Turning 26

It's still appropriate to talk about my birthday in December and the end of 2014 even though that was all last month right? OK good...

Maybe it's because I can no longer be connected to my mom's health insurance, or because I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20, or because 25 just sounded like a good number to me, but 26 has me in a straight up quarter life crisis that I never thought I would find myself in.

I've been asked so many times how I feel about getting older and up until recently I was able to honestly say that I had no problem with it. I believe that I have an "old soul" and have always hung around those older than me, but I think the end to my 20s is rapidly approaching and I'm definitely starting to panic a little bit. If I'm being completely honest with myself I'm sure it's because I'm not where I thought I would be in my mid-twenties, even though I know no one is anymore. 30 is the new 20 and the American Dream has changed quite a bit since the 1950s so I know I need to stop comparing my success to others (let alone other generations) but I can't help it.

So as I thought about what it was I wanted to do for my 26th birthday the answer was simply, nothing. It hasn't been much of a winter here in Southern California and I usually am able to feel my birthday/Christmas season but it just hasn't been in the air. Even though I was feeling this way, I didn't want to end the year on a boring note because 2014 has actually been really good to me. I branched out and took some risks that really paid off, I have a job that I really like and that I have the ability to grow into, I've met some wonderful people and as corny as it sounds I've definitely grown into who I am and have become more comfortable with myself and my body. With all of these thoughts I decided a commemoration of the year would be perfect so of course, a photo shoot, duh.

These photos were taken on a parking structure roof top in Downtown Los Angeles on 12/13/14 the day after we had some incredible rain fall. The weather could not have been more perfect, the photos could not have come out more amazing and I'm happy I decided to do it. If you would like to see more work from this photographer his name is J. William Washington and you can contact him via his web site http://jwilliamwashington.com/ or instragram @jwilliamwashington.

And of course this would be be a beauty blog post without me putting makeup details!

For my foundation I used Estee Lauder Double Wear in Desert Beige, my concealer for under the eye and around the brow is NARS Creamy Concealer in Vanilla. I set my T-zone with Laura Mercier Foundation Powder in #5. My brows are filled in with Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow in Blonde. My bronzer is mixed shades from the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Palette in Light and my blush is Gingerly from MAC. I highlighted with High Beam from Benefit. For my shadow I used neutral/golden tones from the LORAC palette and I'm wearing Ardell Wispy lashes. Finally for the lips I mixed NYX Matte Lip Cream in Copenhagen with NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Hyde Park.

Turning 26 Shoot Makeup by mandyapplemakeup featuring a palette eyeshadow