We first ran this in the heart of the pandemic, but it’s still so useful that we’ve updated for you to enjoy… 

If you’re swimming in extra time at home (*insert sound of young moms everywhere laughing*), there has never been a better time to try out strange beauty experiments and YouTube tutorials. In fact, if you’re getting less sun exposure than usual, it could be the perfect time to break out a chemical peel treatment that would normally require sunscreen afterward (Drunk Elephant’s Baby Facial is a top pick!)

If you’re hanging out at home and have forgotten what it feels like to gloss things up a bit, try breaking out a few simple beauty tricks to lift your mood. Do it for yourself. Do it for your cat. Or do it for your family who — at some point this month — has peacefully accepted your descent into some form of non-showering couch troll.

Step One: Take a shower. (And if you still haven’t learned to dry brush first, learn how to here.) Read: 7 Game-Changing Products For Your Daily Shower Routine

Step Two: Try a face mask. This doesn’t need to be a morning long ordeal. Our favorite lately is just eight dollars, packed with caffeine and provides a profound anti-inflammatory effect in just ten minutes. Keep the gel mask in the fridge for the most refreshing mini-facial ever.

Step Three: Rinse off, oil up and get our your gua sha. When we swear our love for a gua sha routine, we’re not joking around. This self-massage routine will calm and soothe you while waking up the circulation in your face and neck in something akin to a facelift!

Step Four: It’s so boring that we talk about this at some point every week on TCM, but drink some warm water in the morning before your coffee. Whether with lemon, a pinch of pink salt, ACV or just plain, flushing your system with warm water will hydrate and cleanse your body like little else with fantastic results for skin and digestion.

Step Five: After coffee or while brushing your teeth, try a DIY lip scrub. You know that deeply revived feeling you get after a head-to-toe scrub at the Korean spa? This is like that, but not as great. What can we say? Let’s work with what we’ve got available. Into scrubs? Our love for these scalp scrubs has not waned.

Step Six: Curl your lashes. It takes all of six seconds and is the one beauty trick almost every makeup artist we know swears by. Watch this tutorial with celeb makeup artist, Katey Denno.

Step Seven: After your lotions and potions of choice — and before debuting your look in the living room or on Zoom — apply a luminescent primer balm like Saie’s Glowy Super Gel or YSE’s Skin Glow SPF 30 Primer. It’s like walking around with your own personal filter and worth just the handful of seconds it takes to apply. You’ll catch the light of that open refrigerator door later like a full-on supermodel.

Step Eight: Spritz on your favorite perfume. There’s nothing like a great scent to uplift our mood, set a tone, or prep us for that Zoom call without crying. Stop thinking of perfume as a special occasion product and start thinking of it more like that beloved daily playlist you’ve got that stirs the best thoughts, memories and feelings (we could all use more of those right now!). A few TCM faves: ELLIS Brooklyn, Phlur and Henry Rose.

Bonus Steps may include: Cream Blush | Self-Tanner | Hair Oil | Cuticle Oil | Facial Mist | Nail Polish + Foot Cream with thick socks. 

What’s the beauty detail bringing you life now while at home?