It’d be much too premature to announce that we’ve emerged completely onto the other side of this pandemic, and it seems that sadly the road back to life as we knew it is – a lot – bumpier than we’d first anticipated. But making baby steps seems to be the easiest way to ease ourselves into our ‘new normal’ (whatever that means) – and as with some many things in my life, beauty is the lens through which I digest the world, so tweaking my routine was the obvious place to start.
I’d been pretty consistent with my beauty regime throughout lockdown – the simple action of painting my nails every week bringing a comforting sense of normalcy throughout those weird few months – but even I recognised that I probably had to dial up the beauty notch when social events started cropping up in my diary again.
SCRUB UP
Lockdown in the southern hemisphere happily coincided with the onset of winter; and while that made staying indoors all the easier, it meant that the already fairly low motivation to adhere to a proper body skincare routine might have evaporated completely. It’s time to change that. I love a body scrub at the best of times and have been particularly obsessive in my use recently. Soap & Glory do fabulous ones that I have sworn by for years (is a perennial favourite in my bathroom). They’re fairly priced, smell deliciously dessert-y, and (most importantly) exfoliate beautifully. A new addition to their line up is a divinely coconut scented concoction.
Jo Malone’s body care selection is pretty spectacular and their is certainly no exception. A hydrating and exfoliating treatment in one, it leaves skin incredibly soft. It boasts a headily sweet fragrance, so if you like your products to smell like desserts, you will love; I’d suggest that fans of fresher, less gourmand scents try their equally beautiful .
AIR YOUR HAIR
It seems that we’ve found ourselves in a sort of weird beauty limbo, suspended in a place where the very high maintenance beauty routines we subjected ourselves to pre-lockdown seem wrong, but where it’s no longer socially acceptable to do no grooming at all. Fortunately, there’s been a recent trend of embracing, not resisting, our hair’s own texture, and just lightly enhancing how your hair behaves by itself (e.g. resisting the urge to render your natural curls poker straight, for instance) which occupies a happy medium between no and too much effort.
In this vein, I’ve been enjoying letting my hair air dry and skipping heat styling, but employing a clutch of clever products designed for this very purpose. I use Living Proof’s Perfect Hair Day post-conditioner in the shower, and rinse lightly, while and are both to be brushed through towel-dried locks. All give a little weightless texture and nix frizz for a more groomed finish than your airdried strands might normally assume.
