Friday Favorites

It’s Friday, so y’all know what that means! It’s time to link up with Erika and Andrea to let everybody know what some of my favorite things are right now.

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OUR BULLDOG

Carter’s end of year soccer banquet was last week, and this guy got Bulldog of the Year for the 2nd year in a row! Voted on by the coaches and the players, the coach said the Bulldog Award went to a player “whose character, attitude, and work ethic set the standard. On the pitch full of heart, and the kind of player that every coach wants. A humble leader who puts the team first, he truly represents what it means to be a Bulldog.” We were so proud!

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RANCH TRIP

We went to the ranch last weekend and had a great time as always. The weather was amazing, and we took a family down that we had never had down with us before. It was their first time, but it won’t be their last!

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LAST MINUTE MOTHER’S DAY GIFTS!

Mother’s Day is Sunday, so it’s GO TIME y’all! And great news… depending on where you live (or your mom lives), many of these gifts will arrive today, tomorrow, or Sunday! And do you know that when checking out that you can choose for an item to be wrapped in case you want it delivered directly to your mom?!? (Now I’m not saying its beautifully gift wrapped, but it does come in a colorful sack type thing, so it does look like a gift!)

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ELASTIC WAIST FOR THE WIN

Elastic waists for the win, y’all.

What can I say, I love being incredibly comfy while still looking totally put together.

I’ve shown y’all 2 different pairs of shorts and 1 pair of pants with an elastic waist over the last month, and I’ve got another pair of pants for y’all today.

I actually showed these pants in an outfit planning collage in April, and they made it to the TOP 12 for the month, but I hadn’t ordered them yet and showed them on me.

Well… today is the day and the verdict is in…

I LOVE THESE PANTS. They are a lightweight linen with a little bit of texture. They’re flowy and cropped, perfect for summer. For size reference, I’m wearing a medium, but I’m going to return them for a small. I think they will still have plenty of room in the waist, and I want them to be a bit shorter on my 5’4″ frame

I paired them with the classic button-up for a totally chic look. And great news! The button-up is ON SALE! This is a great closet staple that will look fabulous styled in lots of different outfits.  I’m wearing a small in the top, so I would suggest sizing down for sure. It also comes in a neutral stripe, a blue, a navy, a blush, and a pale blue stripe.

button-up / drawstring linen pants / faux pearl earrings / colorful initial necklace / heart toggle necklace / matte gold bracelet stack / raffia sandals

I was tickled when I found this pair of drawstring denim shorts last month. Click HERE if you want to read my full reviews on each individual piece.

collared sweater / earrings / similar cross necklace / drawstring shorts / straw bag / cork sandals

Click HERE if you want to read my full reviews on each individual piece.

collared sweater / earrings / similar cross necklace / drawstring shorts / straw bag / cork sandals

Click HERE if you want to read my full reviews on each individual piece.

striped tee / denim jacket / turquoise earrings / similar cross necklace / drawstring pants / wrap around bracelet / straw bag / cork sandals

And don’t forget to this pair of linen drawstring shorts!

I knew I needed to add a non-denim pair of shorts to my closet, and these were just what I was looking for! They’ve definitely filled a void in my closet.

They are a lightweight linen with pull on styling, so they are super comfortable. The perfect rise, the perfect elastic waist with a functional drawstring, and the perfect length. The link says they are a 4″ inseam, but they definitely seem longer on. They’re classy and casual, but they can easily be dressed up or down. These are the “flax”, but they also come in white, a blue stripe, and a pink stripe. I think the flax is perfection. I’m afraid that the white might be too sheer, but they are worth a try if you’re specifically looking for a pair of white shorts. For size reference, I’m wearing a medium for a relaxed fit.

This linen blend top is a relaxed fit and has an easy breezy feel to it. It’s a muted stripe and just feels summery! For size reference, I’m wearing a medium, but I think a small would still be plenty roomy.

blouse / drawstring shorts / faux pearl earrings / heart toggle necklace / matte gold bracelet stack / colorful beaded bracelet stack / raffia sandals

Here’s a look at the shorts from the side. I love them so much. So flattering and so easy to wear.

blouse / drawstring shorts / matte gold bracelet stack / colorful beaded bracelet stack / raffia sandals

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FAVORITE SELF-TANNER

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A GREAT SPRING AND SUMMER BRACELET STACK

Here I have them all mixed in together and love the look.

multicolor beaded bracelet stack / matte gold bracelet stack

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MY FAVORITE NEW ATHLEISURE TEE

I have a new favorite athleisure tee, and this is it! Y’all saw it last month with a little skirt (and both the tee and the skirt made y’all’s Top 12), but today I’m showing the tee in a new color I ordered styled with a pair of drawstring shorts from the same brand.

First of all, this tee is stupid soft. Seriously SO BUTTERY SOFT. It’s a great mid-weight (so a bit thicker than the Vuori tees that I love), and dare I say I love these more. AND RIGHT NOW, THIS TEE IS ONLY $19.99. The Vuori Energy tee I love is $58, so this is obviously a bargain. It has the same relaxed fit, but it’s a bit longer (without being too long). You can totally wear it out without a half-tuck and it will still look great, I just happen to always default to the half-tuck. For size reference, I’m wearing a medium in the tee.

The drawstring shorts are cool too. They are water repellent and have 2 side seam pockets. They’ve got a 4″ inseam and a wide elastic waistband with a functioning drawstring. For size reference, I’m wearing a medium.

shirt / drawstring shorts

And as a reminder, here’s the tee when I first showed it with the skirt. Y’all know I love Vuori pieces, and this super affordable outfit totally gives Vuori vibes, but for a fraction of the price.

This skirt has a side slit (so cute!), elastic waistband, a full belly panel, and connected shorts underneath with 1 pocket. It’s well made, great quality, super soft fabric, and very flattering. And it’s super affordable. For size reference, I’m wearing a small.

shirt / skort / quilted bag / sneakers (sea salt leopard)

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COLLEEN ROTHSCHILD FRIENDS AND FAMILY SALE

Because of the sale, I’ve gone back in the archives to find some of my most popular Colleen posts from over the last several years, and I’m going to highlight what I feel are some of the best products.

Fair warning, I use and love A TON of Colleen’s products. I’m absolutely passionate about these products because they work. They do what they say they do.

NO CODE NEEDED. DISCOUNT APPLIED IN CART.

Click HERE for the entire sale. It’s the perfect time to restock products you are getting low on and/or try something new!

These first two products are the two products I can’t live without. I use them consistently throughout the entire year.

Cleansing Balm / Glycolic Acid Peel Pads

Out of all of the products in the Colleen Rothschild line, the Cleansing Balm is my favorite product by far. It totally changes the taking off your makeup game, and I’m telling you, you won’t even dread washing your face at night. I KNOW. That’s a big claim, but I stand behind it.

This balm truly has a cult following. For those of you that haven’t tried it yet, it’s different than any other cleanser I’ve ever used. First of all, I apply it to a dry face. I scoop out a small amount of the balm with dry hands and slather it on to my dry face. As I rub it on my face, the heat from my hands changes the balm into more of an oily texture and it just feels incredibly luxurious. It melts my makeup away, leaves my skin feeling amazing and hydrated, and the light citrus smell is PERFECT.

And listen, if you’re concerned about the price, don’t be. This jumbo tub will last most people around 9 months! And with the 25% OFF sale going on, that comes out to under $8 per month. And $8 per month for luxury skin care seems like an absolute bargain to me.

And here’s the kicker, it’s so gentle that you can even open your eyes as you are using it!

After cleansing my face, I use the peel pads. I’ve been using the Glycolic Acid Peel Pads for several years now, and I absolutely swear by them. After adding them to my weekly routine years ago, I’ve never looked back.

So, what are they?  Remember the Stridex pads we all used as teenagers? Well, these are the new and much improved version! While the Stridex pads were salicylic acid and more of an acne treatment, the CR pads are glycolic and lactic acid, both used for cell turnover. AND I NEED ALL THE HELP WITH CELL TURNOVER THAT I CAN GET. #turnoverthosecellsbaby

These pads boast a spa-strength treatment formula that helps to help dissolve skin-clogging dirt and debris.

And listen to this… your skin’s natural renewal process will be enhanced as a result of the 10 percent blend of The Glycolic and Lactic Acids in the pads. The pads target fine lines, hyperpigmentation and imperfections and will reveal a fresher, brighter, more even complexion. YES, PLEASE!

I credit these pads with drastically improving the texture of my skin.

Glycolic Acid Peel Pads

The Intense Hydrating Mask is an easy answer for skin that needs extra hydration. You apply it at night and let it sink in while you sleep. It gives a boost of highly concentrated hydration to tight, dry, rough or dehydrated skin. This treatment helps strengthen elasticity, leaving skin with a youthful suppleness and radiance. Just read the reviews if you want to know more. The reviews are fantastic.

Intense Hydrating Mask

The Face Oil #9 is a product that I absolutely cannot live without.

I put 1 full pump in my hand with the Extreme Recovery Cream (also seen below) and apply it all over my face and neck. It hydrates and plumps like nothing else I’ve ever used. The Extreme Recovery Cream is thick, rich, and ultra-creamy. My skin absolutely drinks this special little cocktail up.

And I’m not the only one that swears by it in my family. My mom and sister do as well. Actually, they are both devoted users of many products in the line. My mom did a full review of her favorite products awhile back, and you can click HERE to read all of her thoughts. She’s added in new products since then, but it’s a comprehensive review of her routine at the time. My mom is in her late 70s now and still looks AMAZING, so copying her skincare routine wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

So this is my super cute mom. I posted this last year right after she came over one day to help me clean out my closet, and she was super excited about her haul!  She looks FANTASTIC, right? She’s 75 in this picture (now 77) and she almost exclusively uses Colleen Rothschild skincare products. 

 

When Colleen came out with her hair products, I knew I had to give them a try. I started using them, and I immediately noticed a difference. Like after 1 use my hair was just better.

I’ve never really battled super dry or brittle hair; however, after having Carter my hair did change a bit and was not nearly as shiny or healthy as I felt it had been pre-pregnancy. It was then that I ditched the drugstore shampoo and conditioner that I’d been using my entire life (with no problems at all), and I started investing in better products for my hair. The beauty store products I started using back then definitely helped, and I was happy with my hair. I definitely thought they were worth the higher price because hair is important to me, y’all. Haha!

I love all the hair products except one. I just don’t love the shampoo.

I know people that do love the shampoo, but I personally prefer a shampoo I’ve been using for a while now over the CR shampoo

I’m crazy passionate about all of the products below!!!

Smooth and Shine Hair Serum / Quench and Shine Restorative Mask / Replenish and Shine Daily Conditioner

The Daily Conditioner is their newest hair care product and it’s fantastic.

The REPLENISH & SHINE DAILY CONDITIONER is enriched with Baobab and Ivy Extracts to help protect and repair, transforming dull, brittle strands into strong, healthy hair. Starting at application, a complex blend of nourishing plant oils, including Poppy and Sacha Inchi Oil, offers instant slip and a daily infusion of hydration. The lightweight formula never feels heavy or weighed down.

I. LOVE. THIS. CONDITIONER.

It doesn’t weigh my hair down, but it still manages to be incredibly moisturizing. All of the products in the bundle work together to give you incredible hair, but even if you didn’t use any of the other products and only used this conditioner, you would still notice that the conditioner alone makes your hair shiny and soft. I’ve only been using this for a couple of months, but I’m already loyal to it.

And I know this shouldn’t really matter, but I happen to love the pale pink packaging. The products look pretty in your shower or on your bathroom counter, and I appreciate that!

Next up, the hair mask!

The QUENCH & SHINE RESTORATIVE MASK is a color-safe conditioning treatment to soften, detangle and revive all hair types without weighing your hair down. An ultra-rich blend of Kokum, Shea, Capuacu and Bacuri Butters quenches thirsty strands, enriching hair with nourishment and hydration. Argan and Moringa Oils smooth unruly split-ends and deliver a healthy-looking shine. Improved hair elasticity and strength help reduce frizz and texture, resulting in supremely soft, irresistibly touchable hair. This mask can be used daily as a conditioner or as an intensive weekly treatment.

So before they came out with the conditioner, I would use small amounts of this mask as my daily conditioner. In fact, I loved how my hair felt so much after using it that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t love the conditioner as much, and I would just continue to use this mask as my conditioner.

HOWEVER, I fell in love with conditioner too, and now I use the mask more as an intensive hair treatment. My goal is to use it once a week, but the truth is, I just use it when I have some extra time to spend in the shower. Instead of using just a tiny bit like I used to, I now use a good amount, massage it all over my head, and I like to leave it in for a bit to get the full benefit. I like to leave it in for a minimum of 5 minutes, but a couple of times I’ve even been known to get out of the shower and vacuum the house or something with it in before rinsing it out.

My mom loves the mask too. She absolutely SWEARS by this product and the serum that we’re going to talk about in just a minute.

Here’s my mom’s story with the hair products…. A couple of years ago she started noticing that her hair was “getting old” – her words, not mine. 😉 My mom has always had great hair, but she said it had all of a sudden started to become dry and brittle. WELL. She swears that the mask and the serum completely revitalized her hair.

I called her yesterday to hopefully get a couple of quick quotes from her for today’s post and she went ON AND ON! Haha! I actually asked her “So you really think these products changed your hair too?” And she was all “I KNOW they changed my hair.” 🙂

She told me how before using the products she had noticed a while ago that “a chunk of hair on the left side of her head” had become “extra dull and dry”. She said that she started applying small amounts of the mask to her dry hair at night (specifically just to the patch that was giving her trouble), and when she would wake up in the morning the patch would be more hydrated and more manageable!

She also said that she when she first got the mask that she was using it every single time she washed her hair, but now she doesn’t have to use it nearly as often because her hair is in so much better shape now! She truly feels it has REPAIRED her hair. It doesn’t just LOOK better, but it IS better. It’s healthier!

Just look how thick, rich, and creamy the mask is.

QUENCH & SHINE RESTORATIVE MASK

And listen, the hair towel is NEXT LEVEL If you’re like I was, you might be like “It’s a towel. I have towels.” Maybe so. But you don’t have this towel.

And if you don’t have this towel, you need this towel.

The SUPERLUXE MICROFIBER HAIR TOWEL lessens the amount of damage we place on our hair by cutting down on dry time. By removing excess moisture before styling, hair can be smoother, stronger and shinier. Benefits all hair types and textures.

I don’t know how or why this hair towel is better than other towels. BUT IT IS. And just like the package says, it’s QUICK DRY, GENTLE, LIGHTWEIGHT, it REDUCES FRIZZ, and its ABSORBENT.

If you’ve never used a hair towel, it’s simple.

After getting out of the shower, I brush through my hair a couple of times and wring out any excess water, then I wrap my hair up in this towel while doing my makeup. LADIES. The amount of water it absorbs out of my hair is shocking. It’s going to take tons of moisture out of your hair, but it’s not going to leave it frizzy. It stays in place so much better than a regular towel, and it dries the hair so much quicker and more thoroughly. And it definitely cuts down on the time you are going to have to use your hair dryer.

Time for the last product, which many of you might think is the star of the show.

The SMOOTH & SHINE HAIR SERUM helps banish frizz, tame flyaways and quench dry ends with the light-weight, transformative power of Cotton Seed Oil. Essential nutrients from Neem Oil and Hibiscus Oil help strengthen, protect and nourish hair so that it feels soft and looks amazing!

When I asked my mom how often she uses the serum, she said “I use the serum alllllllllllllllllll the time.” When I asked her if she used it on damp hair or dry hair, she said “YES TO BOTH”! Haha!

She uses it on both damp hair AND dry hair. Like me, she uses it on her damp hair before drying it, but she also uses it on her dry hair after styling it.

I wash my hair every couple of days, and my favorite way to use the serum is to run it through my hair AFTER I’ve styled my hair with my rollers and /or a curling iron. It smells great, it tames fly aways, and it adds SO MUCH SHINE! My mom said after getting older, she now washes her hair much less frequently than she used to have to, but she says “the serum livens my hair up between washings and gives it the sheen that it needs.” But yes, she also works a little bit through her damp hair before she dries it with her hair dryer.

These products are the way to SUPER HEALTHY, SUPER SHINY, and MORE MANAGEABLE HAIR!

SMOOTH & SHINE HAIR SERUM

It’s time to GET OUR SHINE ON, Ladies!

Smooth and Shine Hair Serum / Quench and Shine Restorative Mask / Replenish and Shine Daily Conditioner

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That’s all for today, y’all! Have a wonderful weekend with your people!

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