Inner Peace

No need to chant mantras, do yoga poses, meditate or hole up at a retreat. It can be found in a bottle, jar, vial or tube in your bathroom. The contentment you get from these mood boosters is real.

- Kayce Teo

I’m a practical person. To me, yoga is a muscle-toning exercise. Meditation, though proven to benefit one’s psyche, remains a luxury for people with time to spare. A retreat? I’m lucky if I can get a few minutes of quiet time.

When it comes to beauty products, I have only two questions: Does it work? And how effective is it? Bonus points if I like the fragrance. Unscented? Good for people with sensitive skin; I’m not fussed. Texture? As long as it isn’t greasy.

So whenever friends talk about how using certain skincare makes them feel very nua (Hokkien for “slack”, or “supremely relaxed”), my brain goes into overdrive. I run through the list of products I’ve tried, and I panic. Have I been paying enough attention to all my senses when using these products?

How can a beauty product bring about inner peace? It has to do more than just smell great and have a sensorial texture. It has to lift your mood and make you feel that everything’s going to be okay – at least for the rest of the day. It has to, dare I say it, make you feel happier – even just a little. It has to give you the feeling that nothing will go wrong – and even if it does, you can deal with it. Better yet if it has such wholesome ingredients that using it makes you feel good – the same way skipping plastic straws helps you feel you’ve done something for the environment.