A beauty and style blog for elegant people about elite products.
After being stuck quarantined in my 1 bedroom apartment, I really needed some time away from the city. My parents were kind enough to lend us their house in East Hampton at the tip of Long Island. Its a cozy place that is super close to both the town and the beach. My parents have had the house since I was born, but have added an addition and some other upgrades to the house since. This is honestly one of my favorite places in the world.
I’ve struggled a lot with my mental health over the years. After struggling for a really long time in my late teens and early 20s, I’ve now been on the same prescription cocktail for several years now. My longest lasting relationship is my therapist and I would probably never leave the east coast because of her. I struggled for years trying to find “a magic pill” to make my minor problems (which seemed like huge emotional hurtles) go away. I then found Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and I found a logical way of dealing with my illogical problems without making myself feel invalidated or “crazy.”
In times like these, when things seem so out of control and crazy, I like to fall back on some basic DBT skills to cope with all the insanity. These are very difficult times for everyone right now, but especially hard for people of color and people affected by covid-19. Using these skills may help you feel more grounded. Please read this link for more detailed information, but below is my interpretation of the essential DBT skills.
More reading on DBT:
Dialectical Behavior Therapy on Psychology Today , Mind Well NYC, Overview of DBT on Psych Central
Over the years I’ve tried lots of different skincare tools. I wanted to make a list of all the ones I’ve tried and what they did or did not do for my skin.
This tiny little steamer may seem useless at first, but trust me its a powerful device. I love how hot it gets and you can really open up your pores using this. You turn it on and hold a towel over your head to collect the steam around your face. This is an all natural way to open up your pores to cleanse thoroughly.
This isn’t the exact blackhead extractor or pore cleaner that I purchased from Amazon, however I’m sure that all the products of this type are generally the same. I hate these things. They are way too powerful to be using on your skin. My skin was bright red for days and it really doesn’t even get all the junk out of your pores in the first place.
Micro needling can sound super scary, but it’s not. You gage your own pressure and you don’t have to press hard at all. You just roll the needles over your skin after you apply an expensive face serum and you know you are going to get the most out of that product because its going deep into the skin.
I love this face brush from Touch Beauty that I got on Amazon. In my opinion it works just as well as the Clarisionic face brushes but its so much less expensive. Also this one takes batteries and won’t break as easily as a rechargeable face brush. I drop mine in the shower all the time and this one hasn’t broken yet and I got it in 2018.
I realize I make a lot of ridiculous purchases, however, this one I think takes the cake. I bought a hammock chair with this huge indoor hammock chair stand. Totally ridiculous, but also totally completely relaxing. I put the chair in my bedroom which is far away from my computer desk. I don’t want to even think about a computer when I’m in the hammock.
Once I sit in that chair at the end of the day, and the sun is exactly in the right place to engulf the entire chair in sunlight, it creates a magical experience that helps make you feel like your outside. I open my window to get a nice breeze and to hear the birds. I recently got a little wind chime bell that will help create a calming environment. All of these things put together really help me relax at the end of the day.
The best thing about having a man who is as comfortable in his own skin like my boyfriend is getting to do things like skincare Sunday with him! It always ends up being the highlight of my weekend. I often try and get him to start with the steamer, but normally I can just get him to agree to stand in the bathroom for a little while I run the shower really hot for a bit.
Then we wash our faces, normally with a cleaner that is slightly exfoliating. Jack Black or grown alchemist are his two favorites. Once that is done, I can sometimes get him to apply a blackhead peeling mask on his nose and forehead. He never seems to complain or say it hurts, but he’s probably just trying to be manly about removing it. After cleansing, we apply our sheet masks. He normally grabs some type of alcoholic drink at this point and relaxes on the couch.
I received my Olive and June nail polish kit today and so far so good. Their unique tool for applying the polish is called a “Poppy” and it’s actually extremely well designed. The Poppy makes painting your nails by yourself with your non dominant hand SO much easier!
Because I normally use gel polish, I greatly underestimated the amount of dry time I needed to not ruin my nails. But the second time around I did a better job. After a week I’ve noticed more chips on the nails that I did light coats on, like my pinkies, but where I used thicker coats looks great so far, like my thumb and middle fingers.
One of the other great things about Olive and June is that they provide instructional videos on how to do your own nails. After I watch some more videos and do my nails one more time with their polish I’ll have a better idea on what the exact wear time is for these polishes. But so far I’m impressed with the thought they put into their products.
Having had experience working from home full time, I understand how isolating it can feel and I’ve worked on coping skills to get me through times like these. Now everyone is working from home full time. Having survived most of this quarantine in a Brooklyn one bedroom apartment, I now understand the importance of having some outdoor space. The next place I get will definitely have something. Anyway, I’ve decided to make a list of ways you can decorate your home to welcome the outdoors in. Instead of one long post, I will be doing a series of posts about this topic, the first decorating idea is adding some indoor plants to your home.
1) Indoor Plants
I tried having real live plants once, but not only did my cat eat the plant (then proceeded to puke everywhere), but it also got some type of mite bug infestation that made me throw it out because it was super gross and I had no experience taking care of plants. I know that sounds terrible but it was probably going to die anyway, and someone ended up taking the plant from my hallway when I put it out. Ended up being the best thing for the plant.
The right plants can improve your indoor air quality. They can also improve your mood. I have a couple of fake plastic plants around my apartment now to bring some color into my life. Even if the plants you have are fake, make sure that some or most of them are green. We associate green with nature and it can have a calming effect. “Green is thought to relieve stress and help heal. Those who have a green work environment experience fewer stomachaches. Green’s calming effects may be due to its associations with nature, which people often feel is relaxing and refreshing.” [Very Well Mind, Green in Color Psychology]
A rosey day dress with sparkly sandals.
