What's In My Beach Bag?

T and I recently went to the beach with my parents to celebrate my birthday. I'm a beach girl - I love being at the beach. As I've gotten older, I've learned to pack a bag so that I can stay on the beach for most of the day. Here is what I packed in my beach bag:

Beach Bag. I love Tory Burch and this canvas beach bag was perfect for toting all of my necessities back and forth. The canvas is easy to clean and durable - this is a beach bag that will last. Plus, it's super cute!
Beach Towel. I'm kind of obsessed with beach towels, and this flamingo one is perfect. I love cute and colorful towels so that I can easily identify my spot on the beach.
Sunscreen. Sun Bum makes awesome sun screen and this spray version makes it easy to apply sunscreen before the beach and reapply while on the beach. The high SPF guarantees that your skin will be protected. 
Hair Treatment. My hair always dries out while I'm at the beach so I carry a leave in conditioner with me to keep my hair hydrated. Sachajuan makes an awesome after sun product that my mom and I swear by but the one by Sun Bum is also amazing! You can use these products in the city as well - I use them if I've been out in the sun working out or just running around outside.
Face Sunscreen. I can't use regular sunscreen on my face because it always breaks my face out. I use this Kate Somerville sunscreen; it says to reapply every 2 hours but I only applied it once in the morning and my face did not get sunburnt. This sunscreen smells amazing and didn't clog my pores.
Brush. I swear by Wet Brush. I carry this in my beach bag to get the knots out after getting in the ocean. I have several of these stashed in random places around our house, but this leopard one will stay in my beach bag.
Sunglasses. I'm obsessed with Karen Walker. These sunglasses look good on and off the beach, plus they will protect your eyes because of the 100% UV protection.

May Books

I'm obsessed with stationary. I love to buy new pens, paper, paper clips, it doesn't matter - if it's cute and I can use it in the office, there is a good chance I'll buy it.

My friends in law school were big fans of May Books, but I never purchased any. I've been wanting cute notebooks I can throw in my work bag to jot down to-dos and notes from impromptu meetings. I decided to check out May Designs.

I loved being able to pick the design over my cover. There were so many to pick from! You can also put your monogram on the front and May Designs tells you what color monogram is a good choice to match your layout. You can also pick how you want the inside pages to look - I picked pink lines for the inside of my pineapple May Book. 

I was very impressed with the shipping time as well. I thought that it would take forever for the May Books to arrive because they are customized, however they arrived within a few days - they actually arrived quicker than an Amazon order I placed. 

I would highly recommend May Books for a gift or for yourself! The quality is amazing and the selection of covers, monogram colors, and options are endless.

I Didn't Like It: Tarteist Lash Paint Mascara

I'm a bare necessities kind of girl when it comes to wearing make up. In law school, I wore under eye concealer, mascara, a tinted lip balm, and maybe foundation if I needed some extra coverage. However, now that I'm out of school and working, I find myself only wearing mascara. I'm usually in a hurry to get out the door in the morning and I also hate the way makeup feels on my skin after a long day.

Since I've cut my makeup routine down to basically mascara, I find myself experimenting with different brands and new formulas. I recently purchased the Tartiest Lash Paint Mascara from Sephora. I've used Tarte's Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara in the past and I loved it. I wish I could say the same for Tarteist Lash Paint Mascara.

When I use mascara,  I want my lashes to look full, long, and I like the color to be dark black. I don't like clumping and I'm not fond of overly wet mascaras.

Tarteist Lash Paint Mascara is a very wet formula, and it also clumped very badly on my lashes. I also did not like the look it gave my eyelashes. The mascara didn't make my lashes look fuller and it didn't make them look longer - they just looked darker. Also, by the end of the day the mascara was under my eyes and on my eyelids, which is not a good look.

I used this mascara for a week and I would not recommend purchasing it. If you're in the market for a mascara and want to try a Tarte product, I recommend Lights, Camera, Lashes.