#13: Missing Out
Fresh recommendations and interesting reads, straight from my brain to yours
It’s November… did you know? October was a bit of a write off, due to general illness, so November has crept up on me a bit. We’re planning a very quiet month as we have a furry houseguest by the name of Hamish. Everyone say hi Hamish!
This week’s newsletter contains: a song, various articles (make up free celebs, the rise of tanning, rosacea and exercise, the coat of dreams, a make up recommendation (and discount code!), and the best everyday earrings.
If you’d like to catch up on my recent newsletters, you can find them all HERE.
Listening: This week’s song obsession is ‘Missing Out’ by Maya Hawke. You may recognise that name: she’s in Stranger Things and is also the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. Once you know that, you can see that her face is an exact 50:50 split of them both! I’m usually a bit wary when celebs release music, but this is genuinely very good, so please deliver a large portion of humble pie directly to my office.
Reading: I really enjoyed THIS ARTICLE by Poorna Bell about Pamela Anderson’s recent make-up-free appearance on Drew Barrymore’s show. You’ve probably seen that Pamela Anderson has been going makeup free for a while now, which I love. But on her recent appearance on Drew’s show, both Drew and co-host Valerie Bertinelli also went make up free in solidarity.
It’s wild that this is considered shocking or that it made headlines, but it did. It’s 2024 and women showing up to work with their natural faces is apparently considered a revolutionary act.
Obviously, we all know that Drew Barrymore and Pamela Anderson are still what I would considered ‘natural plus’ (access to treatments, tweakments, a lifetime of being rich and privileged, as well as excellent lighting and being generally very attractive, which all helps) but things like this do push the needle. We need to see more real faces in the media, and more women talking about the pressures and ramifications that can sometimes occur when choosing a more natural look.
For the first time in my life, I can say that I would appear on TV with no make up. I wouldn’t feel great about myself and if possible would prefer to draw in my eyebrows and wear some mascara, but I now go without make up so often that I feel comfortable with no foundation or concealer.
I cannot stress this enough: Lex from 5 years ago would be utterly horrified at the thought of it. She didn’t leave the house without make up and the thought of being seen in that way would have caused her to break out in a cold sweat. But current Lex has done a lot of work (internally and externally) to get to point where I feel comfortable with what I see in the mirror.
I don’t love it, I don’t hate it, I just see my skin as another part of my body doing its job to protect me. People who’ve followed me for a while will have heard my mantra many times by now:
“Your skin does not define you, in fact it’s the least interesting thing about you.”
Wishlisting: I am coveting THIS coat from Seasalt and it is stalking me around the internet. I LOVE it. The burgundy colour, the cut, the potential to dramatically swish out of rooms… perfection.
Exercising: The fantastic National Rosacea Society has recently conducted a survey about exercise and rosacea. You can read the results HERE. Their findings were positive, with many people still choosing to exercise and finding ways to work around their rosacea. This echoes a lot of the advice given in a blog post I did with the help of some of my amazing Facebook group members. I asked for their tips for exercising with rosacea and they did not disappoint. You can read that post HERE.
Walking: Coincidentally, in the Prime sale, alongside a lot of exciting skincare, I treated myself to a walking pad. I’ve wanted one for ages, but waited for a good deal. I work from home and that means the only exercise I really get are dog walks which sounds like it would be a really good form of exercise, but in reality Douglas walks incredibly slowly and stops to sniff something every 5 seconds, so we never really get a stomp on.
It’s still early days, but I’m enjoying it - okay, not enjoying, that’s a bit much, but audiobooks are making it a lot more tolerable! I find gentle walking doesn’t aggravate my rosacea and, as I’m in my own house I can stop whenever I need to or have a fan on etc. so it feels a lot more skin-friendly than working out at a gym might. The eventual plan is for it to go in my office under a standing desk, so I can be pottering about while I’m working. If you’re interested, it’s still in the sale HERE (and if you add the voucher, it’s even cheaper!)
Wearing: You may remember that I had my ears pierced earlier this year, it was a whole thing and caused my rosacea to momentarily flip out (as you can see HERE). My ears were pierced with hideous titanium studs and I’ve been counting the minutes until I could replace them with something more exciting and after lots (LOTS) of research, I went for THESE beautiful earrings from Mejuri. I wanted some small, classic gold hoop huggies that I could wear every single day and these are perfect.
Sharing: I posted a video on instagram last week where I showed two ways to wear the Erborian CC Red Correct: as a way to tone down redness with light coverage, or as a colour-correcting primer under a higher coverage product. I also have a 20% discount code to share with you, which can be used on anything on the Erborian site (except gift sets and ongoing promotions), so if you’d like to try it - or you’re already a fan and just want to stock up on your favourites! - just use the code TALONTEDLEX20 HERE to get your discount!
(INFO: this video was a sponsored post with Erborian, but they didn’t ask me to share it here, I’m just really pleased with how this video came out and wanted to share my discount code with you!)
Reading: And finally, THIS ARTICLE from GQ about the rise in tanning among young men. I do not understand how you can have access to the incredible amount of information we have on health and science and still think it’s a good idea to tan. It genuinely baffles me.
I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but there is no such thing as a safe tan. Every change in your skin’s colour signifies damage to your cells. You are choosing (and, in the case of people who tan in a machine, paying money!!) to increase your risk of skin cancer. It’s even more baffling when I hear of people with rosacea actively tanning, even though we know that exposure to UV rays is one of the most common triggers for a rosacea flare up. Utterly bonkers.
Thank you so much for reading my newsletter, I really do love putting it together for you. I hope you enjoy the mixture of rosacea and skin related information alongside more personal, lifestyle bits and pieces. It’s so lovely to have a place where I can share all of the things that interest me and chat with you about them! As always, I’d love to hear from you: what you enjoyed about this newsletter, what you’re reading at the moment, TV recommendations, or just come say and let me know you’re here!
I agree that tanning is ABSOLUTELY BONKERS. What is even more insane is that I have colleagues that do it (sunbeds - eek!) despite working in cancer care 🙈
I also got my ears pierced (second hole in each lobe) and my rosacea went a bit crazy, too. I hadn't considered it a trigger until reading about your experience. All is well at the moment now that I have replaced them.
Thanks for your newsletter.