NuyBeauty Daily Giveaway No. 6: Can you guess the Free Swag Today? ;-)

NuyBeauty Daily Giveaway No. 6: CHALLENGE

Ever wonder what it's like to have a beauty office? And to share part of it with a professional skater?
Well, here's a small peak at my small office in uptown NYC. It's nothing fancy, but at the same token quite fun to work in and shoot pictures and videos in. Also my daughter and I enjoy creative play in here - painting faces and little dance parties.

On the reverse side, working with a lot of beauty and makeup products is dealing with a constant mess. Imagine having double the amount of toys to clean up -- the messy, glittery, crafty kind. Makeup is very not tidy and like food and paint, it spills. A once pretty bottle becomes full of brown yucky fingerprints, and though you'd like to throw away, if it's a miracle working product on photo shoots, you just can't dump it. Like that rag doll your kid LOVES but my gosh it's just GROSS, right?

I work a lot, like all of us moms do. My challenge is trying to constantly keep up with my beauty mess. There is an influx of products that come in -- that I need to work with and review -- keeping them from overflowing is similar to keeping up with my daughter's toys. I get stressed. I go to the Muji store (ADORE! and I highly recommend), the Container Store. Ikea. I do Spring/Fall/Summer/Weekend cleanups. It's a battle!

And then there's the me, that lets my darling boyfriend, Danny keep some of his skate equipment here. A ConEd worker recently joked with me, "Do you also run a Skate Shop?" I laughed. I find that the skateboard designs / streetwear and its philosophy add a nice grounded contrast to all the "pretty" and appearance heavy direction beauty can take -- as I am all about starting with inner beauty at the core ;-).

Ah, life's a wave of messes, yes? We just try to keep up the best we can.

NuyBeauty Daily Giveway 6: CHALLENGE

Watch the video and pick out the special something from the PSEUDO SKATE SHOP (hint, it's a piece of streetwear) that I'm giving away today from Danny's collection:

Good Luck! Write your comment here or on Instagram and Follow Me! @nuybeauty

Winner is @johnwharff - contact me at nuy@nuybeauty.com to redeem your goodies :-)

-- N.C.

Disclaimer: Nuy Cho has no affiliation to any of the beauty companies mentioned on www.nuybeauty.com.

My Top 5 Travel Essential for Summer Jetsetting

Ouidad Sun Shield Sun & Sport Spray, Nuun Vitamin Tabs, Nars Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 30+, Kai Perfume Oil in Travel Size Vial, Dove Clear Tone Deodorant.

When I travel to a hot place, I can't live without the following. And I highly recommend them for you!
As they are tried and true!

1) Light Sun Hair Protection: Ouidad Sun Shield Sun & Sport Spray
2) Optimum, Lo-cal Hydration that's Green: Nuun Active Hydration Tablets
3) Light Skin Coverage w/ SPF: Nars Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 30
4) Heavenly Paradise Portable Fragrance: Kai Perfume Oil in Travel Size Vial
5) Awesome sweat protection that doesn't rub off on clothes and helps restore skin to its natural skin tone: Dove Clear Tone Deodorant

--N.C.

Disclaimer: Nuy Cho has no affiliation to any of the beauty companies mentioned on www.nuybeauty.com.

Smart Beauty Packing for Air Travel

It's taken me awhile to conquer the plum amount of products, in skincare and make-up, to bring along with me for my travels. There were the days in my 20s where I lugged the Samsonite travel case or Shu Uemura Box with me, and every new-fangled fashion and beauty accoutrement I had accompanied me. Now, with my busy mom i.d., it's all about being as weightless (therefore swift for being on the go) as possible. But of course, still having all the goods for prettying up and taking care.

Helpful Tips & Goods for Smart Beauty Packing (Air Travel) :

1) Travel Rules: A simple guideline from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for carry-on packing. Also, it's helpful to put your zip top bag with the liquids, gels and aerosols at the top of your bag, or wherever you can easily access it as TSA rules dictate you are supposed to take the bag out when you remove your shoes, for x-ray screening.

2) Beauty Minis: Drugstores always have travel aisles where you can pick up travel size containers of toiletries, if you don't already have them. Also, here are two great travel sets by Caudalie (Beauty on Board, $15) and Bliss (Sinkside Six-Pack, $22), which you absolutely can't go wrong with -- complete with bags.

3) Makeup Bag Chic: I love this sleek travel case by Marc by Marc Jacobs (Pretty Nylon Small Cosmetic Bag, $78), in the three lovely colors of black, plum and gray. The rectangular shape is optimal for both elegant aesthetics and functionality.

-N.C.

Disclaimer: Nuy Cho has no affiliation to any of the beauty companies mentioned on www.nuybeauty.com.

Thought for Thursday: The Exit Vanity

Do you look in the mirror before leaving home? Here's my foyer vanity where I sneak a peek and do last-minute touch-ups if needed. It sits right at eye-level -- out of my daughter's reach, and right where I can make sure I'm not about to hit the town with miniature finger-paint prints on my face.

-N.C.

Disclaimer: Nuy Cho has no affiliation to any of the beauty companies mentioned on www.nuybeauty.com.

The Beauty Clean-Up 101

Life’s messy. Before my daughter A was born, I spent what felt like weeks with my husband throwing out unnecessary things and deep-cleaning. Only for a whole new type of mishmash to enter our home: what began with countless diapers and stacks of bibs turned into Legos and doll accessories running rivers through our apartment two years later. My vanity used to be set up like a make-up playground, but now that I’ve got my hands full with the bee that is my daughter zigzagging about with broccoli bits in her hair, my beauty housing is now all about function.

Before child, I liked to either have my vanity down low so I could sit cross-legged in front of it, or at standard waist height, but without a chair. Overall, I’ve always preferred to stand and apply makeup because it allows for the most freedom of movement. And so when my daughter was born, in order to keep all the cosmetics and such out of her reach, it was easy for me to move the showcase- and most-used items to the top of one of my chests, which is at shoulder height,  making everything conveniently eye-level.

When I start spending more time digging through piles of eye-shadow dusted products to find the right mascara, than it would take me to actually apply the stuff, I know this Mama's gotta start pickin' up after herself.  But with the right organizational tools, involving merely a few simple containers and an easy-to-follow strategy, you can keep your vanity’s clutter at bay -- and the mess will be minutes from away.

Vanity Sanity 1-2-3:

1)    Only while putting together this story did I realize that I use the same, basic system to organize my cosmetics as I do my daughter’s toys: bins. For her, I’ve got big canvas ones with handles. And at the end of every day we sing the "Clean-Up, Clean-Up" song, throw the toys in, and then the bins get tucked away. For make-up, I favor rectangular or square trays for most beauty products, and a cup-like container for brushes, as a simple ways to keep things neat. I keep the items I use the most, in a single everyday tray, which rests closest to where I stand (see photo). I recommend these Stackable Acrylic Drawer Organizers ($3-$5), as they are nice and minimal in their design. For brushes try Sephora Collection’s Makeup Brush Box ($20), or even a tall and heavy ceramic or plastic cup will do.

2)    For items that I don’t use daily, I keep them stored away in special boxes (e.g. my “Lash Box” in the photo) or in drawers – ensuring that my little one can’t and won’t be tempted to go exploring. Within the drawers, I use the same tray system to separate the cosmetics by genre. The container store, in general, is a great place to find things like a 24-Lipstick Acrylic Organizer ($7), where you can put the sticks upside down to see the shade names (this lovely tip courtesy of my good friend, make-up artist, Jason Hoffman).

3)    Every couple of months I go through my make-up, as I would with clothing and shoes, and I do a super cleanse. Part of an easy tidy-up is not having that much around. Go through your beauty supplies and purge all those items that haven’t been of use to you. Don’t hold onto something just because the box it came in a year ago told you you’d be scar-free in seconds.  If you didn’t wear that eye shadow six months ago, chances are, you’re probably not going to wear it today.  Only keep what you use and need, around.


-N.C.

Disclaimer: Nuy Cho has no affiliation to any of the beauty companies mentioned on www.nuybeauty.com.

The Vanity, circa 2005

My vanity, in NYC, circa 2005. I've since streamlined the organization, chucked the Japanese tschotcke collection, and raised the vanity to shoulder height (instead of knee-height, which this one was at), so that my daughter can't and won't be tempted to play with the products.

These days, navigating the words in my head has been like treading through a swamp. I think it's the heat, the humidity and the fact that I'm starting to feel the city closing in on me and my brain, like a big, hot robot. I need a vacation -- preferably somewhere where the breeze isn't being created by my Frigidaire or a street sweeper taking a quick turn. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love this city to death. My daughter and I have great fun here and are lucky enough to live by some beautiful parks. I'm just city-hot. And my beauty product organization story is taking me longer than I'd like because I feel sluggish in this heat. So as a light appetizer for the bigger item in the works, here's a photo from 2005, before I had my child: one of my many vanities. A look into my life ...

-N.C.

Disclaimer: Nuy Cho has no affiliation to any of the beauty companies mentioned on www.nuybeauty.com.