Sheena's 24-Hour Product Diary: I Try To Be A Cool Girl

I am very emotionally invested in skincare and makeup even though I don’t actually own that many products. I want to own more, but I am also an intern in New York City, and I need to buy groceries. But I make a little room for makeup in my budget, because it is one of those things that makes me feel better about my life, like horoscopes, and chapstick, and, I don’t know, therapy?

I am also deeply and comically invested in the bit of being a cool girl!!! I just like, throw an outfit on. Whatever I have lying around. I just put a haphazard combination of chemicals onto my face and hope for the best. No big deal. I shave my legs with a rusty piece of jagged metal I found on the street. Very low-maintenance. I wash my hair with beer and straight-up gasoline, I’m just that chill. I’m so cool! You believe me, right???

8 A.M. -ish

I roll out of bed and move zombie-like to the bathroom. I just moved to New York and share an apartment with three other people, welcome to the city, etc etc. Luckily we have pretty different morning schedules, so I don’t have to wait too long for the bathroom. I shower, brush my teeth, whatever. This is the boring part. I don’t wash my hair very often because it gets pretty dry, but if I am washing it then I use a tiny bit of Garnier Whole Blends Shampoo, and a large amount of Shea Moisture Conditioner. I wash my face with Himalaya Purifying Neem Face Wash. This is not a product you can find in the U.S., which sucks for you all, because it is really the most gentle cleansing face wash out there and I adore it.

I get out of the shower and put on whatever deodorant stick I have at the time, but also this D&G L’Impératrice perfume, which is the one Very Fancy product I own. This was a 22nd birthday present from my mom, and it smells like guava.

I start with a basic Neutrogena Facial Moisturizer, and follow up with CeraVe Broad Spectrum SPF 50 Sunscreen. I only recently started using sunscreen, because I graduated from college and realized it was time to grow the hell up, you know? Like come on, Sheena, get serious about your future!!! I don’t generally wear foundation, but if I do it’s this Urban Decay Naked Skin Liquid Foundation, which I kind of dot around my face and blend in like it is concealer. I do this because I don’t want to spend money on concealer. Then I grab the Glossier Cloud Paint in Beam. Glossier is a brand I love to hate……… to love. I love it. Ugh!!! I don’t want to talk about it.

I recently wrote a post about mascara, and you all left me some very concerned comments. Just to clear things up, yes, I love mascara. No, my tube of L’Oreal’s Voluminous Million Lashes is not currently expired. But yes, I know it is gross that I still use my eyelash curler from high school! Let me live!!! I also use this specific Maybelline Liquid Liner that comes in a little pot. The thing is, Maybelline does not make this specific formula in the U.S., so I have to buy 20 billion of these pots every time I go home to India. Maybelline, this is a formal request, please put aside the pen eyeliners for a second and bring this to America. Lastly, I use the NYX Micro Brow Pencil, because Google told me it was a dupe for the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz, which I did not want to spend money on.

I put on a ColourPop blotted lipstick in “Drip” at this point. Then I immediately eat a large bowl of Trader Joe’s Maple & Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal, so I get that half-eaten half-smudged natural lipstick look all the cool girls are wearing these days. Then I get on a sweaty 30-minute subway ride to work.

10 A.M. to 6 P.M.

The office is freezing, and my hands are extremely dry. I use this L’Occitane en Provence Lavender Hand Cream that I was given as a gift. It makes me feel like A Real Adult With Moisturized Hands—like I could be the type of person who brings a face mask on a long-haul flight. By this time in the day I have had a meal, two snacks, a couple cups of tea, and maybe some coffee. My lipstick has long since disappeared. Some of the other interns are going to happy hour tonight, so I may or may not reapply the ColourPop lipstick in the bathroom, if I can be bothered to, or I might just use that Nivea Original Care Chapstick because remember that I am a cool girl!!! I don’t plan to stay out very late anyway; I’ll have like, one vodka soda, and go home.

3 A.M.

At this point I will absolutely be stopping at the deli next door to buy a very messy sandwich and a highly regrettable bag of hot Cheetos. Once I am nourished, I get pretty much right into bed. I keep the products I use at night on my bedside table, because there is no way I would want to get up and put additional stuff on my face at this time.

First I vigorously take off whatever makeup I haven’t sweat off already, with these Cucumber Cleansing Facial Wipes (this is a generic brand from Boots, whatever). Some say that facial wipes are not as effective as actually washing your face. I say there’s no way I’m getting up to go wash my face right now, so this will have to do. Next, I lie in bed with my laptop on my stomach and find something to zone out to on Netflix. I use the Nip + Fab Glycolic Fix Daily Cleansing Pads for a bit of chemical exfoliation. I use these because I saw someone recommend them on r/skincareaddiction about two years ago, and I am a creature of habit. On alternating days, I use The Ordinary’s Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion. I only know what two of those words mean, but I really love this stuff! It makes me feel very smoothy smooth smooth. The Ordinary is another one of those brands I love to hate to love.

Also pictured above, Ricola cough drops that I have been eating like candy recently, because I have some kind of bizarre summer cough, a Bath & Body Works moisturizer that someone gave me as a gift, and the nail colors I’ve been using this month (lavender, pale blue, peach). This photo is featuring my water bottle and my glasses, which I need, to see, and a take-out menu I was perusing late at night, because I am a cool girl who just loves to read!!!