Last summer I was barely in New York and would see all over my newsfeed friends lounging by the pool at McCarren Hotel & Pool. When I lived on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg I would have killed been overjoyed to have an outdoor space with a pool (and also a hotel for when my parents visited). If you click the link to the hotel’s pool page, you’ll understand why! Summer came and went and that space had been on my radar to hang out at this summer.
Eat Here: Oleanders at McCarren Hotel & Pool
Faux Leather Favorites
{Outfit details: Fauxgerty Red Jacket, Forever 21 top, Kent Stetson custom bag, ASOS Ridley High Waist Skinny Jeans, Karen Walker ‘Number One’ 50mm Sunglass, Rimmel The Only 1 Lipstick, Caption Nail Polish}
During Fashion Week, I hosted an event with Alive Magazine for Fauxgerty, a St. Louis based vegan leather jacket and hoodie line. While I’m not a vegan, I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 8 years old and always want to support animal kindness whenever I can. Plus their stuff is so hot!!! Also on the faux leather front, I’m so excited about my custom Pretty Connected bag by Kent Stenson!!! With the New York City skyline at the bottom and the sketch Henri Bendel artist, Izak Zenou did of me at an event — and of course my social media handle, @prettyconnected at the topic — it’s perfect! They have an amazing assortment of cool bags or you can make your own. 
With Coachella on my mind I’ve been living on ASOS and Forever 21’s website for inspiration. The top I just picked up from the Forever21 music festival collection and the jeans are from ASOS mega sale they had going on a few weeks ago (they just arrived!).
Paula’s Choice Skincare Review + 20% off Discount (and free shipping)
This post is in partnership with Paula’s Choice and Pretty In My Pocket!
I should start by saying I’m a huge Paula Begoun fan. She’s a complete renegade in the skincare industry and the ultimate myth buster and founder of Paula’s Choice. I’ve been following her for years so to have the opportunity to meet her this month was huge for me! Whether or not you agree with all of her views what I’ve always appreciated about her books and advice is that they come from a place of research and proven facts versus following rumors and trends.
I’m excited to be partnering with Pretty In My Pocket to offer an exclusive 20% off code and free shipping through this link. If you’re not familiar with Pretty In My Pocket it’s a great network to follow beauty enthusiast to see their favorite products and reviews. You can register at prettyinmypocket.com/login to join the community and share your favorites! (Let me know if you do so I can check out your page!).
Over the years I’ve dabbled in Paula’s Choice c as part of my routine, and have honestly loved everything I’ve ever used. I bow down to her 2% BHA and SPF produts! My experience this time around was much more profound (usually I read about a product and try it) while this time I started with a phone call to her customer service team to discuss my skin and skincare goals and then together we created a full regimen.
I’m someone that deeply believes in balancing my skin so that it’s always “normal”. However, I don’t necessarily have a normal skintype. Like many that don’t sway drastically in one direction (always dry or always oily…), I get dry in the winter and oily in the summer. My main concerns if I’m not taking care of my skin is pore size, and hyperpigmentation. I also want to be preventative with anti-aging since I’m now in my 30s and those lines in my forehead are becoming more prominent and I like to have some type of skin brightener (I’m a big vitamin C fan!) on hand. Lastly, I’m all about an eye cream and keeping the area around my eyes hydrated so I don’t develop crows feed and a sunscreen is an absolute must for me –and should be for everyone!
Based on this explanation we worked out the following regimen: 
The Paula’s Choice Resist Anti-Aging Essential Kit for Wrinkles & Breakouts appropriate for both dry and oily skintones the set includes:
- Resist Perfectly Balanced Foaming Cleanser (6.4oz) – eliminates oil and leaves skin soft
- Resist Daily Pore-Refining Treatment 2% BHA (3oz) – exfoliant with 2% BHA to shrink pores and smooth wrinkles
- Resist Youth-Extending Daily Mattifying Fluid SPF 50 (2oz) – hydrating day moisturizer with SPF
- Resist Anti-Aging Clear Skin Hydrator (1.7oz) – lightweight moisturizer that hydrates without causing breakout.
We also added three additional products:
- Resist Advanced Replenishing Toner – tones skin to smooth wrinkles and build colllagen for firmer skin
- Resist Super Antioxidant Concentrate Serum with Vitamin C treatment – Fights multiple signs of aging and brightens
- Resist Anti-Aging Eye Cream – softens the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.
I love that all Paula Choice products are fragrance free and non-irritating. I’ve always felt that if any ingredients are being added just to add scent or enhance the experience that don’t actually have any skin benefits I prefer they not be formulated in my product. It’s why I’ll often use a sensitive skin product, even though I’m not sensitive if all the ingredients are the same and the only difference is for the sensitive version it’s fragrance free.
Spring Fragrance Round up: What’s New from Creed, Lanvin, Molton Brown and More!
Choosing a signature scent is a very personal experience. With new fragrances launching daily, it’s hard to sift through and yet there is something about the weather changing that gets me all excited for those more flirty floral scents. Brands like Ulta and Sephora will organize by top rated (Sephora also features what’s new) which are great resources. For me I need to experience a fragrance in person so I have been non-stop attending fragrance previews and have an entirely new updated scent range for the season. Here’s what were excited about:
Raw Spirit Desert Blush: All of the fragrances featured above are new with the exception of Desert Blush from Raw Spirit (the rollerball shown above). I recently discovered the brand and have become instantly enamored. This is the fragrance I