Cheryl Shops

It's peak summer in the northern hemisphere at the moment, but in San Francisco, we're approaching the time of year I affectionately call Fogust. (That would be fog + August = Fogust.) Today, it was glorious and sunny; I wore a T-shirt and linen pants. Yesterday, it was drizzling and so chilly, I put on a leather jacket. Long story short, layers are the way to go here. My go-to outfits lately might not look anything like what you've been wearing recently, but they're always an option any time of year in northern California. Here are some of my favorite recent looks. 

I have always had very fine, thin hair, but in the last year or so, I've noticed in photos that it looks even thinner than ever. Thinning hair can happen for a number of reasons—illness, stress, diet, over-styling—but for many of us, it's a natural part of aging. Which doesn't make it any easier. There are a ton of products on the market to address this, with varying degrees of efficacy. The most proven ingredient for hair regrowth is minoxidil, which requires a doctor's prescription and comes with its own set of side effects. The question is, can you rely on more natural, plant-based methods to help address hair loss? Vegamour kindly sent me a package from their highly regarded GRO line to try, and the following are 100% my own unfiltered opinions. Here's my honest review of Vegamour GRO. 

I have a complex relationship with Amazon; I find shopping it to be a frustrating experience if you don't know exactly what you're looking for, because there's so. Much. Stuff. I've also really dialed back the amount of clothing and accessories I buy on the site, because, really, most of it is junk. That said, Amazon sells many legit brands and products that I use on the regular, it's incredibly convenient, and to be honest, I probably order from it two or three times a week. And because I am human—or maybe just because I'm a shopping blogger—I do get a little excited about the deals they offer during Prime Day, which happens to be today and tomorrow. As with shopping any sale, it's best not to get too emotional about it; the thing I always ask myself is whether I'd still buy something if it were full price. Which is why Prime Day is a great time to stock up on staples: beauty products, kitchen items, and gadgets that you need to replenish and won't get all dopamine-boosted about. You can shop all of my Prime Day Picks in my Amazon shop (there are more than what I've listed here), but read on for more on the items I own, use, and would highly recommend. 

It's that time of year again: the time when influencers take a stand about not covering the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale...then a few days later, cave in and share their picks. I, on the other hand, will proudly cover it from the get-go, because, let's face it, I always end up shopping this sale—proudly. First, some key dates to know:

• Icon cardmembers can shop starting today, 7/9
• Ambassador cardmembers can shop starting tomorrow, 7/10
• Influencer cardmembers (that's me!) can shop starting Wednesday, 7/11
• Everyone else can shop starting Monday, 7/15 through Sunday, August 4th. 

Nordstrom seems to have fixed their pandemic-era stock issues, or at least they did last year—I ended up buying most of what I featured—so I'm following the same format this year. First up: my shortlist Nordstrom Anniversary Sale picks for 2024. 

The idea of a capsule wardrobe is not new; I was first introduced to them by Lucky Magazine (R.I.P.) which had a recurring feature called the Lucky Closet (or something like that) where they'd mix and match a set number of pieces to create infinite outfits. Bloggers and influencers have embraced the concept in more recent years, but I've found I'm often underwhelmed by the results. Too many "classics" or "essentials" and you've got a bunch of really boring basic outfits. It is quite challenging to pick a very limited number of pieces to mix and match, and that's why I've never featured a capsule wardrobe here before—until now. I am not a stylist, but in the interest of getting more wear out of my closet this month, I challenged myself to come up with 10 outfits using only 10 pieces, and I tried to pick the most interesting (yet versatile) ones I could find. Here's what I came up with.