After what feels like forever, Spring has finally sprung and we’ve been given the gift of cherry blossoms, sunshine, and warmth! Here’s to hoping that the weather continues to warm up as we move towards Summer so that all of the chilly Winter vibes can be put behind us. And if you’re anything like me, then you’re probably in the process of rotating out your wardrobe, packing up all of your Winter jackets and accessories and breaking out your best warm weather gear. I’ve personally come out of hibernation and begun spending more time outdoors, strolling the streets of downtown Toronto, taking Kobe out for longer walks around our neighborhood, and it’s the best feeling ever!

Now if you’re also anything like me, then you’re also probably doing a complete 180 to your everyday routine and swapping out some winter necessities for some spring ones. I’ve gone ahead and rounded up some of my favourite must-haves for the Spring season so that you can zero in on these and not have to worry about hunting down the best of the best!

Footwear, footwear, footwear.

Like I said, I hibernate in the winter, but I go full force outdoor mode when it comes to the summer. As a child, my family went camping and cottaging every single summer, so I’ve grown to really love being outdoors and with nature as soon as Spring hits. There’s something magical about waking up to birds chirping, the smell of fresh cut grass, and to hearing children playing outside of your window. Granted I don’t get as much of that anymore now that Peter and I live downtown, but we definitely still get to hear chirping birds every once in awhile when we walk past the parks!

As soon as the weather warms up, the first thing on my mind are the outdoor activities. Whether it be something as simple as a longer walk with Kobe, to driving out for an afternoon hike at Dundas Peak, to a weekend away camping, there’s nothing that I love to do better as the weather warms up than to be outside.

You probably already have an arsenal of winter footwear that’s designed to not only keep your feet warm from the cold, but dry from all of the snow and ice as well. When it comes to warmer season, the first thing that most of us gravitate towards is fashion shoes such as dad sneakers and slides, but it’s also important to invest in functional shoes that can take you places as you explore the outdoors. You’re definitely not going to be wearing your pristine white dad sneakers on your next hike around the waterfalls in Hamilton, or taking your rubber slides out for stroll through the flower farms. Who wants to worry about getting their perfectly white shoes dirty, or getting their toes stabbed by straw?!

On our recent trip to Amsterdam, I got the chance to test out my brand new Merrell Canada Ontario Mid Boots to see if they would withstand an entire weeks worth of triapsing around the canals, along with some dusty tulip farms, and heavy biking. It’s safe to say that the boots withstood every single thing that we tossed at them and more! I didn’t get a single ankle scrape while wearing these boots to bike around the city (something that I have a really bad habit of doing when I bike at home in flip flops), nor did I break out a sweat as we hiked around the tulip farms for hours!

Not only were the boots ridiculously durable, but also lightweight enough that it didn’t feel like you were lugging around two massive blocks on each foot all day. Did I also mention that these bad boys are also waterproof? They’re literally any adventurer’s dream, and also guaranteed stylish with the cute pop of yellow laces. We’ve got a couple of hiking and camping trips planned for this Spring/Summer so you can bet that these boots are going to be joining me on every single one of them!

Beauty is only skin deep.

When it comes to beauty, I’m all about the skincare. As much as I love to play around with makeup and to try new products, for some reason I just don’t get as enthused as I do with skincare. Transitioning from Winter to Spring is an important time of the year for me since not only does my wardrobe change, but my skincare routine does to.

I’m someone who has battled with hormonal and adult acne over the past 10 years, so I spend a lot of time researching new products, what works and doesn’t work for my skin, and staying hyper-alert to my skin’s needs and wants. At the end of the day, I believe that makeup shouldn’t be about hiding your skin insecurities, so it’s important to take a look at your skin before you mask over any problems that you may have with makeup.

Coming out of winter, I tend to put aside my heavy creams and oils in exchange for lighter formulas that really allow my skin to breathe through the warmer temperatures and increase in humidity. I typically run cold and love to blast the heat in my condo during the colder months of the year, so the dry air really challenges my skin. In order to combat it, I tend to opt for heavy night creams, layering on the face oils, and frequently moisture masking. That isn’t the case once the warmer weather hits. As soon as Spring rolls around, I find that the thicker lotions and creams actually cause me to break out more since my skin is no longer as dry. It’s important for me to notice these subtle changes in my skin’s response to the changing seasons since it’s a mental red flag that it’s time to swap out my skincare products for lighter ones.

For the Spring, I like swapping out my heavy, thick, and sticky night mask for a lighter cream version. I’ve recently began using Estee Lauder’s Nutritious Super-Pomegranate Radiant Energy Night Crème/Mask which is a significantly lighter formula that quickly absorbs into my skin upon application, and doesn’t leave my skin feeling sticky or oily afterwards. I never run into any problems involving my hair sticking to my face (huge turn off when my face products do this!), and I wake up each and every single morning with hydrated and plump skin.

I’m still using my tried and true Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex II as one of the serums in my skincare routine because I’ve found that after using it for several years, this is one of the few product formulations that my skin enjoys using year round, so that step won’t be removed from my routine.

But another major swap out for me is my eye cream. After trying more than 10+ different brands of eye creams over the years, I’ve narrowed it down to a few that I know work well for my skin (I also love Estee Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair Eye Supercharged Complex for colder months since it’s nice and creamy), but for Spring, I’ve begun using Estee Lauder’s Nutritious Super-Pomegranate Radiant Energy Eye Jelly mainly because of its lightweight gel formula that instantly absorbs into my skin and doesn’t feel sticky or oily to the touch. As the weather increasingly becomes more humid, it’s important for me that my skincare products can quickly absorb into my skin so that they don’t linger around. No one wants to or likes to wait around for 10 minutes for a product to absorb, so formulation is a key factor to selecting skincare products when I’m swapping products out for Spring.

You can definitely use the eye jelly for both morning and night, but I particularly love using it first thing in the morning after cleansing my skin because the cooling effect of the gel really helps to de-puff my under eye area and provides an added feeling of perkiness.

The entire Nutritious Super-Pomegranate line in itself is designed to provide all-day hydration, along with anti-oxidant power that detoxifies your skin from the free radicals that it encounters throughout the day, all without weighing down your face. If you’re someone who enjoys a lengthy skincare routine and layering products over top of each other, then I’d highly recommend checking out this line from Estee Lauder because it won’t feel like you’re walking around with a mask on. Everything soaks in quickly, doesn’t leave any strange residue and actually works for you throughout the day as you’re working!

Exercise? I thought you said accessorize.

Exposed ankles and wrists, the blasphemy! Just kidding, but in all seriousness, I take Spring seriously because it means I can finally accessorize so much more now that I don’t have restrictive winter jackets cocooning me in a sleeping bag. Not that I don’t enjoy the warmth of a good cocoon, but it’s nice to finally free all of my limbs and to jazz up the accessories! Besides the obvious, jewelry, I love being able to finally pull out my watches again. Gone are the days of your watch face getting stuck on the cuff of your winter jacket as your taking off your outerwear, or your watch getting stuck in between the stitches of your cable knit sweater. My wrists are now free for me and all to see! With that much extra real estate available, I like to accessorize and really put it to good use.

I’ve recently grown to admire the vintage look that incorporates a mixed two-tone metal, along with a slight modern day twist of a dark face. It’s all in the details, and incorporating those two elements together stylishly can be hard, but Citizen certainly pulls it off. Would you be surprised to learn that my Corso watch is actually a men’s one? This is pulling those serious ‘stolen from the boyfriend’ style vibes, except this baby is all mine! I love how the large and black face lends it a casual appearance, while the mixed metal strap has such a classy air to it.

Not only does this design suit exactly what I’m looking for, it’s a timeless one that can be passed on from generation to generation without ever worrying that it will go out of style. I may love an adorable metallic leather strap as much as the next person, but as I begin investing more into my belongings, I’m looking for those timeless designs that I know for sure will never go out of style.

Think Pink.

For some reason, I’ve been gravitating towards a lot of pink this season. Could I be partially influenced by the Pantone’s colour of the year, Living Coral, or could it just be that every brand seems to be releasing amazing designs and pieces in pink coincidentally? Whatever the reason, it was a colour that I just had to get my hands on. From tops, to skirts, to dresses, to full on pant suits, I’ve probably collected every possible piece of clothing that you could imagine in pink—and I’m definitely not ashamed of it.

This beautiful colour has a certain warmth to it that automatically makes you smile even just thinking of it. You can’t think about pink and not feel positive inside. It’s just one of those colours that have that strange effect on you.

Like always, if pink is a bit outside of the box for your personal tastes but you do want to give the trend a try, then start out small. Try out a pink accessory, or even try a pale/light shade of pink to introduce the colour into your wardrobe. There’s no reason to commit to a big ticket item or a vibrant shade if you’re not sure as to whether or not it’s going to be a recurring piece in your everyday uniform or not. And once you’ve grown comfortable to it, open up the possibilities and play around with your options. Who knows, you might fall in love with pink so much that you purchase a pink pair of rubber boots!

Florals for spring? Groundbreaking!

In all seriousness, there’s nothing quite like a beautiful bouquet of florals to get your happiness meter going. There’s something about flowers that instantly perk me up everytime I see, smell, and touch them. The freshness and vibrancy of their blooms always puts me in a great mood and I frequently find myself more motivated whenever I’m around flowers.

And I know that flowers can tend to get quite pricey if you’re constantly refreshing them, but have you ever considered just plain old simple greenery? I never used to appreciate greenery and plants until I began cultivating and caring them for myself over the course of the past few months. There’s something special about seeing a brand new leaf, stem, or flower bloom in the Spring, after knowing that you nourished it throughout the entire winter. I’m definitely not ready for real life parenting just quite yet, but the satisfaction of nourishing my plants really hits the spot!

After taking care of my fiddle leaf fig tree for the past several years, it only begun rewarding me with large quantity of growth this Spring, and I’m feeling every bit like a proud plant mother. Although none of my plants are actually blooming any flowers just yet, my fake flowers are really helping to set the mood around the place!

During our recent trip to Amsterdam, we popped into Amsterdam’s Bloemenmarkt (which is a local flower market) to pick up some fake flowers. You read that correctly, we purchased fake flowers in the world’s capital for blooms. There’s literally no way that we can bring back fresh blooms or bulbs from The Netherlands at this time of the year, and chances are that any flowers that I import back to Canada probably wouldn’t make the flight and my clumsiness, so fake flowers it is! Mel actually informed me that Amsterdam is one of the best places in the world to get high quality fake flowers at an affordable price, and she definitely did not lot. We found one store that was filled from wall-to-wall of aisle-to-aisle with fake flowers of every which kind you could fathom, except none of them looked fake. Unless you went up close and inspected them of course.

So if you’re looking for a quick fix to get that Spring into your step this season, I’d highly recommend getting some greenery and blooms into your life. And if you’re more of a black thumb than a green thumb, then don’t be afraid to explore the world of fake plants, there are some extremely believable ones out on the market now!

Let me know what you think of these 5 Must Have Spring Trends and if there are any ones in particular that strike your fancy! I’d love to see how you interpret these trends into your own personal style, and to whether or not you’ll be incorporating them into this Spring season!

This post was written in collaboration with Citizen Watch, Estee Lauder, and Merrell, however all views are 100% honest and my own.