Cheryl Shops

Fashion is always cyclical, and after the maximalism of revenge dressing, dopamine dressing, and Barbiecore, 2023 has felt like a shift back to minimalism. If you want to get deep, part of it can be seen as a reaction to economic trends (high inflation, high interest rates, general panic about signs of a recession, etc.), when people get more conservative about how they dress and tend toward the classics versus pieces that shout luxury. But on a more surface level, I think people just get tired of their clothes and want to try something new. The thing about quiet luxury is that it's positioned as an uber-rich thing, like how the characters on Succession dress. Anecdotally, there is some truth in that; I have known some incredibly wealthy people who exclusively wear threadbare clothes from L.L. Bean and wouldn't be caught dead in a designer logo. I have also known heiresses (I'm talking literal future billionaires) who'd never say no to a rhinestone, bright color, or bandage dress. It's true that money can't buy taste, but taste is also subjective. Quiet luxury is still wealth-signaling; it just depends on what your flavor of wealth-signaling is. That said, my style has always leaned more toward minimalism than maximalism, so if this quiet luxury trend means I have more viable clothing options out there, I'm all for it. Here's what quiet luxury looks like to me. 

It's been awhile since I've done an honest review of any skincare, for several reasons. I got a series of IPL facials earlier this year, which I would not entirely recommend because they've made my already reactive skin sensitive AF, and literally every new product I've tried since then has given me a rash. This bummed me out on many levels, because, one, no one wants to go through life with splotchy, irritated skin, and two, I really enjoy finding skincare products I love and telling you about them. So it was with an understandable amount of trepidation that I cracked into a box that Elemis sent me earlier this year. Elemis is a high-end British skincare brand that's been around for years; while not impossible to find in the U.S., it's a little more under-the-radar, e.g. not in Sephora or most department stores. But it turns out that, like many foreign brands, Elemis feels like a little secret that Britain has been keeping for themselves. In other words, this is a really good skincare line. Here are my honest, unfiltered thoughts about the three products I've been using nonstop lately.

This is my actual skin, in good lighting, with no filter. I am wearing only mascara and lip gloss.

I've lived in my San Francisco apartment for nine years, making it the longest I've ever lived anywhere as an adult. While I've definitely experienced some life changes here—my ex moved out, I lived here alone for several years, then Sean moved in almost five years ago—I hadn't done much to update the décor that entire time. We kind of absorbed much of Sean's furniture and bought some new things over the years, but what really set things in motion was the Jenni Kayne rug I bought myself for my birthday earlier this year. (And yes, you know you're in your 40s when your birthday present to yourself is a rug.) While I had been obsessed with this rug for months, I hadn't considered how it would make everything else in the room look...not quite right. In other words, instead of pulling the room together, it kind of tore it apart. But that turned out to be a good thing. I decided to completely overhaul my living room design and make it the cozy, cohesive, intentional space I've always wanted. Here's a tour of my new and improved living room.

 It's peak summer travel season and hopefully you've got a big trip coming up. (I do next month!) When I vacation in the summer—or anytime I go somewhere warm—I tend to pack mostly dresses. I don't want to think too much about putting outfits together when I'm trying to relax and decompress, so there's something so easy about throwing on a dress and going about your day (or night). I definitely dress a little differently when I'm on vacation, but there's something kind of glamorously escapist about embracing the fabulousness of resort wear. Think more carefree boho vibes, less polished minimalism. I have several go-to brands that capture that sprit so well; here are my 5 favorite dresses to wear on vacation. 

Ok, I really got burned last year with my Nordstrom Anniversary Sale picks—after hours of poring over everything on the website, making collages, and writing careful assessments, nearly everything I featured sold out on the first day, before I was even allowed to shop. (I guess that means I have good taste?)  I was so irritated that I vowed never to cover the sale again...until the catalogue arrived and I thought, Ok, I'm giving this one last shot, but doing things a little differently this time. Instead of diving deep into every category, I picked my top 8 items that I am actually hoping to buy. And since the NSale is usually a good time to stock up on tried-and-true wardrobe classics and beauty essentials, I'm sharing my top 10 items that I actually own and highly recommend. Icons, Ambassadors, and Influencers (e.g. Nordstrom cardholders) get to shop now through the 16th of July, and the sale opens up to the public on July 17th. Let's hope everything stays in stock until then!

In recent years we've had Hot Girl summer, Hot Vaxx summer, Hot Coastal Grandmother summer....am I missing anything? I don't know what the trending Hot buzzword is this year; maybe it's just Hot Hot summer, based on the heatwave that's hitting most of the country at the moment, thanks to global warming. Of course, here in San Francisco, it's more like Hot Cold summer—I am wearing a wool sweater as I write this, as it's 53 degrees outside today, I kid you not—but a girl can dream...or at least travel to warmer parts of the country, which I will be doing next week. Here are 5 summer must-haves I'll be taking with me. 

Back in the early '90s when I was a grunge-loving teenager who shopped equally at Salvation Army and Contempo Casuals, I remember my mom favoring a type of shorts that were long, pleated, and occasionally decorated with a bold floral print. I was perhaps a bit embarrassed when she wore them (sorry, Mom!). Thirty years later, this exact style has flooded my Instagram feed, and to the mortification of my inner 15-year-old, I found myself wanting a pair. The funny thing is, I saw lots of chic young women wearing them, not just 40-somethings, so maybe that's what really made me go for it, or at least justify it. Maybe we really do turn into our mothers after all? Regardless, read on for a mini review of the shorts I ordered and some styling tips. 

A very dear friend of mine always jokes that she never makes it into my IG stories whenever I visit New York, and I always respond that it's because I'm so present and having so much fun with her that I don't even think to pull out my phone and take pictures. The same thing goes for this post—I had every intention of shooting a different outfit every day of our five-day trip last week, but...we were having too much fun and kind of forgot to. The good news is that we did manage to capture two of them (I'll re-create the others sooner or later), and coincidentally enough, they both kind of reflect the areas of the city in which I wore them. Here are some of the things wore last week in NYC.

As I noted a few weeks ago, there's no such thing as too many little white dresses as far as I'm concerned. Seems like you're on a white dress kick too, because the most-pinned look from my Outfit ideas for ageless style Pinterest board features one prominently. Since it's now peak LWD season, let's re-create the look for less. 

I have reviewed a lot of Spanx over the last few years—jeans, pants, leggings—but never what made the company famous in the first place: shapewear. I'm guessing most of us own some shapewear, but how frequently we wear ours depends on what type of clothing we gravitate toward and our pain tolerance. Ok, I'm kind of kidding on the second point; shapewear is much more comfortable than what the girdles that our mothers and grandmothers wore, although, to be fair, it's not quite as comfortable as a pair of sweatpants. With a few exceptions, I generally don't wear very clingy clothing on a daily basis, but when I do want to wear some of the more body-conscious pieces in my wardrobe, shapewear is my secret weapon. I've had a pair of Spanx Thinstincts Girl Shorts that I've worn for years under my most clingy dresses, but the innovations in shapewear have grown in leaps and bounds over the last several years. Spanx recently updated their entire Thinstincts line, and when they asked me to try the new Girl Short, of course I said yes. While I received this product for free, the following is my entirely honest and unfiltered review.

I love a good white dress (or nine); there's nothing I like to wear more in summer. A little (or not-so-little) white dress has the same timeless, chic appeal as a little black dress, but it feels a little brighter and more optimistic. Plus, white looks better with a tan. After a recent closet clean-out, I've already bought two new white dresses so far this year, and because I just can't help myself, I have eight more saved in various shopping carts. Best part? They're all under $200. But first, let's talk about my newest one.

One of the many reasons I'm glad it's finally spring is that it's now warm enough to wear a blazer as a jacket. (You can normally get away with doing this most of the year in San Francisco, however we just had one of the coldest, wettest winters since I've lived here.) As I've said many times before, nothing makes me feel more pulled together than a blazer. If you're going to invest in an item of clothing, I always recommend channeling your funds toward a good one. That said, a few years ago when I was looking for the perfect double-breasted blazer, I discovered that even the mid-range designers (like Veronica Beard and L'Agence) made theirs in polyester. So when I found my Zara double-breasted blazer, which was a very reasonable $90, I thought, why bother spending $800 for practically the same thing? I am clearly not alone in loving this blazer, because Zara is still selling the exact same style more than a year and a half after I bought mine; in fact, they've even added more colors. I wear mine all the time IRL, and it literally goes with everything, but here are 7 of my favorite ways to wear it. 

 

Boot trends may come and go—ankle versus midcalf, square-toe versus pointy—but a classic knee-high riding boot is always in style. I've been looking for the perfect pair for several years now, and what's that they say about the very thing you've been looking for being right under your nose? I've been working with Sarah Flint as an ambassador for awhile now, and when it came time to pick out a new pair, I saw her Perfect Riding Boot and it was like my prayers had been answered. It's a tall order to call something "perfect" in the official name, but as far as these boots go, it's pretty accurate—spoiler alert, they are indeed perfect. I was given this pair as a gift for referring so many new customers to Sarah Flint, but the following review is my honest and unfiltered opinion. 

 

Now that it's been over six months since I left Sephora, I'm slowly adjusting to normal civilian life where I'm not constantly showered with free products (although I do still receive quite a bit for the blog). I've also found I'm a lot pickier when I actually have to buy something myself—it's amazing what not having a discount will do. That said, Sephora's Spring Savings Event starts today for Rouge, on the 18th for VIBs and Insiders, plus all Sephora Collection is 30% off for the entire event, now through the 24th. If you want to try something new, here are my recent favorites, plus what I'm planning to buy for myself. 

 

My love of black pants probably began when I was in college. I had a pair in a stretchy boot-cut polyester from Contempo Casuals, where I worked, and they made me feel very chic and grown-up. I wore them out to parties and bars, with going-out tops of course, or with a more demure sweater or blouse when I needed to look polished. Conservatively speaking, I probably own about 10 pairs of black pants at the moment, and yes, I wear them all. Some of them are skinny—a silhouette that I truly don't think will ever go fully out of style—some are straight leg, but what my closet has been missing is a true menswear-inspired wide-leg trouser. I've been searching for the right pair for awhile and have had some misfires, but I've finally found The One, and it's so good, I've been living in this pair for the last month or so. Styling wide-leg pants can be a little tricky, especially if your closet is heavy on longer tops (which look better proportionally with skinnier pants), but I'm here to help. Here's what I'm wearing with my wide-leg trousers.

While the weather hasn't quite gotten the memo that it's officially spring, I'm at least starting to think about what I want my wardrobe to look like this season. One of the most surprising yet welcome developments is that denim maxi skirts appear to be making a comeback. So how serendipitous that this month's most-repinned look from my Outfit ideas for ageless style Pinterest board features that very thing! Coincidentally, as I was putting this collage together, I realized that this look is pretty much a skirt version of the last Get the Look post I featured, so clearly you all are on a black-and-white kick. Hey, if it ain't broke...let's break it down (see what I did there?!).

Inevitably, toward the end of each season, I start to get completely tired of all my clothes and am seized with an overwhelming urge to go buy a bunch of new things. The older (and wiser) I get, the more I try to be as pragmatic as possible about this. I want to make sure I'm investing wisely, and that I'm not going to buy something, wear it for a season, then never wear it again. So before I buy anything new, I've been asking myself three questions: 1) Would I wear this even if it weren't "on trend"? 2) Is it the best quality I can afford at the moment? 3) If it truly doesn't work for me in the end, can I resell it? These three questions have definitely made me slow down and be more conscious about what I'm buying, and that said, everything in this post obviously passed the test. Here are the 5 spring must-haves I'm most excited about.

If it seems like I'm traveling a lot lately, well, I am. I have always loved to travel, and the pandemic pretty much brought that to a screeching halt, so now that life has (pretty much) gone back to normal, I'm making up for lost time. My day job is also 100% remote, which means I can work from anywhere, so when Sean has a business trip in an interesting location, I tag along. And lucky him, he had a work conference in Honolulu last week! Flights from San Francisco to Honolulu were very reasonable and I had a free place to stay (thanks, Sean's work!), so it was kind of a no-brainer. (Although, to be fair, my workdays started at 6:30 a.m., which was an adjustment to say the least.) I mean, who's going to turn down a trip to Hawaii? (Not me!) Here's what I wore.

One of the things I get asked to review most by readers is eyebrow growth serum. Coincidentally, it's one of the items I get pitched most frequently by brands. In the interest of investigative journalism, I have tried many products intended to help brows grow; most of them have made little to no difference. There are all manner of brow serums on the market, at all price points (The Ordinary just came out with a version that's a very accessible $14.50), and if you read the reviews, for every rave, there's another that claims the product did absolutely nothing for them. It's a lot to sort through, so that's why I'm here to share what's given me the best results so far: RevitaBrow Advanced Eyebrow Conditioner. This product was provided to me for free by RevitaLash with no obligation to review, however everything shared in this post is my honest and unfiltered opinion. Read on to see what I thought.

Today is my birthday and I'm 45 years young. I say that because strangely enough, I don't feel like I'm in my mid-40s—I still kind of feel like I'm in my late 20s—and in terms of looks, well, let's say I'm making the most of it. When I was turning 30 (which I was freaking out about at the time, hahahaha), a friend asked me what 18-year-old Cheryl would think of 30-year-old Cheryl, which made me put things in perspective. While many things have changed since then, I remain pretty damn happy with my life overall, and I hope that shows, inside and out. Tonight I'll be celebrating with friends, followed by dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, and here's what I plan to wear.