10 Summer Activities To Do With Your Girls
Sponsored By BIC® Soleil
Summer means a celebration of hot weather with bright colors, fewer clothes, hints and glimpses of gorgeous skin, glorious beaches, and lots and lots of fun. It’s the time of year where work-life balance receives a little more attention as you make time for play and travel with your best girlfriends. Even though summer might be winding down, there are still quite a few ways to make the most fun under the sun with your girls. Being summertime fine isn’t just limited to the beach. Take you and your girls on a day hike, sunbathing by the pool, riding on bikes in the park underneath the setting sun, or getting lost while hitting the road.
Summer summer summertime.
We teamed up with BIC® Soleil Shine® Razors to provide you with an ultimate list of summer activities that will make you and your girl’s #squadgoals:
Turn Up with a Banging Playlist
The soundtrack of your summer is essential to your summer activities. It not only creates the mood, but it also sets the tone of what kind of summer you want to have – that goes double for summer nights. Check out our upbeat and aspirational playlist with BIC® Soleil Shine® Razors for the perfect soundtrack for your night out on the town or even your day out on the road.
They don’t say “turn up” for no reason.
Be the Author of Your Journey
Make this the most optimistic summer ever by investing in a journal. You can use the journal to write your daily thoughts and your summer adventures. Write down your travel plans and/or your must-do summer activities on the first page and make it a point to check all of the items off one by one. Journals are also a great way to help you remember all the summer memories that you have with your girls. Write down everything and add photos to make the memories you girls create even more vivid.
Glow Up
There’s nothing quite like smooth and radiant summer skin – especially on the legs. Take care of your usual grooming, but take extra time out during your daily hygiene rituals to include time with BIC® Soleil Shine® Razors. The blades provide a close shave that leaves legs smooth to the touch. Afterward, use a body brush to dry brush circular motions along your skin to help remove dead skin. To seal the deal with your hydrated look, use a body lotion to seal in the moisture from your shower.
Be About that Sun Life
A very inexpensive way to enjoy the great outdoors is by going to parks and beaches. Parks are a good everyday option where you can indulge in nature and people-watching while resting out on a blanket with snacks and some cold beverages, or even grabbing some bikes to be active while indulging in the peace and quiet of nature. The beach is a great day trip for most people. Grab your hottest swimsuit, a cooler, some brews, and towels, and prepare to ride the waves the beach provides. Just make sure before you indulge in the sun to put on a full spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher. Keep that melanin fleeky.
[Tweet "Keep that melanin fleeky."]
Pose for the Camera – Click, Click, Click
We live in an Insta generation where nothing happens unless it’s documented. And a camera (either your phone or your DSLR) is a great way to capture the memories you’re making with your girls over the summer, particularly in the visual sense. Take turns taking #ootds for one another and #squad photos together as a group where y’all pose with similar hand gestures or facial expressions. #summer2k17, anyone?
Work, Work, Work, Work, Work
Stay on top of your fitness by maintaining an active lifestyle throughout the summer. It is not only good for your mental, emotional, and physical health, but it also ensures that your confidence stays on 10. Switch up your routine by taking a new class with your girlfriends where you can try pole dancing or kickboxing for the first time.
Get Your Nails Done, Hair Done, Everything Did
Doing your nails is the perfect way to wave hello to the summer - literally. Turn your weekly mani/pedi self-care session into a time of catch-up and gossip with your girlfriends. Save some extra dollars by creating a DIY spa day from the comforts of home accompanied with mimosas. The hair salon is not only a place where you get a hair glo’ up, it’s also a place to socialize, so why not take that a step further by inviting one of your girls and make getting your hair done a day date? 8 hours of getting braids can go by pretty quickly when you have company to talk and laugh with.
Shady Boots
Channel your inner glam goddess by donning your own statement shades throughout the season. It’s a great way to add a layer of mystery and chicness while protecting your eyes from the blazing sun. Invest in some oversized, cat-eye, or aviator frames when you hit the town this summer.
Bag Lady
Round out your summertime style with a statement bag or purse. Go compact and on-trend with a cross-bodybag that is functional while being fashionable. Choose a purse or bag that is a loud primary color like canary yellow, crimson red, or canary blue. Structured totes are a great option to hold all of your accessories and essentials, but so is a more casual canvas tote with the wording of your choice on its side.
What are some must-haves on your checklist to keep you summertime fine when hanging out with your friends? Share with us below!
Smile, Sis! These Five Improvements Can Upgrade Your Oral Hygiene Instantly
This article is in partnership with Sensodyne.
Our teeth are connected to so many things - our nutrition, our confidence, and our overall mood. We often take for granted how important healthy teeth are, until issues like tooth sensitivity or gum recession come to remind us. Like most things related to our bodies, prevention is the best medicine. Here are five things you can do immediately to improve your oral hygiene, prevent tooth sensitivity, and avoid dental issues down the road.
1) Go Easy On the Rough Brushing: Brushing your teeth is and always will be priority number one in the oral hygiene department. No surprises there! However, there is such a thing as applying too much pressure when brushing…and that can lead to problems over time. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and brush in smooth, circular motions. It may seem counterintuitive, but a gentle approach to brushing is the most effective way to clean those pearly whites without wearing away enamel and exposing sensitive areas of the teeth.
2) Use A Desensitizing Toothpaste: As everyone knows, mouth pain can be highly uncomfortable; but tooth sensitivity is a whole different beast. Hot weather favorites like ice cream and popsicles have the ability to trigger tooth sensitivity, which might make you want to stay away from icy foods altogether. But as always, prevention is the best medicine here. Switching to a toothpaste like Sensodyne’s Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth will help build a protective layer over sensitive areas of the tooth. Over time, those sharp sensations that occur with extremely cold foods will subside, and you’ll be back to treating yourself to your icy faves like this one!
3) Floss, Rinse, Brush. (And In That Order!): Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it”? Well, the same thing applies to taking care of your teeth. Even if you are flossing and brushing religiously, you could be missing out on some of the benefits simply because you aren’t doing so in the right order. Flossing is best to do before brushing because it removes food particles and plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach. After a proper flossing sesh, it is important to rinse out your mouth with water after. Finally, you can whip out your toothbrush and get to brushing. Though many of us commonly rinse with water after brushing to remove excess toothpaste, it may not be the best thing for our teeth. That’s because fluoride, the active ingredient in toothpaste that protects your enamel, works best when it gets to sit on the teeth and continue working its magic. Rinsing with water after brushing doesn’t let the toothpaste go to work like it really can. Changing up your order may take some getting used to, but over time, you’ll see the difference.
4) Stay Hydrated: Upping your water supply is a no-fail way to level up your health overall, and your teeth are no exception to this rule. Drinking water not only helps maintain a healthy pH balance in your mouth, but it also washes away residue and acids that can cause enamel erosion. It also helps you steer clear of dry mouth, which is a gateway to bad breath. And who needs that?
5) Show Your Gums Some Love: When it comes to improving your smile, you may be laser-focused on getting your teeth whiter, straighter, and overall healthier. Rightfully so, as these are all attributes of a megawatt smile; but you certainly don’t want to leave gum health out of the equation. If you neglect your gums, you’ll start to notice the effects of plaque buildup, which can irritate the gums and cause gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease. Seeing blood while brushing and flossing is a tell-tale sign that your gums are suffering. You may also experience gum recession — a condition where the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back, exposing more of your tooth. Brushing at least twice a day with a gum-protecting toothpaste like Sensodyne Sensitivity and Gum, coupled with regular dentist visits, will keep your gums shining as bright as those pearly whites.
Oprah Winfrey On Never Experiencing Imposter Syndrome: 'I Had To Look It Up'
If you’ve ever wondered what type of mindset it takes to reach icon status like Oprah Winfrey, it’s probably best to start by knowing which one she’s managed to avoid over her long-standing career.
And let’s just say imposter syndrome didn’t make the cut.
While promoting her new book, Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier, with her co-author Arthur C. Brooks, Oprah shared in an interview with People that when it comes to imposter syndrome, it’s one emotion she hasn’t experienced.
"I don't have any of that imposter feelings that so many people have," she says. "I didn't even understand it, I had to look it up."
According to the acclaimed talk-show host and media mogul, she attributes this to her early life experiences, specifically the impact of her father's influence as a child. "I remember as a young girl being a strong orator in the national competition for speaking and winning the local championships, then the state championships. And then placing, I think it was No. 3 or something, in the nationals," Winfrey shares.
"And I remember after every contest, the families whose kids were just in the contest were going to celebrate and their families were all excited. My father's thing was, 'Get your coat.'"
She continues, "I learned, in all these years, every exciting thing that would happen to me it was always, that's good, get your coat. Get your coat. I don't know if that was ingrained in my personality or I just learned that nobody's going to be excited about it, so you might as well just get your coat and go. I don't have high highs and I don't have low lows. Which is a good thing, because no matter what I'm going through, I know I'm going to come out of it and be okay."
Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon, is a psychological perspective of persistent self-doubt and the feeling of being a fraud despite evidence of one's competence, skills, or accomplishments. People experiencing imposter syndrome often believe that their success is due to luck or external factors rather than their own abilities and fear that others will eventually discover that they are not as capable or knowledgeable as they appear to be.
With over 40 years of accolades and history-making impact, it’s clear that Winfrey doesn’t shy away from the fact that her success is due to her hard work and diligence, with everything in her life being that of what she earned — which she finds deep value in: “the ability to live in the space of true appreciation for a life, not just well lived, but well-earned."
From coming from the lineage of an enslaved great-grandfather who earned 80 acres of land in exchange for labor, to becoming the first Black woman billionaire in the world without the foundation of generational wealth, Winfrey beams proudly at her ability to shift her and her family’s legacy for the better.
"I didn't have a grandfather, a great-grandfather who could give me land. But now...I am able to have my own and to know that I work for it. And it wasn't a husband that did it. It wasn't a brother or an uncle, or whatever did it, but I did it," Winfrey says.
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Featured image by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
