February 23, 2020 at 10:00PM by CWC The week begins with a new moon in Pisces on February 23, which happens at 4 degrees in the sign of the fish. The intuitive, trance-like new moon evokes spirituality, creativity, and a sincere capacity to connect to art. Simultaneously, Venus in Aries squares Jupiter in Capricorn, inviting you to deepen your emotional intelligence and compassion by seeing drama in your life and tension in the world. With the sun and moon conjoined close to Mercury, this new moon continues to emphasize the lessons of patience and intuition we can learn from the planet’s retrograde transit. Pay attention to your dreams, visions, and desires; use art, music, and storytelling to open your tender heart. Resilience requires finding healing, transformation, and growth in areas that bring you pleasure, joy, and ease. Give yourself the space you need to nourish and nurture your creative spirit because doing so now pay dividends in the long-term. And of course, if it’s part of your practice, go ahead and do a new-moon ritual to nurture your spiritual connection. The new moon in Pisces wants you to get moving Given the lack planetary influence in the air signs during this new moon in Pisces, you may feel particularly heavy, especially with so many other planets in Capricorn. To counterbalance this, conjure air in your life. Open windows, burn incense, do transformational breath work, journal, go on a long walk outdoors. Even though a new moon suggests a time to
Day: February 23, 2020
4 little-known realities of ‘resting B face’ that a body-language expert wants you to know
February 23, 2020 at 06:00PM by CWC I woke up this morning with two creases between my eyebrows that were so deep, they might as well have been independently memorizing the philosophies of Nietzsche to share at an upcoming dinner party. This state of perma-furrow, thanks to some weird sleeping position I vow to never repeat, left me actually feeling frustrated rather than my everyday situation of just looking frustrated. You see, because I suffer from resting bitch face (RBF), I don’t need additional features or accessories to make me come across as less friendly—with the operative words here being “come across as.” That’s because I’m not actually unfriendly—it’s just, you know, the way my resting face looks. What I wish everyone would realize, though, when parsing answers to the question of what does RBF mean and what does it not is that there are many ways to convey emotions, and not all of them rely on what your face is doing. Supporting my contention that having RBF really has little if anything to do with actually having the attitude of a B is a recent study by Ohio State University, which points out that facial expressions don’t always show the full spectrum of what a person is feeling. So, what does RBF mean if not conveying a sense that the person sporting the expression is angry, unenthused, and unwelcoming? To help me fight the good fight against RBF stigma, below, a body-language expert explains the demystifies why RBF is received the
I’ve never gotten more compliments on my brows than when I paired these 2 treatments
February 23, 2020 at 05:00PM by CWC Not gonna lie: My eyebrows have always been my favorite feature. Usually, I just zhuzh them in the mornings with some brow gel, and I’m off. But in the name of really trying out a full-on, full brow (without having to draw it on each morning), I decided to pair a brow tinting and brow lamination in a single service. If you’ve lusted after really strong boy brows while scrolling Instagram lately, it’s likely that you’ve been admiring the effects of brow lamination. To get brow hairs to stand up in place and look full, they’re combed and a chemical gel is applied to them, kind of like a perm. Once that step is complete, brows are dyed using a colorant that makes them look more pronounced. Photo: Rachel Lapidos | Graphic: Well+Good Creative “A brow tint combined with the lamination is a dynamic duo,” says Josh Beeler, lash and brow specialist with Shen Beauty in Brooklyn. “The brow lamination redirects the hairs and pushes them in whatever direction you want. In most cases, that’s up so that the brow looks fuller. The brow tint also fluffs up the individual hairs to make them look a little puffier.” Often, the people who need this treatment have brows that just need a little extra love, and this one-two punch treatment helps to deliver. “Brows can appear spotty sometimes, or not as full in some areas as others, but a tint fills in those holes
Boost your immunity for $1 with this super easy 2-ingredient recipe
February 23, 2020 at 04:00PM by CWC When you get sick, you’ll do just about anything to feel like yourself again. Even if that means eating a piece of toast topped with raw garlic for breakfast. Now, let’s be real—that doesn’t sound like the most appetizing way to start the day. But when it comes to boosting your immunity, it’s nothing short of a recipe for success. Liz Moody, a writer and healthy living expert, recently shared her go-to $1 immune booster on Instagram. She eats garlic on toast once a day whenever she’s sick. The recipe is simple: All you need to do is chop 4 to 5 cloves of garlic (make your life easier by using this peeler!) and put it on sourdough toast “with a bit of butter or olive oil, a pinch of salt, and whatever herbs I have around, just to make it taste good,” she writes. The result is an intense garlic bread that’s (somehow) easy to stomach when when you’re at the peak of your cold or flu. So, what’s the secret to this toast’s ability to heal? After chopping the garlic, Moody lets it sit for 20 minutes before putting it on the bread in order to activate the allicin—a powerful antiviral and antibacterial compound found in garlic. And the tactic checks out. While garlic has been shown to provide many health benefits on its own, its the chopping that really unleashes its cold-fighting powers. View this post on Instagram
This is why it’s so hard to escape the ‘daytime blemish blues’
February 23, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC This might be your first time hearing about the “daytime blemish blues,” but you probably already know exactly what it is. After waking up in the morning, everything looks top-notch: all that redness is gone, the zit that showed up a couple days ago is barely rearing its ugly (white)head, and any bumpiness in the skin is hardly detectable. Then as the day goes on, those blemishes become increasingly more visible. So why does skin look best after waking up? The daytime blemish blues is a term coined by a Reddit user who couldn’t help but ask the masses if they, too, experience the problem. Not surprisingly, others also chimed in about the changes that pop up in the mirror midday, saying they’ve been on the hunt for answers. According to Marisa Garshick, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City, it checks out—and answers you will receive. “Our skin is busy repairing itself overnight with increased cell repair and regeneration occurring, so there’s truth to ‘beauty sleep’ and waking up with great skin,” she says. “Overnight is also a time when skincare products have a chance to set in, so the skin reflects those benefits when you wake up.” (Although, if you’re using more aggressive products like retinol that can cause irritation, even so-called beauty sleep can’t leave you feeling bright and shiny every day.) Unfortunately, those benefits only last so long. Dr. Garshick says during the day, any build-up of dead
I’m a corrective exercise specialist, and this is how I detect imbalance in the body
February 23, 2020 at 12:00PM by CWC New York City-based trainer Tatiana Lampa, NASM, is a different kind of fitness expert. As a certified corrective exercise specialist, she prides herself on helping clients train with injury prevention at front of mind. And, a lot of times, she says that means identifying any muscle imbalance in the body that come along as her trainees get stronger and stronger. Then, making a plan of action for restoring balance. “More often than not, people will notice their imbalances at the gym,” says Lampa. “Once they start to work out they’ll realize that one leg is stronger than the other, or one arm is significantly weaker. I hear a lot of people say, ‘I have really bad balance’ or ‘my right arm is so much stronger than my left because I carry my kid in my right side.’” You’ll always have an underactive and an overactive side. For example, if you find that your right arm can handle a 20-pound bicep curl, but your left arm isn’t strong enough yet, your right side is overactive while your left side is underactive. That’s where Lampa comes in. Lampa’s ultimate guide for tackling imbalance in the body Step 1: Identify the cause of the imbalance Once you identify the part of your body that feels wonky, Lampa says it’s time to do a bit of detective work. How did it get there? What movement patterns are throwing your body out of whack? “These imbalances form because
The easiest way to give your hummus an upgrade? Bake it
February 23, 2020 at 12:00AM by CWC Most people can agree that there’s one standard way to eat hummus: straight out of the tub. It’s pretty much always served as a cold dip, so why mess with a good thing? Well, I’m here to tell you something that will probably make you a little suspicious, but hear me out: Hot hummus is good too, and baking it will most definitely change your snack life for the better. You can only dip so many carrot and celery sticks before you send the chickpea-packed staple right back into the fridge. When I came across baked hummus, my eyes lit up. Not only is it such an easy way to upgrade what’s already in your fridge, but it also makes the finished product taste—dare I say it—even more delicious. Just ask Sarah Schutz, the healthy food blogger behind The Cutting Veg, who dreamt up the perfect recipe. For her baked hummus recipe, she starts by spreading two containers of hummus—whichever kind you want—in a baking dish. Next, you sprinkle on some of your Mediterranean favorites, like sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese (or you non-dairy cheese of choice), spinach, and capers. Then finish things off by drizzling on some olive oil and popping it in the oven for about 20 minutes. “The idea for baked hummus came from a restaurant I went to in Israel where they served the hummus warm. It has a similar texture to cold hummus but, when you warm it up,