August 2015 archive
August Product Reviews: Health & Wellness
Health and wellness product reviews
Well, August is wrapping up so it’s time to share the products I’ve been trying out this month. We’re on a health and wellness theme right now, because both things in this month’s reviews are dietary supplements.
LoveBug Probiotics
Here’s what I love about LoveBug’s probiotic. First of all, the packaging is very Eco. The supplement comes in an attractive, dark blue glass bottle which could totally be re-purposed. The stuffing inside the bottle (you know, the stuff to keep it from jostling in transit) is organic cotton. I commend LoveBug for making probiotics hip through design and branding!
The tablets contain 8 probiotic strains designed especially for digestive health. When choosing a probiotic, I always look for one like LoveBug’s that is time-released so your digestive tract will get more of the goodies without stomach acid eroding them. Read more about the fascinating science of probiotics here.
In addition to a sample bottle of Here’s the Skinny probiotics, LoveBug also sent me a heart shaped ice pack. So cute!
Natural Goal L-Arginine
L-Arginine is an amino acid that’s made by the body and found in protein-rich foods. It helps with many things, commonly blood pressure and circulation issues. I added it into my regimen because it’s supposed to help supply blood flow to your muscles during workouts and I wanted an extra boost for my Irish dance training. Sometimes it’s also prescribed for wound care and healing after surgery. For the purposes of this review, Natural Goal sent me a bottle to test. The generously-sized bottle contains 100 capsules. The capsules are standard size and deliver 1,000 mg of L-Arginine. I feel pretty good after trying it, but I need to keep taking it longer to see if I have more results.
*Always consult a health professional before starting new dietary supplements. The above health and wellness product reviews are intended for information only and are not an endorsement or medical advice.*
Tried a product lately that you love? Let me know below. Have a specific product you want me to review? Let’s talk!
DIY Wedding Favors for Every Bride
The Pink Paperdoll welcomes Sarah Landrum as a guest poster this week. She tells us her best DIY wedding favors ideas for every wedding style, including Vintage, Rustic Country Chic, Romantic, Beach, or Quirky.
DIY Wedding Favors Ideas
Planning your dream wedding can become expensive quickly. You want every detail to be perfect, even down to the favors. Equally as important, you’ll want to find items that your guests would actually like to have, but still match the theme of your wedding. While little bottles of bubbles might be traditional, they’re not exactly something your guests will hold onto after you’ve said your goodbyes for the night.
Instead of spending a fortune on run-of-the-mill gifts for your guests, use a little elbow grease to make these unique DIY favors specific to your theme.
Vintage
Vintage tea cup candles: If you’re looking for a touch of vintage flair, transform delicate teacups into candles with wax and a wick. Add a touch of lavender essential oil to add to the throwback feel.
Country Chic/Rustic
Succulents: These little plants are fairly hardy against even the blackest thumb. Put a few different varieties in small little pots that will allow for easy transport. Include a cute tag with a quote about watching your love grow and your guests will enjoy the romance of it all.
Sweet Spreads: Spread the love with a homemade jam or honey jar. Dress it up with a vintage sign, or customize to make it fit any wedding theme.
Mason jar treats: Mason jars are the epitome of country chic and are essentially required for any country theme. You can use a traditional Mason jar or select a jar with a snap lid depending on what you choose to put in the containers. Some favorites include mini pies, a tasty drink or homemade jam.
Romantic
Pumpkins: If you’re planning a fall wedding, grow your own tiny pumpkins. The harvest will be abundant and will go a long way in making you feel like Cinderella. Hopefully they’ll also inspire your guests to make it safely home by midnight!
Book of Poems: Exchanging love poems with a special someone is reminiscent of a time gone by. Create your own book of poems that represent you and your new husband with craft paper. The key is to bind the book with a few carefully placed stitches.
Macarons: These sweet treats are synonymous with the romance of Paris and are sure to elicit daydreams of meeting a lover by the Eiffel tower. If you decide to make these cookies yourself, make sure to do a few practice runs because the delicate balance of egg whites and almond flower can take several tries to perfect.
Beach
Paper fan: Sitting out in the heat to watch your beautiful ceremony might leave your guests a bit sweaty and ripe. Help them stay cool with a handmade paper fan. You can choose anywhere from a flat card with a handle to the traditional folded variety. You can also buy a DIY kit for customizable fans for a pretty great price.
Found on The Knot Wedding Shop
Sea shell candles: Everyone hopes to come home from the beach with a seashell. Make the search easier by providing your own. Better yet, put melted wax and wick into your shell to make a charming candle for your guest to burn later. (If you’re short on time or shells, these little favors are only $3.50 at Amazon.)
Quirky
Popcorn: Build upon your fun-loving atmosphere with this favorite movie theater or carnival treat. Select a bag that coordinates with your theme or pick the traditional red and white box. You can even set up a station with popcorn options for your guests to create their own poppin’ favor.
Coasters: When you’re a bride who likes to think outside the box, choosing the right favor can be slightly challenging. Transform your Instagram photos or favorite quotes into coasters for your guests. Think of them as picture frames, only with a more practical use. As an added bonus, you might boost your Instagram following as a result.
Donations: In lieu of favors, make a charitable donation. You can DIY a donation board where guests can choose which charity they’d like to give to.
With these tips, you’ll be able to not only stay within your budget and theme, but also provide your guests with a memento they’ll treasure after you’ve left for your honeymoon.
Sarah Landrum is a freelance writer, career and lifestyle blogger, and founder of Punched Clocks, sharing advice on having a happy and successful career. Follow Sarah on Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest and subscribe to her blog for more great advice.
Wedding Dress Trends 2016
Wedding dress trends 2016: 5 styles that wow
Trend forecasting: wedding dress edition! Fashion plus weddings…I am so excited for today’s post. 2016 will bring new trends on the aisle as well as the runway. Are you ready? Read on for some upcoming trends. See something you like? All pictures are links. Don’t forget to tell us what you think of these styles!
1. 3-D Embellishments
Organza flowers and other 3-dimensional embellishments are adding depth to 2016’s wedding dresses.
2. V-necklines
We’ll be seeing lots of v-necklines, especially plunging v-necklines. The lace straps are also frequently seen and a move away from the ever-popular strapless styles.
3. Lacey layers and overlays
Victorian lace has been front and center lately. You may have seen this type of lace on every day fashion styles this year. Now, wedding dresses are getting adorned with it too. It looks like someone sewed your grandmother’s doilies onto a dress-but you know, in a good way. Note that this dress is an example of another wedding dress 2016 trend: a nectarean silhouette, with a bodice that comes down over the hips.
4. Flowing Bohemian
This is one trend taken right from current street fashion. Drapey, off-the-shoulder lace gives a casual vibe for this wedding dress trends 2016 look. Pair it with a bohemian-inspired hair accessory and it’s right for a trendy, outdoors wedding.
5. Stylish sleeves
Ever since Kate Middleton graced us with her lace sleeve wedding dress, designers have been incorporating sleeves into each new season’s wedding dresses. This year, it’s all about sleeves of any length. From barely-there cap sleeves to Kate’s full sleeves, shoulders are looking a little more covered in 2016.
All photographs used with permission from Aisle Style. Many thanks to Aisle Style for sponsoring today’s post. Which of the wedding dress trends 2016 do you love?
How to Survive the Lilly Pulitzer Summer Sale
Twice a year, prep-favorite clothing brand Lilly Pulitzer holds a big end-of-season sale. And every year, the exact same thing happens: the website crashes, no one can access it, and yet still everything you want in your size and color sells out. It’s enough to make you crazy, and judging from the comments on Lilly Pulitzer’s Facebook posts, it does exactly that to hundreds of shoppers. It’s a sale when emotions run high. Every poster falls into two extreme categories: either a) elated that they beat all the other shoppers in a race to empty their bank accounts into the hands of their favorite designer, or b) devastated that they missed out on what they wanted and livid with Lilly’s IT staff for letting the site crash yet again.
That’s right, Lilly’s sale site crashes every.single.year. And I think it’s far from accidental. A company as successful as Lilly has the means to keep their site from crashing even during a period of high traffic. They’re doing it on purpose as a marketing technique. Their skilled marketing team builds the excitement for the sale for weeks and turns it into a game-hunting for the retail-oriented, if you will. We’re encouraged to get up early, refreshing our browser obsessively until 7:59 turns over to 8:00 EST. Log in to your account the night before! Check out as soon as you put an item in your cart or it will sell out! Buy it now!!! I’m getting anxious just writing this.
It’s the perfect retail strategy. Yes, thousands of shoppers are upset and disappointed, but it’s clearly not hurting Lilly’s brand. The company has some mad marketing genius, I’ll give them that, but you don’t have to fall into this trap.
Last year, after the site went down for hours and no one was able to shop, I found the best post in reaction to it:I like this lady’s attitude. Every year there are disappointments when shopping is delayed by site crashes and what you want sells out. This lady was the only rational person on social media during the Lilly Pulitzer summer sale, it seemed.
So now you know the game is rigged, here’s how to ease the emotional pain and keep your sanity through the Lilly Pulitzer summer sale. You don’t even have to go to the extreme of taking up knitting to make your own Lilly replicas.
Lilly Pulitzer Endless Summer Sale Tips: Keeping your sanity
1. If an item you want is sold out, before you drop into a deep depression and call in sick to work forever, check Signature Stores for the item you want. Zappos and 6 pm will sometimes have the same sale items still in stock long after they’ve sold out on LillyPulitzer.com. And, both of those sites take returns! Last year, I opted to pay ten dollars more for the same shift on 6 pm instead for that very reason, rather than risking $69 on final sale through Lilly’s website.
Here are some very affordable Lilly items available through other retailers (Dillards and Saks 5th Avenue). These are in the range of $10-$26. So there are even better deals out there than what you’ll find at the summer sale!
2. If you bought something in a fit of Lilly Pulitzer summer sale obsession and changed your mind after it arrived, Lilly’s final sale policy during the end-of-season sales will leave you out a bit of money. Luckily, the brand holds it resale value (and sometimes even gains value with time) so try reselling on Re-Lilly on Facebook or e-Bay.
3. Know that Lilly keeps making cute stuff. So that adorable cocktail dress or floral tote bag you wanted and missed out on is only leaving room in your life (and budget) for next season’s line.
What are your best shopping tip? If you’ve scored something great, share in the comments!
(Photo used with permission from Target).
Bringing Comfy Back
Comfortable panty liners, freebies and prizes
Keychain: Lilly Pulitzer / ID Case: Vera Bradley / Liners: U by Kotex / Purse: Tory Burch
Prettify your purse
Are you comfortable with the contents of your purse? Or are you weighed down by heavy clutter and un-cute but essential stuff? If you accidentally dumped the contents out, what would everyone see?
For a pretty, organized purse, you can pare it down to the essentials. Take a look at your keychain and see if there are any non-essential keys you can remove. Keeping a slim wallet helps minimize all those unnecessary cards you might be tempted to carry! If you’re a lady, you maybe carry some supplies around in case an emergency comes up unexpectedly (or expectedly).
U by Kotex has finally realized that fun packaging looks oh-so-much better. Seriously cute patterns and bright colors adorn these U by Kotex liners, which you can totally get your hands on for free. Not only are they pretty comfortable, if you have an accidental purse dump, you won’t even be embarrassed because they look so gosh darn cute.
Free Samples
One of the reasons why I share sponsored posts for Kotex is FREEBIES. Yup, all readers can receive a free sample pack. Each sample pack of comfortable panty liners includes two U by Kotex Curves® liners and two U by Kotex® Lightdays® Liners. And if you’re like me and have an overwhelming number of subscription emails in your inbox, you don’t have to worry about signing up for anything to get your free sample of comfortable panty liners. They’re just sent to you-it’s that simple.
Monthly Prizes & Grand Prize
Oh yeah, there’s a contest too. To enter the #BringComfyBack Contest, visit bringcomfyback.com and upload your creative pic or gif showcasing your best uncomfy face.
Each month, one lucky winner will receive a $200 Urban Outfitters gift card, a Go Pro Hero 3 white camera, a $100 Sephora gift card and U by Kotex products.
At the end of the contest, the most creative selfie will be chosen and the winner will receive a trip to L.A. with a girlfriend, an exclusive U by Kotex photo shoot to be their new social star and $2,000 spending cash. Entries are judged on originality, style and LOL factor!
