March 08, 2019 at 09:49AM by CWC For those of us still waiting for someone (anyone!) to invent the ensemble-generator Cher Horowitz fires up in Clueless, getting dressed in the morning is a real chore. What can I say? The blonde trendsetter would surely categorize me as a “fashion victim,” thanks to my lack of color coordination and steadfast belief that leggings and better than pants. But if there’s one thing the effortlessly chic Cher and I share, it’s and affinity for the power suit. Now, you won’t catch me in a yellow plaid suit, but I do reach for the same pieces each and every time I need an extra boost of confidence. And here’s the secret: a power suit doesn’t have to be a suit at all. My power outfit consists of an ’80s-style long sleeve T-shirt (which, bargain brag, I snagged for $5 at H&M) with a black wrap-around skirt lined with fringe. I select a pair of white sneakers from my embarrassingly large collection, throw on a leather jacket, and I feel ready to take on the world. It’s not the coordinated blazer and trouser combination you’ll find on Horowitz, Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the runway models of Paris Fashion Week, but it makes me feel like like the mightiest iteration of me. A power suit makes me feel like like the mightiest iteration of me. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before actress Lana Candor told People that her choice garments for gassing herself up look a lot more like mine
Month: March 2019
12 of the best beauty buys you can score at Walmart, a secret skin-care mecca
March 08, 2019 at 09:06AM by CWC Contrary to what 2002 Paris and Nicole might have thought, Walmart is more than just a place that sells walls. Actually, according to an old commercial that has been stuck in my head for approximately the last two decades, “Walmart is the only place where I can get everything I need under one roof.” I remember grabbing everything from groceries to CDs (remember those?) and toys to body-care staples at the big box store back in the day, but my beauty products? Not so much. Now, though, Walmart’s beauty aisles have seriously grown up. Instead of merely having your predictable drugstore staples, the super store now stocks K-beauty products, more natural skin-care options, and even cult faves that you used to have to to scour the deep internet in order to get. Color me impressed. So in addition to carrying everyday essentials like lawnmowers and fish bait, everyone’s favorite suburban megastore has become an underground skin-care mecca. I’m not kidding: Walmart’s now carrying brands like Alba Botanica, Derma-E, Thayers, K-beauty fave Cosrx, Image Skincare, and even prestige brands like Clarins and Eve Lom within its surprising inventory. The best part of the whole thing? You’re still going to see Walmart prices for everything. So while you’re running errands at the place, be sure to stock up on your skin-care goodies for way less. Keep scrolling for the best beauty buys you can score at Walmart, below. (It was hard to narrow them down, BTW.) Walmart beauty
Whole Foods Says These Are The 5 Biggest Beauty & Wellness Trends To Watch For In 2019
March 08, 2019 at 09:04AM We are all about microbiome-friendly beauty! Continue Reading… Author Stephanie Eckelkamp | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue
If meditating is stoking rather than extinguishing your anxiety, here’s how to tweak your practice
March 08, 2019 at 09:00AM by CWC I’ve always been a pretty anxious person, but last fall, my anxiety level rose from a manageable 5 to an all-consuming 10. After a few weeks of bad sleep, a poor appetite, and nonstop circular thoughts, I turned to the tool many mental-health experts swear by: meditation. The problem? Not only did my meditation practice not help, but it actually made things worse. I practice mindfulness meditation, and something about being tuned in to my breath made me even more aware of my anxious thoughts. Perhaps least bearable was the fact that my practice actually highlighted some of the physical anxiety symptoms I was experiencing, like a racing heart and a clenched, too-tight stomach. Upon googling the phenomenon, a number of message boards made clear that I’m in good company. While I found a bit of solace in having my struggle shared by others, that still didn’t arm me with strategies to quell my anxiety. So to learn more about why this happens—and what to do about it—I turned to experts. Why does meditation sometimes stoke rather than extinguish anxiety? According to holistic psychotherapist Alison Stone, LCSW, turning attention inward, as meditation asks us to do, can put other parts of us on high alert. “We might get an immediate feeling of ‘I’m doing this wrong’, or ‘this feels unnatural’, which might elicit a spiral of anxiety-related thoughts.” This heightened self-awareness of emotions can cause discomfort, especially in the beginning of a meditation journey. “Most
Introducing a new project to spotlight a generation of early Black feminists
March 08, 2019 at 08:50AM by CWC I’ve thought a lot lately about the stories time takes from us. A year or so ago I was deep into rummaging through Black history at the turn of the 20th century for a research project I was working on. In the process of digging into the strides Black folks had made in the three short decades since slavery ended, I began to encounter—over and over again—women. Black women. So many of us. They cropped up everywhere: in the shadows of famous men and well-documented events; delivering lectures at conferences with W.E.B. Du Bois; sharing stages with Frederick Douglass; leading movements alongside John Brown; running newspapers and writing books that celebrated other Black women from times earlier than theirs. Despite protests from their white sisters, they were there at the first women’s rights conventions. They were there, speaking and protesting at World’s Fairs, including Chicago’s storied Columbian Exposition in 1893—the setting of the Devil in the White City. In those places, they gave speeches of their own about how Black women’s freedoms would not be pushed aside. They coached a young Ida B. Wells on persuasive public speaking, and gathered their community together to help launch her anti-lynching campaign—a revolutionary catalyst that charged an entire generation to stay active in the fight for our lives. They were at Southern train stations and boat ports, helping young Black girls in search of better jobs gain safe passage north, after realizing they were too often
Want To Improve Your Yoga Practice? These 3 Exercises May Help
March 08, 2019 at 07:14AM And no, they’re not yoga poses. Continue Reading… Author Yvette Jain | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue
I dated by zodiac compatibility for a month to see if finding my romantic destiny could be so simple
March 08, 2019 at 08:00AM by CWC Since I’ve been tapping into my woo-woo side lately (see: my home makeover), it was only a matter of time before my attention turned to romance. And when dating app Bumble added zodiac filters to its slate of functions late last year, I felt as though—and I will not apologize for these next four words—the stars had aligned. I’m a hopeless-romantic Pisces, and this innovation certainly appealed to my affinity toward drama and destiny. What’s more swoonworthy than finding soul mate by filtering via zodiac sign (i.e., the love language of the universe)? I mean, sure, maybe that kiss in the rain in The Notebook takes the cake, but Nick Cassavetes isn’t exactly directing my life. So, I logged in, flipped on the zodiac filter (plus added a height requirement of at least 5’11″—in addition to zodiac sign, you can filter by things like height and activity level), and got to swiping. A cursory sweep of the interwebs taught me that Pisces is most compatible with Cancer, Taurus, Scorpio, and Capricorn, and least compatible with Sagittarius and Gemini. My ex is a Taurus, and I just could not do that to myself again, so resolved to nix any bulls from my compatibility slate. I made it a point to reach out to every guy I matched with (unless he had a picture of him with a dead fish that I had missed when swiping—not because my sign is the fish, but because dead-animal photos are a
Hear us out: *Shaving* your face is better than waxing, according to a derm
March 08, 2019 at 07:53AM by CWC Guys have been mastering the art of a clean-shaven face since time immemorial. And while women know the tricks to shaving legs without a nick, anything above the neck is kind of unknown territory for our razors. But face shaving for women yields far better results than waxing, according to a dermatologist. Dr. Dendy Engelman, MD, a New York City-based dermatologist, says waxing is even worse than shaving when it comes to ingrown hairs. Surprising, right? “Waxing disrupts the superficial epidermis when the hair is pulled from the follicle. When the skin regrows, it can grow over the follicular opening and cause hairs to ingrow,” she explains. If you do it correctly, face shaving for women gets the job done a lot more gently, leaving you with a smooth, hair-free complexion. So what are you waiting for? Even though shaving your face might sound scary (okay, terrifying), it could be the best beauty move you’ve made yet. Here’s every tip you need to know to master the technique, straight from a pro. 5 of the best tips when it comes to face shaving for women 1. Choose the right razor When it comes to choosing the right razor for your face, don’t reach for the same thing you use on your legs. Instead, Dr. Dendy says to grab a dermaplaning tool for the best results, which uses a single blade. 2. Make sure your skin is well-moisturized If your skin isn’t well-moisturized before shaving, you might find yourself with
This Beauty Swap Is All About Protecting Earth’s Biodiversity
March 08, 2019 at 07:34AM This Beauty Swap Is All About Protecting Earth’s Biodiversity Continue Reading… Author | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue
If you have zero attention span, sharpen your focus with these essential oils
March 08, 2019 at 07:30AM by CWC I’ve been really grateful for the world of plant extracts ever since I discovered essential oils. There are extensive benefits to incorporating them into your workouts—you can use tea tree oil to fight acne, for instance, or add a few drops of lavender essential oil to your diffuser to help you drift off into a peaceful sleep. The most useful and amazing power that they have, however? Essential oils can help sharpen focus. I’ve tried everything I can to help me stay focused at work, from adaptogens to getting more sleep to removing each-and-every distraction around me to no avail. So, I figured that I might as well give essential oils a go to see what they were able to do. The power of aromatherapy is legit, after all. “Our sense of smell can have a profound effect on our mind,” says Amy Galper, a board-certified aromatherapist and founder of the New York Institute of Aromatic Studies. “When we smell something, the aromatic molecules trigger an electrical impulse that then sends a signal to the part of our brain called the limbic system, which is responsible for our ability to learn and remember, our behavior, conscious and unconscious, and is also responsible for manufacturing the enzymes and proteins that make up our hormones, which regulate and control all the actions in our body.” And so, according to Galper, when you smell an essential oil that contains a particular set of molecules, it can