It is hot, hot, hot where most of us live. Pour a tall glass of lemonade. Retreat into the air conditioning or under a shady tree or to a porch with a swirling ceiling fan. And then disappear to Chicago or Fire Island or London or Africa. These locales are also warm, but the beautiful stories may make you forget about the heat.

On Fire Island by Jane Rosen

From the author of A Shoe Story, this novel takes a unique – and heartwarming – approach to death. In the book’s first few pages, Julia, the 37-year-old narrator, dies. For one last summer, she “hangs around” Fire Island, a haven off Long Island’s south shore and Julia’s happy place.

She watches over Ben, her bestselling novelist husband, and other friends and family members. She’s satisfied to see people miss her and that her death affected so many.

Ms. Rosen’s father died when she was only 11. Her sister passed at an early age from cancer. She wondered how she would keep both of these loved ones in her life. How would she keep the connection alive? This novel is not a morose tale but an uplifting take on death and the effect you have on those you leave behind.

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

I’ve never seen the Rockettes perform in New York’s Radio City Music Hall. But, after devouring Fiona Davis’ latest historical fiction novel, I would love to plan a holiday getaway!

Ms. Davis has the uncanny ability to take an iconic New York City landmark and weave a compelling story around its history. In this book, readers dive into the world of the Rockettes, the internationally famous precision dance team. Readers experience glamour, dedication, hard work, and friendships.

We also learn about a real bomber that terrorized New York City for two decades. Utilizing criminal profiling for the first time, the case was finally cracked.

A spectacular read!

Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by Renee Rosen

What a beautiful cover! That alone would make me read this book!

It’s 1938, and young Estee Lauder makes face creams in her New York City apartment. She sells them at a beauty parlor and pushes her products on any woman who will listen.

Readers will cheer for this underdog who – through tenacity, determination, and grit – became the queen of the cosmetic industry. Despite the twists and turns in her professional and personal life, Estee is a textbook example of how hard work pays off.

I’m a fan of Renee Rosen’s novels, and readers may also want to check out Social Graces and Park Avenue Summer.

The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian

Following her European honeymoon, mega movie star Katie Barstow treats her best Hollywood friends to the trip of a lifetime. But the East African safari takes a grizzly turn.

Wow! I raced through this novel – equal parts thriller and travelogue. My daughter-in-law, who used to travel to Africa for work, labeled it “unputdownable.” And I agree. Be prepared for violence and gore but also an informative glimpse into the Serengeti, its residents, culture, and geography.

Whether you’re fortunate enough to have been on a safari – or a trip to Africa is on your bucket list – this book offers beautiful writing and interesting animal facts. The author, who also wrote The Flight Attendant, did a great job of weaving 1960s history into the story.

Confession: I read the last two chapters midway through the book. I couldn’t wait. I had to know which characters I should worry about.

Iona Iverson’s Rules of Commuting by Clare Pooley

For a fun ride, hop aboard London’s commuter train! Like an engine pulling out of the station, this escapist read starts slow, picks up speed, and then begins to zip along.

An assortment of early-morning commuters has little in common. They board the train, pick a seat, and bury their noses in papers and books. Until one day, a passenger chokes on a grape, and the group comes together to save him. Keep reading. I promise the story gets better and better and better.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I adored Iona. She and her fellow passengers will have you studying yourself and those around you with a much gentler eye. And the novel may inspire you to strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to you on the train or airplane or…

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

The perfect book club read, this novel offers much to unpack, discuss, and debate.

William, a broken young man, marries Julia, one of the sisters in a lovable, boisterous, tight-knit family. Julia has her entire life – and William’s too – mapped out. But life doesn’t always go according to the best-laid plans, and a family’s ties are severed.

This family drama is profound and thought-provoking. Heartbreaking and tear-jerking. A beautifully written novel, and I look forward to reading Dear Edward by the same author.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What are you reading now? (I’m reading Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.) What book is high on your reading list that you haven’t jumped into yet? (Mine is Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.) Have you read any of these or would you like to add a book to the list?

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Photo: @brynn_whitfield

Originally posted at: Brynn Whitfield’s Black Cutout Maxi Dress

In August 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its first position paper on brain health. It opens by stating:

“Brain health is an evolving concept, attracting increasing attention not only from the health sector but also from wider society, stimulating rich debate – and for good reasons. The brain and central nervous system are the command centre of the human body, controlling both conscious and unconscious body functions and thereby influencing every aspect of life.”

People become increasingly susceptible to dementia as they age. The WHO points out that population aging creates more and more cases of dementia for the health system to treat. Coping with the extra work and expense of caring for people with dementia is placing a great strain on individuals and society.

More and more people are seeing older relatives developing one or more of the many forms of dementia. And in many cases, they are actively involved in caring for someone who has the condition. The need to encourage a preventative approach to brain health in society is therefore more pressing than ever. Here are six steps we can all take to embrace that approach.

First Step: Acknowledging and Understanding

Prevention is better than cure, as the axiom goes. The first step we can take is to acknowledge in general, public discussion the very real possibility that any one of us could develop dementia. The more we can get younger people to be mindful of this risk, the better.

People generally know that if they don’t want to experience an old age of physical pain and exhaustion, they need to look after their bodies throughout their lives. It’s time we all talked about how our brain needs this kind of preventative approach just as much as the rest of our body does.

Second Step: Quality Sleep

Have you noticed how much better you feel after a good night’s sleep? And how grumpy and groggy you feel after you’ve slept badly? Scientific research now supports the idea that a good night’s sleep is critical not only to our physical health but also to our brain health.

Sleep is the time when your brain heals and renews itself at a cellular level. Good Sleep for Brain Health: Sleep Better Tonight for a Better Memory Tomorrow by Dr. Chris Wolfe discusses this topic in greater depth.

Third Step: Quality Exercise

So much has been written about how exercise affects the body as a whole. Gary L. Wenk has written an excellent book, Your Brain on Exercise, on the subject of how exercise affects the brain specifically. This book will give you plenty of motivation and ideas for keeping your brain in good shape through cardio and muscle conditioning.

But a physical workout isn’t the only type of exercise that can help your brain stay healthy. Doing purely cognitive activities is also an essential part of brain health. These can include games played with others – bridge and poker, for instance – and puzzles you do on your own, such as sudoku and crosswords.

Fourth Step: Quality Fuel

Food is our body’s fuel. What we eat is vital to our health. In September 2017, Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard University published Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy, a guide to disregarding all the myths prevalent in society about eating, and learning how to eat simply and wisely for good health, including brain health.

Eating for Cognitive Power, by John R. Torrance, is another excellent book that deals with this subject. The experts all advise eating a healthy diet of natural foods for the sake of your body and your brain.

Fifth Step: Retrain the Brain

Medical research is increasingly producing evidence that mental-health conditions such as depression and anxiety take a damaging physical toll on the brain. They also make it more difficult for us to take care of ourselves properly. Fortunately, with the right advice and support, we can retrain our brains so the thoughts they generate don’t lead us into depression and anxiety.

When I was very young – this was a time long before mental-health supports such as counseling were widely available – I decided during a very low period of my life that I wanted to feel happy rather than sad. I resolved to focus my thoughts on the better side of life and people, training my brain to look at myself and the world around me through rose-colored glasses. It wasn’t that I didn’t see the underside of humanity, simply that I chose to look the other way.

Nowadays, there are scientifically validated approaches that achieve a similar effect. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one example; it’s the technique that Seth J. Gillihan uses in his excellent Retrain Your Brain.

Sixth Step: Educate Ourselves About the Brain

The more you know about your brain, the more you understand how your lifestyle choices affect your brain health in the short and long term. The problem is, not many of us have the time or scientific background to follow the latest research publications. But there are more accessible sources of knowledge that we can turn to.

Gary L. Wenk has written an informative book, The Brain: What Everyone Needs to Know, that answers many of the questions that a curious mind might have, for instance, “What is an emotion and why do we have them?” The book is designed to make the complex biology of the brain accessible to the general reader.

Biohack Your Brain by neuroscientist Kristen Willeumier is another source of answers that I have found very helpful. It combines clinical experience and the latest research findings to show you how to improve brain performance.

Conclusions

We live in a time when the information and resources we need to keep our mental faculties sharp into old age are well within our grasp. And when you think about the consequences that population aging is already having on health services, grasping them feels more and more like a civic duty rather than a personal choice.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Are you concerned about the health of your brain? Do you want to retain your mental faculties into old age? How do you take care of your brain? What lifestyle choices have you made that nourish your brain?

Have you ever purchased a drugstore product and felt it was even better than some of its more expensive cousins? Or have you ever purchased a high-end product that just blew you away and you’ll always repurchase it?

I personally believe that there are categories of makeup products that you definitely don’t have to splurge on to get great results and there are other categories of makeup products that we’re better off spending a little more money on because the results are noticeably better. And that’s what we’ll be exploring today.

These are the factors I feel are most important to take into account when determining whether a category of makeup is worth splurging on:

1. Are the products easy to apply?
2. Do they help us look our very best?
3. Are they long lasting?
4. Are there a great many color options?
5. Are the formulas high quality?

Eyebrow Products and Eyeshadow: Splurge or Drugstore?

Eyebrow Products

Let’s start with makeup products for our eyes – specifically for our eyebrows. Some of us like very fine eyebrow pencils and others will always gravitate to powders. But I feel that, in general, eyebrow products are not worth splurging on.

Now, you may absolutely disagree because you have a high end brow product that is your Holy Grail that you’ll never part with. And I understand that we all have our personal favorite products that we won’t part with even if they’re more expensive.

However, in general, most of us can find and be very happy with an inexpensive eyebrow product. Overall, NYX, Elf and Maybelline probably make the greatest variety of good drugstore eyebrow options. So there is definitely a wide array of really good drugstore priced eyebrow products out there.

Eyeshadow

Now let’s talk eyeshadow. This category is a bit tricky because I think it really depends on how much you use and like powder eyeshadow. There are certainly lower priced eyeshadow brands that are very good, including eyeshadows from Colourpop, Juvia’s Place, Wet and Wild and many of the eyeshadow palettes from Bh Cosmetics, Elf and Milani.

But, in general, if you’re looking for the eyeshadows that are the easiest to apply, have the greatest pigment and color payoff and are more buttery, smooth and blendable, it may be worth it to splurge on perhaps one or two good quality eyeshadow palettes. And eyeshadow palettes made in Italy often have the highest quality performance.

I think there are other factors to keep in mind as well. Really lower cost eyeshadows may not be made in facilities that are as clean, and lower grade ingredients might be used that are not as safe. So if you love eyeshadow and want to invest in one or two top quality eyeshadow palettes, some of the brands to keep in mind are Huda Beauty, Natasha Denona, Pat McGrath, Sydney Grace, Oden’s Eye and Viseart. Each of these brands has exceptional formulas that glide on and consistently perform well.

Mascara, Eyeliners and Lipliners: Splurge or Drugstore?

Mascara

Our next category is mascara. Of all the different makeup categories out there, this is the category where drugstore brands really shine. Over the years, I think we’ve all found a drugstore mascara that’s been a real favorite. Maybelline, Cover Girl, L’Oreal and Essence make exceptionally good mascaras that very often outperform their high-end counterparts.

The only caveat with this category, however, would be for those of us with sensitive eyes. If our eyes are easily irritated, we may need to opt for a clean beauty brand over both drugstore and high-end mascaras.

And interestingly, what really makes the biggest difference in how a mascara performs is the brush. If you’re more interested in a lengthening mascara, a mascara that has a longer, thinner wand with plastic bristles will most likely be your best bet. If you’re more interested in creating more lash volume, a larger, fluffier brush will be a better option.

Eye and Lip Liners

Eyeliner pencils and lip liners are categories where we don’t have to splurge. Basically, these products are pretty much made by the same manufacturers. The only advantage that high-end lip liners and eyeliner pencils might give us is a wider choice of colors.

Foundation: Splurge or Drugstore?

Now, let’s move on to face products. First, foundation. There are some great drugstore foundations out there. Wet and Wild’s Photo Focus Foundation, Catrice’s True Skin Hydrating Foundation and L’Oreal’s Age Perfect Serum are some of my favorites. However, of all the makeup products we’re talking about today, this is the one makeup category where it might make the biggest difference to splurge. And I say that because foundations are just a lot more complex to manufacture.

There are more ingredients and there are more formula options such as matte, satin or dewy. And in this makeup category there has to be a wider choice of color options since our skin can be fair, light, medium, tan, or deep and each of these skin tones can have warm, cool or neutral undertones. That’s a lot of different bases to cover!

If we want to have at least one foundation that’s a perfect match for our skin, is lightweight, long-wearing, blends out beautifully and has good coverage, we are most likely to find that foundation at a higher price point. I think for many of us it’s worth it to have at least one of these really top notch, higher priced foundations on hand when we absolutely want to look our best.

Some that come to my mind immediately are Nars’ Light Reflecting Foundation, Charlotte Tilbury’s Beautiful Skin Foundation and Georgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. And a couple of top notch clean beauty options are the Kosas Revealer Foundation and Doll 10’s Skin Perfecting foundation.

Blush, Contour and Highlight: Splurge or Drugstore?

What About Blush?

I love my higher end Daniel Sandler Liquid Blushes, Rare Beauty Liquid and Cream blushes and my Doll 10 cream blushes, but drugstore brands Elf and Flower Beauty also have some great options. So for me, the category of cream or liquid blushes is a toss-up. And since I don’t use powder blushes, I can’t really comment on them. But if any of you do use powder blushes, I’d love to know your thoughts on whether it’s worth it to splurge on powder blushes.

Contours

For cream contour products, I would definitely lean toward a splurge. Usually, cream contours at a higher price point are creamier which makes them easier and faster to apply. And there’s definitely a greater range of color options from which to choose. Em Cosmetics’ cream contour stick in “Terra” is one of the best as are the Rare Beauty contour sticks. And Huda Beauty’s Tantour Contour cream is outstanding.

The one drugstore product I’ve found that would rival these higher priced products is Makeup Revolution’s Cream Contour.

Highlighter

The drugstore brand Elf has really changed the playing field in the highlighter category. If we’re talking liquid or cream highlighters, Wet and Wild’s Highlighter and Elf’s new Halo Glow Liquid Filter are excellent options.

However, I think it’s a different story with powder highlighters. In general, I think it’s worth splurging on a powder highlighter since higher priced powder products can be smoother, softer, easier to apply and create a soft glow without looking glittery. And this softer look can certainly be more flattering on our more mature skin.

Lipstick and Lip Gloss: Splurge or Drugstore?

There are great drugstore options for both lipsticks and lip glosses so I would say that this is a category where we don’t need to splurge. Flower Beauty, Wet and Wild, Revlon, L’Oreal and Maybelline all have a variety of great lipstick formulas and a wide range of colors.

Powders and Makeup Brushes: Splurge or Drugstore?

The last two makeup categories I want to cover today are powders and makeup brushes.

Setting Powder

There are some wonderful drugstore options for setting powder, including Wet and Wild and Maybelline, but it’s definitely worth the splurge to invest in a higher-end finishing powder. Finishing powder makes a noticeable difference in our final makeup look by melding all the products together with a soft, lovely glow.

And a product in this category that is the real stand out is Hourglass’ Ambient Light Finishing Powder that comes in a number of different shades and sizes.

Makeup Brushes

And finally, let’s focus on makeup brushes. The two kinds of brushes that are worth the splurge are a good foundation brush and eyeshadow brushes. Higher quality brushes are especially important to use in these two areas because they create a far more flattering makeup look, and they’ll also make the makeup application process quicker and easier.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What are your favorite drugstore products? What makeup products do you feel are worth splurging on?