Today was just one of those days. One of those horrible, rotten, I-need-all-of-the-wine-at-Trader-Joe’s-to-make-this-day-semi-passable type of days. It wasn’t for any particular reason, either. I was able to do my full morning beauty routine and made it to work on time for once. I packed a yummy lunch that I remembered to bring with me, and I even caught up with some friends, but for some reason, my inner-glow just wasn’t shining.
Working on my inner glow has been a summer-long project of mine, and I have to say, it’s been one of my more successful experiments. I’ve found routines that I love and some beauty products that I’m now addicted to, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t days where I feel like my inner sparkle needs a bit of spackle.
So what to do on the days where you feel like you need a bit of extra help to let your inner beauty shine? Self-care, a little more self-care, and when you’ve done all of the yoga and empowering mantras you can stand, more self-care. On days where I really need my inner glow to radiate, I pamper myself like a princess — a princess on a slight budget, nonetheless.
The Pamper Princess tries the Plow Pose
If I’ve had a not so perfect day, I try to do something physically active. Go for a walk, ride a bike, crazy dance to the local Classic Rock station, or take a yoga class. I may look like an uncoordinated giraffe while trying to do Downward Dog, but I will do that pose perfectly one day if it kills me.
After my physical activity, I take a long bath or shower with a glass of wine (in one of those plastic wine cups meant for outdoor use, I’m always terrified of taking actual glass into the bath with me). If it’s a hair washing night, I treat myself to a hair mask. Now, having grown up as a drought-cautious Californian for my entire life, long showers or shower-bath combos are a relatively new treat that I’ve only recently allowed myself to indulge in, and your shower has to be a long one if you’re going to pamper yourself with a hair mask!
Having had a not so awesome day, I want to give my hair a bit of a treat … something that will give my hair a bit of shine. Enter Best Beauty Finds’ Chocohair Hair Mask with Cocoa Extract. This mask hydrates, strengthens, and re-conditions your hair, helping your inner glow radiate through every hair follicle. I leave the hair mask on for nearly 20 minutes and indulge in a bubble-bath soak while my hair hydrates.
If I feel like I need to be extremely decadent, I nibble on some tasty treat of choice while I soak in a tub filled to the brim with bubbles. My particular favorites are salted caramel Macarons. Imagine my delight when I found Fizzy Macaron Bath Bombs by Callysee Cosmetics. Just drop one of these adorable bath bombs into your tub and watch as the bath bomb fizzes, something I find very visually pleasing. Not to mention that the ingredients in the bath bomb are meant to help soften your skin and ease your aches while you soak. I particularly enjoy the warm vanilla bath bomb because the smell reminds me of a Goody’s shop. Just be sure not to eat these bath bombs, no matter how delicious they look and smell.
Lotion, Eye Masks, and Tea, oh my!
After my soak, I drag myself out of the tub and put on my favorite robe … you know that robe, the one that you would normally never be caught dead in, but it’s just so fluffy and pink and comfy that you don’t care? Me and my it’s-way-too-pink-but-it-makes-me-happy robe, quickly hop over to the kitchen to put the kettle on for some tea. We’ll get back to the tea later.
While I’m waiting for the water to boil, I continue my pampering routine by taking my time putting on my Lemongrass & Lavender Therapy Hand & Body Lotion. I may have said this before, but I love the smell of lavender. It reminds me of spring and rolling fields of grass. The combination of lemongrass and lavender helps to soothe, moisturize, and rejuvenate your skin, giving you a bit of your glow back.
After I moisturize, I treat myself to a mask of some kind. Face mask, foot mask, or my personal favorite: eye masks. I definitely don’t get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep per night, so giving my eyes a bit of pampering is a necessity. To help de-puff and lighten the dark circles under my eyes, I use the 24K Gold Eye Luminous Mask by Martinni. I pop the masks on under my eyes and mosey on out of the bathroom. I have 15 to 20 minutes to kill before I can take the mask off, so I might as well figure out what I want to wear tomorrow or play around with my Pinterest boards.
All too soon, I hear my kettle yelling at me, reminding me that I forgot about it in the kitchen, the water is boiling, and it’s time for tea. Before learning about self-care routines and the benefits of bringing out your inner glow, I was not a tea person. I was all about coffee, Chardonnay, and Diet Coke. I mean, water! I never really considered tea to be a go-to beverage. Then I found Teami tea products, and I’m now a craven addict.
My personal favorite blend is the Relax Tea Calming Blend, made up of Lavender Flower (ok, I tried it just because it had Lavender), Chamomile, Lemongrass, Orange Peel, and Valerian Root Extract. These plants are meant to help the consumer relax and get ready for bed. I put 1 tsp. of loose leaf tea into an adorable heart-shaped strainer that my friend gave me for my birthday, and dip it into a cup of hot water. I like to use a special mug for my tea, one that makes me feel happy. It’s a fancy, for emergencies only, type mug that says “I’m 99.9 percent sure that I’m a unicorn” and has a picture of a unicorn sliding down a rainbow. Like I said, super fancy.
So there I sit in my favorite wicker chair, sipping Relax Tea out of a unicorn mug, in my “oh heavens, that is pink” robe, with 24K Gold Eye Luminous Masks on my face, and I start to feel it. The glow. It’s back, baby! Tomorrow, I’m going to have no problem letting my inner beauty shine.