December 24, 2019 at 07:30PM by CWC I’m (perhaps clinically) addicted to hot yoga. It’s more than just my workout: It’s my refuge, my therapy, my calm before, during, and after the storm of my busy days. Because I tend to be rushing to and from the yoga studio, I don’t always have time to wipe my face clean before heading into a sweat-sesh. And so, I’ve been on the hunt for a mascara and sweat-proof makeup that won’t drip down my face while I flow. “It’s ok to want to wear a little something to your workout, but when you’re that warm and sweaty, you want products that hold up and won’t contribute to breakouts,” says Merrady Wickes, a makeup artist and beauty director for The Detox Market. She recently helped me figure out how to get my eyeliner to stay put, and it turns out that’s not the only trick she has when it comes to staying power. “Kjaer Weis Lengthening Mascara ($38) has been known to last through a Bikram class,” she tells me. “It’s seriously a yoga teacher favorite.” Wickes says the product, which utilizes carnauba wax, delivers length and separation without making you look done up. Hungry for more help, I ask her if there’s anything else I can apply to my face without looking like a sad clown after class. “It might feel counterintuitive, but a cream bronzer formulated without water will in turn have slightly waterproof qualities,” she says. “I love swiping Vapour
Month: December 2019
Only 24 percent of people who need fertility treatment can access it. Gina Bartasi wants to change that
December 24, 2019 at 07:00PM by CWC When Gina Bartasi launched Kindbody in 2018, she already knew a thing or two about the fertility industry. After all, she had previously founded two other startups in the space, and had given birth to twin boys after undergoing IVF. Her main takeaway from all of that in-the-trenches experience? She wanted to do things differently—and if you’ve ever looked into freezing your eggs at Kindbody, you’ll know that Bartasi and her team have more than achieved that goal. In contrast to the cold, sterile vibe that’s a hallmark of many medical clinics, Kindbody offers its services in stylish digs that look like the “after” shot from an HGTV home makeover show. (The brand currently has flagship offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, plus two mobile clinics, with more brick-and-mortar locations to come in 2020.) Some of its services are also significantly less expensive than its competitors. While egg-freezing traditionally costs around $11,000 per cycle—minus the cost of medication and egg storage—Kindbody charges $6,500. Plus, the brand’s clinics offer a full scope of women’s wellness services under one roof. Along with egg freezing, embryo freezing, and IVF, patients can pop in for general gynecological care, nutrition counseling, and mental health services, with an annual membership priced at just $120 per year. For Bartasi, Kindbody isn’t just about innovating for innovation’s sake. She’s on a bigger mission to make fertility treatment financially and geographically accessible to anyone who needs it, from
This low-tech $2 tool scrubs away blackheads just as well as a Clarisonic
December 24, 2019 at 06:30PM by CWC When it comes to facial brushes, the Clarisonic is queen. But there’s one thing that can come between you and your dreams of having silky-smooth skin: the price tag. Luckily, you don’t need to drop upward of $100 on the brush—you can use a $2 tool intended for something else instead. The thing that makes the Clarisonic work so well is the bristles on the brush head. And if they look familiar, that’s probably because they’re very similar to what you see every day on your toothbrush. You can use toothbrushes to scrub away blackheads around your nose—it really works. Really, really well., according to Gretchen Frieling, MD, a board-certified dermatopathologist. “The Clarisonic makes exfoliating the pores and clearing blackheads easy—you don’t have to worry about the intensity with which you scrub, the motion with which you cleanse, or the surface area you can cover. The luxury cleansing brush does it all for you,” she says. “However, for those who cannot particularly afford it at the moment or prefer to keep things low-tech, a toothbrush with medium to soft bristles can also get the job done as long as consumers are conscious of not scrubbing too harshly, moving in circular patterns, and spending an extra 30 seconds to cover the entire face, as a toothbrush is smaller than the Clarisonic.” To exfoliate your skin just like a Clarisonic would, all you need to do is follow Dr. Frieling’s skincare instructions. You’ll have great
9 healthy foods Greek centenarians eat for longevity
December 24, 2019 at 06:00PM by CWC Hoping to live to see 100? Blue Zones expert Dan Buettner recommends eating like an Ikarian. Located 30 miles west of Turkey, Ikaria is a small Greek island (just 99 square miles) where locals are known to live into the triple digits without chronic illnesses like dementia, cancer, and even depression. Healthy Greek foods certainly play their part when it comes to ensuring longevity for these centenarians. While a diet with plenty of vegetables is part of eating like Ikarian, Buettner says there are certain foods that set their way of life apart. “The local diet is unique from other Greek, Italian, and nearby islands because of its focus on beans and legumes—especially chickpeas and lentils—and wild greens,” he says. There are nine healthy Greek foods considered staples if your goal is to live a long life. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dan Buettner (@danbuettner) on Dec 14, 2019 at 9:21am PST //www.instagram.com/embed.js 9 healthy Greek foods you should eat 1. Wild greens “Most of the food eaten in Ikaria is harvested from seasonal gardens, which provide the purest form of the Mediterranean diet in the world,” says Buettner. Dandelion greens and purslane are two examples of wild greens widely available here in the United States, says registered dietitian and Foodtrainers founder Lauren Slayton MS, RD. “Often wild greens have higher nutrient content than their cultivated counterparts,” she says, adding that they are also typically free of
Right now is the best time to sign up for ClassPass if you like spending $0 for pricey workouts
December 24, 2019 at 05:45PM by CWC Workout classes get pricey. I mean, I love Pilates… but if you’re spending upward of $40 per class, it adds up quickly. That’s what makes ClassPass such a great option. You can attend all your favorite boutique fitness classes for a fraction of the cost, and now you can get your first month for free. As a Christmas present to fitness lovers everywhere, ClassPass just announced quite possibly its best deal of the year. When you sign up for the service, you get your first month for free. That means you can take up to five classes without spending a cent. Now that ClassPass is available all across the United States, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to use it in a city near you. This deal runs until the end of January 2020, so there’s no better way to start the year off right. The gym is going to be packed with everyone going after their New Year’s resolutions, so the choice is yours: Wait in line for the treadmill, or casually sign up online for a fun group fitness class. I know what I’m going to do. When you want to get sweaty at home, try this HIIT workout: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXBh8TgwefQ] Here’s what you should know about ClassPass’ audio workouts. Then get the scoop on the company’s getaways—aka the ultimate wellness vacays. Continue Reading… Author Tehrene Firman | Well and Good Selected by CWC
These 5 beauty products have been drugstore best-sellers for two years in a row—and they’re all under $11
December 24, 2019 at 05:30PM by CWC I’m a sucker for a best-seller list, especially when it involves beauty products. If a product is flying off of the shelves, it usually indicates skin-boosting/hair-rejuvenating/beautifying pigment powers that a lot of people are running to get their hands on, which gives me FOMO and convinces me that I need it in my arsenal, too. So when drugstore beauty hotspot CVS tells us that certain beauty products were not only best-sellers in 2019 but also 2018—AKA the ultimate must-haves for two years in a row—my skin perked right up. Which beauty products are the hot-ticket items with staying star power? According to CVS, their absolute top sellers for the past two years are a mix of cult-fave makeup essentials (including a drugstore mascara, which is always so good), a dermatologist-beloved facial cleanser, acne-busting pimple patches, and a makeup remover that’s garnered tons of five-star reviews. Without further ado, I present to you the five best-selling beauty products at CVS that made the ranks for the past two years. 1. L’Oreal Paris Voluminous Lash Paradise Mascara, $11 Considering how drugstore mascara has always been just as good (if not better) than its more expensive competitors, this one’s not such a surprise. The top of the list is this baby by L’Oreal Paris, which gives your lashes a fringe effect but is easy to wash off with soap and water. Photo: L’Oreal Paris 2. Revlon ColorStay Eyeliner, $9 If you’re looking for an eyeliner that doesn’t budge and
The “scorpion stretch” gives hips, low back, and hamstrings a ripple release
December 24, 2019 at 05:00PM by CWC If you want to prep your body to really kick ass in your workout—whether you’re going for a run or hitting a spin class or working with weights—trainers think you should channel a scorpion before you start moving. The “scorpion stretch” is one of the best warm-ups you can do, giving further proof to my theory that animal-based activity can help fire up your body and cool it down, too. “The scorpion stretch is a safe exercise for increasing hip and lower back mobility while also engaging the lower back,” says Derek Maxfield, a Boston-based trainer and owner of Fitness Together. Sure, it makes you look like one of those incredibly scary arachnids (you lift one leg up and roll it over to resemble a scorpion’s tail), but you’ll also love it for the satisfying hip flexor stretch it gives. “The scorpion stretch should be done before a workout to warm up and open tight hip flexors and the lower back, and can be done between sets for active recovery,” says Maxfield. “It’s a great starting point for people to stretch with limited mobility. Hip flexors and the lower back are often neglected in exercises and stretches, but are essential for strengthening the core.” Whether you do it before a workout to get things warmed up or after you’re a little sore, the scorpion stretch will provide a ripple release for hamstrings, the low back, and hips. To do the scorpion, you’re lying
The key differences between traditional and modern monogamy
December 24, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC Once upon a time, commitment had a real “‘till death do us part” vibe to it. Really, ask Queen Victoria about that—when Prince Albert died, she went full hermit and holed up in all-black-everything for the rest of her life. But we’re not living in Victorian times, and modern relationships include different dimensions of what commitment means. One 2016 study reports that 1 in 5 people have been in an open relationship (dubbed in this case as consensual non-monogamy) at some point or another, and rigid relationship boundaries are loosening with terms like ‘monogamish‘ entering the public conscience. While instances of traditional monogamy certainly aren’t rare, it does appear that there’s room for a rebrand of answer to “what does monogamous mean?” “I call this new definition of monogamy ‘open monogamy,’” says Tammy Nelson, PhD sex therapist and author of The New Monogamy. “More couples than ever before are embracing open relationships, consensual non-monogamy, polyamory, and monogamish relationships. All of these have, at their core, a connection that can also include branches of sub-relationships, like branches of a tree. These can be new and unique ways of connecting with a multitude of other partners and new experiences.” And, they might be onto something: Research from the University of Guelph finds that couples consensually leaving the door to their relationship open are just as happy healthy and happy as their coupled-up pals. (Different research suggests late-in-life open couples are even happier.) There is a
These 6 hotels want to rid you of your sleep issues
December 24, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC For a few years now, I’ve traveled with a DIY sleep kit. This consists of a silky pouch stuffed to the drawstring with rest-inducing aids: sleep mask, earplugs, lavender essential oil, CBD oil, selenite crystal, Guatemalan worry dolls, and Tylenol PM. Because I struggle terribly with falling asleep, I’d be more upset if I forgot this pouch at home than, say, my toothbrush or clean socks. The variety and abundance of items included in my kit sums up my general sleep-therapy philosophy: Gimme all the treatments. That’s why I was excited to stumble across sleep therapy on the spa menu at Enchantment Resort during a relaxing weekend in Sedona, Arizona. And while the treatment, which consisted of simply chatting for an hour with a specialist about my sleep habits, didn’t yield another goody for my literal bag of tricks, it did inspire an epiphany. While I described myself as “just a bad sleeper by nature,” my specialist explained that “insomniac” isn’t innate to who I am and that my issues had an origin somewhere in my past. If we could pinpoint that starting point, the specialist said, we could cure it. Low and behold, my sleep struggles, which I assumed had always been there—like my spleen or right kidney—actually truly began with the loss of someone close to me about five years ago. Once we figured out the timeline, my specialist then walked me through an anxiety-busting mindfulness technique, which I have been using
Joining the ‘dead parents club’ was the best thing I did to navigate the grief of losing my dad
December 24, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC I received hundreds of messages the week my dad died: There were floral arrangements, sympathy cards, teary voicemails, and 1,000-word emails detailing memories I’d never heard about a man who would never get the chance to make any more of them. But the one that’s stayed with me the strongest, even after three years, was the one welcoming me to the dead parents club: “You’re part of the club now. It’s the club that no one wants to be in, but at least we’ve got each other.” If you’ve never heard of it, consider yourself lucky. Chances are, your unfamiliarity with it means you’re probably not a member (and also haven’t seen a certain episode of Grey’s Anatomy). But, as its many members can attest, the group is very much a thing, and, just as the initiating text message I received about it read: We’ve got each other. In the years since joining the dead parents club—which, heartbreakingly, already included a number of my closest friends—I’ve come to rely on it to help me navigate my grief. The members are the people who call me on every anniversary of my dad’s passing because they know that the day doesn’t get easier as time passes; they’re the ones holding my hand during father-daughter dances at weddings; the ones to whom I send a “thinking of you today” text on Mother’s and Father’s Days. “We’re the sum of our experiences, and if we haven’t had