I’ve actually been to Bali so when this brand, BALI BODY contact me to see if I wanted to try a few of their products, I automatically said yes! So what does this brand have to do with the Island of Bali? Well, not much. Like the hosiery brand, Bali, a name is just a name.

Bali Body is created in Melbourne, Australia and I know the island holds a sweet spot to a lot of Aussies since it’s a close vacation spot. So I’m guessing that’s the tie-in.

Looking at their product line, they make tanning oils, moisturizing lotions, and a few different types of self-tanners. I opted to try the Self-Tanning Mousse (6.7oz), Luxe Moisturising Lotion (5oz), and Face Tan Water (3.4oz), which makes up the Self Tan Heroes set they have ($75.95 @ balibody.com).

Overall, I love giving my bod some color but no so much my face. I have my foundation and concealer shades all set and don’t want to mess with trying to find my new match.

So for me, I was all in on the tanning mousse and lotion!

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How often do you apply body lotion? I try to do a full application after each shower but sometimes I just not in the mood for all the work. I mean, it is work! And, I’d never apply body cream/lotion without cleansing first.

Something that motivates me is scent. It’s probably why I have such a huge collection of perfumes on my dressing table.

One lotion I’ve been loving applying because of the scent is the Greek brand, KORRES and their Crystallized Lavender Blossom Body Butter Spray ($36/8.45oz @ hsn.com). Now I’m not much of a lavender fan since starting this blog (it’s in everything and I got tired of it) but this one has more of a milky lavender smell, or a powdery/woodylavender; very different from straight up lavender, IMO.

And they layer it like a fragrance:

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I’m really excited to talk about this next new-to-me brand. It’s called SOUTH OF FRANCE. For two decades, the two founders, who happen to be sisters, have manufactured their products in the USA and paid attention to a lot of the important factors out there that people value:

• vegan
• non-GMO bar soaps
• Leaping Bunny certified
• free of sulfates
• free of phthalates
• free of parabens
• free of EDTA,
• free of animal-by-products
• gluten-free
• BPA-free plastic bottles

and many more. Click here to see all the traits.

When it comes to the soap, they make it using the traditional Marseille triple-milled recipe, which I love (read more about French soap here).

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Even though I don’t think the West Coast had it that bad this winter, I’m sure welcoming the spring season into my life a big way! With the recent springing forward of the clocks, I’ve been giving a bit of thought to the skin that’s been hiding under clothes for the past 5 months and the condition it’s in. I admit it; I slacked a little this past season and I certainly know better, as taking care of skin should be a year-round practice. Needless-to-say, just as I thought, my skin is not in the best shape so time to get it there!

Moisture is so important when it comes to healing the skin deep into the dermis and I’m doing it with Vaseline® Clinical Care™ lotions available at Walgreens. This collection of three lotions are clinically proven to moisturize deeply into the skin with the first application and keep it healed for up to 3 weeks. They contain a Barrier Repair Complex™, which helps take very dry skin to very healed and moisturized skin in just 5 days. And each lotion is available in unscented, which is suitable for those with sensitive skin.

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Disclosure: Post sponsored by Mirum but all opinions are my own. Please see below for additional disclosure.

                                                        Ice Skating in DTLA at Christmas Time

One of the most important gifts you can give a young woman today is the gift of self-esteem. I think it’s much harder growing up a young woman these days as information about everything moves fast and I think it can be confusing.

About 3 years ago I became a mentor to an 8^th grader who lives in a tough part of Los Angeles. She just started her junior year in high school and is starting to think about college. She comes from a low-income family and is a first-generation American. I totally lucked out with her as she has a really good head on her shoulders. She actually dreams about going to Harvard, and she probably could as she has the grades.

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Disclosure: Post sponsored by Mirum but all opinions are my own. Please see below for additional disclosure.

Welcome fall! And with a new season upon us come new trends and styles. I’m taking this season as an opportunity to #TakeANewLook18 and change things up a little when it comes to my beauty routine by making sure I have my must-have essentials on hand at all times. Hopefully you’ll be inspired too to take a new look at your beauty routine to see how you can get the best out of your life right now.

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Disclosure: Post sponsored by Mirum but all opinions are my own. Please see below for additional disclosure.

I’ve pretty much avoided fall's college football season, but since my boyfriend and I moved in together, my house has become football central on Saturdays! And I must say, I don’t really mind it. Since my SO went to UCLA, the UCLA Bruins are our team. We’ve only gone to a few parties so far this fall but I feel like ours will be the best house parties out of our group of friends. We have a great space to entertain and I just love getting the house all ready for company.

Since I can only take so much viewing of the actual games, I look forward to spending some “me time” by heading over to Target to get my weekly shopping done or I just kick my feet up and shop @ target.com. Yes, girls, take advantage of getting some shopping done! Not only do we get our football food shopping done at Target when it’s our turn to host, but my boyfriend has been super open to me making suggestions in the grooming department.

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How do you choose your body products? Scent? Price? Ingredients? I pick mine based on all four of those premises and if you do too, then need to know about MALIE (pronounced may-lee-ay). It’s a luxury aromatherapy line from the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Highlighting their natural resources is their inspiration and they include them in every product, more specifically, hydrosols, which are the by-products of oil infused water collected during the steam distillation process. You won’t find a lot of strange words in the ingredient list and every product is cruelty-free. Besides the body products I’m focusing on here, they also offer candles and skin care. Read more about the different lines on their site @ malie.com.

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I think the summer of 2018 has been the season of the self-tanner. I have tried a lot of them, and some were ok and others blah! One new line that scored high on the list and that adds a little something different is ISLE OF PARADISE. By now, we’ve all heard of color-correcting makeup but have you heard of color-correcting self-tanner? Throwing all the one-shade-fits-all thinking out the window, they’ve put out a 6-product strong line and it’s rolling out in the US at Sephora and when Sephora adds a brand to their line-up, I pay attention!

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Disclosure: Post sponsored by Mirum but all opinions are my own. Please see below for additional disclosure.

I’ve never been one for heights so this year I decided it would be the year for me to get out of my comfort zone and conquer it. You may recall me mentioning in my different social media platforms that I went to Kauai 2 months ago and when my friend and I were looking for activities to do outside, she brought up zip lining. Are you familiar? It’s where you are suspended by a pulley in the air (usually quite high up!) and propelled from one platform to the other, which are usually attached to trees, and you zip from one tree to the other.

It was probably one of the better options to choose to help with my fear or heights as it wasn’t too jarring. We had been really looking forward to doing some awesome outdoor activities on this trip and this was one I really wanted to do.

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