Self-Care Checklist: Products and Tips to Help Keep You Feeling and Looking Great

Whether you’re getting out a little more as patios and storefronts open back up or you’re still playing it safe at home, looking and feeling your best is always a great way to boost your mood.

To that end, we’ve rounded up the latest products and expert tips to help you get the most out of your daily self-care routine.

 

Your Self-Care Checklist

 

For the face, stay hydrated with Vichy Mineralizing Thermal Water. Spritz directly on to the face as needed for a skin wake-up. It also doubles as a prep for skin to take on moisturizer.

 

For the hands: Especially after all that handwashing, try Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream with soothing sesame oil and Japanese mulberry, which helps build up the skin’s protective moisture barrier.

For the hair: Supplements that encourage hair health can’t hurt and work better over a course of four to six months.

For her: Try New Nordic Hair Volume tablets, fortified with vitamins and minerals including biotin and a patented apple extract to feed the hair follicle.

 

For him: Encourage fuller hair with Viviscal Man supplements, containing marine proteins (fish and shellfish, so beware if you’re allergic), silica and vitamin C. And don’t forget that beard. Tame and condition the scruff with the help of cedarwood essential oils. Try L’Oréal Paris Men Expert BarberClub Beard and Face Oil. If you’re ready to shed the facial hair, try the line’s soap-based Brushless Shave Cream.

And for the sun and your skin try the new Pro-Derm line by Montreal dermatologist Andrée Mathieu Serrat, with 98 per cent natural ingredients.

For her: Try a double-duty product, such as Pro-Derm Facial Day Cream SPF 20 with moisturizing and soothing properties that help to firm and repair the skin.

Tip: If you don’t like the feel of sunscreen on your skin, try a loose powder, such as Laboratoire Dr. Renaud’s Loose Powder SPF 50 Broad Spectrum wand.

Expert Advice From L’Oréal Paris makeup artist Jodi Ulrichuk On Minimizing the Look of Dark Circles

 

> Apply eye cream or an eye primer that has skin-care properties.

> The order you should go in is correct, conceal and brighten. I think the less product under your eyes, the better. I often skip foundation under the eye to avoid product buildup and let the concealer do the work. Look for concealers and brighteners that contain skin-care benefits.

> Depending on the depth, a corrector is always an amazing way to prep for your concealer. Light to medium skin tones try peachy tones; and medium to dark, try dark peach to deep orangey-red tones. When applying corrector, press lightly into the skin with your finger. The eye area is so delicate – no sweeping or tugging.

Then apply a concealer in your shade just where you need it and again pressing it in with your fingers.

Tip: Having two shades of concealer is also a great way to get one to conceal and one to brighten.

Try: Age Perfect Radiant Concealer

That should be enough but if you feel it needs to be brighter, you can apply a small amount of brightening on the inside and outside corners of the eye.
And while we’re on the topic of concealer: “To camouflage deeper wrinkles, for instance, around the mouth (I like to call them smile lines instead of nasal folds),” says Urichuk, “take a concealer in a half or one shade lighter than your regular shade and apply it in the shadowed area. Blending it in with a beauty
sponge will help take away the depth of wrinkle.” A little reflectivity goes a long way.

More Feel Good Measures

 

While in the early phases of research on positivity, psychologists Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania and Christopher Peterson of the University of Michigan established these three pathways to happiness:

Feeling good: Seeking pleasurable emotions and sensations. Try Genacol Pain Relief capsules to help reduce joint pain and inflammation and improve flexibility. (painrelief.genacol.ca)

Engaging fully: Pursuing activities that engross you full-on. For decades, researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, professor of psychology at California’s Claremont Graduate University, explored people’s satisfaction in their everyday activities. He found that people report the greatest satisfaction when they are totally immersed in what they are doing – he dubbed this state of intense absorption “flow.” We suggest dusting off the jigsaw puzzles or taking up meditation.

Try: B Yoga’s Calm Meditation Cushion, which is structured to allow you to sit for longer in your pose without discomfort in the hips or knees. (byoganow.com)

Doing good: Search for meaning outside yourself.

Try: In the pursuit of staying germ-free, order a soap that gives back – Rocky Mountain Soap Company is donating $1 of all sales from its Awaken Community Soap Bar to support frontline workers in Canada. (rockymountainsoap.ca)

A version of this article appeared in the July/August 2020 issue with the headline, “Your Self-Care Checklist,” p. 61.

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