Ease the Winter Blues: Tropicalize Your House!

Tropicalize Your House! by elbonner featuring Zara Home

Most of the Eastern Seaboard, South, Midwest, and Northern states have had it with all this freaking snow. I'm over, you're over it, we are all over it. I've just about finished my week off which would have been a thousand times better if the weather hadn't been a total crapfest. With only one day of sunshine in the past 12, I'm looking to other things to lift my spirits. What better way to brighten your mood than to add some tropical fun to your home?! I'm all about fun prints, bright colors, and beachy accents. You can incorporate these things into most color palettes. Have mostly neutrals? Throw in a neon pillow, throw, or vase to shake things up a bit. I think everyone needs to embrace brights a little more and bring some color into their lives!

1. Pineapple Tealight Holder from Zara Home: super cute and subdued way to get some color and fun into your home decor. Will be great lit up out on your deck for a summertime BBQ too when the weather heats up!

2. Bath and Body Works 3-Wick Candles in "Coconut Leaves" and "Aloha Waikiki": These scents warm up any room and bring beachy clean scents to your house. Coconut leaves is a fresh green fragrances with a hint of coconut, citrus, and vanilla and Aloha Waikiki is straight up plumeria and tiare blossom. Not too sickly sweet and far from all that cinnamon nonsense you get at Christmastime.

3. Sisters of Los Angeles Beaches Glasses: These glasses go from the mornings orange juice to homemade margaritas without skipping a beat. I have all four of these and they are always a fan favorite. It's a great way to brighten up your beverage routine.

4. CWonder Ikat Dinnerware: I love printed plates and bowls. It's little things like these that can really brighten up your life. Your day may have sucked ass, but at least you have the most beautiful dinner plates around!

5. A Funky Rug: Now, a bright orange rug may not be your cup of tea, but the concept of a bright area rug is a great way to bring some life to a room. It's like putting art on your floor! There are so many cool rugs out there at places like Ikea, World Market, and even Target so you have no excuse not to chuck out that boring jute rug and get something with a little more life to it!

6. Beachy Wall Art: If you want to create a beachy haven, what better way to do that than to put beachy pictures on the wall! Everywhere you look can be a tropical paradise. You could even go for some bright, punchy prints of patterns if you don't want just photographs. I like this one from Goldfish Kiss at Society6 because it's part photo, part life inspiration, and totally drool worthy subject matter. Society6 is a great place to find original artwork for a great price and they have plenty of bright prints for any room!

7. Bright Pillows/Poufs: Have a plain, brown sofa? Most of us do, so spruce it up with some fun pillows! If you don't want a bunch of pillows on your sofa or want a cool little accent for your bedroom, invest in a fun pouf that can be used as a seat, footrest, or clothes holder like all of my furniture has eventually turned into! Big plus, most prints on Society6 can be made into a pillow! If you find a beachy print that you don't have the wall space for, you can make it a pillow instead!

Now, a tropical home space may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if sure helps having bright things in the house if you succumb to the winter sadness. Light yourself a delicious candle, snuggle up with a tropical pillow/throw, and enjoy a beach cocktail in a fun glass to take the edge off of this never ending snowpocalypse!

Make Me Beautiful: Monoi Oil

After my allergic reaction nightmare scab-face incident last week, I've been in tip-top form when it comes to skin care. And not just facial skin care, everywhere skin care. One of my very favorite ingredients for bodily skin care is monoi oil. Monoi is Tahitian gardenia flowers (tiare) that have been soaked in coconut oil. The flowers are then pressed, releasing their oils into the coconut oil created the ambrosia we call monoi. The best quality monoi is made in Tahiti where all the ingredients originated, and it is a wonderful thing. The best part is that it's pretty damn affordable and a little goes a long way. Monoi has just recently been recognized as a new skin care fad, but the practice of using monoi for massage and sun-damaged skin has been going on for hundreds of years by native Polynesians and Tahititans. There are a few products that are monoi based/centric that I totally love:

1. Monoi Tiare Tahiti: This stuff comes direct from Tahiti, costs $10 and even has a little tiare flower in each bottle. I use this on my hair as a mask when it's feeling dry and my skin when I need some serious moisture. Smells like a gardenia filled tropical paradise!

2. Carol's Daughter Monoi Hair Mask: Smells awesome and delivers some serious moisture. Great for after the beach or a cold day out.

3. True Blue Spa "Tahiti Sweetie" Body Lotion: Smells amazing and moisturizes really well. Great for after being out in the sun and before bed. I still feel moisturized when I wake up in the morning.

4. Hei Poa Lait de Monoi Tiare Spf 30: Don't smell like chemical laden sunscreen, smell like a Tahitian dream! This stuff protects and moisturizes so your day in the sun doesn't show up as premature aging or dryness. I love spray lotions too since they are much easier to absorb and this stuff has decent staying power.

Well, thats's my ode to monoi. I hope it gives you the extra push you need to try something new and natural that will do nothing but good for your skin and hair. There are a ton more products out there that contain this wonder ingredient and I can't wait to try more. Until then Vive le Monoi!

My Christmas Favorites

Well, favorites is a strong word here. I loved all of my presents, but some stood out a bit more than others because they were things that I really really wanted. I got a really good loot this year. I got great stuff from my family, my boyfriend, AND my secret santa at work! Here are a few of the things that I got from everyone (including myself):

(L-R)

Saffron Jame Le'a Perfume Oil- Smells like a tropical paradise full of plumeria flowers and sexy sunsets. This is a good mid-winter pick-me-up since I'm sick of wearing actual clothes.

Minnetonka Short Fringe Boots- So cute a fringy, but not obnoxiously fringy. They have enough to be fun, but don't make me look like a wannabe hippy that's trying too hard.

Oribe Apres Surf Hair Spray- Really awesome beachy hair spray. It's on-par with Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray which is the best stuff on earth. It smells awesome and gives your hair a piecey matte look aka sexy-ass hair.

Ksumi Tea Essentials Sampler- Lots and lots of delicious Russian style teas that come in a buttload of flavors. There's black tea, there's mate, there's grean tea, you've got some much to choose from! Every one I've tried (probably four by now) have been awesome. Also got two tins of tea, one a chai and one a Christmas themed tea. All are great!

Bath & Body Works "Meet Me in Tahiti" Candle- Smells like vanilla, coconut, and tropical island flowers take me to another place when I'm sitting in my tiny bathtub. Plus it had Tahiti in the name so it's a given that I was going to buy this. PS- I bought this for myself. Merry Christmas to me!

J. Crew Infinity Scarf-My secret santa got this for me right under my nose at the J. Crew outlet. It goes great with my army green jacket and little boots. It's a nice neutral brown with a pop of fluorescent orange. Super warm and super cute!

I also got a really sweet record player from my boyfriend. It was a big surprise because I wasn't sure he would indulge my hipster tendencies, but guess who was wrong! Now I just need some records to play and I'll be set!

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a wonderful holiday and those who don't I hope you had a great day off unless some butthole made you work. Until next time, see you in the new year!

Candlemania!

Candlemania by elbonner on Polyvore

Another day of my vacation has been written off due to rain, and all it makes me want to do is light a beachy smelling candle and forget that it sucks outside. Here is a small selection of my favorite candles that I have acquired over the years that make my apartment smell awesome. Clockwise from the top:

This candle came out in spring 2012 at Bath and Body Works and it smells incredible. Very green and fresh, but aquatic and fruity too. I bought like 5 of these since they're limited edition.I hope they come back next year! B&BW Coconut Leaves.

This next one by Ted Shreds smells just like surf wax. Can't get more summertime than that! 

Diptyque makes some great scents, my favorite being their "Philosykos" scent which is supposed to smell like a fig orchard. It's woody, fruity, dirty, it's the whole package. Their Figuier candle is the home scent companion to Philosykos.

Yankee candle is not just for teacher appreciation day presents, they make some great scents that don't smell like apple pie and laundry. My favorite is, surprise surprise, Sun & Sand that smells just like a day at the beach complete with salt air and coconut sunscreen.

This last candle is probably one of the more comforting scent combinations I have. This always helps relax me when I burn it during a bath or before I go to bed. Illume's Coconut Milk Mango candle smells like a dessert and makes you feel as if your inside a mango coconut cream pie. And what can be bad about that?!