Welcome to the ultimate FAQ post where you ask & I provide the answers to your most popular questions. I combined all of the questions I received via my Instagram poll and tried to address them all. Most of these answers can be found on posts on this blog if you use the search button on my homepage but I know that sometimes it helps to have answers directly. If you have a question that I didn’t address leave it in the comments and I will do a part 2. Happy weekend!
Tee (S) | Shorts (M) | Shoes (9) | Sunglasses | Girls’ Shoes
SKIN
Current AM skincare routine? First, I wash with my Tula cleanser (save 20% w/ code CRISTIN), then I apply this vitamin c serum. After that I use this sunscreen which also acts as a primer for my daily cc cream. If I’m wearing my foundation instead of a cc cream I will apply this primer after the sunscreen.
Current PM skincare routine? I night I again wash my face with my Tula cleanser then I apply a prescription retin-a from Obagi. I will also use this eye cream and occasionally different serums depending on the condition of my skin.
What are the best products for under eye puffiness? I love these eye patches and have heard this product is also great!
What is the best drugstore under eye serum? This one by Cetaphil, this one by Neutrogena or this one by CeraVe.
What do you recommend for skincare for men? Guys need the same holy grail of skincare products that women do! SPF to protect, Vitamin C to protect, boost collagen & brighten & Retinol to speed up cell turnover. Truthfully I would just get this product because it’s a retinol and vitamin C in one AND it exfoliates the skin. Sephora has an impressive selection of skincare for men as well.
What med/spa or skin treatment do you recommend? Hands down lasering + microneedling. If you don’t want to spend the money then microneedling alone would be great! Also, the best thing that you can do for your skin is to use Retin-A + an exfoliator. Go read this post if you’re interested in skincare!
GloPro or PMD? I’ve only ever used a PMD and definitely thinks that it helps to exfoliate the skin. I’m interested in trying a GloPro though!!
What sunscreen are you using for Scottie? Think Baby! It’s the only sunscreen I’ve found that doesn’t irritate her eczema.
Do you wear sunscreen under your foundation? Yes! Sunscreen always! My two favorites are Neova & EltaMD. Read more about the order I apply my skincare here but I always do serum -> sunscreen -> primer -> foundation. I skip the primer if I’m using a tinted moisturizer!
What products are good for removing dark spots on your face? My skin guru has prescribed a mix of hydroquinone and retin-a and then after I’m done with the hydroquinone (you should only use for 6 weeks) I’ll switch to this pigment corrector.
HAIR
How do you curl your hair? I usually use a 1.5″ curling iron unless I want more beachy waves. In that instance I’ll wrap my hair with a 1″ curling iron. The biggest tip is to let it cool & spray with hairspray before brushing it out! There are a few videos on my YouTube channel.
Do you have hair extensions? No but I take these hair vitamins!
What is your favorite shampoo & conditioner? Read this post for all of my favorite products!!
What hairbrush do you use? I use a huge round brush! You can find it on this page.
Do you have a favorite texturized hair product? LOVE Oribe.
What do you use to get volume at your roots? I use the texturizing spray from Oribe and the dry shampoo by Ouai.
NAILS
Why don’t you like SNS nails? I think that they are too thick (yes even if you do 2 coats) and that they break and chip way easier than gel. Plus it takes FOREVER to soak them off.
What are your favorite nail colors? I rotate between CND Romantique & OPI Funny Bunny. You can see all of my favorite neutrals here. I buy the gel polish on Amazon and take it with me to salons when I get my nails done!!
What black nail polishes do you like? OPI Lincoln Park After Dark, OPI Black Onyx, Essie Licorice.
BEAUTY
Did you like microblading? Where did you get it done? I do! I got it done by Shelley at Clemson Eye in Greenville, SC & I highly recommend her!
Will you do a post about the best beauty product dupes? I have several. This post is all about drugstore makeup, this one is about makeup dupes and you can find a ton more on my beauty tab.
What sunless tanner do you recommend? St. Tropez! You can read all about it here. If you need to know how to apply it they give tutorials on their website!
Where can we view the makeup tutorial you did? Glad you asked! I loaded it to my youtube page!
MAKEUP
What are your favorite lip colors / foundations / cc creams / etc? I have so many!! I keep up with everything I’m loving & trying on my makeup posts. Start there!
Will you do a tutorial on eyelashes? instagramI have them! They are saved on my highlights on .
What is your go-to eyeshadow palette right now? I am still loving this Charlotte Tillbury one but the ultimate is this one by Tarte.
What eye makeup remover do you use? I use this product by itCosmetics.
What is the best eyeliner? How do you keep it from creasing? This is my favorite fancy eyelinerand this is my favorite drugstore one!
I’m in desperate ned of new makeup containers. Any recommendations? I have the ones from Glam Boxes but the Container Store, Nordstrom and Sephora have similar ones too.
Where can you find Tarte Shape Tape / Does it ever go on sale? You can buy it on the Tarte website or at Ulta and it rarely goes on sale! Also, I wear the color “light” if you are wondering!
STYLE
To address ALL the questions about “where did you get that”. You can shop all of my instagram images here. If something is shown in an instagram image and I have the link for it then it will be on that photo on this page. If something is from Amazon then you can find that on my Amazon shop. I also keep up with all of my outfits for my blog on this page.
Top upstate boutiques? Check out my Greenville City Guide!
How tall are you? I’m 5’6″ and usually wear a small on top, medium on bottom, size 4 & size 27 in denim.
If you could only buy one bootie for fall what would it be? These! They are very comfy and run true to size.
Zella or Lululemon? Athleta is my all-around favorite. These are my favorite workout shorts and these are the best leggings. this postI do have a lot of Zella and love it too. Check for a few favs.
Do you have a recommendation for comfy lounge pants? Yep! I have these and love them!
Where is your delicate gold necklace from? It’s a Melanie Auld from Nordstrom.
Where are your sunglasses from? Shop my Ray-Bans here, visit this post for my favorite sunnies and visit this post for even more!
FAMILY
How did you and Zach meet? We were friends at Clemson for years and started dating seriously after college.
How did Scottie learn to swim? I wish there was some program I could direct you to but both of my girls essentially taught themselves. We are at the pool a LOT. Both of them had one or two lessons with a lifeguard to learn the basics and kind of just went from there. We told them they couldn’t go off of the diving boards until they could swim so that was good motivation I guess?
Do you want more kids? Yes and no. Realistically we are 99.9% done. Ideally I would love 3-4 but I also want to be an involved mom and not go completely insane trying to raise these kids. Not that you can’t be involved with many and maintain sanity… just saying it might be hard for me. If (and that is a huge if) I was going to have more it would be when my girls were older so I think we’re done!
What did you major in? Marketing and communications.
Were you in a sorority at Clemson? Yep! I wasn’t super involved because I was on the dance team but I was a member of ADPi.
What are some toys that your girls are loving that keep them occupied? All our favorites are on my amazon page!
BLOGGING
What advice do you have for someone who wants to start a blog? The best advice I have for someone who wants to start a blog is that you don’t need a mentor or someone to answer all of your questions, you just have to get started. And starting anything new takes work and a lot of it. There are so many tutorials on Pinterest, YouTube & the internet for how to start a blog. If you are willing to type “how to start a blog” into google and spend a couple hours on the computer then you will be able to figure it out. If that seems intimidating then maybe a career or intense hobby 100% on the internet isn’t the wisest move. #HarshButTrue For people who aren’t scared to get to work and are looking for a trusted source I would direct you to Blog with Me or Blogdoo. Both of those are bloggers who created platforms to train other aspiring bloggers.
How do you grow your instagram? Through time, lots of time. Time spent curating content, engaging with other accounts, researching hashtags, studying analytics to see what people respond to and not getting frustrated along the way.
What photo editing apps do you use? My favorite two apps are Lightroom for all of my editing and then Snapseed for when I have certain areas of a photo that need lighting, saturation, etc. I also use Planoly to plan out my content & make sure my feed looks cohesive.
How did you get started blogging? I was about to open up a boutique when I lived in Greenville and then I got married and moved about 35 minutes from downtown. When Hayden was about 8 months old I started a website called The Southern Style Guide with the goal of it being a resource for shopping in the South and a place for people discover the best places to shop, eat, stay and play. My end goal was for the site to get enough traffic that I could open up an online boutique and fulfill my retail dreams. I started a blog as a way to drive traffic to the website and quickly learned that I could use a blog to do what I wanted with a boutique, share my favorite finds with others, create curated content and help people shop for clothes and style looks.
FOOD + FITNESS
Are you still doing the Faster Way To Fat Loss? Yes! I am! You can read all about ithere.
Why should I start taking collagen? So many reasons! It helps with your skin, hair, nails, digestion, joints, weight control etc, etc. Here is a great article I found about the 7 reasons collagen is good for you!
What fitness plan are you following? It’s the Faster Way To Fat Loss! Read more here.
What is your go-to breakfast? I do intermittent fasting with the Faster Way to Fat Loss so no breakfast! If I wasn’t doing that it would be 0% Fat Fage Greek Yogurt, berries & bran buds. The fiber + protein will help you stay full and jumpstart your metabolism as your body breaks down the fiber.
HOME
Where is your white bedding from? Pottery Barn! You can find any of my bedroom stuff on this post.
Where is your clothing rack in your room from? It was $35 on Amazon
Where is your desk in your room from? You can find everything from my master here but the desk specifically is from Joss & Main.
Will you share your houseplan? When will your house be done? Where are you building? Our house plan is custom so I won’t share it. You can contact our architect if you want something similar. We are hoping to be in by the end of 2018 and we’re builing between Greenville, SC & Hendersonville, NC. You can keep up with our home build on the @CooperatHome instagram page or on this section of my website.
Such amazing tips, I love these sort of posts because there is always something new to learn and knowing the tips & tricks can make life so much easier.
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