Because I would love to hear your recommendations.

First, this (Jo Malone Grapefruit) is not my regular perfume. My regular perfume is Bond No. 9 Nuits de Noho, which is a kinda musky vanilla-y scent not too dissimilar from Thierry Mugler's Angel, but less sweet and a bit sexier. I love it. I'm also feeling in the mood to try something different.

I brought the Jo Malone with me to Cali mostly because I want to leave as many personal care-type products here as possible when we make our return trip, and the shot-glass-sized bottle (1 oz) seemed like the right amount to last me the summer. And I thought the Grapefruit scent would be nice and fresh. But as it turns out…eh. I've heard great things about Jo Malone scents (and very much want to try out this one and this one), but the Grapefruit? I like it okay, but I don't know that it's really "me."

I don’t get to go to the spa too often. I mean, who does? It’s expensive and time-consuming, and is more of a (very) occasional indulgence than a regular occurrence. But some concentrated pampering time sounds good at the moment, and so: at-home spa day it is.

Obviously Spa Water is a must, both because hydration is the ultimate beauty cure and because cucumber water is delicious and makes getting all that hydration much more appealing.

Happy almost Fourth of July!

Let’s talk about makeup.

Because oh my goodness, last Fourth of July I did not handle the heat particularly well, beauty-wise (we went to a farm, and I basically transformed into a sweaty sheep).