35 Years Bold Chico’s trip day two

Welcome to my Chico’s trip recap day two! If you missed day one, you can read all about it here.

The second day of the Chico’s 35 Years Bold trip was jam-packed with activities. We started our day out at Chico’s headquarters. Their headquarter’s is so dreamy! It’s Florida, so they had a beautiful pond near the gate to their campus, and the buildings were designed in nostalgic brick. It looked like a pretty place to work!

Chico’s gave us a tour of their campus, and filled us in on the history of the founders, and the company. There are beautiful antiques and a beachy vibe when you walk into the reception area of the building. There is nothing cold and corporate-like about it! What a fun place to work!

Our tour included backstage access to their entire design process from start to finish. You can see an artist designing a new print for a future collection, which I am not allowed to name, in one of the above photos. It is incredible to know that Chico’s prints are all hand-painted, in-house, by real artists!!

After getting a sneak peek at several future collections, forecasting mood boards, the fit process, and a couple of top secret collections, we were treated to a catered brunch. The brunch was delicious, and when we were done, we chatted with Chico’s executives about everything from marketing to design to shopping. It was so much fun to give feedback and share ideas with Chico’s decision makers!

Brunch eventually came to an end, and Chico’s brought us out to Sanibel Island where the very first Chico’s store is located. It was incredible to see the first store in it’s original location, complete with original fixtures and antiques. The store was incredible; and two stories!

So, what happens when eleven bloggers are armed with gift cards in a Chico’s? Well, a whole lotta shopping, that’s what! I came home with a black and white dress, and two belts. My new dress will make an appearance on the blog in the near future-so stay tuned!

Outfit I wore to Chico’s headquarter’s and shopping:

After shopping, we enjoyed a yummy lunch and then headed back to the hotel to rest and freshen up before dinner.

We started the evening off with a beautiful dinner inside the hotel’s ballroom. I found Tonya from The Real Chic Life had chosen the same dress as me for the evening. She looked fabulous! I love how she paired it with this necklace. The beads in her necklace really captured the colors in the print and looked amazing. Hmmmm, ideas for next time I wear it!

It was really fun twinning with her, after all, great minds think alike; amiright?! This dress is amazing, and it’s part of Chico’s pre-fall collection, so I plan on styling it differently as we move into the fall season. I am going to wear it with western style boots at fashion week in September. It’ll be a fun look!

Outfit I wore to dinner and the sunset cruise:

After dinner, we all walked across the street for a beautiful, ninety-minute cruise around Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. The cruise was so pretty, I sat on the top level of the boat the entire time drinking in the beauty of the area. The sunset was incredible, and there were dolphins swimming along with our boat!! That was SO COOL!

One of the big takeaways from the trip was that we should always be living our best and boldest life. Chico’s is all about being bold, and enjoying life. When I was in my 20’s I always wore professional black ensembles and went for a conservative look. The older I get, the more I realize life is too short to follow fashion rules and blend into the background. It is time to shine; and be bold! So let’s raise a glass and cheers Chico’s on 35 years of living bold!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy

Chico’s 35 Years Bold trip recap day one

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Last week was so amazing! Chico’s sent eleven bloggers, minus Dawn from Fashion Should be Fun who was supposed to be number twelve but had to stay home due to her real job (those pesky jobs!), to Fort Myers, Florida for a fabulous bloggers event: Chico’s 35 Years Bold.

Chico’s was celebrating 35 years in business. In order to help celebrate, they flew us out to Florida so we could check out their beautiful, enviable headquarters, and visit the very first Chico’s store on Sanibel Island. I’ll fill you in on all the juicy details in my next post, today we are talking about the very first day of the trip!

what to wear to a formal beach partyhow to dress for a cocktail party on the beach

Wearing: medium silver hoops / lipstick / tropical print dress / blue nail polish / necklace c/o Chico’s (3 tier-wore third tier alone) / black handbag / black wedge espadrilles /

For my flight, I took a red eye in from San Francisco and landed in Fort Myers at 9:30am-ish. I got to the hotel around 10am and was stunned at the beauty! We stayed at the Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina on Fort Myers Beach in Florida. It was so beautiful! Aside from the fabulous view of the beach, the resort itself was incredible. It’s on the beach, decorated with a fun, beachy vibe, and features a beautiful swimming pool and deck.

Chico’s set us up in our  own suites which featured bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, and balconies. My room overlooked the beach and was up on the seventh floor. The view was insanely beautiful! We were all gifted a fabulous beach bag, beach towel, and beautiful sun hat with our Instagram handle embroidered on it by Chico’s. I couldn’t believe it!

After taking a million insta-stories to share with you on Instagram, I relaxed on the sofa and took a tiny nap to catch up on the sleep I lost from my flight. Then, it was time for our first event of the week; a beach cocktail reception. Love!

The cocktail reception was so much fun. I was able to meet the PR team from Chico’s, SOMA Intimates, and White House | Black Market in person. It was so nice to meet everyone in person who I had been emailing for months. Chico’s gave us a beautiful location complete with live music, an open bar, and a delicious cheese and fruit table. There were also yummy passed appetizers. So good!

I really enjoyed being able to talk about fashion, shopping, style, blogging, business, and more with both the PR teams, and other bloggers on the trip. It was also really nice to meet bloggers I had never met before! I already knew Alison from Wardrobe Oxygen. We met last year at the rewardStyle conference and became instant friends. She is so amazing! It was so much fun to see her in person again. I also enjoyed seeing Sheree from SheSheShow again in person. Last time we saw each other was at fashion week, a few years ago! My girl Jamie from More Than Turquoise was there. Last time I saw her was at NYFW in February, so it was fun seeing her again in person. I knew Barbi from Southern Blond Chic and Tonya from The Real Chic from Instagram, but had never met them in real life before. It was great to meet Instagram friends in person, they are so nice!

The new blogger friends I made on the trip included Tanya from Tanya Foster Blog, Romy from Romy Raves, Chic Over 50, Nikki from I Am Nikki Free, and Lisa from The Silver Stylist. They were all incredible, inspiring, bold women who work hard and produce amazing blogs. I am so grateful to Chico’s for putting us all together for this event so we could meet each other, and help Chico’s celebrate 35 Years Bold!

Shop my beach cocktail party outfit:

Stay tuned! Recap of my visit to headquarter’s, the very first Chico’s store, and a beautiful boat cruise, are coming up next on the blog. Also-there will be some sneak peeks at what Chicos’ is offering in the future!

Thank you so much for all your support!

XOXO

Cathy

Photo credits: Arista Collective /

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Londontown Brill-Ant nail polish review

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pictured: nail polish c/o Londontown / Londontown Brill-Ant nail polish /

Lilac is almost as popular as purple this year; after all, purple is the color of 2018. So when Londontown sent me this beautiful metallic, lilac nail polish, aptly named Brill-Ant, I was thrilled!

Metallic polishes are my jam, and shades of purple are as important to me as shades of blue, so this color is brilliant! Brill-Ant is brilliant! haha, love that!

This pretty, metallic lilac hue is fabulous for the end of summer. As we head towards the fall season, there will more shades of purple in the color palette, so the lilac hue is a fun way to ease into the purple hues we will be seeing more of this autumn. I also love wearing metallic nail polish when the sun is shining, nothing is more eye catching than when the sun sparkles on your nails. Love!

I tested out Londontown Brill-Ant with one base coat layer of Londontown’s Ridge Filler, and two coats of color. I topped it off with one layer of Londontown’s Top Coat. The result is a hard, chip-resistant manicure which is 100% 9-free, cruelty free, and vegan. So it is fabulous, and feel good; brilliant!

Shop my lilac manicure:

I love Brill-Ant by Londontown to finish out the summer season. What do you think of the hue? You can find Londontown Brill-Ant nail polish online here.

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy