If 2017 was the Year of the Dirtbag, I’m hoping 2018 is the Year of the Clean Start. This week I was thrilled to be featured in Apartment Therapy for my ideas on getting rid of things that don’t work for you and your home—a major theme in my upcoming book—and I’m on a cleaning tear in my own house. Out with the clutter, the the messy piles, the yuck.
My dream for 2018 is for life to feel like this.
Or this.
This ain't bad.
Neither is this.
BWAHAHAHAHA. Kidding...There is no way 2018 is going to look this good 100% of the time, at least not in my house. BUT, if you look closely, all of these clean and uncluttered kitchens and baths have a few things in common:
Lots of light.
A good amount of white space.
They’re not littered with products and packages that yell at you, or other visual noise-makers.
So I’m going to try to keep those principles in mind as I go about my decluttering and decorating. On the topic of #3, I’ve previously explained my neurosis around neutral-colored toiletries. But they’re surprisingly not easy to find. So today, in hopes of getting us all closer to these minimalist-spaces-of-our-dreams, I’m rounding up six beauty and cleansing lines I love not just because they work, but because the product can happily remain out in the open without making your space look like the bottom of a trash chute.
1. Murchison-Hume Clean Starter Kit, $42, Nordstrom. 2. Shamanuti Activated Charcoal Cleanser, $28, Petit Vour. 3. Herbivore Botanicals Jasmine Glowing Hydration Body Oil, $44, Sephora. 4. Aesop Reverence Aromatique Hand Balm, $27, Nordstrom. 5. Farmaesthetics Sweet Soy Bath & Beauty Oils, $27 each, farmaesthetics.com. 6. Barr & Co. Reserve Liquid Soap, $28, Candles Off Main.
- Murchison-Hume is a cleaning-products line I admittedly discovered via Instagram. I was like, whaaaat are those amber-colored spray bottles I see on every pretty kitchen image out there? Then I got a whiff of the fig scent and died.
- Shamanuti is an all-natural skincare line to which I was introduced by my friend Alisa. (Fun fact: Her home makes a cameo in Your Home, Your Style!) This charcoal cleanser changed my rough and blemish-prone skin, no joke, and it's now a fixture on my bathroom sink.
- Herbivore's Jasmine oil just mayyyy have turned me into a body-oil believer.
- Aesop's hand cream? Let's just say I there are restaurants I have gone to primarily because they put Aesop products in the loo.
- Farmaesthetics is a line I discovered a decade ago while working as a magazine beauty editor, on the hunt for pure, pretty, handmade products to include in home-spa roundups. And oh, this fit the bill.
- Barr & Co.'s heavenly-smelling and photogenic soaps and lotions came on my radar via the cutest boutique in North Carolina last year, and it's been love ever since.
Have you tried any of these lines? What do you think? Are there any others you love not just for their function and scent, but for their looks, too?
