December 21, 2018 at 11:18AM Between the extremes of fast fashion and high-end design, there’s a subtle, but massive, industry shift happening toward accessible luxury items. It’s largely thanks to the tastes and conscientious shopping habits of millennials. But what is accessible luxury exactly? The definition is open to interpretation depending on your disposable income. But in general, it’s offerings that aren’t as lavish or expensive as those from traditional fashion houses such as Chloé and Gucci. Yet, they tend to include nicer materials and craftsmanship than what you’d find at the mall. Think buttery leather jackets and French-seamed denim. While the concept itself isn’t new (Kate Spade and Coach have become billion-dollar brands by selling $300 handbags in this space) the way it looks now is rapidly evolving. Accessible luxury is about more than “stuff” First things first: “accessible” luxury doesn’t mean that prices are cheap. For most American women, a $400 bag or a $500 dress is a prohibitively expensive price point. But for a growing number of consumers who value owning fewer, well-made products over lots of disposable, cheap items, the investment is worthwhile. That’s partly because a flurry of young labels and cool-kid designers, like Rouje, Anine Bing, Sandro, and Ganni (really, the list is too extensive to include here), haven’t just created clothes and bags. They’ve created an aspirational, beautiful, nearly all-encompassing world that includes on-point social media feeds, in-the-know messaging, and fresh points of view. Crucially, they speak the language of women in their 20s
Category: City
I tested the most popular mascara at CVS and my lashes have never looked better
December 20, 2018 at 10:42AM I regularly joke that when I die, I want my ashes to be scattered in the aisles of a CVS. Growing up in the suburbs (hey there, Rhode Island!), it’s the place where I first truly discovered the world of beauty. I would spend hours scanning the shelves for the best skin care and makeup that $10 could buy, and even now one of my Sunday afternoon guilty pleasures is strolling through the aisles and seeing if there are any new products worth dealing with a miles-long receipt for. So, when I got an email this morning revealing the most popular beauty items at CVS from 2018, it felt like Christmas came a few days early. I recognized most of the items on the list. The top skin-care seller, Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser ($10), and top body-care seller, Aveeno Moisturizing Lotion ($2), have both been heavily featured in my routine for years. But the top makeup item, L’Oreal Paris Voluminous Lash Paradise Washable Mascara ($10), was totally new to me. So obviously—especially given the recent resurgence of drugstore mascara—I had to try it out stat. And let me just say: It was love at first swipe. One coat of the stuff thickened, lengthened, and lifted my lashes all at once, making it abundantly clear why so many CVS shoppers are such fans of the stuff. I happened to test it on a day when I had worn no other makeup, but the mascara was powerful
Yes, you can channel your intense holiday anticipation and actually get work done this week
December 17, 2018 at 01:34PM This time of year, it’s all about chestnuts roasting and sleigh bells ringing. That is, until someone dares to slide into your email inbox with something pressing. For me, trying to meet deadlines just a week before I fall into a Christmas coma feels like running up a snow-covered hill rather than sledding down it. Recently, Shine Text (an app that sends its users an encouraging message each morning) told me to “close out 2018 using your voorpret,” a dutch word that basically means the ecstatic anticipation one feels before a momentous occasion (like Christmas!). I felt seen. But here’s the question: How do you keep your mind from drifting to visions of sugarplums when there’s work to be done? According to life coach and author Susie Moore, the key is to operate under a holiday activity reward system. Below, she offers five tips: 1. Turn off your notifications! (But seriously, this time): While this advice is valid in any season, Moore says this time of year is best spent decking the halls and decorating cookies. “Check your apps when you want to. This really helps with focus! Notifications are distractions from hell,” she says. Preach. 2. Pop your festive favorites right into your planner: “Schedule all the fun stuff you want and mark it clearly in your calendar. That way you’ll have no FOMO, and can enjoy work-time leading to evening (or weekend) time,” she recommends. 3. Don’t be afraid to turn on holiday-themed music at the office: Bouncy as it may be, “Rudolph
11 romance novels that’ll leave you hot and bothered through the holiday season
December 17, 2018 at 05:30AM At this point in the year, you may well be experiencing Christmas rom-com fatigue—so the prospect of heading home for the holidays to spend time with your family time to play board games and probably watch even more wholesome flicks may leave you wanting…more. Well, you’re in luck: Endless bookshelves (paper and digital) are overflowing with steamy romance novels just waiting for your undivided, yearning attention. So, grab an adaptogenic hot chocolate, curl up the by fire, and lose yourself in one of the following super-hot tomes. Reading should be for pleasure, right? 1. Darker, by E.L. James If you’re panting for more Fifty Shades, fear not: The tantalizing series returns to the Red Room, this time through Christian Grey’s POV. Though his affair with Anastasia Steele has flamed out (sorry, spoiler!), the tormented billionaire still burns for her love—and will stop at nothing to bring her back under his dominance. You’ll bang this out in one sitting. 2. The Idea of You, by Robinne Lee Sit back, and let your fangirl dreams come to life. After meeting backstage at a Las Vegas concert, divorcee Solene, 39, unexpectedly strikes up an intoxicating affair with British boy bander Hayes, 20. Don’t let his age fool you: This Harry Styles wannabe knows just what a woman wants—and needs. Their international trysts certainly satisfy. Even the prying paparazzi enjoy. 3. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, by Balli Kaur Jaswal The title doesn’t lie. London-based Indian immigrant Nikki is teaching
Esther Perel nails exactly why relationships seem harder right now
December 15, 2018 at 07:39AM If you’ve ever listened to Esther Perel’s podcast Where Should We Begin?, you know that the psychotherapist and TED Talk star practices a form of almost radical compassion that gets results, in the most surprising ways. No matter how locked-in-battle the couple seems to be, by the end there’s new light on the situation. Prime example: Season one, episode three, where the Mating in Captivity author leads a young couple to talk honestly about a sexual impasse for the first time by encouraging the husband to adopt his French-speaking role-play persona—to talk about his feelings, not his libido. It sounds like light comedy, a farce. But it’s intense. (Prepare to sob.) In every episode, Perel at some point will offer up an insight or guide the conversation in a way that seems wrong, and even off-topic. Why are we talking about this when it’s clear that he/she is an entitled a-hole who needs to change?! But usually, it leads to an “a-ha” you never expected. So it’s no surprise that as she trains her expert eye on the state of current relationships in general, she has diagnosed exactly what’s ailing us: And it’s a good news-bad news kind of thing. The (very, very) good news is that we’re no longer in an era of marriage where, as Perel said recently at The New Yorker Festival, “The couple could be miserable for 30 years, you were stuck for life, you married once—and, if you didn’t like it, you could hope
To plan a healthy date in NYC, this is the only list you need to consult
December 15, 2018 at 05:30AM Whether you’re single, coupled up, or in one of those confusing non-relationships, we all fall into date-night ruts every once in a while. You know—dinner at the same restaurant every week, a glass of wine at one of the three bars you have on rotation, or even just ordering in and watching Netflix (happens to the best of of us). While all of these activities have their time and place, they can also become a little, well, boring. And that’s not fun for anyone. Luckily, if you live in NYC, there’s no shortage of creative, wellness-centric date activities to help shake up your routine and get those happy, love chemicals flowing. Here’s a baker’s dozen to try. 13 of the healthiest date ideas NYC has to offer View this post on Instagram Greet Mother Nature with a hike through Bear Mountain State Park and revel in its impressive winterscape. Thanks to this week’s #NYLovesWinter winner! : @pidalaphoto A post shared by I LOVE NEW YORK (@iloveny) on Dec 7, 2018 at 1:51pm PST //www.instagram.com/embed.js 1. Go on a public transportation-accessible hike While New York City itself isn’t exactly famous for its sprawling expanses of nature (one of its best-known nicknames is “concrete jungle,” after all), a peaceful, heart-pumping hike is always just a train ride away. If you take the Metro-North from Grand Central, you can access plenty of tree and creek-lined trails with breathtaking views. A few of the many great options include the
I moved into a “tiny home” and it’s actually not making me crazy
December 13, 2018 at 04:54AM This October, after a particularly blissful morning at the beach, I had a little chat with the universe. “Okay, here’s the deal,” I said out loud, sitting in the driver’s seat of my car and staring at the ocean in front of me. “I need you to send me an apartment in this exact neighborhood—one that will allow me to foster big shelter dogs but costs less than the amount I’m paying in rent now. Got it?” (Anyone who’s familiar with Los Angeles’ oceanfront real estate knows that the odds of this happening are basically the same as having Ariana Grande show up at your door bearing avocado toast.) Without giving it a second thought, I drove back inland to my place in the city. But with Amazon Prime-like swiftness, the powers that be fulfilled my order: While scanning apartment listing sites a couple days later, as I’d been doing for the past several weeks, I spotted a rare, all-pets-allowed place across the street from the beach that was priced about $300 less than the one-bedroom condo I was sitting in. It was a studio, and from the few pictures in the post, I could tell that it was small, but full of light, with a killer ocean view. Oh, and it was situated about 1,000 feet away from the exact spot where I’d made my request earlier that week, in a neighborhood that is most definitely above my freelance writer’s pay grade. (If I
A doc explains how to get those tiny bumps on your tongue to go away
December 13, 2018 at 04:47AM The other day, I thought that I had a pimple on my tongue. It came out of nowhere: All of a sudden, I felt a tiny but hugely annoying little bump on the tip of my tongue. And then I proceeded to play with it—pushing it against my teeth, my mouth, and grimacing my face in all sorts of weird positions in an attempt to pop it out of its uninvited existence. I didn’t feel like I did anything out of the ordinary to deserve this petulant blob on my tongue, but, alas—there it was, inhabiting my mouth and causing a serious disturbance that I couldn’t ignore. My coworkers knew exactly what I was talking about when I brought it up. Is it a pimple? Is it a blob? A taste bud? I sought the truth, once and for all. So a bit of a biology lesson: The tiny bumps on your tongue are called papillae (AKA clusters of taste buds), and these papillae can get irritated. “The little tiny bumps that you see on the end of your tongue are called transient lingual papillitis,” says Jason Abramowitz, MD, an ear, nose, and throat doctor. “They typically occur when the tongue is inflamed or irritated—so that’s in periods of stress, viral causes like the common cold, or bacterial infections, as well as allergy flare-ups. They can also be caused by acid reflux and really spicy or acidic foods.” A-ha! (And also, damn me and my love
How to use your body to deal with (really) big feelings
December 13, 2018 at 03:30AM Taryn Toomey, founder of The Class by Taryn Toomey, is the embodiment of “living the practice.” In each of her sessions, she heightens the mind-body connection by fusing movement and emotion—and even when one Class ends, she keeps her practice going. You can, too—and learning this process can help you cope with all kinds of intense feelings. Here, the Well+Good Council member shares her process for observing her feelings (and, crucially, choosing how to respond to them). Get ready to get settled Looking around is a human instinct to make sure that the environment is safe for us to close our eyes. So give yourself permission to scan the room, touch your water bottle, or adjust your clothing. Whatever you need to do, do it. When you’re ready, close your eyes and place your hands on your body. Tune into your body; notice your mind In The Class, we ask people to wiggle their toes, feel their feet on the floor, and feel their own touch. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and notice your mind. Your brain is an organ; it has a job, which is to create thought. The part of you that’s hearing thought is your consciousness, so pay attention—because we’re about to take the body out for a ride. Move and feel Here, the idea is to use movement to create feelings, and through that, experience our thoughts about those feelings. This process involves actively creating discomfort through a series
7 French fashion brands that’ll give your style—from the studio to the street—a chic update
December 12, 2018 at 08:47AM The most authentic way to embrace the French lifestyle is planning a trip to Paris. But because of you know—time, work, and money—the next best thing is to embrace those little life and style hacks that will bring you joie de vivre (or happiness). But dressing like a French girl doesn’t mean a lifetime commitment to berets. You can make things easier on yourself by simply shopping from French brands and thereby automatically applying that inexplicable, je ne sais quoi-quality to your wardrobe. Sure, chances are that the big French fashion players (Chanel, Kenzo, Dior, etc.) are already on your radar—but there are some really amazing boutique brands to know about, too. These are the more affordable French sneaker, athleisure, hygge-ready, and ready-to-wear lines you should bookmark, ASAP. 1. Veja Okay, so this one isn’t exactly “under the radar” per se, but Veja is still not a household name the way footwear brands like, say, Puma or Adidas are. Still, this French brand, which specializes in sustainable sneakers, has quietly turned into a street style darling. Plus, it counts Meghan Markle as a fan. View this post on Instagram welcome @bonne.arrivee A post shared by MAISON CHÂTEAU ROUGE (@maisonchateaurouge) on Jun 15, 2018 at 10:11am PDT //www.instagram.com/embed.js 2. Maison Chateau Rouge Combining inspiration from the African diaspora and traditional French aesthetics, Maison Chateau Rouge is one of France’s most promising and popular streetwear brands. Its tees, which hat tip to sportswear, come in an array of