Lifehacks 21

Most people love wearing perfumes, and they have a few favourite ones that they dab from time to time. But, they also complain when the fragrance loses its potency, especially in extreme heat, or even otherwise. That can happen because of a variety of reasons, one of them being the perfume’s own quality. But other than that, it could be because you are not wearing it properly, or applying it optimally.

As such, here are a few easy and interesting hacks. Use them to make wearing perfumes a fun experience.

* Most people reject a perfume when they feel it is not emanating enough fragrance. But, they go wrong when they rub the liquid against their wrist instead of dabbing it. You must dab just a little bit of perfume on the wrist and then smell it to understand and appreciate it. Next time, try doing it and you will feel the difference.

* Additionally, before you spritz, apply a little bit of petroleum jelly on the skin to enjoy the maximum benefits.

* Always know when to spray. Ideally, you must do it right after you have stepped out of the shower. Before you wear your work clothes, spritz the perfume on the wrist, the neck area and just enjoy the smell.

* Also, you can use non-alcoholic sprays on the hair. But, instead of directly applying the perfume on the hair, just spray a little bit on the hair brush, and then use it to gently brush and untangle your locks. It will be a lasting experience, and you will be good to go for the rest of the day.

* If you are leaving the house but do not want to carry the bottle with you, spritz it on a cotton swab, or a cotton ball and then store them in a little zip pouch. Carry the pouch in your bag, or your purse, and whenever you feel like doing a quick touch-up, take its contents out and apply on the neck and near the collarbone.

These life hacks will save you a lot of time and energy. Also, you will appreciate your perfume more. Enjoy!

Everybody has a favourite lipstick with a shade that appeals to them the most. But, sometimes lipsticks break, especially when they have not been used for a long time, or have taken a fall. Either way, it can be heartbreaking. But is the lipstick beyond repair? Certainly not. You can revive the stick and use it once again; here is how you can go about it.

In addition to dropping it or not using it for a long time, lipsticks also break when the cap comes in before it has been twisted all the way down. Make sure you are careful.

To revive the lipstick, just take some shea butter, a microwave-friendly bowl, the lipstick itself and a container inside which it can be stored.

* Scoop the lipstick out in its entirety and place it in the bowl.

* Next, add one tablespoon of shea butter to it, or if you don’t have it at home, you can also use cocoa butter in its place.

* Mix them together and then microwave for 10-12 seconds.

* Once done, you can take the bowl out and stir the contents once again, using a toothpick or a cotton swab. Make sure there are absolutely no lumps or solid pieces in there.

* Let it cool down at room temperature, and you will notice that once it does, it will thicken on its own.

* Now store it inside the new container that you have kept aside. You can also use an old, clean empty lip balm stick to store it.

* Put it in the fridge for a few hours so that it solidifies.

ALSO READ | Keep these things in mind before buying lip balm

* Your revamped lipstick will be ready for use! You can also pick out a few different shades to mix them all together and make an entirely new shade.

Isn’t this exciting? Will you be trying this hack today?

Like many of you, I sat glued to all forms of media yesterday. I found that I couldn’t get away—even when I’d try to wander off and do something else online, the underlying anxiety created by the once-in-a-lifetime storming of the U.S. Capitol kept bringing me back to the news. I spent more time on Twitter in one night than I have in the past three months.

However, today feels a little different (I didn’t say better, as nothing has really happened yet in response to yesterday’s catastrophic breakdown of societal norms). We’re entering the “doomscrolling and snark” portion of our collective response, which is fine if it helps you cope; but if you’re like me, though, you get frustrated or anxious when we continue to spin our gears.

To counteract this, consider scheduling a digital break. And you have plenty of options, each with varying degrees of severity.

Move your devices somewhere else

This sounds simple, because it is. Take the phone, tablet, smartwatch, or other notification-delivering device off your desk for the day (or week) and place it somewhere else. If it needs to take a temporary vacation from your home office to your bedroom, great. If you find yourself getting worked up in the late-night hours with what you’re seeing online, maybe move it out of your room and into the kitchen (and switch to a different alarm setup temporarily).

Whatever your decision, removing one of the main sources of “ding, ding, ding” news updates and far-too-tempting idle scrolling is a great way to reduce how tightly wound you can get by the day’s events—and everyone else’s constant reactions to them.

Turn off device notifications

I noticed a week or so ago that even the great Marc Rebillet, an incredible musician who basically fuels his career on social media, decided to take a brief digital detox by turning off notifications for Facebook and Snapchat. At first I was like, “Dude, that’s your audience,” but after a few minutes, I started to wonder if it was the right move for me, too.

I’ve often said that it’s pretty amazing that we all have little news-reporting machines right in our pockets—devices that are connected 24/7, which can give us instant, immediate access to a vast marketplace of ideas and, when necessary, up-to-the-minute tidbits about what’s happening in the world. However, this whenever-we-want-it access can also be bad for us. Whether it’s our devices screaming at us, or we’re frantically tapping through six social media apps to get the latest opinions, reacting to real-time events can quickly spin your day out of control.

Once we’re past the “day-of reporting” and into the “analysis and retrospection” portion of a nightmare, it’s a great time to turn off notifications for your various social media apps. That won’t stop you from looking up this information yourself, but it’ll keep you from being prompted to engage at random points throughout the day. In other words, when you feel ready to jump back into the fray, you’ll be able to. You just won’t have it interrupting your day and keeping your anxiety at a constant simmer.

Curate your social media feeds

If you want to stay plugged-in to social media, that’s great. However, I also suggest that you use whatever tools you have available—which vary by platform—to curate what you see in your feed. Maybe you’re tired of reading about anything related to a cable news channel, or you’re sick of hearing about other social media platforms’ responses to this week’s events. Or maybe you’re just tired of having to read anything from anyone with a particular political point of view. There are ways to curate your feed to mitigate your stressors.

Twitter users can easily block certain words and phrases from appearing in your timeline—temporarily or permanently. While you’re there, consider turning off your DMs (if you’re getting blasted by annoying people), or consider muting notifications in various ways so you aren’t triggered by people you don’t even know.

On Facebook, consider being a bit more judicious with the Snooze feature for people or pages you don’t want to see for the next month. Install a browser extension to sanitize your feed of content you don’t want to deal with right now.

Every social platform has some degree of curation, even if that’s something as basic as muting comments that contain certain words. Odds are good you can find a third-party app or extension that lets you do a bit more; I recommend exploring this route so you can still use social media without feeling too overwhelmed by content you don’t need right this second.

Limit your time on social media

Chances are that your smartphone now has some kind of “digital detox” feature that you can use to limit the amount of time you’re allowed to interact with an app. Consider using it if you still want to be able to access social media, but want to keep yourself from unexpectedly wasting four hours endlessly scrolling.

If you’re on your computer, it’ll be a little trickier to curb your social media instincts. You’ll probably want to install a browser extension to help you fight temptation, because I don’t think you’ll need (or want) to use parental controls to limit access to your web browser. That’s the nuclear approach; a browser extension that you can use to keep you from wasting the day away on social media is a better idea.

Delete your apps or accounts

It’s fine if you’ve reached your breaking point with all things social media. As I’ve previously talked about, deleting your account and removing yourself from the daily back-and-forth will do wonders for your mental health. Make sure you’ve backed up any information you care about—or signed up for a data dump of everything you’ve upload to a service, if it’s available—and then deactivate or delete your account depending on whether you want a temporary or permanent fix.

However, before you say goodbye forever, I do want to note that social media can be useful. It feels like a complete cesspool nowadays, but it is a great way to get firsthand knowledge of events. It’s one thing to read about assholes breaking into the U.S. Capitol, but it’s another to watch them scaling walls, setting off fire extinguishers, and posting their own pictures and videos—and the sweet karma that hits when they’re identified—with your own eyes.

This can also be overwhelming, though—such is the double-edged sword of being able to see the thoughts, photos, videos, and live feeds of anyone in the world. Some things you really want (or need) to see. Some things you don’t. If you’re on the fence, consider doing everything just shy of deleting your account. Remove all your friends and followers, lock down your account, and prevent anyone from befriending you, following you, or adding you to a list. Remove information that ties back to you, and install adblockers if you’re especially pissed at how a social media company tolerates white nationalism on its service. If you must, only follow other accounts or people that you actually want or need to read. Treat your account like an RSS feed, not a way to actually connect with others. And if that means you’re only following, say, five news organizations you care about, that’s fine too.

Approaching social media that way can cut down the noise in your accounts to the absolute minimum you’re comfortable tolerating. Instead of getting updates, snark, and punditry, updates are more spaced out, and any other information you want to find, you’ll have to do yourself. In doing so, you’ll be able to better control how much you ingest at any given time, and that can keep you happier. I hope.