review

Lifestyle

When we booked our honeymoon at Sandals, I had no idea what to expect. I had seen the commercials like everyone else, but I was pretty up in the air on what it was really like. And, the online reviews are only so much help.

After we booked and I would talk about the trip with various people, everyone who had visited a Sandals resort raved about it. They would tell me the most amazing, complimentary things to the point where it sounded like an advertisement. But, that made me feel more at ease.

We visited the Sandals Montego Bay resort in Jamaica in December. There are several Sandals in Jamaica, so you definitely need to do your research about which you want to stay at or what part of the island you wanted to be on. That being said, keep in mind this review is based off of that resort! 

Sandals Jamaica, review and was it worth the money

The arrival

Once we landed and made it through customs, we were pointed to the Sandals lounge where they had a drink machine, coffee, snacks, etc. Someone there took our bags and tagged them, so we didn’t have to lug them through the lounge. Within a minute of sitting down and sending Mit to get me a drink, our driver was coming to get me. I mean, we were in the lounge a total of 4 minutes, maybe. Keep in mind we had a private transport as part of our package.

The porter carried our bags to a luxury, clean BMW and the driver took us on the less than 10 minute drive to the resort. He was super friendly and knowledgable, and it was the perfect first impression. Once we got on resort property, it took about 15 minutes to get checked in and in our rooms and then a few more minutes for our bags to arrive. Within half an hour of arriving, I was in my bathing suit and on the beach! 

Sandals Jamaica, review and was it worth the money

The rooms

We had a beachfront walk out room with the tranquility soaking tub. We loved our room’s location— literally you could step on the sand off the porch area. The porch area could also be closed off with a curtain if you wanted privacy, especially because the tub was on the porch (which def seemed odd at first but was exactly super relaxing). It was also great to be able to walk into your room from the beach and not have to walk around all the buildings to get to your “front door.” 

The actual room wasn’t 5-star hotel ish, but it was still nice. The beds weren’t the most comfortable to me, but I was so exhausted at night it didn’t matter. There was also a safe, which we kept rings/phones/ passports while we were in the ocean. I would definitely recommend using it if you have a walkout room because (while I don’t think it would happen) it would be easy for someone to walk in and grab your diamond ring or anything valuable.

If you’re a privacy freak, one of those rooms probably isn’t for you.

The food/drinks

I heard the most mixed reviews on the food, but we had a great experience at all the restaurants we visited (except the Stewfish place, but that was just not an appealing menu in my opinion). While you needed reservations at a few places, you could call that morning to get in for dinner so I didn’t feel super inconvenienced. Also if you have a butler, they will handle that. 

I really liked that the servers didn’t judge you or look at you weird if you ordered two plates or four desserts or whatever. They literally encouraged you to order as much as you wanted! Me and my husband love food, so we definitely liked that.

Of course, the drinks were awesome. I didn’t have one bad drink and neither did my husband. Everything was awesome and they have actual known brands— not some $5 thing they picked up at a corner market. They will also bring full bottles to your room if you ask! 

In full disclosure, I drank liquor and he drank liquor/beer. Neither of us tried the wines.

The butler

In full disclosure, we loved having the butler. If you have extra cash to spend, go for it. But, I’m not positive it’s worth splurging on if you are trying to be as economical as possible. 

The best thing about the butler was by far having them reserve our chairs on the beach (they’ll also do this for the pool too, but we never even got in the pools!). Each night we told them what area we wanted to be in the next day, and they reserved us a great set of chairs with an umbrella. If you don’t get up early and go save your chairs by putting a towel or something else on them, it could be easy to not have a spot. That being said though, it’s not a huge deal to run out there early and throw a beach bag on the chairs you want to save.

Also, the butlers will make your dinner reservations/excursion plans. We had them make our reservations because, why not… but we definitely could have handled that ourselves.

The bottom line is service is so amazing at the resort, you don’t really need the butler to have an amazing experience! We never waited long for drinks or food when we were without our butler.

The excursions

We did one excursion at Montego Bay- the snorkeling trip that also stops by the Jamaican Margaritaville. It was a BLAST. If you like the whole “booze cruise” crazy vibe with music and dancing, its totally for you. Even if you don’t though, it’s still a blast. We did the snorkeling and the famous water slide at Margaritaville, and then relaxed on the boat ride back without getting into the dance party that was happening on the lower deck. 

That trip was $90 a person, and I think it was worth it, primarily for the snorkeling experience.

The final opinion

We’ve already booked our next Sandals trip for this summer! I had the most amazing time, and was both relaxed and energized with all the stuff we did. I don’t think you can beat the Sandals Montego Bay resort, and we’re excited to explore more Sandals locations. Don’t hesitate to join the rewards club while you’re there— its free and you get points for all your Sandals vacations. Just our honeymoon stay got us over $100 off our next trip in points.

Sandals Jamaica, review and was it worth the money

I hope this review was helpful, and let me know if you visit Sandals Montego Bay! 

This post is not sponsored; all opinions are my own.

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Beauty

Ya’ll know I’m a drugstore girl at heart. While I have some pricey-er items in my makeup collection, the majority of it is from the drugstore! There’s so many great, affordable options, that it doesn’t make sense to shell out your hard-earned money for things that just have a popular brand name.

With all that being said, I try a lot of drugstore makeup… and occasionally, I try some not-so-great products. Keep in mind that what doesn’t work for me may very well work for you, but these are items that just didn’t work with my skin and with my normal makeup routine. No offense to any of these brands either, because I own things I love from these lines!

Have you tried any affordable makeup products that just didn’t work for you?

Happy drugstore shopping!

makeup, beauty, Ivana Hrynkiw, Southern Style Diaries

L’Oreal Paris Visible Lift Radiance Booster

I wanted to like this product so bad! I love the way it feels, and I love the way it makes my bare skin look. It feels so hydrating, yet not over-greasy on my oily skin. The problem is that any makeup I put over it— trust me, I’ve tried every foundation I have— falls apart! Foundation that normally looks amazing just totally crumbles on top of this and slides off my face. It also moves around when you try to put powders on top, which is annoying. I tired everything to make this guy work but sadly, I just don’t think it’s meant to be for us. I’m tossing!

NYX Gotcha Covered Waterproof Concealer

Ya’ll know how much I love NYX, and I was so excited to try this. It seemed at first glance like it could be a dupe for IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye…. sadly, it is not. I have the shade Ivory, and it still isn’t as light as I would like it to be for under my eyes. The consistency and texture is similar to BBU, but the coverage and staying power is not. You definitely can still see my dark circles through this, and you have to seriously powder to make the product set. Then, just several hours later its breaking apart. While usually NYX makes my holy grail products, this is going in the trash.

Maybelline Total Temptation Mascara

Eh, this isn’t necessarily trash… but it’s not something you need to spend your money on when there are SO many great mascaras right now at the drugstore! I was really excited for this product after one of my favorite YouTubers raved about it, but I’ve just been disappointed in the results. It’s not awful, but I don’t think it does anything for my lashes compared to other inexpensive options like Lash Paradise and Rocket Lash. The brush is also really big, and I somehow always get it all over my lid. I am going to finish the tube, but won’t be repurchasing.

Wet N Wild Eyeshadow Primer

I swear, this used to be so good! I used to use this all the time, and within the last several months I bought a new tube and it’s terrible. It comes out ok and goes on nicely, but it dries like glue and gives all shadows you put on top a really chalky finish. It also makes a very distinct line for where you have primer on, versus where you don’t… it’s hard to explain, but there’s no way to get clean lines for your crease color or your inner corner highlight! Not that I go super crazy with my eye shadow looks, but it’s still annoying to me. It’s also incredibly hard to take off, and I don’t need that in my life. I’ve already tossed in place of my Maybelline Fit Me concealer that I use as a primer.

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Beauty

If there’s one thing I love, it’s the feeling of a good exfoliator. Maybe it’s just me, but I go crazy over the feeling of using something grainy, and getting out of the shower to have baby-soft skin. Enter, Lush’s scrubee.

This little bee-looking butter bar is an absolute miracle. Its made of ground almonds and coconut shell, with honey, cocoa and shea butters. Scrubee— like a honeybee— has alternating stripes. With scrubee, one stripe is filled with the exfoliators and the next with the moisturizing butters. That means you get the perfect mix of sloughing off your dead skin, while making sure you’re still hydrated and you feel super silky.

I use it mine the shower, and I actually leave it in the shower without any issues of it melting. I rub the flat side of Scrubee across my legs and arms, and then rinse it off pretty quickly. When I get out of the shower, I gently dry those areas without rubbing off all the moisturizing butter. While I usually put lotion on top of those areas anyway, I totally don’t have to because they are so soft.

And use it for tanning!

Also, I have very pale skin and am a HUGE advocate of self tanner. For reference, I use Fake Bake Flawless Darker spray! 

Before I apply it, I like to exfoliate my skin so my tan is more even and sticks better. The scrubee bar is so perfect for this, and it’s become a total necessity for me before I tan! I definitely think my tan lasts longer when I apply it to clean, exfoliated skin.

I love Lush (read about my face mask from the brand), and scrubee has become one of my favorite products there! If you try scrubee let me know how you like it, and let me know if you want to hear more about all of my favorite Lush products!

This post is not sponsored; all opinions are my own

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Beauty

I have been meaning to try the new-ish Wet N Wild Photo Focus Foundation for a few months, but it wasn’t carried at my Walgreens. Recently, I found it at another Walgreens not too far from me, and I knew I had to try it.

I got 2 colors: Porcelain (the lightest shade) and Shell Ivory. Word to the wise- buy lighter/ warmer, than you think you need! I swatched Shell Ivory at the store and thought it looked great. After I purchased it and got in the car, I looked at my hand and it had turned PINK. Like, straight pink. I like my foundations to have a pink undertone- because that’s what my skin looks like naturally- but this was on another level.

I went back and bought Porcelain, which looked way too light but oxidized to a decent match. In the end, I used mostly Porcelain on my face with a few drops of Shell Ivory. The funny thing is, it turned out to be the perfect match.

According to Wet N Wild’s website, the product is tested in 7 lighting conditions to make sure it doesn’t give your face a white cast in flash photos. It says, “Your skin, only better. Our new high-performing, skin-perfecting foundation underwent major road testing under seven different photo lighting conditions to deliver flawless camera-ready makeup every time. Specially made with a matte, light-diffusing complex to give your skin #nofilter perfection.”

Applying the PhotoFocus Foundation

I took pictures of my face right after I finished my makeup, so you can see what the finished look is like immediately. For reference, I applied with a sponge.  No, my pictures didn’t have flash because I’m dumb and didn’t think about that until right now.

Southern Style Diaries, Ivana Hrynkiw, Photo Focus foundation Photo Focus foundation

My first impression was that I LOVED the Photo Focus foundation. It has a beautiful, satin finish and blends so easily with my concealer and other powders. While it was work to find the perfect shade, I ended up with probably the best foundation match I have ever had.

(Yes, my neck looks darker in these pictures, but I went a little hard with the self tanner the night before!)

Photo Focus foundation Photo Focus foundation

Throughout the day, my skin looked amazing. I didn’t use a shine sheet or any powders because I wanted to show ya’ll a true wear test, and honestly I never really felt like I needed to! I would have liked to around 2 p.m., but it wasn’t a dire situation or anything.

12.5 hours later…

I had a crazy day, which made for a really good test for the foundation’s staying power. I went to work, had several interviews, ate three meals, went to the grocery store, and tidied up my house… and at 7 p.m. (approximately 12.5 hours after applying in the morning) it still looked pretty good.

While I wouldn’t say my foundation didn’t budge, it was probably only something I would notice or you would have to be close to see. It settled into lines around my mouth and nose, which ended up moving around and rubbing off a little– but 90 percent of my makeup was still in place.

To be fair, I applied this with a sponge– I usually prefer applying my foundations with a brush, but I wanted to try a sponge for my first impression here. I find if it looks good with a sponge, it will look even better with a brush! Most foundations on my skin tend to have a better staying power with a brush.

Overall, the Photo Focus foundation did amazing things for me. It is a medium coverage, matte but not spackle on your face, insanely affordable product… I’m sold. I could go on about how much I loved it, but I’m trying to be brief here. I will say, I think the website’s description is spot on.

Basically, I’m in love with Wet N Wild’s Photo Focus Foundation and I think it has already made its way into my every day rotation. The foundation is $5.99 online and in Walgreens stores, so it won’t break your break… and you may just fall in love like I did.

Buy it here on Amazon

This post was not sponsored; all opinions are my own

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Beauty

It’s here! The first video in my beauty series. I have always wanted to try Glamglow, but I’ve been skeptical. If I’m paying $69 for a face mask, it better be good. And it is. I bought a Christmas set at Sephora that came with one full size Supermud mask (the white jar), a trial size of Youthmud (the black jar), and a trial size of Thirstymud (the blue jar). Supermud claims to be the best mask for clearing pores, but it doesn’t dry out your skin. I have only tried Supermud and Youthmud so far, and Supermud is by far my favorite. If you’ve ever wanted to try Glamglow but weren’t sure if it was just a gimmick, watch my video and see the results for yourself!

(PS: No, my video skills aren’t perfect. Practice makes perfect, so helpful tips are welcome and appreciated!)

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