Category: Beauty

February 21, 2020 at 02:00AM by CWC In midsummer of last year, I did something unprecedented to that point in my life: I—gasp—highlighted my hair. My curls are naturally a Rory Gilmore-shade of brown that I’ve never loved nor hated. But when I got the opportunity through work to go lighter under the careful stewardship of Biolage celebrity stylist Nick Stenson, it felt like one of those opportunities to change something about myself without really changing anything at all, because the psychological effects of hair color are just as important as the physical ones. One three-hour appointment later, I walked out with honey-blond highlights that made me want to tie-dye, listen to Joni Mitchell, and learn how to skateboard. In balmy, sticky June, the vibe fit. One appointment later, I asked for even more highlights and leaned fully into the blond living. Which, despite my kick-flip ambitions, actually looked a lot like my standard, brunette life. As the hot, hot months wore on and I learned the wonders of purple shampoo and brassy tone correctors, I started to notice that people said the same things about my newly-blond head again and again: “Oh! You went lighter for the summer!’ “Blond for the summer—good choice!” “Blond! And just in time for summer.” “Since we associate summer with fun and vacations, we might prefer more red or blond,—’fun’ colors,” explains clinical psychologist Aimee Daramus, PsyD. “Dark hair might reflect the way that winter can feel a little more serious and you might

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February 20, 2020 at 11:00PM by CWC Over the past three years, the recovery industry has been booming. Between stretch studios, $300 percussive therapy devices, and wearables that track your every move, it’s easy to drop hundreds of dollars to get your feet back under you after a hard workout. While all of this tech is undoubtedly flashy and effective, in a newsflash to exactly no one, the best way to recover is through sleep. In order to get stronger, your muscle fibers have to tear on a microscopic level and when they grow back, you gain strength. This process primarily happens while you’re sleeping, so when you don’t catch enough zzzs, it isn’t able to happen properly—studies show that both mental and physical performance are impaired after a single night of sleep deprivation. “Without sleep, muscles become more inflamed and begin to break down their own protein to provide building blocks—aka nitrogen and other protein components—to the rest of the body, which needs more protein to function during sleep deprivation,” says Ben Smarr, science advisor to Oura and assistant professor at UCSD Bioengineering & Data Science. “Sleep allows healing, but deprivation causes breakdown, making getting good sleep doubly important.” Not only that, but when you deprive your body of its most regenerative process or if you get poor sleep, you’re taking away a key element of recovery. “Non-REM sleep is associated with the highest levels of growth hormone release during a day, allowing muscles to heal and grow,” says Smarr.

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February 20, 2020 at 06:34PM by CWC Whenever there’s a new launch or a big sale, it can be tempting to drop your hard-earned coins on products that seem to-die-for amazing but probably won’t work their way into your everyday routine. I’m a sucker for creamy glitter eyeshadows, and I can count on one hand how often I used one in the past year.  Chauntal Lewis, a makeup artist at West Hollywood salon Nine Zero One, says the essentials you use every day is where you should you’re putting your money. “When we spend over $60 to $100 on one product, we tend to not want to spend much more on other necessities,” says Lewis. “I generally spend the most on skin care and foundation, and have found great, affordable mascaras, brows products, bronzers, concealers, highlighters, and lip product without breaking the bank.” Below, Lewis shares the six products she relies on for her everyday look. You can get them all for less than $150. How a makeup artist spends $143 on just the essentials 1. Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longer Foundation, $35 Lewis’ favorite buildable foundation for medium to full coverage comes from Fenty Beauty. “I love the instant-smooth, and shine-free finish,” says Lewis. “It gives a natural dewy look once settled in.” 2. Lancôme Monsieur Big Mascara, $25 “This is, in my opinion, the best mascara for both length and especially volume, always leaving your lashes bold and voluptuous,” says Lewis. “I always get asked if

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February 20, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC When you find out your partner has cheated on you and also still wants to make your relationship work, the resulting mood is best explained as “emotional tornado.” Coming to terms with what happened is a whole lot to wrap your mind around—like wondering why they cheated in the first place and whether it might happen again—before you even reach the point of deciding whether you can forgive a cheater at all. And if you do choose to forgive your partner for their indiscretions, will you ever truly get over it? Well, if you’ve already gone full Carrie Underwood and dug your key into the side of their pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive, carved your name into their leather seats, taken a Louisville slugger to both headlights and slashed a hole in all four tires, then probably not. Some people are simply hardwired to believe “Once a cheater, always a cheater,” and they sever ties immediately after learning their partner stepped out. Other people may find that they can forgive a cheater and, while they may not forget, they do move past it as best as they can. “Some of one’s ability to move on from an infidelity has to do with personality traits, and some has to do with the state of the relationship and the type or amount of infidelity.” —relationship therapist Aimee Hartstein, LCSW “Some of one’s ability to move on from an infidelity has to do with personality traits,

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February 20, 2020 at 03:00AM by CWC If you’ve ever unrolled your mat for the celestial experience known as Yin yoga, you know that there’s basically one rule: do nothing quickly. Snail’s pace stretching is highly recommended in more restorative asana, and the same rings true with somatic exercises, Yin-adjacent stretches designed to calm your nervous system by asking you to wade into the sensations in your own body. According to the late Thomas Louis Hanna, PhD, the movement theorist who coined the term, somatic exercises require you to focus on how a certain movement makes you feel by moving your body as gently and compassionately as possible. “Moving slowly, you give your brain the chance to notice all that is happening in your body as you move,” wrote Dr. Hanna in his book Somatics: Reawakening The Mind’s Control Of Movement, Flexibility, And Health (excerpted by the Somatic Systems Institute). “Slow-motion films are essential in sports training because they allow athletes to study the details of a movement or play. The same goes for focusing attention on the internal sensations of your own movements: The slower you go, the more you perceive,” he continues. Only, instead of studying a fumble (or, you know, whatever actually happens in football), you’re zeroing in on the stretch in your hamstring, back, or another body part. Eventually, Dr. Hanna promises that your “somatic brain” will take over and you’ll find yourself a more limber and calm human being. “You must be patient, looking not for a

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