February 27, 2020 at 04:00PM by CWC Odds are good that everyone has swatched at least one foundation in their life. It’s the easiest route to tell if a foundation will agree with your skin and whether or not a shade is the right match for you or not. And while it can feel playful and fun to test and try, for Huda Kattan, makeup artist and founder of Huda Beauty, it’s just another day on the job. She’s tested hundreds of foundations, and in doing so has gotten a sixth-sense for what makes a good foundation. “If I had to guess how many foundations I’ve used in my entire life, I’d have to say around 250 to 300,” she says, though has definitely swatched exponentially more before landing on those. “Nowadays, there are so many out there.” As one of the very few beauty influencers with global name recognition, Kattan is extra selective about which products and tips she shares with her millions of followers (her Instagram alone has 41.4M fans watching her every post). Since Kattan is also a professional makeup artist—and has been for over a decade—she’s well-versed in what makes a makeup product work, and how to find a good foundation that’s perfect for your skin. So when I asked her for her secrets to snag the just-right foundation, I listened right up. Keep scrolling for her three pro tips on how to find a good foundation below, and take note. 1. Check the texture “I have pores. I
Tag: Well+Good
Calm versus Headspace: The 3 best ways to use each leading meditation app
February 27, 2020 at 03:00PM by CWC A few years back, a close friend gifted me Yumi Sakugawa’s There Is No Right Way to Meditate: a doodle-filled love letter to meditation that’s basically a mindfulness picture book. As much as I love what’s inside its pages, the book’s title itself has always struck me as the most profound nugget it offers. That is, when it comes to meditation, there’s no single right way to go about it. I’ve taken that notion to heart as I’ve allowed myself to explore methods of mindfulness that don’t necessarily involve sitting on a cushion: Enter, the booming sector of meditation apps, where two specific apps—Calm and Headspace—have pulled ahead of the rest of the pack, as the only two top 10 apps in the Health & Fitness category of the AppStore focused on meditation. And while neither seems to be going anywhere, the question of deciding a winner between Calm versus Headspace is tricky to answer, especially for someone like me who swears by both for different reasons. Ten years after its 2010 founding, Headspace raised $93 million in new equity in February 2020. And as of February 2019, Calm (founded 2012) raised $88 million dollars. On paper, it would seem that the two are competitors, but it’s hard to classify one as “better” or more useful than the other. Doing so would be decidedly un-Zen, and—in the words of Sakugawa—there’s no right way to meditate. Furthermore, since both apps offer different but still-useful features,
We asked a registered dietitian to rank the top 5 best frozen cauliflower pizza crusts
February 27, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC It’s hard to remember a time before frozen cauliflower pizza crusts were as ubiquitous in the frozen food aisle as their doughy counterparts. Yet walk into virtually any grocery store and you’ll see not only one cauli-crust option, but likely many. Healthy eaters have voiced their request for a curst made of the veggie and brands have delivered. In fact, there are actually so many options to choose from now that it can be tricky figuring out which one to buy. “Many consumers today looking for alternative crusts, think cauliflower! But not all cauliflower pizza crusts get my stamp of approval,” registered dietitian Melissa Rifkin, RD says. “Some tend to have a great deal of carbohydrates and sodium and lack protein.” Her point: Even a crust that’s primarily made of the cruciferous vegetable can have not-so great ingredients in it. Here, Rifkin ranks five of the most popular, best frozen cauliflower pizza crusts in terms of how healthy they are. (Taste was not part of the ranking.) Keep reading for her thoughts and to see which one she deems healthiest of all. The 5 best frozen cauliflower pizza crusts, ranked by an RD: 1. REAL GOOD FOODS Cauliflower Crust, $6 for 2 Rifkin says Real Good Foods’ product is, nutrition-wise, the best frozen cauliflower pizza crust. Besides cauliflower, it’s made with almond flour, eggs, coconut flour, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, xanthan gum, and salt. “Of all the brands, this one is the highest
Ever feel sad after sex? Here are 4 reasons you may experience postcoital dysphoria
February 27, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC Even when I have super-satisfying sex with a partner I trust, I often feel a sense of sadness afterward—but I’m never sure why it is that I feel that way. It turns out, though, I’m not alone in this experience, as licensed psychologist Heather Z. Lyons, PhD, points out that research has found that nearly half of women experience postcoital dysphoria (PCD), or sadness following otherwise satisfactory intercourse, at some point in their life. And for 5 to 10 percent of women, that rate of incidence jumps to having occurred within the past month. “Individuals who experience PCD may express their immediate feelings after sexual intercourse in terms of melancholy, tearfulness, anxiety, irritability, or psychomotor agitation,” according to research published in International Journal of Sexual Health. “Individuals who experience PCD may express immediate feelings after sex in terms of melancholy, tearfulness, anxiety, irritability, or psychomotor agitation.” —International Journal of Sexual Health Finally feel seen but still not sure why it’s happening or what you can do about it? Below learn four reasons why you might experience postcoital dysphoria, along with expert-informed methods for overcoming it. And, of course, seeking the guidance of a licensed sexologist or sex therapist can help you navigate a personalized course of action that’s tailored to your specific needs. 1. Your need for post-sex care isn’t being met Post-sex pillow talk is a ritual sex experts and educators want you to adopt for every sexual relationship you have—even the casual
Thanks to blood flow restriction training, injuries no longer have to cramp your workout progress
February 27, 2020 at 12:00PM by CWC Blood flow restriction training may sound like some kind of kinky bedroom activity. (Hey, I’m a fitness and sex writer. My mind goes there.) But this on-the-rise lifting technique, sometimes called occlusion training or abbreviated as BFR, is actually a G-rated method that athletes use to get stronger muscles, faster—without using ultra-heavy weights. To understand BFR, you need to know a bit about about the circulatory system. Ready? Your arteries carry oxygenated blood away from your heart to the rest of your bod, while your veins carry deoxygenated blood from your bod back to your heart. During blood flow restriction training, a specialized cuff—one that looks like a doctor’s blood-pressure cuff—is wrapped around one’s arm or leg near the shoulder or hip. This cuts off venous flow from the limb while still permitting some arterial flow, ultimately reducing the amount of oxygen available to the muscles. At first blush, depriving your muscles of oxygen sounds like it can, in no way, be a good thing. But it can actually help to build muscle mass. Here’s why: Whenever you lift heavy weights, your muscle fibers work so hard that they quickly become depleted of oxygen. This metabolic stress is one reason why lifting weights makes muscles grow. By cuffing up, you mimic that limited-oxygen environment. “It actually tricks your brain into believing it is using heavier weights than it’s using,” says Nicholas Rolnick, DPT, MS. The result? More muscle growth with less weight-induced stress
The most important dietary factor tied to healthy aging, according to a functional medicine doctor
February 27, 2020 at 02:00AM by CWC There’s a belief in our society that aging and a decline in health inevitably go hand-in-hand. Thirty-somethings joking about being unable to tolerate a hangover as well as a decade before or forty-somethings wondering when the heck their bones started aching every morning certainly aren’t imagined. And then of course there’s the ailments that plague older populations, such as dementia and Parkinson’s. But according to functional medicine doctor Mark Hyman, MD, author of the new book Food Fix, it’s not impossible to get healthier as you age. Of course it takes a conscious effort of living well to age in this way, which Dr. Hyman says often comes down to common sense every day habits, such as regularly exercising, not smoking, and eating a predominately healthy diet. On the food front, Dr. Hyman offers up this important intel on how to live longer, healthfully: “A diet that helps to protect against insulin resistance is the number one factor,” he says. “The main driver of all the diseases related to aging is sugar and starch.” Dr. Hyman says that the reasons why minimizing consumption of these two ingredients is directly linked to aging well is because they are both linked to insulin resistance as well as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and even depression. If the idea of protecting against insulin resistance is totally new to you, getting acquainted with the glycemic index is a good tool to use as a guide. The glycemic
Combine these two anti-inflammatory herbs to make the world’s most soothing face mask
February 27, 2020 at 01:00AM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDO5-cDa7jI] Whip up this soothing herbal face mask for soft skin in no time. Here’s how to make it. Whenever I get a facial (read: not as often as I should), the esthetician inevitably exclaims, “Wow, you have sensitive skin!” Meanwhile, my baby bro phrases the same sentiment another way: “Bahahah, you look like Rudolph!” (Siblings…amirite?) Both statements refer to the fact that my face is typically angry, inflamed, and as red as a stop sign. Fortunately, Supernatural founder Rachelle Robinett offers a solution to my woes in the latest episode of Well+Good’s video series Plant-Based: a DIY, skin-soothing face mask. As an herbalist, Robinett takes this home remedy far beyond the ubiquitous honey masks proliferating your YouTube feed by supercharging it with the legit healing powers of calendula, arnica, and more. “Calendula is known as a wound healer,” she says. “It helps to heal the epithelial lining, which is sort of a coating that goes around our skin and our glands and our organs and all these different parts of our body that are exposed to other surface or other environments.” Arnica, meanwhile, is an ingredient with which you might be familiar if you’re partial to natural remedies for aches and pains. “It’s a fantastic plant for topical use,” Robinett says. “The action of arnica comes from two different phytochemicals, which modify the action of immune cells, which in turn can kill bacteria and reduce inflammation.” This, she explains, can reduce swelling
This is the hardest oblique ab move you’ll ever do, according to a fitness trainer
February 27, 2020 at 12:00AM by CWC Any time you walk into a megaformer-inspired pilates class, you know you’re in for a challenging workout. And while all the moves on the machine are enough to leave your body shaking, there’s one muscle group in particular that’s a special kind of hell to target with instability training: your obliques. These side-core ab muscles are responsible for stabilizing your body, and working them on an unstable platform is a surefire way to burn them out. Fast. While pretty much every oblique move done on a megaformer will leave you sore for at least a day or two, there’s only one that’s earned itself the title of “hardest oblique move of all time.” “Twisted army crawls”—which are, as you’d imagine, army crawls with a twist—involve holding a plank with your hips and feet rotated and walking forward and backwards on your forearms. In addition to working your internal and external oblique muscles, the plank-forward move also hits what Nat Straub, senior manager at solidcore, calls a “plethora of muscles,” including the rest of your core, lower back, quads, shoulders front hip flexors, inner thighs, triceps, chest, and intercostal muscles (phew!). Full disclosure, they are so challenging that the first time I tried them, I cried a little bit. So what makes them so difficult? Well, there are a few reasons. “For starters, it’s performed with instability in mind, since the moving carriage or gliders are forcing those stabilizing muscles to work hard,” says Straub.
Here’s how Sephora’s new CBD standards affect your skin-care regimen
February 26, 2020 at 10:25PM by CWC On Wednesday, makeup and skin-care distributor Sephora announced new standards for the CBD beauty products it sells in-store and online, making it the first national prestige retailer to do so. Certain CBD-specific retailers, like Standard Dose, spell out similar guidelines. “We’ve seen clients’ demand for transparency continue to grow, and it’s important to Sephora that we are a trusted resource,” Cindy Deily, vice president of merchandising and skin care at Sephora, tells Byrdie. “With the amount of products flooding the market, there can be confusion and mistrust.” Take a look at the Sephora CBD standards: Inclusion of only full- or broad-spectrum CBD from U.S. grown hemp CBD must be tested at least three times for quality and purity A Certificate of Analysis (COA) that verifies the CBD content matches any label claims must be available upon request All products must meet Sephora’s Clean at Sephora standards While these regulations are an important step in the right direction, it doesn’t guarantee that these products actually work, says Adam Friedman, MD, a dermatologist and professor of dermatology at George Washington University. “These are just quality assurance measures that you’re getting what you’re paying for,” he says. “We need science to prove that a certain concentration delivered in a certain way works.” CBD is often sought out in beauty products for its potential ability to fight inflammation. “CBD has been shown to have a soothing effect on the skin, and has been used in the treatment of
The stretches for glutes that will take the edge off an intense leg day
February 26, 2020 at 10:00PM by CWC Whether you kickbox, spin, or do scrambled eggs on a Megaformer, you’re likely all too aware of how tight your bum can get after a good old-fashioned leg day. Instead of wincing for 48 hours following your workout, it’s time to add a few stretches for glutes into the mix. “It’s the workout of the week I never miss,” says Kate Ligler, a certified trainer and MINDBODY wellness manager. “But leg day also requires attention to detail in terms of recovery. Tightness and adhesions (aka ‘knots’) in your body’s tissue are a natural response to exercise intensity. The good news is that releasing tension at the hips and glutes through some simple movements can help to release tissue and muscle tension, restoring range of motion and helping to re-engage muscles to their full strength and power following a workout.” To ensure that you stretch out your booty in a soothing and effective way, Ligler and a couple other trainers offer up their wisdom to help you get the job done. Ahead you’ll discover a handful of stretches to incorporate into any recovery routine. Double pigeon stretch [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1gEGLtF1p0] “One of my favorite glutes stretches is a double pigeon stretch,” Andrea Dusel-Foil, a says Lagree NY megaformer instructor, noting that it stretches your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. “Sit on the floor with the right leg bent (almost like you are going to sit crosslegged). Keep the right shin parallel to the front edge