Because I Can: Beach Treasures

Beach Treasures by elbonner featuring aqua home decor

Holy crap, do I have the beach on my mind! It's been warm, it's been sunny, I've shaved more than I have in the past 6 months; that time of year is here! If it wasn't already stupid-obvious, the beach is my favorite entity on the face of the earth and I try to spend as much time there as I can. If all was right with the world, I'd have a little beach cottage where I could look out upon the ocean every day, but that's kind of a pipe dream right now. What I can do is surround myself with beachy stuff to keep me happy between sweet, salty, sandy release!

Body (R)

L'Aromarine Oceane perfume- Fresh and cool, like a good day by the ocean! Not a sweet or sunscreen-scented fragrance, but an earthy aquatic scent.

Earth Tu Sea Salt Scrub- Made with all organic oils and no preservatives; this scrub is effective without being harsh and a chemical-laden mess!

Sachajuan Ocean Mist Hair Spray- The super hip beach spray of the moment. I love the simplicity of the packaging and the turquoise color. Reminds me of Waimea Bay!

Bobbi Brown Beach Body Lotion- This lotion is a part of Bobbi Brown's hugely successful "Beach" line, which makes sense because the beach is awesome. Why would you not want to smell like it all the time? Kosmo Kramer does!

Malie Organics Plumeria Beauty Oil- Want to smell like a Hawaiian vacation whilst nourishing your skin with rich tropical oils? This company has all sorts of scents to keep you on island time, all the time!

Clothing (L)

Raen Optics Underwood Glasses- A more modern take on the Ray-Ban Clubmaster; these shades are cooler than cool. Good quality that won't make you cancel your Netflix subscription, Raen makes some pretty cool from for sun and prescription glasses wearers. Can't go wrong with these!

Wildfox Couture "Born On The Beach" Shirt- Do I really need to say more? It's like they made it for me! Soft cotton and the word BEACH plastered all over it; two thumbs up!

Roxy Mystic Beach Bag- Now I can finally bring my love for shibori tot he beach with this cute bag from Roxy. Simple, but fun, just like the beach!

J. Crew Chambray Shorts- Denim shorts without all the stiffness your usual cutoffs can have. No more doing the "shimmy stiff shorts over my sandy butt" dance with these. Elasticated waists aren't just for ill-fitting sweatpants anymore!

Chan Luu Wrap Bracelet- The pinnacle of beach jewelry. It's not overdoing it, but still really pretty and they come in all the colors of the rainbow!

Reef Swing II Flip Flop- Everyone needs a pair of decent, leather (or leather-like) flip flops for the summer. They hold up better than rubber ones and look nice enough to be worn at a restaurant! They are the ultimate multi-tasker!

If you're lucky enough to have the ocean close by you, spend some quality time with it this summer. If you crave it during the week like I do, inject some beachy fun into your wardrobe and beauty products! Happy Tuesday, everyone; hang ten!

Travel Beauty!

Travel Beauty! by elbonner featuring a foundation brush

I'm about four days away from my trip to England and I'm furiously packing and re-packing my things to figure out what should go where, what can stay and what can go. It's maddening, I tell you! Plane travel can be exciting or can be a soul-sapping suck-fest that makes you think that humanity is disgusting and deserves all the bad things that happen to it. Make plane travel a little nicer with an on-board skin care routine to keep your skin from getting dull and dehydrated!

Cleanse 
From my personal experience, trying to use face wash on a plane = the ultimate disaster. Airplane restrooms are just pee-strewn germ factories, so if you want to keep your skin urine-free, stick with cleansing wipes. Here are my favorites:

Pacifica Coconut Water Cleansing Wipes: They get all the makeup off, they make your skin feel super clean and are totally biodegradable so the extra waste they produce is sort of counter-acted. 

Simple Facial Cleansing Wipes: Great for sensitive skin, takes off your makeup and cleanses away oils without over drying or irritating your face. Available almost anywhere (maybe even the airport).

Ole Henriksen Truth To Go Wipes: Loaded down with vitamin C,these wipes pack an extra skincare punch when using them. They leave skin brighter, happier, and less dull.

Hydrate + Treat
 Have 9 hours to kill with fuck-all to do? Do a face mask! Red-eye flight or not, face masks put back in what dry, horrible , recirculated plane air takes out. It can do a number on already dry skin and it needs to be replenished! 

Sekkisei Radience Boost Sheet Mask: One of about a billion of great Asian sheet masks that are super portable and really effective. You may look like a creepy modern zombie, but Asian girls have been doing these masks on overnight flights forever and have beautiful skin because of it. A challenge for the brave with the bonus that probably no one will bother you, let alone speak to you!

Yonka Masque No. 1 Anti-Age: This is my favorite moisturizing mask and is made to be worn overnight. For the not-doing-the-scary-sheet-mask traveler, this stuff goes on clear and creates a barrier between 20% humidity and beautifully hydrated skin. This also smells like jasmine which makes it calming while you're three rows deep into Hell.

Mario Badescu Glycolic Gel: Need to exfoliate on the go? This gel is gentle enough to use in the dry air,though I would recommend this more for oily-skinned people. Glycolic acid eats away dead skin cells accumulated during a long flight so that when you wipe it off at the end, it's smooth sailing! 

Refresh

Minis make reapplication on the plane a no-brainer and it gives you something to do when you just can't read or play Risk on your iPad.

Dior Show Mini Mascara Duo: This primer/mascara duo of my favorite formula/brush combo make fabulous lashes achievable at 30,000 or 5,000 if you want to look good WHILE YOU'RE PLUMMETING TO YOUR DEATH! Just kidding! They're so cute; just buy them already!

Smith's Rosebud Salve: chapped lips? Rosebud salve. Frizzy hair? Warm up some rosebud salve in your hands and smooth. Crusty-ass knuckles a la Emily? ROSEBUD SALVE. It can be used for so many things from dry nostrils to cuticle treatment. Good to have everywhere, all the time.

Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream: I gave this product so much shit after I first bought it. I thought it had no coverage and wrote it off to my friends as a no-no. I have since come to really love this stuff for the natural coverage and superior moisture that it provides and think it would be great for the plane. It's got color, moisture, and a sunscreen which knocks out three products and makes it one.

Fresh Sugar Lychee Rollerball Perfume: It doesn't have to be this scent, but get your favorite in a roller ball. You're not being a complete ass by spritzing your perfume in anyone elses' face and it's just easier to carry. This one smells of fruit and freshness so it's uplifting whilst not so heavy that it makes anyone around me heave (my worst nightmare).

Benefit Bronze Of Champions Palette: It's got your bronzer, it's got an eyeshadow, it's got a lip gloss, mascara, concealer, and highlighter all in a tiny package. Leave you're big palettes in your suitcase and opt for an all-in-one palette like this for pre-landing touch-ups.

Bobbi Brown Basic Travel Brush Kit: Leave big brushes at home and invest in a good brush kit to take to the skies. Bobbi Brown seems to do everything right in my eyes so this brush kit goes without asking. It has eye brushes, it has face brushes, it has all the brushes your head needs! They are pricey, but they are good-ass brushes. 

You don't have to look fancy at the airport, but how dumpy do you feel when you're bumming around in your sweatpants as a well put-together, super traveler passes you by after a flight from Singapore to New York?! Do your face a favor and take care of it in the air as well as on the ground!

Follow me on Instagram @e_bythesea !

Winter Skin Rescue

Winter Skin Rescue by elbonner featuring an origins skincare

When winter comes my skin turns into a dry, flaky mess that requires a lot of attention. To keep from getting red, itchy, wind-burnt, and broken out I use lots of great products to keep everything calm and sexy.

1. Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate: smells like an herb garden with lavender and other apothecary favorites and melts into your skin to make you look moisturized and refreshed in the morning. I use this every other night (using a glycolic acid exfoliator on my off nights) and this keeps my skin from being red or itchy. This has never made my skin break out which is wonderful because this is a facial oil. Don't be afraid of facial oils,especially in the winter!

2. Kiehl's Rosa Arctica Cream: another great from Kiehl's, this cream is thick and luxurious and holds all of the moisture in! This is my night cream, but if your skin is super dry this can definitely be worn as a day cream. The arctic thistle in this cream has some magical skin properties that rejuvenate and hydrate the driest of skin.

3. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil: put in on your body, shave with it, deep condition your hair with it, remove your makeup with it. Coconut oil is my secret weapon in the winter for anything that needs moisture. You can get it at the grocery store, it lasts forever and smells like macaroons. WIN WIN.

4. The Body Shop Body Butters: thick, creamy, a multitude of great smells; what isn't there to say about this stuff? When you put this on in the morning it will remain on your skin until the next morning (if you're gross and don't shower like me).

5. Kiehl's Cream Eye Treatment with Avocado: Another thick and creamy eye cream with avocado oil that keep dry eye-skin at bay. Best winter eye cream I've tried.

6. Lush Angels On Bare Skin Cleanser: This is a freshly made,non foaming cleanser consisting of almond paste, lavender buds and lots of lovely skin ingredients that cleanse without drying. I like to stay away from foamy things in winter because they dry out my skin so badly and this is one of my favorite foamless cleansers. The smell is great for before bedtime when you want to relax.

7. Bobbi Brown Tinted Moisturizing Balm: Some tinted moisturizers don't have what it takes to keep your skin soft and foundation can dry it out all together. This tinted moisturized is THICK and won't leave you looking flaky. It has a decent coverage and saves you from fine lines showing up which can happen with some drying foundations.

8. Bliss Clog-Dissolving Cleansing Milk:another non-foamy cleanser that caters to acne prone skin types. Winter may dry out your skin, but it can irritate it and irritation makes me break out more than oiliness. This has a great smell and enzymes to exfoliate dead skin off your face leaving it soft and glowy.

9. Origins Modern Friction: This is a heavy-duty exfoliator wit bits of blue corn and rice that scrub away all the flakiness. Use only three times a week or you could damage your skin. It makes my skin smoother than anything else!

10. Aveeno Skin Strengthening Moisturizer: This lotion contains ingredients that help beef up thin skin (which I have) and helps it hold in moisture. Because my skin is so thin I have a hard time with my arms and legs getting dry half-way through the day and no one wants to see my hairy winter-coated legs at work. Aveeno products use colloidal oatmeal to keep in the moisture and it works like a charm.

Hope this helps and sorry if there's not a lot of quick wit and humor in this post. I'm tired and I need my bath, but I wanted to post something tonight! Keep it soft and sexy people!