Disney World 2- Clothing, Makeup and Skin Care

Anyone who knows me is pretty familiar with my extreme lack of favor for hot weather.

Nope. 

Don't like it.

So the high 80's temps in Florida were obviously too much for me, but I didn't want that to get in the way of having the best possible time at Disney! If you're like me and the idea of walking around dripping with sweat, hair frizzing out and makeup sliding off makes you cringe, then this post may be for you. We had purchased the Memory Maker package (more in a future post) and I wanted to look presentable in the pictures, so I spent some time considering how to be most comfortable in those extreme temperatures.
Ready to dive in? 

Clothing

Ok, let's talk clothes. I know everyone goes with shorts in warm weather, but I'm an avid fan of dresses and skirts. I think they're actually a lot cooler than shorts and less clingy- for me, they're a lot more comfortable too.

I made dresses/skirts the basis of every Disney outfit, with a "shorts outfit" if tragedy struck, but thankfully it never did.

The only regret I have is going with a tank style across the board. Despite carefully applying sunscreen, my shoulders still burned a little. If you burn easily, consider going with dresses that have at least a cap sleeve.

Most of these were dresses from my closet already (J. Crew denim dress, black Olive and Oak dress), but the blue tank dress was a new find from Amazon. 

My backpack was a necessity and worn daily. The Lack of Color straw hat was used every-other-day to try and keep sun exposure to a minimum.

And of course, Minnie ears! Mine were not officially licensed, but were a steal on Etsy. All four pairs (two for me, two for nieces) cost less than one pair from the parks.

Dresses are just my jam. I'd wear them year round if the weather were more conducive to it here. If you've never tried a dress in the heat, check out some flowy styles and get back to me, I bet you'll be way more comfortable than in shorts! 

Footwear

I spent a ridiculous amount of time cruising blogs, reading reviews and stalking IG to find footwear that was comfortable for Disney. Obvs, the standard trainers don't go with dresses :) Also, running shoes often leave my feet in pain by the end of the day anyway. 

I settled on four pairs, three of which you can see in the layouts above, and rotated them from day to day to give my feet a break. The flip flops were meant as "alternates" and carried in my backpack in case my feet needed a break from whatever shoe was being worn that day. 

Born

I chose a pair of flip flops and sandals from Born based on customer rave reviews and brand loyalty for comfort.
Both of these pairs were comfortable and when first worn, they felt like they had a memory foam sole that conformed to my feet. That feeling wore off pretty quickly though and I'm hoping the memory foam restores itself after the shoes have had some rest.

The shoes were fairly indestructible in the parks, but did leave my feet feeling sore and tired. I have high arches and these just didn't have enough support. However, they get an A+ in the blister department- neither caused any at all! And they were never broken in, I wore them for the first time in the parks.

The ankle strap sandals were worn back to back in the parks, and of the three, these were my favorites.

Blondo

Again, this Canadian brand had a cult following for it's ability to stand up to all forms of weather (Michigan!) as well as incredible comfort. I bought these booties back in January and have been regularly wearing them to work multiple times per week. They have never let me down. Wearing them all day, every day never left my feet in any amount of discomfort.
Not true for the parks.
Around 3 PM in Magic Kingdom, I couldn't take it anymore and subbed in my flip flops. My feet were super swollen, red and had blisters. I will say these shoes are about a size too big, so I did worry about blisters before we even got there. I've always worn thick socks with them in Michigan. My shoe size is a 7/7.5 and at a 7, these are still too big for me.
Would not recommend, haha!

Adrienne Vitadini 

These had wonderful reviews across multiple platforms for comfort. I would love to weigh in, but in the end they just didn't match anything so they stayed home. They're made to look like a sandal but have a sneaker style sole.

I'm not sure if it matters what sort of footwear had been worn. Some people are just prone to sore feet and I'm one of them. My brother wore flip flops all week with no issues, and John wore two brand new pairs of shoes (out of the box!) in the parks all week without a hint of pain as well!

Makeup

If you don't wear makeup, more power to you.

I do :)

Finding a way to take care of my skin in that blazing heat was a challenge! I wanted to create a look that would (a) keep my skin protected, (b) be breathable (c) not take much time & (d) be easy to reapply at the park if necessary.

The base of my routine was sunscreen, a bronzing stick, mascara and a multi-purpose tint.

Bronzing stick: Tarte, The Sculptor 

I'm pretty sure this is meant to be a contour stick, but I can't figure out how to actually contour. We had a wonderful makeup artist over to teach my friends and I how- but seriously... could not be taught. However, it's a great bronzer! This was another item I kept in my bag for touch ups on the go.


Mascara: Julep, With a Twist

This is my currently favorite mascara! I love this stuff. It isn't waterproof, but it's definitely resistant to smudging and water in general. Waterproof is too harsh for my lashes, so this is the next best thing! You use the wand first fully extended to lengthen lashes and then shorten it (by twisting the cap) and apply another coat to add volume. It really works! I'm on my fourth tube and can't be convinced to switch! 

Julep is one of my favorite brands. They have a monthly beauty box (which I need to review again) that you can entirely curate yourself. You can use my LINK to purchase and get a little extra, and I'll get a present as well! 

Multi-purpose tint: BeautyCounter, Color Pinch in Hibiscus & Benefit, gogo tint

In general I prefer cream blush to powder, but especially in hot weather. It just has a better staying power and it's easier to reapply. Both of these were excellent as cheek and lip color, with Benefits acting just a bit more like a stain. I carried whichever one was being worn that day with me to the park for touch ups, but didn't really find that I needed any!

Setting Spray/Sunscreen: Supergoop! Defense Refresh Setting Mist

This was another purchase for refreshing my sunscreen in the park. No wrinkles, thanks! I loved that you could just mist on as needed and keep going. As a bonus, my friend who lives in a warm weather climate had recommended a setting mist as CRUCIAL for keeping makeup going. This was a two in one!

Nails

This is just for fun, but I wanted rose gold nails to match my minnie ears! These shades from Julep were PERFECT (use my link to save $ and I'll get a present too!). I'm a huge fan of Julep and have blogged about them in the past. Their colors are free from 5 major toxins and last really well- especially the glittered varieties of course.

Janet, Nell & Arlene

I also purchased some Jamberry nail wraps for my nieces to wear on the trip. One niece's nails didn't even last through the night, but my littlest niece managed to keep hers on through the entire week. They loved the Disney themed wraps, though! Mine came from eBay, with each set costing between $3 and $7.

We are going to head back to Florida again, so I'd love to hear any additional tips or tricks you have for surviving the humidity! If you've worn a pair of shoes in the parks that were remarkably comfortable, please leave a comment below and fill us in.

As always, thanks for reading!

Christmas Inspo + DIY Glittered Ornaments (External!)

HAPPY DECEMBER!

The Christmas season is my very favorite time of year, and it is upon us again!
Every year my husband and I have a party in November (like... 3 weeks ago, haha!) to usher in the season and celebrate "The Most Wonderful Time Of the Year"!

I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit today about Christmas and our trees. We LOVE decorations and have five trees in our house! Two main, one mid sized and two miniatures.

I like to change up the two main trees annually to make Christmas feel fresh each year and to keep them from becoming dated. But since I'm super frugal (read: cheap), there is a system to it!

And here it is! Tub organization.
This is probably the least glamorous blog picture in recent history, but this is how we change up the trees annually.
After Christmas, I cruise the sales when they're crazy cheap- 70% off at least. I look for ornaments in ANY COLOR we like. Any color. Especially bulbs. I think you can get like 25 bulbs at Target after Christmas for around $3, so it's super affordable. Then the ornaments/bulbs come home and are sorted by color into these tubs! After that, I have an entire year to decide how I want to do our trees. Our main trees are white and green so that we have more combination possibilities. This year we did our green tree with white and silver decorations and our white tree with a champagne/gold and blush pink decor.
I didn't have enough blush colored ornaments and could not find the color I wanted after several trips to different stores, so I had to create my own bulbs.
I wanted to go glittered, but all tutorials online were for the INTERNALLY glittered ornaments, and I wanted mine to be externally glittered.

So basically I just experimented and made my own using this glue + some thick glitter from Hobby Lobby, both of which I already had on hand.

I used some extra gold bulbs that were a little too dark and not champagne enough and just coated them with the glue.

After that, I shook the glitter on and placed them into egg cartons and mason jars to dry for 12-24 hours. It isn't a bad idea to do half of the ornament at a time so that you don't smudge the glitter and glue with your hands or the drying crates. Once they're dry, you can flip and do the other side.
You could also just do dots of glue for a polka dot look or even stripes :)

So far they're holding up really well! I'm going to spray them with some clear glaze spray paint when the tree comes down and then store them for the year. I'll let you know how they hold up!

One last pink tree look! I often use floral stems as tree toppers, especially on the white tree which tends to be super girly. The one I've been using for a long time was too bright and too dark for this new scheme. My mom had given me a grab bag of floral stems last year and these were included and PERFECT for the lighter tree. This is about 9 stems worth. I cut them all away from the stem and used floral wire to attach them in bunches and then secured bunches to the tree with wire in groups of three. The flowers go all the way around the top of the tree.

Here's a little look at our other main tree. To be honest, I did this same configuration last year, too. I really liked it and wanted another year before trying something new!

If you're wondering what we do with sentimental ornaments, because I am SUCH a sucker for sentiment, they do go out each year too. We have a small tree that we call the "Grandparent tree" which is filled with ornaments from our deceased grandparents' trees. I can't imagine not putting them out each year. They're so special, and the holidays are when I miss my family the most. My grandpa LOVED Christmas in a way that I've never seen since. 

Here are a few of my favorites from the grandparent tree. The gold swan + pink ornament are from my grandma's tree and the little tea kettle is from John's grandmother's tree. Our grandmas actually died within three weeks of each other a few years ago. It's so nice to think of them and remember Christmas traditions at their homes each year when we put up ornaments from their trees.

What are you doing for your trees this year? Any great tips? Feel free to weigh in below, and as always, thanks for reading!