Whether you’re a DIY-er or loyal to the salon, summer nail trends for 2020 apply to all—and they’re good. So good, that I actually wiped the dust off the polish collection I haven’t used in months since stay-at-home orders went into effect. And for someone whose routine is as no-frills as it gets, that’s a pretty big deal.

It should come as no surprise that the upcoming season is all about embracing bright colors and matching the vibes of warm, sunny days. However, some trends go beyond a simple shade change with nail art that looks complicated but can be replicated by the shakiest of hands.

In other words, I’m only answering to “whimsical minimalist” from this moment on. You probably have no idea what I’m talking about. No worries—keep reading for the 411 on my personal favorite summer nail trend and three others, straight from Brittney Boyce, ORLY’s Consulting Nail Artist.

Bright Colors and Neons

Source: Instagram

“This summer we’ll see a lot of neons. It’s trending not just in nails, but in fashion as well. I think people are craving color to stimulate their everyday life, so bright neon shades are trending.”

ORLY.

Finding a bright nail color is nothing like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There’s a lot to choose from. However, Boyce recommends bright yellows like ORLY’s Oh Snap and blues like Far Out and even Gotta Bounce.

New Neutrals

Source: Instagram

“Because at-home DIY manicures are very much a thing right now, people are also opting for pretty neutrals that are a little more forgiving to apply.”

ORLY.

Applying a neutral mani doesn’t mean you’re stuck with a small range of color options. According to Boyce, anything from sheer pink neutrals like Kiss Me, I’m Kind to metallic shimmers like Golden Girl or Glow Baby are equally worthy of a nailfie.

Whimsical Minimalist

Source: Instagram

“We’ll see people playing with minimal nail art that features a lot of negative space mixed with pops of bright colors. Think neon french tips, bright geometric lines on sheer nails, or really anything that shows pops of neon color.”

ORLY.

Buy: ORLY White Tip Guides $7.99

When stepping into nail art territory, it helps to have a couple of tools on hand, like nail guides and striping brushes. Boyce also recommends “a dry brush dipped in nail polish remover to clean up edges.”

Brush Stroke Technique

Source: Instagram

“This is the cutest, easiest nail art look. It’s meant to look like a simple swish of a brushstroke. You can play around with different directions and placements on the nail. It’s easy because you can do it on bare nails, and it’s just one brush stroke. You don’t have to worry about painting the full nail.”

ORLY.

According to Boyce, this trend looks great when you layer a creamy opaque shade with a complimentary metallic or shimmery one.

Almond and Short Natural Nail Shapes

Source: Instagram

“Almond shape will still go on strong for most people as it’s not a hard shape to file. It’s also very feminine and helps elongate the finger. However, I’m starting to see a lot of short, clean, natural nails because it’s easier to maintain at home.”

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Is lockdown boredom dragging you down? Do you sometimes struggle to pull yourself together and find reasons to smile? What I’ve found is that it’s the small things that get you through the day.

Today, for example, I rediscovered headbands and spent over an hour dressing up and sharing pictures with my grandkids. It was so much fun!

The video that I recorded today was inspired by Andrea Pflaumer, one of our fabulous bloggers, who recorded her own headband video! After your check out my message, I highly encourage you to watch Andrea’s video too.

Let’s age beautifully, inside and out! Check out our own “Aging Beautifully” affirmation cards. They will inspire you to live your life to the fullest and enable you to find joy and passion in the decades ahead.

What small things have your found that make you smile, even in difficult times? Do you like wearing headbands or other hair accessories?

I love this statement by Sophia Loren: “A mother always thinks twice, once for herself and once for her child.” How true! And, after you mother dies, you think of her often. Your mom lives with you all the time, even when she’s gone.

This will be my sixth Mother’s Day without my mom. She was an artist, a gardener, a cook, a reader, and a collector. So, the week of Mother’s Day, I’ve come up with festive ways to celebrate and remember her. As you read my list, I bet you’ll come with your own ideas for honoring your mom.

Explore Her Jewelry

My mother collected all types of jewelry, but, she went especially nuts over pins. This week, I’ll need to sport a bunch at once. Mom left me with frog pins, turtle pins, flower pins, heart pins, and lots more, including a giant lizard pin. Yikes!

Listen to Her Advice

This week, take your mom’s advice with a smile on your face.

My mother insisted on dusting before you could see any dust. When I was a child, she handed me the dust rag every week. My style is to wait until the dust shows up. Actually, if I’m honest, I wait until I can write my name in it.

So, in honor of Mothers’ Day, I’m going to take Mom’s advice and dust. A short week later, I’ll dust again and think of her clean house.

Remember Her Kindness

Mom taught me to be thoughtful. She modeled generosity. This week, I’ll gather up extra cans for the food pantry, purchase a gift certificate for a family who just adopted their fifth child and send a card to an elderly relative.

You too can honor your mom by spreading her kindness.

Try Her Recipes

Cook up your mom’s recipes! Corned pudding, hot milk cake and meatloaf with homemade barbeque sauce were among my mom’s specialties.

I bet your mom had her own. If your mom hated to cook, eat out in her honor. Did she adore IHop like my grandma did? Hop in the car and drive on down. Did she favor a more elegant restaurant? Treat yourself!

Experience Her Favorite Color

Celebrate your mom’s favorite color. My mom adored green. I might just purchase a shirt or some new towels in a fun shade of green.

I think Mom liked green so much because she was an avid gardener. A reluctant gardener myself, this is the week to get out there and pull those weeds as I admire the green that surrounds me.

Embrace Her Hobbies

Mom listened to classical music: Beethoven, Bach, Brahms. This week, I’ll blast those guys as I dust!

My mother painted in a funky primitive style. This week, I’ll spend some time admiring her art and posting a few pieces online.

Enjoy what your mom enjoyed. Watch her favorite movie. Read a book she always talked about. Recite a poem, riddle, or quotation she taught you. Did your mom adore bowling? Go bowling even if you roll nothing but gutter balls. Have a blast!

Celebrate Her Friendships

When my brother mailed me a stack of Mom’s correspondence, I found a note written to her a week before she died by her college roommate. I contacted Nancy and we’ve been corresponding by email ever since.

I love hearing about my mom as a college girl. Even if it’s been years, get in touch with one of your mom’s friends and reminisce.

Feel Free to Brag a Bit

No one relishes good news more than a mother. I miss being able to share my news with Mom. My blog Friend for the Ride was just named the Best Menopause Blogs by Healthline. So, I told my mother all about it. I said the words out loud. Brag to your mom this week. It feels wonderful.

Finally, Just Thank Her

She’s gone, but, thank her anyway. Say in your heart and mind all the things you wish you’d said when she was here. And, forgive her. No mother is perfect. Mine wasn’t, but, I loved her for her flaws. Maybe even more. If you’re lucky enough to still have your mom with you, thank and forgive her right now, this week. And, give her my best!

What do you appreciate most about your mom? If she is still with you, what are you doing to celebrate Mother’s Day together? If she has already passed, what are you planning to do to celebrate her memory?

Tinsley Mortimer’s Love Purse at Lunch With Dale

Real Housewives of New York Season 12 Episode 6 Fashion

Tinsley Mortimer may not have brought a little baby (real or fur) out to lunch with mama Dale on last night’s episode of The Real Housewives of New York, however she definitely brought the next best thing in the form of this little pink velvet “love” purse. Which Tinsley if you’re reading this, we will gladly babysit for you anytime.

Fashionably,

Faryn

Click Here to Shop Her Gucci Bag For Less

Click Here For Info on Her Blouse

Click Here for Info on Her Earrings

Click Here to Shop Dale’s A.L.C. Dress on Sale

Originally posted at: Tinsley Mortimer’s Love Purse

Several years ago, I sat outside of my first gentle yoga class at Yoga Barn in Bali, my emotions as turbulent as the jungle air around me. The tiny voices of a thousand insects struck me as I waited in the humid air.

In more ways than one, I felt like a stranger. I was new to this island paradise. I hadn’t yet come to understand and love the nature around me. All of the students waiting with me looked so young and confident, their yoga mats, held in trendy bags, slung over well-toned arms.

Most of all, I felt like a stranger in my own body. At home, it was easy to ignore the signals that my body was sending. Now, I felt the fatigue, stiffness and lack of energy acutely.

Now, it’s no exaggeration to say that I feel like a different woman. I know that this is just the very beginning of my yoga journey. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Likewise, you don’t just erase a lifetime of habits, reactions and thought processes in a single trip. But, all-in-all, this was a good start.

As I near the end of my trip, I wanted to share a few thoughts with you about fear. More specifically, I want to talk about how fear can prevent us from trying something like yoga. I hope that my own experience gives you the confidence to get everything you deserve from life after 60.

Here are the 5 fears that women our age face when it comes to starting gentle yoga.

Fear of Failure

Two thoughts that ran through my head almost every day in Bali were “I’m not flexible enough” and “I’m not strong enough.”

Now, with the wisdom of hindsight, I find myself asking, “Not flexible compared to what?” and “Not strong enough for what?”

I always thought that yoga involved a linear progression from simple to complicated positions. In this context, “success,” was progressing through the moves, a little like one might progress through the belt colors in a martial art.

Now, I realize that yoga is a personal journey. There is no such thing as “failing at yoga.” The unique way that you choose to practice yoga should be a response to the question, “what does my body, mind and soul need today?”

So, let go of the fear of failure. It is simply not a factor when it comes to yoga.

Fear of Embarrassment

This is perhaps the most direct fear that women over 60 have when it comes to gentle yoga. Women of all ages suffer from a lack of confidence when it comes to their bodies. Older women have to deal with the added fear of looking out of place as an older adult in a room full of 20-somethings.

Unlike the fear of failure, which is solvable through a shift in frame, the fear of embarrassment requires a more practical approach. In my opinion, the only way to deal with the fear of embarrassment is to gain confidence through exposure.

This doesn’t mean that you need to “get over it” and join a 60-person class right away. You could start by using our gentle yoga videos to build your confidence.

Then, you could find a class in your home city that meets during the day, when other people are at work. It’s much easier to start in a class of 10 than in a class of 60.

Eventually, you will come to realize that everyone is too busy worrying about what they are doing to pay attention to you. If anything, the looks that you get from the other students will be looks of admiration. They will simply be impressed that you are giving it a shot “at your age.”

Fear of Our Own Emotions

By the time we reach our 60s and 70s, we have many emotions buried deep inside. Many of us are carrying around anger, depression, sadness or anxiety.

In our everyday lives, we do a pretty good job of hiding these emotions from the world. We avoid certain situations. We build up walls and break down bridges.

Yoga, for reasons that I cannot yet fully understand, brings these emotions to the surface. As you are holding a difficult pose, especially one that involves a small amount of discomfort, it’s quite usual to feel yourself feeling inextricably angry, sad or frustrated.

The important thing to remember is that emotions are there for a reason. Hiding them behind layers of defense mechanisms is not healthy. So, don’t fear the impact that yoga has on your emotions. Embrace it.

Fear of Pain or Discomfort

There is a certain amount of irony to the fact that the fear or pain and discomfort keeps older adults away from yoga. After all, these are exactly the reasons to start yoga. You could even argue that older adults can benefit from gentle yoga, more than young people, for exactly this reason.

The important thing to remember is that pain is just information. It tells you how far you can go in each position. It also tells you were you need to focus your practice.

As one of my instructors said, “Try to treat pain as your friend.” This is difficult advice to follow, but, it is also so important.

Fear of the Unknown

Finally, many women my age avoid yoga because it sounds mysterious or “new-agey.” Others worry that the spiritual aspect of yoga may conflict with their own religious practices. The only advice that I can give here is to seek out answers for yourself.

Don’t assume that you know what yoga really is based on what you see in the movies. As someone once told me, yoga is as deep as the ocean. It means many different things and there are plenty of options out there.

People of all backgrounds and beliefs practice yoga. If you research yoga and decide that it’s not for you, that’s totally fine. But, I would encourage you to at least do some research and ask a few questions before dismissing it out of hand.

Like with so many fears, the fear of the unknown can be positive or negative; it can be a catalyst for change or it can chain you to the past.

I hope that my own experiences help you to start your own yoga journey. I’m looking forward to returning to Bali at least once a year and I hope that you will join me!

What is the biggest fear that prevents you from trying yoga? What intrigues you most about yoga? Please join the conversation.