Things I'm Loving

1. Aloe

This one is kind of a funny story. Actually, it's not. It's pretty much the precise reason why you should wear sunscreen every single time that you go outside. Don't risk it. I, very stupidly, decided to go for a walk without sunscreen on one week ago. I thought nothing of it. I figured I'd walk down to the pier, turn around and head back to the apartment. Well, I thought wrong. I walked down to the pier and I got comfortable. I plopped myself down onto that grass and I read to my little heart's desire. This translated to (ugh, I'm cringing already) over four hours in the sun with my skin unprotected during the hottest time of day. I'm sure you can imagine how that turned out for me. The one time I don't wear sunscreen and this is what happens. My forearms, shoulders, and shins were burnt to a crisp and I spent an entire week in discomfort of some sort, whether it was from the actual burns or just the residual peeling or cracking nonsense. Needless to say, aloe was the only thing that kept me sane all the way through. Bless it and it's healing powers. Or at least for cooling my skin down for those few hours.

2. Jergens Natural Glow

Another result of the Terrible Sunburn of 2016™ was this really terrible uneven tan. The color on my arms isn't as noticeable, but surely anybody could tell that my shins were a nice shade or two darker than my skin color at the moment. The only way I knew how to fix this without risking burning myself in the sun again was to use my tried and true Jergens Natural Glow gradual self tanner. It's essentially just a lotion that slowly but surely gives your skin some color. I would be useless when it comes to self tanner because it would just be one big streaky mess. At least if I mess up with this it isn't insanely noticeable and I can rectify it the next time I apply it. Boom, easy fix!

3. Charlotte Tilbury Bronze & Glow + Becca's Opal

I looked at myself in the mirror on Monday after applying my makeup and I actually uttered this sentence: "I'm not glowing enough." I am a massive, massive fan of highlighter. I want a dramatic highlight. I don't want a subtle golden hue on my cheekbones; I want something that makes my skin look like an ethereal glowing piece of art. My new favorite way of achieving this is to layer my two favorite highlighters. Becca's Opal on its own can be a bit glittery if you're not careful applying it. However, layering it over the highlighter in Charlotte Tilbury's Bronze & Glow palette is, hands down, my favorite way to ensure that my highlighter is going to be intense.

4. Marc Jacobs Lola

I don't know if I love this perfume just because I have the rollerball version and it's convenient or because it just smells that nice. I'm assuming it's a simultaneous combination of both. I can't describe scents but Nordstrom is telling me that it has notes of: grapefruit, peppercorns, pear, fuchsia, geranium, peony, rose, musk, tonka bean, vanilla. While I've never gotten a good whiff of peppercorns or tonka beans (I'll put it on my list), I can see where all of the floral elements come in. It's a very...sharp scent, if that makes any sense. Upon first smell, it seems very strong and almost jarring. But the way it wears on my skin makes it much softer and much less of a super intense floral scent. It's like the vanilla and pear take over when it touches my skin and mellows out the intensity of the floral notes.

5. Wildflower by Drew Barrymore

I've loved Drew Barrymore for a long time. I find her so lovely and inspiring and absolutely beautiful from the inside out. Her backstory always tugs at my heart strings and really makes me feel for her, so getting to read about some of it through her eyes in her book Wildflower was such a lovely experience. I read it in one sitting last week at the pier and I loved it! It's not the best writing or the best organized, but just getting to hear things from Drew's point of view was enough for me. I think if you're a fan of Drew, you'll enjoy the book. She talks about her friends in such a deep compassionate way that her actions make you want to follow in her footsteps. I just really loved seeing a different side of Drew and getting nearly 300 pages of her.

What have you been loving lately?