The Right Style

How 1 Simple Tool Supercharged my Skin Care

I’ve found it. I have officially found the 1 missing piece in my skin care routine. Holy grail, thy name is the konjac sponge.

konjac spongeYes, that gnarly looking lump is the new love of my life. The konjac sponge, like so many of the “Hot! New!” beauty trends, has a long history. Konjac is actually a root vegetable, historically known for its medicinal properties and high fiber content.  The same fibers that you eat are the very ones that compose the konjac sponge. Though the sponge looks like a rock when it’s dry, when it’s wet and ready to use (seriously, don’t use it dry), it takes on a velvety soft, squishy and almost gel-like texture. Give it a squish real quick. I’ll wait.

The Claims

  1. Gently exfoliates your skin. 
  2. It cleanses your skin, including taking off your makeup.
  3. It’s biodegradable. So it’s good for the environment but that also means it needs to be replaced.

The sponges come in a few different varieties but my favorite konjac sponge owes its black coloring to the activated charcoal woven into its fibers. Activated charcoal is purported to draw the impurities out of your skin. Purportedly, the amount of activated charcoal woven into the fibers of this sponge is not enough to actually do the job, but I SWEAR my acne-prone skin has not been as “prone” since I started using the konjac sponge.

I’ve found that I’ve used far less cleanser since starting with the sponge. The lathering action is fantastic and the cleanser gets distributed all throughout the sponge and then all over your face and seriously when you are rubbing this soft and squishy sponge over your face, you just KNOW that something interesting is happening. It’s when you rinse it out that the real shocker comes: you very well might SEE the dead skin that this sponge has sloughed off of your face. It’s gross. It’s fascinating. It, in combination with my skin care, of course, has led to the smoothest skin of my life.

Handle this sponge with care, though. Smush it gently between your hand to get the extra moisture out after each use and hang it somewhere to dry. You want to dry it out between each use because it’s damp and dark and letting that fester all day leads to….ewww.

Get your Konjac sponge here. Tell me, have you used this before? Did you love it, loathe it?

 

The BEST Way to Save Your Summer Skin

TooDamnHot.

Happy Tuesday, ya’ll!

So, summer’s here. I got a real good taste of it this past weekend. I took my little family of three to Busch Gardens for the day and sweated my booty off. I realized instantly that I FORGOT my SunLogics Refreshing Towelettes and regretted all other decisions I had made that morning, because somehow one of them distracted me enough to make me forget my precious wipes. They were my lifeline last year. And last year, I was still living in hot, sweaty Florida where a good parking spot doesn’t have to do with how close you are to your destination…its all about the shade, baby.

After we got home from our smoldering afternoon of adventure, all I wanted was a shower. Bath for the baby, and when he was done, it was time for this momma to wash the summer stench away. I realized when prepping for my shower that the most amazing thing I could do for my skin was to scrub off the sunscreen, foundation, and left over salt from my dried up sweat.

YOU GUYS.

My skin has always felt and looked a thousand times better after using the Microderm Appeal and Professional Skin Care Tool. But yesterday? Using the product after a day out in the sun? IT WAS MAGNIFICENT.

The Microderm Appeal for Face is normally $62. The tool? $25. Both are totally worth it and last a long time. Want a better deal? The products in the Regeneration Smooth Starter Kit (only $60) total a retail value of $192, plus the BeautiBook and the pretty champagne bag to put it all in. AND after you attend the BeautiYou educational class, you get the Microderm Appeal and Professional Skin Care Tool for FREE!!!

So, for the price of the Appeal product alone, you can get it PLUS:
Professional Skin Care Tool
AND
Regeneration Smooth Products:
Cleansing Lotion
Refining Toner
Wrinkle Control Day Crème SPF 15
Line Minimizing Eye Crème
Line Minimizing Night Crème
Champagne Bag
BeautiBook
$5 donation to the W.H.O. Foundation in your name

This deal lasts until June 30th! Let me know if it strikes your fancy. Oh, and grab a pack of those Towelettes. If you’re like me, then you know that the boob sweat struggle is real. That packet of wipes is your best defense. You’ll thank me later. #SaveYourSummerSkin

 

 

Kohl’s Does Designer: Milly for DesigNation

Milly for Kohl's DesigNation

Target isn’t the only game in town when it comes to the discount designer collection, though you’d hardly know it if you shop according to media buzz. Discount department store, Kohl’s stays relatively under the radar when it comes to promotion of their specific collabs, a fact that I view as a blessing– it just means MORE FOR ME! Don’t sleep on Kohl’s DesigNation; it has definitely helped make Kohl’s a worth destination.

Kohl’s debuted the Milly for DesigNation capsule collection this spring, making it the sixth designer collaboration under the DesigNation umbrella, that began in 2012 with Narciso Rodriguez. Collabs with Thakoon, Derek Lam and most recently, Elie Tahari, followed.

Take a Look at Kohl’s: Milly for DesigNation

Milly for DesigNation at Kohl's

I love Milly for the vibrant and playful use of color and pattern, and this collection is supposed to transport you to a whimsical day spent lounging in Capri. I stumbled on it quite by accident. I needed a dress for an event I was going to be attending with my family. My mother’s directives were clear: you had better look nice (duh!) and after-work business attire was recommended. As my job requires little more than nice jeans, that meant it was dress up time!

Kerri Estella in Milly for DesigNation at Kohl's

I wanted an outfit that was colorful and sophisticated, playful but not outlandish for an office setting. I kept my makeup vibrant but day-to-night appropriate, pairing a colorful (dusky purples–“Mulberry”, “Chocolate” and “Ballet” Color Impact Shadows— as nudes and Liquid Perfection Eyeliner in Black) but neutral eye with a vibrant lip ( “Magenta” HydraBrillance Lipstick paired with Beauticontrol’s Sheer lip color in the frosty “Electric Purple”).

The vibrant sheath scuba dress has a figure-skimming cut and features a black exposed zipper, giving the sheath a bit of edge.

Milly for DesigNation

Photo: Kohls.com

The event was a huge success. My forever friend, Ronald was in town to be the keynote speaker and inspired the entire audience. Even though I’ve known him since I was six and THOUGHT I knew his story, listening to him inspired a new direction for me too…I’ll be revealing more about that soon!

He and I had a blast exploring the location, a place that is near and dear to our hearts. What is now the Chesterfield Career and Technical Center at Hull used to be Clover Hill High School– our good old neighborhood high school got one hell of a makeover! We had a bit of an extended photoshoot and Ron’s skills with the iPhone caught me and this dress in perfect, playful action.

A photo posted by Ron Forbes (@ronforbes) on


Are you a fan of designer collaborations? What is your favorite collab and what are you looking forward to in the future? Are you planning on shopping Milly for DesigNation?

Did You Go Lilly for Target CRAZY?

Let's get #LillyCrazy!

Lilly-mania has come and gone. Well, it kind of had to; the widely-anticipated Lilly Pulitzer collaboration with Target sold out in mere MINUTES. Target has set a high standard with their previous designer collaborations: I started paying attention during the Isaac Mizrahi for Target years (one of my favorite dresses of all time is from this line, a line that shuttered in 2008!) and since, I have snagged amazing pieces from Missoni, the CFDA/Neiman Marcus collection, Thakoon and Proenza Schouler.

But Lilly. Oh, that Lilly Pulitzer! The furor! The (hilarious) outrage! Lilly Pulitzer, the late design queen of Palm Beach ladies who lunch, found her way into arms and shopping carts of women everywhere Sunday morning. Or at least, she was supposed to. The eagerly anticipated collection appeared online, had the Target site going kablooey by 3am and was entirely gone by 10am. 

This was the scene in good old Richmond, VA:

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Travel Tips: Get Your Beauty TSA Approved!

It’s news to no one that the holiday season is hella stressful. Don’t get me wrong– there is boundless fun to be had. I’m stacking party invites to the ceiling and I can hardly think of a better time of year to scoop up free fizzy drinks, tiny food and chortle merrily whilst wearing casual sequins and antlers.

But the constant partying and gift buying and endless loops of the same ten songs can get you down after awhile. But nothing, and I mean nothing, gets people down more than holiday travel. It can seem as if the whole world is going exactly where you are at exactly that same moment. Long lines at the airport and the stop-and-frisk tactics of the TSA have you irritated before you even get inside the dry, recycled air palace that is an airplane. Dehydrated and puffy, you stumble off of the plane, greet your relatives and immediately seek to wrap your taste buds in the creamy comfort of a spiked eggnog. Shoot. You deserve it, girl!

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