

We Have All The Details On Serena Williams' $800 Nighttime Beauty Routine
Serena Williams just dropped her nighttime beauty routine and it's safe to say that she can add beauty maven to her long list of accolades. While most of her time is spent slaying tennis courts around the world, the rest is spent being fabulous AF alongside her husband and adorable daughter, Olympia.
In Harper's Bazaar's latest episode of Go To Bed With Me, Serena shared that one of the ways she gets the most out of her time off is bonding with her baby girl while doing their nighttime beauty routine. Featuring high-end and budget-friendly products alike, Serena gave us the tea on how she keeps her and baby Olympia's melanin poppin' both on and off the court.
After crunching the numbers on Serena's skin-clearing beauty routine, I realized that I'm not fit. Although I would love to invest in a $300 vitamin C eye serum, the way my bank account is set up, I'm going to have to give it a hard "nah". While we may not all be venture capitalist/world-class athletes/Forbes-list level millionaires (yet), Serena says the most important key to developing an effective skincare routine is finding what works best for you. She explained:
"It is so important to make your beauty routine your own and just own it."
Get a few steps ahead of the competition by creating your own version of Serena's 7-step skincare routine:
Loving Earth Cold Pressed Oil
Harper's Bazaar/YouTube
According to Serena, there's nothing a lil' coconut oil can't fix, and when she says she uses it for everything, she means everything. Serena told Harper's Bazaar:
"The first step in my routine, when I'm taking off my makeup and coming undone, I actually do something completely different. I use coconut oil because it's amazing. I use it for everything you can think of. When I heard that oil washes were good, I'm like I've been doing that for years."
Vine Vera Vitamin C Serum
Harper's Bazaar/YouTube
Along with reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, vitamin C can help fight the effects of UV damage and can offer an anti-aging effect, and you better believe it's a part of Serena's skincare arsenal.
"I ran across this product from Vine and Vera on a babymoon in Mexico and became instantly obsessed with it. I just do a couple of dabs on my face and I always give Olympia some dabs."
Vine Vera Eye Collection Age Defying Eye Serum
Harper's Bazaar/YouTube
Although Vine Vera may be on the pricier side, their reviews don't lie, sis. Serena says that her Vine Vera eye serum is one of the few products that she uses to get discoloration all the way together. The 37-year-old athlete admitted that like most women, she notices more hair above her lip and under her chin, so she also uses this serum on areas of the face that she hopes to lighten.
Hydra-Bright Golden Eye Treatment Mask x 5
Harper's Bazaar/YouTube
If there's one thing this superstar athlete takes seriously, it's dark circles, and Serena explained that she found this effective midrange product by surprise:
"I thought it must be amazing if it's pink and gold [my favorite colors], and it actually is. I usually like to sit down in my room with Olympia and watch 'Finding Nemo' because she watches it like a million times."
MZ Skin Sooth & Smooth Collagen Activating Eye Complex
Harper's Bazaar/YouTube
Next, she uses this collagen eye complex to hydrate. Since Serena has combination/dry skin, she says that staying moisturized is key:
"Sometimes when I'm traveling, I'll put this on my whole face because I feel like whatever you're using under your eyes is super moisturizing and could work for the whole face."
Ayur Medic Enrichment Cream for Age-Prevention
Harper's Bazaar/YouTube
For ample moisture, Serena applies Ayur Medic's Enrichment Cream all over her face and neck.
Mario Badescu Facial Spray
Last but not least, she seals off her hard work with a cult favorite brand of Rose water. Serena said that after being put on by a friend, she can't stay away from her Mario Badescu Facial Spray, and even uses it as a setting spray when she wears makeup.
Check out Serena's full routine below!
Watch Serena Williams Walk Through Her Nightly Skin Routinewww.harpersbazaar.com
Featured image by Jim Spellman/Getty Images
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TW: some depictions of intrusive thoughts may be disturbing for readers.
Have you ever caught your mind drifting off to entertain the most disturbing scenarios imaginable? Maybe you can’t stop thinking of all the ways a loved one could pass away or worrying that you left every candle lit in your apartment to which you’d return to a home in ruins. If distressing ruminations like these have crossed your mind, you may be experiencing an intrusive thought.
What Are Intrusive Thoughts?
Intrusive thoughts are unwanted or distressing thoughts, images, or impulses that pop into your mind without your control or consent. These thoughts can be repetitive, unsettling, or even violent in nature, and can cause anxiety and frustration for those who experience them.
“Generally they're unwanted thoughts that come up in our head that interrupt what we're doing or thinking, and can feel very foreign,” says Adia Gooden, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist and host of the Unconditionally Worthy podcast. “It’s any thought that intrudes or interrupts what you are doing. They can be distressing and upsetting for us because it feels like we are not in control of them, and they're coming up out of nowhere and aren’t in line with how you normally think.”
What Causes Intrusive Thoughts?
Certain trauma or stress can contribute to the development of intrusive thoughts, so having a challenging experience from the past or current life situations may trigger them to form. “An intrusive thought could come in the form of a flashback, image, or a thought about something that's happened to you,” Dr. Gooden tells xoNecole. “When it gets to the point where you feel like you can't function or make clear decisions, that's when intrusive thoughts become really challenging.”
While some of the 1 billion videos found under the #intrusivethoughts hashtag on TikTok would lead you to believe that these thoughts are nothing more than casual displays of our imagination going untamed. Intrusive thoughts are more than sticking your hand in a soap dispenser, wanting to cut all your hair off at 3 a.m., or having a random impulse to eat fake bread in public.
The Anxiety & Depression Association of America reports that approximately six million individuals, equating to roughly two percent of the American population, encounter intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts are often linked with obsessive-compulsive disorders, but they can also manifest in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, or anxiety.
Examples of Common Intrusive Thoughts
Because of the explicit nature of intrusive thoughts, they tend to cause shame and internal conflict in those who experience them. Although these thoughts can differ from person to person, these ideation can consist of:
- Violent or aggressive thoughts towards oneself or others, such as harming or killing someone;
- Sexual thoughts that are unwanted or inappropriate;
- Repetitive thoughts, such as a song or a phrase that keeps repeating in your mind;
- Contamination or germ-related thoughts or the fear of contamination and getting sick;
- Religious or blasphemous thoughts, such as questioning one's faith or having thoughts that go against religious beliefs;
- Doubts or uncertainty about one's own actions or decisions, such as fear of making a mistake or fear of not doing something right.
Intrusive Thoughts and OCD
That’s why Dr. Gooden encourages everyone to understand the difference between our fleeting thoughts and impulses and true, intrusive thoughts. “What level of distress does it cause and is it something you would never consider,” she says. “If you're finding that these thoughts are getting in the way of you living your life and that you're controlled by the thoughts, those are some signs that it would be good to get some support in navigating it.”
She also emphasizes the importance of understanding that while we may not always have control over our thoughts, we can control our behavior. “On TikTok, people are sort of blaming intrusive thoughts on their behavior, and our behavior is always a choice,” she says. “If we are in our right mind and we're not having a psychotic episode, our behavior is our choice — we are not obligated to follow any given thought that we have.”
Are Intrusive Thoughts Normal?
With intrusive thoughts, it’s natural to question whether these thoughts are “normal” to have. However, these thoughts are not meant to define who you are as a person but simply indicate that you have a functioning human mind with automated thoughts that you, or any of us, can’t control. These thoughts may come, but they don’t have to be acted upon, nor do they define who you are.
“I've worked with clients in the past who say, ‘Why am I thinking these things? What's wrong with me?’ But if you're not acting on the thought, then it's probably not a huge issue,” Dr. Gooden says. “If you are thinking a harmful thought towards yourself or someone else and you are making plans to act on that thought, then yes, we need to do something about it.”
How To Manage Intrusive Thoughts
If you are struggling with managing unwanted thoughts, Dr. Aida suggests taking these tips to help manage your mindset when they occur:
- "Recognize that it's a thought and thoughts are just thoughts. We often put a little bit too much weight on our thoughts, and that can create a lot of distress. But remember that thoughts are not facts."
- "Having a thought that's disturbing or upsetting doesn't make you a bad person, and it doesn't mean that you are suffering from a mental illness."
- "Sometimes the best thing you can do is say, 'Huh, that was an interesting thought. I'm going to let that go. That thought is not helpful for me right now."
- "Ask yourself: is this helpful? Is it helpful for me to buy into this thought and believe this thought? Asking that question can be really helpful because we are not at the mercy of our thoughts. If it's not helpful, you can let it go."
Intrusive thoughts can feel bizarre and foreign when they come up, but they aren't inherently "bad." Our minds can sometimes be filled with random and inappropriate thoughts, but that's what our stream of consciousness does: it thinks. Fortunately, we can release those thoughts at any moment; you don't have to follow through with them.
And ultimately, not every TikTok diagnosis is one that we should label ourselves with.
"It's important for people to acknowledge what they're experiencing but not run too quickly to diagnose themselves with some mental illness or disorder," Dr. Gooden advises. "It ends with confusion, and we miss the opportunity to understand the people who really do have that mental health challenge."
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Featured image by Westend61/Getty Images