2013 Swim Suit Guide Series

With the passing of Memorial Day, it is unofficially summer! Time for days lounging at the beach, picnics at the lake, festive outdoor concerts, backyard barbecues, and for some girls, the dreaded swimsuit season. If you're like me, you've been workout more in preparation as well as looking into bathing suits guides for your body. Here at Vintage Danielle, the Swimsuit Guide 2013 has begun!!

Over the next few days, I'll be posting about how to find the right swimsuit for your body, methods on moisturizing and exfoliating your skin, simple toning techniques that will show progress in two weeks or less, how to dress around a bathing suit for when you're out on the town, hottest trends of the season, and my favorite bathing suits of the season, all right here!

So let's get started right now with preparing your body and skin to look its best! Your skin is your best accessory with swimsuits. You're showing it off the most during summer and with a little preparation, you'll want to show yourself off baby!

THREE KEY elements to glowing beach ready skin are: exfoliation, moisturizing, and self tanning.

Exfoliation

Use a gentle everyday body scrub. I like St. Ives Apricot Gentle or Renew & Firm Scrub for my face, legs, arms, and stomach. Rub the scrub in a circular motion, spending a few extra seconds on rough spots like knees, elbows, and feet. An oil-based version will give you extra hydration. Doing this everyday will also help make shaving your legs much easier and smoother.

If you suffer from body acne like back acne, purchase a simple loofah on a stick and rub with a body acne wash with salicylic acid like Neutragena Body Clear Wash.

Moisturizing

After sloughing off the dead skin cells, you'll need to hydrate the new ones! After your morning shower and before going to bed at night, make it a point to moisturize your skin. Pick a moisturizer that is tailored to your skin care needs. Focus in on your knees, feet, and elbows. One trick I use to soften my feet and hands is this magical jelly.

If your feet took a beating during the colder months, get them flip flop ready by placing your feet in a large bowl of equal parts warm milk and water. The lactic acid naturally eats away at dead skin. After five minutes, buff away any calluses and rough spots with a pumice stone. Afterwards, treat your little piggies to a fun nail polish!

Self Tanning

One way to prepare your body for summer is to give it a little faux glow. I'm not a fan of tan beds or tanning in general. A little color is not worth risking your life with skin cancer. I like self tanning because it's harmless and you can do it in the comfort of your own home. To warm up your skin, try a gradual self-tanner moisturizer like Jergens Natural Glow Revitalizing Daily Moisturizer. It'll take five to seven days for your skin color to look is tannest; afterward, apply the lotion every other day to maintain your glow. 

Here are some tips on how to apply it correctly!

If you don't have 5-7 days, try a body bronzer! You'll achieve a tanned look right away and it'll last until you're next shower. Don't forget to use a gradual self-tanner moisturizer, specific to your skin tone, and matte bronzer (where the sun hits you) for your face.

Read here on how to hide bumps, bruises, spider veins, stretch marks, and more!!

How do you prepare for your swimsuit?


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Sweating And Looking Badass

It's been roughly 6 weeks since my jaw reconstructive surgery and I've been given the clear by the docs to start up my exercising again which is great because summertime is fastly approaching. Swimsuits are filling up stores, diet tips, and exercises are filling up my pinterest, so I might as well get on board with the nation's annual Spring health kick. I even went out and bought some more fruit and veggies and didn't look at the ice cream isle, which used almost all my willpower itself ;)

I signed up for Tone It Up's free Bikini Series which includes 8 weeks of workout plans, uplifting exercise videos, prizes, much need motivation, nutritional tips, recipes, and much more! Tone It Up is run by best friends, Karena and Katrina, and have been titled "New Faces of Fitness" by Jane Fonda and Marie Claire names them the ‘Power Duo".

Besides trying to get my sweat on and my lazy ass off the computer (sometimes even putting on my sports bra is a mental hassle!), window shopping at cute summer clothes helps fuel my motivation. Check out my picks!

Summer Body Fitness Inspiration by vintagedanielle featuring a bow bathing suit

 When and how do you 

start 'prepping' the body & mind

  for swimsuit season?

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They Fit!!

Can I tell you a little personal story about me and pair of leopard pants? About two years ago I entered a contest giveaway by Hot Kiss. The contest was to write about my first kiss and the story Hot Kiss loved the best would win a pair of fabulous leopard print skinny pants. Afer writing my story I won! I was so excited to receive my first pair of patterned denim and to write a fun outfit post featuring the pair. I sent away my information and waited anxiously for its arrival. About 1-2 weeks later, the pants arrived. I quickly grabbed the pair and ran to my bedroom to try them on. I felt like I was really coming along in style and was going to be able post my first outfit post on my at the time newbie blog. As I slipped my legs into each leg, my face drained of all color. I couldn't believe it, I couldn't fit. I couldn't pull up the zipper or button it completely without looking like an overpacked sausage. I checked the size and they were the right size. I didn't want to send the pants back for a bigger size because I felt embarrassed. Instead, it stayed hidden in the back of my closet.

Occasionally, I tried to slip them back on and see if I could fit and I end up disappointed. Even when I was really into exercising and eating extremely healthy or a serious couch potato, they wouldn't fit. I guess the average girl would just give them away but I couldn't bring myself to donate. Slowly, I learned to stop counting calories on my iPhone app (Fitness Pal) and over pushing myself with exercise. I replaced those habits with mindful portion control, drinking water to help stay full and hydrated, and repeating this phrase in my head, 'no matter how slow I go, I'm still going faster than the butts on the couch'.

With that being said, I can happily report than I can fit in those jeans! They're a little tight around the hips but at least I can zip up, button, and move with ease. I didn't lose any significant weight nor inches nor did I try to stretch the pair out through washing and drying yet they fit. It's magic ;)

Jacket-Target Blouse-gift Pants-Hot Kiss Boots-Target Cocktail Ring-Target Earrings-Target

Did you receive or buy a piece that was too small in hopes on day you'll fit?

If so, share your story here.

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Chunky Monkey Smoothie

If you've been on my Pinterest page lately, you'll notice that I've created a board just for yummy drinks and smoothies. This morning I tried the protein packed Chunky Monkey smoothie and it was so good that I had to not only repin the recipe but share it all with you! There are many different variations of the Chunky Monkey but this is my favorite because it's the simplest and I had all the ingredients at home. The drink is a great post workout replenishment or breakfast meal.

INGREDIENTS
1 Medium ripe banana
1 Cup of Silk Dark Chocolate Almond milk (more calcium than regular milk and best tasting premade chocolate milk I've had) or any low fat chocolate milk
1 Tbsp of low fat peanut butter
1 Cup of ice 

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Work it out

As part of turning over a new leaf, I've been trying to exercise almost everyday. I use the Zumba Fit Wii game which means I never have to leave the comfort of my apartment to burn off calories. However, I've noticed that my friends are not as lucky. I remember when I use to go the gym, I would spend a lot of time trying to find something to wear that was supportive, comfortable, and cute and then spend more time fixing my hair so it wouldn't stick to my face with all the sweat (not cute). The pieces I found are comfortable, supportive for us busty gals (bouncing is not fun), cute, form fitting in all the right places, and can fit the short and tall gals.

1. Target C9 by Champion racer back cotton bra 2. Old Navy Active sports bra 3. Old Navy Padded sports bra

1 + 2. Lulu Mon Athletica Cool racerback 3. Gapfit half-zip jacket 4. Gapfit Motion seamless top

1. Old Navy Active compression pants 2. Zappos CW-X 3/4 insulator stabilyx tights in rose pink detail 3. Lucy Cut for me leggings (great for the short and tall) 4. Gapfit gFlex colorblock waist pants

Here are some simple and effective hairstyles to wear when burning up a sweat!

1. Braids 2. Cornrow and ponytail 3. Messy bun with hairband 4. High ponytail