What is your love language to yourself?
Self-care, always. Red light therapy, face masks, eye patches, lymphatic drainage, a long shower, doing my skincare slowly, making myself something nourishing, putting my phone away. Anything that makes me feel like I’m taking care of myself instead of rushing through my life.
Describe your ideal Towel Time. Be as descriptive as you can.
My ideal Towel Time is that feeling when you’ve just gotten out of the shower after being at the beach all day. Your skin has a fresh color, you’re a little tanned and glowy, your hair is still wet, and you’re wrapped in a towel with nowhere you need to be right away. You put on music, sit there for a little bit, do your skincare, maybe have eye patches on, and slowly start doing your makeup with absolutely no rush. It’s that really calm, effortless part of getting ready where you still feel fresh from the day, your skin looks good, the music is perfect, and you’re just enjoying the process instead of trying to get to the finished look.
What’s the best song to play in a towel?
Something really vibey and ’70s that you can kind of melt into while you’re getting ready. Or polar opposite and it’s a lot of Pop Smoke. lol.
Your friends would say you are “Most Likely To…”?
- Response #1: Hype up a total stranger in a bathroom.
- Response #2: Not sleep for days and still make it to the club with your besties + be the last one standing.
What is a bad habit you don’t intend to drop?
A drunk cigarette :/
What’s the one product you’d use if you could only wear “a little” of anything?
Lip liner. I could genuinely be wearing nothing else and feel put together with a little lip liner.
What meal do you eat to feel the best?
I love to cook, so honestly something I’ve made myself. Usually homemade sourdough in the morning with some sort of egg variation and avocado. I feel best when I’m eating real food that’s nourishing but still actually tastes good. I never want “healthy” food to feel sad.
…and drink?
Water with a lot of ice. I know I’m boring and picky, sorry.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
That you don’t have to have everything figured out before you start. I can be such a perfectionist, and I’ve learned that sometimes you just have to begin, trust your instincts, and let yourself figure it out along the way.
…and the best piece of beauty advice too?
Enhance what you have instead of trying to cover it up. The more I’ve gotten into beauty, the more I think the goal shouldn’t be to look like you’re wearing a lot of makeup—it should be to look like the best, healthiest, most alive version of yourself. That philosophy is basically the heart of opiccola too.
“Enhance what you have instead of trying to cover it up.”
Is there a beauty ritual that’s been passed down in your family?
I think more than one specific ritual, it’s the idea of taking care of yourself. Beauty was always around me growing up, but I think what stuck with me was that getting ready can be a ritual. Skincare, hair, makeup—it can be this really feminine time you take for yourself rather than something you’re doing for other people.
Has anyone ever told you something about your beauty that changed how you saw yourself?
I think hearing that I look the prettiest when I’m wearing the least makeup genuinely changed how I thought about beauty. When I was younger, I thought more makeup automatically meant you looked better. Now I feel most like myself when you can still see my skin, my freckles, all the little things that make my face mine.
What is the best compliment you ever received?
That I make people feel comfortable enough to be completely themselves around me. Being told something about the way people feel around you stays with you and impacts you in a really meaningful way.
When do you feel most beautiful?
Probably after a day in the sun, when my skin has a little color, my hair is air-dried, I’m wearing almost no makeup, and I’m genuinely happy. Or after I’ve taken really good care of myself for a few days—sleeping, eating well, moving my body—and you can almost see that feeling from the outside.
If you could bottle up a feeling or moment, what would it be?
That feeling of being somewhere in Europe in the summer at golden hour, after a long day in the sun, freshly showered and getting ready for dinner. Your skin is warm, the windows are open, music is playing, your friends are getting ready around you, and you know the whole night is still ahead of you. That exact feeling of being completely present and excited about your life. That’s the feeling I’d bottle.