A Night of Relaxation with Sixela Skincare
‘Tis the middle of the holiday season, in the middle of a global pandemic, and ya girl is feeling the stress of it all.
As Covid cases are rising off the charts here in California, I find that my anxiety is rising with it. Lately, there’s been a strong correlation between coronavirus and my anxiety levels, and I’ve noticed that it’s taking a toll on my general well-being. I’m worried about my family and friends being safe during these times, I get anxious on the days I have to physically go into my workplace and don’t even get me started on the stress I get by seeing so many people in my county still refusing to wear masks and insist on defying our stay-at-home mandates.
Aside from Coronavirus, there are still a million thoughts buzzing around in my head at all hours. I’ve been finding myself poorly juggling so many things that I’m doing, and recognized that I need to re-prioritize my life before it starts having harsh effects on my physical health, as well as my mental health. I’m the type of person where my anxiety not only causes my mental health to suffer, but I experience real, true, physical symptoms like fatigue, migraines, irregular periods, zits, and so much more. So, it’s incredibly important for me to keep myself in check, and make a change in my life if my anxiety starts getting too out-of-hand.
This past weekend, I did just that. First of all, I rid myself of projects that I felt were completely weighing me down and were causing me way more stress than I’d like and than they should. Let this be a PSA to anyone who is reading this, it’s okay to say no! It’s okay to say no before you commit to something, and it’s okay to say no midway through something you previously agreed to. Since that’s what I did, I made sure to cover my bases, instead of dropping the project completely, because I didn’t want anyone else involved to be negatively impacted by my departure. But anyway, as soon as I did that, I felt such a huge weight lift off of my shoulders.
After doing that, I looked at everything else that was on my plate and prioritized and re-organized them to suit my needs and my schedule. That was another relieving act. And finally, I carved out some time in my Sunday evening schedule to get back in touch with myself and recalibrate my body, mind, soul, and spirit. I did all of that with the help of Sixela Skincare.
Sixela Skincare is a local, Los-Angeles based, Black, Woman-Owned skincare company that I discovered over Black Friday! One of the accounts I follow retweeted one of their posts, I checked on their site and loved what I saw! I also was able to take advantage of their Black Friday discounts, so that was an added bonus, but honestly, even if there was no discount, I would gladly pay full-price for Sixela’s products because they’re just that good.
Sunday evening, I whipped out my adorably packaged Sixela Skincare products and went to relaxation central. Sixela products all work together, so I was happy I bought the Breathe set. It comes with steps one through three, an intention candle, a crystal, and a hand-written, custom intention to read aloud when you light your candle. Because of the routine I had, I did the steps a bit out of order, but I still reaped the same benefits as you would if you follow the branded order. Here’s how my night of relaxation went.
Intention Candle w/ Crystal & Intention
I grew up Catholic, so I am no stranger to lighting candles and saying a prayer. Practicing my intentions was the same process. I dimmed the lights, lit my intention candle, held my crystal in hand, and spoke my intentions to fruition. First of all, let me just tell you how absolutely amazing the candle smelled! One whiff and I was already relaxed. Then, I was super happy with my custom intention. When you purchase the Breathe set, you’re able to choose from many different categories of intentions, and add any specific notes you’d like your intention to focus on. For my intention, I chose “Health” as you could’ve probably guessed from the intro of this blog. As I read my intention, I felt my body come at ease but also felt a little guilt coming on from realizing I haven’t been giving my body the love it deserves. That was all going to change after this night, don’t worry.
Step 3: Scrub
After I set my intentions, I skipped ahead to Step 3: Scrub. Since I planned on taking a steamy, hot shower, I figured the body scrub would be best utilized in there. Once I washed my hair and body, I applied the scrub all over my body. It had a surprisingly smooth texture, despite the grainy appearance it had. It felt so nice on my body and smelled good too. Once I rinsed it off, my skin was as smooth as a baby.
Step 2: Mask
Now that I was completely clean, it was time for a soothing facial. The mask was something, unlike anything I have ever used because it came as a powder. I’m sure that’s more common than I’m making it seem, but it was a new experience for me! I liked that it was a powder that I could mix water or apple cider vinegar into and create my own mask. Once I got it into a paste texture, smeared it on my face and let it stay on while I did my foot soak with Step 1. When I took my mask off, my skin was literally glowing! I felt so clean and clear, both body and mind!
Step 1: Detox
Ever since I played a bunch of sports in grade school, I’ve been a constant subscriber to monthly pedicures because my feet are always working! But, because of the pandemmy, I haven’t gotten a pedicure since February! I know, totally first world problems, but having good feet is a necessity for myself and for my boyfriend who’s feet I don’t want to scratch with my crusty heels. Yeah, I said it. Whatever moral of the story is that I really needed this detox soak! I filled my basin with warmish/hot water, mixed in Sixela’s Detox, and let my feet soak for twenty minutes while I had my face mask on. Talk about relaxing. When those twenty minutes were up, my feet were smooth, my skin was healthy, and I felt completely zen.
My mood went up 100% from this entire routine and I am vowing to make it apart of my weekly, Sunday night ritual. I think we all get so busy with the day-to-day, that by the time the end of the month or even the end of the year rolls around, we look up and realize we never took time to check in with ourselves and to allow our bodies to rest. I’ve made that mistakes many times in the past, and I know that as life keeps getting busier, I’m going to make that mistake again, but I can guarantee you, it’s going to be a heck of a lot easier to give my body time to rest now that I have Sixela Skincare products to look forward to!
