Cheryl Shops

I have a complex relationship with Amazon; I find shopping it to be a frustrating experience if you don't know exactly what you're looking for, because there's so. Much. Stuff. I've also really dialed back the amount of clothing and accessories I buy on the site, because, really, most of it is junk. That said, Amazon sells many legit brands and products that I use on the regular, it's incredibly convenient, and to be honest, I probably order from it two or three times a week. And because I am human—or maybe just because I'm a shopping blogger—I do get a little excited about the deals they offer during Prime Day, which happens to be today and tomorrow. As with shopping any sale, it's best not to get too emotional about it; the thing I always ask myself is whether I'd still buy something if it were full price. Which is why Prime Day is a great time to stock up on staples: beauty products, kitchen items, and gadgets that you need to replenish and won't get all dopamine-boosted about. You can shop all of my Prime Day Picks in my Amazon shop (there are more than what I've listed here), but read on for more on the items I own, use, and would highly recommend. 

So, I was planning on not covering Prime Day at all—sifting through over a million deals is a lot of work in a very short period of time—but then I saw how good the prices were on some of my all-time favorite items, so I thought what the heck? I realize I am a little late to the game, but you've got another full day of shopping ahead of you. Here are 10 products on sale for Prime Day that I own and highly recommend, 10 that I bought today, and there are even more in my Prime Day shop. 

Amazon is many things to many people: incredibly convenient, possibly evil, a source of income, an undeniable and almost unavoidable force. It also happens to be a great source for hard-to-find yet amazing beauty products from around the world. Here are 9 of my favorite beauty products with a cult following, and you can find them all on Amazon. 

The fashion industry is slowly acknowledging that it's terrible for the environment. Of course, the best solution to that problem would be for everyone to buy less clothing, but we all know that's probably not going to happen (at least not anytime soon). The silver lining is that many fashion companies are shifting to more sustainable processes, and while there is a certain level of greenwashing going on in terms of marketing these "eco-conscious" products, at least it's a step in the right direction. Perhaps to draw attention away from its gazillion environmentally harmful practices, Amazon recently launched its Amazon Aware collection of fashion, beauty, and home products that are carbon neutral (offset through carbon credits) and feature various Climate Pledge Friendly certifications, one of which is Amazon's own certification (insert eye roll here). Full disclosure: Amazon sent me four items from the collection to try for free. My take: they're of much higher quality of any other clothing I've ordered from Amazon, and if that bodes well for the future of fashion on Amazon, I'm all for making every line adhere to these standards. (After all, if we can make some fast fashion more sustainable, can't we do that for all of it?) I already featured the sweater and button-down shirt in my Amazon tops post, and the other two pieces I got were so good, I had to give them a separate post. Here are my favorite items from the Amazon Aware collection. 

I buy a lot of stuff on Amazon—vitamins, home gadgets, French beauty products—but I am late to the fashion game. Which is probably because like everything else on Amazon, it helps to know exactly what you're searching for, and in the case of clothing, I don't always know. I'm more of browser than a searcher, and while I am not one to get easily overwhelmed by choice while shopping, I almost always do while looking for clothes on Amazon. So when Amazon recently asked me to join their influencer program, I seized the opportunity to sharpen my search skills, wade through the thousands and thousands of products out there, and find the best ones. Here are my 5 favorite tops that I've found (so far) on Amazon. Bonus: they're all under $40. 

One of my favorite places on earth is Paris, and one of my favorite things to do there is to raid the pharmacy, particularly Citypharma in the 6th arrondissement. If you are a beauty junkie like me, it's like being a kid in a candy shop—French pharmacy beauty brands tend to be natural (or "clean" as we call them here), effective, and affordable, and while mainstays like Caudalie are easy to find at places like Sephora, some of my favorite brands like Nuxe and Panier des Sens are much harder to track down, particularly in U.S. stores. So in between trips to Europe, I've found that Amazon is actually a great place to score French pharmacy beauty products, since they work with smaller-scale importers and distributors. It's not quite the same experience as a wine-fueled haul in a foreign country, but it's a convenient way to replenish your favorite products. As a bonus, all of the products I'm featuring in this post make great gifts—obviously I'm writing this post during the holidays, but file it away in case you need birthday, anniversary, Mother's day, or even thank-you gift ideas. Here are my favorite French pharmacy beauty finds on Amazon—oh, and did I mention they're all under $30? (They are!)

For the last year, I've been spending a small fortune on candles. For whatever reason, burning them—and being enveloped in a gorgeous scent—has brought me comfort. But I've also realized that I'm quite literally burning through money, and also that having an open flame in my apartment for 16 hours a day is probably not the best for one's lungs. We had received a diffuser as a gift (thanks, Christine!) a few years ago, but I've found that most essential oils are either too basic and/or not strong enough for my taste—until I discovered Santal oil from Doratelier on a tip from another blogger (thanks, Katwalk!). This tiny vial of delight has brought me so much joy that I couldn't wait to share all the ways I'm using it to scent my home. 

That's a rather long title for a post, I know, but it's what this one is all about. Now, I love Sephora (and worked there for several years), so this is not a dig at them. But Amazon does carry a lot of great beauty products from harder-to-find lines, many of them international, and when you throw in free two-day Prime shipping, that makes them pretty much irresistible. Here are my favorite beauty products from Amazon that I love and use regularly. 

As I mentioned in my inaugural Things I've bought on Amazon that I love post, I try to shop small and local when I can, but I'm only human and sometimes convenience wins out. Cheryl Shops is a judgment-free zone, so I feel safe sharing with you that I not only buy things on Amazon, but I thoroughly enjoy them as well. I've been making a bunch of upgrades to my apartment over the last several months, and here are some of my recent best buys. 

Amazon has finally announced that Prime Day is October 13–14 (technically two days) and while I know it's popular to boycott it, I think Prime Day is kind of fun. I love refreshing the page to see what the hourly deals are, and let's be real, the deals can be pretty amazing. I do realize that Amazon undercuts small businesses, has a rather large monopoly, and probably has more data on me that I care to think about—plus there are some tax implications that need to be addressed on a federal level—but we can also thank Amazon for making user reviews, personalization, and search capabilities so widespread. Online retail wouldn't be what it is today without Amazon. I do try to buy things locally from small businesses as much as possible, but that said, I have found some amazing things on Amazon over the years. So in honor of Prime Day, here are six things that I've bought on Amazon that I love, and that I'd highly recommend. 

I know what you're thinking: Another flash sale site?! I must receive at least 15 emails a day from these sites, to the point where I'm considering unsubscribing from those I never shop. And so just as flash-sale fatigue began to set in, along comes MyHabit, which is backed by Amazon and is, by all accounts, a well-oiled machine. Several major winning points: So far, they've had a great mix of designers, leaning heavily on contemporary brands—I've seen Elizabeth & James, Foley & Corinna, Loeffler Randall, Belle by Sigerson Morrison, and Twinkle by Wenlan, among others. They sell these at pretty reasonable prices, and if you use code SUMMER25 now through 8/1, you can take $25 off your order. As an added bonus, shipping is free both ways, and it is fast—I placed an order on Thursday morning and it was waiting for me when I got home from work on Friday. My only criticism of the site is that when you make a return, your credit card isn't refunded; you get a MyHabit store credit, but you can also use it on Amazon or Endless.com, and, if you're like me, that shouldn't be a problem. I also like that there's no perceived exclusivity surrounding the site: If you have an Amazon account, you have a MyHabit account (although if you don't, email me and I'll send you an invite). And speaking of which, items don't sell out nearly as quickly as on the other sites (well, not yet), so shop early and shop often—sales start daily at noon ET and last for 72 hours. Looks like this flash sale site is a habit (or a MyHabit) I won't break anytime soon.