Faves: The Summer Edition

It’s been a while since a I posted a list of current faves and what I’m loving at the moment. I love when fellow bloggers do a post like this – it’s so fun to learn about products from people who have tried (and loved) something firsthand.

At first, I was going to try and keep my list of “faves” to a single category (I had even thought up the title “Summer Beauty Booty” – but in the end, I just couldn’t contain myself from sharing a little bit of everything.

Without further ado…I LOVE…

A Summer (Faux) Tan.

For those of us not blessed with dark olive skin, we have to fake it with the tan in a tube. I have no issue with this…until it comes to the hard to reach spots which inevitably just remain white while my arms and legs get progressively darker. Enter the Xen Tan Applicator! I gave one to my mom (a fellow fairskinite) as part of her birthday gift and I loved that she totally got it – it really is the little things that get us going.

A handy kitchen tool (or two) for summer fruit.

I’m not a big fan of lots of tools that can only serve one purpose (and seriously, the kitchen stores make you think you need a specific gadget for every possible item that comes home in your grocery bags)…but with that said, these two items really have made my life easier after doing things the old school way with a paring knife up until now.

I’m mildly obsessed with my strawberry huller. I bought this baby two years ago, forgot I had it, then randomly rediscovered it last summer and can’t believe I ever lived without it. You can quickly and without mess hull your strawberries as perfectly as the ones they serve at a brunch restaurant. Also makes the perfect pocket should you wish to stuff them as my friends Julie and Christine have done with cheesecake filling (yes, I about died – delish!). You control how large or small you want the hole to be, so this works on any size of strawberry – you just hold it open, stab it in, let it close, twist, and pull. A whole basket of strawberries can be done in just a couple of minutes.

The one tool I talked myself out of needing again and again was a cherry pitter. I can’t get these year-round so for the couple of months I can, I thought I was doing just fine slicing them in half and wearing down my thumbnails digging around and popping out the pits myself. Fine – but incredibly messy and I always ended up with cherry juice stained fingers or squirts of it on my (inevitably light colored) clothing. I eat cherries almost every day in the summer, so I finally justified this $13 puppy (and the space it required in my gadget drawer) that I could also use for olives. The splash guard keeps the juicy mess contained and comes apart easily for rinsing. I got a little too excited using it for the first time – pitting is so much easier on my nails, and so much faster now. Plus my cherries remain in tact and don’t look like they’ve been severed.

Some poolside reading.

I’ve enjoyed other books by this author but was happy to find that Baby Proof was not a continuation of the characters in Something Borrowed and Something Blue, but rather a new cast including a two-years-in husband and wife who got together over (among other things) their shared desire not to have children. The plot thickens when one of them changes their mind. It’s not the most amazing book I’ve ever read, but I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and the case the author made for women who opt not to have children. It was thought-provoking and you find yourself siding with both camps on either side of the issue. While I do believe there are few jobs greater than being a parent, there is this underlying whisper in our society that those who choose not to be parents are somehow selfish or will live a less enriched life. I was moved by the support the story gave to women who are striving to be the best version of themselves, whether or not that path includes being someone’s mother.

A funky color on my nails.

I recently picked up Essie’s “Mojito Madness” at Target (the last one! thank you very much!) after drooling over it in a magazine ad. It’s the perfect shade of green – not too harsh, but still bright and peppy enough to add some interest to your summer look.

What’s on YOUR summer faves list?