BEAUTY

1. Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask ($45)- I got this mask for Christmas and I’m absolutely obsessed. I use this mask on Exfoliation Thursdays (my mid-week skincare holiday lol) after I exfoliate and use my serums. It’s pretty slimy right out of the jar and you don’t have to use very much product to coat your face. The texture reminds me of a time I extracted DNA from strawberries for a project in middle school. I wake up with super clear glowing skin after I use this mask! It also smells like watermelon rind in a good way.

2. The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 Serum ($7)- This serum has legit changed my skin. I have very dry skin and I live in the desert so hydrating products are a must for me. When I started using it, I noticed a huge decrease in breakouts and blackheads. Most people think that oily skin is the only cause of breakouts, but dry skin can produce more oils when its very dry that can cause breakouts. Also, check out that price! This is a very popular product so unfortunately stores can run out of stock quickly. I’ve bought mine from Beautylish and Decim (the actual company who makes The Ordinary products), but you can also buy it at Sephora and Amazon.

3. Glossier Balm Dotcalm ($12)- I`m so hooked on these. I have one in the mint flavor and another in birthday cake. I keep the mint one in my bathroom because I feel like a mint goddess when I put this on after I brush my teeth. These are soooo moisturizing and the product lasts a really long time on your lips so you don’t have to reapply. I play oboe (a woodwind instrument) and after rehearsals that last for hours, my lips are always really chapped and gross. It’s so nice to have balm dotcalm on me so I don’t get painful cracks or flakey lips, bleh.

4. Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream ($5)- I`m not going to lie, I found out about this hand cream through my Nana. She used this hand cream everyday and had very few age spots on her hands. As a kid, my mom used to say I had “alligator hands” because my hands were so dry in the winter, the skin on my knuckles would crack and bleed. Every night, we would smear Aquaphor on my hands and I hated it because it was so greasy. This hand cream absorbs very quickly and doesn’t feel remotely greasy. I only have to put this on once at night and I have no problems with dry hands even though I constantly wash my hands through the day. I have tried expensive hand creams before and I still like this $5 one better.

5. Boie USA Body Scrubber ($8)- Yes I’ve become so obsessed with skincare that I have tried to take more care in the products I choose to use on my body. I used to use loofahs, but I started reading about how much bacteria they build inside them after you shower. You`re also supposed to replace them every three months and they are not recyclable. This scrubber is recyclable and more hygenic because it can fully dry hanging to the wall as opposed to building up bacteria. Soap doesn’t get as foamy as it would on a loofah, but I can deal with it if the scrubber is better for the Earth. The rubber bristles also feel very nice on the skin.

PRODUCTS I DIDN`T LIKE

1. Boscia Exfoliating Peel Gel ($34)- This product is primarily a chemical exfoliant with a very small amount of grainy material (mechanical exfoliant). I really wanted to like this product because I like how my skin looks after I use it, but almost every time I use it, the mechanical exfoliant grain sticks to parts of my face (mostly the chin and neck area). It’s almost impossible to get the grain off without excessive scratching or rubbing which is ultimately not good for the skin. If I`m paying good money for a product, it better work perfectly and this was not the case with this product.

ENTERTAINMENT

1. Gaga: Five Foot Two (Netflix)- I don’t really watch a lot of documentaries, but I decided to check this one out because I was completely wowed with Lady Gaga when I saw A Star is Born. The documentary gives you an insight on the struggle artists face constantly being in the spotlight and primarily how much raw passion Lady Gaga has for her work. Seeing an unglamorous view of her life and her perfectionistic goals made me realize that she’s not just musically talented, she is truly an artist.

2. Westworld (HBO)- This show is about an amusement park type place where guests can go fulfill their deepest desires with artificial intelligent robots in a western setting. Big surprise, the robots begin to rebel against the system. This show is good from an action/adventure standpoint, but it also presents complex questions about what consciousness is and what makes us human. I think as real world scientists begin creating artificial intelligence its important to have conversations about what a reality with artificial intelligence would be like.