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Whether we are escaping the mundanity of our restricted lives or the messiness of our social media feeds, a woman’s nighttime routine has become a much-needed tool to disconnect and relax. In this series “How I Wind Down…”, we speak to a lot of different women about how they prepare for a restful evening.
In the How I Wind Down series, we’ve talked to many women for their night time routines; models who spend hours in front of the camera, multi-disciplined content creators, and even a sleep expert. For October – which happens to be Mental Health Awareness month in Australia – it felt fitting to spotlight men and women who are championing better mental health and mindfulness. That’s how Marie Fe and Jake Snow came across my desk.
After amassing over one million followers on Instagram, the travel content creators who are currently based in Bali, Indonesia, set their sights on a tech start up. After using the Bloom app for some time, the couple were given the opportunity to own part of the business along side Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Manny Barbas and James Hachem.
“We’ve been in the social media game full time now for over 4 years,” the couple told GRAZIA. “As much as we love it and we try to help our audience benefit from all of the positive aspects it has, we know that also has a dark side. At times, social media can be overwhelming and distracting, it can also leave a lot of us feeling like we aren’t enough when we fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others.
They continued, “Using the Bloom app for meditation, self-care, journaling, yoga, breath work and practicing gratefulness has played a major role in keeping us focused, calm, positive and motivated, even when our industry is sometimes pushing us to feel the opposite. Bloom was a game changer for us!”
After all the stresses of lockdown and thus the anxieties of our new-found freedom, the pair are urging everyone to get involved with using the app. Now that international borders are open (finally), Fe and Snow discuss not only their own night time routines, but how they travel and use the Bloom app for an accessible tool in managing mental health on the go.
GRAZIA: Can you describe your night-time skincare routine?
“Our skincare routine at night is very simple, we just use a cleansing water solution with a reusable cleaning pad and wipe our faces right before bed. This gets rid of dead skin and cleanses our pores so that our skin doesn’t stay dirty overnight. I (Marie) will also often use a cleanser from my favourite brand @baborofficial which I find really helps keep my skin clear and breakout free.”
How do you wind down after a busy day on the road?
“After a busy day, we like to have a shower and then cosy up in bed. We love to dim the lights and watch a bit of Netflix before shutting off one hour before bedtime. We usually make chamomile tea and stretch a little bit in bed while listening to some soft ambient sounds from the @bloomapp, and then we just chat about random things until we fall asleep!”
How do you know when you’re feeling burnt out? What do you do to combat that?
“The tell-tale signs of a burn out coming on for me (Marie) are things like feeling overwhelmed even with small tasks, when I start feeling tired even after a good eight-hour sleep, when I start to get temperamental with Jake for no apparent reason and I stop my healthy habits like journaling and meditation. A burnout mostly comes on for me when I feel too much pressure from other people. I’m a people pleaser and I get really overwhelmed when I feel like I will let people down.
“When I feel this way, shutting off my phone and not checking any notifications is the best remedy. Jake and I recently had a seven day social media and phone detox. We didn’t check any social media, messages, emails or anything and it was incredible. We literally only used our phones to do some guided meditations on the @bloomapp and to listen to our favourite podcasts. I felt like a completely new person after that, we’ll definitely be doing a detox like this more often in the future.”
How would you use the Bloom App in the evenings?
“We mostly use the Bloom app in the morning when we wake up to set a good foundation for our day ahead, we journal and log our moods and check off our daily habit goals.
“In the evenings we often go into the Sleep Library and listen to soft visual meditations or ambient sounds to help us drift off to sleep.”
Wherever you are, how do you set up your space to assist in falling asleep?
“We have spent the last couple of years really trying to focus on improving our sleep. Most people underestimate the importance of quality sleep, it has such a huge impact on so many areas of our lives, including our mood. We notice really quickly when we aren’t getting a good quality sleep and it can cause tension in our relationship so we try to do a few of these things before we go to bed:
- Go to bed at the same time every night so that our bodies recognise naturally when we should be getting tired.
- We both try to avoid our screens for at least one hour before we want to fall asleep and Jake wears blue lens glasses as soon as the sun goes down.
- We dim the lights and prepare a chamomile tea and then we put a bit of ambient background noise from the @bloomapp and chat until we get tired and fall asleep.
- Jake has his Apple watch alarm set on vibrate to wake up softly at the same time every day, this allows us to sleep easy and not worry about sleeping and missing an important meeting.”
What time do you go to sleep?
“We aim to go to bed between 10:30pm and 11pm most nights which gives us seven to seven and-a-half hours sleep if we wake up at 6am.”
