What's In My Beach Bag/Pool Essentials

I've seen all of the YouTube gurus posting videos about their "essential" pool bag needs. To be honest, I find some of these videos kind of silly. I mean, if you take 20 things to the pool, then you are taking 15 things too much. This is what I think needs to be taken to the pool:

The bag is from Bath and Body Works if anyone was wondering. It's from the Mothers Day VIP bag.
Anyways, in the bag, I have 2 magazines that I need to catch up on, a towel, flip-flops (which would probably be on my feet), and sunblock (the one shown is the Hawaiian Tropic lotion sunscreen with an SPF of 30.I also think that it would be a good idea to have a snack if you were planning to spend the day at the pool or beach, as well as some hand sanitizer, but I have some on my keys, so I wouldn't have it in my bag. You might also consider bug spray, because I know West Nile Virus is a big concern right now.

Last but not least, feminine products would be a good idea as well, if you know what I mean ladies. The little purple bag has a couple of Tampax Tampons in there just in case. The bag is super cute, and it lets me be discrete while I'm on my period. No need for the whole beach to know if my bag spills open that I have tampons in there, especially since most beach bags don't have pockets in them to hide tampons! I also put a couple of hair ties in there so that I can easily find them if I need to pull my hair back. This purple bag is just perfect for those feminine products, and it's girly too. (Alway's new line of tampons work wonders too. They are super discrete and there won't be any leaks to worry about with your bikini! If you are interested in checking out their new line, visit here and here.)


Lets be serious though: The only makeup you need is MAYBE a waterproof mascara. You don't need anything else, because it's just going to wash off in the water. :)

Let me know what you bring to the pool in the comments below!

Disclaimer: The Hawaiian Tropic sunblock and the tampax bag with tampons was provided for review by Influenster. I am not being paid for this post. All opinions are my own.

I Got My Influenster Summer Voxbox!!!

 I got my Influenster Summer Voxbox yesterday in the mail!!! I'm so excited!! Here is the box: 

(It's around 8pm here and the sun is almost set, so the lighting may be a little funky, but hopefully it's manageable!)

I've only had one day to kind of play with the products and try a couple things out, so here's what's in the box and my first impressions (from left to right):

Quaker Soft Baked Bar in Banana Nut Bread: This little bar looks SO good! I haven't tried it yet because I still needed to take pictures for my blog, but the minute I can, I'm going to chow down on that sucker!

Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Color: The minute I saw this, I was ecstatic! My roommate introduced me to magnetic nail polish, and she bought hers from like $15. It wasn't the Sally Hansen brand, but it still looked really cool. The color I got was in Polar Purple, which is perfect because I'm obsessed with the color purple. I can't wait to try this out!

Sally Hansen Nails and Cuticles Hand Creme: To be honest, my first impression was that it smells like sunscreen. I'm not a huge fan of the smell at all, but I put it on anyways, and it's definitely moisturizing. The smell isn't too bad, so I'll still use it, it just isn't my favorite. I'm going to keep using it and see if I grow fond of the smell or not.

Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Lotion Sunscreen SPF 30: Unlike the Sally Hansen Nails and Cuticles Hand Creme, this smells great! It's very tropical and girly, and it's perfect for the summer by the pool or at the beach. This is a 2oz bottle, and I don't know how long that will last, but I'm about to work at a summer camp, so I'll bring it along and see how well it works. I'm very excited for this, though.

Tampax and Always Radiant Collection: Sadly (or not so sadly, depending on how you look at it...) my period literally just finished (TMI? Ok.), so I won't be able to test these out for a couple weeks, but my first impression of these was positive. I liked that they came in the little bag, and that the bag doesn't say TAMPAX all over it. You can throw it in your pool bag or your backpack and be discreet about it. Also, they have redesigned the closures on the tampons, and it looks like they are going to be more sanitary to use. Overall, good so far! I'll test these out the next time mother nature graces me with my monthly gift :P

I'm very happy with this box. It was free, so it's kind of hard to NOT be happy with it, but the products seem promising, as well. I also love getting things in the mail, so I'd been looking forward to this voxbox since the moment I got the e-mail that I would be receiving it!

If you haven't heard about influenster, you can visit influenster.com to sign up! It's free to sign up, and what you do is you answer surveys about yourself so that they can put you in their demographics, and then from there, you earn badges that dictate which box would be right for you! You aren't necessarily going to get a box every time one is available, though. I've been a part of the site since April of 2012, and this was my first box. If you decide to join, just make sure that you unlock the badges that fit you, because from what I understand, that is how you begin to get boxes. Also, if you do receive a box, you have to agree to do a review of the products, not only on their site, but on any other media outlet (blog, youtube, facebook etc.) that you are a part of.

Comment below if you received a voxbox, if you are familiar with/have tried other Influenster voxboxes, or if you have tried any of these products before, and let me know what you thought of them!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!


Disclaimer: Influenster sent me this box for free so that I could review the products inside of it. All reviews are honest.