Southern Living August 2021

ONE OF THE least original things we did during the pandemic was to bring home a puppy. This was in the spring of 2020, when the experience of quarantining was still new. Like many people, we were looking for a diversion—anything to take our minds off the news. We already had a dog we loved, an easygoing Jack Russell terrier named Rocky, but when some good friends of ours in Charleston, South Carolina, said they had a litter of Boykin spaniels on the way, it seemed like fate. Our kids, bleary-eyed from online school, sparked to the idea immediately, making empty promises about how they would feed and clean up after him. In no time, we convinced ourselves that Rocky needed a friend and that we were destined for a…

Erin Napier This isn’t the only time Erin Napier, cohost of HGTV’s hit shows Home Town and Home Town Takeover, has appeared in our pages, but it’s the first time she’s done so as a writer. As you’ll see in “The Book of Ouida” (page 104), the Laurel, Mississippi, native is a gifted storyteller. Betsy Cribb Betsy Cribb is the Features Editor at Southern Living. Based in Birmingham, she covers a variety of topics for the magazine, from family food traditions (“Roll Models,” page 96) to the women making our region a bolder, brighter place (“The New Southern Tastemakers,” page 79). TOP TO BOTTOM: CEDRIC ANGELES; ROBBIE CAPONETTO…

WHAT WE’RE LOVING, SHARING, AND CELEBRATING FOOD STYLING: KELLIE GERBER KELLEY; PROP STYLING: KATHLEEN VARNER…

(1) RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek Glow Quad Mini Take this compact on the go for use as a blush, lip color, radiance booster, and highlighter whenever complexion dullness hits. $25; rmsbeauty.com (2) EleVen by Venus Williams Perfect Form Lip Balm SPF 15 Sun protection that is camouflaged in three sheer shades plus an easy-to-wear red? It’s an ace. $19; ulta.com (3) Jones Road Just a Sec Bright Eyes Use your ring finger to swipe this crease-proof color across the eyelids and brow bone. It’s bolstered with vitamin E to guard this area against environmental damage. $26; jonesroadbeauty.com (4) Lancôme Lash Idôle Lash-Lifting & Volumizing Mascara The secret to looking put together in a flash? A good mascara. This pick features a gel formula and a curved brush that fans out lashes. $26; dillards.com (5) Ilia…

Blackberry Floats Process 2 cups blackberries, ⅓ cup hot water, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, and 1 Tbsp. lemon juice in a blender until pureed, about 2 minutes. Strain; discard solids. Scoop ⅓ cup vanilla ice cream into each of 4 glasses. Spoon ⅓ cup blackberry mixture into each glass; top each with 1 cup club soda. Garnish with blackberries and mint. ACTIVE 5 MIN. - TOTAL 5 MIN. - SERVES 4 Blackberry-Lime Drop Biscuits Whisk together 2 cups self-rising flour, ¼ cup brown sugar, and 1 tsp. lime zest in a bowl. Cut in ½ cup cold cubed unsalted butter until crumbly. Add 1 cup blackberries, ¾ cup sour cream, and ⅓ cup buttermilk; stir until dough comes together. Drop dough by ¼ cupfuls 2 inches apart on 2 parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake…

Aging Reimagined Caire Beauty’s founders want to change the way women think about skin care BEAUTY-INDUSTRY veterans Celeste Lee (above left) and Lorrie King (above right) wanted products that actually worked for them. “About five or six years ago, we noticed that our friends were calling nearly every week and saying, ‘I’ve been using this great eye cream my whole life, and it’s not doing anything anymore,’” recalls Lee, who says the culprit was perimenopause, the four- to ten-year time period before menopause occurs. “Most women don’t really know what goes along with it, except for hot flashes, but the truth of the matter is that one of the first signs is changing skin.” Unsatisfied with options they saw on the market for the over-40 set, Lee and King partnered with a…