Little Magazine 10
Beauty Trouble-Shooting= Less Stress
Help, please.
I love New York, but it’s a stressful city. As soon as I got back into the city on Friday, I hopped out onto the street from Penn Station, and immediately, there was an epic downpour ☔️⛈. It stopped five minutes after I walked home. Awesome! That’s life, though, isn’t it? It’s just one thing after another, sometimes! This is why self-care 💆🏼♀️is so essential. Admittedly, oftentimes my self-care is induced from necessity rather than proactive measures, but I’m getting better. 😛
Let’s minimize the stress, shall we? 😎👍🏼 Here are a few simple hacks that will nip a few common problems we all share in the bud. Lymphatic drainage massage for those puffy-face days, pimple-patches for the fun maskne that we’re all facing, and a solution for how to put on sunscreen for those melty-face summer days☀️.
I don’t know about you,
but when I’m stressed, it culminates into a plethora of super fun habits, like eating junk food, losing my workout regimen, and not sleeping. This translates to what I call “puffy-face.” The Lymphatic system is an awesome little component of our immune system within the circulatory system that has many jobs, one of which is to maintain our body fluid levels. Inflammation 🌝 is a sign that we have poor lymphatic drainage. Namely, puffy-face. Here’s a great video by The Moments on Youtube that specializes in depuffing the eyes, which is great in the mornings. The action starts at 3:06 if you’re impatient like me. I did this massage this morning and I already feel better. 🥰
Tip: Wash your hands 👐🏼 beforehand and use a non-comedogenic oil (non-pore-clogging) on your face pre-massage. You don’t need to use a lot of pressure because lymph runs superficially in the skin, so no need to drag and cause wrinkles. Gentle pressure! If you suffer from allergies (like me), have congestion around the sinuses, or have headaches, this lymphatic drainage massage will draw out toxins. Regular exercise also helps (but doesn’t it— with everything in life? If only it were as fun as eating cupcakes🧁👀). Diagram inserted for your visual stimulation as well as for your knowledge. (Notice how much of the lymph runs along the jawline!)
It’s a Catch-22
You can hide your face. 😷 You can wear the mask that caused the pimples to hide the pimples. Or, you can fight back! 👊🏼 I had the amazing opportunity to test these infamous COSRX pimple patches ($3.56) when I got graced with a fun little (aka big) pimple smack dab in the middle of my face. I haphazardly slapped one of the patches on before bed, cynical in my expectations—and shut the front door, Aunt Jemima, it WORKED!!! It was less than half-mast from the night before. (🏳️Pimple-0, COSRX-1🏆) And although the mask sufficiently covered the area, I was also surprised at how well the patch blended into my skin tone sans mask. (Now time for them to up their game and create all skin tones! Cough* don’t take a million years like Bandaid😬🤷🏼♀️.)
This kid looks adorable,
but it’s not so cute when you have to reapply sunscreen over your melty summer makeup-face. 🥵 Enter Soleil Toujours Sunscreen Makeup Sealer SPF Spray. And it’s organic! Woop! I recommend sandwiching an SPF under your makeup and over with this product, because… skin cancer is no bueno for anybody. Here’s a throwback to Article 4 that has some solid reco’s for regular sunscreens. This spray is also a great mid-day solution for minimizing germy situations. Less contact on the face, the better.
Tippy-tip: Don't forget to smile, friends. 😁 Force it at first if needed, then the body will follow. Just reminding you that a smile spurs a chemical reaction in the brain, releasing certain hormones including dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine increases our feelings of happiness. Serotonin release is associated with reduced stress.
Til next tuesday, Namaste all day y’all. -Renee 😌🧘♀️