A moment for skincare. Architects work late, stare at screens and forget to take breaks. We should hydrate more, I am sure of it. And when we don’t hydrate enough our skin will ask for repair. Prevention is always best practice, but let’s face it, we are all guilty of neglect. I have been obsessed with a few new beauty brands lately. I have been trying new products for the first time in years and I am so impressed with the changes in business models and approaches to skincare and make-up. I am impressed because I am finding makeup that doubles as skincare and more and more B corporations (more on this later). Have you heard of Kosas?! There products are juiced up with nutrients and while I have only tried one so far, the lipfuel, it’s the answers to years of searching for the right lip balm/lipstick/lip nourishment. Some products have missed the mark or possibly just don’t work for me but I have been so pleasantly surprised lately more than disappointed. Most of these products have been discovered thanks to Goop. Which has really changed the game in so many ways so if you don’t know, go listen!! Enter One Ocean...I am a La Mer junkie. I can’t afford it but somehow it finds it’s way into my life. So when I found this little number on Goop it had a strange reminiscence of La Mer but it’s cheaper and the company is environmentally active. This bottle contains 3 times as much product as La Mer for %90 of the cost. I can’t say I know if it does anything yet but my skin felt radiant after one plunge. This is a radical change in an industry where ingredients were really ignored for so long. What does this mean for architecture and architects? Maybe we can save our skin after we neglect it for years or maybe we can save it as we try to look somewhat presentable for our WFH video calls (see Kosas tinted face oil). Makeup we can fall asleep in?! Okay, maybe that’s a stretch but I’ll keep waiting for it. More importantly this new approach to business that is transparent and healthy has to bleed in to Architecture as well. This pandemic requires us to revisit the way we design buildings, to give it a fresh look but it isn’t just about the final product, the building, it’s holistic. After years of standardization we move into innovation. How can we be less standardized yet still efficient? How can we be more conscious of the environment and yet deliver end products on par with those that turn a blind eye. Food for thought but in the meantime I will keep slathering on this new stuff and let you know how it goes.











