By Anastasia Bezrukova
What do you think of when you hear the word Minimalism? Is it a clean, modern-looking apartment without knick-knacks, and perfectly coordinated furniture from West Elm? Is it an all-neutral capsule wardrobe with matching luxury leather bags? Or is it an instagrammable bathroom selfie with a collection of trending skincare products?
My practice of minimalism doesn’t quite look like that. I don’t think any two people’s version of minimalism looks alike, and that’s okay. So, let me start by defining my personal definition of Minimalism.
At 31 years old, living in a charmingly old apartment in San Francisco, with my husband and my cat, while trying to grow a small beauty startup, minimalism means making space for what matters most to me and practicing being present in this space.
In other words, my practice of minimalism equates to the removal of noise, junk, distractions or anything that can unnecessarily complicate my day-to-day life.
Here are a few basic ways I practice minimalism in my life:
Slow Mornings
As an Aries whose impulsive and anxious energy could power a small city, my mornings can easily derail into attacking a long to-do list of emails and slack messages from the moment I wake up. The more I try to cram work into the first hours of the day, the less real progress I end up making. So about a year ago, I decided to declutter my mornings from my endless to-do lists and my high expectations and take a bit of time away from ‘’doing’’ anything until about 10 am!
Instead, I read, drink coffee, meditate and do some lazy sit ups on my yoga mat while listening to Stromae in my office. Making space for myself this 2021 resulted in reading 20 books, meditating for a total of about 80 hours, and achieving some semi-defined abs...my morning routine resulted in the best hours of ‘’being’’ and not ‘’doing’’ anything I could have ever asked for.
An Easy Style
I love beautiful clothes, but after several years of trying to spend money on trendy outfits, I decided that I would rather spend my energy elsewhere (like building my startup!). My wardrobe which fits into two small carry-on suitcases consists of a mix of essentials that I wear non-stop. Working from home, in my chilly SF home office, I’m almost always layered up in my Patagonia zip-up sweater. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see me wear the same dresses from Amour Vert and BA & SH on almost all my IG lives. If you see me at a bar, I’ll most likely be in my pair of pleather pants from Aritzia that I have worn for 4 years straight. So when it comes to fashion, I practice minimalism by investing into pieces I can wear again and again, enjoying rocking my SF Patagonia uniform as much as a beautiful silk dress. (P.S I’m not perfect..and still bought at least 5 things this year that ended up getting donated because they were impulse buys of not great quality or fit.)
Minimalist Beauty
Well, no surprise here :P I keep my beauty routine quite simple. On the makeup side, I’ve got everything figured out with my Minori products: Orchid blush, Champagne highlighter, Cozy lip gloss are my go-tos for most days! With skincare I’m still struggling with hormonal acne, so there is always something new in rotation in my medicine cabinet in the form of a spot treatment. To keep my skin exfoliated I use my AHA from Paula’s choice and moisturized and glowing thanks to my Common Heir Vitamin C Serum, or a serum by Dr. Elsa Jungman. I’m religious about my Elta MD tinted sunscreen (Dreaming of the day when Minori can launch a tinted SPF so I can switch to a cleaner formula!).
Over the past two years, I’ve also stopped getting my nails done at the salon. It saves me time and money to keep my nails short and painted with a clear top coat, or just buffed with my Bare Hands Essentials nail file. While keeping the general routine simple, I still get Botox once or twice a year..and occasionally spend $200 on a facial. Does that make me full of contradictions? I think it makes me human: choosing to invest energy into certain things, while simplifying other areas of my life.
So to close this off, I think that we are all minimalists in our own ways. There are small places in your life, where we choose to make space and choose to be more present. In the noisy world of social media, content, brand launches and things to buy (which we contribute to undeniably!), I hope that Minori plays a positive role in inspiring you to make space for what matters most to you.
Tonight, I chose to make space to write this piece. Thank you for reading and making space for my words.
Ana