Boucan at Hotel Chocolat

When I visit another country, I always like to experience the local flavors. When in Italy, pasta and wine reign…in Greece, I ate feta cheese and a warm baguette just about as much as I drank water. In St. Lucia, chocolate is king.

I was so surprised to learn that St. Lucia is a huge exporter of cacao beans, which are made into chocolate. Guess where they export the majority of it? HERSHEY PARK! While I was surprised to learn that they don’t keep a ton of cocoa locally, we did find an amazing restaurant where chocolate still reigned.

Enter Boucan at Hotel Chocolat. This is basically every person’s dream. The boutique restaurant (with killer views of the piton mountains) infuses chocolate into everything they make. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. At first, honestly, I was weirded out…like I love chocolate but NOT THAT MUCH. But, I was pleased to experience, whether Boucan uses cocoa as a delicate spice or infused into the meal in a bolder way, it was always outrageously delicious. And get this - cocoa was used as a SAVORY ingredient for 3,000 years and a sweet one for only 500 years! WHAT?! Mind blown, I know.

This was by far one of my favorite food experiences ever. Between the impeccably paired wines and the chocolate shots they made us upon request (which we insisted they refer to as the G-shot given our last names), the whole evening may have been my favorite of the trip. 

For the special evening, I wore this sold-out Kate Moss X Toyshop collaboration piece I had been lusting over ever since it was released. I couldn’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on a dress with sequins, but as fate would have it, the dress appeared on my instagram feed with a “for sale” sign attached from a fellow instagrammer. I couldn’t type in my paypal email fast enough. 

I also wore the ultimate bohemian accessory, my Samantha Wills ring and my favorite clutch of all time by Jeffrey Levinson. I've also been wearing this Kendra Scott necklace on repeat - it goes with literally everything. 

Can't wait to show you guys the last few posts from St. Lucia! Stay tuned ;)

Wearing Kate Moss for Topshop dress (old), Jeffrey Levinson clutch, Samantha Wills ring, Kendra Scott necklace c/o, J.Crew mules, Claire Ashley X Makeup Meltdown lipstick in "Siren"

The Mango Tree

Happy Friday!! Ending the week on a little wanderlust from our trip to St. Lucia. Because we wanted both the exotic mountain and luxury beach experience, we stayed in two different hotels on our trip! We spent the first few days at the rustic Stonefield Resort and the last few  days at the luxurious Sugar Beach resort.

The thing I didn't realize about St. Lucia is that you honestly and truly have to take a taxi everywhere you go. Forget walking around town to find a great place. You better have somewhere in mind ahead of time and be prepared for a fairly expensive taxi.

Luckily, there was a great restaurant on-site at Stonefield called The Mango Tree. The food was much pricier than I'm used to, but we found that's pretty common for the area. Oh well, YOLO. 

I wanted to wear something super special for our last night at Stonefield, so I wore my custom Zophia blouse (named the Julien Top!) My good friend Betsy designed the shirt and I knew St. Lucia would be the perfect occasion to rock it. I love that this piece was totally tailored to me, giving it the perfect fit. Oh, and did I mention it's on sale right now?! 

I paired this with a pretty Elizabeth and James skirt that I initially tried on the top with. It was my first fitting and we met at Intermix so Betsy could show me how versatile the top was. I tried it with this skirt and WOW it fit like a dream...but the price tag left me feeling very, very sad. $265 was a bit much for a summer skirt, so I sadly said goodbye and vowed to snag it as soon as it went on sale. WHICH IT DID 3 months later!! Yes, it's a summer skirt, but you know full well I am going to try to do everything in my power to make this work for fall. Challenge accepted.

I also brought along this gorgeous clutch from Jeffrey Levinson. I've never felt leather so soft in my life. It's an investment piece for sure, but in the few weeks I've had it, it's garnished more compliments than any other bag I own. Not to mention Olivia Palermo has one of his bags and so does Diane Guerrero (from OITNB!) 

I finished off the look with some jewelry from my favorite local jewelry gals...the cutest Rachelle Celine midi rings and rose gold necklace from my babe Sophie Blake. Stay tuned for more St. Lucia goodness next week!

Wearing Elizabeth and James skirt, “The Julien Top” via Zophia (on sale!), Jeffrey Levinson clutch, J.Crew mules, Sophie Blake necklace in rose gold and Rachelle Celine midi rings.

Waking to Dinner in Soufriere

I don’t know about you, but typically, I’m a terrible packer. I bring far too much and end up with so many options that overwhelm me when I’m trying to decide what to wear. This trip though, I felt like I really had it together and packed JUST ENOUGH outfits. Or so I thought.

During the day, it’s SO easy. Swimsuits all day, cute clothes (aka look presentable) for dinner. Seems like it wouldn’t be that hard. But this one night…I realized I had packed ONE OUTFIT UNDER what I’d need on the trip.

Cue mini meltdown. Since we were walking (more like trekking) into town (we thought we’d save money on a taxi this one night and it was NOT WORTH IT - always hire the taxi if your destination is more than 2 miles away), there were lots of things to consider. Comfortable shoes (I’d brought five pair of shoes total - one heeled sandal, one sneaker, one slip on and two pairs of sandals.) Plus I had to wear an outfit that was nice but walkable. I was stressing out.

I finally landed on this skirt/top combo that ended up being one of my favorite from the trip (figures.) I’m going to let you guys in on a little secret - I scored this Alexis skirt for $40 on Thredup. WUT. Yes. A $400+ skirt lives in my closet and I only paid 10% of that. 

Totes didn’t mean for this to end up like a thredup infomercial, nor did I mean to get all crazy pants with my stressful getting dressed situation, but hey. It’s MONDAY. And on Mondays, anything goes. (Especially my sanity.) ;)

On Julien: Skirt, Alexis (similar.) Top, GAP c/o (similar.). Necklace, Take 5 Boutique. Bracelet, Sophie Blake. Purse, VASKA via Estiletta c/o.

Tet Paul Nature Trail - St. Lucia

One of the big reasons we choose to go to St. Lucia was because of how lush the island was. We didn’t just want a beach - we wanted mountains to accompany it. I wouldn’t say I’m outdoorsy by any means, but I do love myself a little adventure now and then.

After a few days of beach lounging and a whole ‘lotta soaking in the sun, we decided to hit up some of the local hotspots.

We started off at the sulfur springs mud bath right when it opened at 9 AM to beat the tourists and sure enough, we were the first ones there. What an awesome experience - my skin was the softest ever after rubbing down in the volcanic mud. Afterwards, we went to a tiny waterfall, Piton Falls, afterwards and it was ok. Not to be a downer over here, but I’ve swam in quite a few waterfalls and this one just wasn’t my fave. It had a warm pool of water and I have to wonder - why is the water so warm? 

Next up was the Tet Paul Nature Trail. Let me be honest for a sec here - we had these grand plans of hiking a much more intense hike, the Gros Piton, while we were in St. Lucia. It wasn’t the length that scared us, it was only 3-4 hours. Maybe I’m making excuses over here, but we got so caught up in doing nothing (oops) that we opted for a much easier hike (a walk, really) that boasted incredible views of both piton mountains. #noregrets. Well maybe just a little ;)

This was definitely one of my favorite activities of our trip. We learned all about the fruits, vegetables that grow in St. Lucia and got to see the island from the coolest vantage points! 

For the hike, I wanted to wear a piece from my new favorite sportswear company, ADAY. They were super new to the athleticwear world, but they’re already making a splash.

Their carefully curated collection of pieces are wearable, comfortable and insanely cute. Sorry there’s not a whloe ‘lotta face photos in this, but DID YOU SEE THE BACK OF THIS SPORTSBRA and ARE YOU DYING RIGHT NOW?! Because I am. 

I'd highly recommend you check them out if you're an active girl like me. And stay tuned for SO MANY MORE St. Lucia posts next week. It might be rainy on the East Coast, but it's always sunny on itsjulien.com ;)

Wearing ADAY sports bra and everything else is so old that you wouldn’t want it anyway ;)

Anse Chastenet Beach

Before I get into all the juicy deets about this day in St. Lucia, I wanted to share a little story about how we decided to go on this trip.

It was mother’s day. After many weeks of evaluating the trip options we had come up with, we had decided - we weren’t going on a big trip this year. We’d go to Florida, get a beach house with some friends, take it easy.

But then, over dinner with Shawn’s family, his brother and sister-in-law announced they were going to have a baby! GAME CHANGER. All of a sudden we all looked at each other and instantly knew - this was our last chance.

Not to sound like a downer here…I’m sure you can take your baby lots of places. But it would be the last time the four of us took a trip together. So we knew it had to be somewhere amazing.

We went through a few ideas, Aruba (mainly because we had milage points but ultimately decided against it since we wanted more than just a beach atmosphere) and St. Lucia (which I discovered existed during a season of the bachelor many moons ago.) After seeing a few photos my favorite bloggers took there, we decided that it would be the perfect spot to celebrate our anniversary and our siblings-in-law’s babymoon.

On our first day on the island, we took a little boat to Anse Chastenet Beach, right around the corner from where we were staying. We spent the afternoon snorkeling, eating at Petit Peak (thanks to a rec from Gal Meets Glam) and soaking in some much-needed sun. Taking the boat ride was a perfect way to get a little introduction to the island where we’d be spending the next week.

Stay tuned for more St. Lucia posts in the next few weeks!

On Julien: AMI Clubwear dress and sandals c/o, South Moon Under necklace, vintage straw bag via Snobswap and borrowed hat.