“This mask is an undiluted concentrate of summer and 10 minutes later, I’m back from vacation, my skin plumper, refreshed, and hydrated”
Raven Smith, columnist and author on the skincare essential that’s getting him through his time in isolation. Read all about why his must-have minutes of well-lit LED quiet in a sea of questions is keeping him sane.
I’d like a respite from washing the backs of my hands and not touching my face. Everyday I attempt a mini-break from Corona alerts by sitting on the loo I’ve been sitting on all year, briefly honeymooning bottom-first, before almost immediately opening the digital newspaper and reading yet more Corona alerts.
I miss so many things from 2020BC (Before Corona). Because I’m dawdling locally on my government walks, I miss dashing. I miss having somewhere to go in a specific timeframe, the jeopardy of being late a lamented thrill. I miss the luxurious hanging fabric of my wardrobe. Clothes, by design, need application outside of the Sainsbury’s rice run. I miss those sold-out-in-minutes Bode shirts that cement my position as a humble man of the world who is monied, but doesn’t make a thing of it. More than anything, I miss being outside. The promise of an avocado-ripe summer, with the sweet, sweated romance of Malibu kisses. I miss island-hopping on choppy Grecian seas with the sun beating down on my face.
While indoors, miraculously, the sun has returned. I have to press my tired cheeks against the glass for a morsel of rays. My BOOST LED mask is sunshine on a rainy day. I’m instantly transported (business class, naturally) abroad, to the long hot days of European summer, an hour at the Acropolis, and a barefoot afternoon as time itself melts. A taverna dinner. Dancing. One more Ouzo. A taco of LEDs press against my face and I’m in Mexico nursing a hangover margarita before an endless salty alfresco lunch, the afternoon politely hijacked by a well-thumbed thriller from the airport.
The mask is an undiluted concentrate of summer and 10 minutes later, I’m back from vacation, my skin plumper, refreshed, and hydrated. The clock gently turned back on the isolation-time that was written all over my face. Unlike the yet-to-be-banana bread bananas in the fruit bowl, my sell-by date has been extended. I’ve de-puffed my cheeks and smoothed muscles out like quality peanut butter on wholewheat. I can almost feel my collagen invisibly boosting like a fizzy sweet on the tongue. I miss flirting with the Spanish bar staff, but I’m truly restored. Let there be light.
At this point of lockdown, it’s completely normal to be zigzagging between mad stressed and doomsday apathetic. I’d give anything for a few hours of consistent emotion. But I’ll take these essential minutes of well-lit LED quiet in a sea of questions.
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