January 09, 2019 at 09:10AM by CWC Celebrities like Emily Ratajkowski and Beyoncé show up to watch pro basketball games looking glamorous and amazing, which I will admit deeply appeals to me. But even I, a person prone to being the most, have a hard time wrapping my head around what to wear to watch sports. I’d feel really weird pulling on a team jersey because that honestly isn’t my personal style. (Also, those things are expensive!) So I’ve come up with a different game plan. After plenty of practice, I’ve narrowed the key to nailing sporting event style down to two basic formulas that say “yay team” without sacrificing my personal style. The goal is to look like I know just enough about sports to belong at a game or viewing party—yet not so much that random people try to have a conversation with me about how Philip Rivers has never won against Tom Brady in a head-to-head matchup. I know that sentence because I was wearing my Chargers shirt one day and that very scenario happened to me. Option one: Get a team shirt or sweatshirt and treat it the same way you would a plain white tee. Just know that I discovered through probably too much research that a lot of team’s women’s merch is terrible. I don’t want a fitted babydoll T-shirt that’s inexplicably light pink and white—even though those are not the team colors. The men’s section usually has a better selection of shirts that
Category: Fashion
Yoga isn’t the only workout you should be doing barefoot
January 08, 2019 at 01:33PM Walking around the gym with your shoes off sounds super weird and maybe a little unhygienic. But people are ditching their footwear in the weight room with good reason. For starters, weightlifting barefoot builds strength and helps you to find the optimal firing position. According to San Francisco-based personal trainer Austin Lopez, CSCS, the main reason why lifters go barefoot is that it allows for a stronger connection. “When you’re barefoot, there’s little to nothing impeding your ability to feel your foot gripping the ground,” Lopez says. And that’s important. Direct contact with the ground means you’re able to fully utilize the tiny nerves on the bottom of your feet, which is crucial for control and stability, says podiatrist Emily Splichal, DPM. Balance and control certainly come in handy when you’re lifting a few (or a few hundred) pounds off the ground. “Particularly with heavy leg exercises, if you’re properly gripping the ground, you’ll not only activate your glutes more effectively, but you’ll also create sufficient space for your femur to exit the hip socket,” says Lopez. “That combination stabilizes the movement and increases range of motion. It really helps build a neuromuscular connection.” Increased awareness helps you tap into your full potential in addition to enhancing your overall experience at the gym: “You can enjoy truly feeling a lift you’re doing,” says Lopez. And if people look at you funny, just smile and remember you know something they don’t. It might feel a little off at first, but it
Refillable beauty is about to change the way you shop for makeup
January 08, 2019 at 12:49PM At first glance, there’s nothing wrong with your #shelfie. Your deodorant is all-natural and so is your favorite lipstick, lotion, serum, and oil. But look again: How many of those beauty and personal hygiene products are packaged in plastic? Those containers might not seem like a big deal—they’re recyclable after all—but even the most eco-minded among us play a part in contributing to the 270 million tons of plastic drifting around the world’s oceans. In a bold move toward sustainability, some of the biggest beauty brands are rethinking the user experience from the outside in. If you aren’t familiar with the refillable beauty trend, listen good. In response to the outrageous amount of pollution in our seas and its impact on both the environment and ocean wildlife, several companies are packaging beauty products in reusable containers. When the product is gone, simply refill the bottle. Based on research by the LCA Centre, Refinery29 reports that switching to a brand that offers refills is the overwhelmingly sustainable choice. View this post on Instagram Still full from last night? Yup. Us too. Recover from your couch while shopping for your next deo. #bettervibesdaily A post shared by Myro (@itsmymyro) on Nov 23, 2018 at 2:47pm PST //www.instagram.com/embed.js In the makeup department, Stila offers an impressive assortment of refillable cosmetics, including powders to eye shadows. Dior is a newcomer to the trend with reusable lipstick tubes. Le Labo lets customers bring empty fragrance bottles back to the store for refills. Clean-beauty brand Kjaer Weiss sells plenty of inexpensive
I uncovered a subreddit that’ll help you locate any piece of clothing you’ve ever looked for but couldn’t find
January 08, 2019 at 12:24PM After spending a frustrating amount of time trolling the internet looking for a suitable dress to wear to my sister’s wedding, one night, while scrolling through the vastness of my Instagram’s explore page, I came across an option that seemed perfect: It was a black, with a light-blue lace overlay and beaded accents on the cuffs and collar. There was one hitch, however—the photo had no information, hashtags, or links to help me figure out where I could find it in real life. I spent the next three days running a screenshot of it through reverse Google image search and typing random descriptive phrases into my browser’s search field like “pastel blue lace dress,” “beaded long sleeve lace dress,” “long sleeve lace overlay dress” hoping it’d render some results. Needless to say, it didn’t. I was about to give up. But then I inadvertently stumbled upon the solution to my problems in the form of a subreddit called Find Fashion, which does, well, exactly what it says it does. I uploaded a screenshot of my dream dress and then waited. Two days later I had an answer: It was a Diane Von Furstenberg number that I was then able to find online in my size …and on sale. With my own fashion crisis averted, I began to dig deeper into the subreddit and discovered that so far 24,000 people have shared pictures or descriptions of pieces of clothing, shoes, and accessories that they need help identifying. Users upload
Say goodbye to knee pain when squatting forever, fam
January 08, 2019 at 11:09AM There are two types of people in the world: The ones who love squats (ahem: J. Lo), and the ones who would rather be forced to spend three days at Fyre Festival than suffer through a set of them. Regardless of which category you fall into (ICYWW, I am very much in the second), we can all agree that they are effective at blasting booties and building muscles, and will almost definitely pop up in your schedule no matter which type of workout you’re doing. Which raises the oh-so-important question: How can you avoid knee pain when squatting? To understand how to avoid it, it’s important to figure out why exactly it happens to begin with, which is actually pretty simple. “Knee pain stems from improper form,” says Karl Smith, Director of Residential Well Living at Cortland, DHEd, noting that doing the move properly is the number one way to ensure you don’t hurt yourself in pursuit of a more perfect umm peach. “When looking at form, make sure your feet are flat on the ground. Then, when you start the move, engage your glutes immediately by pushing them back and hinging from your hips allowing your body to go down in a smooth motion.” The problem is compounded, however, by certain muscle groups not being strong enough to carry out the motion. “A lot of the times it’s not that people don’t know how to squat. They understand the concept of it, but they they just
Your 2019 wellness hero is…Cookie Monster?
January 08, 2019 at 08:54AM From nailing the ABCs to tying shoelaces like a boss, Sesame Street has for generations taught children each and every one of life’s most important lessons. To this day, there’s plenty to be gleaned from the show’s cast of charters, including Cookie Monster. The blue Muppet with an insatiable appetite for sugary confections proves to be the most unexpected wellness hero of 2019. And he’s dispensing his expertise in the only way he knows how: cookie metaphors. Of all the places to derive wellness inspiration, a furry fictional character from a beloved childhood TV is most unexpected. But Cookie Monster really knows his stuff. Judging by all the retweets, he’s already energized thousands to focus in on themselves this year. In one tweet, he addresses self-care with a much-needed reminder that it’s okay to treat yo’ self. Dis year me focusing on me self-care. When me need little love, me going to give meself cookie. — Cookie Monster (@MeCookieMonster) January 2, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js In a clip from a recent episode of Sesame Street, Cookie Monster takes on workplace wellness, negotiating salary requirements, benefits (ahem, health insurance!), and paid time off—elements essential to achieving career satisfaction while staying both mentally and physically fit. (Not one to play hardball, Cookie Monster settles for single cookie as payment, but, hey, everybody has to start somewhere.) Negotiating that new year salary increase like: pic.twitter.com/1fv2UMbqgY — Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) January 7, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js If even Cookie Monster can prioritize self-care, there’s really no excuse for you
Forget birthstones—picking gems based on our dosha is way more personal
January 08, 2019 at 04:54AM How great would it be if doctors actually prescribed retail therapy when something’s ailing us? Alas, Western medicine doesn’t consider fashion to be a valid form of treatment. (For proof, just look at the potato sack that is a hospital gown.) But when it comes to Ayurveda—a 5,000-year-old holistic healing tradition that originated in India—it’s a different story. At least, that’s the case when it comes to jewelry, which is believed to be a potent tool for keeping your mind and bod aligned. Here’s the deal: Per Ayurveda, everyone has a certain mind-body constitution, made up of a combination of three doshas. Your dominant dosha reflects everything from your sleep patterns to your skin health to your stress response. If you’re generally healthy, it’s a sign that your doshas are balanced. But if you’re dealing with health issues? Well, that’s a sign that your energy skews too far in one direction—airy Vata, fiery Pitta, or earthy Kapha. To help people keep their doshas in check, Ayurvedic practitioners often turn to food, herbs, and lifestyle interventions. But gemstones, too, are believed to have an impact on one’s constitution, says stylist-turned-shaman Colleen McCann. “Vedic astrology and its sister science, Ayurveda, recommend certain gemstones to help balance the doshas,” explains McCann, founder of Style Rituals and author of Crystal Rx: Daily Rituals for Cultivating Calm, Achieving Your Goals, and Rocking Your Inner Gem Boss. “According to the ancient [system], some gemstones are more healing for certain constitutional types—Pitta, Vata,
Jillian Michaels’ foolproof guide for sticking to your fitness goals in 2019
January 07, 2019 at 12:00PM I’m calling it: 2019 is officially the year we break the cycle of failed and forgotten fitness resolutions. You know the one I’m talking about. Every year, during the first week of January, gyms are so packed that you can barely get a spot on a treadmill (let alone a shower once your workout is over). Everyone is motivated by the idea of starting things off on the right foot, and committed to their resolutions of getting up at 6 a.m. every day and hitting the gym. Slowly but surely, though, more and more people opt to stay in bed instead of trekking to their local weight room, and by January 15, things are back to their normal volume. Last year, I personally gave up on my marathon training by January 4, and spent the rest of 2018 wishing I’d stuck with it. Well, this is the year that all changes. Thanks to the guidance of Jillian Michaels, creator of the MyFitness App, author of the brand-new book The 6 Keys, and leader of our ReNew Year fitness challenge, we’re going to be staying in the gym long past the second week of January. She’s already mapped out an easy-to-follow 4-week plan to help us stick to our goals, and now she’s sharing her top tips for making every workout effective, efficient, and so enjoyable that you’ll actually stick with it all year long. Read on for Jillian Michaels’ 20 tips for how to tackle your fitness goals into the
Being single’s completely transformed my personal style—for the better
January 07, 2019 at 08:38AM My last relationship ended not with a bang, but a whimper. We slowly grew apart until it felt like we were just roommates existing in the same space but not really connecting. At the time, my life and my identity was so caught up in this relationship that, when we finally broke up for real, I really didn’t know who I was. I moved into my new apartment with a clean interior design slate—no mattress, no couch, no television, no wine glasses. The first thing I bought to furnish my place was not one of those essentials, but a completely frivolous fluffy, faux sheepskin stool. My ex would have hated it, both stylistically and from a practicality standpoint. It was a simple act of rebellion. I call it my independence stool, which is admittedly a really lame name, especially coming from a writer, but it gets the point across. My sartorial choices have undergone a similar treatment since going from LTR to single. You can almost trace the dissolution of my coupling through my clothing choices. In the latter years of my relationship as we got a little too comfortable with each other, I didn’t really experiment with fashion, instead opting for basics in neutral colors. It was what I felt comfortable in. I lived in a uniform of jeans and T-shirts. As I felt it start to end, though, I subconsciously tried to stop the break by wearing clothing that was a little outside
Science just gave me the best excuse to buy new leggings
January 07, 2019 at 06:39AM Every night before I go to bed, I lay out my workout clothes and pack up my gym bag. This is in part because there is arguably nothing more stressful than searching for a sports bra in your closet at 5:49 a.m. when you have to be at the gym at 6 o’clock, and also because I plan my gym outfits like some people plan their work outfits. There are colors that need to be matched, silhouettes that go together better, and don’t even get me started on textures and fabrics. I’m not rolling into my gym wearing just any old leggings and tank combo—I’m coming in with a look. But as we enter the new year, a time when I arguably should be most pumped about getting to the gym because of “resolutions” or what have you, I find myself kind of meh about the whole thing. I’ve been having trouble motivating myself to exercise, and once I finally get there, I struggle to push myself the way I normally do. Because I prefer to blame intangible things instead of doing any real soul searching (just kidding… mostly), I decided that my lack of motivation to go to the gym can be traced to my blah attitude about my current workout wardrobe. Naturally, I went to the internet to back up my theory, and it turns out science actually has a term for this: enclothed cognition. Admittedly I will take almost any excuse to