Yesterday, I was on the phone with my sister, who lives and is quarantined in Buenos Aires. She was complaining that so many different things around the house needed fixing.

As she was telling me about her broken electric oven, her television and cell phone malfunctions, I immediately thought of Mercury retrograde and looked up the dates for this year. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Mercury has been in retrograde since June 18th.

I had the pleasure of sounding like a seasoned astrologer, which I am certainly not since my incursions into astral influence are limited to reading the occasional horoscope in a magazine at the doctor’s office.

But this time, quite sure of myself, I blamed all of my sister’s problems on Mercury being in retrograde motion. She took a second to absorb what I was saying and then we laughed. “I knew there was a reason for all these misfortunes!” she said.

I learned about Mercury retrograde last year in a similar phone conversation with my friend Diane who lives in Manchester. I told her about my air conditioner’s compressor, which had malfunctioned in 90-degree Miami heat, my television, which turned on and off at random, and Siri, who spoke to me without any provocation in the middle of the night.

The A/C had to be repaired, but both the TV and my phone “healed” themselves in a few days without any intervention. Diane, who is very interested in and serious about astrology, gave me the answer. Yes, you guessed it: Mercury retrograde was in full steam.

I’ve always admired her conviction and her vast knowledge on the subject of how the other planets affect us here on Earth, so I thought I’d dig deeper.

Do Astrologers Have the Answer?

It turns out that three or four times a year, the planet Mercury goes in retrograde motion – that is, it appears to move in an opposite direction to planet Earth. The same thing happens when our planet passes Mercury in our orbit around the Sun.

In fact, however, Mercury is just moving slower than Earth, creating the visual illusion that it’s moving in retrograde – much like when we’re travelling by car parallel to a train and the train seems to be going backwards. That’s the simplest explanation I have found.

Mercury Retrograde Is All About Communication

Mercury retrograde is blamed for everything from miscommunication here on Earth to technological bugs, botched business deals, scams, missed flights, mechanical issues with our cars, or even a broken cell phone.

Astrologers believe that you should take extra care during this time, and many enthusiasts say you should think twice before buying a new phone, home appliance, computer, or a car.

They also advise to take precautions with the things you have; keeping your phone in a safe place and making sure that your water bottle is kept well away from your computer, for instance. It is also not a good time to sign any business deals or hold relationship-defining conversations.

Mercury Retrograde, Covid-19, and the Beginning of Lockdown

Checking the dates when Mercury was retrograde in 2020 – which was from February 17 until March 10^th – and the early stages of the pandemic, I realized that this celestial event may have had an effect on communications and relationships right from the start.

I shuddered as I remembered the frantic interactions with family and friends in the beginning of lockdown when we acknowledged the importance of Skype, Zoom, and Facetime to communicate with our loved ones.

Sometimes we were successful and sometimes it was difficult to communicate as we learned how to use the many online tools. We suddenly realized that they were indispensable and a blessing in these unusual times.

Flights Delayed and Cancelled

As the coronavirus took over the world, many people could not return home and had to ‘shelter in place’ wherever they were. I was expected to fly from Miami on March 16th to meet my daughter and grandchildren in New York.

They were coming from Ottawa to celebrate a birthday, and we were planning all sorts of fun things, including watching Hamilton on Broadway. Instead of flying, however, I decided to stay home and prepare for my own isolation.

I’m still in shock, thinking that had I taken that flight, I could have been forced to stay in New York locked down in a hotel in Manhattan until now – my daughter without her husband, my grandchildren away from their home and me.

Mercury Backtracks Again

After a short break, Mercury went retrograde again on June 18th and will remain so until July 12th. The astrologers seem to think that when Mercury is in retrograde it gives us a chance to slow down, to reconsider, to be grateful and mindful, and to take things slower.

Also, to be kind, thoughtful, and to communicate with our friends, even those we haven’t seen or heard from in years. To be cautious with our relationships and make an effort not to hurt with our words or with our actions.

This is where our time in isolation pays off. For several months now we’ve had the time to ponder, to be introspective, and grateful. Whether we believe or even understand astrology, we can agree that this is good advice. The next Mercury retrograde will be from October 14th until November 3. Be prepared.

I’ve Become a Believer!

Mercury is in retrograde as I write this. I’m watching my computer and phone like a hawk. Fortunately, I’m not driving much, so I guess my car is OK. My relationships with those I care about are in good shape, and I have spoken with people I haven’t seen in quite a while.

My gratitude journal is flowering daily with what I am fortunate enough to have. I am paying attention. If you would like a more professional approach to the matter of the planets, there is plenty to read on the subject. Read up and enjoy, I’m sure your further research will be interesting.

Has Mercury retrograde caused you any communication problems? Are you interested in astrology? Tell us your experience with this astrological phenomenon!

For many people, the past few months of quarantine have been a time to re-evaluate how they spend their time and money, how they decorate their home, which type of bread they want to bake from scratch on any given day, and, more recently, how they approach and advocate for race relations and anti-racism efforts in America (about time, don’t you think?). For me, in addition to those things (save for the bread), it’s also been a moment to step back and reflect on my beauty habits—or, rather, recent lack thereof, thanks to some standout quarantine beauty products. I know what you’re thinking: “But, Becca, beauty is your beat…” And you’re absolutely right.

As a beauty writer (and former editor), I’ve been sent just about every product under the sun—and if I haven’t tested it firsthand (whether on my face, forearm or back of my hand), I’ve read all about it. While this is most definitely one of the perks of the job, it’s also—wait for it—one of the biggest stresses. Major first world problem, but hear me out.

Living in a 600-square-foot New York City apartment where roughly 250 square feet of it are solely mine, products have a tendency to pile up. Everywhere I look, there’s some relic of beauty. Retinol and exfoliating acids, sheet masks and mud masks, toners and essences, serums and creams—every surface in my bedroom and office nook features more than a few, and my vanity is fully covered in bottles, tubes, and jars waiting to be explored.

Let’s be clear: I love to try new products—and it’s a privilege to be given the opportunity to test them out for free. But at the same time, it’s also something that makes it incredibly difficult to stick to a set routine—something that’s super important for someone with sensitive, reactive skin (hi, hello). After all, with new products arriving every day and expectations of actually testing them all out, it’s easy to get in the habit of switching up my AM and PM regimens to follow suit, only to wonder why my skin (and recycling bin—so much packaging) then freaks out in the process. 

Allow me to reiterate: This isn’t to complain, it’s to explain.

Source: Instagram

On my worst days—which were at the height of my being sick for weeks on end—the abundance of products was enough to make me take one look at my overflowing vanity, only to feel paralyzed by decision fatigue, which in turn left me backing away slowly without so much as cycling through a simple C-T-M (cleanse, tone, moisturize, y’all—the basics). This response to such privilege made me realize one thing: Something needed to change. Fortunately, understanding the need for change lined up perfectly with the week leading into quarantine. 

At the time, lockdown orders had yet to be set in New York and my parents (despite my being in my late 20s; oof, the first time I’ve written that one out) were worried about the potential of such a thing happening, knowing full well that, given I’d been starting to feel quite cramped in my small city dwelling, I’d likely lose my mind. As a result—bless their hearts—they drove to the city to scoop me up with less than 24 hours notice as the health crisis began to rapidly progress (to be fair, I had been self-quarantining, so there wasn’t a risk of spread), a privilege for which I’m both aware and extremely grateful.

In preparation for what I thought would surely only be a couple of weeks away (big LOL), I decided there was no time like the present to redefine my beauty habits. And, in doing so, I chose to start with the basics: my two favorite cleansers (HoliFrog Kissimmee Vitamin F Therapy Balmy Wash and HoliFrog Como Popp-E Renewal Scrubby Wash), two highly-coveted treatments (Tatcha Violet-C Brightening Serum 20% Vitamin C + 10% AHA and Shani Darden Skin Care Retinol Reform), two glow-inducing moisturizers (Shani Darden Weightless Oil-Free Moisturizer and Marc Jacobs Beauty Youthquake Hydra-full Retexturizing Gel Crème Moisturizer), one tube of sunscreen (Tatcha Silken Pore Perfecting Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 35 PA+++), and my desert-island-must-have lip balm (BITE Beauty Agave+Nighttime Vegan Lip Therapy). It might not seem simple, but for someone typically surrounded by over a hundred products, often incorporating oven a dozen into her daily routine, eight is a welcome refresher. 

Rebecca Norris.

When I arrived in Virginia, I committed to using these eight products regularly, with the balmy cleanser, vitamin C, one of the moisturizers, SPF, and lip balm daily; retinol every other night; and the exfoliating cleanser paired with the balmy one twice a week. And, all praise the skincare gods, it worked. My skin hasn’t looked this happy in months (if not years). Of course, I also chalk that up to going makeup-free for the duration of quarantine—not to mention the markedly better air quality in suburban Virginia compared to metropolitan New York.

Part of what made this process so streamlined was the fact that 1) I put my skincare on my to-do list every day so that it’d give me an incentive to actually do it, and 2) I wasn’t being sent a jillion mailers that I felt pressured to test out and find a home for ASAP.

Rebecca Norris.

As the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months, however, the mailers started resurfacing. The difference was, now that I had a set routine in place—not to mention space to store all the products—the stress wasn’t a by-product of the unboxings. Instead, I’ve been able to slowly incorporate new products—I’m currently obsessing over Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm, Juice Beauty PREBIOTIX Instant Flash Facial, Freck Cactus Water, Loops Beauty Hydrogel Face Masks, and Pixi Beauty Lipglow—into my routine while testing others on my hands and forearms as I always have.

All this is to say, if you’ve been feeling stuck or bogged down by your beauty routine—something that should ultimately be a moment of self-care and love—it might be time to Marie Kondo the ish out of it. Get back to the basics and figure out what you want to add in from there. And, if you (like me), don’t want to pare down to the bare minimum, simply research which products will have the biggest impact on your skin and ways to keep them as organized as possible so that they remain a source of joy instead of an eye-sore of product overload.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Those who wear false lashes on the regular know they’re not all cruelty-free. Sometimes it’s even hard to identify which are synthetic and which are made from mink fur. Well, that’s about to get easier. Sephora will ban mink fur eyelashes going forward, only selling faux-fur lashes once its mink ones are all sold out. This comes after a PETA campaign showed the poor treatment of caged animals in fur farms.

“Following a PETA campaign and emails from more than 280,000 concerned shoppers, Sephora has confirmed that it has banned mink-fur eyelashes and will purchase only synthetic or faux-fur lashes going forward,” a statement from PETA reads. “Mink fur typically comes from fur farms, where stressed minks frantically pace and circle endlessly inside cramped wire cages and many languish from infections or broken or malformed limbs.”

Per the Independent, a rep from Sephora confirmed the news. “At Sephora, we have always been committed to upholding the highest standards of beauty, and we take our responsibility to communicate transparently and honestly with our clients about the products we carry seriously,” the statement reads. “As we shared with PETA, earlier this year we had already decided to begin phasing mink products out of our assortment in 2020. We have only ever offered products our clients can trust and we stand by the people and partners who have made the Sephora experience what it is today.”

Image: Anastasia Beverly Hills.

Luckily, some of the best lashes out there are made with faux fur. Tarte, Urban Decay and Anastasia Beverly Hills all sell vegan and cruelty-free lashes that look just as great as mink ones. And they don’t hurt any animals in the process. Yes, we just gave you another reason for a Sephora run.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.