so with tomorrow being the official start of summer i thought i’d share with you some of my favorite summer must-haves.

not that i’m into a full-made up, kardashian face during the rest of the year, but during summer i try to pare down the make-up and hair even more.

basically my look goes from “homeless lady” to “homeless lady with tousled, beach hair.“

how pared down?

i even stop painting my toes.

i try to tell myself this has nothing to do with my laziness and inability to sit still letting them dry, and IS because i prefer a more bare, summer look.

plus who has the time to sit in a nail chair for an hour during the summer?

i don’t know about you, but if i have a free hour it’s not going to be arguing my ethnicity with a nail tech.

to the ladies at finest nails: for the 10,000’th time!!! i swear to god i am japanese…not vietnamese!

i think my grandparents would know.

here are a couple of my summer essentials:

for years i’ve lived and died by my elta sunscreen. if ever i had to make the choice between my smokin’ hot hubby and my elta….well, let’s just say it’s been a beautiful nine years honey.

but a couple of months ago i was given a sample of this suntegrity sunscreen.

elta who?

it literally is a three-in-one wonder: moisturizer, sunblock, & primer; and it smells heavenly.

cruelty free, vegan, and rated #1 by the EWG for safety, suntegrity sunscreen also protects, calms, & soothes skin with yummy ingredients like green tea, cucumber, & pomegranate.

this sunscreen is also spin class proof. i can wear it in a room full of hot, sweaty, fellow psychopaths, and it never burns my eyes.

don’t be discouraged by the initial whiteness of the application…it completely disappears when rubbed in.

i’m also addicted to suntegrity’s self-tanner.

super subtle with no funky smell; i put it on before i go to sleep and wake up looking very, well-rested…aka less like a crack-head.

my name is katie and i’m sea salt spray-aholic.

some girls have to buy a new bikini every summer, with me it’s sea salt-spray for my hair.

ever since my first bottle of bumble & bumble’s surf spray {a brand i do NOT recommend} with its ocean scent and its promises of a johnny utah/point break i was sold.

each year i test a new bottle……..okay sometimes multiple bottles.

but i always keep stock of john masters organics sea mist.

it’s like a hot, laguna beach girl trapped in a bottle, waiting to escape and unleash her sultry magic on your hair.

a couple of sprays to your dry mop and your hair’s all: “hey muthafuckas, let’s go build some sand castles with our sexy.”

or at least that’s what i tell myself.

as i sit at home on a friday night.

on the couch.

reading highlights magazine and eating copious amounts of talenti gelato.

with sea salt spray in my hair.

just the heady jasmine-mimosa-scented combo bite of odacitè’s jasmine mimosa body scrub is enough to throw down your amex card.

typically scrubs & washes smell lovely, but the joyfulness of whatever fragrance you’re paying for rinses down the drain.

not in the case of this dull skin remover.

a certified organic company, all of odacitè’s products are vegan and cruelty-free, but medical grade effective.

their night-time serum is a game face changer.

but right now i’m loving crazy on this hardworking scrub that leaves my elbows and knees baby soft, and smelling savannah-sweet.

in the summertime i also like to switch to kai deodorant.

a cult-favorite fragrance, it’s a little oxymoronic to associate such a beautiful scent with deodorant, but kai is awesome.

like all of my other products listed it, too, is all-natural, vegan and cruelty free, without aluminum and other harmful, nasty chemicals.

it makes me laugh when i get complimented on how nice i smell, and i have to divulge, “it’s my deodorant.”

 so i showed you mine…what are some of yours?

any summer essentials you’d like us to know about?

wishing you a weekend of shaved-ice, sandy toes, and flip-flop clod feet {nail polish not required.}

love,

katie