By Our Bedsides, Vol. 6 – Raquel Reyes
By Our Bedsides is The Attic on Eighth’s inaugural evening series in which we share the books, beauty products, and whatever else it may be that we’re winding down with at the moment. Reviving the series, Creative Director Raquel Reyes talks us through the changes her nightstand has gone through since her first edition.
Photos by Raquel Reyes.
I’ve moved house! for starters, since our last Bedside visit. While 2017 was not the worst time, things have radically shifted since then, while some fundamentals have remained the same. I moved into an already furnished home and sadly gave up my little bedside tables (having built them in that apartment, I had no idea how heavy they truly were until they went crashing down my stairs — I miss them, sometimes, as well as that darling apartment).
My life is not hectic, the way it was then, and so my nights are not as stressful. If anything, I could say my bedside has downsized. A traveling book cart lives directly at my bedside now, and depending on mood might actually contain the necessities of my nighttime routine, or become completely covered in books. You’ve caught me on a good week.
My routine remains minimal — after cleansing (still with micellar water; currently using Yes To’s Comforting Cotton affair), I tone, with Woodlot’s Nourishing Rose Toner on good days and Origins’ Mega Mushroom Relief Soothing Lotion on dry days. I’m quite devoted to that one in winter, when it tackles all of my issues gently from dryness to itchiness to red patches. I follow with moisturiser (I’ve just run out of a Drunk Elephant sample, so I’ll have to find something new later today) and Sunday Riley's Luna sleep oil, a favorite. I finish off with Bite’s Agave Lip Mask, another favorite and a life saver in winter.
As for makeup and keepsakes, most now live on my dresser or bookshelves, so at the moment I’ve got some flowers in a found Henry VIII teapot (I find a delightful irony in being a woman with possession over his disembodied head) and an antique saucer that travels my room as a catch-all for smaller products. Lip Balm, perfume... I’ve got old ticket stubs everywhere, from university film festivals to museum passes from cities I haven’t visited in years. These are leftovers from the airport train station in Geneva, fallen out of the pile of journals that live on my bedside permanently and hold everything from lists to notes to postcards I’ve yet to find a home for.
“The truth is a decent portion of my bedside lives on my bed, including my current reads.”
I haven't read My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and so it lives there as my reminder that I need to do that SOON. Having an entire bed to myself, the truth is a decent portion of my bedside lives on my bed, including my actual current reads. I’ve just finished Emma, picked up to stave off the desperation that will probably hold until I’ve managed a time to go and see the thing, and will be jumping back into Jenn Shapland’s My Autobiography of Carson McCullers tonight, which I was obsessively reading before switching gears mid-month.
The last few things that live on my bed close out the night, after slipping into pajamas — currently a very undecided winter look, reminiscent of my California years — a giant sweater over flowy tap shorts, because I get cold, but I also get hot. I don’t know much about crystals, though having picked up this minimal deep red one at a friend’s new shop last month, I’ve become attached to its interesting facets. I'm a tangible kind of person, and have found that holding something with some weight to it works to calm me in a way that trying to do without an anchor just didn't before. I feel this way about other objects, so it wasn’t a surprising observation, but having a specific totem for the purpose of periodic reflection has helped make it into a habit. I also live by lavender pillow spray, spritzing obsessively to ease anxiety around sleep time. An old chocolate box holds headphones so they don’t tangle while unused, and a rose facial spray awaits to refresh my skin in the morning.
*All items linked and commentary my own. While I was generously gifted a copy of My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by its publisher Tin House, I have not been asked to include it in this post.
Raquel Reyes is Creative Director at The Attic on Eighth. She enjoys styling photo shoots, old fashioned cocktails, and reading every book published on a single topic she can find.
The five things we’re doing to make the most of February 2021 to reconnect with both ourselves and our loved ones after a long winter.