Why I’m investing in myself during self-isolation

I’m refusing to give up on my beauty routine and these five tools and techniques are getting me through.

We might be stuck at home for the foreseeable with no company but the cat, but surprisingly, my beauty routine has amped up much more than it’s calmed down.  Aside from feeling peer pressured into baking banana bread (like everyone else on mine and your Instagram Stories) and dusting off my old keyboard to learn how to play Still D.R.E., all I plan on using this time for is my beauty routine. It brings me joy and gets me out of my own head, and there is great distraction to be found in an elaborate skincare routine or an intricate smokey eye. These are the tools and techniques getting me through. 

Dry brushing

For a few years now, hanging virtuously in my shower is a tool that looks more like it belongs in a Nordic spa – a dry brush. I was once obsessed with daily dry brushing and then as life got busier, I gave up on it and banished it to the list of things that seemed like too much effort, along with eyeliner, having lunch away from my desk and regularly washing my bras. Now that we’ve had to press the reset button on life, I’ve picked dry brushing back up again. Aside from the benefits of increased blood circulation, stimulating lymph flow and silky soft skin, the reason I like it so much is that it gives you a moment to check in with yourself while waking up every nerve ending in your body. My winter skin is truly buffed off and my mind is clean again (as are my bras). 

Learning facial massage

Are you, too, hoping to emerge post-pandemic after weeks of no make-up with the skin of a toddler? Then you need to get onto practicing some facial massage. Don’t worry if you don’t have a gua sha or a jade roller, just stick two teaspoons in the fridge, put a bit of oil on your face and start from the centre of your face, moving outwards and always upwards. You’ll remove tension from your face, flush out the toxins giving you breakouts, plump up your skin, decrease puffiness, see a definite change in your facial structure and most importantly, chill yourself out.

Using the fancy plates

When your home becomes your work space, it can become pretty tricky to switch off once you get into the flow. If you’re working in between homeschooling, walking the dog and keeping in touch with friends and family, the opportunity for distraction is plentiful and feeling like you should carry on working away through all, however brief, moments of respite can be tempting. You have been forced into taking an opportunity to slow down your life, so take the chance to do it when you can. Clear away all signs of work when the work day ends and do whatever it takes to put yourself into cozy mode. For me, cozy mode starts when the good loungewear goes on. You know the fancy pyjama set you’re saving ‘for good’? Wear them. We’re not in rehearsal mode of life here. Get the fancy pyjamas on, eat your toastie on the good plates, use the expensive face mask. You deserve it.

The Dyson Corrale™ straightener

Caring for my hair

While I can very happily remain make-up free throughout my days at home, for some reason, not styling my hair is different. Messy hair feels indicative of a messy mind and due to a lack of time restrictions, I’ve had a lot of time to get styling. I’ve been getting very friendly with my new Dyson Corrale straightener™. For Saturday night’s Pub Quiz with my friends over video call, I followed this flat wave tutorial and finally learned the wizardry of how to wave my hair with a straightener. Normally, I end up with indentations throughout my hair, but thanks to the flexing manganese copper alloy plates, the Corrale™ glides right through the hair. I’ve been keeping the Dyson Corrale™ at my makeshift home desk because it can be used cordless, so I can smoothen my fuzzy bedhead ahead of video conference meetings. The best bit is I don’t need to feel guilty about not using this time to take a break from heat styling. The Corrale™ has three precise heat settings (165°C, 185°C and 210°C) plus the copper plates wrap around the hair, applying even heat and tension to all the hair strands and keeping them aligned. This means greater styling control, better results and less reliance on heat – so I can style at 20 degrees less than conventional straighteners, meaning half the damage.* Did you know that hair damage can lead to colour fade? The Dyson Corrale™ is engineered for less colour fade, allowing you to straighten at lower temperatures to help protect and preserve your colour. With salons closed it’s more important than ever that we keep hair damage to a minimum, even if we’re not willing to compromise on style. 

Make-up

Are you one of the hundreds of thousands of people that have downloaded a new video-making app over the last few days in isolation? Me too, and I am happy to report I now have a screen time of approximately 26 hours a day. As much as I am enjoying the videos of dads coochie-cooing over the dogs they once didn’t want, the working from home outfit inspiration and the pasta tutorials, the make-up influencers have me now. No gritty, glittery lipstick and a lick of blue eyeliner for these teenagers – they have grown up on online tutorials and have the skills to show it. Following my initial disastrous attempt at a tutorial on Kendall Jenner’s eyebrow shape, I did not give up on the masterful, dexterous teenager’s tutorials and have since learned how to apply the right eyeliner for my face shape, mastered a fishtail plait and learned how to draw fake freckles on my face. Were you stuck in a make-up rut pre-isolation, relying on the same trusted gold / brown eyeshadow every day? Download a new app and get experimenting. That counts as art therapy, right?

*Thermal damage measured by hair strength, when creating an equivalent hair style. Tested on flexing plates versus solid plates.

Visit here to learn more about the latest hair care technology from Dyson.  

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