A Teeny Pillow To Help You Sleep Better on Planes + 5 Other Things To Help Make 2020 Your Bitch

Happy 2020! It’s been a minute. Chances are you may have recently purchased something to help assist you in your New Year’s Resolutions—maybe a pretty planner, a peloton, a professional camera, or a vibrator. 

Or, if you’re like me and you haven’t thought up any resolutions for this year (I’ll admit, they’re not really my thing), I’m highlighting some of my favorite things that may be able to inspire you in your very simple (yet effective) resolutions.

1. Sleep better on planes with this (surprisingly small) travel pillow 

OstrichPillowMini_Galore

Ostrich Pillow Mini, $39.99 

I love donuts, but I do not love donut pillows. They’ve never been comfortable to me, and they seem so cumbersome to carry on the plane with you, unless you have tons of room in your personal item bag (as someone who’s always carrying a laptop, a book, a planner, and a zillion snacks; I do not). 

However, I do travel a lot, and since I’m usually on a budget or on a time crunch, I tend to take red eye flights more often than not. My go-to plane sleeping position is generally: arms crossed on the tray table, head resting on my arms—preferably with a hooded sweatshirt that I can burrow my head into. While this gets the job done, my plane-sleeping has been majorly improved since receiving the Ostrich Pillow Mini.

Basically, you insert your hand into the pillow, so you can rest your head on your hand/arm with the extra cushion. And it’s so small that it doesn’t force me to take anything out of my usually packed travel backpack. 

If you’ve got a bigger head than me, they also offer a full-size version

BUY IT HERE

2. Feel more confident at the pool with these super flattering (and nearly timeless) swimsuits

Savannah Swimsuit in Leopard worn by yours truly…$149

Shopping for swimwear has become easier, but also harder. Gone are the days when you had your go-to stores to buy swimsuits at (Pacsun and Victoria’s Secret, right?). Instead, there are tons of shops to buy swimsuits from, both online and IRL. While it’s great to have options, it also means trying a zillion suits, in a zillion sizes—some of which may be super unflattering or so trendy that they’re unwearable next summer (or unwearable at all for anything other than an Instagram photoshoot)

I recently discovered Noa Kai Swimwear on Instagram, and though I could tell they were just starting out (they only have a couple hundred followers on Instagram), their swimsuits were exactly what I was looking for.

I had enough swimsuits with ridiculous cutouts or patterns, I wanted something super flattering and relatively simple—something I could feel sexy in whether at the beach with my parents or at a Beverly Hills pool party with my friends at some old rich dude’s mansion.

The one suit that really fulfilled my simple wishes was the Valeria suit. Lower-rise, thick strapped bottoms always look better on me, as do basic triangle tops. I am also obsessing over the Savannah one-piece swimsuit I got.

The fabric is super high quality so that the suit almost feels bandage-y in that it sucks you in in all the right places. They come with removable padding that can give your boobs an extra boost too. 

And, the suits are made by women, for women. In fact, the founders of the company are a mother and daughter duo—how cute is that? They design the suits and fabric patterns together, and they specifically design the suits to be timeless.

“We appreciate the effort to pack light, consume less and experience more,” says Mari Suyama, the founder. “So, we design essential pieces for an effortless and timeless look.”

If you’re looking to stop handing over your paychecks to Forever 21 for something that’ll be out of season by next summer, here’s my recommendation for a place to start shopping small.

SHOP HERE

3. Grow your hair out faster (and healthier) by washing less, and co-washing more 

Miss Jessie’s Co-Wash, $11.99 

I stopped washing my hair every day (or every other day) towards the end of college, when my hair seemed like it refused to grow and felt super unhealthy after years of straightening it with no heat protectant. I went on a bit of a hair-health journey in 2016 that included hair vitamins, adding hair-healthy foods to my grocery list, getting an expensive trim, and using a hair-mask as a pre-wash. 

But somehow, even though I’ve been washing my hair every 3-5 days for the last few years, I never used a co-wash (just lots of dry shampoo and baseball caps). Understandably, when I finally had the chance to try Miss Jessie’s Co-Wash, my life was changed. Not only could I go longer without washing my hair—my hair looked way better in between washes than it did before. Not to mention, because I used her Creme De La Creme conditioner between washes as well, my hair was super soft, hydrated, and manageable.  

BUY IT HERE

4.  Make your office space more bearable with a cute lil’ humidifier

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Hey Dewy Portable Facial Humidifier, $39

If you asked all your closest girlfriends the worst thing about their office job, chances are 99% would say that it’s too damn cold in their office. Or at least, in the summer it’s too cold. And in the winter, somehow it’s too hot.

Do you know what all that heating and cooling can do to your skin? Not good shit. In fact, ever since I left the digital nomad life for an office job, I’ve noticed that my skin has been super dry (moving to California probably didn’t help either). 

Thankfully, the founder of Hey Dewy decided to gift me one of her adorable, portable humidifiers for my desk. Funnily enough, as soon as I started using it, my boss decided to get one too. Is my skin suddenly glow-y and supple in the middle of January? No, unfortunately, but I feel that using the humidifier at my desk every day definitely helps!

Plus, as my co-worker says, it brings some yin energy into our very yang office space. And that seems like a good thing too. 

BUY IT HERE

5. Find more time for self care with these no-mess face masks

Physicians Formula Pore Refining White Halloysite Clay Mask, $9.95

I don’t remember when, but at some point I started adding a weekly face mask to my to-do list. While I loved my go-to mask (which I wrote about here), it also always made a huge mess all over my sink and my washcloth. 

So, you can imagine how excited I was when I got my hands on these masks from Physicians Formula. They’re in a bottle that’s sort of like a lip-balm tube or a deodorant stick—you can twist the bottom to get more out, and apply it to your face directly from the stick. So there’s no mess on your hands (or your sink — since the masks are lightly colored). The bottles are also small, which makes them great for travel. The pore one is my fave.

BUY IT HERE

6. Or, find self care by making more time to love yourself (quite literally)

Tenga Iroha Tori Massager, $80

Vibrators are kinda like men— one chick’s trash is another chick’s treasure. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best metaphor, but what I’m trying to say is that one vibrator generally does not fit all. In fact, I’m not even really a big fan of vibrators to begin with (I know, I know, it’s shocking).

But do you know what I am a fan of? More women finding out what they’re into sexually on their own—and learning to pleasure themselves without the need for a partner (because good help is hard to find). I love that this Tenga vibrator is designed so ergonomically that it could pass as a coffee table sculpture from West Elm—it even comes in a little glass case. I actually left it on my coffee table for a while to see if anyone would notice, and if they did—they didn’t say anything.

BUY IT HERE

Gimme More Beauty


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