Cheryl Shops

Now that it's officially spring, we can start officially talking about spring trends. As I noted last fall when I decided to resurrect trend reports, this is not meant as a directive, e.g. we all need to start wearing this thing right now. In my 20s and even into my 30s, I felt the need to participate in every trend, with mixed results. One of the many great things about getting older, however, is that you have the wisdom to see a trend and think that's not for me. You can also choose not to participate in any trend at all—it's your life and your style, after all—but I always like to stay open to new things. Sometimes you never know how much you'll love something if you don't try it, which is how I feel about the butter yellow color that's all of a sudden everywhere this season. Did it start with Timothée Chalamet's Oscar suit? Or on the runways last fall? Either way, butter yellow is shaping up to be THE color for spring, and I was wary at first, but then I tried it on.

 It's officially spring, so yay to that! I, for one, am staring to get very tired of wearing the same sweaters and pants day after day, to the point that I've stopped shooting daily mirror selfies because I'm boring myself. But the good news is that the days are brighter and longer (I love that the sun sets after 7pm now!), everything is starting to bloom, and new spring things are hitting the stores. The problem with shopping for spring now is that it may be a month or two before you have the opportunity to wear your new things. The weather can go from one extreme to another this time of year—ask my mom about the time it snowed on Mother's Day—but the best thing you can do is check the forecast, get creative with layering, and go with the flow. Here are a few ways I'm starting to transition to spring outfits. 

I first started using the term "going-out tops" in college, when I had a collection of crappy, mostly polyester tops that I'd wear out to the bars or frat parties. I say crappy because they were not the highest quality—most of them probably came from Contempo Casuals, where I worked—but that was intentional, because they'd inevitably end up smelling like smoke and beer at the end of the night (remember when you could smoke indoors in the '90s?!), so I didn't mind if they got somewhat ruined. I paired my going-out tops with jeans or, if I was really getting dressed up, with black pants, all of which were low rise and bootcut. Once I started working and could afford something slightly nicer, I started collecting more grown-up going-out tops from Intermix (R.I.P.), Scoop, (same), or various sample sales in NYC. But then I settled down and while I still went out—more to restaurants than to clubs—I gravitated toward more subdued, serious clothes. After all, I didn't need to catch anyone's eye anymore! Fast-forward 15 years, and I'm in a different (and happy!) relationship now, but I am much more social, especially post-pandemic. Whether I'm meeting my girlfriends for drinks or going out to dinner with another couple, I've found myself struggling in recent years with what to wear. San Francisco is definitely a low-key town when it comes to fashion, but especially since I'm dressed pretty casually for most of the day, I really want to make an effort in the evening. And that's when it hit me: I didn't have any going-out tops! 

 For women of a certain age, I tend to think of makeup before Bobbi Brown and after Bobbi Brown. In BBB times, women wore bright, garish colors on their lips and eyes, heavy allover foundation, and everything was just a little overdone, not to mention mismatched in tone. Bobbi Brown was a makeup artist who favored a more natural look, and she launched her line at Bergdorf Goodman in 1990 with 10 revolutionary, neutral lipsticks that sold out immediately. Estée Lauder bought the line in 1995, and Bobbi herself ran it until 2016, when she stepped down (and later started the excellent Jones Road). There have been many makeup lines launched ABB, but you can't ignore how influential it's been. We have Bobbi Brown to thank for the no-makeup makeup look, neutral- and yellow-toned foundations, and the undeniable power of blending. And while it's been nearly 10 years since the founder herself left her namesake line, Bobbi Brown continues to make some of my favorite makeup on the market. While I haven't personally tested the entire line, I counted 14(!!!) products in my medicine cabinet that I use on the regular, many of which are holy-grail status for me. While I received all of these items for free from Bobbi Brown, this is not a sponsored post, and the following are my honest and unfiltered thoughts. These are the best Bobbi Brown products.