March 2016 | Dearest Lou

Vaseline Lip Therapy Tins

Last week on I briefly talked about Vaseline Lip Therapy tins and how it's my new go-to chapped lips solution! This product works wonders, especially if you live in a dry state. I highly recommend purchasing a tin of this at your local food/drug store. 

In two of the photos above you can see that Vaseline sent me all of the variations of their lip therapy tins! I love all of them but depending on the time of day or how my lips are feeling I prefer to use one variant over another!

These are the different kinds for those of you who may be wondering:

Vaseline Lip Therapy Original Tin (Blue)- Made with 100% Vaseline Jelly.
Vaseline Lip Therapy Rosy Lips Tin (Pink)- Contains a rose/vanilla/red berry tint and provides a nice tint over your natural lips.
Vaseline Lip Therapy Aloe Tin (Green)- Made with Vaseline Jelly + Aloe.
Vaseline Lip Therapy Cocoa Butter Tin (Brown)- Made with Vaseline Jelly + Cocoa and contains a vanilla/cocoa scent!

I love using the Original Tin right before bed so my lips feel nice and refreshed in the morning. Whenever I plan on using a pink or red lipstick I use the Rosy Lips Tin as a base to help my lipstick glide on my efficiently. Whenever my lips are feeling really chapped I use the Aloe Tin, the combination of both aloe + vaseline hits the spot. I use my Cocoa Butter Tin in the car or if I have forgotten to use a tin earlier in the day, this tin is kept in my day bag for easy access.

Vaseline Lip Therapy tins are available nation wide and for $3.99 these tins are a steal! You can visit vaseline.us and select a product to find a store that carries it nearest you! Don't forget to head over and show Vaseline some love on their Instagram and Facebook pages.

*This post is sponsored by Vaseline, but all thoughts are my own.

14.5 week bump & stripes










Gap Factory Midi Dress (on sale for 52% off!)

Hey guys!

So my bump is finally making a debut and is here to stay. I'm finally feeling more myself and think the morning sickness (or all day sickness in my case) is gone for good, yay!

I'm showing about a month earlier than last time but I think that's normal the second time around? Anyway, I'm still in that awkward stage that people don't comment just in case I'm not pregnant and just ate a big lunch or dinner but I'll take it (; I haven't bought any maternity clothing just yet and I try to stick with regular women clothing lines so I can rock the same looks post pregnancy! This dress from Gap Factory is definitely a keeper and cute for any stage of life pregnant or not!

It's NOT a maternity dress but I'm planning on wearing it throughout this pregnancy since I will be in my third trimester during the hot summer ahead. I ended up purchasing a medium (my usual size) and would say the sizing is generous. If you aren't pregnant I would definitely size down if you want a tighter fit. I styled my dress with a hat, floral statement necklace, and lace up flats! A high fashion look without the high fashion price tag (;

Gap Factory has so many fun dresses for spring! I had a hard time choosing which dress I would style but wanted something that would showcase my bump. I love that it's below the knee length, has capped sleeves, and is a light material. If this dress isn't your cup of tea, check out their other cute dresses here!


*Thanks Gap Factory for sponsoring this post*

Flowy Outfit and Vaseline Lip Therapy Tins








No matter what time of year it is the air is so DRY here in Utah. I have extremely dry skin and am always covering myself in lotion and using some sort of chap-stick.

Vaseline recently sent me a package of their new Vaseline Lip Therapy tins. The package even included this personalized tin, how cool is that?? Since receiving my package I have been hooked on these and have replaced all of my other chap-sticks with lip therapy tins.

Vaseline Lip Therapy helps soothe dry lips and give them a natural glossy shine! It provides long lasting moisture which is essential if you live in a dry state like Utah. I feel immediate relief after using mine and have tins stashed all around our apartment and in my go-to bags so I never have dry lips.

I will be sharing more photos of my lip tins and a more detailed review next week so stay tuned for that! In the meantime, here's an awesome video with more info:



This post is sponsored by Vaseline, but all thoughts are my own.

Wool Cardigan Giveaway








Wool Cardigan: Aran Sweaters Direct || Hat || Shirt (similar) || Leggings || Necklace || Boots

I don't know about where you are but the weather here in Utah has been a little bipolar lately. Some days it feels like spring and other days it still feels like winter! I haven't put away all of my winter clothing just yet and have been wearing this cozy wool sweater from Aran Sweaters Direct whenever there is a chilly day!

I have teamed up with Aran Sweaters Direct to giveaway a wool cardigan in winners choice of color!

To enter, simply visit Aran Sweaters Direct & fill out the rafflecopter widget below so I can keep track of your entries. The more entries you complete the better chance you have of winning. Giveaway is open to ALL Dearest Lou readers thru March 26th at 11:59PM EST. If your twitter, facebook, or instagram profile is on P R I V A T E please set your settings to P U B L I C on March 27, 2016 since I will be verifying the random winners entries at that time, private profiles will not be eligible of winning. Winners will be announced here on or after March 28th and contacted via email shortly after.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

... and then there were 4!


Baby Harvard #2
coming September 2016

I announced on instagram on Friday but realized I should probably do an official blog post as well! I'm planning on doing another maternity series once I hit 14 weeks, so stay tuned for that (;

No Heart Curls with Savvy Curls & Giveaway









I know I have been MIA the last couple weeks popping in occasionally here, on instagram, or on facebook but I'm hoping I can start blogging consistently once again!

Today's post features no heat curls that were achieved with my Savvy Curls convertible wrap! Savvy Curls sent me this handy little wrap in exchange for an honest review. When looking through their instagram I was immediately blown away with all of the luscious curls that were achieved with their product. I couldn't wait to try it out for myself especially with my short hair since most of the photos online feature girls with medium-long hair (;

Are you wondering how the wrap works?

Savvy Curls head wraps are made with thermal insulating materials to form curls from our scalps natural heat. In order to achieve pretty curls all you  need is clean hair, a Savvy Curls wrap and a little bit of mousse!

These photos were taken after my first attempt using my wrap. Not bad if I can say so myself (; I took a shower in the morning, let my hair air dry for about 20 minutes, then I applied a little bit of mousse and started wrapping. There were directions on the back of the packaging but I used the wrapping tutorial video on their site to follow step by step. I'm a visual learner so this was much easier! Photos of the process below:




Once you are done wrapping your hair is completely out of your face and it looks like a cute up do! Win-win if you are a busy mama like myself. I ended up running errands while my hair was wrapped and left it in for about 5 hours.

The only downside for short hair is that I feel that I don't get enough volume on the sides and top of my hair when wrapping. I usually like super curly hair now that my hair is shorter I feel like I can't pull of the "beachy curl" look. I still have some playing around to do with it and I'm all ears for any tips and suggestions on getting more curls and volume on the front sides of my hair (;

I have teamed up with Savvy Curls to giveaway a single band wrap of winners choice!

To enter, simply visit Savvy Curls & fill out the rafflecopter widget below so I can keep track of your entries. The more entries you complete the better chance you have of winning. Giveaway is open to ALL Dearest Lou readers thru March 22nd at 11:59PM EST. If your twitter, facebook, or instagram profile is on P R I V A T E please set your settings to P U B L I C on March 23, 2016 since I will be verifying the random winners entries at that time, private profiles will not be eligible of winning. Winners will be announced here on or after March 23rd and contacted via email shortly after.
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Reading Nook for Z with Pillowfort


This post is sponsored by Target Style 2016, but all thoughts are my own.
Have you shopped at Target recently? If you have stopped by their home decor department you might have noticed a new and exclusive kids home collection, Pillowfort. With nearly 1,200 new items and 12 stunning curated collections, there’s surely something that will catch every parent and child’s interest!

As a family, we are constantly working on making our apartment feel more like home. I’ve mentioned here on the blog before that we have never lived in an apartment for longer than a year. However, we really love our current place and plan on staying here until Daryl finishes school.

One area of our home that I have a particularly fun time constantly changing is Zaden’s room. His interests are ever-changing, and I like to make his bedroom/playroom a fun environment that he enjoys being in. It’s been a few months since I made any changes in his room, and I knew I wanted to add a reading nook somewhere in the apartment—a specific space other than our bed at night where we could read books together.

After much thought and moving some furniture around, we decided that the best place for his reading nook would be in a corner of his bedroom where his dresser previously was. Below, you can find the before and after shots:
Zaden currently has a safari animal theme in his bedroom, but before creating his reading space we were more than open to changing up the theme. I showed Zaden some of the themes on Pillowfort’s home page, and he was most interested in the discovery den space. The beanbag chair and dip-die bed canopy sparked Zaden’s interest. This looked like a perfect space to re-create and add our own finishing touches to, so I kept that page opened as I searched throughout the rest of Pillowfort’s collection for other perfect pieces.

The aesthetic of our home is simple with a touch of color. I kept that in mind while searching through the collection I kept that in mind since I wanted this space to go with the rest of Zaden’s bedroom/playroom. I knew for his reading space I wanted some sort of shelf, a small rug, and a couple fun pillows. I created a Pinterest board to see how all the items would potentially look and fit together! I’m honestly not great at interior design, and this really helped give me a vision of how I wanted the space to turn out.

Below are detailed shots of his reading nook! I love how the pieces came together and made the perfect reading space for Zaden! He absolutely loves it and loves to have us read him books in there.



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