an evening routine built for deep sleep
how intentional wind-down habits transformed my sleep, nervous system, and nights
for some context as to why my evening routine is so damn extra, i have suffered from insomnia for much of my life and so i kid you not when i tell you i have tried almost every single possible evening wind-down ritual in the book. listed below are the ones that have stuck and that i feel actually make a difference to the quality of my sleep or mind — i’ve gone from not being able to sleep for over five hours a night to routinely getting eight hours, being able to fall asleep in less than thirty minutes, and waking up feeling refreshed.
lighting homemade candles
the first step in my evening wind-down routine is to get rid of all overhead lights. i have a mixture of tapered candles, container candles, tealights, himalayan salt lamps, sunset lamps, and regular lamps. you won’t catch me dead in the cold, hard beam of my overhead light.
if you want to make your own candles or repurpose old jars but are intimidated by the thought — let this be your sign to give it a go. it’s actually really simple!
about six months ago, i ordered a starter kit and refilled all of my old pots with soy wax and fresh wicks. since then, i’ve been tweaking the recipe to find a fragrance oil combination that i love. ‘fresh cotton’ has been a staple as it’s clean and crisp, but in my most recent batch i was craving something more autumnal and comforting, so i mixed ‘fresh cotton’ with ‘autumn wreath’. the result: every evening when i light all of my candles my room smells like warm freshly-washed sheets and cinnamon rolls. it is perfect. i’m taking fragrance oil combinations for my next batch in the comments! what kind of scents scream january? i honestly don’t know…
a luxurious shower routine
i’m a sucker for a hot, long, luxurious shower.
i must admit, most of the steps in my shower routine were gifted to me in pr. i don’t think that much of my evening routine would exist without gifting. for me, this is one of the best perks of being an ‘influencer’. and i think it works out well for my audience too — i get to try out a bunch of stuff and tell you what’s worth spending your hard-earned money on. it’s a win-win situation, in my eyes. i live in perpetual fear that i will give a bad recommendation and lose all credibility, so you best believe all of the products i rave about i genuinely do love.
all that being said, believe me when i tell you — not all of this is necessary. i’m all for a bar of dove soap. but if you’re in the mood to upgrade to some of the finer things, or just want to hear about some expensive body wash, keep reading.
first things first — a key part of my shower routine being deeply relaxing is no overhead lighting. in fact, i love to shower with just my bathroom nightlights plugged in, or in candlelight (unless i’m shaving my legs. learned that the hard way.)
first, i scrub my body with an african net sponge — it’s effective at exfoliating and doesn’t harbour bacteria in the same way as a loofah does. then, i go in with my saltair driftwood body wash on a sponge. the fragrance notes are bergamot, sage, and driftwood.
a note — i prefer to smell sultry over sweet. i stray away from the gourmand (think marshmallow, sweet vanilla, chocolate) and instead lean towards santal (think woody, spiced, floral, musky, but not overly masculine). my entire night routine is engineered around these scents.
once i have scrubbed and cleaned, my favourite part — the l’occitane shower oil. if you take any recommendation from this shower routine, let it be this one. it’s a gorgeously smooth, silky finish with a deep almond scent, and feels more hydrating than you’d expect. it’s the only body wash i’ve tried where the scent lingers post-shower.
once i’m out of the shower, i moisturise my whole body. i really hate moisturising my body. it feels like a waste of time (i am aware it’s not) and i feel cold and afraid the entire time. i know i’m not alone in this sentiment because i posted a tiktok about how i accidentally discovered a hack to moisturise my whole body in under two minutes with a body foundation brush and people went nuts. it’s a lethal hack but you do have to wash the brush regularly, so i don’t do it every day.
finish up with a body oil, because it’s the evening and the only thing i am doing is going to sleep, so i don’t have to worry about oil transferring to my clothes. hurrah! my favourite nighttime picks are the l’occitane almond oil spray (duhhh) or the brunel renewal oil. i bought this because it smells like every spa i’ve ever been in and i wanted to feel like i was in my own little spa. the top notes are lily of the valley and eucalyptus, the mid note is lavender, and the dry note is green cedarwood. you get it.
comfy cozy pjs
next — i change into my fave pjs.
my favourite pjs in the world are the skims soft lounge sleep set. i made a completely unsponsored video confessing that i literally wear them every single night and it went viral. i made skims a lot of money with this video. i think in the end i sold about $30,000 worth of the skims pjs. you’re welcome, skims.
that is my testament. and the fact that not one person who ordered them returned them. no one has anything bad to say, which is slightly unfortunate because part of you wants it to not be worth the money. i spend just about every night in my skims pjs. if i’m not wearing the long sleeve soft lounge sleep set, i’m wearing the short sleeve version, or if i’m wearing a lot of body oil, i’m wearing the boyfriend t-shirt and loose pant. if it’s hot outside, i’m wearing the 100% cotton sleep set, which is so good that they seem to have removed it from the website. sad.
red light mask
next up is my red light treatment. this is done on a fresh, clean face, so after i’ve washed my face in the shower and changed into my pjs, i do my red light. i use the therabody one and i love it, but it is honestly the only one i’ve tried. since being consistent with it, i’ve noticed such a difference in my dark spots and the frequency of new breakouts. it’s a cordless twelve-minute cycle of red light, infrared light, and blue light, and does a vibrating head massage at the same time. super zen.
evening beverage
if there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that i love an evening beverage. i’m british, so it used to be tea every single night — peppermint or ginger & turmeric or chamomile or some other non-caffeinated concoction. as of this winter, i have a new favourite beverage — a hot turmeric latte. morning made sent me a pr package a few months ago and i haven’t looked back since.
i put a heaped teaspoon of the latte mix and blend it with hot vanilla almond milk. the result is a creamy, slightly spiced, slightly sweet wind-down beverage. plus, despite having a turmeric latte every night for months, i genuinely don’t feel as though i’ve made a dent in the tin. it feels like a lifetime supply and i will be repurchasing with my own money once i make it through!
if you want to try anything from there, you can shop through this link and i’ll earn a small commission. this is not sponsored at all! i really do love their products and rave about them alllll the time.
foot cream
this is where things get a little weird. and perhaps wintery. i read somewhere (aka i watched a tiktok) where someone recommended magnesium hand and foot cream as a wind-down ritual. when my friend was visiting recently, she came with some goodies and gave me this magnesium night balm from verden. it smells absolutely heavenly. i slather it on my feet about thirty minutes before i go to sleep. don’t know if it makes much of a difference to the quality of my sleep, but it makes a difference to the softness of my feet, so that much is a win for me.
supplements
as i mentioned, i have tried almost everything when it comes to sleep aids. i absolutely refuse to take sleeping pills. the one thing that has helped me a ton — the supplement that i was sure was a complete gimmick — is lemme sleep. each gummy has about 2.5mg of melatonin, which is not too strong, and it also contains 10mg of magnesium, 25mg of l-theanine, and a small herbal blend of chamomile, elderberry, and lavender. another that i love if i really want a good night’s sleep is the reset mode from timebeam beauty — this is designed to support your sleep and your skin from the inside out. it contains 128mg of magnesium, 150mg of l-theanine, and some resveratrol and cermides for your skin. it’s also fun to take — like one of those powders that you pour on your tongue, and it’s sugar-free and cherry flavoured.
books
the best part of my evening wind-down ritual. also the best part because it is free (with a library card). time to read!!!!! there is truly nothing better than a good book and i love spending my evenings screen-free (kindles don’t count, fyi). blow out all of your candles, turn off all eight of your lamps, and snuggle up with your magnesium feet and skims pjs and escape into another world before you get the best damn sleep of your life.
what are your favourite wind-down rituals?
Ten minutes of yoga before I go to bed always helps me. I can’t even think about going to sleep without reading. And recently I’ve occasionally been listening to yoga nidra sessions if I need to switch off before I can go to sleep - I don’t think I’ve got to the end of one yet…
Journaling and reading is a few!