I am so excited to share with you that I am partnering with Adore Me, to bring to you my beach day (or when you’re landlocked, poolside) must-haves.  I have joked for several years now that I am a landlocked mermaid, so when Adore Me asked me to join in with their #beachdaymusts campaign I knew that it was right up my alley.

The first thing on my list is always a cute cover-up. Depending on the event will depend on the cover-up I will wear. One of my favorite casual looks to go with a pair of cut-offs and a long kimono.  I would wear this for a day at the lake or a barbecue.  Some of my other favorite coverups include a romper, lace dress coverup, pair of overalls and other various cute summer dresses.  I love having a variety of them for the various types of pool parties that are bound to come up during the summer months as well as ones that work for a relaxed swim at my neighborhood pool.

Another important item to remember is your phone loaded up with your current favorite jams.  For me, this can range from anything from one of my favorite groups like Anthem Lights, to Carrie Underwood or taking it back to the Backstreet Boys. Whatever your mood is, having the perfect playlist to listen to with friends or just by yourself while tanning will help you escape, even if only for a few hours, to vacation mode.

Next up on my list is a cute hat.  These come in handy for when you’re not quite ready to go in yet, but have definitely met your sun quota for the day.  (Can we say avoiding sunburn?)

I like to bring along a fun drink too.  For me in the summer heat that will be an iced sweet tea any day.  On this particular day I had fun mixing my sweet tea with a little kool-aid to add some fun tropical flavors.  It is important though to make sure that you remember water outside of your fun drink.  It is so easy to dehydrate when hanging out at the pool, so bring that water and save yourself the trouble of feeling sick or worse later.

Pictured above are all of my must haves.  You can see my coverup, phone with headsets, sweet tea, hat and water that I’ve already mentioned.  Now lets discuss the details.  While I haven’t had a chance to really get on my tan yet, over the next several weeks you’ll notice that my tan will be getting drastically darker and it will all be thanks to Maui Babe tanning lotion and after sun lotion pictured above.  Out of all of the tanning oils I have tried I have found Maui Babe to give me the best tan at the fastest speed.  However, as much as I love my Maui Babe tanning oil, do not use it without a liberal coat of sunscreen.  If you forget the sunscreen you will end up burnt to a crisp!  (I may know from personal experience one time….)  I also love their after sun lotion because, it is so soothing and any pink I may get from my time in the sun swiftly turns into a nice tan thanks to this magic in a bottle.  Not to mention the fact that it leaves your skin feeling so silky soft afterwards and smells so good!  I also like to throw in some deodorant for those days where you know you’ll be spending time outside the water after having been wet.  I also like to keep a small bag of necessities tucked into my beach bag.

Tucked into this small bag I like to keep some hair supplies to throw my hair up in a messy bun if I need to as well as some makeup for touch-ups when I’m done swimming and some chapstick to keep my lips moisturized since the sun has such a drying effect on them.

Finally, the most important thing you can bring to the beach or pool with you this season can’t be found in your pool bag.  The most important thing you can bring is confidence in who you are.  As girls it is so easy to let insecurities creep in, especially during swim season.  Your body isn’t quite where you want it to be, you aren’t tan enough, you don’t look good enough without makeup, the list goes on and on with the ways we fall short in our eyes.  This swim season I want to encourage you to remember that your worth does not come from a perfect body or looks, rather, it comes from the fact that you are a child of God.  You can live your life with confidence knowing that because you are His you are good enough and nothing can take that away from you.

Blessings,

Leighton Michele