Just like that Jessica Andrews song that Leighton Meester sings in Country Strong, I am a SUMMER GIRL of the highest order. Now that there’s actually snow on our Minnesota ground I am experiencing major winter blahs. I miss tan skin, sundresses, messy waves and how sexy everyone looks when it’s like 100 degrees outside and the humidity is high. Ideally I’d like to spend the rest of my days in a bikini on a beach. I feel like a mega babe in the summer and I definitely do not feel that way right now.

I’m channeling my summer lust into beauty products, naturally. I nicked some inspiration from my current major girl crush, Cat Marnell at xojane.com - she likes to smell like summer and turned me on to Mario Badescu’s Summer Shine Lotion, which is only $10 for that amazing “skin/suntan lotion that’s mostly faded/sunshine” smell I am in love with. It doesn’t smell like some putrid tropical drink - just smells like summer. It works even better when you layer it like I do with Bobbi Brown Beach perfume (jasmine, seaweed, air, Coppertone) and/or Skin Musk, which I most definitely paid about $10 for at Wal-Mart and layer with all sorts of things. (SJP bought all the Bonne Bell Skin Musk oil when they discontinued it and that was a tipping point for Lovely, which is a fragrance that is so not me but I kind of like playing with anyway. This Skin Musk is a little different and probably not as good, but I’m all about Wal-Mart cheap beauty thrills as you’ll see in the future if I blog like a good girl.)

I’m always amused when magazines do “beach hair tutorials” because that’s basically my natural hair texture. My hair + a day at the lake = perfect combination. But because I bleached the shit out my hair when it was platinum and am now trying to coax it back to happy, my waves are kinda meh. I stumbled upon Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe texture spray when prowling around CVS for beauty products, which is one of my favorite things to do in the world. $6 later (versus $22, which I almost shelled out for Bumble & bumble Surf Spray) my wavy crazy mermaid curls are back. It even smells (and tastes) like saltwater.

Next on my “beach beauty” list: Comptoir Sud Pacific Aqua Motu perfume, perhaps J Lo Miami Glow perfume (LOL for real, I know, but I wear Glow and it smells fab) and several spray tans via the greatest tanning salon in the Twin Cities, Golden Tan.