Happy 4th of July 2023 AKA Independence Day! I’m so happy I’ve finally been able to do another 4th of July themed post, my first one since 2019’s DREAM, but it’s such a good one this year. This year I ended up picking this pretty, sheer, almost navy blue long t-shirt to do the photoshoot with. The shirt has white writing on it that says ‘SHINE LIKE STARS‘ as well as a white triangle & crescent moon in it as well. I thought the stars reference would be perfect for this year’s 4th because of the stars & stripes theme of the holiday, of course. I also thought this long shirt would be a good next photoshoot after my last post, ‘RUN IT BACK’, because that was a long t-shirt as well that I wore like that. Different of course, but I love that I did one that related to that one, I always think it’s cool to do things like that! I wore the blue stars t-shirt with my bright red hair extensions, a bright red & gold bracelet, white sandals, patriotic makeup, & finally a sparkly red bra & almost navy blue panty under the sheer shirt. I thought this was a good outfit overall, definitely festive enough! I ended up wearing the outfit to Lake Union in Downtown Seattle with my friend Kwame and a couple of his friends, too, which was perfect. It was the perfect temperature outside and everything, I loved it. I even also did my nails really cute, hopefully you can see them in enough of the pictures but I think you probably can! It was red nail polish except for on two nails, one white & one blue, with three different colors of sparkles on every nail basically. I had three red triangle sparkles on my nails, too, which matched the triangle on the shirt! I even had my toes painted bright white, which looked awesome with the sandals as well. This outfit turned out awesome overall, I’m pretty proud of it. I’ve really been going through all of my stuff & getting things done! This 4th of July was super awesome, I’m glad I got to go out & celebrate it, the fireworks & everything were awesome too. I’m glad it’s finally getting to be more into summer months and everything, as well, I’ve been more inspired lately which has been so cool for all that I’ve been doing. Anyway, let’s get more into the blog post next! I’m excited about this red, white & blue themed outfit, the 4th of July is always such an awesome one, & also happy birthday to America too!

The first time I ever posted about the 4th of July was basically my second blog post on here, called Independence Day Couture from 2015. I featured a bunch of pictures for that of my look & with my ex at the lake & everything, and that was totally cool, I’m glad I did that that early on & everything! Then, the next year following that, I actually went back to the same lake with that same ex for a blog post in 2016 that I called New July, which was cool because we were still together after the first July. This time, instead of just taking pics on my iPhone, we ended up doing a photoshoot with my camera that I use for everything to this day (my Lumix FZ40) to do a photoshoot like I usually do. That first year I wore the red lips & the sparkly red bra, and then the second year I wore those sparkly blue lips & the sparkly white bra which ended up being awesome. That was a cute 4th of July t-shirt, too, and I still have that one of course. This year, I wore a different red lipstick & the same sparkly red bra as that first time! You could see it through the sheer blue shirt, it looked awesome. I even tried to get a few pictures of that bra near the end, it’s a pretty sparkly one I got so so long ago! Finally, the last ever 4th of July themed blog post I’ve ever done on here was again 2019’s DREAM that I mentioned in the first paragraph, which I had done as a photoshoot in 2019 on the 4th of July. I named it DREAM after a Miley song that came out a month or two before that basically, and later realized I had named it DREAM basically like ‘American Dream’ which I thought was cool, but might’ve been a coincidence! Back then, though, I was doing photoshoots here and there but wasn’t actively posting them, so I basically had just archived the photoshoot & then later posted it along with a bunch of others from 2019, but of course backdated it to the 4th like it was supposed to be, of course. But that was a good photoshoot, I thought it was awesome with the red lipstick & shirt, plus the white & blue shoes & blue sunglasses that were totally cute too. I might, one year, eventually do a sequel to that DREAM photoshoot & call it specifically ‘American Dream’, because that would be cool, but that’s just an idea (for later) because I wasn’t going to do that quite yet! For now, this photoshoot, SHINE LIKE STARS, finally got named just that & ‘4TH OF JULY’ finally which is a good name for something & this one turned out awesome. I also finally got to wear this perfect lipstick for the 4th of July for this year’s photoshoot, it’s the American Doll liquid lipstick by Anastasia Beverly Hills! I’ve had this lipstick for years & finally got to shoot it. That’s such a good name also, maybe one day I can name a shoot that as well, but too many good names for this one! That’s okay though, I like it being named ‘4TH OF JULY’ the best. We’ll see if I ever end up getting a chance to do those other ones for the names too. Anyway, that’s all for everything I’ve posted for the 4th of July on my blog so far, let’s get into this photoshoot!

Outfit Details for my ‘4TH OF JULY (SHINE LIKE STARS)’ Photoshoot:

• SHINE LIKE STARS sheer long blue triangle t-shirt from the brand Modern Lux which is a really cool shirt I’ve had for years, although I’m not sure where I got it from! I like this shirt for sure though.
• Sparkly sequin flower red bra that I got at the mall around when I was like, 15, but I can’t believe how long I’ve had this for! I also wore it in 2015’s Independence Day Couture & 2017’s Honeymoon too.
• Blue thong panty from Victoria’s Secret that I got for Christmas of 2021 from my mom with others! The shirt was sheer so you could see the panty underneath it, which I thought looked pretty cool.
• White sparkly sandals that I got from a store a year or two ago, it was convenient that I found them because I didn’t have any sandals like that yet! They looked perfect as the white for this outfit, too.
• Long gold coin-type necklace that I got from, like, my stepmom in 2019 plus a gold sand dollar necklace from the brand Yorkshire from her around the same time also, which is actually a pretty cool one.
• Gold circle medium-sized stud earrings in my first holes, which were super cute with this look, as well as two gold mis-matched star studs, one a red & one a cream one. I love these gold studs with this outfit!
• Red & gold beaded bracelet that my stepmom made a few years ago, this is such a pretty bracelet too. It was perfect for this outfit. I also wore this bracelet in 2022’s Not All Those Who Wander as well.
• Gold big bracelet on my right arm from like 2019 that I always wear as an arm cuff & it always looks good like that. Also two rose gold rings, one opal & one a chain one on my right hand that I got in 2019.
• Catwalk red nail polish by Color Club on 8 nails, the white nail polish from Lights‘ Mitsuki nail polish set & blue NYFW by Cirque Colors, each on one nail. With red, white & silver sparkles on them all!
• White nail polish on my toes from Lights‘ Mitsuki nail polish set which I got in 2018 at her concert. The set comes with x4 nail polishes! The white one looks really pretty on my toes though, I love it.
• Volume Dry Shampoo by Kenra which I just bought in-store at Ulta, which is a good dry shampoo. I also teased my hair a little bit as well, with this teasing comb I got from Birchbox back in the day.
• Natalie Eva Marie 22″ TestaRossa Bright Red Hair Extensions $290 from Bellami Hair. I’m so glad I got to use my extensions again for this photoshoot, they looked so good with the red, white & blues!
• Indian Coconut Nectar Perfume 0.33 oz/10 ml from Pacifica which I got from my friend with a bunch of other rollerballs in 2020. I love that I have all of these perfumes, & they’re all pretty convenient!

Makeup Details for ‘4TH OF JULY (SHINE LIKE STARS)’ on July 4th, 2023:

• Rodial Soft Focus Glow Booster Drops $60 which is an illuminating ultimate glow primer which I got from Ipsy a little over a year ago. This is a pretty good glow primer, I like it under my makeup.
• Tarte Cosmetics Shape Tape Concealer $31 I finally ran out of my third one of these, I’ve had it for a while! I was surprised how long that took me since I already had a back-up, but I usually love this.
• Laura Geller Quench-N-Tint Hydrating Foundation $34 which I got a couple years ago from Ipsy! I can’t believe how long I’ve had this, but I’m finally almost out of it as well. It’s pretty good though!
• Pyt Beauty Set Me Up Setting Powder $16 in the shade Fair which I got as a second-chance product from Ipsy last month. This is actually a really good powder and I’m so glad I was still able to get it.
• Basic Beauty Bronzy AF Palette $30 in the 1st/first bronzer shade, which is the lightest. It’s been a while since I used this one! I got this a couple years ago from Ipsy & it’s a pretty good palette also!
• Sephora Collection Blushing For You Blush Palette $24 in the shade Bright Pink I think. I got it from my ex a long time ago because she didn’t really want it. But this’s a good blush palette trio overall!
• Fenty Beauty Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter $40 in the shade Hu$tla Baby by itself from Ipsy last year! It’s still the full-sized also, so that’s cool, & it is a pretty gold-ish one from Rihanna’s brand.
• Smashbox Photo Finish Intensify 24 Hour Shadow Primer $26 which is a good eyeshadow primer for sure. I just got this one like, a few months ago, & I’m glad that I have it as a second one finally!
• Tarte Cosmetics Pin-Up Tarteist Metallic Eyeshadow $14 a bright white eyeshadow that I got online from Tarte in 2019. Mine came, like, broken though, so I just try to use it up like as much as I can!
• Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box $38 which I got for Christmas in 2011 & I can’t believe I still have it! I have hit pan on it, though, & I try to use it often enough. I used mostly Shag, Ransom & Zero.
• Arrow Enhance Waterproof Eyeliner $10 in the shade Bright Now which is a bright white-ish type of eyeliner that I usually use on my waterline! It’s a really good eyeliner also & I love this one a lot.
• F.A.R.A.H 18HR Liquid Eyeliner $18 in the shade Black Velvet that I got from Ipsy earlier this year. But I still had a little bit of gel eyeliner on my lower lash line for no reason! This one is way better.
• House of Lashes Siren False Lashes $9 which I’ve had since like 2015, but I always love their lashes! These ones are cute, I’m trying to wear these more. I used Duo’s Brush-On Lash Adhesive $5 for it.
• Kylie Cosmetics Kylash Volume Mascara $24 one of my favorite mascaras that I have these days. I’m really glad I got this one, it’s always perfect for my bottom lashes & stuff, especially, so that’s cool.
• Benefit Cosmetics Goof Proof Brow Pencil $25 in the shade 2.75 Warm Auburn which’s a pretty good brow pencil. I like the brow definer kinds of pencils, too, and they usually work pretty well for me.
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Primer $16 which is basically my most used lip primer & it’s a good one. I have two lip primers right now but this one was perfect for the lipstick, so I used this of course!
• MAC Cosmetics Redd Lip Liner $24 from the Limited Edition 2015 ‘Magic of the Night’ Collection in purple packaging. This is one of my best red lip liners & I love that I have this limited edition one.
• Anastasia Beverly Hills American Doll Liquid Lipstick $20 which is a bright red lipstick perfect for the 4th of July! I love this one and I’m glad I finally got around to using it for the holiday this time.
• Urban Decay All Nighter Pollution Protection Setting Spray $34 as always my favorite setting spray of all time! I love using this one when I go out, obviously, especially going into Downtown Seattle.

I usually love holidays because I love getting to do outfits with colors & things coordinating with each one, it’s always super fun to me every year. I loved that this year I also ended up getting to wear my extensions & everything, too, because I finally ended up having red hair on the 4th of July apparently! That was pretty cool, I thought my extensions looked really good with the outfit, too. The whole look I ended up loving, I definitely thought this was perfect and festive enough of an outfit to do this year for sure! I’m glad also that I finally ended up doing the 4th of July again this year since it’s been since 2019 that I even did this holiday. That’s okay though, because this year turned out awesome for an outfit like this. I had SHINE LIKE STARS, the shirt, on my list on my whiteboard to shoot as well, so I knew I wanted to do that one soon. Not every thing I have left is even on my list of things to shoot, but some things are & I use that list as often as I can to come up with outfits! In that featured picture at the top you can see all that’s on that whiteboard list of mine, including the shirt as the second one (but note that I definitely didn’t wear that vest with the shirt, lol!). There’s other stuff on there, too, that I like to keep track of, but I’m glad I conveniently got to wear the shirt for this holiday because I was running out of red things to wear and my hair was already red, so this was perfect! We’ll see what else I end up crossing off that list in the next couple of months, I have some good ideas as to what I might do next. For now though, this ended up being perfect, I love doing long shirts & wearing them by themselves sometimes. Plus, I’m more inspired lately these days too which I’ve been mentioning so that’s super awesome! I love when things come together like this. Let’s get into the last (2) collages.

My nails were really good for this photoshoot & holiday this year, too! I was so excited about how they turned out, & my friend also said they were awesome, which was cool. I wish I had gotten closer-up pictures of them, but I forgot to for some reason because I had already done this shoot! However, in the collage above, you can see what they look like in a couple of those pictures (as well as how pretty my white toes looked, too). Basically, 8 of my nails were a perfect red color, each with a blue & silver sparkle gem at the base of a nail, so that they were red, white & blue. Then, on my left middle finger I had a white nail with two red triangles & two blue gems on it which was awesome, to accent my tattoo finger. On my right hand though, I had a blue colored nail on my right ring finger with a red triangle & three clear/silver gems. They were super pretty nails, they looked so rad. I love doing my nails, I do them every single week which is awesome, and I’ve been doing that consistently since last year but these were totally perfect. I’m not sure where these red triangle gems came from, but I had three of them which was awesome. (Plus I also had one extra random red gem, and only one of them, and put it on my left ring finger as a third gem.) Now I’m out of red sparkles, but I still have lots of other sparkles & I use them all the time too. I’m usually really good about my nails but I’ll do even better with them next time, at least these ones were as cute as they were. I love doing holiday nails & everything, too. Anyway, I’m excited to do more nails again this weekend, that’ll be awesome! I’m so into nail polish, I have a ton of it, too. Let’s get into that last collage next! The last picture of the last collage & then two below this were cute with that red bra, too, which I like. I love that the shirt was sheer, too, I thought that was perfect. The whole look turned out really cute. Here’s the last one next!

That’s the end to my 4th of July blog post for this year. I’m super glad about how this one turned out! I really liked doing this one, and the whole day was awesome, I loved going to the lake in Seattle for the fireworks with Kwame & his friends. I was glad I finally got to do something for this year’s 4th too, I always love getting to actually celebrate all of these holidays whenever they happen. This year turned out really good so far with all the different photoshoots I’ve done, with both the holidays for this year and the rest of my shoots, I love what I’ve been able to accomplish this year on my blog. I’m getting to be totally better with photoshoots & everything too sometimes, which I think is really awesome these days. I get a lot done & stuff too, which I’m really grateful for, because I really love blogging and even just doing it 2-3 times a month I still accomplish everything that I want to, which is super awesome. I’m excited to see what else I’ll do for July too, I have a couple things I’m looking forward to & things like that, that’ll make whatever’s next super awesome whichever way, which will be awesome. I love the direction I’m headed in, everything keeps progressing and getting better, so I really appreciate where I’m at & where I’m going in life because it’s going to be awesome. I can’t wait to see what I’m going to get to do next, I’m seriously always getting to be better too so that’s pretty cool. I’m so glad about everything & I’m in such a good place in life! See all of you the next time with something else!

Song of the Shoot: Stars Tonight (G-REX Remix) by Zeds Dead & DROELOE (on my ‘Convenience Fee‘ playlist).