Charleston - The Stripe
  • It’s Wednesday so there’s an all new episode of @badonpaperpodcast waiting for you in iTunes! This week we’re chatting with our pal @chinaealexander. We talk about the worst New York apartments (toilet in the kitchen!? 💩🙄), keeping things real on Instagram, her holy grail beauty products, a trick for gaining confidence when you’re feeling like shit, a dating app success story + (her hot new bf 🔥 - so many of you guys asked us to ask her about him!!!) and MORE so go listen right now and then leave us a review pretty please. And if you already did that, go to TheStripe.com and read my ice roller review bc it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. So much #content for you guys today! 🤣 xoxo (📸: @carterfish)
  • I always say this but the best part of my job is 100% the people I get to meet. Today I got to meet one of my heros, @tcofoley; the founder of @follain. I was honestly a little bit starstruck... she is a true pioneer in the beauty space, and her stores are AMAZING. (As background, before blogging, before BaubleBar, I worked in the beauty biz for 8 years - that will always be what I'm most passionate about.) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I remember the first time I ever went to a @follain store. It was maybe 4 or 5 years ago while visiting Boston. I was so... for lack of a better word... jealous! Jealous that we didn't have something like that here in New York: a place where you could buy all of your favorite clean beauty products (and more importantly but also dangerously - discover new ones!) in one place. Now, clean beauty is trendy and becoming one of the norms. But back then it was really hard to find the products I wanted, let alone discover new things. I'm about 80% clean, for the record. I am always testing and trying new things for the blog but I do try to stick to a mostly clean routine. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Today, @follain has a beautiful store in the West Village so there's no need for us NY'ers to be jealous of Boston anymore. They don't carry full product lines - they just carry their favorite products from each line. And they're rapidly developing their own (AMAZING) product line. Tara and I sat down for an hour today and she found me some clean alternatives for several of my favorite products. I'll never give up my beloved Dr. Bader (sorry - keeps me young!) but I am excited to try a clean alternative to retinol, a new eyeliner, and all of Follain's new line. (Especially excited to try the new body scrub and oil!) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Also no this is not an ad; just a super fan!!!!
  • LET'S TALK ABOUT DATING! I don't talk about dating too much over here (mostly because telling men that you're an "influencer" is awkward enough - they always think I'm going to talk about them here - LOL... they should be so lucky 😉 🙈) The one thing I've been very outspoken about is how much I love @hinge. Hinge has always has been my dating app of choice. I work a LOT and I'm on my phone a LOT, and because of those things I don't like to spend a ton of time to spend on dating apps. For that reason, I only use one app and that app is Hinge. I like that average Hinge users only spend 8 minutes a day setting up dates and then getting out and actually meeting! (So to those of us who say we are too busy - cough cough, me 🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️ - you aren't. Anyone can spend eight minutes a day!) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Hinge encourages us to interact with people the way we would in real life. The icebreaker questions give you an idea of someone's sense of humor and worldview, making it easy to start unique conversations and tell if you're going to connect offline. (But it also needs to be said - the guys are very cute too🔥.) It's how I met the last few people I've seriously dated and I've gotten all my single girlfriends to use it too. I'm going to work on a bigger blog post about online dating tips & tricks but can't recommend Hinge enough - I've met some amazing people using it! #hinge #partner
  • monday evening mood. I will be honest... I’m not in bed, I am only just now sitting down to write tomorrow’s blog post but I can’t complain, not even a little bit. Life has been moving extremely fast lately and I couldn’t be more grateful- I’m never bored and always feel excited about what’s happening next! Tonight at drinks me and @casefaceb and @beccamfreeman were talking about how amazing it is that you can really just do anything if you put your mind to it. Sure you may not make any money for a while and maybe it’s hard, but if you really love what you’re doing who cares!? And that’s how I feel about our little podcast. We are a little crazed, a little tired, a little clueless (okay a lot) but also having the time of our lives and I’ve never been more excited about what’s to come! (📸: @carterfish)
  • Pretty sure an unhealthy dose of self-confidence is all you really need to get ahead in life. I told @beccamfreeman we would sell out our first @badonpaperpodcast live show at @carolinesonbway and she laughed at me. But now here we are two weeks away and all sold out. It felt like a crazy goal but I knew we could do it. (We still can’t spell though, we are better readers than we are writers, I guess.) Can’t wait to see everyone there on April 1st and thanks so much to everyone who has supported us and bought tickets and rated, reviewed, and subscribed. More live shows to come!!!!! ❤️✨❤️
  • They say it takes 21 days to create a habit, which is exactly how many days I’ve been using @EucerinUS Advanced Repair Foot Cream after it was suggested to me by @annaguanchemd. #AD Every night, no matter what, before bedtime. Even with regular pedicures my feet get so dry – especially my heels. This gives them a dose of INTENSE MOISTURE. After three weeks of doing this religiously, my feet look and feel so much better and I’ve built a habit – I never forget to do it! Linking the product in my Instashop (link in bio). Please consult your medical professional for your personal skincare recommendations. #EucerinUS #thedermiseucerin
  • finding a “Happy Saint Patrick’s Day” photo is pretty easy when you almost exclusively wear emerald green. Sooooo, happy Saint Patrick’s Day, from me and my favorite color. (📸: @carterfish)
  • A Friday question for you guys... what are you doing to push yourself? I’ve talked about this before but continuing to learn and grow as an adult is something that’s become so important to me. Sometimes I feel like I was smarter in college and that scares me. 😐I pushed myself a lot with travel last year. This year I’m letting myself get back into a routine (it’s boring but I am actually happiest when I’m home and sticking to a routine) but here are some small things I’m doing to challenge myself a bit! 1. Reading smarter books. Not always, but at least one a month. 2. Keeping a running list of words I don’t know to look up and work into conversation. 3. Dance class because it’s fun and I’m working on my coordination/have always wanted to be a better dancer. I also want to figure out a way to challenge myself creatively. Maybe a painting or photography class. We will see! What about you? It can be the tiniest thing but I’m all about small steps that lead up to bigger changes. 😊 Also this outfit is on TheStripe.com today so pop on over and check out todays post! Have a great weekend guys - it’s been a fun but long week over here and I’m about to take a long bath and have a hot date with Tyrion and my DVR. ❤️❤️❤️ (📸: @carterfish)