At Home Quarantine Activities

​Greetings all! I thought I would break up the "shopping your stash" posts and bring you this one today about what I've been doing during quarantine. Maybe it will give you some ideas of what you could do, or something you've forgotten about that you used to love.

​One of the things I'm most proud of is I've been doing my own acrylic nails and fill ins. I've been using the Kiss Acrylic nail kit. They also have a dip powder and a brush on gel kit but I've not tried those. However, I really like this one. I love doing natural nails for the most part. When I get tired of the natural nails though I do gel polish from Le Mini Macaron. My go to color is Navy or Black right now. My stand by is red nails though for a pop of color. I've been watching Nail Career Education on YouTube, and Suzie has been really helpful showing how to do everything from acrylics, gel, dip powder, fill ins, poly gel from home and also tutorials on nail art as well as reviews. She's a professional nail technician but I'm going to call her a Nail Guru. I have the nail stamp kit from BMC as well if I want to do designs or an accent nail. It's been a lot of fun. I doubt I'll ever get my nails done in a salon again since I'm comfortable doing my own acrylics and manicures and they hold up really well. I finally did a pedicure and painted my toenails for the first time in a year this week. 

Like everyone else I've cleaned and organized. However, I've  mainly went through my skincare and makeup and gotten rid of products that I either don't need, don't like, or they've expired. 

​I've done so many masks lately. Both face and hair masks actually. I hope when I come out of this quarantine my skin looks amazing because I've done extensive routines and babied it to death. My favorite facial masks are Tatcha Violet C Radiance mask, OSEA White Algae mask, AveSeena Honeyactive Beauty Mask, May Lindstrom Problem Solver Mask, and the Fresh Pharma Rescue Mask. Anything that will provide antioxidants and soothe the skin, that's what I'm gonna use. 

For my hair I've been using Joico K-Pak Color Therapy Luster Lock that my hair guru Savannah uses on me in the salon. I love it so much that I ordered it for myself a couple months ago. I also really like the Pai Shau Supreme Revitalizing Mask. I love all of their products though. Since my hair is dark brown again, it's easy for me to keep my color looking fresh because of the Orlando Pita Play Brunette Ampli-Tint Color Depositing Hair Mask. I apply this heavily to the roots with a hair dye brush I have, and ends and then work it through the rest of the hair. I probably do that once every two weeks. 

​I've been reading a lot which has been great because I lose myself in books and read the entire day. I busted out some jigsaw puzzles to do. I like the Thomas Kincade Disney scene puzzles. My friend J and I collect them and do them often. 

Of course I've been  video chatting with my friends and family to catch up and have some laughs. My husband works in an ER so it's quite stressful right now. Even with the stress that he has to deal with at work he still finds a way to bring me some flowers. So I like arranging flowers for the table and doing decorative things I've always wanted to do for our house but just never made the time.

​I've been taking long bubble baths. I have tons of bubble bars, bubble bath gel, scrubs, bath salts, and so on to really make them extensive, fragrant, and relaxing. Also nice long showers are so nice too just to decompress. It's the first thing my husband does when he gets home, he disinfects, jumps in the shower to decontaminate head to toe, and then we talk about the day over a glass of wine or dinner.

Speaking of relaxations I've also gotten into Gua Sha. I have a rose quartz one that came in a Herbivore kit. I didn't think anything of it and thought I'd never use it. I then watched a tutorial from a skincare channel I really admire and trust which is Gothamista​. She's so informative and helpful. I love her videos. She done a tutorial on how to use a Gua Sha that I liked. From what I understand through researching this some, Gua Sha is good for draining lymphatic passages, supposedly work out lines in the face like around the nose and lips, and access acupressure points in the face and back of the neck. It feels great. In general Gua Sha is a kinda painful massage technique for the body. I only find it painful when I find a muscle trigger which I have a lot of around the ear and neck. It is a super relaxing treatment. I use it with a facial oil and it's just lovely. 

I've also reshaped my brows and really cleaned them up by trimming them and tweezing them. I thought why not since we're in quarantine, maybe I'll try a new shape and see how it goes. In the same thought process, I've been testing some retinol products since we can't get out right now. That way the skin can flake, turnover, and just do what it's going to do without me being out in the sun, or putting on and taking off makeup. So if you wanted to try some retinol but was afraid, now's the time if you're quarantined as well.

I've been tuning into Caroline Hirons IG Lives. Again super informative and she saves all of them on all her platforms so you can watch them again. It's very kind of her to do those and just answer skincare questions that people ask.  It's pretty much everything to do with routines and how certain steps and products work within the skin. It's also a lot of product recommendations that she likes for whatever topic it is that day like favorite cleansers, what is a considered a pre-cleanse and what is a good second cleanse, her favorite moisturizers, how to layer serums and products and so on.

So that's what I've been doing lately. I hope you all are doing good and staying healthy. I love you and thanks for reading!