Best Neutral Pieces for Endless Spring Outfit Combinations

Wrap Blouse: ASOS / Jeans: JCrew
Heels: Levity (Similar) / Handbag: Tory Burch Crossbody
Initial Necklace: Kate Spade / Sunglasses: Sperry (Similar) / Earrings: Givenchy

Spring is officially here and it’s nowhere near close to warm weather yet! There was a big snowstorm that came through Wednesday and we got about a good 5 inches of snowfall here in Philadelphia. Luckily I was able to work from home with my laptop and was cozy at home (for those of you who are new followers here is a little background about myself).

At the beginning of each new season I go through my wardrobe and either keep, toss, or donate my clothes (this reminds me of Carrie Bradshaw from the first Sex and the City movie.. of course minus the closet fashion show and champagne..). I do tend to wear neutral colors year-round such as white, black, gray, beige, blush so I make sure to do a refresh of these pieces.

Neutrals are so easy and simple to pair with just about anything. I love this white wrap blouse from ASOS by River Island. I like the bow wrap detail on the side which really elevates this neutral blouse. The material of this blouse is lightweight chiffon and the blouse is slightly sheer which is perfect for those spring days. I  paired this look with my favorite high rise ankle jeans from JCrew. These jeans honestly fit so well and I just love the skinny fit. These jeans don't have a gap in the waist which is soo important to us curvy women! Also, a neutral purse is always a good addition for spring.  One of my newer purchases is the Tory Burch Robinson leather wallet crossbody bag in the camel color. I know I will be getting alot of use out of it!

Let’s talk about my hair. So I always use this 1 1/4 inch curling iron by Hot Tools to create the waves in my hair. However, I had bought a 1 1/4 inch tapered curling wand by Hot Tools from Ulta a while back and realized I had never used it so I figured since I had some extra time to get ready so why not try it out? I really loved the waves that the wand created and will definitely be using it more! Also, I am really loving the half up top knot trend and it’s so simple to do! Let me know in the comments below if you would want to see a video on how to achieve this hairstyle!

Colorful Striped Dress For The First Day of Spring

Striped Midi Dress: Zara / Jacket: French Connection
Shoes: Sam Edelman (On Sale!) / Purse: Saint Laurent
Aviator Sunglasses: Nicole Miller (Similar) / Earrings: Givenchy

Happy first day of spring! One of the trends for spring I am loving are colorful striped dresses. This striped midi dress from Zara is seriously giving me life especially since the current forecast in Philadelphia is about 9 inches of snow!

Zara is one of my favorite places to shop for affordable fun pieces and I never fail to walk out of there without a few new additions to my wardrobe. Before every new season I love popping by Zara for updating my wardrobe. I’ve started building my spring wardrobe one piece at a time and thought this striped dress would be a great edition. It’s such a fun and easy knit dress to throw on and works perfectly for any occasion. This dress would also be perfect for any casual occasion paired with white sneakers and a simple jean or leather jacket.

I also love that the length of this dress is midi with a touch of detail with the gathered material. This dress comes in three colors: black and two different colorful prints. I think I am going to get the black one also! I also linked a few of my other favorite colorful dresses below!

Resort Review: CHIC by Royalton Luxury in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Today on the blog I am sharing my resort review of the CHIC by Royalton Luxury in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  But first, a few outfit photos as requested from our trip!

Floral Off The Shoulder Dress: Express / Sandals: ASOS (Similar)
Crossbody Purse: Tory Burch / Sunglasses: Sperry (Similar)

Tassel Beach Romper Coverup: ASOS / Sandals: Steve Madden (Also here)
Sunglasses: Sperry / Straw Tote: H&M (Not pictured)

Full blog post on this look is HERE.

Dress: Tularosa (One of my favorite dresses!) / Sandals: Steve Madden
Crossbody Purse: Tory Burch

Now onto the review of the CHIC by Royalton Luxury in Punta Cana in Dominican Republic.

My husband and I have been to Punta Cana several times and this time we decided to switch it up and stay at the CHIC by Royalton Luxury.  One of the reasons we love visiting Punta Cana is because it’s only a 4 hour direct flight from Philadelphia so if you leave early enough in the day you will still have a full day ahead to enjoy yourself!

TRANSPORTATION + TRAVEL

Once we arrived in Punta Cana, our travel agent had booked us a private car so we were able to get through the airport quickly and were off to the resort in no time. I highly recommend a private car in Punta Cana because if you book a shuttle service there will be other people on the shuttle with you. The shuttle will make stops at other resorts.. so what may seem like a short trip will end up taking anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours. From the airport to the resort it was about 45 minutes in our private car.

CHECK-IN PROCESS

Once we arrived at the resort we were greeted with hand towels and a tropical drink. We were escorted over to the Diamond Club to check in (which we paid extra for and highly recommend – more on that below). Check-in was a breeze. I liked that instead of a room key you have a bracelet which you swipe to get in and out of your room – makes life so much easier than having to remember to carry around a room key! The Diamond Club definitely made the trip. I think without this amenity our stay would have fallen flat. In the Diamond Club you get your own butler (shoutout to Omar and Samuel who went out of their way to take care of us), top shelf alcohol, and access to Diamond Club lounge – drinks and snacks always stocked from the morning to 11PM, your own beach and bar area, access to the Mermaid pool and a few other amenities which we didn’t use (i.e. unpacking and packing luggage service, ironing, etc.).

ROOMS

The resort has 320 rooms which all have modern touches and are very spacious. I did wish that the dresser was larger since it only had three small drawers. I did like the bathroom vanity area – there were two sinks and also a magnified mirror. There was also a large tub next to the shower in the middle of the room. We would have to remember to close the blinds if you were showering since we had a swim up room next to the beach area so people can definitely see into your room. There were also a lot of bugs outside. I didn’t notice them on the first or second day but by the third day we made sure to keep the swim up pool side doors shut at all times. The cleaning service also came by twice daily – once in the morning and once at night. Another feature which I really liked is that you could order room service straight from your television! Another added bonus, an in-room, ready pour drink dispenser! WiFi was also great through-out the entire resort!

BEACH + POOL AREAS

The beach was extremely clean and I didn’t see any seaweed that was on the shore. The waves were high though so there was either a yellow or red flag out each day. There were plenty of chairs and huts to sit under at the beach. The Diamond Club also has their own beach area complete with their own bar. So you could essentially sit in a cabana on the beach without having to pay extra which is an amenity I really liked.

There was one big pool, a smaller pool next to it with a swim up pool bar, and the Mermaid pool (for Diamond Club members). The activities near the pool area were fun. I participated in Zumba and Spin aerobics. There was a foam party during the day on Saturday (I believe these parties happen twice a week). We did have to play the pool chair game so if you were at the pool after 11AM you won't be able to find a chair. So one of the days we did end up purchasing a bottle and a cabana since there were no available lounge chairs but it was worth it to have your own area especially if you are with a group.

FOOD + DRINKS

One of my favorite things about the resort was that they had a specialty coffee shop. Every morning we would try a new drink – from lattes, to cappuccinos, to frappuccinos - they had it all. I thought that the food was very good at the resort! We tried the Middle Eastern restaurant the first night. The tabbouleh, wings, lamb with couscous, chicken with rice were amazing. The next night we tried the Italian restaurant, Vespa, which was also great. Our favorites were the Diablo pizza and Lasagna. The last night we had dinner at the Steakhouse, Hunter. We had the tuna carpaccio, Cesar salad, French onion soup, and filets. We were able to arrange our dinners seamlessly through the Diamond Club. During the day we primarily ate around the pool. We had the most amazing chicken burgers everyday and fries (just thinking about this is making me hungry.. it was THAT good!).

RESORT ACTIVITIES

We participated In a few of the activities. As I said before I did the Zumba in the pool and also the Spin class in the pool. There were nightly parities set up each night. My favorite was the circus themed party on the first night (Wednesday) which was in the lobby area. There was also weekly foam parties. To our disappointment, the Casino was also closed randomly on Wednesday and Thursday and then randomly opened Friday and Saturday night. Lastly, we also got massages at the spa. The Spa was really nice, however, the sauna/steam room weren't working also to my disappointment.

All in all we had a good time. There were a few things that should have been told to us when we checked in about certain amenities not being available instead of us having to find out ourselves later on (i.e. Casino + Spa) but other than that we had a great vacation! It's always nice to get away someplace warm during the winter!

Tassel Romper Beach Coverup in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Tassel Beach Romper Coverup: ASOS / Sandals: Steve Madden (Also here)
Sunglasses: Sperry / Straw Tote: H&M

Today I’m sharing with you all a beach look I wore while vacationing last week in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. This romper is super comfortable and versatile. I love how the tassel is colorful but the romper itself is very neutral. I ordered this romper last minute from ASOS but thankfully it arrived on time! Shoutout to ASOS and their fast two day shipping! Even though I wore this as a beach look I think it would be cute to wear on its own in the summer!

I am also currently working on a travel review of our time at the Chic Royalton which will be on the blog Thursday! So make sure to check that out too!

You can also shop some of my favorite romper coverups below.

PHLUR Fragrance Review

Embroidered Blouse: H&M / Jeans: JCrew

Anyone else feel that buying a fragrance is such a task? It’s like when you walk into a department store the salespeople are ready to pounce from all sides. It’s honestly way too overwhelming. Luckily I was contacted by this new company called PHLUR to test out their fragrances and after reading up on their brand I agreed to do it.

PHLUR fragrances are “cruelty-free, and free of skin allergens, parabens, phthalates, unnecessary stabilizers and animal products.” Each bottle is opaque and made with 20% recycled-glass which helps to protect the fragrance from damage. All the fragrances are gender neutral so you can pick any of them! Oh, the icing on the cake? Every $5 from each full bottle purchase is donated environmental organizations worldwide.

So here’s how it works. For $18 you choose 3 bottles that are 2mL (this supply will last about a month). If you love the product you have 30 days to apply the $18 towards the $88 price of a full 50mL bottle. Basically you are getting the sample for FREE! Score.

The three scents I chose were:

Olmstead & Vaux
 “BRIGHT, CRISP AND ULTIMATELY CLEAN”

Greylock
"REFRESHING AND RESTORATIVE; AN EXPRESSION OF NATURE AND NEW”

Hepcat
“COARSE AND FEARLESS MEETS SMOKY AND RAW”

When the box arrived I was so excited. I opened the minimalistic white and grey box, unfolded the inner envelope which was lined with a bright blue color, and found my samples had arrived in perfect condition. Each fragrance comes in its own compartment making getting each scent in and out easy.

I decided the best way to test out the fragrances was to try one per day over the length of a weekend – Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

On Friday I tried Olmstead & Vaux which I would say is my favorite out of the three as this fragrance has citrus tones. Every now and then I would get a whiff of a fresh clean smell and realized it was me! This scent I could easily wear every day. On Saturday I tried Greylocke. This fragrance has earth tones and reminded me of New England which is where I grew up and was raised. I love when a scent brings you back to a time in your life. On Sunday I tried Hepcat which had more of a woody and leathery scent . Not going to lie, I would love for my husband to try this one! All of these scents lasted a good part of the day on my skin – anywhere from 6 to 10 hours depending on which fragrance!

The verdict: I would definetly purchase a full size bottle after trying these three samples! Click here to try out PHLUR fragrances.