Cheryl Shops

Labor Day is a weird time of year to shop. There are often amazing sales, but they’re usually for summer styles—and can be the bottom of the barrel at that. Granted, summer still technically lasts for another month, and in many parts of this country, maybe longer than that. That said, I love a good sale, and I really love passing along a good deal to you, dear readers. So to make your Labor Day sale shopping even easier, here are 10 things that I love—and have featured here on Cheryl Shops—on major sale.

I bought this long cardigan during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale and took it to Sweden, thinking I'd need it at night. But since we were in Europe during a heat wave, I didn't get the opportunity to wear it until our very last night. Thankfully, there have been plenty of opportunities to layer it on since we've been back in San Francisco; I pretty much lived in it last weekend in Carmel, but I wanted to show it in a more transitional way too. Thankfully, it goes with nearly everything. Here's how I wore this long cardigan to dinner last Saturday night.

36 hours in where? Exactly. The entire trip began when my friends and I saw this year’s Outstanding in the Field lineup. Last year, we had traveled to Burgundy, France, for an OITF dinner there, and we had so much fun, we decided to do it again this year. Except we picked the dinner at Kaseholm Castle in Tomelilla, Sweden, outside of Malmo (where IKEA is headquartered). That’s how Sean and I ended up building our trip to Stockholm and Copenhagen—our final destination was Ystad, Sweden, where we met up with six friends (!) for a two-night stay, including the dinner. It was filled with friends, food, and most importantly, fun. Here’s what we did in our 36 hours in Ystad.

Carmel-by-the-Sea is one of my favorite places in California, not to mention the world, so I always jump at a chance to go, even if it’s for Car Week. As I mentioned last week, August weather in Northern California can be all over the place, but we were really lucky last weekend with warm-ish weather; in years past, I’d been bundled in jeans and sweaters. Well, I was still wearing sweaters—it’s Northern California after all—but at least with dresses and skirts this time. Here’s what I wore last weekend in Carmel.

After four days in Stockholm, we hopped on a quick Norwegian air flight to Copenhagen, and while I liked Sweden, I loved Copenhagen. The city feels more modern and yet more old-world European at the same time—I think the two sides are integrated more harmoniously. Plus the food is amazing, and I felt that the Danes have an overall zest for life, which I appreciated. It probably helped that they were having record-breaking heat while we were there, with (rare for them) temperatures in the 80s. If I had to do this trip over again, I probably would have shaved a day off of Stockholm and added one to Copenhagen, but hey, I guess we'll just have to go back (which I would absolutely do in a heartbeat). Here's what we did in our four days in Copenhagen.

When people think of California in the summer, I’ll bet they think beaches, sunshine, and sweltering temperatures. That may be true for much of the state, but it’s generally not the case in San Francisco. We do have beaches and the sun usually appears for at least an hour or two, but in the month of August, the temperatures are anything but sweltering. Welcome to Fogust, when the inland heat hits the cool ocean air and blankets the city in a thick fog. It's also when you see tourists traipsing through the city in shorts, sandals, and San Francisco sweatshirts. The good news is that you don’t have to totally forgo summer clothes in August, but you do need to get creative with your layers. Here’s my go-to outfit for summer in San Francisco.

When most people think of Sweden, they probably think of Ikea, meatballs, and maybe Volvo. Ok, I think of those things too, but also street style bloggers like Elin Kling, fashion giant H&M (which also produces my beloved COS), and Byredo, which makes my perfume. It may not be the A-list European destination that, say, Paris or Rome is, but Stockholm is a cool, clean, cute city that’s totally worth a visit, especially if you’re going to hit Copenhagen too (as we did). There are a gazillion museums, great restaurants, world-class shopping, and lots of boats. Here’s how we spent our four days there.

Spoiler alert: I absolutely loved Copenhagen. I'll go into detail about why, exactly, when I post my travel diary, but to put it succinctly, it's a gorgeous city with amazing food, friendly people, and inspiring design everywhere you look. It also happened to be having record-breaking heat (in the mid 80s) when we were there, so please note that typical summer weather is more in the upper 60s to low 70s, and thus this post is not truly representative of a Danish summer. That said, I was happy to enjoy the sunshine and warmth, so here's what I wore in Copenhagen.

If you've been following me on Instagram, you know that I just returned from a 10-day vacation to Stockholm and Copenhagen. It was an amazing—I'll be posting my travel diaries over the next few weeks—and thanks to Sean's handy new travel camera, we took a ton of photos. So instead of focusing on just one outfit from my trip, I thought I'd share all of them with you. Here's what I wore during the four days we spent in Stockholm.

Happy Friday, and happy first day of non-cardholder access to the Nordstrom Anniversary sale! I just went to the store tonight to pick up a cardigan I ordered (it's still in stock, and you'll be seeing it here shortly) and the racks already look super picked over, so clearly the cardholders went to town in the last week. I actually had to redo this post several times, because the items I wanted to feature kept selling out. That said, there's still a lot of great stuff left from some of my favorite brands (and restocks are bound to happen), so I've picked everything from a statement sweater to this season's version of my favorite coat from last year's sale, plus a can't-miss beauty score. Here's what's in my cart for the second round.

I feel like my wardrobe is on the brink of a major transformation. It’s something that’s been brewing for awhile, thanks to ongoing Kondo-ing of my closet, but I think it’s about to come to fruition. I started a new job a few months ago; it’s creative, but in a corporate environment, and I’m now at a level where I’m feeling like I need a certain level of polish. It’s not necessarily dressiness; it’s more dressing to align with the authority of my position. I’ve found that I’m gravitating more toward a blazer-blouse-jeans combination, and when I wear skirts, midi suits me better. I’m not going to ditch all of my beloved minis, but I definitely need to pare down my collection, and probably confine them to the weekend. That is a rather lengthy lead-in to this post, but it sets the direction that my outfit posts will be moving toward. I never want to be the person to say what you should and shouldn’t wear at a certain age; I always say wear what makes you feel good—and at this point in my life, I’m feeling good in more tailored, polished things.

Like nearly every other fashion blogger on the planet, I always look forward to the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale in July. In spite of the fact that I'm a very good Nordstrom customer, I didn't get a sale catalog in the mail this year. But that's ok, because it's online and catalogs are bad for the environment anyway. (Nor did I get to shop the sale extra-early like a bunch of other bloggers, but that's ok too.) I will say, I am not super excited about what I've seen so far—like last year, the sale is a little heavy on Nordstrom private-label brands like Halogen—but I did manage to scope out some good finds. Nordstrom Cardmembers, you get to shop starting TODAY, Friday, July 12th; everyone else has to wait until the following Friday (which is kind of reason alone to sign up for a Nordstrom card). Here are my picks from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. (And yes, I know this is only six items—another another round of picks is coming soon!)

I lived in NYC for 13 years, and while I often miss having a proper summer, I don’t always miss the humidity that comes with it. That said, it felt good to be back on the East Coast for my friends’ wedding in Boston a few weekends ago. I hadn’t been to Boston in seven years, and it had been many more since I’d been there in summer. Aside from a few isolated rainstorms (including a particularly memorable one during the outdoor ceremony), we lucked out with the weather, and more importantly, I had a fantastic time catching up with some of my oldest, closest friends. Here’s what I wore to the wedding and to the welcome party.

First of all, apologies for the flakiness of my posts lately. I started a new job about a month ago (that I love!) and I don't have as much time to work on the blog as I used to. I was also traveling to a wedding last weekend, and this week was a holiday week. I'm also guessing that not many of you will be reading this post at 5pm on a Friday night, but hopefully you'll see it sooner or later! Since last year's summer dresses under $100 post was so popular, I thought I'd bring it back with a fresh batch of bright, fun, colorful dresses. Here are some of my favorites this season.

One of the many benefits of being a fashion blogger is that you get to discover all sorts of new ways to shop. They don’t call me Cheryl Shops for nothing, so when Fashom reached out to ask if I wanted to try their service, I, of course, jumped at the chance. Fashom is a try-before-you-buy styling service, kind of like the one that rhymes with Pitch Mix: you take a quiz online to determine your style profile, a stylist picks out some clothing or accessories for you, they arrive in the mail, you keep what you want, and send back what you don’t. The styling fee is $15 (it’s free your first time), and you can apply it toward anything you purchase; buy 3 or 4 of your items and you get 25% off, or buy all 5 and you get 30% off. The big difference is that you get to choose which items you want after your stylist narrows it down for you, and for me, that was a huge—and very positive—difference. Here’s what I chose for my Fashom box.

Way back in December, I mentioned in this post that I was contemplating buying a black midi skirt, but I talked myself out of it because I figured I could re-create the look with a dress. That worked for winter when I was wearing heavily layered looks, but now that it's warmer (and we've had a crazy heat wave), lighter is the way to go. So, long story short, I pulled the trigger on a black midi skirt, and I've worn it approximately five times in the last two weeks. It goes with so much, but here's one of my favorite ways to wear it.

It's been awhile since I've done a get the look post, but while I've been sleeping on it, you guys have been pinning up a storm—and this month's most-pinned look from my Outfit ideas for ageless style Pinterest board feels just in time for summer in San Francisco. And by that, I mean it's lighter-colored and incorporates sandals, but also layers, because fog. I'm so excited about this look, I kind of want to get it for myself, so here's how I'd do it.

Ok, before you get all technical on me, this dress is probably not actually a muumuu. It has an empire waist and some crazy sleeves, and I doubt Hawaiians make their muumuus out of toile. It was also not super-well suited to the 98-degree weather we were having when we shot these photos (yes, in June!). But this dress is loose, comfy, and easy to wear, plus it captures the laid-back spirit of summer (and of Hawaii), so I think that makes it an honorary muumuu. That said, this dress is a lot of look. so let's jump right into how to wear it.

In my neighborhood alone, there are several beauty retailers to choose from—everything from big guns like Ulta and Sephora, to single-brand fragrance stores (Atelier Cologne and Le Labo), clean beauty (Credo), and super luxe  (SpaceNK). For a beauty junkie like me, the more the merrier, which is why I was eager to check out the latest addition to my neighborhood, Bluemercury. Owned by Macy's, this very boutiquey chain is ramping up its presence in the Bay Area; the location nearest me, in Laurel Village, was one of nine new stores that opened last week alone. But what makes Bluemercury different from other stores, and why should you shop there?

The first thing you may notice about this outfit is that I’m wearing Birkenstocks. I will get to that in a moment. I would like to start with the fact that we shot these photos a mere week ago and I was literally freezing; today the high in San Francisco was 97 degrees. In the six years I’ve lived here, I think it’s been that warm here once, two years ago, and that was in September, which is usually the hottest time of the year. I know I complained about how crappy the weather was in winter and earlier in the spring, so it probably seems a little hypocritical (or even whiny) of me to complain about the heat now, but keep in mind, this is a city where most people don’t have air-conditioning…because even temperatures in the 70s are rare. Long story short, global warming is real. So in the name of less complaining and more action, here are 10 easy things you can do to stop global warming, courtesy of my alma mater. Now that’s that’s been said, let’s move on to my outfit.