Cheryl Shops

Just about a year ago, I pledged to cut down on the Canva-collage posts and feature more original content here, and while I think I've been doing a pretty good job of that, there have been some extenuating circumstances in my life recently. I am making this sound way more dramatic than it actually is—long story short, Sean had surgery a few weeks ago and is on crutches and thus we can't do a proper photo shoot at the moment, but hopefully we'll have a new one very, very soon (e.g. next week). In the meantime, my birthday is next week and to be honest, I really enjoy writing these birthday wishlist posts. They're a little self-indulgent, yes, but hey, it's my birthday.  So for old time's sake, here's what I really, really, really want for my birthday this year. 

On a Friday afternoon in March 2020, I grabbed my laptop and a few files from my desk, thinking I'd be working from home for a week or two until the whole Coronavirus thing calmed down. And here I am, two years later, still working from home. I miss seeing my coworkers' outfits and gossiping with them after meetings, but I really don't miss commuting downtown in a packed bus every day, nor do I miss my tiny cubicle with zero privacy. At first, I worked from our living room—it's nice and sunny there, plus our couch is super comfy—but when it became clear that I'd be working from home for much longer than a week or two, I decided a more permanent setup was necessary. I am lucky enough to have a two-bedroom apartment, and in the nearly eight years I've lived here, our second bedroom has functioned as a kind of multipurpose space—part guest room, part game room, part office. But as I noted in my bedroom makeover post last year, spending so much time inside has caused me to re-look at all the rooms in my home with razor-sharp focus. Since I'll be working from home indefinitely—and at least half the time once my office reopens—I decided that the second bedroom needed to be a dedicated office space (sorry, visitors, you can stay at the hotel down the street!). Here's how I gave my office a complete makeover. 

Yep, I'm back with yet another review of Spanx pants because you know you love them. Up next is the Leather-Like Jogger, otherwise known as the faux leather jogger, which is one of Spanx's bestselling styles. I was a little apprehensive about trying this pair because I was a little disappointed with the Faux Leather Leggings—TLDR: while they suck you in like a vacuum, they don't look anything like actual leather. But after seeing these all over social media, I decided to cave and take a chance on them. Here's my honest and unfiltered review of the Spanx Leather-Like Jogger. 

February means many different things to different people; it's Black History month, my best friend's birthday, Super Bowl Sunday, Presidents' Day weekend, Groundhog Day, and, of course, Valentine's Day, which, even though I'm in a relationship, is kind of the worst made-up holiday of them all. I've decided not to do any formal Valentine's Day content this year; you dear readers tend not to be very interested in it, and since every other content creator is doing V-Day gift guides and outfits and such, you have many other places to find ideas, should you need them. That said, this could pass for a date-night look, although I feel like it's an outfit my girlfriends would appreciate more than my partner. I always dress for myself first, but when I go out with friends, I do find myself reaching for something that I think they'd like, whether it's a fun dress, a power blazer, killer shoes, or all of the above, as in this look. Since Galentine's Day is coming up on February 13th, here's what I'd wear. 

My first trip to Miami Beach, a.k.a. South Beach, was 15 years ago for my friend's bachelorette party. Four of us crammed into a tiny room with two queen-size beds, but we barely spent any time there, because we were too busy having the time of our lives. I've been back many times since, for long-weekend getaways, girls' trips, and even a wedding, and I will rarely turn down the chance to go. To those who have never been to Miami, I like to describe it as Vegas on the beach. Like Las Vegas, people go there to party— they dress to the nines and the people-watching is off the charts—and there are a bunch of amazing restaurants from top chefs like José Andrés and Francis Mallmann. Unlike Vegas, there is no gambling nor ridiculous manmade spectacles (unless you count all of the exotic cars driving up and down Collins Avenue); instead, there's a glorious beach and some amazing Art Deco architecture. It had been four years since my last visit, so when Sean found out he had a business trip, I decided to tag along and get there a few days early to take advantage of the holiday weekend. Here's what we did on our weekend trip to Miami Beach.

It can be a little chilly at night—bring a jacket!

I have a semi-firm belief that you’re either good at doing hair or makeup but generally not both. I fall into the latter category, which I attribute to years of doing stage makeup when I used to dance; over the years, I’ve learned to style my hair in an adequate manner, but it never looks remotely as good as when a professional does it. I feel like this is generally a positioning thing: in doing one’s own hair, you can’t get quite into the ideal angle as when someone else styles your hair, plus your arms are generally raised above your head and thus requite more muscle stamina, particularly if you have a lot of hair (which I don’t, but we’re still talking a significant amount of time). So even while I’ve honed my blowout skills with my Dyson over the years, I’ve been intrigued by the Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer, which has over 262,100 reviews (and counting) on Amazon. Is it idiot-proof enough to deliver a just-from-the-salon blowout, or is it all hype? Here’s my honest review.

Just before the new year, there was a meme going around the Internet alluding to how 2022 sounds like "2020 two," e.g. "the sequel," e.g. dear god, not again. But Sean interpreted it as "2020 take two," e.g. a do-over, and that optimism is one of the many reasons why I love him. Yes, things may be less than ideal right now, with closures and quarantines and yet another rampant strain of Covid, but maybe, just maybe this is the year we move on from this @#$% virus. I didn't realize how much I was craving my old routines until our back-to-office date got pushed back for the gazillionth time—and this time I was actually disappointed about it. I had been thinking about easing back into office wear (and really looking forward to wearing my blazers again), but since that won't be happening just yet, I've come up with a happy medium: pieces that are comfortable and casual enough to wear around the house, but polished enough to wear out to after-work drinks (outside, of course). So here's what I'm wearing in 2022...for now.

Happy new year, and welcome to 2022! But first, one more post about 2021. This blog is called Cheryl Shops for good reason, but obviously you do a lot of shopping too. Once again, thank you for doing so—when you make a purchase using my links, I get a small finder's fee (at no cost to you), and that income helps me continue to create more free content for you. Everyone wins! Speaking of wins, I always like to look back and see what the most popular items of the year were, both out of curiosity and in the interest of featuring more of what you like. Based on this year's bestsellers, that would be cashmere sweaters, Spanx pants, and skincare. Here are the top products that Cheryl Shops readers bought in 2021. 

 As I noted last week, I'm changing things up a bit with my year-end recaps for 2021. I've shared my favorite outfits of 2021, so now it's time for your favorite posts of 2021. I was not super surprised to see that 6 of the 10 posts were from my honest review series—they tend to attract a lot of search traffic, but hopefully they're helpful for my regular readers as well. I have a whole new bunch of reviews planned for 2022, so stay tuned for those! I am going to take next week off to spend some quality time with my family and friends, but I'll be back in January with one last 2021 recap, featuring everything you guys bought this year. In the meantime, here's a look at the top 10 most popular posts of 2021, according to you!

Spotify's year-in-review posts came out last week, so you know what that means: time for the year-end wrap ups! I'm changing things up a bit this time; it's always hard to pick a favorite outfit of the year, so I thought I'd do something different and pick 10. This was actually harder to do than I expected; turns out I liked a lot of what I featured here (although I did have some duds, TBH). Still, it's funny to see some trends emerge: I still love neutrals, but I did try a little (soft) color here and there, and clearly I have some favorite accessories! In no particular order, here are my 10 favorite outfits of 2021—tell me your favorites in the comments below!

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!)

Historically speaking, I've featured party outfits in December, and omicron variant be damned, I do plan to do my fair share of partying this month. But I also thought I'd end the year with a more true picture of where my wardrobe is at the moment. I had a bit of an identity crisis earlier this year; after months of wearing little more than sweats, I was like I NEED FUN CLOTHES and ended up buying a bunch of stuff that just wasn't me. Not that I'm not fun, but I can be fun without looking like I'm in a funhouse. Anyway, I like neutrals—always have, probably always will—and while I might not have the most interesting wardrobe in the world, it's the right one for me. So with that in mind, here's to ending 2021 on an authentic note. 

Black Friday seems to be coming earlier and earlier every year, and I'm definitely not mad at it—this year, with all of the supply-chain uncertainty, I'm doing my holiday shopping (a.k.a. me shopping) early. In fact, I've already made quite a dent, but I'm just getting started. And BTW, you should too (you've earned it!). Without further ado, here are the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales this year. 

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I used to live in NYC for a long time (13 years, to be exact) and it will always have a big part of my heart. I normally go back for a visit at least once a year, but thanks to the pandemic, I hadn't been there since January 2020. When I've been gone for too long, I can almost feel it in my bones; spending even a couple of days in New York is like a defibrillator for my soul, in the best possible way. Even though he's never lived there, Sean loves NYC as much as I do, so convincing him to go there for a long weekend in celebration of his birthday required only minimal arm-twisting. Of course, after having been away for so long, I had no idea how New Yorkers were dressing, and if you've been reading my newsletter, you know that I've been panicking about what to pack. I may not have totally blended in—I've been a West Coaster for 8 years now, after all—but I could at least hang in this outfit.

Grab some hot chocolate and crank up "All I Want for Christmas Is You," because the Cheryl Shops Holiday Gift Guide 2021 is here! You may notice that this is the earliest I've ever posted a holiday gift guide; I had actually been planning to do that since so many of the items I had wanted to feature last year had already sold out by December. But now perhaps you've heard of the global supply chain crisis, which has been impacting retail inventory since the summer, and has every news outlet urging people to do their holiday shopping early, lest our economy (and the retail industry) suffer! If you are a last-minute shopper, fret not, I'm sure there will still be presents out there. But if you're a get-'er-done-early shopper like I am, it may be wise to take advantage of all the Singles' Day, early Black Friday, and various other sales hitting your inbox. Because once you're done shopping for other people, you get to shop for yourself! So without further ado, here are my favorite gifts for 2021. 

Now that Halloween is over, can we talk about the holidays? I am really looking forward to celebrating them this year, because last year ended up being a big bummer. I'm not going to rehash the events of late 2020 because I'm sure most of us would rather forget them and whoops, I'm already being overdramatic about what was, in the end, a fairly minor inconvenience. That said, I'm planning on accepting every social invitation that comes my way over the next two months, so that means I'll need a lot of outfits to wear. I decided to take one for a trial run last weekend, and I feel like it was a hit. Here's how it came together.

The number-one question I get from friends, family, and readers is "What skincare products should I be using?" I'm flattered that people come to me for advice (I do work in the beauty industry and like to think that I've learned something), but the bigger issue is that there are so many products out there and people are overwhelmed by the options, plus finding the right mixture of ingredients to target your skin's needs can be a challenge. I have favorites that I tend to recommend, but not all products work for every skin type—something that's good for my dry, redness-prone skin might not be effective on your sensitive, acne-prone skin. Enter The Inkey List. It's a company that's all about personalizing your skincare routine down to the ingredients that work specifically for you and your skin's needs, in a very accessible way—nearly all of their products are under $15. To get started, you answer 5 questions (it takes only a couple minutes), and Inkey List will create a personalized regimen. Here's my honest review of what they sent me.

Of all the pieces of clothing worth investing in, outerwear is definitely at the top. They're what you tend to wear the most, yet they can last the longest. If properly cared for, jackets and coats can be worn upwards of 20 years, and of course even longer—I have several vintage coats from the 1960s that have aged like fine wine. I tend to feature my outerwear over and over again here on this blog because it's what I actually wear in real life, but also to point out how versatile the pieces I love are. Case in point: I've worn my J.Crew quilted downtown field jacket with everything from denim to dresses. It's funny to think I hesitated to buy it because I was worried it was too close to my other favorite J.Crew outerwear, the downtown field jacket; instead, I like to think of it as the downtown's cooler-weather counterpart. It's the perfect jacket for fall (or spring), when you need something warmer than a denim or army jacket, but you're not quite ready for wool or a puffer. It's so good, J.Crew keeps bringing it back year after year. Here are seven of my favorite ways to wear it. 

As soon as I typed the title of this post, I thought, "how is it already October?!" Then I realized, "whoa, it's already October 13th," which made me wonder where the first half of this month has gone. The funny thing is, I feel like I haven't done that much this year, other than work my tush off, but that is quickly starting to change. Now that delta variant is on the decline (knock on wood), my social calendar is finally picking up, plus Sean has a bunch of conferences this fall that I'm going to tag along on. Then before we know it, it will be Thanksgiving, then Christmas and New Year's, and I don't know about you, but I can't wait for 2022 (according to Susan Miller, it's supposed to be my best year ever). That said, I am very happy it's autumn—I am one of those Fall People who loves turning leaves, pumpkin-flavored everything, and most importantly, fall clothes. October is really the sweet spot in fall dressing, because it's still warm enough to get away with a sweater and a light jacket. So in celebration of that, here's what I'm wearing in October.

If you follow a lot of influencers on Instagram, chances are you've heard of Sarah Flint shoes. Their brand ambassadors include some of my favorite content creators—Brooklyn Blonde, Grace Atwood, and my friend Kim—so when Sarah herself reached out to me on IG, I was incredibly flattered to join their ranks. And since everyone raves about how comfortable and luxurious Sarah Flint shoes are, I couldn't wait to try a pair for myself. They sent me a pair of Rosie loafers; here's my honest and unfiltered opinion.