My mama always told me, ‘baby if you’re gonna go there, really go there!’ Kidding, my mom doesn’t actually talk like that, that’s all me. And I’ll be the sparkliest most extra sequined one in the crowd this summer, look for me and lets dance!
We have Stage Coach, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Coachella, and in my case this year No-chella, and about 25 other must-see music festivals happening this summer. That is A LOT of dancing, sweating, and blowing dirt from your nose.
I’d like to describe my festival season style as, “this girl loves a breeze, put her in minimal clothing, and anything that’ll create a good spin” 😉 So I have three of my favorite festival styles to share with you, 1) Bare It Boldy 2) Comfortable Is Still Cute and 3) Chic Means You Can’t Move
First up, this sequined fancy lil number, the bare it boldly aka Don’t Let Your Butt Fall Out
You’ll move freely, you’ll maneuver the bathrooms easily, and dancing with the breeze will be a breeze!
Up next, the comfortable Is Still Cute aka A Wardrobe Malfunction Is Bound To Happen
Comfortable and practical, you’ll walk miles and miles around the festival grounds easy peasy. There’s not much fabric to sweat through, and there’s tons of pockets to store your phone, perfume atomizer, and a snack (all you’ll ever need really).
Ah yes, my favorite look of ’em all, the Chic Means You Can’t Move aka I Hope You’ve Perfected Your Shimmy
Because you won’t be moving much in this getup but when you do, baby you’ll be a sight for sore eyes… and sore feet.
It’s chic, it’s sexy, it’s a stand out kind of outfit that you can only stand up in. So make it look good!
I’m loving all the festival looks popping up on my feed these days, so tell me, what are you wearing and where are you going?
With all of the pool side bronzing you’ll be doing, the ocean dips you’ll be taking, and the festivals you’ll be prancing around, today I’m sharing with you my must have summer hair and skincare products!
After a week in Palm Springs for my friend Miya’s annual birthday tradition at the Avalon Hotel and Bungalows, I really know what it feels like to crave hydration and replenishment. It was 110 degrees on our first pool side bronzing day ONE HUNDRED AND TEN DEGREES lol. One of the most relaxing and beautiful places to visit, here’s what I toted along with me so that I would remain dewy and moisturized.
suncare protection –Coola is hands down one of my all time favorite sunscreens, for both my face and my body. It’s a mineral sun protectant and smells like damn heaven
sweat and odor protection – I don’t know about you but even poolside I still swipe some odor protection under my arms because, 110 degree weather and bronzing . . . and sweating. I’ve raved aboutNative before but if you haven’t jumped on the natural deoderant band wagon, their Coconut Vanilla scent will make you take the leap, trust
lip moisture – lets not forget about our pouts while we’re out there surfing the waves and sipping down those pina coladas. This Hanalei lip treatment is so rich and I love the light vanilla smell it has. It also doubles as a lip gloss because it’s so moisturizing that your lips will shine baby
hair leave in and smell goods – this Sea Salt spray by my girls over at Tone It Up is making a come back with this post becuase it’s THAT versitile. Create to foster body and movement in your hair, I also use it as a leave in for the pool/beach because it’s also hydrating to my hair. And if you haven’t guessed already, yup it smells just like a coconut
hair leave in and wash outs – after a long day under the sun I condition my hair with this coconut oil deep conditioning protein pack. About once a week I’ll leave this treatment in my hair while I shave my legs in the shower and then rinse it out for the softest hair you’ve ever seen. Keepin’ that coconut theme going, this too smells like the ripest coconut in the middle of an island
I can’t get enough of these summer time hair and skincare products so I hope you try them out and let me know what you think. Also, I hope you like COCONUT! haha You can take the girl off the island but you can’t take the island out of the girl.
What are your favorite summer time hair and skincare products?!
We’re in the final weekend of Coachella 2017 so I thought today I’d hook you up with my top 5 makeup and skincare essentials for your Coachella packing list! You’re not only going to be dancing in the desert, swinging under the sun and sky, and walking for miles each day, but NOW you’re gonna be prepared for all of it!
You’re only 5 simple steps away from absolutely LOVING the skin you’re in! With the wind, the dirt, the dust, and the sun weathering you all day this weekend, you’ll definitely need this 5 step system to bring your face back to life! *you’ll get 10% off your next order if you sign up for their email list
This sea salt spray is making a come back because I use it ALL the time! It smells like a vacation and will give your locks some body and movement! Extra point for it’s coconut sexy scent that will refresh your do after a day of struttin in the sand!
This festival season we’ve seen a lot of highlighter, glitter, and glittered highlighter! 😉 We’re obsessed with this Laura Mercier lightstruck prismatic glow palette. This cream highlighter is super light, blendable, and highly pigmented to give you that fresh Coachillin soul glow baby!
Don’t neglect your pout it’ll be lip syncing all through the weekend! With kukui oil and grape seed oil, this lip balm adds sheen while moisturizing! Yes please!
Hydrate from the inside out why dontcha! Proplenish is my favorite collagen supplement, a powder that you can pour into any drink (I put it in my tea with fresh lemon!) and it will restore and replenish your skin from within! Do it, you’ll see the difference within a week!
Did you go to Coachella this year? What was your favorite performance?! What was your number one favorite product to pack?! Share!
Ultra Music Festival, Spring Craft Fest, C O A C H E L L A!!! Yes it’s festival season! So with festival season approaching, Spring a springin’, and new fashion trends, I thought today I’d share with you my favorite festival fashion and accessories!
But is it really a festival if you aren’t draped in floral chiffon? Maxis are all the rage and this one is dreamy, flowy, and allows for a breeze to make it’s way through all of that dessert dancing you’ll be doing!
Trendy and purposeful, a wide brimmed hat and some cute sunnies will keep the sun out of your eyes and off your face. #teamnosquinting Pro tip: don’t forget to charge your camera batteries and bring extra SD cards if you’re toting it along for the duration of the festivities. I’ve lost many a great memories due to dead batteries lol
Ahhh yes, and the shoes. Saved the best for last with these Billy Ella celestial booties! I mean, how stellar are they, just look at em! Granted, a great pair of comfortable shoes are essential for any festival trekking- but oh HEY THERE magical constellations … on my feet!
Every boot, pump, and wedge deserves to be given a chance with some good insoles, so pick you up a pair and go ahead- dance for hours baby!
I hope this inspires you to run out and grab the first tasseled-trinket, fringed n’ frolicked look and then buy yourself some festival tickets!
What are your current favorite festival fashion pieces?!
The perks of raising the world’s most perfect flower child is that she knows when anything zen-y and cool is happening in our area! Mercado Segrado in Topanga Canyon is an artisan goods and healthy eats event that happens annually and we’ve turned it into a family tradition. Full of organic food options, art, and hand crafted goods, if you love festivals than you’ll love this one. We especially love supporting local artists and eating from locally sourced venues!
This year, the background for the event was the grounds of Paramount Ranch in Agoura. It’s an old western set, with open spaces, barns, and buildings that look like they came straight out of a John Wayne film. The festival in past years have been held in Topanga Canyon but each year it becomes larger and this location didn’t disappoint!
We had a few favorite vendors that we kept popping our heads into to check out, Earth + Element being one of them! She makes some of the most beautiful ceramics you’ve ever seen, a ’boutique with a conscience’ <3 Their Moon Mugs are out of this world beautiful, check them out if you love ceramics like we do. And DL Skateboards– we couldn’t get over the craftsmanship and admired their boards throughout the day.
Each skateboard is handcrafted from a single piece of solid oak wood, they’re gripped with sand from Topanga Canyon, and the wheels and hardware are all made with parts from right here in California. How awesome is that?! If that weren’t convincing enough for you to go check them out, you should know that they also believe in the bartering system! Yes, you can barter for a board lol that’s the damn best! If I had a military issue canvas tent (ahem dad send me one from your basement!) to barter with, it’d be for the Deep Sun board. It’s my favorite, the colors just make me happy!
And of course, no travel post of ours is complete without a food photo! Pictured here is mango sticky rice. Made to perfection, this was one of many eats and treats featured at Mercado Segrado and we would’ve ordered another one if the line weren’t so long, it was one of the most popular dishes!
Pro tips: Wear comfy shoes- you’ll be walking around on unsteady rock all day, bring a hat and sunscreen- it’s an open space and you’ll want to explore the grounds, and get there when it opens- it’s nice to visit each pop-up tent and vendor there, and then have a seat to listen to one of the live performances take place. Take it all in it only happens once a year.
Do you have any local events near you that you HAVE to go to each time they come around again?
Everything you need to know about having a successful launch at the Rise Festival from someone who maybe-almost-kind-of didn’t have a perfect night at the coveted lantern ceremony. Could have been disastrous.
It was on Miya’s bucket list to cross off the Rise festival from her to do’s this year, which is I believe, one of the most breath taking and spiritual events you can ever partake in. So of course I told her to count me IN! Our Rise Festival took place about 32 miles northeast of Las Vegas in the middle of the desert and was the perfect setting for what would be one of the most intense visceral experiences either one of us had ever felt! You’ll see!
1. Have your tickets mailed to you – if this is an option do it. Will Call was 45 minutes away from the event and completely out of the way unless you were already staying in Vegas. It would’ve been MUCH easier if they’d made tickets available ON site, in alphabetical order … ya know, the same way they distributed the lanterns and mats. LOLZ 2. Fuel up before entering the site – the location is sooo in the middle of the desert that you should enter Moapa Travel Center into your GPS as it’s on the Moapa River Reservation. If you’re parking in the lot instead of using the shuttle system (those never seem to be the best option for me) than you’re not going to want to fill up at 11pm in the middle of nowhere. 3. Arrive early – The earlier the better I think. We arrived at Will Call around 3pm and then got to the event around 4:30pm, which made for PERFECT timing. We were able to grab a drink, take some awesome photos during the most spectacular sunset, order food from the food trucks BEFORE all hell broke loose, and write our intentions onto our lanterns while there was still light out. 4. Layer up and tote a bandana– Did I mention we were in the desert? lol Once the sun went down it was actually kind of chilly and windy out. Layers will keep you warm and a bandana of some sort will keep the sand out of your nose. We were blowing chimneys out of our nostrils when we got back to our hotel later that night. 5. TO LIGHT THE LANTERN – the most important part right! To Actually getting your lantern to rise and be with the 10,000 others! So thankfully they passed out an extra lantern to all of the participants as we only purchased one lantern each. Well the wind decided to pick up JUST as we lit our torches, and as I lit the fuel cell, the flame burned holes throughout my lantern making the first two attempts a big fat fail. Also it was momentarily disastrous as lanterns flew by my head and flames zipped by my very heavily hair sprayed hair. But we ducked and dodged, and third time’s a charm! Here’s what we learned:
– You need someone to help you hold the lantern upright so that the lantern walls stay open and don’t collapse onto your flame. Preferably all of your friends (make this a whole group event!) will hold your lantern up right until the heat has filled the lantern and it’s ready to rise on its own.
– Light the fuel cell with the tiki torch until the entire fuel cell is on fire, this takes a few minutes. Pro top: remove the paper wrapper surrounding the fuel cell BEFORE lighting it on fire.
– Once the fuel cell is red with fire, as your friends hold up the walls of your lantern, slowly take your lantern towards the ground. This will help to keep the wind out of your way and allow the flame a chance to create enough heat to fill your lantern with hot air.
– Once you feel your lantern start to naturally tug away and lift from your light grips, slowly stand up and allow the lantern to release! Boom, you did it!
It only took me THREE tries to get my lantern to rise, but when it did, I legit cried. It was so moving, symbolic, and serene! To watch your lantern float away among thousandssss of other lanterns, lighting up the night sky, it was so surreal!
Oh, and they had a live band playing on stage … so imagine writing your hopes, dreams, and prayers onto this ‘intention lantern’ with thousands of other people, in the middle of the desert, enjoying the breeze, all WHILE being serenaded with beautiful music. Right?! Unbelievable.
I uploaded the video of my lantern and I (the ‘3rd one’s a charm’ one) and our festival moments onto my Instagram account if you want to experience it <333
P.S. oh and don’t bother waiting in the 183,821 person line to get your photo in front of the RISE sign. I mean you can if you’re into that kind of thing but Miya and I took ours behind the sign and didn’t have to wait for didly. Just tell people to mirror the image in their minds.
Have you ever heard of this kind of event? Have you been? Would you want to go? I hope this post was helpful if you do!
Perhaps you’re like me and putting together an outfit each day is a task that involves indecisive questions like; “am I going to be comfortable in this?”, “am I too matchy matchy?”, and “am I not matchy enough?”. Or perhaps you’re like my fashionista daughter Corrine and putting together an outfit each day is easy peasy so long as you have a few statement pieces! Oh she makes it look so easy.
Well then today’s article is for you! It’s all about taking ONE pair of shoes and remembering that whether you’re dressing them up or dressing them down, that you ARE creative and you DO have versatility skills! Sounds far fetched coming from someone who changes 7 times before stepping out the door *raises hand*, but style is all about being versatile. No matter your fashion skills, or lack there of *raises that hand again*, you can put together a killer look that meets your comfort level and is on trend. After all, confidence comes with how comfortable you are in your own skin, and confidence my friend, looks amazing on you.
As you’ve seen in our most recent posts, Corrine and I teamed up with DSW® to take you through festival season this summer and all of the fashion favorites coming out of it this year. We’re centering the conversation around bohemian themes for you frolicking princesses out there, and colorful trends for you movement motivated ones. What we’ve discovered is that it doesn’t have to be one or the other. You can be both; colorful and trendy, and bohemian bound and comfortable. Here’s what we did with our two most coveted shoe styles of the season, and how we paired them with our personal favorites in fashion.
Corrine’s style combines pops of color with vintage inspired pieces. This more formal ensemble features this bell sleeved white romper with mustard colored leggings for fun, and rose gold accessories. She topped the look off with these pewter booties, going sock less to show off the side cutouts and ankle buckles, and this Aztec backpack features similar hardware which tied the look together. It also showed off its own versatility by doubling as a tote and an awesome accessory.
My personal style is all about being trendy (on accident) while sticking to more flowy and free styles that I’m most comfortable in. I took the same booties and dressed them down with this bohemian themed outfit. Crop tops and kimonos were sprinkled all over the festival; some cool and colorful and others warm in tone and fabric. I followed suit and paired my black kimono with my Natalia Fedner Designs crop top, this ankle length hi-low skirt, and kept it casual with the booties, also opting to go sock less. For accessories I wore a simple bangle and a silver headpiece that went beautifully with the muted colors of the look.
Our second favorite style in footwear this season are these turquoise flat sandals. We love the color variations it comes in and the double strap that makes them more formal than a traditional sandal. For this look Corrine dressed the flats up a bit with these patterned socks which she wore beneath a pair of overalls and a 1960’s inspired tie dyed bathing suit. The vibrant pop of color came from this vintage scarf she tied around her neck that brought out the colors in the bathing suit.
The photo above was snapped of me on our last day at Coachella, and by day three all I wanted was to be comfortable . . . and colorful! Corrine’s style must have rubbed off on my by this point. I kept my look casual per the usual, yet super fun by styling the flats with an equally colorful jacket. I paired it with a simple white crop top, black skinny jeans, and accessorized with the Aztec backpack. I was all about silver this trip so featured here is a metal fringe necklace and some some simple bangles. Also, this was me practicing that ‘pro pose’ look we talked about earlier, while 90,000 people roamed about.
From this photo set you’ll notice that even though Corrine and I have very different styles, and our choices may be opposite from one another when it comes to styling themes and occasions, but we have the same outlook on footwear. The shoes we choose to style are comfortable, trendy, and versatile. They have to be when you have two ladies in the house who wear the same shoe size and it’s debated who gets to wear what! We’ve learned that it’s easy to choose the same pair and give them completely different attitudes by simply incorporating what makes us feel most comfortable as individuals.
If I had to give us each a themed name, it’d be, “Corrine- the vintage queen draped in color”, and “Jess- the trendy bohemian princess”!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this article and find a way to incorporate what’s trending this season while interjecting your own personal style. We love teaming up with brands to share with you how we approach our every day whether it be in style, travel, or dealing with the occasional fashion dilemma, and hope to have helped you with a dilemma or two while we were at it!
Let us know what your favorite styles are this season and tell us; if you had to live with only ONE pair of shoes for the rest of forever, which pair would you choose and why???
Thanks for sharing in our adventures and we’ll see you later this week!
At DSW®, we believe in the power of shoes, and in the power of shoe lovers. With thousands of fresh styles for men, women, and children, we’ve got something for everyone, no matter who they are or how they dress. Shoes say a lot about you. Say something great.
FTC Disclosure: Compensation was provided by DSW® via Mode Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of DSW®.
We try and take each weekend to focus on family time, exploring the different festivals around L.A., and disconnecting from the work week by getting outside. This past weekend we attended a small festival called Mercado Segrado, in the Malibu canyons. It was a celebration of the canyon spirit, the arts, and an Earth-connected kind of experience. I’m all about that spiritual life so you know I got all kinds of loopy about this!
Set in a private oak grove in Malibu featuring hand made goods, artisan vendors, fresh food, and spiritual ceremonies (more on this in a bit). Above is the view from where we were when we entered the festival, from the far back white fence. Soooo beautiful!
This is that fence, and to the left you’ll see one of the vendors – a beautiful set up of what appeared to be made of paper mache and animals formed from what looked like beautiful pieces of color paper. Beyond the fence is a small pond and the rock formation that we’ll call the “disgruntled man”. If you were able to see beyond the weeping willow tree, you’d see groves upon groves of trees and green!
Here’s a man in the wild. Joe, barefoot, shoes in hand- we were headed towards the live band area and taco stand near the back. I’m not sure that he was just as in love with the festival as we were, as it was a very female heavy crowd and we were all barefoot and swaying with the wind, but he loved all that energy floating around him!
There were tents, open spaces, and racks full of vintage clothing and goods, handmade art pieces, and soy candles – pictured above is Corrine in her element- sifting through vintage pieces underneath a meadow of trees. It was just as magical as it looks here, the sun did this to the photograph, nothing I could do could have made it look so dreamy.
Corrine found a spot under one of the trees later in the afternoon to set up our blanket for picnic times. Look at her, my lil Earth baby. She found the event this day, she follows a lot of the vendors and artists that were there on Instagram. Here under the tree we had vegetarian tacos and a rice bowl . . under a tree you guys… on the grass. Makes me want a back yard. Now about that tea ceremony…..
The words you see on the piece of paper are the words that came to me after I participated in a tea ceremony. I sometimes go into things as a bit of a skeptic and I don’t mean to, but this was one of those times. Surprisingly, I really loved it though and I’m really really interested in learning more about plant science and plant medicine.
So we all sat in a circle- Corrine, myself, and a few other ladies. The first of 3 teas that we drank was a jasmine- pink rose- and lotus tea. We started off by meditating, then we introduced ourselves to the tea (this in of itself is a whole other article), we took in the aroma of the tea, and then we slowly sipped it. We let it sit in our bellies for a bit and then we meditated with it some more until we felt words or saw colors, whatever it was we wrote them down. These were the words I felt. If I learned anything from this experience it was that everything carries with it an energy, and each day the things that we do shift that energy. By the end of the tea ceremony, 3 teas after, and an hour later, my energy had shifted from feeling overwhelmed and rushed, to a more calm and grounded feeling. It was really interesting, you should try it out some time, even if you’re a skeptic like me.
This was my view from our picnic tree as I lay out, toes in the grass, listening to folk music on a sunny Sunday afternoon before we headed back home. It was beautiful and peaceful, so if you get a chance to get out this week do it! Nature can totally be cool!
Have you been to this kind of festival before? How about tea ceremonies? Too cooky for you or would you try it? I’ll leave my tea suggestions in another article for you all about tea ceremonies and energy shifts if you like, so let me know in the comments!
