Trendy Sandals Under $25

Trendy Sandals Under $25

Trendy sandals are one of the easiest ways to update your look for summer.  With loads of options under $25 you can afford to add a few pairs to your summer footwear collection.

From Top Left:

[Metallic Braided Sandal/Gladiator Sandal/White Tropical Sandal/Red Braided Sandal/Turquoise Thong Sandal/Bar Plate Sandal]

LATE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

The shopping list for the Summer Style Me Pretty Challenge was released this morning and regular registration is now closed.  But the good news is, you can still sign up and get your shopping list immediately!

If you sign up today, you’ll still have ten days to get all of your pieces in place before the daily outfits begin.  Sign up HERE!

Get Your Skin Summer Ready!

Get Your Skin Summer Ready!


It’s officially shorts season, woo hoo! Which means summer’s scorching heat is just around the corner too. Bummer. Sometimes the summer months can be just as challenging as winter when it comes to keeping skin moisturized. Between hot days, dips in the pool and soaking up some rays, my summer skin can get pretty parched. Applying moisturizer twice daily seems to be the only thing that helps. But if you’re like me, the sticky, greasy feel of some heavy lotions is totally unappealing on a hot summer’s day! This summer I’m adding St. Ives® Fresh Hydration Lotion Spray into my beauty routine. It effectively moisturizes my skin without the heavy lotion feel. After I step out of the shower, I just spray it on with the 360° even spray nozzle that sprays at every angle, rub it in, get dressed and go. It absorbs quickly and moisturizes as well as heavy lotions. Plus it leaves a fresh scent on my skin that lasts all day. St. Ives Fresh Hydration Lotion comes in three different formulations, each with its own unique scent and purpose.

Energizing Citrus & Vitamin C Fresh Hydration Lotion leaves skin feeling energized and refreshed. It’s the perfect lotion for a hot day with grapefruit extract and vitamin C. It’s fresh fragrance includes notes of grapefruit, orange and lime, as well as soft musk patchouli. Naturally Soothing Oatmeal & Shea Butter Fresh Hydration Lotion soothes dry skin with 100% natural moisturizes glycerin and Shea butter. It smells wonderful with fragrance notes of white floral, gourmand, honey, almond and coconut. The shea butter formulation contains moisturizing vitamins A, E and F, as well as fatty acids which are known to place moisture back into thirsty skin.

My favorite, Naturally Indulgent Coconut Milk & Orchid Extract Fresh Hydration Lotion transports me to a tranquil beach day. It has coconut milk and orchid extract which leave the skin silky and smooth. The fragrance is the best part with Hawaiian jasmine, guava, mandarin zest, pineapple, Lily of the Valley and pink orchid, coconut milk, creamy musk, vanilla and blonde woods. Check out this video to see how I’m incorporating St. Ives Fresh Hydration Lotion into my summer routine.

It’s Your Turn: How could you see yourself using St. Ives Fresh Hydration Lotion this summer? Tell me in the comments and you could win a $100 Target gift card!

For more information on these products you can visit the St. Ives website or Facebook page!

 

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

  1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
  2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
  3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
  4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 6/2-6/30.

Be sure to visit the St. Ives brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

I Feel Pretty | Effortless

I Feel Pretty | Effortless

Summer style should be as effortless as possible.  Can I get an “amen”?  Effortless summer style doesn’t have to mean a daily summer uniform of tank tops, shorts and flip flops.  While that’s an easy outfit formula, it doesn’t exactly qualify as style.  🙂

The good news is that it’s entirely possible to step up your summer style game while retaining some kind of comfort and ease.  You just have to have the right pieces and know how to wear them.

Yesterday I hosted my first ever tele-seminar and style Q&A where I shared my Five Summer Essentials for Effortless Style.  It was so much fun to chat live with some of the women who I’ve gotten to know through the style challenges.  Thanks to those of you who brought great questions to the call!

You can listen to the full call and Q&A, along with some BONUS reveals from the Summer Style Me Pretty Challenge, just press play below to hear the entire call.

SUMMER STYLE SEMINAR RECORDING

Follow along with this list of my five must-have’s for effortless summer style.

Five Summer Wardrobe Essentials for Effortless Style

1. Maxi Dress

Maxi dresses are one of my favorite summer style pieces because they’re cool and comfortable and define effortless style. Just add metallic sandals and a fedora and you have an instant outfit that’s perfect for anything!

[Racerback Maxi Dress]

[Patterned Maxi Dress]

2. Fedora

A fedora adds a fun touch to all of your summer outfits. Even if you’re not a hat wearer, almost everyone looks good in a fedora style. Try it with a simple tank top and shorts to kick up your style a notch.

[Woven Fedora]

[Ribbon Fedora]

3. Metallic Sandals

Metallic sandals are my summer favorites. They go with everything and add a little interest to all of your outfits.

[Gold Braided Sandal]

[Strappy Sandal]

4. Long Necklace or Statement Earrings

Accessorizing can be tricky in the summer months. I try to keep it as unfussy as possible by adding a long necklace to my maxi dresses, t-shirts and tank tops. Or try a neutral pair of statement earrings to dress up all of your casual looks.

[Tassel Pendant Necklace]

[Long Faceted Pendant Necklace]

[Gold Statement Earrings]

[Drop Earrings]

5. Printed Shorts

Printed shorts are the item I’ve added most to my closet this season. They add interest to plain t-shirts and tank tops and look great with a pair of neutral wedges. Try mixing patterns by pairing them floral patterns, polka dots or stripes on top.

[Orange Dot Shorts]

[Black and White Ikat]

SUMMER STYLE ME PRETTY CHALLENGESummer Style Me Pretty BannerRegistration for the Summer Style Me Pretty Challenge closes tomorrow at midnight!  If you’d like to get my complete summer wardrobe shopping list on Friday morning plus 21 days of summer outfits delivered to your inbox daily, sign up HERE.

Here are two sample outfits from the challenge.

Summer Style 1

Summer Sample

Registration closes at midnight TOMORROW, sign up now HERE!

I FEEL PRETTY

It’s the day of the week at GYPO where we celebrate what makes us feel pretty. Whether it’s a new outfit, hairstyle, or makeup, the I Feel Pretty link up is about anything and everything that makes your life prettier. Even if you’re not a blogger, you can still play along. Just tell us what made you feel pretty this week in the comments!

I Feel Pretty
There are just a few simple rules:
1. Follow GYPO. (Bloglovin‘, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest)

2. Link up your pretty post.

3. Link back to my blog (using the button above or your own link).

4. Visit other pretty peeps. That’s it!


Hanging Out with Sonia Kashuk

Hanging Out with Sonia Kashuk


Remember a couple of weeks ago when I asked for your questions for Sonia Kashuk in this post? This past week, I got the awesome opportunity to ask a few of them. Get out your notebooks girls, because you’re about to be schooled by one of the makeup artist greats. In this Google+ Hangout Sonia is sharing her tips for summer makeup (how NOT to melt when the heat is on), what type of SPF you should be using, makeup tips for the over 40 crowd (these really surprised me!), the number one beauty product she would hoard if it was getting discontinued, how moisturizer helps with makeup application and so much more. This video has some exclusive information she shared with a few of us style and beauty bloggers from the BlogHer network. Be sure to watch and see if one of the questions you submitted got answered. Remember, there’s still time to enter both giveaways to win $100 Target gift cards to pick up some of Sonia’s everyday luxuries of your own in this post and this post. Pop by and enter if you haven’t yet. So what was your favorite tip? I’d love to hear it in the comments and if you have a summer makeup tip of your own, please share it with us.

Announcement:  Summer Style Q&A

Announcement: Summer Style Q&A

Summer Style SeminarHey pretties!  I have a special summer style announcement today that I can’t wait to share.

I’m hosting my first ever tele-seminar on summer style!  It will be a FREE live call where I’ll be sharing my Five Pieces for Effortless Summer Style. (Spoiler Alert:  All five of them are on the Summer Style Me Pretty Challenge shopping list.  If you want a sneak preview, you won’t want to miss this!)

I’ll also be doing a fun Q&A on this call where you can ask any questions you have about summer style.

To register, just click on the link below.  Call details will then be forwarded to you.

SUMMER STYLE TELE-SEMINAR REGISTRATION

Do me a big favor and invite your friends too!