morning
10 Perfumes I Have Been Wearing Recently
Marina asked somewhere in the comments whether I was going to do a post about my autumn perfumes this year. I have to admit this isn’t quite it, it’s just an overview of things I’ve bought and worn recently, so it has more of an end-of-summer, early autumn vibe than a true, rich October-November feel. Many of these I would wear year round, though, so let’s not get too hung up on seasonality and simply talk about the scents.
Four Great Moisturisers for Different Budgets and Skins
I admit I’m becoming increasingly wary of talking about elaborate and expensive skincare. I know, you are all perfectly capable of making up your own minds regarding if and what kind of skincare you want to use. But it’s also true that any article on this topic, no matter how well-intentioned, contributes to the overall pressure that we put on women to ‘look good’ – and spend a significant amount of money in the process.
Current Skincare Routine
I have procrastinated with posting, because during the last weeks, I had a vague feeling that I should write something feminist. I follow mostly the UK and Estonian media and both have recently been filled with stuff that reminds one why fighting for women’s and girls’ rights and contributing to patriarchy-smashing is important (for those who are not Estonian: #metoo has finally landed in earnest there with some seriously disturbing cases featuring underage girls – and boys, too).
On Pain and Other Disabilities
I woke this morning* a little past four with searing pain and horrible cramps. I used to have extremely unpleasant periods when I was younger, but they have gotten better with time and age, to the point that I hardly notice the discomfort these days (the fact that I consider the feeling of someone stabbing me with a knife from below at random moments to be an entirely acceptable thing to experience on a regular basis probably says something about the way women are conditioned in a patriarchal society, but never mind). In fact, I had forgotten it so thoroughly that I didn’t even have suitable painkillers at home when ’women’s trouble’ struck this night.
Best of 2020: Books
This was a weird reading year for many, but my reading rhythm was largely untouched by the pandemic. 2020 was final proof, if any was required, that my ability to read depends mostly on how busy I am at work.
Best of 2020: Skincare
I didn’t initially plan to talk about skincare favourites this year, as it seemed irrelevant. But then I realised that – unlike with makeup which I wore very little and didn’t really buy – skincare had in fact been an important part of 2020 for me and I believe for many others as well. And as I do actually have some new firm faves, let’s get to them.
8 Cleansers: A New Favourite and a Rant
The most frustrating times as a blogger are not the times when you don’t have anything to write about (I rarely have those moments, there’s always SOMETHING), but the days or weeks when you have things to say but no time to say them. My notes app currently looks like a graveyard of abandoned blogposts. And I feel I have written a similar introduction to many a post in the past…
Skincare During a Pandemic: Discuss
A few people have asked me for a skincare update, which I’m happy to provide. It’s interesting that while attitudes towards clothes and fashion have almost uniformly moved in the direction of “less” and “not a priority”, beauty is a more complex issue. There has obviously been some rethinking and reassessment, especially on the makeup front. But while I know a number of people who have simplified their skincare routines, I probably know more of those who have found solace in pampering or have used the teleworking situation to engage in some hard-core retinoling.
Lockdown Life: Training Like a Madwoman
A Facebook friend recently shared a Sunday Times article about middle-aged middle-class women who are hell-bent on exiting the lockdown with defined abs. I haven’t read the article for two reasons: 1) it was behind a paywall and 2) I was afraid it would hit too close to home. There is no denying I’m spending significant portions of my week strengthening my core. And I have a hunch that these ab-obsessed women do not come out of that article very well.
Lockdown Life: 6 Things To Do For Instant Fabulosity
!– wp:paragraph —
It’s funny how a small thing can derail the best-laid
plans. Actually, slash that, it’s not funny, it’s frustrating and really rather
disheartening, even if you know rationally that it’s not the end of the world (which
is plenty obvious a..