SUMMER STAPLES

WRITTEN BY: MOHNA VAID

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Ever since the initiation of the WFH life, my involvement in a simplistic beauty routine has deepened which you'll notice this summer's staples are a product of. Not having to wear makeup to work has given me the space to understand what my skin and body has been asking for all along. Having the abrupt disruption in my daily routine, I now realize being wrapped in a schedule has its plus and minuses. When you're constantly on the go, it's hard to unplug from the matrix and reevaluate - and that's exactly what this pandemic presented an opportunity of; a chance to unplug.

The WFH initiation was the catalyst in pushing me to rethink what I put on my skin on a regular basis. Not to mention, my thinkpad laptop's measely 2 megapixel camera provides a natural blurring filter providing the freedom I needed to sport a concealer-only-no-foundation look. This led me to moving my cleaner beauty and natural substitutes into my daily routine rather than one off experiments I would do on evenings/weekends. The results spoke for themselves and now prioritizing organic and natural elements into my routine is more important than ever. Have a look below at the ones that made it into my summer favourites.

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I talk about the journey of fading out beauty products with ingredients I can't pronounce and moving towards a cleaner, simpler and natural routine. The more I understand human physiology, the increasingly aware I get about what goes into my body's largest organ and it's impacts. We know junk food filled with chemicals is no good for our bodies but why do we continue to apply chemical laced products topically? After all, the skin is an organ that absorbs everything that goes on it and continues into the bloodstream. Chemicals like parabens, phthalates, synthetic colors, formaldhyde and fragrances just to name a few. Repeated usage of such chemicals are linked to a host of concerns like hormone disruption allergies and possibly disease in some cases. One paper cut doesn't hurt but 1000 paper cuts will definitely do some damage. That's what our current environment feels like to me. Everywhere we turn we encounter chemicals that shouldn't be near our bodies but in small trace amounts that are supposedly are safe. Repeated exposure from a host of sources will surely add up and impact our bodies in one way or the other - whether we notice it or not.

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I recognize I don't want to go cold turkey and cut out all my favourite products that may have chemicals in them, for the sake of convenience and the mental sanity of not disrupting my entire routine. However, any chance I get to substitute what I feel is a safer and and more trustworthy option, I'm acting on it.

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The easiest entry to incorporating natural elements into my routine has been mainly through face creams and lotions. There are so many progressive options in the market (finally), some favourites of the moment that I've listed (below) and captured in this post. Lotions mainly contain water, oil and emulsifiers. Key ingredient benefiting the skin being the oils. So why not cut out the fluff and use only what I need? The oils themselves.

Instead of purchasing products that are diluted with emulsifiers and stabilizers - ingredients that my skin and body don't benefit from - I'm gravitating towards single/minimal ingredient products instead. I've found products containing a range of ingredients tend to be not as effective in comparison to those dedicated to one quality ingredient. Like BHA and AHA from Corsx instead of a serum that only partially contains BHA/AHA or Art Natural's pure rosehip oil. Knowing these type of products have high potency and are focused on the quality of that single ingredient has proven to be more effective for my skin.

The results spoke for themselves and now prioritizing organic and natural elements into my routine is more important than ever. Have a look below at the ones that made it into my summer favourites.