Back in the day (high school) my goal was to be as tan and blonde as possible. The contrast between the color of my hair and skin in the summer was laughable… and not natural at all. My friends and I would slather ourselves in tanning oil before going to the beach. There we’d bake in the sun all day, rinse and repeat. It makes me cringe thinking about the amount of damage I inflicted on my poor skin! Ahh if I could turn back time…

I still enjoy a beach day, but now with proper prep and protection. Prep being a good sunless “base” tan and protection being an umbrella and plenty of SPF.

I wanted to share my favorites with you as we enter bikini season…

umbrella, sunglasses, swimsuit c/o, Crosby’s hat and swimsuit

Sunless tanners:

Coola is a hands down favorite brand for me (you’ll see quite a pattern here), I’ve been using this one on my face and have loved the results. It’s a serum so it’s really light weight, clear and smells great. You can also mix it with your moisturizer for a lighter more gradual tan if you’re worried about looking too dark.

Another Coola product I love is this sunless tanner firming lotion. It’s 70% organic which is nice for peace of mind. Plus it smells great and looks natural!

I got this Bondi Sands tanning foam in a PR package and took it for a test drive before we shot these beach photos. It comes with a mitt which makes it even easier to apply, plus it comes out with a slightly green tint. Don’t worry, you rinse off after leaving it on for 1-3 hours and the tint completely goes away. It’s super natural looking – comparable to an airbrush tan. Another bonus is it will leave your bathroom smelling like coconuts.

This Sally Hansen airbrush legs is my go-to when I need a quick tan ASAP. I’m talking an hour before an event and I realized I forgot to tan my legs. Spray this on, blend with mitt and you’re left with perfectly tanned and slightly airbrushed legs. I like the medium glow shade best. *Hack: The first time I used this I couldn’t find a mitt but I had a few breast pads leftover from breastfeeding. Worked like a charm!

Sun Protection:

Let’s start with baby. This is my favorite sunscreen for Crosby. It’s organic, mineral-based and 100% natural. It doesn’t really have a scent and it has a white layer of film that provides and extra shield on baby’s skin and makes it easy to see if you missed a spot.

Again Coola is a fan favorite around here. This spray smells so good I’d wear it as a perfume daily! I’m serious. I also just tried these sun silk drops – they’re great to put on under makeup or directly on your skin for day-to-day use. This BB cream is a spring/summer staple in my makeup bag and it’s light enough to wear as a face protectant to the beach while still having a bit of coverage. Other Coola favorites are this stick and this lotion. All beach bag staples!

I never thought I’d be so excited about an empty bottle of a product I LOVE! But here I am. Today I’m celebrating the #OneBottleAwayFrom journey with  SK-II Facial Treatment Essence.

Over the years my hair has taken quite a beating. I used to bleach the crap out of it in high school and college. For some reason I thought since I was a “natural” blonde I needed to be platinum. Ugh. Then came the days of frying my naturally stick straight hair with a hair straightener… I’m still not sure why I thought it needed to be even straighter than it air dries.

cosmetics case, deodorant, castor oil, charcoal, coconut oil, soap

Around the time I got pregnant I started really paying attention to the ingredients in my beauty products. There are so many things you have to be on the lookout for while expecting but aside from that I was eager to take on a more natural approach. Over the past couple of years I’ve found a handful of natural products (and a few hacks) that I actually love and wanted to share.

Continuing on the skin care train from last week, I wanted to do a post on my favorite facial oils. Kind of like cleansing balms, I’m relatively new to them… I’ve only been using them for the past year or so. At first it seemed really counter productive – I mean, electively using an oil on your face? I thought for sure it would cause breakouts and clogged pores, but I’m here to tell you it really doesn’t.

I’m a huge advocate to double cleansing your face at the end of the day. If you do it right, you remove all makeup and dirt without doing anything to irritate your skin. The key product you need to do this is a cleansing balm.