beauty is everything to me. c’est les petits choses, the little things.

when i lived in New York, before and during the pandemic, beauty is what kept me going and i don’t mean aesthetics. i truly mean the little details about people, from casually eavesdropping on a customer’s order at the Norwegian hall to someone’s gait.

as i’m getting older, i’ve accepted that a makeup-less face is just as incomplete without spending those extra moments to prepare myself to face the world. these days i’ve curated my favorite way to everyday beauty…

My eternal goal is to look like I just emerged from the Sahara, tinted by both the sun and the dust from the sand. I envision my face slightly darkened, bronzed really, by the sun and glowing from a month’s worth of escapades.

Sitting atop my beloved camel, I reek of jasmine essence and l’huile du olive and my face and décolletage are flushed by tawniness. I am deeply inspired, both spiritually and in terms of beauty, by the Sahara, and I like to play into this in my everyday beauty.

i am never without my olive oil; if i could bathe in it i would, but i mostly use it on my corps, after showering, and in my hair. after i finish oiling, i like to douse perfume, once on my inner forearm and two light sprays on my décolletage. one of the most fascinating aspects of parfum chemistry i’ve learned through reading is that it tends to adapt to your skin’s chemistry, creating a unique sensory experience.

after i finish avec le parfum, i apply my makeup which consists of four holy grail products: an eyebrow gel, concealer, bronzer and lipstick, applied in that order; black eyeliner on occasion. over the years, i’ve come to understand and treat beauty as a ritual of sorts, a way of adorning the person looking back at me in the mirror.

i once heard someone say that no look is complete [regardless of the outfit] without a swatch of lipstick and i’d have to agree. there are two components to understanding beauty: the actual aesthetic and the intentionality, or mindfulness, behind the practice.

when i see the person reflected back at me in the mirror, i want to adorn and become one with her. this may sound trivial, but, if you think about it, we’re constantly staring at ourselves through different mediums, from Zoom and FaceTime calls to checking our reflection in front-facing cameras. thus, i pose: Why not adorn ourselves?

in sixth grade, my science teacher once told our class that we will never be able to see our selves as is, only our reflection. so, whether it be in the name of self-care or a love for maquillage, the benefits of playing with one’s look is a worthy cause because it fosters a deeper connection to one’s essence, or the self—whether you recognize it or not—a version we will never fully know, and are only able to meet through our reflection.

anyways, i hope this helps you in your beauty journey.

love & madness,