Let's get something clear...your skin.

O k, I maybe can't clear your skin up completely, but I am going to share my daily and weekly skincare routine and why I do what I do. Hopefully, you will find some helpful tips to improve your routine, or maybe even adopt my whole thing if you are like I was a little bit ago and don't have a routine at all.

P.S. If you want more skincare tips, you can see part 1 here and part 2 here

Seriously, I was just winging it, occasionally finding time to wash my face and slather some creams. Then I decided that since this is not college anymore and I am full-time adulting, I needed to step up my game, do a little reading, and put together a consistent routine that worked for my skin. Well, after a while of trying different products and making some changes, here it is.

MORNING ROUTINE

EVENING ROUTINE

WEEKLY ROUTINE

MORNING

T his is my morning skincare routine, including the products I use. I've been doing this whole thing for about a couple months now and I have already noticed a huge difference in my skin.

1. Cleanse

Wait, I need to wash my face in the morning when all I did was sleep? Yes. You might not know it, but you sweat *a lot* at night. Plus, if you are using a night cream that is a little heavier, you probably want to give your face a fresh start. Use a somewhat gentle cleanser in the morning or a soothing cleansing pad that doesn't overstrip the skin. I like to use a super gentle cleanser in the mornings. It gives my skin just a little wake me up and fresh start without ingredients that strip it of moisture.

Recommendation: FRESH Soy face Cleanser

2. Tone

Using a gentle toner helps to balance skin's PH levels and wipe away excess oils and dead skin cells that can lurk on the face even after washing. I like to use a soothing rose water toner in the mornings to hydrate my skin. Toners are not absolutely necessary, but they can be a great way to keep skin fresh, and add in some helpful active ingredients like antioxidants.

Recommendation: Rose Water Floral Toner // SW Basics Toner

3. Moisturizer + Sunscreen

Sunshine on my mind.

D ays are getting longer, temps are heating up and it's time to snag a perfect summer swimsuit. We're diving into some of my favorite swimwear trends to help you decide on the perfect suit. Summer swimwear trends have kind of become a tradition around here, since nothing puts you in a summer mood like suit shopping.

But first, we can't talk about swimwear without talking about self-confidence. The truth is, the beginning of summer might bring up some negative feelings for you if you're feeling pressure to "loose the weight" or get your body "bikini ready." So if that's you, here are 5 things you need to hear before we can decide on what suit you're going to rock.

 

5 tips for bikini ready self-confidence:

1. Stop comparing. Stay focused on you.

Comparison is bullshit. And it totally sucks. But it's also super easy to get sucked into. Sometimes avoiding comparison means doing it intentionally.

When your mind starts wishing you had her ____, take that thought captive and delete it before you let it get to you. Confidence is not, "They will like me," it's "I'll be fine if they don't"

2. Let yourself relax & let go of the little things.

Let yourself be comfortable. Being unhappy with your little imperfections takes the focus off enjoying life...or your beach vacay.

And yes, cellulite is considered a little thing - running and laughing is the important thing, not whether your legs will jiggle while you do it.

3. Love yourself.

Nothing would be the same if you didn't exist, just as you are. Embrace that like you mean it. And if you need a little more encouragement for loving yourself, hop over to this post for more.

4. Be positive

Look for the good in every situation. The past cannot be changed and opinions don't define your reality. Most importantly, smiles are contagious.

5. Do what you love.

Life is way to short to be held back from experiencing amazing things just because you don't like the way your body looks or feels. Don't sit on the sidelines waiting until you're the perfect weight or amazingly fit to do the things you love, because that day might never come. Let yourself experience amazing things just as you are.

"Just be yourself. Let people see the real, imperfect, flawed, quirky, weird, beautiful, magical person that you are."

- Mandy Hale

Now that you're bikini-ready, let's dive in to some swimsuit season trends.

 

Front Tied Swimsuits

B ikinis, tankinis and monokinis are getting tied up in front this season. From front-tie tops to bows to faux knots, this style is perfect for adding a little interest with or without a pattern or a bright color.

The monokini I'm wearing has a faux knot front, which is a perfect addition to the side cutouts.

 

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Crocheted Swimwear

T hese little numbers have a sexy boho vibe that makes you want to run off to an island and just lay in the sun, fresh cocktail in hand. Why are they so sexy?

 

a guest post by Kaylee Jones

We all know the story of the ugly duckling. He grew up an outcast, because he looked different from his peers. However, after seeing his reflection in a pond one day, he realized he had never been a duckling at all; he was a swan who’d grown up judged by a duck standard of beauty.

The story has been used as a parable to teach individuals to accept their own unique beauty, and by extension - themselves, in a world filled with subjective standards for both.

I was your stereotypical ugly duckling.

I had knobby knees, a bad haircut, and a wardrobe full of 90’s clothes. I grew up in a time before social media and makeup tutorials helped guide young girls through their awkward pubescent years.

 

My beauty routine consisted of Bon Bon lip glosses that looked like edible optical illusions, hair clips shaped like butterflies, and body glitter as an everyday accessory.

There was no contouring. Highlighter was a utensil I used to study, not to accentuate my cheekbones. I crimped my hair, and I was proud.

Feeling nostalgic? Stop. This wasn’t the theme of a party; it was our lives.

Today I feel much more comfortable in my own skin, but please do not take this as me saying I grew into a beautiful swan. There is a chance that if I’d had the technology growing up that girls do now, I may have been different. 

Maybe I would have had an opinion on my haircut, known how to draw winged eyeliner, curated a personal style, and known how to pose for pictures. But even now, as a 26-year-old woman I still struggle with knowing what to do with my hands in pictures and, let’s be honest, with winged eyeliner.

Although, perhaps it wouldn’t have made a difference at all. Growing up, I preferred to stick my nose in a good book over a compact mirror. I like to think my classmates’ rejection of me helped me to develop beauty in other areas of my life, when the reflection in the mirror did not seem beautiful, or before the reflection even mattered to me at all.

 Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Confucius

I’m not the only one who seems to think so. The benefits for growing up as an ugly duckling seem to outweigh the downfalls. We learned to treat the underdog with respect, so we developed empathy. We learned to focus on improving our minds, so we expanded our intelligence.

While I’ve joked about my entire generation of 90’s girls growing up as ugly ducklings, I admit it must be exceedingly more difficult for the modern woman.

Unrealistic standards of beauty are no longer confined to actresses and models in the pages of a magazine. Now they’re on our phones, in our news feeds, on display in the photos of our closest friends and acquaintances who become social media famous and amass large followings because of, at least in part, their beauty.

The pressure to be beautiful has become overwhelming, but it’s a pressure I am fortunate enough not to feel to the full extent, as beauty was never the yardstick by which I measured my value.

Now, I’m not arguing The Ugly Duckling story has a universal message for all women. In fact, some individuals argue the narrative helps construct a negative mentality for women where beauty is something ...

What does it mean to love yourself?

Self-love is often used as a buzzword. We always hear quotes like "You can't truly love someone else unless you love yourself first." It's a concept that seems pretty big picture, its hard to understand how it fits into our everyday lives so we chalk it up to making time for bubble baths or making time for outward self-care, but its so much deeper than that. It's easy to understand why,

Self love is f*cking hard.

And it's not totally our fault, we live in a society where a message of "you're not enough" is projected more loudly and frequently than any voice that might whisper to tell us we're enough or absolutely worthy of love. No, I'm not a socially critical hippie, its an actual phenomenon. 

Need some proof that we live in the opposite of a culture of self-love? Did you know about only 4% of women would call themselves beautiful?(1) That young girls are more afraid of being fat than getting cancer or loosing both their parents?(2) Or that self-esteem based on external sources is linked to major mental health consequences? (3)

Those studies are devastating. It's not that we are naturally this way, society trains us into this kinds of thinking through ads, entertainment and messaging. This doesn't mean we should stop buying beauty products or boycott Netflix (thats cray).

All it means is that we absolutely have to be intentional about self-love.

Let's  walk through 4 essential steps to self-love and explore some of the ways you can become better at genuinely loving yourself.

1. Be mindful

Mindfulness means understanding what you think and feel. Mindfulness takes a little self-assessment to get to know why you do the things you do or why you have certain tendencies or thought patterns. Becoming mindful means examining your own thoughts and taking negative thoughts captive. P.S. You can also check out these 20 questions for self-honesty to help you get started on some quality self-reflection.

When you have a negative thought about yourself whether it's self-doubt, embarrassment, or un-satisfaction with who you are, analyze that thought for a moment. Can you identify a specific source? Like an ad, someone's IG post you saw, or something someone said to you? Take a second to find 3 reasons that this thought or comment is not true. Then think of a couple reasons that the opposite or the positive side of this thought is true.

2. Act on your needs rather than wants

Ok this one is hard. True self-love means being able to do what is best for yourself even when it doesn't sound good (or taste good). Acting on your needs means making choices that will keep you strong, centered and positive rather than acting on impulses that leave you feeling bad and may lead to a vicious cycle of being unsatisfied with yourself.

This doesn't mean saying no to cupcakes or binge-watching. At some point you need to let yourself indulge in those sorts of pleasures.

The trick is checking in with yourself and making intentional choices about what you truly need - and not just what you need right now, but discovering ways you can make meaningful choices that benefit your long term wellbeing.

Assessing and acting on your needs will allow you to move away from different patterns or habits that aren't good for you and will help you not to fall back into making those same types of choices over and over that don't truly...