I own three of these vented brushes: one for each bathroom and one for my car. They’re easy to use, are tangle-free, and work well on wet OR dry hair. Plus, they come in a lot of patterns and colors.
This Conair 1-inch curling wand is a consistent part of my hair routine. It heats quickly, provides great heat control, and yields consistent results time after time.
I always have gel eye masks in my refrigerator. They’re very soothing for tired eyes, to cool your forehead when it’s hot, and to help calm headaches. Available in many colors, I love this pink.
Naked Sundays sent me a sample and I’ve been using this foundation ever since. It’s light, non-greasy, provides even coverage, and it’s available in 15 shades. Plus it has sunscreen built-in.
This is my go-to face moisturizer, especially in colder months or when my skin feels dry. It’s cooling on your face, your skin drinks it up, and the skin always feels well-moisturized.
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Fruit is making a stylish statement this season. From sour cherries, tart lemons, and sweet strawberries to refreshing watermelon, juicy peaches, delicious kiwi, and more, fashion and decor are inspired by fruits.
Adding fruit accents to your home or personal style can be charming, light-hearted, and playful. Many pieces look vintage, as if they’re from the 1950s Italian Riviera. Others are modern, bold, and juicy. Some pieces seem seasonal, while others can be enjoyed year-round.
Just in time for Amazon Prime Day, now’s the time to squeeze the opportunity to try fun, fruity styles. From purse charms to kitchen towels to shoes, shirts, and more, let fresh fruit guide the way to summer style. Click the links to check out the products mentioned.
Fruity, fresh footwear
Cherries are having a big moment this season, and these cherry Crocs are the perfect combination of trendy and comfortable.
Pamper your feet with these fun, bold slides. These red, black, and green cherry slides are bursting with style and cheeky whimsy.
Kick up your relaxation with these comfy strawberry slippers, which will keep your feet warm year-round. These are also available in other fruity themes, including peaches, grapes, pineapple, and watermelon.
Fruit-inspired kitchen items
Towels are an easy way to mix and match with fruit patterns while cooking or entertaining. This set of two flour sack strawberry towels looks sweet, and they’re well-rated and durable.
You’ll be smiling when you use these “Hello Summer” 3 pack of dishtowels featuring peaches, watermelon, and pineapple. They add wonderful pops of color to your kitchen while being functional, too.
These lemon- and lime-colored Limoncello kitchen towels look elegant. They’ll do double duty for dish drying and overall decor. The towels are highly rated and praised for their beauty and quality.
Snuggle up with your favorite fruit! This cozy strawberry blanket is available in two sizes and multiple patterns.
Add some tropical fun to your space with these vibrant Kiwi throw pillows. The pillows, sold as a set of two, are 14 inches and look like slices of the fuzzy fruit. Whether you use them as outdoor decor or as a throw pillow for your bed or couch, these kiwis will get a lot of attention.
Up your entertaining with these lemon shaped appetizer plates. Whether you’re serving sauces or small snacks like nuts, your guests will rave about these colorful dishes.
You’ll smile when you pour your favorite hot drink into this cherry coffee mug. Reviewers love this wide-rimmed mug for its cute look and its quality.
Fruity fashion
Wear your favorite fruit on a shirt. This strawberry t-shirt features a boho look, and reviewers describe it as soft and vibrant.
You’ll wear this Limoncello t-shirt all year. It’s effortlessly chic and can be paired with jeans, shorts, or a skirt to create a variety of looks. Reviewers say it’s soft and high quality.
If you’ve always had a sunny outlook on life, you’ll need this “Just Peachy” shirt. Praised for its softness and stretch, this tee is available in a variety of colors, including gray, green, cream, and pink.
Men can get in on the fruit-inspired trend, too. These men’s pineapple swim shorts are highly rated, with Amazon reviewers praising their pockets, vibrant colors, and ability to dry fast.
Speaking of color, some Hawaiian shirts are wild with color and zany designs. But this men’s Hawaiian tropical shirt — in a blue background and a mix of tropical fruits — is full of charm without being too much.
Fruit Accessories
Add a little something extra to your look with some playful fruit accessories. These leather purse charms are available in various fruit options, including orange, blueberry, apple, avocado, and more. This faux leather cherry coin purse charm is adorable and makes such a statement. Similar purse charms sell for a lot more.
Grab a piece of summer with these dangly fruit-themed earrings. These lemon wedges are an attention getter. These lightweight, statement earrings are also available as watermelon and orange slices.
Fruit styles, especially cherries and lemons, are having a fashion moment. And the trend is not going away anytime soon. So go ahead, snag your favorite fruit fashions and accessories, and start enjoying this fruit-forward style.
Chocolates are my favorite treat. They’re a great dessert, especially for parties and events, like weddings.
Recently Fran’s Chocolates sent me their famous salted caramels. These Gray and Smoked Salt Caramels are available in dark and milk chocolate, paired with soft buttery caramel and topped with gray and smoked sea salts.
The caramels look pretty and taste delicious!
An added bonus? The presentation – box and bow – can be color coordinated.
A tasty and eye-catching option for wedding favors.
Wedding planning is a special time, full of personal moments shared between the couple. The relationships is filled with keepsakes like love notes, the menu from a special date and tickets to a movie. Now add in a wedding and bridal keepsakes can include engagement photos, save the date cards and swatches of fabric, as well as tokens of affection as well, including cards, lists and notes taken during wedding planning.
It’s easy to see how a couple’s mementos could easily stack up as clutter, unless properly organized. It’s nice to keep all these mementos together, as souvenirs of the courtship and the planning process.
One stylish storage solution comes from Savor, manufacturers of keepsake boxes. Their Wedding Edition Keepsake Box features two custom-dyed, cloth-covered “You & Me” and “Us” books that open to store away special wedding objects.
The five drawers inside are designed to stash wedding-goodies like the ring pillow, dried flowers, the garter and more.
The keepsake comes with folders, pre-printed labels and stickers to customize the box. The boxes come in two color schemes: blue/peach and slate/cream. Savor sent me the slate colored keepsake to check out and it’s pretty and practical.
What a practical, thoughtful way to commemorate a couple’s love story and wedding day!
Savor also makes keepsake boxes for curating memories of babies and kids. All the colorful boxes can neatly stack on bookshelves as memories to be treasured.
I’m old school about keeping track of information. I handwrite notes, keep to-do lists and organize my life with a calendar.
Sure, I track things in my smartphone – from business meetings and appointments to events, date nights and family activities – but I also like having a hardcopy of my schedule.
I was pretty excited to check out Day Designer, a strategic planner and daily agenda. They sent me a complimentary 2018 planner and I’m loving it.
First of all, it’s a hardcover, spiral book – nothing flimsy about this calendar! Plus, it has a durable pocket in the front, which is ideal for stashing those post-it notes and do-lists I make.
Here’s what else I love about this planner – there’s a two-page calendar for every month, as well as individual pages for each day.
On the daily pages, there are prompts to keep me focused: “Today’s Top Three,” “Notes,” and “Daily Gratitude,” as well as “To-Do” and “Don’t Forget.”
There are daily inspirational quotes too, like, Samuel Johnson’s, ”Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance,” and the proverb, “It is better to begin in the evening than not at all.”
If you have long hair, you know the importance of having a ponytail holder at the ready. Often times that means keeping hair elastics in your pocket, your purse or on your wrist.
Wearing a ponytail holder on your wrist can pinch and that hurts, which is why I’m intrigued about an inventive product: hairband bracelets from Maria Shireen.
The concept is simple and stylish – wear a bracelet that has a “channel” to hold the hair tie in place. The silver or gold bracelet is fashionable and functional. They even have plastic ones for kids and teens!
I was excited to try one out. Since I frequently write about weddings, Maria Shireen’s team sent me a bracelet from their wedding collection. It’s silver and comes with a baby blue hair tie. I can picture brides and bridesmaids wearing these bracelets throughout wedding planning and all the celebrations, including the reception and after parties.
I’ve been enjoying wearing the bracelet which is cute and comfortable. Best of all, finding my hair tie to pull my hair back onto a ponytail is easier than ever!
Think about it: you’ll always have your ponytail holder nearby. No more searching the house, office or your bag for a hairtie because you’ll have one ready-to-go on your bracelet.
The bracelet looks pretty on its own and can be worn separate from the hairtie. When worn together, it’s hard to tell you’re rocking a ponytail with your bracelet.
Valentine’s Day is coming up! Stumped on what to do? I’ve got some great ideas on how to spend Valentine’s Day with your sweetheart.
Since I’m a writer for San Diego Family Magazine, I had the opportunity today to share some Valentine’s Day date tips for couples and families with Renee Nelson at ABC 10News during a FacebookLive. We talked about specific places to go in San Diego; things to do on a budget and to splurge; ways to keep love sizzling, and more.
Get more Valentine’s Day ideas in the February issue of San Diego Family Magazine, which is available for free at Albertsons, Ralphs, Party City and local libraries, as well as online.
Here are some behind the scenes photos from the shoot.
With Renee Nelson, 10News reporter
L-R Michelle Hancock, Marketing Director for San Diego Family Magazine; San Diego Family Magazine writer Kristen Castillo, and 10News reporter Renee Nelson.
Ready for fall? Now’s the time to get your autumn wardrobe together.
I recently had the opportunity to attend a few Neiman Marcus Fall fashion shows at Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego. This season has lots of stylish trends that are easy to incorporate into your attire. Here’s what to expect for ladies:
Red is the “it” color this fall.
All shades of red are in vogue but bold shades and burgundies are particularly hot.
The 90’s are back! “This is the look of the season,” says Alex Yanez, stylist for Neiman Marcus, who explains the 90’s style of graphic makeup including heavy eyeliner is in vogue again.
Many fall styles are punk and grunge inspired, blending feminine and masculine looks. Yanez describes this style as having a “Courtney Love 90’s feel.”
Bulky boots are making a return too. One black pair featured in the fashion show had a floral pattern, showcasing that mix of feminine and masculine.
Suited Up. Modern suiting for women is very sleek and totally inspired by menswear.
Check out Dior’s take on menswear below:
Covered Legs. Another throwback that’s in fashion this fall? Hosiery. Models wore stylish patterned tights and fishnets with booties and heels. A very polished look!
Cozy up to velvet. This season’s in-demand texture, velvet is smooth and soft. It’s making its mark on jackets, tops and accessories, including shoes and purses. One model demonstrated this trend with a velvet hobo bag. Others showed off velvet pants, paired with velvet shoes.
Velvet works for night and day. It’s “less seasonal than it has been in the past,” says Yanez.
Leather jackets can add a little edge to a lot of looks. For example, when paired with a soft dress, a leather jacket can toughen up the attire.
Embellishments. Ruffles and fridge are making their mark on the runway and in real life. The shows featured ruffled skirts and dresses, as well as fringe and embrodiery on accessories like purses.
Menswear
Not to ignore the guys, here’s what’s in fashion for men this season:
Men are rocking red too.
They’re also looking very seasonally chic in plaid jackets and plaid shirts. Camouflage is also fashionable.
The velvet trend looks great on guys too. Dark denim, a strong choice for men, pairs well with so many ensembles.
The big footwear trend for men? Runners, a fashionable and functional shoe.
If you’re bored of traditional holiday gift wrap or just want to do something new this Christmas, try some of the gift wrapping ideas in my Creators Syndicate article! There are great ways to involve the kids in wrapping too, including using cookie cutters, shimmer, themes and even scrapbook paper!
A tasty and eye-catching option for wedding favors.
There are daily inspirational quotes too, like, Samuel Johnson’s, ”Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance,” and the proverb, “It is better to begin in the evening than not at all.”
Kristen Castillo 