Iterative Glow-Ups

my self-care method on how to survive the winter

For years I’ve struggled with seasonal depression. Every year again and again, I would dread the winter. As the leaves fell down I felt the life energy getting sucked out of me and as the days got shorter, I felt myself having to survive each day.

In the summer of 2024, though, something interesting happened. I discovered my GOAT kayli boyle and her glow up videos:

I tried to emulate her glow up routines once when my partner was away and I was not really feeling myself and I noticed how much life-energy it gave me. Later she uploaded a video where she mentioned using glow ups to get life-energy during the colder months and I decided to try this out for the upcoming fall. Unsurprisingly it worked really well!! Even though tbh, I still felt pretty shit last fall/winter, I think the routine I built up was what kept me together. So… I wanna share it! If it helps literally one person make the cold season a little bit more bearable, my mission is accomplished tbh

Stuff to buy

I wanna keep this as accessible as possible while still putting more premium options so I’m gonna give u options for several budgets but buy whatever makes u happy and suits your budget <3

(Scented) Candle

I’m not really gonna drop suggestions for this bc truly you need to figure out what kind of candle you like the most and what is locally available, but I will say that a scented candle in a pot is the nicest because you can easily put it somewhere in the bathroom without it falling over or anything

Moody lighting

Personally I don’t have very cute moody lighting in my bathroom, so I use an old warm-coloured lamp from ikea that we have laying around:

but any lamp with a warm coloured bulb works fine, it’s important that it’s warm coloured though because we want to set the mood!!

Journaling notebook

You’ll need a cute notebook to journal in! It’s important that it’s cute… Remember, we are trying to romanticise our life here and the aesthetics actually serves a function here. Personally I use a pikachu notebook I got at the Van Gogh pikachu expo, but I found this really cute notebook you could get on my fav stationary site, notebook therapy:

A pen that writes nicely

Here the aesthetics aren’t as important, just that it’s a pen that’s nice to write with, personally i love the Zebra Sarasa Clip Gel Pen if you need a suggestion, but truly choose whatever pen you like the most!

Your basic PM skincare routine

If you don’t have one… girl idk how to help you, here’s a basic budget friendly PM routine if you don’t have one (I don’t use this to be clear)

• The Ordinary Squalene Cleanser

• Optional: Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Hyaluronic Toner

• CeraVe Moisturising Lotion (normal to dry skin) / Isntree

  Hyaluronic Acid Aqua Gel Cream (oily skin)

A face mask…!

You can truly use any face mask, but my absolute favourite is Frudia - My Orchard Squeeze Mask Peach 21ml. Another popular (but expensive) option are the Dr. Jart+ Cryo Rubber™ masks

A cute set of pyjamas 🥺

No recs here, also not showing you my pyjamas…we’re not that close oomf…

The routine

Okay I need you to listen CAREFULLY here!!! Every single part of this explanation is important. You’re going to want to repeat this routine EVERY WEEK! Choose a day carefully, I like using saturdays

Step 1: Make urself a nice CANDLELIT dinner!

Whatever u wanna eat babes… Just make sure its not some shit like mcdonalds, but treat urself to something nice! Make sure to have enough carbs, fibre and protein so you feel great, and don’t make the portion so big that you feel like shit after. Also get urself a lil dessert! Oh and importantly, make urself a cocktail/mocktail to go with your meal and drink it out of a fancy glass :)

Step 2: Put on some relaxing music

I personally love using jazz covers of video game music/jazzy video game music tracks, but it all depends on your taste babes

Step 4: Take an everything shower

Put up your (scented) candle and warm moody lighting in your bathroom and take ur everything shower: wash ur hair, shave, use a lil body scrub, everything! Also do your hair as if you’re going to a party, you need to look stunning for urself!

Step 5: Do you PM skincare routine

Do your PM skincare routine as normal but incorporate the sheet mask as well (comes right before moisturiser)

Maybe even read a book while ur waiting for your sheet mask!

Step 6: Put on your cute pyjamas and journal in a quiet spot

Keep on that music and find a nice and quiet spot to journal, at least one page! Make sure to include 3 things you are grateful about today

Step 7: Make urself a cup of tea and enjoy the rest of the evening, no social media!

The rest of the evening is social media free!!! You can watch a movie or text with your friends but you better not be opening twitter, tiktok or instagram…

That’s it🥺…

Please let me know if this helps you! It really helped me last year and I hope it helps you too. I’d love to hear, I’ll be doing this each week starting from september for sure so we’re in this together!!!