Hilly's hacienda: May 2013

Beauty and the beach

Although it seemed like the warm weather and sunshine was just something we Wisconisinites thought we might just have to live without this year, its here....the sunshine the warm breeze and the smells of Summertime are finally upon us. Finally.

Because Summertime seemed to take its sweet time arriving this year, there was plenty of cold rainy days to do some summertime day dreaming which lead to some shopping! Here are a few of my top must haves for the beach!

1. A bold bathing suit cover up! Cover ups are a must have! I love them, they are bright, they are beachy and they scream summertime and effortless cool. I hit the gold mine at JC Penney a few days ago! Tons of gorgeous colors and all sorts of styles! Here were a few of my faves! I've also repurposed a few of my old scarves as sarongs! Tie them around your waist and just like that, whats old is new!

$19.60 JC Penney

$26.60 JC Penne

$22.00 Kohls

stylebop.com

Had to feature at least 1 Michael Kors $140.00 Macy's

2. Dry sun protection! There is nothing I hate more than feeling oily while enjoy a hot summer day. Thanks to a great suggestion from some friends I discovered Peter Thomas Roth's Uber-dry sunscreen SPF 30. I know $26.00 seems like a fortune for a bottle of sunscreen, but you must understand how much I hate feeling like a grease ball. Its great, not shiny, not greasy and I can even use it on my face and it's absolutely weightless!

Sephora 26.00

It also comes in mineral form for $30.00

Neutrogena Ulta Sheer takes the cake for best drugstore variety. A bit more oily than the Peter Roth, but for 15 dollar range it's pretty good stuff!!

3. A good sunless tan. I have written an entire blog post on this topic, which you can check out, but I can recommend one and only one over the counter brand that I swear by...Lo'real Sublime bronze Pro perfect airbrush mist. For $7.00 is absolutely awesome! Doesn't streak, doesn't smell, fades evenly, doesn't transfer to bedding or clothing and color is buildable and natural.

4. Pretty feet. A pedicure is around $25.00 the price of 5 or 6 Starbucks coffee's and can really help pull a summer look together! Pretty feet make a woman look put together. Its a tiny but noticeable detail. If you don't have $25.00 to spend, a home pedicure can do the trick as well! Here are a few of my all time favorite colors for summer toes!

OPI 'Cajun Shrimp'

OPI 'Senorita Rose'

OPI 'Your a pisa work'

OPI 'Italian love affair'

5. A pair of sassy shades. The cool thing about sunglasses is that you don't need to spend a fortune to find a good pair! My very favorite pair was actually under $10.00 at Tj Maxx.

Franco Sarto sunglasses $9.99 TJ Maxx