Liv­ing in the Caribbean, sure­ly has its perks. These days when the weath­er is hot, we are sur­round­ed by the best way to cool down—the beach. For the next few months, be­fore we head back in­to the rainy sea­son, our week­ends will be sprin­kled with biki­nis, monoki­nis, and throwovers. So, why not spice up your beach style, with some styl­ish, trend­ing and flat­ter­ing lo­cal brands?

Here are six swimwear brands, that have been on my radar for the last few months, and, now they could be on yours too.

1. My Re­al Swim

Made to flat­ter our RE­AL body types, this brand en­sures we em­brace each and every body. It cel­e­brates the fab­u­lous full-fig­ured woman who wants to wear a bathing suit that of­fers the right sup­port and one that makes her feel great. The pieces are trendy, fig­ure-flat­ter­ing, fit fo­cused and fierce. At its core, My Re­al Swim is body in­clu­sive, and this is their recipe for suc­cess:

The RE­AL recipe:

- Love ALL body types

- Ap­pre­ci­ate di­ver­si­ty

- No Judg­ment zone

- Cel­e­brate each oth­er

- Be pos­i­tive

- Be un­apolo­get­i­cal­ly con­fi­dent

- Don’t let any­one tell you how to live

2. Vivre by Chelsea

Ur­ban swimwear with Caribbean flair is the sim­plest and most ac­cu­rate de­scrip­tion I could find for Vivre. Filled with vi­bran­cy, unique­ness, and the abil­i­ty to turn heads. This is the brand you wear when your goal is to make every­one, stop, stare and ask “Where did she get that suit?”. With a tagline ‘On­ly for the dope,’ there’s no deny­ing that these pieces were cre­at­ed for those who have no fear when it comes to fash­ion. Are you dope enough to try a Vivre swim­suit?

3. RJ Man­go

RJ wants you to “Ex­pe­ri­ence fash­ion like a ripened man­go, sweet, juicy and colour­ful.” Hav­ing a sig­na­ture de­sign of a low-cut front with a racer­back, sur­round­ed by trop­i­cal prints, RJ Man­go has fit and com­fort in the bag. Rem­i­nis­cent of those su­per com­fy speedos, you wore to swim class as a child, but up­grad­ed with grown-up cuts and fun prints, your trips to the wa­ter are now way more ex­cit­ing thanks to these cute swim­suits. If com­fort and the fit is your pri­or­i­ty (yes there are peo­ple who pre­fer to fo­cus on style and that’s great too), then RJ is your go-to girl for swim­suits!

4. Sim­ply Es­cape

Cro­chet is mak­ing a come­back in 2019, but, to be hon­est, it nev­er tru­ly left. As a ver­sa­tile, breath­able and styl­ish op­tion for the beach, SE is do­ing any piece that you can pos­si­bly think of for the beach. From monoki­nis, throwovers and men’s vests, to ac­ces­sories like cro­cheted shell an­klets or bare­foot san­dals, there is some­thing for every taste or to com­plete any sea­side look. SE even makes a cro­cheted beach bag, so if you’re not too keen on the swimwear, your beach es­sen­tials can still be cud­dled in cro­chet. Do you think you can get tied up in some cro­cheted swimwear?

5. Chan­dra Ma­haraj De­signs

Leav­ing no one be­hind, Chan­dra cre­ates swimwear for both men and women where she hopes to “touch the lives of those who wear her de­signs.” Her ef­fort­less­ly beach chic de­signs bridge the gap be­tween luxe and ca­su­al, re­mind­ing us of the out­fits we see on celebri­ties who are on va­ca­tion. The dar­ing cuts aren’t for the faint of heart but for those who like to get a lit­tle ad­ven­tur­ous when at the beach. So, if you’re in­to sea­side ad­ven­tures, Chan­dra Ma­haraj De­signs is the fit you need to ac­com­pa­ny you.

6. Reign TTO

In­tro­duc­ing the re­versible one-piece swim­suit every girl needs in her wardrobe. On one side, its red hot, on the oth­er, striped to per­fec­tion. The line, suit­ably named ‘Trou­ble,’ in­vokes your more play­ful and mis­chie­vous side whether at the beach or pool. And, if you want the full ‘Trou­ble’ look, the line al­so in­cludes a head­scarf, bag and pin so you can serve looks while loung­ing beach­side. So, if you’re up for stir­ring up some ‘Trou­ble,’ this is ex­act­ly what you need.