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Month: April 2019

2019 Health

What astrologers mean when they excitedly talk about a cosmic “conjunction”

6 min read

April 07, 2019 at 01:52PM by CWC As you become increasingly astro-sophisticated (and aren’t we all these days?), you’re going to hear a lot about planets, the sun, and the moon being “conjoined” in different combinations. Astrologer Jennifer Racioppi is here to help you understand what that actually describes—because FYI there’s a major conjunction happening right now—and give you the cosmic 411 on the rest of the week. Happy horoscope-ing!  After last week’s new moon in Aries, the first new moon on the astrological new year, this week offers a critical runway for your dreams to take flight. Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, provides a potent activation, and a new moon in Aries (like we had in the early hours of last Friday) opens a vital gateway. In the days after the new moon, when the moon waxes like it is now, it becomes crucial to take actions on behalf of your goals, dreams, and desires, which makes this week a valuable time to rally your life force energy on behalf of what you most desire to create. To review some basics, at the start of every lunar cycle, the sun and the moon conjoin (meaning they align at the same degree of the same sign), creating a new moon—a temporary moment when we don’t see a moon in the night sky. This alignment between the sun and the moon, known as a conjunction, creates a very fertile moment. This alignment between the sun and the moon, known

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2019 Health

The superstar soothing vitamin that your skin-care routine’s probably missing

2 min read

April 07, 2019 at 10:00AM by CWC As far as the superstar vitamins you slather onto your skin go, vitamins A and C get all the attention. It’s for good reason, of course—vitamin A is the MVP you know and love as retinol, and vitamin C is the brightening essential that skin-care devotees hoard for their regimen. But there’s another equally important vitamin that’s often overlooked, and that is… drumroll, please… vitamin B3. Vitamin B3 is actually a nutrient that your body needs in its diet, and your skin isn’t much different. The vitamin, which is also known as niacinamide, has just as much street cred as vitamins A and C, and dermatologists and facialists alike think everyone should be applying to their face. “Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3 commonly used in skin-care products,” says Joshua Zeichner, board-certified dermatologist in New York City. “It helps brighten the complexion and lighten dark spots. It also helps calm inflammation and supports healthy collagen production.” The best part? He says it’s okay to use for all skin types, including those with very sensitive complexions. Essentially, niacinamide is a key ingredient to add to your skin-care regimen to multitask in various glow-inducing ways. “Niacinamide or vitamin B3 is a key ingredient to treat age-related skin changes, acne, and skin discoloration,” says Alison Adams-Woodford, LE, from research and development at PCA Skin. “It naturally calms the skin and provides dramatic skin brightening.” Other perks, according to her, include decreased hyperpigmentation, blotchiness, fine lines, and acne, while

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2019 Health Vegetarians

There’s one part of your Instant Pot that you probably aren’t cleaning—but should

3 min read

April 07, 2019 at 08:00AM by CWC The Instant Pot is a food-making magician. You can basically put anything you want in there—whether that’s spaghetti squash or baked potatoes—and it’s finished cooking to perfection in minutes. While clean-up is pretty easy overall (basically just the stainless steel inner pot and a quick wipe-down of the outside!), it’s the hidden silicone ring on the inside of the lid that can be a little harder to deal with. The sealing ring has a very important duty in the Instant Pot—it helps ensure an airtight seal on your closed IP, helping truly pressurize the cooker (and thus cook all your food properly). Since it’s made of heat-resistant silicone, it will be just fine in those high, steamy temps. But it only takes a few meals for it to start smelling a little, umm, funky, and battling off the odor usually takes a little more effort. Some food Redditors even report that the smells from the seal can transfer to the food they cook (something that the manufacturers of the Instant Pot generally dispute). Thankfully, getting rid of the smell only requires calling on our home cleaning BFF, white vinegar. According to Instant Pot’s website, you can kill those gross odors by removing the silicone ring from the IP and soaking it in vinegar for a few minutes or overnight. Rinse and wash it with soap and water, then let it air-dry before popping it back into your Instant Pot. If you want to

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2019 Health

Second-day eyeliner is my fave, so I found out how to recreate it on day one

2 min read

April 07, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC I should preface this by saying that I really hate the Saturday night ritual of going (as the kids say) “out.” As in: outside of my room, outside of a cozy coffee shop, outside of anywhere where the unspoken uniform isn’t “sweat pants and leggings.” I’d gladly ditch the weekly excursion altogether if it weren’t for peer pressure, and the fact that I love the look of second-day eyeliner—the ever-so-thin black line that hangs on despite my tipsy makeup-removing efforts. Come Sunday morning, the leftover pencil’s barely-there-ness gives me that “no-makeup” makeup that’s the subject of endless retweets. It also just feels more like me.  And now, with the help of Molly R. Stern, a celebrity makeup artist, I’ve learned the art of recreating the serendipitous eye adornment even when I make the executive decision to skip the Saturday night spectacle. “I like using a felt-tipped liquid liner on the wet line of the top eye,” Stern tells me. “It tends to give a perfect amount of longwear color and the wetness of the liner mixes perfectly with the eye moisture. The finished look has that excellently worn-in vibe.” To trace inside the waterline, try making tiny dashes that build onto one another rather than one line (this will make the whole thing easier to achieve). If you’re more of an eyeliner pencil kind of gal, however, she advises the same dash technique along the upper lid, followed by swiping a small brush

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2019 Health Fashion

We’ve reached peak minimalism, so why are people still buying throw pillows?

4 min read

April 07, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC My boyfriend recently shared with me his terrifying theory about throw pillows, based on his experience at various aunts’ homes: that they increase with age (volume of pillows, not number of aunts). Well, consider my inner Marie Kondo five-alarm fire officially set off, because throw pillows are the worst, most needless aspect of home decor. With these, less is more, and none is best. It’s baffling that throw pillows are still a thing amidst the current War on Clutter. We throw out everything! The prom dresses we were hoping to fit into someday; the IKEA culinary set we bought in college; the degree we earned in college; anything we haven’t used, worn, or specifically enjoyed in the past year; all of it. So how did we sit among these little damask-print rectangles, reposition ourselves because they are wildly uncozy, and conclude that they get to make the joy-sparking cut? Why do we lie to ourselves about these anti-comfort monsters that only work in the confines of Pinterest and magazines your aunts read? Annoyed and terrified (I mean, there’s a good chance I’m someday going to be an aunt—am I doomed to a future of throw pillows?), I looked into the origin of the useless overstuffed puffs. And, yikes, because the story starts with something I very much do love: a regular pillow. Throw pillows do nothing but provide discomfort and clutter. Furthermore, you only need one good pillow when it comes to bedtime,

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