My Summer Skincare, In A Nutshell

A short list of facials, serums, eye masks, and hydrating potions my 50+ face is thoroughly enjoying. PLUS: The free 20-minute skin treatment in NYC everyone needs to know about.

📝 A (tiny) subscriber note: I just wanted to take a minute to say THANK YOU for being here. For subscribing to A Tiny Apt., for reading, for liking, for sharing. My greatest hope is that this newsletter gives you some unexpected joy, maybe some fresh ideas/visual cues about everyday things—whether that’s our spaces, our style, or our hopes/DREAMS.

Today’s edition is about skincare, mostly because I’m in my 50s now and I’m really making an effort to do ALL the things (I don’t, but I try:). But it’s also about showing up to take care of ourselves, even when we don’t particularly want to…which, usually, in my experience, is exactly when we should. So, yeah, I just wanted to say thanks for being my family here…I’m grateful🍀. xxCb

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Last week I got the first facial I’ve had in a little over a year.

Not to oversell it, but it was epic. I mean, the facial part was great, but it was the byproduct of the whole thing being SO deeply relaxing that I had one of those rare napping gifts when you’re ever-so-gently awakened by your own snoring. Friends, I am not exaggerating when I tell you I walked out of La Prairie’s tiny facial nook on the second floor of Saks feeling like a whole new person…glowy, grounded, every dry AF crevice in my face lovingly tended to. I was also abundantly reminded of how important it is to do delicious things like this for ourselves when we can. Not just because it’s good for the skin, but because it’s good for the SOUL. In particular, that ancient part of each of us who’s running running running from one task/worry/responsibility/GOAL to the next. And all we really need at the end of the day is to fall deeply asleep on a table in the hands of a total stranger.

55 here. No makeup/extremely lubed up and rosy 2-3 minutes after exiting a facial that felt like (what I imagine) spending 10 days in Bali would feel like. Alone.

I wish I could get facials or Botox or any other treatment I probably should be getting at my age more often, but right now every spare penny I earn is earmarked for family stuff, getting this beautiful cottage finished (more on that SOON, I promise!), and endless trips to Lowe’s.

This facial was in fact a gift from attending a friend’s event with La Prairie from like…a year ago? It took me that long to book it, but if I’d known what it would feel like to have someone massaging tingly creams and tonics into my crampy jawline for 60 minutes, I would have done it a whole lot sooner. Not least of all because I am 55 now. And somehow I have managed to jam a fuck-ton of big/thorny stuff into a short span of years—things like becoming a mom at 49, building a house upstate, starting a whole new chapter in my work and my dreams…which all comes with a XXL serving of anxiety and premium jaw-clenching.

No wonder I fell asleep. Trying to make the most out of life is exhausting.

But even if I don’t get facials as often as I know I should, I do love my skin. It may not be as firm or as bouncy as it used to be, but in many ways, I’m enjoying it more. Taking baths with a scalding hot towel on my face, using a serum or a mask that actually makes a noticeable difference. Our skincare rituals are important as we get older, mostly because they end up being a tiny daily reminder to show up…not just for everyone else but for us, too. To stay hydrated! And slather lots of nice-smelling potions on our faces that make us feel loved AND lubricated. Maybe someday down the road I will consider a procedure (or two). I’m not sure yet. Right now, I’m just really into my current skincare routine. And getting facials more often (ie: as often as I can afford it:) is now part of it.

And so, after the jump, the 12-ish products I’m using lately (and liking a lot), my four favorite well-worth-the-$$ facials in NYC, plus—and this was a surprise when I discovered it accidentally—an astonishingly FREE 20-minute skincare treatment anyone can get without having to buy anything (tho I’m pretty sure they’d appreciate it if you did:).

So, let’s get into it…✨