Music Festival Prep - Top Skincare Ideas and More!

If you're heading to a music festival this year, have you thought about your pre-ffestival skincare routine? Feel your best and most confident with two awesome products that are infused with charcoal. Meet the Bioré® Self Heating One Minute Mask and the Bioré Deep Cleansing Charcoal Pore Strips at Amazon. They are also available at Target.

it's best to get started with your new skincare routine at least a few weeks in advance, so you are sure that you are comfortable with what any product does to your skin. These two products were very lightly scented and washed off super well - they left my skin feeling super cleaned and fresh!

Remember, clear skin means that all of those cute festival clothes will look amazing on you!! 

MUSIC FESTIVAL SKINCARE IDEAS:

1. Deep clean with masks and pore strips.

In addition to the Bioré Deep Cleansing Charcoal Pore Strips, shown above, I have been using the Bioré® Self Heating One Minute Mask twice a week. They give my skin a "finally clean" feeling, that also doesn't feel super tight and dried out. Since it does remove white a bit of oil too, I will surely use it even more regularly once the weather begins to get hot and humid in a month or so - just when festival season begins. 

I do believe that the mask has helped me get lots of blackheads out, which I thought were there to stay forever. My forehead had a pesky breakout that would not go away. After using the mask twice, I only have a couple left! Not bad. This mask heats up in your hands, so it's like a spa treatment of sorts. I love the warmth on my face, it's really relaxing. 

Incorporate deep cleaning into your skincare routine with pore strips and deep cleansing facial masks. 

2. Moisturize

Even though ti may be more humid during festival season, it's important to continue to moisturize your face and body, which will in turn make your skin super smooth and ready to go! 

3. Avoid Excessive Dairy and Sugar Consumption

One easy way to get your skin AND your body looking great is to avoid drinking lots of milk or eating a lot of cheese. I wound up giving up my daily milk and cereal "habit", and my skin has never looked better! I also find that it is much easier to keep off that excess few lbs without having to do a ton of extra physical activity when I simply avoid milk. That is fo course just my observation. Of course, sugary sodas and juices and desserts can also have the safe effects. 

4. Plan on using a higher SPF

Avoid excessive sun exposure by giving into using a higher SPF in the 50-100 range. You will still surely get a tan without having skin damage later in life. Pack a skin-friendly, spray style sun tan lotion every few hours, even if you won't be in direct sun. 

5. Exfoliate

With the possibility of wearing sandals and light, airy clothing throughout the whole festival, you might want to try exfoliating your skin 2-3 times a week. Your skin will be baby smooth and if you follow up with lotion, you're all set. 

6. Get some rest

Since you might be walking around, dancing, and staying up a little bit later during the festival, it's important to store up a bit of rest that time leading up to the event. 

Check out links to purchase the products below! Available on Amazon.com and at Target. 

Learn How To Utilize Facebook Business Pages

I know Facebook can be challenging as a way to try and promote your business. But, I gained over 10,000 Likes on Facebook in less than a year by testing out a few ideas, and they worked!

WHY DO I NEED A FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE?

Every business, and every blogger needs to have a Facebook Business Page. It's another free way to get your name listed on Google's searches. It's also pretty easy to start. I am sure some of you who already have one have seen their impressions and views dwindle in the past couple of years, so many businesses and bloggers have pretty much given up on using Facebook as a viable means to gain readers, or even share content to people who already follow you. But, I have had a lot of success on Facebook. 

MY MOST POPUAR FACEBOOK POST / HOW TO CREATE A GOOD FACEBOOK POST

Here is one of my most popular (meaning most-liked) Facebook posts. I collaged the two images together in Photoshop, and people have been going crazy over this post I created. Here is a screenshot to show you the behind the scenes info about this post. The Weekends Are For Waffles Tee can be found on ModCloth.com. So, I believe this was a great investment in my FB posts!

Notes:

Likes: 9,112 

Photo Clicks: 855

Link Clicks: 21 (Still not extremely high)

Page Likes: 317 (Definitely happy with this!)

Age: 13-21 years old / Male and Female (98.3% women interacted)

Interests: pop culture and music

Location: 16 Countries (Click Image To View Them Larger) 

Budget: $16.00

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL FACEBOOK POSTS

1.) Image Size Is Important! Remember, Facebook posts look best when they are dimensions similar to 1200 pixels X 627 pixels. Squares and vertical images just don't display well in peoples' feeds. 

2.) Facebook will not promote your posts if they are more than 20% text. Meaning, get creative, and get more visual. You can just add the text in the Facebook post, so don't worry too much about adding in a lot of text to your Facebook posts. 

3.) A great way to gain content for your Facebook post is to share other people's posts to your Page. This is a great way to curate some content for your page, and the original poster is always fully credited.

HOW TO START A FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE.

1.) LET'S GET STARTED

On your main feed at facebook.com, on the left side of your page, find Create Page. 

2.) CREATE A PAGE

How To Set Up A Facebook Business Page

Here, I would suggest that if you are a lifestyle blogger, and are not offering goods and services, but only digital information, to choose Cause Or Community. Some of the other topics are best if you are actually wanting to sell your goods and services either locally or via websites like Etsy. 

3.) FILL OUT YOUR INFORMATION

Here, you simply customize your page by adding a short and to-the-pointDescription, Profile Picture, Adding To Favorites, and choosing your Preferred Page Audience. One note about choosing your Preferred Page Audience, is that you definitely want to start out with a broad audience. Why try to eliminate any possible interaction with a possible reader or follower? 

4.) PROFILE PICTURE

This is such an important part of your page! Make sure you create or find a cute logo or graphic for your page. I even recommend using a colorful letter, like the first letter or letters of your blog or business name as a beginning logo. 

 

5.) ADD TO FAVORITES

Pretty self explanatory, but by adding your new page to your favorites, it will show up on the left side of your home page, and is easier to access. 

6.) PREFERRED PAGE AUDIENCE

Here is one way I have gotten so many likes! Since I am only trying to drive traffic to my Facebook page and my blog, and since I do not rely on local traffic of any sort, I make sure to include lots of different countries and interests in my Audience. I would always recommend making sure you include Mexico in your audience, because over 60% of my likes, on my Facebook Business Page, comes from people in that location. This is of course, only a suggestion. 

Another really wonderful bit of info that Facebook now shares with us, is how many people like each Interest. See below, when I choose Travel as a targeted interest, over 920 million people like it! So, just think of more broad topics, as well as more pop-culture interests like musicians, TV shows, etc. 

7.) CREATE A BANNER

If you create nothing else, just feel free to upload a solid colored rectangle for now. Facebook will resize this for you, and it makes a big impact! Make this image 851 pixels X 315 pixels. The image , below is one I created in Photoshop by pulling a gradient of purple down the document. Super easy! 

8.) OTHER IDEAS

A few more key things to consider:

Monthly Budget - This one is totally up to you! The more you spend, the more Likes you are going to gain, if you follow the rules above. But, make sure to space out your budget. I generally spend $5.00 per ad/image/post, and have it run for 2-3 days at a time. Try spacing out your budget across different ads to see what is appealing most to your audience. 

Sharing Other People's Posts - Like I said above, it's fun to share and curate posts from other people on Facebook if it aligns with your blog!

Stick To A Color Scheme When Possible - I have noticed that my eye is always attracted to bright and inspiring images, with pops of bright colors in them. To begin, any post you see that contains your color scheme, share it on your page. 

Like Pages And Post Comments As Your Business, Not Your Personal Account - Did you know that you can like posts as your personal profile OR your business profile? At the top of the page, there is a drop down arrow. Hover over, and it says: Use Facebook As...and just choose your business page. 

Respond To Messages Quickly - Facebook shows your viewers how quickly you reply to messages, so have a friend or family member send you a few messages, and et back to them right away. Then, you will show your readers that you are catering to them in a timely manner. 

You Can Do It! - Believe me, I was surprised that I gained over 10,000 Likes on my Facebook page in less than a year by using the principals I explained above.

Goodbye Dry Skin ~ Hello Soft Skin {with Curel®}

It's officially summer! Which means it's more important than ever to get your skin looking and feeling great. Embrace those tank tops, shorts, and adorable sandals by saying GOODBYE to dry skin, with Curél moisturizing lotion. Curél is debuting their new Hydra Therapy product which helps combat dry skin and helps you look your best during warmer weather and beyond! Be sure to check out Curél® on Facebook to get updates and to learn more. 

  • Curel® HYDRA THERAPY WET SKIN MOISTURIZER is activated by water on freshly-showered skin and penetrates deeply into the surface to heal dryness

  • After showering, your skin cells expand, which provides an easy pathway for Curel® HYDRA THERAPY WET SKIN MOISTURIZER to penetrate into just showered skin, healing the moisture barrier where it counts and helping replenish skin’s ceramide levels

  • Curel® HYDRA THERAPY WET SKIN MOISTURIZER is not greasy or sticky and has powerful healing ingredients that restore the moisture barrier

  • Apply daily & experience the end of dry skin

Above, you will see some of the items that will help you keep your feet looking summer ready! 

WHAT YOU NEED:

- Curel® Hydratherapy Wet Skin Moisturizer

- Pumice Stone (in purple) - the one that is lighter weight and not very dense is the best one

- Foot scrub gel

- Foot brush

- Cute DIY Flip Flops (I glued jeweled flower charms to these!! I just love how they turned out!

 

HOW TO:

- In the shower, use the foot scrub solution, pumice stone and foot brush to slough away any rough patches on your feet, ankles, and legs. This reminds me of the treatment I get at a salon during a pedicure!

- After the shower, while skin is still damp, use Curel® Hydratherapy  Wet Skin Moisturizer

- Toss on an adorable dress, and your newly decorated flip flops, and head out on your next summer adventure! 

I'm sharing #curelskincare, #breaktherules, and #enddryskin in my life as part of a Curel® sponsored series for Socialstars™. Thank you for supporting the brands that help keep my blog a beautiful space to showcase my work! 

Another amazing way to pamper yourself this summer is to treat yourself to a lightly scented, floral candle. This one, by Voluspa is beyond amazing! The scent is great, and even without lighting the candle, your room is filled with a relaxing, fresh scent that makes you feel like a million bucks! I always keep a candle like this in the bathroom.

Also, if you are heading out, or just want to keep things organized, I wanted to recommend this adorable zipper pouch, in light pink, that says, "Ooh la la..."! Pack up some roll-on SPF, a bright lip color, and a few other essentials that you definitely want to keep by your side. 

I wanted to extend a special thanks to SocialStars for sending these extra goodies with the Curel® items. 

I also wanted to give you a glance at the back of the bottle, because I always do my research when shopping for any bath or beauty product. 

Why Ceramides?
Ceramides, naturally present in healthy skin, are vital building blocks to maintaining skin’s moisture barrier. When ceramides are lost, skin becomes dry and damaged. Curél® HYDRA THERAPY WET SKIN MOISTURIZER, with Advanced Ceramide Complex, penetrates to the source of dryness, helping to replenish skin's ceramide levels and repair the moisture barrier.

  • Water activated moisture works deep into skin’s surface
  • Helps repair moisture barrier
  • Contains our proprietary Advanced Ceramide Complex
  • Immediately Absorbs
  • Completely Greaseless
  • Skin feels 3x more hydrated instantly
  • Fragrance Free
  • Dermatologist Recommended

I also wanted to extend a big thanks to FWS Countertops, who provided me with this gorgeous marble surface! They are about 3 blocks from my house, and have been a staple in our local community for many, many years!! 

Thank you SO very much for taking the time to check out this fun, new product from Curél®, and I hope that I have provided some wonderful Summer Skin Tips! What are your favorite ways to keep your skin smooth through the summer months and beyond? 

Top 5 Pinterest Tips

Katherine Accettura is a HelloSociety Influencer from Illinois. She has over 1.2 million Pinterest followers. Katherine has been kind enough to share some of her Pinterest tips with us in this post:

This article was written by me and originally published here, on the HelloSociety Blog. 

This article was written by me and originally published here, on the HelloSociety Blog. 

1. Make Time To Pin & Pin Regularly

- Try to pin every day, several times a day. If you don’t pin regularly, your followers may become bored and won’t visit your Pinterest account as often.

- Utilize a pin scheduler every day. Try to implement it into your daily routine, especially while you are going to be busy, and see if it makes a difference in the overall number of repins and likes on your pins

- TIP: A good time to pin is when you begin seeing your phone blowing up with Pinterest notifications (your Pinterest app phone notifications should be turned on until you understand your audience’s schedule).

2. Pin From Your Phone

- The majority of Pinterest users are accessing the site via the Pinterest mobile app. It’s important to be in touch with your audience and see what your pins look like across all devices. Scroll through your pins on a daily basis, and make sure they look coherent and interesting.

- Make sure you aren’t pinning or repinning thumbnail-sized images. They look deceptively good on the Pinterest app, but look really bad on a computer screen.

3. Keep Your Blog or Website Updated (Important!)

- This is one of the biggest problems I see among pinners. Your blog or website link is at the very top of your Pinterest profile (or should be!). This encourages your followers to click through to learn more about you. If someone is directed to a site that has not been updated in a month or even a year, it can be off-putting, and may not encourage them to continue to keep interest in you and your pins. Make sure your Pinterest profile links to the blog/website that you keep up with most.

- It is important to verify your blog/website. Your pins may become more pin-worthy and show up higher in your followers’ home feed more often. There are lots of tutorials on how to verify your profile URL on Pinterest.

4. Think Of Your Pins As A Whole, Not As Disparate Boards

- It is important to look at your pins as a whole entity. This will provide your followers with the most visually pleasing experience. Example: If you pin the same pin to multiple boards in a row, they will show up as a duplicate pin to viewers on your Pinterest profile.

5. When In Doubt, Pin Food and Quotes

- Everyone hits creative blocks sometimes, so if you’re experiencing this, pin a few recipes or beautiful pictures of food. Inspiring quotes can also be popular to a wide variety of followers.

- In my opinion, Food, Quotes, and DIY tend to be some of the most repinned and liked pins out there. Make sure they are cohesive with your other pins, though!

Connect with Katherine:

Pinterest – Website – Blog – Instagram

These ‘HelloSociety Influencer Guest Posts’ are shared in support of successful influencers teaching best practices to fellow influencers, aspiring influencers, brands and social media users.