The Summer Slow Down
Summer has a way of making the decision for me. The light stretches longer. The pace loosens whether I planned for it or not. I find myself outside more, on the grass, in the garden, my face tipped up to the sun (with a wide brimmed UPF 50 hat on and Daily SPF Primer), and something in the season just insists that I slow down. Go simmer in it. The rushing can wait.
And this year, the slowing down reconnected me to something I have always loved. Making things at home. The vinegar cleaner I have mixed up for years, that doesn’t smell like a salad. A room fragrance I put together this summer, smells of grapefruit, orange, basil and lavender. It’s the kind that makes the whole house smell like the garden wandered inside. The making is not the new part. What is new is that I have finally started sharing them, letting these slower days pull me back into the research, the how-can-I-make-more-of-this of it all.
Because every time my hands are busy like that, it takes me straight back to how Indie Lee began. Not in a lab. At my kitchen counter, mixing by hand because I wanted to know what I was putting on my skin, and in my home.
That is the gift of a slower season. It does not pull you away from your life. It walks you back to the parts of it you loved before everything got so fast.
I used to think self-care was something to get to once the real work was done. My body, and now the summer, keep correcting me. Nourishing yourself is not the reward for the job. It is the job. I used to think quiet luxury was a look. Turns out it is a weekend with no plans other than puttering in the garden with a glass of homemade lemonade.
So let the season slow you down this month. Step outside. Make something by hand. Remember what you loved before you got so busy.
And if your skin wants the same permission, the one thing I reach for on the quiet nights is our new Barrier Boost Moisture Cream. The last step of my evening, the one that lets my skin do its quietest work while I sleep. Just soft in the morning. I promise you won’t regret using it.
XO, Indie
