With my face skin care good and done, I want to expand my routine Down There. Got to say, the marketing gods definitely agree! I keep getting ads for Mink, an intimate skincare company “made with passion, spunk, and a little bit of mischief”. They have several products formulated especially for taking care of boobs, butt and bikini line.

Historically, women like buying affordable luxuries like red lipstick and face powder after a crisis. But after COVID-19, I bet most of us will be keeping our masks on and our lips covered. With the bottom half of their faces covered, people are choosing to play up their eyes and brows. Sales of eyeshadow palettes and other types of eye makeup have increased dramatically, according to Inquirer. They called it the “eyeliner effect”.

Since puberty I’ve had to deal with painful, cystic acne and the deep pitted scars they’d leave in their wake. It was a long journey but these days I wake up with clear skin - a vast improvement from just a few years ago. I still have some scars but they’re on their way out. I even stopped wearing foundation recently!

The difference between then and now was a PCOS diagnosis, and learning to avoid foods that trigger it.

There’s so much happening in the world that it feels like the sixth year of 2020 rather than the sixth month. We all have our own ways of coping. The way I do it is by remembering that I still have power. I can’t control what goes on externally but I have a choice on how it affects me and what I’m going to do about it.

From a beauty perspective, one of the ways I exercise choice is through my purchases. Through everything that happened this year, let’s not forget that SMEs are the hardest hit businesses. We all know and love Ellana, Colourette, Pink Sugar and our own In Her Element but here’s a list of local small businesses with products that you might have overlooked!