13 Things Thursday: 15

A podcast project, a newsletter pivot, and a skincare journey

This newsletter is coming out on a very special day—my mom’s birthday! Happy Birthday Mama! Thanks for always being one of my biggest fans and the most consistent commenter on this newsletter. :) Love you!

---

1. Exciting news: My friend Atika and I are working on an exciting new project. We’re starting a podcast! It’s called Open Minds Unleashed. Our goal is to bring civil discourse to potentially controversial topics, encouraging our audience to keep an open mind as we explore different perspectives. We certainly don’t agree on everything, but one of the reasons we value our friendship is that we challenge each other to think differently and support each other’s growth. Even if you don’t agree with everything we say—and we expect that you won’t—we hope it inspires you to lead with compassion in your conversations and seek understanding before passing judgement. This endeavor feels slightly terrifying, but also deeply necessary. Follow along on our Instagram to hear more about us, be the first to know when episodes release, and let us know what topics you want to hear!

2. Because more of my energy will be focused on the podcast, I’m discontinuing paywalled content on my Substack for the foreseeable future. In full transparency, this will impact zero people, because I currently don’t have any paid subscribers. :) The option for paid subscriptions will still be enabled in case people want to financially support my writing, but for now all of my content will be free for all subscribers. I’ve also made any previously paywalled content available to everyone. I know this is a very quick pivot since turning on paid subscriptions a little over a month ago, but it feels right for now.

3. Bryan and I recently stopped in Barnes & Noble while we waited for Della to finish her haircut. Candace Meredith, an author, was setting up a table for book signings, and asked me, “Do you like a good murder mystery?” and I said, “Not really!” (lol) I mentioned that I enjoyed fantasy, and she said that she started out in that genre and introduced me to her Winter Solstice series. We talked about her publishing company, my Substack and writing aspirations, her writing group, and her dreams of getting into film production. It was such a fun conversation, and I’m looking forward to starting her book soon.

4. We have a new baby bunny living under our shed! They’re so sweet and tiny, and it makes me squeal every time I see them. :) Since I named our first bunny friend Gilbert, this new bunny is hereby dubbed Baby Gilly. Della isn’t allowed to chase them yet, so we try to give them a head start before letting her run loose in the yard. I’m excited to watch Baby Gilly grow this summer.

5. Lately I’ve been making more Spotify playlists or saving existing playlists to my library that capture the full spectrum of my eclectic musical tastes. My main playlist consists mostly of alternative and classic rock, with a few random things thrown in. I recently made a playlist of some of my favorite country songs for a friend who is just learning more about country music, and it made me want to make more playlists capturing different genres I love. In one day, I bounced around to pop, country, bluegrass, Bollywood, and some rap/hip-hop. So it’s all over the place depending on what I’m feeling that day, and I feel like I should have a playlist at the ready for all of it. Does anyone else do this? How many playlists do you have, either that you made or saved from someone else?

6. Speaking of which, I’ve been recently dipping my toe into more of Taylor Swift’s music, and I’m really enjoying it! I mostly wanted to hear her new album, but I added a playlist of all of her essential songs to my library that reminded me of all the great stuff she’s released over the years. I wouldn’t say I’m a full-on Swiftie, but maybe a casual one? Either way, this wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card, but here we are! I’m not mad about it.

7. I binged the first half of Bridgerton Season 3 in a flash, and I’m DYING. How will I ever wait until June for the 2nd half? I’m being dramatic of course, but releasing in batches was a torturous idea for the gentle readers of the ton. :) Fellow Bridgerton fans, how are you holding up?

8. My shoulder has been slowly yet steadily healing, and I’m so incredibly grateful. I can actually sleep on my side again, which is something I couldn’t do for a while. Most of the feeling is back in my fingers, which is amazing. I recently started physical therapy, which has been really helpful to learn some stretches and exercises to get back to my full self.

9. Latest research rabbit hole: After a particularly bad breakout, I got an idea to see whether my skincare routine could be more simplified. I’ll explain my reasoning in the next couple points.

10. A while back, I was talking to a good friend about our skincare routines, and I mentioned that I used an acne line that had salicylic acid, among other actives, in the cleanser, serum, and moisturizer. She cautioned that too much might lead to overproducing oil and worsening breakouts and suggested that I might benefit from a simpler cleanser and moisturizer. Thus, my current skincare routine includes a simple cleanser, a rotation of alternating serums, and an oil-free moisturizer with niacinamide, salicylic acid, hyaluronic acid, and vitamin C. For this experiment, I’m making small tweaks to keep from overloading my skin with too many actives and hopefully minimize breakouts even more. Since my moisturizer is really light and contains some actives already, I’m either using a serum that doesn’t have a ton of redundant ingredients or skipping serum completely. I’m taking a break from my salicylic acid serum until I can find a simple oil-free moisturizer without any extra “stuff” to combine with it.

11. The thing is, it’s surprisingly hard to find a simple oil-free moisturizer that meets my requirements. I may have mentioned before that my acne-prone skin is…persnickety to say the least. I discovered years ago that my skin only tolerates oil-free moisturizers. Any oil, even the light, supposedly non-comedogenic ones, make me break out. My skin also doesn’t tolerate ingredients commonly found in “oil-free” formulations, like squalane and capric/caprylic triglycerides (They’re both light oils or derived from oils, so I don’t know why they’re still classified as oil-free. But that’s another topic). For that reason, I’m a stickler about reading ingredients, and so far I’ve only found 3 or 4 simple moisturizers that don’t contain either of those ingredients. I’ll update here if I find something that works for me, and if my experiment yields promising results.

12. One other thing that inspired me to simplify my skincare routine was a YouTube video theorizing that skincare is a scam. While that title is obviously very click-baity, I do agree with some of the points they made. Clever skincare marketing will say that something is “clinically proven,” when in fact it was just tested among a small sample size with no regard to their skin type, ethnicity, etc. There’s always a new miracle ingredient or skincare step that we “need” to unlock our best skin yet, but in some cases they provide little to no benefit. So really, we probably don’t need as much as we think we do.

13. Along that same vein, I recently read an article about consumerism and TikTok and how it’s rewiring young people’s money habits and beliefs. They’re bombarded with economic doom about not being able to buy a house in their lifetime, but are also influenced to buy the latest skincare, makeup, handbag, or water bottle. It can be a delicate balance to live in the moment and make purchases that you enjoy without sabotaging your financial future. The real question is the reason behind these purchases. Are you trying to fit in, or is this something that adds value to your life? That line can be blurry when influencers claim that if you add this secret ingredient to your skincare routine, your skin will glow just like theirs. (Spoiler alert: Genetics are usually the secret ingredient.) I’ve definitely been “influenced” to buy things on social media, so I try to be aware of my motivations, do my research, and let it sit in my wish list for a while instead of making impulse purchases.

Thanks for reading! What’s new with you lately? What are your skincare secrets? What have you been “influenced” to do or buy? Let me know in the comments!