My Latest Snag: Belif True Cream.
I have been using La Mer face cream since my accident and I swear it is THE BEST moisturizer on the market. It is the only product that actually changes the quality of my skin while I use it — my skin feels more elastic, youthful, and hydrated. Overall, I just look healthier. However, it is very spendy. And during this dry, cold time of year, I find myself applying face cream at least two or three times a day — once in the morning, once when touching up in the afternoon, and once before bed/after the shower. It feels borderline unseemly to use that much La Mer in a given day. (“OK, up and at ’em, time to spend $5 rubbing this cream into my face.”) I decided to supplement with a less expensive, super-hydrating face cream and had been hearing good things about the “moisturizing bomb” from Korean skincare line Belif (over 3,000 4.5 star reviews?) I’m pleased with the results so far — it glides on like a gel and delivers serious hydration. Excited to use this in tandem with my miracle-working La Mer.
Next on my skincare inquiry list: are there any self-tanners that people actually like? I hate the smell of self-tanner so much that I’d rather look translucent and sickly than use it, but am curious if the art has evolved any since I last looked into this circa 2010, when I would occasionally get full-body spray tans for big events. (Have since dropped that indulgence like a bad habit — the smell! AHHH!) I am especially intrigued by “drops” like these that can be mixed in with your daily moisturizer to yield a gradual glow. Do tell!
You’re Sooooo Popular: Stylish Everyday China.
+Absolutely love this timeless everyday pattern for china.
+A great option for a reasonably priced non-diaper-bag-diaper-bag. Or gym bag. Or travel bag.
+My dream jeans. (Maternity jeans be damned!)
+Had lots of Magpies write in to endorse this hair product.
+A perennial favorite for infinite uses across infinite home decor styles.
+Who knew drying your dishes could be stylish?
+My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE lipstick. I am so excited to have discovered this product — it is semi-sheer, so easy to apply sans mirror, and it applies just the right amount of pigment for that “bitten/flushed” lip look.
+My new favorite tinted moisturizer. THIS STUFF WORKS. It is thicker/offers more coverage than Laura Mercier’s classic and a little goes a long way. I love the way it sits on my skin!
#Turbothot: What Is Your Favorite Time of Day?
I have long loved mornings, especially early mornings, before anyone else is awake. On the now-rare occasion that I am willing to cede an extra hour of sleep to productivity, it feels like stolen time: an extra hour I’ve earned to do with as I wish, a sequestered parcel of sacred solitude to read, or write, or lay in bed and think. Words come easily in the morning (especially ones of rich emotional timbre, like the ones captured in this aubade) and often I find myself scrambling to find a pen or flip open my laptop to capture the spillage before it evaporates into the repetitive but not altogether unpleasant morning menage: pour bottle, change diaper, tidy crib, open blinds, turn on hot water kettle, flip on news, make bed, prepare breakfast, and so forth.
There’s an unearned kind of virtuousness to activity at an early hour. “What have you been doing? Sleeping? Oh, I’ve been working.” And I don’t mind admitting that this fleeting sense of superiority contributes to the overall elevation of the dawn hour in my book. But beyond that superfice, I am always at my creative best in the morning: fresh-minded, optimistic, blissfully free of the consternations that occasionally plague me in the evenings, when I tend toward fretfulness. I like the feel of dawn, too, when the world appears quiet and exposed, sleepily opening itself up to the day, before it has assumed its more characteristic elbows-out posture. The streets are spottily populated, the park void of tourists, and I observe an unlikely kind of peace in the streets of Manhattan. There is nothing but the pile of trash bags on the curb of 63rd street to remind me of the throngs of fellow city-dwellers in such close proximity to me and my thoughts. Sunrise is uncommonly hopeful in New York City in particular, I think. As an epicenter of business and culture, I always feel close to the precipice of greatness here in the mornings. Someone is going to do something unbelievable and important not far from me today.
The sky is streaked with hopefulness, too: everything in ascent, coated in bleary and romantic pastel that will eventually give way to the strident blue of midday.
Even bad days start well.
I read an interesting little book on the daily rituals of celebrated artists, entrepreneurs, and geniuses a few years ago — incidentally, a great gift for creative types. Aside from making great #shelfie material, it offered interesting insight into the habits of the artistic set, and I was struck by how many of them, despite battling horrible addictions and mental illnesses, clung to an ascetic kind of schedule when it came to producing. So many of them rose early to paint or write or think, unencumbered and quiet, in their own studios. I aspire one day to develop the discipline to regularly rise early and write, as I have found a personal Mount Helicon at the hour of six a.m. In my graduate school days, I would wake early and read and write until 10 a.m. on an empty stomach and never have I been more lucid. But parenthood has made such personal devotions jarringly difficult to come by: I need the sleep.
So in the meantime, I’ll cherish those rare mornings of wakefulness at six a.m. and the meaningful output they yield, and will continue to romanticize that dawn hour.
What is your favorite time of day?
#Shopaholic: Throw-N-Go Dress.
+This is such an easy dress for a trip to the beach — pair with Birks (gonna pull the trigger this week) and a big straw tote and throw on over a swimsuit and head out for the day.
+If Birks aren’t your thang, try this slightly more feminine style.
+I want to try all of these new rose scents from Diptyque!
+Only one of these left, on super sale, and it is gooooood.
+I’m into the scrunchie. Are you? Here’s a solid one.
+LOVE this little sweater. Looks so old school!
+A chic everyday jacket for the early spring thaw.
+Very into Ulla J. right now — love this floral print jumpsuit!
+Finally ordered a pair of these after featuring them about 34 times. Stay tuned for full review!
+If you’re an #extra mom and do things like inflate balloons for holidays, these are super cute.
+One of my favorite books of all time has a fantastic new cover. Would look beautiful at the top of your tsundoku.
Shop Le Post.
