Category: Life Hacks

5 Survival Tips for Winter 2020

Posted on by The Style Cake

I’ve done one of these posts a couple of years back and I really think the tips could help get anyone through the perils of winter! This year, winter came out of nowhere, well, not really but it had been pretty mild considering I live in Michigan and then BAM! Snow, wind, cold, cloudy days and looooonnnnngggg nights! I usually have an easy time until the end of January hits and then I’m struggling to get through winter lol.

1. Let’s start with recreation. It can be human nature to simply stay in the bed, stay on the couch and binge watch tv or read, eat and become immobile. In reality, we were meant to discover, explore and venture out. To encourage mental health, getting out of the house is very important! Isolation is not healthy! Not even for introverts! Go grab a coffee at the local coffee spot, visit the library or art gallery or hit a winter festival. Grab a bite to eat at a local inexpensive restaurant nearby your home. Take a cooking class, go to your local hardware store and complete a project for the home. There are a plethora of options to choose of things to do besides sitting in the house the entire season of winter and this is coming from someone who hates winter!

2. Besides just getting out of the house, getting completely away from your environment and going on a weekend vacation is enough to revitalize your mind and body for a couple of months! Maybe visit a quaint town in your state and unplug from social media and technology. Take in the sights and feed your senses without any interference!

3. Body care is so important during this harsh time of the year. It’s easy to slack on skin care in particular because the sun isn’t shining through the cloud but sunscreen is still needed. As is moisture! Continue to drink plenty of water to hydrate the skin. Likely, the winter has plenty of dry moments so water will feed the body moisture from the inside to prevent cracking from dryness. Beyond that, below I’ve linked a few things I love to use for body care during winter months. One is a lip product, body and hair products and facial care products. Check them out below!

A. Chapstick Total Hydration 100% Natural (Eucalyptus Mint)

B. Koils By Nature Nourishing Hair and Body Butter

C. DDF Ultra Lite Oil Free Moisturizing Dew (Spf 15)

D. Vitamin D3 and Vitamin K2

E. Carol’s Daughter Wash Day Delight (Water to Foam Shampoo) [My new ABSOLUTE FAVORITE HAIR PRODUCT AND I WILL DO A DETAILED REVIEW SHORTLY! ;-)]

4. Let’s talk ducking and dodging colds, flu and other healthy efforts. One thing leads to another, right? Well, you NEED hand and body cream in the winter especially because hand washing is still important! How else can you avoid getting sick and stay in good health?! Starts with handwashing first! Since I already gave you a suggestion for dry cracked hands, I wanted to share what I like to keep on hand for immunity and health below!

A. Zarbee’s Naturals Elderberry Immune Support

5. Lastly, reorganize your life! This could include examining your personality, organizing closets and storage spaces, refreshing or learning new skills and/or working on your body and health more in depth. Have a person that you’ve been allowing in your life but they are dragging you down or isn’t supportive? Maybe it’s time to rethink your association. I’ve been doing a lot of rearranging myself, it takes work but it’s worth it! Decide to save money, go back to school, fix your credit or purge things while keeping only what you need! Taking the time to invest in yourself will take up a ton of your time and help you survive a possible tough couple of months in the cold!

(Why?) Thrifting Saves Personal Style From Going Down the Fashion Drain…Avoiding Fashion Nova

Posted on by The Style Cake

I think if you follow any bloggers these days you know that a ton are both fashion and style bloggers. But if you’re surfing for inspiration, it can be hard to decide what works for your wardrobe and what is just the white noise of the blogging world/pure entertainment. I remember even before I ventured into blogging my personal style, I used to see tons of pictures that showed fresh and new ideas, takes and angles on fashion and style.

As of recent, I can’t say that I really see anything that inspires me in the style/fashion blogging world anymore. It seems everyone is following each other’s lead, without even considering whether their wardrobe choice fits their personal style. This honestly makes everyone look redundant so to speak, with no bravery to veer off the mainstream path. I can’t say that I haven’t decided to ride the wave a couple of times but I quickly learned from my horrible mistake of second guessing myself! That being the case, what keeps others from truly identifying their personal style? Currently, everything sold in stores seems to push the “let’s all look alike” trend. Every store has all the trendy pieces and although you can still find classic and eclectic pieces, you won’t be noticed much if you’re not wearing and further exaggerating the current trends…or will you?

Probably a year ago, I vowed to thrift less and devote more time to grabbing newer, contemporary pieces. Well, rebuilding my staple closet pieces has been going well. Staying true to me? That’s been a little more difficult. Not because I am aiming to appear popular and poppin like those bloggers that mimick the Kardashian style but because the retail stores don’t have the variations of pieces that allow true style. My closet isn’t skimpy by any means but I purge and rotate frequently to keep my wardrobe refreshed, functional and age appropriate. When I’m looking to re-up on some things, I almost have to thrift for quality and options. At least I have more money left for savings while maintaining my sense of individual style and taste right?

The fact of the matter is that when buying clothes, quality is just as important as style. I’ve ventured into fast fashion myself and I can tell you that fast fashion is another name for throw away clothing. I recall putting on a dress and putting a hole in it. Smh, such a shame as I had no nails, not that that should have mattered anyway eye roll. I don’t even label clothing like that “pieces” because they really don’t add anything to a wardrobe. At the thrift stores, it’s completely possible to find quality pieces…even those that are on trend.

Vintage also provides uniqueness and quality on a budget without looking cheap, dated, or unpolished. Even though some boutiques offer polished wardrobe pieces, the quality is just not there. Generally, you’d have to spend major bucks to get a sturdy quality made blazer in a feminine silhouette at the department store. Try thrifting, often times you can find those blazers for about 95% off the original price! Of course you don’t have to buy designer pieces specifically, I don’t…but I recommend that you search for quality while searching for your style. This shouldn’t be hard since most times the fast fashion pieces never hold up long enough to even make it to the thrift store lol. Trends are are always revolving so thrifting allows you to find trendy pieces on a dime as well. These trendy pieces you can keep because the quality keeps on giving!

Tip:

Just like you would any department stores, hunt for your treasure! Be sure to visit various thrift stores in your area and in the surrounding area. Also, if you go traveling out of town, check out the stores in that area. Different climates and areas breed different styles and availability of trendy pieces. Use coupons and ask if there’s a mailing list to receive them. For online thrifting, check Etsy and Ebay…just remember not to pay retail prices for thrift items online! Have fun and be stylish!

Summer Survival (Enjoyment) + 2 Hacks That Help!

Posted on by The Style Cake

Yes! It’s officially (and has been for a month now) THAT time…summer is here!!! I can’t even front or pretend that I’m not super excited because I swear Michigan winters are lllllllooooonnnngggg!!!! I was over winter in January like, “yup, you were cute now move it along”…{insert eye roll}. Now knowing we all seem to love summer, what happens when something steals your summer thunder, cramps your style or rains on your parade? Let me hook you up with what generally helps me get through those “okay, yea I’m over summer” moments.

Humidity induced swelling. It’s nothing like trying on the little black dress only to have your excitement disrupted by the inability to properly fit into it. So what can help reduce the chances of those no-go weight moments? Stay hydrated with not just water but electrolytes. A lack there of can result in puffiness. For a more natural option, try good ol cucumber, parsley and honeydew melon.

Bug Bites. Ugh, I’m annoyed just adding this to the list. Mosquito bites in particular really take a bite out of summer fun. I know there are TONS of remedies out there for this problem but I’ve found one, in particular, a real problem solver. Tucks Hemorrhoid suppositories!!! Yup, it sounds disgusting but it’s the only thing that gives me relief! I use every time! It not only stops itching but reduced the size of the mosquito bites! Of course, use at your own will and discretion but I have had nothing but success with this product!

If you try these hacks please be sure to let me know!

Happy Summer!!!

Why I’m Switching to #Scentbox and I Cancelled My Scentbird Subscription…

Posted on by The Style Cake

As you can probably tell, I love trying products and am a wee bit of a beauty junkie. I try to temper what I buy to be more on the practical side instead of just frivolously buying a ton of things that I don’t need. Trust me, I’ve been there done that. All that comes of that is clutter and a waste of money because we can never use everything we buy if we buy EVERYTHING! That had been the case with my perfume collection I needed to pare down what I had and only buy what I would actually wear (and in smaller bottles) and no more.

So when I heard about Scentbird, I was truly excited because this was an answer to my problem right? Well, keep on reading…

First Things First!

I signed up for Scentbird in September of 2016. When I signed up, I loaded my queue up with fragrances that I had been eager to both try and get a hold of without maxing out my budget. For those of you wondering, this is how Scentbird works per the Scentbird website:

Visit www.scentbird.com (ladies) or www.scentbird.com/men (guys) and click on “get started” to create an account. Enter your shipping and billing details to sign up for a subscription, and start choosing the fragrances you want to receive by adding them to your queue!

To receive scent recommendations, click on the “Recommendations” tab at the top of our page, which will prompt our scent quiz.

When you register for Scentbird, you can pre-select scents to receive each month for the following months. You can also log onto your account to edit your queue, add new scents, or rearrange your scents in the order that you’d like to receive them.

Note that your monthly fragrance selection is locked in on the 5th of the month. Therefore, any edits to your queue done after the 5th, will only be effective for the following month. (For example, if you go into your queue on June 7th you will NOT be able to change your June scent, but you will be able to edit July onwards).

Each month you will receive an 8ml spray filled with the scent of your choice. It comes out to be 120 sprays, and this is enough fragrance to apply twice daily for 30 days. Included with your first shipment, you will get a sleek case, FREE!

This all sounds simple, fun and hassle-free huh?

My Scentbird Experience

So as I was saying earlier, I loaded up my queue with four months worth of fragrances. Since I’m mildly obsessed with the Clean Reserve fragrances, two of those four fragrances were from that line. One being Warm Cotton (first in my queue) and the Skin (initially third but moved during the month of October to the fourth month which was December).  My new line up was:

September (Clean Reserve Warm Cotton)

October (Polo Red Cologne)

November (I Am Juicy Couture)

December (Clean Reserve Skin)

Every last one of these fragrances came on time as they are shipped beteeen the 15th and the 19th every month. Mine were shipped on the 15th. Scentbird boasts that they only ship authentic fragrances to their customers and as far as I can tell from my own experience, that’s totally true. I was satisfied with my experience, that is until December.

Confusion 

Upon checking my account I noticed that I had a different perfume choice in my queue than what I selected. I frequently checked my account and the last I checked in November, everything was ready and set to go. Now I sat on the edge of my bed trying to figure out what I’m the world was going on.

Disappointment

Not being able to figure out what was going on, I looked to contact the company. Since there is no listed phone number (anywhere) for this company, I used the available contact information of email. I sent the email and it took about 48 hours (which is understandable this time of year) to get a response back. They forewarn you of this timetable before you send your email. I am disappointed that this is the only communication that I can have with email. Makes me feel like my concerns is not as important to the company as they are to me.

Frustration

When I finally receive a response back, my problem is not taken care of. In fact, twice I was made aware (which I didn’t need to be) of company policy that adjustments need to be made to the queue by the 5th of the month. The only problem is, the discontinued the fragrance without alerting me. I had set my queue up months in advance so checking my queue was not in my mindset. Boy do I wish I had double checked behind this company!

My Resolve:

So since this company refuses to help or fix their fault, I decided to cancel my subscription.

Terms and Conditions 

Let me be a “big sister” and alert you to something. When you sign up for this “subscription” service, you agree to the terms and conditions that protect this company regardless of if unethical or not. Trust me, you won’t benefit a bit. Sorry guys. Protect yourself and read the fine print. DO NOT just sign up because you watch a video or read a blog and are offered a coupon code. There is no customer service number to cancel once you sign up. That is an obvious clue to your future experience with this company. At least it should have been in my case anyway. Lesson learned.

Moving on…

In the words of the singer Mya, “I’m moving on”. I truly loved the idea of trying my favorite fragrances for a portion of the price every month. I hated to cancel but just could not accept the less than satisfactory experience with customer service. It was time to do research. So I found this company that allows you to try samples of fragrances (a wider array I might add) for $13.95/month! Guys, they even have Victor & Rolf fragrance samples. They are 100% real fragrances! Just to compare value, Scentbird charges $14.99 across the board for all 0.27 oz sample fragrances. Any savings is a great one, right? The best part? You are not locked into a subscription! Cancel anytime and truly be a free bird ready to fly away whenever you want to! Pun intended lol.

The Bottom Line:

I would recommend the company below if you’re looking to try fragrance without being trapped, for inexpensive price points and for the ability to actually talk to someone in the customer service department. I will do a detailed review on my experience in a couple of months. The only downside? None so far. The good thing is, this company has a customer service number!

www.scentbox.com

(Non-sponsored)

Scentbox also has a free exchange policy where you can exchange one shipment free per month. To sign up for one month free click HERE! 

 

Winter Blues/Simple Survival Tips

Posted on by The Style Cake

As much as I’m not a fan of winter, I am always looking for ways to enjoy it. I think that every girl should have some things to get her through this less than exciting season. I’ve listed a few things below that I think will spice up the rest of the winter until spring!

1. Nail polish

Seems simple right? Well simply put, the sheer pampering of applying nail polish is fun. Do a home pedi and use beautiful pinks, whites and/or nudes for a soft change from dark plums, reds and burgundies. Add rhinestones for more glamour. My favorite nail polish brand? Smith & Cult. These polishes are luxurious and coat the nail evenly and without streaking or multiple coats.

2. Spa Visits 

Surprised that I put an “s” on the end of “spa”? Lol, well these days going to the spa has become pretty inexpensive. There are day spas that offer treatments such as facials, 30 minute massages and beauty treatments. 

3. Stay-cation

By this time, most of us are planning vacations and just getting over break from the holidays (I don’t celebrate them but I enjoy the time off). So what do you do to get away from the winter blues? Take a weekend trip to your closest major city’s downtown and check into a hotel. Wake up late if you want, get room service, enjoy the sights, grab dinner, museum hop and check the night life!

4. Cooking Classes 

I pride myself on being a pretty darn good cook. That being said, I think the idea of going to a cooking class with friends would be a ball! Even if you know how to cook, that’s even better because you can have wine over the experience and create your own masterpiece to add to your roster! Plus, most times the meals to be cooked at the cooking class are simply chef created recipes.

5. Pole Dancing Class

Yep! I said it! I’m a married woman of almost 14 year years and it’s always fun to find new ways to spice up…well, you know lol. So I actually had the pleasure of attending my very first pole/exotic dancing class. It was a blast! The class can bolster your confidence as well as give some exhilarating feelings during this drab and dull season. 

6. Makeup Stash Overhaul 

Nothing makes us feel fresh like a new eyeshadow palette, blush or lashes. Why not get rid of old makeup that’s old and outdated and get some new makeup? Try some brands you never have, experiment with new shades or try lash extensions. Lash extensions are my personal fave. Getting them done is a spa treatment (wink)! 

7. Wine and Painting 

Painting with a twist and places like it have become increasingly popular these days. I personally love being able to get my artistic fun on with a little wine to boot! These can allow you to both add a little decor to a room, be creative and enjoy something different to do on a weeknight! 

8. A Good Book

Lastly, nothing is better than getting lost in a good book! When you finally look up from the pages of a collection of good stories, it could be spring! 

Goals! 

Posted on by The Style Cake

Plenty of us have things we’d like to accomplish. I’m finding more and more as the years go by, I’m reflecting on if I’m satisfied by my accomplishments. The verdict is: I’m not at all satisfied! I have some traveling that I would like to do, projects I would like to bring into fruition as well as some health goals I’m reaching towards that I’d like to accomplish. 

Nevertheless, I took time to reflect and plan on my next moves. While I won’t be sharing any of those goals here, I would like to encourage everyone reading to reach for a your goals. Let those goals be motivators for getting up in the morning. I have so many things that I put on a list that I wanted to conquer this year and I’ve done quite a few! I’m so proud of that! Moving forward, I am focused on not my fails but my progress…no matter how seemingly small. 

In the near future, you all will see my goals as I accomplish them and I will be sure to elaborate on them them. It is important that we not get frustrated at what seems like a fail. Each failure teaches us a lesson that can’t be learned any other way. Using focus, turn attention to all positives. Positive people, friends, thoughts and productive actions all help in gathering the gusto to check off those goals. 

Ignore the people that tell you that you can’t, the thoughts that take your confidence down and avoid procrastination. Don’t put off doing something because you’re afraid to fail. The weather isn’t always true to the current season but each season comes like clockwork! Things may not go right during a certain “season” in your life, leaving you to battle through treacherous storms but don’t put off your goals because of it. Makes accomplishments despite those storms. 

Life Hacks: Glam Girls on the Go #thestylecakelife 

Posted on by The Style Cake

I thought it would be fun to do a regular series on this blog called life hacks. The reality is, not everyone has someone to give them helpful tips and useful ideas to make everyday life just a little easier. To make sure that this series remains regular, I will make this a monthly post.

To kick this series off, I’m sharing a cute and stylish kit that will help with those girly emergencies. This product was actually a gift from my hubby. Truly a thoughtful gift because I love being prepared. If you don’t exactly buy this kit, hopefully it helps someone and gives them an idea of what to build for an emergency kit. Anyhoo, let’s discuss what’s in this one…

The set includes:

-1 mini sewing kit

-4 adhesive bandages

-4 earring backs

-30 clear bands

-30 lint sheets

-1 lip balm

-24 bobby pins

-3 makeup remover wipes

-2 elastic ponytail holders

All of these items are enclosed in a small makeup bag style pouch with a cute metallic gold polka dot print. The plus? Reuse this pouch with more items for an emergency kit or simply use it for sanitary napkins/tampons or even convert the use to a small makeup bag. Either way, you really can benefit from grabbing this little lifesaver on the go. I would even recommend adding a pantyliner to this kit. For those on the road travel or even air travel moments, for those concert nights, a sleep over, or just to store in the car and at the job. These kits retail for $6.99 at Target.

The Style Cake 💋.