is pragmatic, etc. 

But the thing they all have in common is they're good listeners. And when I told them, "Hey, for the bachelorette party, I kind of just want to do a girls night, or a trip and skip the gross, penis themed stuff and the stripper stuff."- they actually listened and ended up creating probably not only the best trip I've ever been on, but definitely the best bachelorette party I've ever been to.

CAUSE MY FRIENDS TOOK ME TO DISNEYLAND.

I hope you're jealous, because it was great.

I didn't have to schedule anything, I didn't have to worry about anything. I wasn't in charge of any of the plans. I don't think I've ever had this much fun in a weekend in my life. And by not doing bridesmaids, I got to invite little sisters and my cousin to the party without feeling like they weren't part of the group- because they really are. These are little sisters I treat like family, and my cousin who's been helping me pretty much with EVERYTHING about the wedding. (Sorry Katey, I know making bridal shower games is kind of the worst).

So Natalie, who really I would designate as Maid of Honor if I had bridesmaids, I have known my entire life. We grew up down the street from each other and pretty much did everything together (except sports, I suck at tennis you guys- like I REALLY suck.) 

Natalie is also a concierge in Texas. And I don't know what voodoo she did to make this happen, but we got rooms at not only one of the nicest hotels, but we got FANCY rooms with a view of the fireworks at night.

The hotel is called the Hotel Indigo in Anaheim

http://www.ihg.com/hotelindigo/hotels/us/en/reservation

It's in walking distance from the park, next to a CVS and it's trendy as hell.

Which my friends and I promptly destroyed minute one with signage, alcohol, and exploding suitcases..

The bride to be signs were brought my Katey and I don't know where they came from- but she also found bachelorette themed cups and "team bride" pins.

THEN, because my friends are precious, adorable people, they all brought their own little gifts for everyone. I don't know if they planned to do that? Or if everyone was just on the same wave length?

So "little" Sarah, brought Jamberry nail wraps- which if you haven't tried before they are REALLY fun. They're nail stickers for people who suck at nail art. BUT, they have Disney themed wraps!

https://www.jamberry.com/us/en/

They're really fun, and pretty easy. (More difficult for me, because I was about 2 drinks in when I was trying to figure them out.)

"Big" Sarah ended up bringing flash tattoos, WHICH ARE ALSO REALLY FUN AND ADDICTING. I'm not 100% sure where she got hers, but they pop up all over the place and you can probably find them on amazon- but basically if you're really into wearing jewelry but also really like temporary tattoos or anything relating to Coachella, these are the stuff. On top of that, she brought those hair ties that are knotted at the ends (do those things have names? I have no idea. I'm a terrible beauty guru) which ended up being really handy.

Katey in addition to all the signage, brought the tiniest bottles of wine I've ever seen (which I kind of didn't even know existed).

And then on the practical side of things- Gracie organized pretty much all the dinners and was our general tour guide on where to find the best things (apparently cream cheese filled pretzels exist there and I HAD NO CLUE. Also, she somehow scored us fancy name pins that were bedazzled and I didn't know those were a thing either.) And Natalie was in charge of tickets, the hotel and the car.

Now for those of you that know me pretty well, you know I usually do all the planning for trips because I'm that guy. Anal, and annoying. I know, I'm SORRY,  Ok?!

So I couldn't back seat drive my friends and didn't know what else to do- so I spoiled them to fun things too.

I had sweatshirts custom made from an Etsy shop called Bride and Entourage (link below). They were incredibly great to work with, customized the order to my specifics and the girls LOVED them. 

And they weren't that expensive either! I think with shipping it was probably less than $40 per sweater. And they do all kinds of different stuff. Definitely worth checking out if you're looking for bridesmaid gifts, or gifts for the moms or something. (Definitely thinking about ordering more for the wedding!)

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BrideAndEntourage

I know they're a little hard to see, but they all say "bachelorette party" on them (except my "Bride" sweater), then there are glitter bows, and on the hoods I had them all specified to have their own names on them. Because as Katey would say, "It's gangster."

We got stopped, I couldn't even tell you how many times, by people asking where these came from and where we got them. For some reason there were actually 2 or 3 other bachelorette parties there that weekend and we definitely looked the coolest.

(And for those who want to know, yes the glitter bows and lettering stayed on through several washes and I haven't had any problems with peeling. Mine looks just as nice as when I bought it.)

My other big gift for the girls was customized 31 Bags that had their names on them. I opted for a bigger bag that was lined so they could use it to store tablets safely, or to put more "breakable" makeup in.

https://www.mythirtyone.com/msesock/shop/Catalog/ItemDetail/8256?refCategory=S106&isSummary=False

I did the black and white stripe pattern because it's claaaasic. 

But I figured, my girls are spoiling me, so I should spoil them.

But really, it was just one of those occasions where everyone was in the right spirit and mood and fun just kept rolling in.

We pretty much did EVERYTHING- World of Color, the fireworks shows, the Mad Hatter tea party rave thing.

And to be fair, it kind of helped that it was also pretty much half of our groups birthdays in the 2 weeks surrounding the trip so we had a lot to celebrate and people were pretty much trying their hardest to spoil us the entire time. 

Like Gracie's mother in law bought us all drinks at the Napa Rose, which by the way was so much fancier than I expected and I maybe shouldn't have rolled in with a Jansport backpack and sweat covered tank top like some hillbilly, but it was amazing.

(Which, by the way, Gracie if you haven't told your mother in law thank you, from me, I'm going to smack you on the mouth.)

And Natalie let me basically force her to try on every hat we came across to the point where I pretty much made her her own tumblr and hashtag for it.

#nattyhats2016, yall.

So as for bachelorette party advice, I don't really know what I can tell you other than be honest about what you want or don't want.

Straight up though, I just have a bunch of really amazing friends who are just good AT being my friends.

I mean look at these weirdos, could you ask for anything better?

(Side note, we re-took this hotel lobby picture about 5 times and this was as good as we could get it- but it really says a lot about us as a group. Also, can we all appreciate that none of us gave a shit about ruining the picture?)

-SamanthaK

Current Favorites, Wedding Stress, and Other Things

Current Favorites, Wedding Stress, and Other Things

Hey guys, remember me?

Me either.

I don't blame you.

I'm not going to apologize or say that I was "busy" or had "better things to do"- because the truth is this blog was just on the very bottom on the priority list that included my wedding, the other wedding related parties, a new puppy, etc.

We did get a puppy though. Dumbest mistake of my life, but ultimately very very worth it. (Like real kids, right?)

Leo is very handsome and very smart (and also chews up all my furniture, but that's a whole other thing right now).

But I promise I didn't forget about the blog. I didn't. I just suck at life, SORRY BOUT IT.

However in the vein of this blog, I do have some current favorites that have been REALLY surprising actually!

So recently a few of my childhood friends decided that they didn't really want to put together a bachelorette party in the traditional sense and instead decided that we were going to Disneyland instead.

OBVIOUSLY I WAS VERY EXCITED.

So needless to say, I do what I always do and try to plan ALL my outfits like a month ahead of time and also try to put together a makeup kit that is small but works with a lot of different problems.

Now Disneyland as we all know usually means long wear makeup and makeup that holds up to a lot of circumstances- water, sweat, etc. To be fair, we're going in February so it probably most likely means rain.

But you know me, I ain't playing around with constant touch ups but I wanna look flawless in all the pictures. So I went on my makeup spree of testing out a bunch of nonsense until something clicked.

Now for me personally, I'm not a fan of full on makeup for Disneyland. I don't want to spend a lot of time retouching, or skipping rides or events cause I might get wet or smear my eyebrows, or whatever. So I really wanted something that would pretty much stay in place but looked and felt more natural, but if it smudged it wouldn't be a BIG deal.

So naturally, I figured I'd try the cushion compacts that have become soooo popular right now.

For those of you who are new here, Korean and Asian skincare has become the gold standard. And now that they're so common and popular and America has copied what they can, they then branched into Korean and Asian makeup. This is where the BB cream craze came from.

Now cushion makeups are a really interesting idea.

www.misshaus.com

So the idea here is that it's a compact that can completely seal closed and inside is a sponge that has absorbed your foundation. To apply, you use the provided velvet puff to pat/dip into the sponge, gather product and then apply to the skin. 

It's actually incredibly clever. Lancome I believe is copying the idea and I know there's a couple in the drugstore market.

Now here's the drawback to this: usually the color selections aren't that great because they aren't widely popular yet. I just happen to be quite fair and neutral under toned so I'm a little lucky.

Anyway, after looking around and doing reviews I decided to go for the ones with higher reviews and the ones from Asian skincare companies.

Like, sorry America, but their compacts have SPF and really nice quality ingredients. Sorry bout it.

Missha Magic Cusion is the one I've been trying and falling in love with. (They only have 2 colors and I'm using the lightest one. Number 21? I believe?)

I SOOOOOO like this. Very very very much, and here's why:

My skin isn't naturally too bad. It can be a little red in areas and I might have some breakouts happening but nothing that's so terrible. And I have a lot of freckles which I actually like. So this literally applies like a dream (the consistency is very very wet/runny. It's incredibly liquid.) and it smooths my skin out, covers the reddness, but allows my skin to really show through and breathe. It has a natural look that looks like actual skin.

So between this and a little concealer on spots or under the eyes and I'm good to go. I do usually set this with my powder but that's mostly just to get it to last as long as I possibly can (10-14 hour days). 

If you want a very natural skin like look that actually makes your skin BETTER the longer you use it- this is amazing.

And the best part?

On amazon, it's less than $20 and usually it comes with a refill sponge. It's amazing, And the packaging for the compact is great too. Because it has a secondary lid, you can open it up and use the mirror to reapply or throw on lipstick, whatever- it doesn't dry out the sponge. It's still all nicely sealed inside.

5/5 stars, love it. 

Next up in skincare is from Korea too I believe. 

Skinfood has been a brand I've been really enjoying but in particular the Black Sugar Mask. 

www.us.memebox.com

The price on this varies depending on where you buy it from, but I'm a bit amazon fan and on there I think it was around $15.

This couldn't be any better for my skin. It kind of has the same consistency has thick honey and sugar and smells like it too. How I use it is I apply to a damp face and scrub for a little while to exfoliate and then just leave it on for about 10 minutes (or more if you're watching tv and get distracted like I do). Then I kinda rub it in a little bit more before I rinse it away.

My skin has never felt better and the dry flakey nonsense just disappears. It's incredible. I usually have to fight the dry flakey skin all the time, and this mask I do once or twice a week and it's made such a difference in my skin. And I've noticed my breakouts have really subsided and my skin has a much clearer look to it. (Now I think the Missha compact has also helped too in that department, but the combo of the 2 has definitely been holy grail worthy.)

For reference my skin is oily but incredibly dehydrated. Meaning, my skin has oily tendencies (eats through makeup, acne, etc) but I have dry flakey patches that also help oil build up (yeah I know, gross.)

So next up on the list: Mascara.

Now we all know I love my Better Than Sex mascara from Too Faced, but the problem is it's not waterproof. (Too Faced, seriously, get on top of this.)

So I had to go a-searchin. 

And I'm not a fan of most waterproofs because either they just plain aren't, or they are so dry it turns into a flakey mess, or it makes your lashes brittle.

But I had heard about the Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara for bottom lashes and I figured I should just try and give it a shot.

www.covergirl.com

So I bought it in the water resistant formula in the color black. 

Ok, so I was sort of surprised by this one. It really coats the lashes, and has a nice bend in the wand (it reminds me a lot of a plastic version of the Eyeko mascara wand), and it's surprisingly very natural, but unnatural at the same time.

It's very lengthening, for sure. Like, eyelashes to your eyebrows crazy sometimes. It's not super advanced on the volume end but it's enough volume to look natural- which is why I was kinda confused.

I'm normally a volume girl. Like, how much can I add to make it look like I'm wearing a strip of false lashes? But I really liked the look of this. It has a natural but very defined lash look. It combs though, really grabbing every stubby lash I have without adding an insane amount of bulk to it- which in the end made my eyes less irritated through the day.

And speaking of the day, it lasted through hot irons, long blow dries, sweating, shopping, splashes of water- everything.

But it removes like a dream with my face wash.

I love it. It's definitely up there on my holy grail favorites now. 

And really, I think if I just applied a 3rd coat, I could probably get the volume I normally like.

Now for some other favorites:

Current favorite tv show- The Amazing Race.

Ok, where the hell have I been that I've never watched this show before? It's amazing. (PUN INTENDED).

It's like Survivor, but dumber. And it's not like Survivor where there's a lot of strategy involved. Basically the only way to win the show is to slow down, read the clues and use common sense. AND NO ONE DOES IT.

It's great, I'm sorry. I've seen 3 seasons already and I'm just binge watching my way through them all. 

And I will add, I know it's dumb. I know reality/game show tv shows are kind of the bottom barrel of smart things to watch but I don't care. It's funny and I like that.

Plus Roger and I watch it together and we both yell at the tv and cringe and laugh together and it's been a really nice stress release from the wedding and all the things that come with it.

(Plus when you're paying for a wedding, you're too poor to go see a movie or do something EdUcAtIoNaL. We're kinda limited to Netflix and we've already seen probably 99% of it.)

Current favorite book- The Diva Rules by Michelle Visage.

http://michellevisage.com/the-diva-rules

Um. Ok, so first of all- I love RuPaul and pretty much anything he touches- but I've really over the years kind of fallen in love with Michelle Visage too. She's a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race (which if you haven't watched that, stop this and go do that right now. It's not Netflix and Hulu I think, or on Logo Tv's website. It's amazing and you learn a ton. Go there now.).

But here's the reason I like her- she tells you who she is, and what she wants without being a total bitch about it. 

Because the truth is, as people I feel we've been conditioned that being blunt or saying what you want means you're a bitch and the reality is that it's not even close.

Being strong and confident and honest has nothing to do with being a royal bitch. And being a diva and a bitch are not the same thing. I mean, yeah, you can be both- but they can be separated too.

And that's something I've always personally struggled with, because I feel like being blunt and saying what I want has given me a bitch label before- and so often as to make me really shy away from asking for things I want or thing I deserve.

Her book, however, shows you the difference between the two. You are allowed to be confident and say, "I really want this" without throwing a hissy fit, throwing people under the buss, or worse yet- treating yourself like shit because you put too much value in how other perceive you. 

And peppered into her "diva lessons", she shows you examples in her own life. Her anecdotes show that she went after things that she liked saying, "I worked hard and I want this" and not "I'm better than everyone else and I deserve this."

I just have a lot of respect for her and I like how she puts herself out there. 

Plus her book is great and smart and funny. If you like memoir type things with lessons in them (a la Amy Pohler or Tina Fey's books) then you'll probably like this.

And lastly- a random "other thing" favorite:

RuPaul's podcast with Michelle Visage called "What's the Tee?"

I usually listen to this via SoundCloud (it's free).

So, originally I started listening to this because I liked RuPaul's Drag Race so much. It's campy and silly and fun, but there's a lot (like, a ton really) of talent involved. I had the feeling the podcast would be similar to that- but it's actually so much more.

I have learned so much about people and different trade skills on there, it's crazy. And I mean, yeah, sometimes it's silly and I enjoy that too (like I think on one of the episodes, Michelle and Ru talked about General Hospital for like 15 minutes) but listening to the guests they bring on has been so cool.

One in particular I really liked was when they had Mathu Andersen on (which is RuPaul's makeup artist, from what I understand). I just love how he explained what being a makeup artist is really like, and how it isn't about you- but it's about making an authentic character or being authentic to your muse. 

But I've been really addicted to these shows and I listen to them on my drive to work. You can learn a lot of really cool stuff from a big range of people.

So, anyway, I hope you didn't miss me too much. Hopefully this makes up for some of the absence.

And ideally soon, we'll have some more to look forward to, too.

-SamanthaK