morning
Exercise Update and My Gym Morning Skincare Routine
It’s been 10 months since I started working out properly, with a personal trainer. I don’t do anything spectacular – just resistance training twice a week, with a little bit of cardio thrown in. I’ve been consistent, however, and actually train more often no..
Morning of War, Evening of Silk
It is one of those times when work is taking over – it was the case the past week and will also be the case for the next. I knew it was coming (EU economic governance has a rather predictable calendar, so I usually know when I will be completely overwhelmed ..
My Morning “Routine”
Some weeks ago, a lovely reader asked for a post on my morning routine. I almost chocked on my metaphorical tea, as anyone who knows me also knows that I’m not big on mornings nor routines. But if readers inquire, one has to oblige!
Yesterday, I got up 7…
Vilhelm Parfumerie Morning Chess
For years, I’ve complained about the backwardness of the perfume industry. The mainstream was – and still is – full of identikit scents, sexist marketing, stereotypes and flankers. Niche brands tend to do better on these fronts, but have their own issues: in..
6 Morning Skincare Steps
If you read the post on my evening skincare routine, this is going to sound familiar. The general logic of how and what I use is the same, but the mornings are a bit lighter on product and somewhat faster. Then again, there is make-up on top of that, so alto..
The Rooster House: A Deeply Personal Love Letter to Ukraine
On the night of 30 October, I was sitting alone in a small train cabin somewhere between Przemysl and Kyiv. It had been about a week since Russia had started to strategically target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, to cause maximum suffering as the winter was approaching. Every morning, there was worse news – 20% of infrastructure damaged. Then 30%. Then 40%. The bombs and drones caused damage faster than Ukrainians could repair it, despite performing miracles with scarce resources while being in constant, mortal danger.
Things I Want: 2023 Edition
It’s this time of the year again where I think about things I want, without worrying too much about whether I can realistically buy them. As I kept adding things, the list is now rather long. I will therefore stop the introduction here and promptly proceed to present the things I want.
Best of 2021: Skincare
I am happy to report that in general, I have been buying fewer things. Well, with the notable exception of books – things seem to be getting worse on that front. But otherwise, there has been progress. I still have a soft spot for skincare, however, and tried quite a few things this year, some of which were very good. So here they are, in a vague order of application.
A Korean Skincare Update
Sometimes I buy beauty stuff even if I don’t need it, or just out of curiosity or because I want to cheer myself up. I know I shouldn’t do that – it’s evidence that I’m trying to fill an internal void with meaningless objects, which in turn is all the result of a capitalist conspiracy to keep me unhappy and coming back from more. This is, broadly speaking, true. If I were a fully content, balanced, worthy individual, I could probably live without a ‘wardrobe of cleansers’. But sometimes I think that buying that new cleanser is a better option than despairing and berating myself over the fact that I haven’t yet reached complete enlightenment and still crave stuff. I mean – it’s just skincare. It could be drugs!
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.