Style – The Fox & She

6 Easy Tips for Saving Your Skin on Long Haul Flights

blair — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Travel. It’s one of my most favorite things to do, but….

It’s also one of the hardest things on my skin. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might remember that part of my new year’s resolutions were to start taking better care of my skin. For once, I actually followed through on it, and I’ve actually become a little bit obsessed.

Beauty was never something I was really interested in and frankly, makeup is still not that exciting to me — I wear basically the same makeup to everything, whether it’s a work day or a wedding — oops.

The thing that pushed me from being sort of interested in skincare to being completely hooked was simply the results I was seeing. — clearer, smoother skin with less dark spots and breakouts. Even the fine lines that had starting making themselves at home on my face have softened. Plus, at the end of the day, it’s so relaxing to just unwind and go through my whole skincare regimen.

If you haven’t started one yet, you should — you (and your skin) deserve it.

It’s easy to take care of my skin when I’m at home. I have my arsenal of go to skincare that includes face masks, serums, eye creams, moisturizers, cleansers, etc. (okay, now I sound a bit like a beauty hoarder, there’s not that much), but when I’m traveling, it isn’t quite as easy. Thankfully, goop’s new skincare line arrived in my mail just a week before I left, so I figured that my trip was as good as ever to test it out — they were travel size, so why not?!

Is it just me or do long flight seem to suck the life out of your skin?!

Whenever I get off the plane after a long flight, I feel like my skin looks so tired and dry. So, on my last international trip, I planned appropriately so that when I got off the plane my skin looked fresh, hydrated and as awake as possible after 8 hours! Even if you don’t feel it, traveling can be such a shock to your body — long flights, climate changes and jet lag.

1. Skip the Makeup

Let’s be real, by the time you land in a new country your makeup from 10 hours earlier isn’t going to look good anymore, so my advice? Skip it all together. I typically like to do this resurfacing mask or this clay mask the night or morning before I leave for a long trip so that my skin already feels fresh!

2. Bring a Refillable Water Bottle

Drinking lots of water before and during your flight is key to keeping your body and skin hydrated! I always bring a refillable bottle so I can have plenty of water. Most airports now have those water bottle filling stations that make it super easy! Just make sure you don’t have your water bottle full before security! There won’t be a refilling station on the plane, so I always ask for two waters when they serve drinks. I’ll drink one and pour the other into my water bottle for later.

3. Go Easy on the Wine

It tempting for me to want to indulge in a few adult beverages when I’m traveling — it is vacation after all! But the more alcohol you consume, the less hydrated you’ll be and for me, the worse I sleep. So, I’ll have one glass of wine with dinner and then switch back to water for the rest of the flight.

4. Cleanse & Hydrate

After dinner, I start winding down and in preparation for a nap, I like to clean up and this is where the in-flight regimen really begins. I’ll head to the bathroom, wipe my face clean with one of these wipes and spray on this rose toner, which smells amazing. While that dries, I brush my teeth and take my contacts out.

Next I applied this enriching face oil from goop’s new line! Leave it to GP to make an amazing skincare line, right?! I admit I was really nervous about putting oil on my face. If you have oily skin, you might understand my hesitation. For as long as I can remember, I purposely avoided products with oil in them because they would cause breakouts. But guess what? That didn’t happen at all. Instead it left my skin feeling incredibly soft and moisturized! After that set in a bit, I applied this luxurious night cream, also from the goop line. It’s amazing and I actually plan on buying the full size when I’m done with this sample.

5. Sleep

Easiser said than done, right? I’m pretty terrible at sleeping in a sitting position which is typically my only option when flying. For my last flight, I brought ZzzQuil and took one after dinner which actually allowed me to sleep for about 2-3 hours which is a lot more than I usually do! Sleeping of course is good for your skin and even though it wasn’t much sleep, it helped with jet lag once we arrived.

6. Prep For the New Day

About an hour or so before we land, breakfast was served and that was my cue to get my skin prepped for a new day. Again, I wiped my face clean — I swear airplanes make my skin filthy! I started with the toner again and then used this Revitalizing Day Moisturzer and Clinique’s Pep Start eye cream to make my eyes look more awake.

Do you have any skin-saving tips for long flights? Does your beauty routine change when you’re traveling?

BTW, 6 steps to better skin everyday, and it’s just hair.

The French Countryside

blair — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Dress, c/o Ann Taylor | SHOES: Sandals, in tan | BAG: Bag, c/o | Sunglasses

This time last week, I was seriously suffering from jet lag.

Why you ask? Two Wednesdays back, I flew to France for a very quick, last-minute trip that was graciously hosted by Grey Goose. We landed in Paris on Thursday and waited for the rest of the group to arrive before taking the train into the town of Angoulême. From the train station, it was just a quick drive to Le Logis Grey Goose, which roughly translates to ‘the Grey Goose house’, located in the Cognac region — not far from Bordeaux, France.

Despite being incredibly exhausted when we arrived, the cheerful staff, stunning views of the French countryside and the beauty of the elegant 17th century manor and surrounding grounds was enough to give me a second wind. We got a quick tour of the manor — every inch of it was impeccably decorated and I’ve decided that someday, we’ll have chevron wood floors in our home. My favorite rooms were the kitchen, which had a big fireplace for cooking and a huge communal table where we ate breakfast and lunch, and the living room where we spent every night sipping cocktails and chatting.

We had some free time on our second day there to wander and explore the property and surrounding area. Le Logis had bikes on hand, so we could easily go exploring. It was one of the most peaceful and picturesque places I’ve ever been to, so naturally, we took advantage. How gorgeous is this place?! These pictures don’t do it justice!

One of the coolest parts of this trip, aside from the amazing location, hospitality, delicious food and perfectly-crafted drinks, were the people. I met a bunch of inspiring and creative folks and surprisingly enough, the majority of us were from Chicago! Not only did I get the chance to meet new peeps, but I also got the opportunity to do some fun and creative photo shoots with some of the photographers. Hopefully I’ll be sharing some of those with you guys over the next few weeks!

My packing list included this breezy shirt dress, my favorite sandals of the summer and my new bag from Lo & Sons. The bag is technically a camera bag, but looks like a leather cross body bag. It’s definitely one of the best travel pieces I own.

Make sure to stop by next week, I’ll be sharing more pictures and details from our trip!

BTW, pretty in pleats, and three days in Iceland.

Thank you to Grey Goose for sponsoring this amazing trip! As always, all opinions are my own!

Finding The Dress

blair — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

A few weeks back, I took Wednesday off to go dress shopping with Jess — who recently got engaged, Kelly and Shaheen. Taking off Wednesday also means I checked off an item (well at least for this month!) on my 30 before 30 list.

It was a little chilly that day, so I wore my raw-hemmed white jeans, this chambray boho top that I just got from Lou & Grey and the pair of sandals I also referenced in last week’s post. I really love this top and chose to style it with a lacy bra that peeked out just a bit.

We met for the first appointment at Glamour Closet and then went to Alice in Ivory for the second. Jess tried on so many gorgeous gowns! By the end there were two front-runners, though she looked stunning in everything, but I can’t reveal any more than that!

That whole process was so fun! Probably even more fun because I didn’t do much dress shopping for my own wedding. I did go to one spot with my sister right after I was engaged. The same week that my sister was visiting, they were having a trunk show with one of my favorite designers, Inbal Dror. We had a blast trying on the dresses and I actually did find two Jenny Packham gowns that I was obsessed with. We went out to celebrate afterwards, with prosecco, duh!

A few weeks late I tried on my mom’s gown and realized it could easily be made into my dream dress, so I ditched wedding dress shopping all together and started sketching out what my dress would look like. We found an amazing designer in Dallas who reworked my mom’s wedding dress and it turned out even better than I could have imagined!

Since I didn’t do much dress shopping myself, it made it extra special to get to do it with Jess! After the last appointment, we walked over to Summer House Santa Monica for lunch, rosé and dessert. We talked more about her favorite dresses and mostly just caught up on everyone’s lives.

It had been well over a month since all of us had gotten together so there was a lot to talk about. By the time lunch was over, I was completely wiped out! I think my next day off will have to be something more relaxing like going to yoga and then sitting by the pool with a good book. Which reminds me, I still needs recommendations — so send them my way!

BTW, first look, and San Francisco dreaming.

My Top Picks from the ShopBop Sale

blair — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Guys! Did you know that one of my favorite sales started today?! ShopBop is one of my favorite places to shop and even more so during their sales! Typically their stuff is on the higher end of my budget (or exceeds it completely), but I always manage to find some really amazing pieces during the sales that I can snag at amazingly low prices.

This sale is no different!

Right now you can get an extra 25% off items that are already marked down — that’s a MAJOR steal right there!

I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite ShopBop sale picks above and it already looks like a few are close to being sold out (if not sold out already), so be quick!

I especially love this lilac dress and this bag! As for the rest of the sale, I definitely have my eye on this dress, this dress and this dress — the lace detail on both of these pieces is simply stunning! This off the shoulder dress and these sandals are adorable too! Ugh, so much good stuff!

To get 25% off, use code 25EXTRA at checkout!

What are your favorite ShopBop sale picks? What’s your go-to piece for summer — dresses? Skirts?!

P.S. We have two more (free!) WordPress 201 webinars tomorrow, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so here!

Surprise Party at Parson’s Chicken & Fish

blair — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

A few Wednesday’s back, I had one of the busiest days I’d had in a while! It was the fun kind of busy, so I can’t really complain. We spent the morning looking for a wedding dress for Jess (more on that later!) and finished it with a casual party for Shaheen’s husband, Trevor, who was graduating from his residency.

Shaheen surprised with him with a casual get-together with friends, family and co-workers to celebrate at Parson’s Chicken & Fish. I hadn’t been to the restaurant before that night, but it will not be our last time! Rob and I share the chickpea salad, fried chicken and boozy slushies — all super delicious! They’re known for their Negroni slush, but my favorite was the purple drink as it wasn’t as bitter.

Parson’s patio is totally adorable! They also allow dogs, so next time we’ll bring Oliver. I have a feeling he won’t mind all the fried chicken bits that fall from the table.

I wore this adorable ruffled dress, it just sold out in this color — boo, but it’s available in this pretty nude-pink color. It’s super comfortable and flirty. Lately I’ve been pairing any low cut tops or dresses with a simple lacy bra like this one.

After reading this story, I’ve started thinking about my lingerie a bit differently. Instead of it being an after thought, a pretty bra can add to your outfit. I’ve been on the hunt for a nice white one and this one is high on my list! Can you tell I hate underwire?!

It was cooler than we expected that night, so I wrapped up in a simple denim jacket for the rest of the night.

When Trevor arrived, he was most definitely surprised — even a bit confused, ha! After everyone had filled up on chicken and fish, the cake came out! Shaheen had it designed to look like an X-ray since Trevor is now officially a radiologist — congrats Trev!

Totally switching subjects here, but if you’re a blogger or thinking about starting a blog, Jess and I are hosting several webinars this week! You can read more about them here and sign up — they’re totally FREE! We hope you join us — the first one is TOMORROW!

BTW, 12 enviable closets, and a perfect (blue) party dress.