While coming up with a list of top reads many books crossed my mind. If you are an avid reader choosing your top five will not be an easy task, and ranking them in order is even tougher. I have read plenty of great books over the years, but only a select few continue to make an impact. The ones I am listing below are sources of rich insight.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert -By embarking on her journey with specific purposes – one country for pleasure of the senses, another for spiritual enlightenment and the third to restore balance in her life.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel -Rich and dynamic text full of discussion of morality, faith, and the ambivalence of what constitutes truth.
The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho- A philosophical book which tells us never to lose hope. It teaches us that when a person really desires something, the whole Universe will conspire to help that person realize his dream.
The power of habit by Charles Duhigg- Explores how we can change our lives by changing our habits.
Becoming by Michelle Obama- An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States.
Elevating fragrance to become a work of art, L’Art & La Matière echoes that irrepressible love of beauty, the very spirit of the House of Guerlain since its founding. L’Art & La Matière fragrances allow the finest raw materials used in Perfumery to boldly shine, revealing them under a new light and raising the scent up to the rank of full-fledged artistic masterwork. L’Art de Vivre – the home collection – elegantly extends the art of fragrance into one’s living space.
My personal favorites are SHADES OF OUD THE NEW CREATIONS OF L’ART & LA MATIÈRE With Oud Nude and Cherry Oud, Guerlain perfumers reveal the olfactive colours of oud wood, a black material with a powerful and complex fragrance trail, and
HAUTE PARFUMERIE INTERPRETATION OF ARMENIAN PAPER Inspired by the Armenian tradition of burning benzoin to form swirls of incense smoke, the Guerlain Perfumer has reinterpreted the scent of Armenian paper, bestowing it with warmly addictive vanilla accents.
Personalise the top of your bottle with a plate signed by Moroccan artist Ghizlane Agzenaï, with lacquered shapes and colours celebrating the thousand different shades of oud wood. This is included with the personalisation of your perfume.
Squalane is a molecule we are born with in abundance, but like the hyaluronic acid molecule, squalene amounts decrease as we age. It is a main component in sebum, the oily, waxy substance produced by the body’s sebaceous glands that moisturizes and protects our skin. Sebum is essential to protecting the skin barrier, helps to prevent water loss, and can also provide anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant benefits.
Where Does Squalane Come From? Squalene and squalane can be developed in several ways. Historically, squalene was derived from the livers of sharks. (Yes, really.) Sharks are unique in that they naturally have extra fat in their livers to maintain buoyancy in deep waters. The main ingredient in shark liver oil? Squalene. Currently, approximately six million sharks are killed annually for their livers, with around 3,000 sharks required to make one ton of squalene. This method has biodiversity consequences and obvious ethical concerns.
What Are the Benefits of Squalane? As mentioned, squalane mimics the chemical structure of the body’s own squalene and has a host of benefits. The most prominent being moisturization, but it also soothes, calms, and protects the skin barrier. “It’s so good for the skin, no matter how compromised the skin barrier is or the type of skin cell,” explains Miguel Borges Pombo, the founder of Ignae, an Azores Islands–based clean skincare line with its own biotechnology, and an international ingredient expert.
Because of its hydrating properties, it’s a star for drier skin. But it’s also lightweight and nongreasy in texture, making it a great option for oily or acne-prone skin too. “It’s almost skin-type immune, so it’s great for younger people, it’s great for older people, regardless of if your skin is drier or more moisturized,” Borges Pombo explains. It can also help soothe conditions like eczema and psoriasis, calm skin after sun exposure, and even tame frizz.
A HydraFacial is a great option for anyone desiring smoother, deeply hydrated skin with a quick turnaround. It is generally recommended to receive a Hydrafacial once a month. As there is no downtime associated with the treatment, it can be administered anytime during the year.
WHAT IS A HYDRAFACIAL?
An important step in any effective skincare treatment involves resurfacing the top layer of skin. One commonly known resurfacing procedure, microdermabrasion, uses micro-crystals to mechanically exfoliate the skin. While this method is very effective, it can also be irritating for acne-prone or sensitive skin types.
To address these concerns, HydraFacial was born, using water as the exfoliating medium. This multi-step treatment uses a patented device to cleanse, exfoliate, and extract dead skin cells while bathing the skin in serums packed with rich hydrating ingredients, antioxidants, and peptides. In addition to this, you can work with your skincare professional to further customize your HydraFacial by incorporating add-ons or boosters targeting your specific skin concerns.
With high concentrations of potent ingredients, professional products can also be incorporated to complement and enhance the HydraFacial experience. The dermatologist-tested SkinCeuticals + HydraFacial Integrated Treatment amplifies the effects of the procedure by infusing the benefits of SkinCeuticals vitamin C serums, corrective solutions, and broad spectrum sunscreens. The treatment delivers additional hydration with minimized visible redness while providing improvement in the appearance of skin firmness, texture, and radiance.
HOW DOES A HYDRAFACIAL WORK?
The HydraFacial device uses three actions that contribute to the resurfacing of the skin; physical exfoliation from water pressure and a textured tip, chemical exfoliation from acids such as glycolic and salicylic, and suction to lift dead skin cells off the surface.
A basic treatment starts with a water-based solution being blasted onto the skin to break up the topmost layer of dead skin cells. Using the spiral suction tip of the HydraFacial device, the dead skin cells and surface debris are lifted away, providing a gentler method of extraction. Next, a chemical peel solution is delivered in the same way, increasing the depth of exfoliation. The final steps involve the same pressurized delivery of treatment serums customized to the needs of the skin. Because all steps are delivered in a hydrating, water-based solution, the HydraFacial delivers an impressive amount of plumping hydration to the skin when compared to a more traditional microdermabrasion treatment.
Some HydraFacial treatments go a step further with the addition of aesthetic modalities such as microcurrent or LED light therapy.
For brides who were scheduled to wed between March and June 2020, it’s likely that your wedding has been rescheduled, and that’s okay. If you’ve already begun bridal fittings, it may be that those have also been put on pause, and that’s for the best. Fittings should take place and be completed as close to your wedding date as possible. And what’s intended to fit you now might need to be altered in a few months or in a year from today.
Brides of 2021 are, left with the time to research all that currently exists in the market and can hold out for the new styles that brands hope to release by summertime. What was once known as wedding season (the months of June through September being the ideal time to wed) will this year be more of a shopping season, with the 2020’s first weddings taking place at the end of August and into September–November.
The strategy for all 2021 brides appears to hurry up … and wait. It’s fair to want to use your time at home to plan, strategize, and get ahead of a standard timeline, but that’s where all your online research, work with a planner, consults with a stylist, and exchanges with your other creative partners will come in. With that in mind, you have the luxury of time right now. Brands are most focused on getting current orders out to 2020 brides waiting in the wings for their gowns and fittings, and are currently in holding patterns when it comes to producing their latest collections for spring 2021, which were slated to release in mid-April. New collections will certainly be delayed from late-May to mid-June at the earliest, should the world be able to return to work slowly but surely in the coming months. And when they do, expect a slow trickle of new options as brands recoup and reorganize, bring employees back to the office, and navigate how to produce, photograph, and promote their latest pieces in the mid- to post-pandemic climate.
It’s not super surprising that after stocking up on paper towels, toilet paper, and frozen pizza, the next thing everyone is running to buy during quarantine is box hair color.
After the run on toilet paper, people are buying up hair dye to cover their roots at home.
Then people stocked up on toilet paper(perhaps you’ve heard about that?) and then baking and cooking products. Now, we’re on to doing the best we can at home, with home hair color sales spiking 23% over last year, according to Nielsen data. Obviously, the necessity of staying at home is proving more challenging than anyone could expect, but keeping some normalcy through beauty routines can be helpful for people feeling upended by all of the changes in the world right now.
While. “It’s best to leave big color changes to the professionals,” Lee, also Garnier celebrity hair colorist, told Refinery29’s Aimee Simeon.”You don’t want to try new colors and techniques at home just because you’re bored.”
Anxiety to those who don’t suffer from it can be difficult to define and comprehend by those who do not suffer from it. Often people who don’t suffer from anxiety get irritated, frustrated and angry with anxious people as if the anxious person is an attention seeker and ‘putting it on’. Often anxious people get told that their problem is trivial and can be remedied by simply ‘pulling oneself together’. This is unhelpful behavior that can exacerbate anxiety and further isolate an anxious person, who is already feeling lost, lonely and scared.
Make sure you’re practicing positive self care
It is recommended that if you find yourself being overwhelmed by the constant stream of COVID-19 news, “choose to take a break from social media, scrolling through all your news feeds.”
You should speak with a mental health professional if you are struggling with anxiety, you’re feeling overwhelmed, you feel you are not handling all the physical distancing calls or you’re really feeling isolated right now.
As Act 1 brought us more of the Gabrielle bags featuring the logo strap which is now available on both small and medium calf skin styles
Chanel spring 2020 Act 2 featured new matte hardware bags where the grained calfskin and the hardware have the same shades, which makes the woven chain leather also single-colored, and I personally think is just utterly yummy! Also bright, vibrant spring colors and denim were seen on the runway.
The collection is all about classic bags with a subtle elegant accent touch such as pearl handles, and gold interwind twee logo buckles. No doubt that Chanel lovers will appreciate seeing their beloved classics revamped.
There’s a lot of overlap between cabin fever and an anxious, racing brain. Find soothing ways to peace out:
Take up meditation: Mindfulness and meditation practices can reduce stress and anxiety and even improve your attention span — a definite plus when your mind keeps wandering to the daily news reports.
Get some alone time: If you’re at home with other people, the constant togetherness might be making you extra antsy. “Take a solo walk, or set your alarm to wake up before the rest of the household for some much-needed quiet time.
More generally, 20 minutes of exercise a day can also help lift your mood via the release of endorphins, as well as reducing feelings of tension. So it may be time to dust off that exercise DVD or download a new exercise app.
Make plans: Start dreaming up the things you’ll do with friends and family, and the amazing places you’ll go once things start returning to normalcy. You probably won’t be going on vacation next month, but someday this will end — and eventually, this cabin fever will become a distant memory.
Suddenly, we slept in one world and woke up in another. Disney has no more magic and Paris is no longer romantic.
Suddenly, in New York everyone sleeps. And the Great Wall of China is no longer a fortress. Suddenly, hugs and kisses become weapons. Holding hands and walking the parks become outlawed. Suddenly, not visiting aging parents and grandparents becomes an “act of love”. Suddenly, our bombs and machine guns, our tanks and artilleries begin to gather dust.
Suddenly, we realised, that money has no value when it can’t even buy you toilet paper.
Suddenly, we have been put back in our place by the hands of the universe.
And we’ve been made aware how vulnerably “human” we truly are, when faced with a microbe so powerfully inhumane.
