When you’re just waking up, it’s easy to drag your feet and want to get right back into bed. That’s why I created a winter wake-up self-care routine that actually inspires me to get moving in the morning. Whether you incorporate all of these tips or just dabble in one, you will start your day feeling pampered and ready to tackle what’s ahead. Promise!

Start Oil Pulling.

There are countless studies that tout the overall health benefits of oil pulling – an age-old remedy rooted in Ayurvedic medicine that uses natural substances to clean and detoxify tea and gums. GuruNanda’s Oil Pulling Mouthwash takes all of the guesswork out of which oils to use and makes it super easy to incorporate this natural wellness exercise into an everyday routine. Another result? Whiter teeth. I’ll take it!

Use a facial cleansing brush.

Brushes aren’t just for hair and teeth. With this two-speed rotating cleansing brush, you can effortlessly exfoliate dead and dull skin, leaving your skin looking vibrant and fresh all year round. Bring on that summer glow all year round!

Give yourself a good blowout.

Who doesn’t love a good blowout? Get similar salon results at home by purchasing a great hairdryer. There are so many good options out there that help protect your hair from heat damage and create less frizz for those of us for whom humid weather is enemy number one. It’s an absolute must-have in your beauty tool kit.

Indulge in a great tea.

Who doesn’t want to indulge, guilt-free? I know I do! That’s why I was so excited to discover Pinky Up’s line of dessert tea. With organic flavors, you might even trick yourself into thinking you’re soothing your soul with a delicious red velvet cake. Go ahead and brew it right in Pinky Up’s gorgeous ceramic and gold mug, leaving you feeling indulged from the inside out.

Get an essential oil diffuser.

It’s important to awaken all of your senses in a soothing and calm way when you start your day. This diffuser aromatically delivers pure essential oils to your space, with many “mood-enhancing” options. One of my favorites is a citrus oil that instantly brightens my morning.

Nikita Chopra is a beauty and lifestyle expert who inspires readers to discover and celebrate their own inner beauty. Read more about Nitika at nikitachopra.com.

Photography by Constance Mariena

This story originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2018 issue of The Inspired Home Journal, titled “Winter Wake Up.”

Looking for more self-care tips?

• How to Create Your Own Fitness Journey
• Improve Your Sleep Health By Adding These Four Things to Your Nightly Routine
• How the 80/20 Rule Can Set You Up for Self-Care Success

The post Self-Care Tips for Your Best Morning appeared first on The Inspired Home.

While everyone is in a drastically different situation right now, I want to remind you that being kind to yourself (you’re trying, you can’t do it all- so do what you need to do to reign in your stress, keep positive, work through emotions and stay healthy). You’re allowed to feel the feels and you’re also allowed to use this time to start a new project. People cope in different ways and no way is necessarily better than the other.

With that said, I’ve seen a few repeating themes pop up that you may want answered too. Remember, for the latest recommendations on COVID related information, visit resources like the CDC website and the WHO. Let’s dive in.

“I still want to make sustainable choices in my grocery shopping, but how do I make sure my reusable bags and groceries are clean and sanitized?”

As someone who believes making sustainable choices is extremely important, I hear where you’re coming from. I always have my reusable bags with me. While many people need to be reminded to wash their reusable bags in normal circumstances, I must highlight the importance of washing your reusable bags EVERY TIME now.

You’ll want to wash your bag in the highest temperature allowed for the item with soap. If your bag has a wipeable surface (the ones I use do), use a sanitizing solution to wipe the inside. Remember also to disinfect the surfaces the bag comes in contact with once inside your home and WASH YOUR HANDS after.

It’s also okay to not feel comfortable using a reusable bag now too. That’s part of caring for your mental health. If your region is experiencing a spike in cases, know it’s okay to use a store bag right now and dispose of it responsibly. In fact, some localities have temporarily banned the use of reusable bags altogether.

When it comes to groceries themselves, follow all standard food safety protocols, even more truly than you maybe did previously. Wash the exteriors of melons or loose fruits or veggies that may have been handled in the store before cutting into it. This is something you should be doing anyway! Continue to follow all food safety temperature and storage protocols.

And for your sustainability conscience, remember that you’re likely making different choices in your day to day that help offset disposable choices you may be forced to make right now. If you’re working from home, that’s zero driving in comparison to normal.

“I’m overwhelmed with making sure everyone is fed healthy meals and snacks, especially with working from home and limited outings. Lately, I’ve been lenient, allowing lots of more ‘junk foods’. How can I get my family involved but make sure options are nutritious?

If you have a family with you at home right now, daily tasks are more exhausting than ever. Everyone is eating at home but on top of that you’re trying to work/virtual school/keep everyone entertained/etc!!! That’s mentally exhausting. Some nights, you’re going to have pizza. Maybe twice in a row. And you know what? It’s fine. Always think about this in terms of the bigger picture. There will be days or weeks when maybe there are choices happening that you wouldn’t prefer. It’s not going to be “perfect”.

Kids, and adults, are more invested in projects and more willing to try things when they help problem solve (and you might be surprised what they come up with!). Never be afraid to ask your family for help. This doesn’t need to be a ‘sit down family meeting things are changing discussion’ in fact, that might make everyone feel like things have been ‘wrong or bad’. When eating dinner or maybe going on a family walk, ask everyone what kinds of meals they’d look forward to eating and brainstorm together. If you’re only getting shout out suggestions that sound like a standard kid’s restaurant menu (you know the ones that don’t give kids any credit and only make beige foods) have an ‘either-or’ conversation to add veggies to the mix. “Would you eat that with green beans or would you eat that with zucchini?”

Repeats aren’t bad, so once you find a family favorite, consider making it a project with the kids (or your spouse) to make a family cookbook during this time. Creating a family “menu” reduces decision fatigue.

Still, lacking inspiration? Sometimes the solution is as simple as buying a new sauce or dressing for veggies or proteins. You don’t have to make everything from scratch! While making dressings or sauces at home reduces levels of sodium and sugar as well as cost, sometimes convenience reigns supreme.

“I’m cooking a lot at home still and my family still likes basic meat entrees instead of plant-based dinners. When I cook meat, how do I make sure my dish is healthier?”

While it’s a healthier choice to use meat as more of a ‘topping’ or ‘side’ to a base of vegetables, you can’t force people into eating the way you want. (No one wants a quarantine fight over ribs).

If you’re cooking a cut of meat that’s a bit higher in fat, use the drippings or liquid from the cooking process and separate the fat to make a sauce or dressing. Take the sauce and drizzle it over sheet pan roasted veggies and make that a large side! If you’ve got a family of carnivores, taking the umami flavoring from cooking the meat (and removing the fat) will help add vitamins and minerals and fiber to the mix.

Most people won’t opt in on plain veggies, so think of ways to take the flavors they love and work them into veggies.

The post A Dietitian Answers All of Your Pandemic Wellness Questions appeared first on The Inspired Home.

Your best sleep comes from a practiced routine, whether is one step or ten! These four steps have helped me find a place of zen before it’s lights out!

Lather up.

Putting on lotion gives me peace of mind before I hit the hay. Lathering up before bed creates softer, more hydrated skin the next day! Go to bed feeling refreshed and wake up fresh!

This Mother Nature body lotion is my go-to product at night! It’s filled with lavender, bergamot, and chamomile along with coconut oil to leave your skin feeling soft, not greasy! The scent is fresh and relaxing and creates a sense of calmness at first application! Add to your arms, legs, and décolletage each night!

Spritz your pillow.

Sometimes we all need a jumpstart and a natural pillow spray can be the key that revs that engine! A calming fragrance can help you to enjoy a deeper, more restful sleep! This Relaxus Aromatherapy Sleep Pillow Spray is made of a refreshing and spiritual blend of soothing pure essential oils to help you relax and get a good night’s rest! Spritz 3 to 4 times on your pillow/linens, lay back, and enjoy the relaxing scent as you take your deep breaths into your slumber!

Find the perfect pillow.

The MyPillow Premium is a great pillow that allows for adjusting when and where needed… and comfortably. MyPillow prevents head, neck, and shoulder pains that are common when you wake up. The interlocking filling gives your neck the support it needs so that you can continue through your REM sleep with every turn.

Finding the perfect pillow can be such a struggle — like finding the ONE pillow that checks all your sleeping boxes! The right pillow helps you relax and allows your body to melt in to the bed so that you can find that deep slumber. If not, you are tossing, turning and fluffing all night!

Get a weighted blanket.

Adding the right blanket to the mix is a strong element to your sleep recipe! Weighted blankets are therapeutic blankets that mimic extra weight as part of a therapeutic technique called “deep pressure stimulation”. The pressure helps relax your nervous system and can help lessen, but not limited to, bedtime anxiety.

This Sutton Home Fashions weighted blanket is designed to help relieve stress and anxiety to help you get a good night’s sleep — the blanket feels like a gentle hug! Not to mention, you can snuggle up with this weighted blanket to keep you warm and cozy during those colder months!

Looking for a better nights sleep?

• Sumptuous & Simple Ways To Get Much More Rejuvenating Sleep!
• 8 Simple Ways to Upgrade Your Bedtime Routine For More Rejuvenating Sleep
• Supercharge Your Bedtime Beauty Routine

The post Improve Your Sleep Health By Adding These Four Things to Your Nightly Routine appeared first on The Inspired Home.

Just like anything else, breaks are a good thing! If you find yourself on social media multiple times a day for work or just for leisure, taking a break will do you some good.

But how exactly do you take a social media break? And even when you decide to take a social media break, what else are you supposed to do?

Taking a social media break does not have to be dramatic. You don’t need to go online and tell everyone you are leaving and write a long dramatic goodbye. Just leave. Yep. I’ve found that for the most part, if you just take a break, people will catch on. You can also delete the apps or distractions off your phone and Facebook will let you temporarily deactivate your account so you aren’t tempted to jump back on.

Okay, so you’ve taken the break. Now, what do you do with all that free time? I’m glad you asked! Your social media break is the perfect time to practice things like mindfulness, setting goals, moving more, and getting organized.

Plan.

Social media is a great way to get inspired. But now that you are on a break, you have the opportunity to get inspired somewhere else. Visit some museums, a local market, travel to a different state, etc. Do something that gets you motivated and inspired to set some goals!

During my breaks, I’m always ready to do some planning for family and for my blog. So having a pen, paper, and calendar is a must. I love this planner and journal by See Jane Work! It’s the perfect way to stay organized and keep all your thoughts in one spot.

Read.

Social media can end up sucking hours of your time and not really produce any real progress. On your break, pick up a favorite book that you have been waiting to start or finish. Reading in a cozy corner of your room or apartment can give you all the feels. To really boost the mood, set up a diffuser.

Listen to a podcast.

I love podcasts! I listen to mostly educational and design ones along with wellness. Scroll through some and once you land on a favorite, put on a pair of headphones and listen to them at your desk, while you’re working out, or at night right before bed.

Try a new recipe.

More time on your hands means being more thoughtful about everything. Right now is a great time to make a new healthy recipe that you can add to your weekly meal plan. I like to look for things that are easy to make. This Grilled Cilantro Chicken recipe from my blog is a favorite right now! It’s delicious and can be made on the weeknight or weekend. It will definitely make its way into your monthly menu.

Purge and organize.

Pick an area in your home that needs to be decluttered and tackle it! Invest in a few different pieces like these from neatfreak! to keep things organized!

This closet organizer is great for your linens. It has drawers for pillowcases and shams and shelves for blankets and duvets and is so easy to put together.

The under the bed storage bag gives you extra storage that is tucked away out of sight and great for small spaces.

Are you ready for a social media break? What will be first on your list of things to do?

The post What to Do During Your Social Media Break appeared first on The Inspired Home.

I tried to look at it from a different vantage point. I set two goals — one long term and one short term. The short term goals allowed me to cherish mini-wins and keep me motivated towards my long term goal.

Today I’m going to share a few easy ways to help you create your own fitness journey with three approachable steps.

Plan.

There is nothing better than a killer planner to help kick start your goals. I think it’s safe to say that for everyone, we all like to visualize a plan so that we can fully understand it’s scope, digest it and map out our next steps. Alleviate your weekly stress of finding time to squeeze in a workout, by dedicating 30 minutes each week to creating your weekly plan, and only your weekly plan. A seven-day plan allows you to build something more achievable and attainable — it affords you the opportunity to have those mini wins in the short term towards the long term.

RELATED: How the 80/20 Rule Can Set You Up for Self-Care Success

Pick one day (I use Sundays) and try mapping out your entire week from your work schedule, appointments, social gatherings, travel, etc. Once you have your large commitment items added to your week, you can start to see your availabilities throughout the week to start scheduling your workouts.

This is the first step in creating a proactive program for yourself. Start by setting your weekly goals (e.g. based on my schedule this week, my goal is three workouts). Once you have determined your weekly goal, add meeting invites to your calendar, or if you are a paper calendar person, add them in ink!

Execute.

Now that you have your weekly goals set, think through how you are going to execute that goal. What can you do to hold yourself accountable for the goal you set? If your goal was three workouts and you prefer to workout at home, map out what those three workouts will look like! If you are someone who finds motivation from an instructor, sign up for three classes and get them booked as soon as they are live!

There are also so many streaming apps that are available to help you so that you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your own home from Sweat, Obe Fitness and The Sculpt Society.

With minimal gym equipment like a mat, balancing ball and jump rope, you can execute your weekly workouts through your phone or computer! What I love most about a few of those streaming services, is that they are mainly 30 min MAX workouts, making them easier to apply to your weekly schedule.

Recover.

Personally, I find this next step to be the hardest of the three. Finding time to plan my workouts and act on them is one thing, taking more time from my week to recover, is another. BUT you don’t realize how important it is to you and your journey until you do it! Recovery is as simple as taking a bath in the evening with an herbal soak or adding pain-relieving lotion to areas of pain post-workout.

Recently I discovered a tool to help me in my recovery process that also allows me to multi-task. The Myobuddy Massager Pro is the perfect tool to use to alleviate stress from your body while you are watching a show! The Myobuddy provides instant relief to the areas that need it so that you can continue to build and grow because you can’t have power without recovery. It’s a mini win for me and my weekly goals to add this to my overall regiment.

The post How to Create Your Own Fitness Journey appeared first on The Inspired Home.

This is not a piece on coping or attitude or dealing with emotions that hold an underlying place in fear or worry. This is a piece on what you can do with yourself to keep busy and productive and look forward to something. In essence… what to do when it’s winter and you’re waiting for spring… but emotionally.

As a health professional, I can’t move forward without touching on COVID-19 and your wellbeing briefly. If you are struggling emotionally, seek help. Reach out to friends and family and check with your doctor or wellness center to see if virtual counseling is available. There are also resources like Talkspace, an online therapy company. It’s okay to not feel okay and to work through those emotions.

But for those seeking actionable tasks that feel refreshing, here’s what you can do.

Bring the outdoors in.

I don’t think anyone has realized until now how much we take the outdoors for granted. Whatever kind of space you have, ordering a plant to add nature inside brings all sorts of health benefits (and air purifying benefits). If you want to take it one step further, you can also grow food inside (no matter you natural light situation).

The Veritable Exky Garden is a French product that takes care of its light and water needs after you plug it in and occasionally refill the water tank.

You can purchase different seed inserts from culinary herbs to edible flowers or even strawberries. If you or even your kids need a nature-related project, especially in an apartment, this could serve as both a learning opportunity and a dose of happy.

Just make sure you have a European power converter since this company is French! If you’re not looking to grow anything inside just yet, and you’re lucky enough to have a yard, get to planning your outdoor garden. Use Pinterest, garden websites, watch Monty Don on Netflix (a British garden expert) and start dreaming.

Tackle an indoor project that’s been driving you crazy.

Our dirty little secret in our house was our spice drawer. You can see in the before pictures, we have LOTS of spices (we essentially cook for a living so it kind of makes sense). The mismatched sizes drove me crazy and this didn’t give me the opportunity to just buy refills to decant as needed. The labels…ugh! You can see in the photo how mentally distracting it is to look inside.

But these glass and stainless steel jars (with shaker tops!) Are sleek and perfect and come with labels you can write on the bottom. *Sparks joy* and makes cooking even more relaxing than it already is for me.

Pull out your warmer weather wardrobe pieces.

Put your favorite on display. I know there may be a handbag or dress or sweater you love but feel like you can’t use around the house right now in ‘no-go’ socializing mode. But if it makes you happy, pull it out and put it on your dresser or a hanger like a boutique. You can appreciate the beauty and memories of things you have, regardless of where you’re going or not going.

If you live in a climate where it’s still brisk, put in some spring wardrobe and pull out the coldest weather clothes to store in storage bins in the meantime. This will give you more space to see what you truly need to see as you get ready each morning.

Swap what you see daily.

Be it bedding, flatware, glasses or dishtowels, the products you use every day can be seasonal too. It makes each interaction with a daily item more enjoyable. I have beautiful, heavy and green glasses in my kitchen for fall and winter, but in spring I want things to feel crisp and light.

So I swap out my drinking glasses and store them like I do my cold vs warm-weather wardrobe. Same with flatware. It takes up about a shoe box’s worth of space to swap them out and it brings a small moment of beauty and joy to everyday dining.

The post How to Beat the Indoor Blues appeared first on The Inspired Home.

On the eve of 2020, I made a pact to myself, that instead of making resolutions, I set goals to ensure that I make the right choices and look to spend more time on myself. In today’s post, I am sharing how I’m keeping myself accountable in these New Years’ goals.

Make the Right Choices For You

Instead of setting unrealistic goals when it came to food achievements and diets, I wanted to focus on making the right choices and that meant nothing more than going back to the basics. Thinking about foods with simple ingredients and ingredients I can pronounce.

Influenced by Sarah Adler, author of Simply Real Health, this year I’m focusing on understanding what “healthy food” actually means and how I can apply it to my everyday. I’ve started to listen to my body, understand what it likes and what it doesn’t like, instead of trying to think I know better than it.

To start the process, I focused on recipes that were simple and packed with ingredients that were going to serve as a source of energy vs. combat me. From there, I made the conscious effort to start listening to what my body was telling me. Cooking and eating should be something we all enjoy and not feel like a daunting task. While I understand that this journey and process will take some time, starting the year with two steps in the right direction is all I need.

Spend More Time in Recovery Mode

About two years ago I changed my perspective on working out and being in the gym. I started a program that I truly fell in love with and have never felt stronger. During that process, what I’ve neglected to do was spend more time in recovery mode. Who here skips stretching after a workout? Me!!

Well, I learned the hard way, that your recovery is part of the process. In fact, it’s an essential part of the process. So that I can grow to an even stronger place in my personal fitness journey, this year I am scheduling more time for recovery sessions no matter how short or long. Each week, just like I do with my workouts, I’ll be scheduling time in my calendar for recovery sessions starting with 10 minutes sessions twice a week.

Once a week, I have a date with myself, the bath and some bath bombs! Taking that 10 minutes and soaking my muscles will help soothe any body aches and help the restoring process following a workout.

In addition to that, I’ll schedule a time for heat therapy with an herbed heat pack or a Thai massage ball.

The heat pack helps promote blood flow and helps any tight muscles to relax. This heat pack fragrance is a 2-for-1 allowing your muscles to relax while enjoying the scent of the mixed herbs in the pack. It’s heat therapy and herbed therapy in one!

Make the Conscious Effort

One of my final resolutions is my personal impact on the issue of waste and recycling. While that’s a somewhat large and open-ended statement, I chose to focus it on my personal impact on recycling, composting and beyond. All of those things used to sound like chores and extremely consuming tasks, when in fact, they aren’t.

This year I’m taking the time to be more thoughtful and conscious of my waste — we all should be. For me, the process started with something as simple as reusable straws, and not just using them in my own home. Taking them with me to work, when I travel, music festivals, etc — it’s not hard to do and that already is an improvement. This process of setting goals is all about setting short term goals for the long term gain!

The post How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions Going Strong appeared first on The Inspired Home.

To help kick-start your holiday planning, learn how to create three easy, low-maintenance hairstyles to get you ready for the holiday party season! While I have short hair, all of these styles can be easily replicated for any length of hair. By reading this how-to hairstyling guide, you’ll learn step-by-step how to easily put together chic, effortless looks with ease.

Family Holiday Gathering: Tossed Hair with Pins

What I love most about this hairstyle is that it only requires a few steps to create, yet looks extremely chic! You can use any type of bobby pin to create this look, but an embellished pin really ties back to the holiday theme!

To achieve this curl, I used the Conair InfinitiPRO 1-inch Rainbow Titanium Curling Iron. The smaller the barrel, the tighter the curl you’ll get. With the pins, I didn’t want to over curl my hair but curl a few pieces to give it that tossed, texturized look.

Start adding the pins to one side of your head and create a pattern or line work with the pins. Start by placing your middle pin, and then add to the front and back to achieve your full design. To finish the look off, spray your hair with some texture spray to create depth and grip in your hair!

Friend Holiday Party: Half Ponytail with Ribbon

Looking for something a little more playful and less trendy? When celebrating the holidays with your friends, go for something a little more playful, because you can! Using the same Conair curling iron, grab small sections and give each area a light beachy curl! You can achieve this by starting at the scalp and wrapping the hair around the barrel but leaving about 1 inch of your ends out. This helps achieve that effortless beachy curl!

Once your hair is curled, divide the sections to create your half ponytail. Secure the top half of your hair in a hair tie and pull it tight! Use a fun and festive ribbon to disguise the hair tie; I used this velvet ribbon that I LOVE using for gift wrapping! It’s a holiday fabric that is multi-functional! Finish your look off with some texture spray by spraying up from your ends to finish off those curls!

Holiday Work Party: Slick Bob

When it comes to work holiday parties, I tend to air on the side of conservative in all areas. It’s fine to stand out at a holiday party but do it for the right reasons. A slicked back look is something that is easy to create but can give your look the elevated element it needed, all while still giving you holiday glam. Additionally, the simple hairstyle allows you to get more playful with your makeup such as incorporating a bold lip!

To start, I used a hair dryer to straighten any flyaways. You can do this by bringing the hair dryer to the top of your head by your part and pointing it down on an angle and combing it straight using the Conair Tangle Pro Brush. This helps get rid of those pesky flyaways and creates a nice foundation for before you start to flatiron.

To achieve this look, I used the 1-inch Rainbow Titanium Flatiron InfinitiPRO by Conair. The technology in the flat iron helps protect against heat damage and controls frizz to create a smooth, shiny look! Let’s not forget that we need to protect our hair in the process!

After you have completed drying, grab the flat iron and start picking up small sections with your brush and following through with the flatiron for that shiny effect on your hair! Finally, tuck your hair behind your ear and top off with a good holding spray to keep those flyaways at bay!

The post Simple Holiday Hairstyles for Every Occasion appeared first on The Inspired Home.

Yes, it’s hard to say goodbye to summer, but sometimes it’s even harder to say goodbye to that freshly bronzed skin! Well, you don’t need summer to continue your summer glow! By following a few quick and easy steps, you can keep that fresh bronzed look all year long!

Step 1: Exfoliate

Don’t overthink your steps when planning to exfoliate. Sure, you can get all the products in the world, but sometimes less is more when you are treating your skin! Why not take a natural approach to exfoliating your body this season with an exfoliating natural loofah? The fibers from the natural loofah help to cleanse and revitalize your skin in just one step, and since you are already in the shower, it makes the step that much easier!

If you are someone looking for a gentler exfoliant, try a bamboo charcoal infused body sponge. The charcoal helps to control oils while giving your skin that natural glow, all while gently exfoliating the impurities away!

When it comes to your face, it’s important to use something that will get the job done, but in a delicate way. Pretika’s exfoliating facial brush is the most productive product for the job! The brush acts as a microdermabrasion when cleaning your skin and removing all the dirt, oil, and dead skin that causes clogged pores and more. The brush also prepares your skin to better absorb skin treatment such as moisturizer and serums!

Step 2: Moisturize

Now that your skin has been prepped and it receptive to products and treatments, it’s time to moisturize to help protect that new layer of skin! Grandma’s Secret Miracle Moisturizer is a clean all-natural product that helps nourish, moisturize and protect your skin from dryness! Especially during a transitional weather period, it’s important to use a heavier moisturizer to protect your skin from the dry, cold air! If you also have anything coconut based in your house, that is a great alternative to an all-natural moisturizing solution!

Step 3: Bronze

Now onto the fun part! Who doesn’t love a little summer glow in the fall, and maybe into the winter! Now that our skin is prepper and carrying that natural glow from the first two steps, it’s time to enhance that glow with some bronzing products! Sticking with our all-natural theme, I’ve selected products from JOAH to help with the third step. JOAH is a K-Beauty brand that takes pride in their quality ingredients and ground-breaking formulas!

Before bronzing, you’ll need to prime your skin. Priming is crucial in this process as it’s what the make-up grips to all day long! To enhance that glow, I’m using the JOAH Glow Activator Radiance Primer — this product needs no introduction or explanation. It just works!

Next I’m going to layer their Truly Yours BB Cream to even out my skin tone. It’s important to always work with an even complexion.

Next, we BRONZE! Now the word “contouring” can mean many things and it can scare a lot of people off. Don’t run away just yet. JOAH’s Be My Everything Powder Contour makes it easy to contour at home without overdoing it! Brush the contour along your cheekbones, jawline and along the sides of your nose. Blend the product in and you’re done. There is no harm in being conservative on your first try!

To brighten the cheeks, I like uses their Blush and Bronze palette — you can swipe your brush across both colors to get a warm pink that you can dab on your cheeks! To truly bring the glow home, for the final step, lightly add some highlighter to your cheekbones, cupids bow and brow bones for the finishing touch on your glow!

Be Inspired By More Fall Tips

Create a Beautiful Fall Themed Porch

Convert Your Patio to a Fall Oasis

Fall Bucket List Ideas

The post Fall Skincare Tips to Keep That Summer Glow appeared first on The Inspired Home.

The 80/20 rule,
or the Pareto Principle, is a more practical way of introducing new habits into your lifestyle without over restricting things you love. The principle teaches us that 20 percent of our focus delivers
80 percent of the results.

Essentially, it reminds us that we need to prioritize our limited time on
what is most important.

The 80/20 rule allows you to give yourself small indulgences, so that you aren’t living in a state of
constant deprivation. The idea is to unwaveringly honor your commitment to big changes, while providing room to ease into your set goals and overall wellness plan.

Instead of thinking, “I’m going to
lose 15 pounds in the next three months,” instead say, “I’m going to increase my workout by one minute each day.” Racking up mini-wins will keep you motivated, and it has been proven that the act of
crossing an item off your to-do list releases dopamine in your brain—it literally makes you happier.

Here are six ways to help you create a balanced self-care routine utilizing the 80/20 rule.

Proactive Scheduling

Uncertainty is hard to live with.
Trying to determine the time
commitment of a particular activity or how long will it take to
achieve a goal can throw off the
best of intentions when it comes
to developing a wellness plan.
Taking the time to map out your
self-care routine at the beginning of each week will take the
guesswork, and the stress, out
of your days. Spend one hour on
Sunday mapping out the week
ahead by scheduling your exercise, self-care, and meal plans in
a planner for the week. By working in seven-day increments, you
allow yourself to experience the
success of mini-wins. Proactively
thinking through your week
ahead will help you to stick to
your plans and ignore less important distractions that come
up mid-week.

Fitness at Home

Committing to your fitness
goals can be a daunting task, so it’s important to develop
a system that sets you up for
success. If having to travel to a gym is going to prevent you
from working out, there are
many at-home programs that
can provide the same benefits.
Start by purchasing a yoga mat
and weights and setting up a
dedicated workout space in your
home. By relocating your workouts to a place that is convenient for you, you are boosting
your chances of committing to
your plan.

Go Clean with Beauty

The “go clean” movement has
taken the beauty industry by
storm over the last year, and it’s
hard to ignore the long-term
benefits of these products. Completely overhauling your beauty
cabinet is not always practical
(or financially possible) but it’s
something you can work toward
over a period of time. Start by
determining what is an achievable change for you in your
beauty routine, and what will be most impactful. For me, it’s
a daily moisturizer, rather than
an infrequently used eyeliner
pencil. I love knowing that this
one change is making my skin
healthier on a daily basis.

Burning the Midnight Oil

Essential oils have been a
favored holistic approach in
healing for many years and their
benefits are vast. Incorporating
essential oils into your routine
doesn’t take up a lot of time, and
delivers noticeable benefits. If
you are trying to improve the
quality of your sleep, try diffusing lavender at night. The easy
setup helps create hours of a
sleep-conducive environment.

Friends and Family

The 80/20 rule can also be
applied to how you spend your
time communicating with
friends and family. Over the
course of the day, you may
spend hours sending countless “haha” texts and memes to friends. While connecting
frequently is important, we tend
to sacrifice depth of connection
for quantity. Instead, try making
one phone call or FaceTiming
versus sending texts—the texts
are just filling time and not
necessarily helping to build
stronger connections.

Working from Home

Working remotely is becoming
a common trend where people
are given the autonomy to
work from the comfort of their
own home. As someone who
works remotely, I have often
found myself distracted with
my looming “at-home to-do
list” of laundry and cleaning,
and therefore haven’t been as productive at work as I’d
like. My solution? I carved
out a dedicated work space in
my home that was not only
inviting, but also fostered
productivity. I also designated
certain hours of the day as
“professional” time, helping
me to mentally block out my
domestic to-do list. Compartmentalizing space and time
offers self-imposed rules that
help govern the day.

The post How the 80/20 Rule Can Set You Up for Self-Care Success appeared first on The Inspired Home.