Month: March 2019

March 04, 2019 at 07:00AM by CWC I’ve been using a trusty retinol serum for several years now, and it’s probably the prized possession of my skin-care routine. If you’re not already using vitamin A, know that it’s revered for its anti-aging, glow-inducing, and acne-fighting prowess—and that’s due to its profound ability to speed up your skin cell turnover process and increase collagen production within skin. While shopping for one of these MVPs, however, you may have noticed that there are roughly zillions of retinoid-related terms on the back on ingredient labels that are tough to tell apart (like how the heck is retinyl palmitate different from retinol esters?). So to help shed a light on just what exactly these retinol-related ingredients are and what they do, I called in the pros. Know this: Everyone I talked to said that incorporating a vitamin A derivative into your routine is the single best thing that you can do for skin. “Retinoids are the umbrella term for retinol products, which are all proven to improve skin tone, texture, and pigmentation over time,” explains Jennifer Chwalek, MD, a board-certified dermatologist at Union Square Laser Dermatology in New York City. “Within these categories, there are different concentrations and formulations which consequently affect the strength of the product. For instance, a 0.025 percent cream is not as strong as a .5 percent cream, and a .025 percent cream isn’t as strong as a .025 percent gel.” So yeah… it’s complicated. To make choosing a retinoid even more

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March 04, 2019 at 06:30AM by CWC I wanted to create a home sanctuary that was just as chemical-free as the organic grain bowls I eat for lunch—but I’ll be real with you: Going non-toxic and eco-friendly in my space seemed impossible. How would I do it on a 23-year-old-level budget in a not that small, but pretty small Brooklyn apartment? After a little self pump-up chat, I realized I didn’t have to change my entire way of living to make much-needed changes to my home (and for our pal, the earth). I also got to chat with Alexandra D’Andrea, co-founder of Avocado Green Mattress, a Los Angeles-based brand that started when D’Andrea and her husband were searching for a green mattress for their home that just didn’t exist yet.   “We assembled a small team with a deep expertise in technology, design, manufacturing, marketing, and customer service to create our first product and build our brand,” she says. “We used our own modest funds to design an honest, simple product that’s unlike almost everything else in the marketplace.” If anyone knew how to help me take on my green-ifying adventure, it’s D’Andrea. “Old habits can be difficult to break. Especially in today’s world where it’s so easy to hit ‘add to cart’ without considering the true impact of our decisions—both on the people that are making these products as well as on our own health,” she says.  “It’s so easy to hit ‘add to cart’ without considering the true impact of our

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March 04, 2019 at 05:33AM by CWC Air plants—aka tillandsia—are often touted as “un-killable” (lol, they haven’t met me yet). They’re one of the easiest plants to keep alive because they don’t require soil. One thing they do require, though: water. Yes, despite their nickname, they cannot survive on air alone. But, as has been previously established, I am a terrible plant mom and did not know this. I feel vindicated, though, because it turns out this is a very common misconception about air plants. For obvious reasons, you can’t water air plants like regular plants. So I turned to Ryan Lee, one of the founders of Rooted NYC—a Brooklyn-based plant shop that specializes in plants for city dwellers—to figure out how to water air plants. “Rule number one: All plants need water,” Lee says. (I feel like it’s important to note that he emphasized the latter part of that sentence with clapping hands emojis to really drive the point home.) So yes, even though air plants are cute and rootless, they still need water. “All plants need water for photosynthesis (how they create food),” he explains. “Water is super important for this process because it’s what the plant trades in exchange for carbon dioxide, which is used to make food. This process of swapping water for CO2 is called transpiration and usually happens when sunlight is available.” Boom. Science. Air plants grow on other plants and trees in the wild, which is how they’re able to gather their nutrients.

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March 04, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC There’s this notion in the self-help world that positive thinking is key to success in pretty much any endeavor—whether you’re seeking to score a date for the weekend, get a job, overcome a bad habit, or whatever else. As the narrative goes, if you visualize the outcome of every situation with optimism, you’re likely to get farther than if you spend precious mental energy obsessing over the worst-case scenario. And then there’s that woo-woo philosophy of “like attracts like”—the idea that negative thinking will actually make negative experiences happen. Um, yikes? If you don’t naturally dwell on the bright side, hearing these ideas over and over again can be a bummer. Like, are you doomed to mediocrity if your future visions aren’t always filled with stardust and rainbows? Stress not, pessimists: Laura Xiao, CEO and cofounder of luxury lip-care brand Henné Organics, is here to tell you that’s definitely not the case. Mindful negative thinking has actually brought her some powerful results. After all, her natural beauty line is now on shelves at Anthropologie, The Detox Market, and Credo stores from coast to coast. Xiao first started working with negative thinking during her previous life as a professional table tennis player. “I’d visualize winning and the different ways I could win,” she says. “However what I believe was equally important was how I’d also visualize certain roadblocks that may occur: being down in points in a game, getting injured, getting sick, if the

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