Polla Sisters – Page 2 – Adamant About Beauty

One Product, Every Single Morning

April 3, 2019April 3, 2019Beauty2 Comments

Growing up, some might say my parents were quite “lenient.” My sisters and I never had curfews. We were never forbidden from going to parties or having parties at home. We were allowed to have a sip of champagne for special occasions before the legal age.

However, there were some rules that we had to follow to the letter. Good grades in school (just because). No smoking (because it ages you). No tattoos (because they don’t always look good when you’re older). No desserts (because sugar ages you). And no sun, no tanning, no sunburns (because the sun is your enemy – at best it ages you, at worst it kills you).

From an early age, we were taught to wear hats, sunglasses, and a moisturizer with SPF. Every single day. To this day, I cannot walk out of my house without a product with SPF, regardless of weather, season, temperature.

Here’s why:

The sun ages your skin – this is called photo-aging, or UV-induced skin aging. Think dark spots, fine lines, broken capillaries, laxity of the skin.
Chronic sun exposure increases your risk of skin cancer (even without sunburns). Indeed, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation: “Both intermittent, intense exposure (the kind you get on vacation on a sunny isle, often leading to sunburn) and chronic lifetime exposure add to skin cancer risk. Studies have shown that chronic sun exposure is most associated with the development of squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common skin cancer, while both chronic and intense, intermittent exposure are believed to play a role in basal cell carcinoma, the most common skin cancer.”
Darker skin types, while not as prone to skin cancer as lighter skin types, should also wear SPF protection daily to prevent dyspigmentation.
UVA and UVB are both nefarious to the skin. SPF is a measure of UVB protection only – it does not address UVA. Make sure any product with SPF you use is “broad spectrum”, the official indication that the product will protect your skin from both wavelengths.
What SPF number should you look for? My father always said SPF 20+ is perfect for “normal life.” Per the Skin Cancer Foundation states: “In vitro tests have shown that SPF 15 sunscreens filter out 93 percent of UVB rays, while SPF 30 protects against 97 percent and SPF 50 98 percent.”
Chemical screen or physical block? You choose – what matters is that you use a product with SPF 20 or above every single day.
My pick? You guessed it: Alchimie Forever Protective day cream SPF 23. In addition to containing SPF protection, this lightweight moisturizer is packed with antioxidants including blueberry and edelweiss extracts, and vitamin C. No ashiness, no oily residue, no shine. Just antioxidant and SPF protection.

Every single day.

Tinos Countdown

June 5, 2018My life5 Comments

In June, I count the days. The days until I am eating a Greek salad and drinking a glass of rosé at my favorite café at the Port of Rafina, in Athens, awaiting the ferry that will take me to my happy place, the island of Tinos. There, for two weeks, I will enjoy the sand, the sun, the sea, I will swim and read and eat and think and write and sleep.

In addition to counting the days, I relish the weeks leading up to that day and the anticipation by preparing for my trip in very specific ways. Here is my vacation preparation routine.

I like to have 5-10 books to read during this two-week period – both fiction and non-fiction, both what one might consider “trash” and business books. On my list so far are The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Who is Rich, In the Name of Gucci, Off the Clock, The Verdun Affair, Principles, and more.
Bathing suits. New year, new bikini. My collection is slowly but surely growing. I love Volcom, VIX, and Roxy.
Even if I have any left from last summer, I purchase new sunscreen every year (it expires and all that). Of course, daily, the Alchimie Forever Daily Defense SPF23. And in addition to that, LaRoche Posay’s Anthelios Nourishing Oil SPF 50+ and Coola Sport Face SPF50 White Tea Organic Sunscreen Lotion.
Beach body. I strive to eat healthy year-round, but in June I pay particular attention. More water, more vegetables, no carbs or sugars (I make an exception for champagne and wine), less cheese. And hopefully a three-day JRINK juice cleanse…
Beauty appointments. The week before I leave, I make sure to get my eyebrows waxed (thank you Erwin and Karma!), have a pedicure (choosing a particularly exotic nail polish shade), and do a full body polish (this, at home, with Aveda Beautifying Radiance Polish).
Every summer has its own playlist, songs to listen to on the road, at the beach, on the balcony. I have not yet started this summer’s playlist… any recommendations?
Goal list. I head to Tinos with a list of goals, usually involving thinking projects, content creation, strategic planning. It’s amazing what happens to my brain when I let go of the daily tasks and activities and make room for the bigger picture.
Don’t bring to Tinos list. I usually get a couple projects done in June that have been on my gameplan for months – because I refuse to “take them” with me to Tinos. Whether it be a project I have been procrastinating on or a random administrative task I have not yet figured out how to delegate and must take care of, it is getting done before I get on that ferry.

Is it June 29 yet?

The Polla Sisters’ take on baths

August 23, 2016April 27, 2018All, Polla SistersLeave a Comment

I recently asked my sisters to share with me their “unique, strange beauty routines.” Somehow, they all came back with information specific to baths – which is so timely given the recent Marie-Claire article about the return of baths (September issue). Apparently, baths are on our minds.

I was fascinated how they all independently went to the topic of the bath, and how unique and varied their (our!) routines are.

Roxane, the youngest, is a fan of baths. Long baths, in particular during exam time (she is in medical school). Candles in the bathroom; iPad in the bathtub; various oils or bubble baths depending on her mood. Did I mention long baths? Sometimes she will spend three hours in the bathtub reviewing her class materials. It’s her version of “me time.” When she comes out, she mixes a bit of Alchimie Forever’s Kantic+ intensely nourishing cream with her body lotion to keep her skin feeling soft, and looking young.

Rachel doesn’t really take baths. But when she does, it is because “it’s an emergency.” Meaning she is at the end of her rope and needs some quiet relaxation time. She will also keep her baths to the evening, and will also light a dozen or more candles. She will pour herself a glass of wine, and make herself some pasta – and enjoy dinner in the bath. This reminds her of when we were little and Mom would bathe and feed us simultaneously, because it was faster and easier than trying to have us bathe and then have us sit at the dinner table to eat.

Cyrille, on the other hand, never, ever, ever takes a bath. She hates how it makes her legs and feet feel swollen and tired. She is a shower girl all the way, and ends each shower with a frigid cold water on her legs, moving up from the feet towards the heart. “It’s good for blood flow, makes me feel as light as a feather, and prevents cellulite,” she promises. Like Rachel and Roxane, however, she showers in the evening. And similarly to Roxane, she uses an Alchimie Forever face product as her body lotion – the Kantic calming cream.

And me – well, I love baths. I take baths almost exclusively on the road. It is a wonderful reward after a long day of travel, and hotel bathrooms usually have a larger bathtub than the one in my tiny Georgetown bathroom. I love Kneipp bath oils and Aveda stress fix bath salts. No candles for me (I don’t travel with them), but yes to a glass of wine or champagne in the bath. And my post-bath product routine focuses on our body products! (Firming gel for neck and bust, Optimizing body contour gel, Dry skin balm, and Aveda stress fix lotion).

Now all we need is a photo of us in the bathtub looking as glamorous as these super models!!

Evening routines of the Polla sisters

March 28, 2016April 27, 2018All, Polla Sisters2 Comments

It is not often that two of my sisters and I find ourselves on “this” side of the Atlantic. Yet this happened just a couple of weeks ago when Cyrille, Rachel and I met in NYC for a day of strategizing and brainstorming. (Roxane was with us in spirit of course). We mostly worked, but we also laughed and talked about non-work things. Specifically, given that they were both a bit jet-lagged, we talked about sleep and evening routines. I have written about my evening routines before, and loved hearing about my sisters’. There are definite common traits…

Roxane (who chimed in this part of the discussion by Skype) is probably the best sleeper among the four of us. Her evening routine involves changing clothes as soon as she gets home from “normal” clothes or scrubs, as she is in medical school, to something “comfortable yet sexy.” Her husband usually gets home a bit after she does, and their evening ritual involves cooking themselves dinner, during which time they share their respective days and unwind in the kitchen. Her tips for a quiet evening include “minimal screens” (computer, phone, TV, other), and none whatsoever in the bedroom. She goes to sleep before midnight (she says that is when we sleep the most restoratively – and since she is in medical school I have to believe her), and wakes up by 5:30 am.

Rachel also likes the ritual of changing clothes as soon as she gets home, and she is an evening showerer. Something about washing the day off of herself, she says (and of course she uses numerous Alchimie Forever products, for face and body). She lights multiple candles, puts on her Juicy Couture suit, spends special one on one time with her daughter before putting her to bed. That is followed by a good glass of red wine that she shares with her loved one, while sharing their day’s successes and challenges.

Apparently the changing clothes is either genetic, or something that we each took from our mother. Indeed, Cyrille also changes as soon as she gets home from work (she is very specific that even jewelry comes off), into one of her husband’s shirts. She then spends an hour in the kitchen, cooking vegetables while drinking a glass of red wine and munching on cheese. She always cleanses her face with Alchimie Forever’s Purifying Gentle Cleanser and applies organic hazelnut oil on her face (maybe a product I need to look into developing). She always place a big mug of herbal tea on her night table (fennel, chamomile or sage), and to full immerse herself in sleep mode, she plugs her ears and covers her eyes with a fluffy sleep mask.

Family business truths… first – birth order

October 14, 2014April 27, 2018All, BusinessLeave a Comment

I am writing from a blah hotel room in an otherwise amazing place, INSEAD, in Fontainbleau, about an hour from Paris. I am here because my sister Cyrille had the inspiration to sign up for a weeklong family business seminar back in March – the INSEAD Family Business Challenge. She kindly invited my sisters and I to attend, invitation which I had to admit we at first politely rebuffed. But that was back in March. My dad loved the idea, and little by little the rest of us were rallied to the cause. I am here wtih two of my three sisters (Roxane is in medical school and could not miss class), my father, and my (new) brother-in-law Guillaume, who celebrated is one-month wedding anniversary yesterday, away from his bride Roxane.

The amount of information, content, and stimulation that we have all received (we are about 70ish participants, representing 12 families, attending this program that started in 2000) is so intense that this morning the only thing my sisters and I talked about were the most vivid dreams we had last night. We agreed our brains were sore.

This afternoon, the program centered on genograms, and understanding family patterns and birth orders. Here is what we learned (all facts supported by various studies and presented today by our two professors):

Every family member grows up in a different family. This is due to:

– Changing family demographics
– Evolutions in parents’ parenting style, careers, and relationships
– Family size and expanding or contracting
– Life events
– Larger social, political, or economic contexts

– There is apparently truth to the science of birth orders…

First borns:
– The oldest children have all of the uncertainties of parents
– At some point each first born is unique
– First borns benefit from the rules of primogeniture and sunk costs and are:
– Assertive, dominant, responsible
– Organized, structured, perfectionists
– First borns have higher IQs because of their parents’ full attention in their early years and thus are:
– Ambitious, achievement-oriented
– Drawn to graduate degrees because they want their parents’ recognition (drawn to professions such as law, accounting, and science)

– The first-born is photographed more often and more naked than a Hollywood starlet
– The first-born is the child with whom you hope not to make the same mistakes your parents did, though, of course, you inevitable willOnly

Children:
– Are self-sufficient but not independent
– Are not good at sharing toys
– Like adult interaction and attention
– Are the first and the latter born at the same timeMiddle born children:
– Struggle to be needed
– Are independent, mysterious, difficult to understand
– Are peace-makers, mediators, negotiators
– Are empathetic
– Have richer external relationships
– Are drawn to professions such as management, counseling, mediationLatter born children (the youngest):
– Get by with their personalities
– Are drawn to professions such as sales, advertising, entertainment
– Tend to be entrepreneurs
– Are wilder, more care-free, easy-going, absent-minded
– Are creative, innovative, funny “class clowns”
– Are risk-takers because of a de-identification from older siblings (they only receive 50% of the reward for equaling an older sibling)

Beyond birth order, we discussed the importance of sibling relationships – in all families, but as being particularly important to business families. Siblings are:
– The longest-lasting relationships you have in your life
– Sometimes considered a second-class relationship – because we have two parents, one spouse, and usually many siblings – but this is not the case!
– Essential because our early real time learning about interpersonal relationships and issues such as love, secrets, conflicts, honesty, compromise, avoidance all get learned with and from siblings first

Apparently, siblings fight from a very young age. Consider this:

– Siblings under 6 experience 9.5 fights per hour
– 95% of young children fight about stuff (stuff, toys, space, clothing, attention)
– Even in young children, fights are about control

And guess what older siblings fight about? Control…

And with that, class ended, and we went into our family meetings to discuss out family values and whether or not we alll fit the sibling order genotype. We worked, we laughed, we opened up to each other, and then we went to dinner and laughed some more. Mostly, we laughed about how true this all is…

Being Swiss… on Swiss National Day

August 1, 2014April 27, 2018All, TravelLeave a Comment

Today is Friday, August 1. Other than the fact that it is Friday, that we can say TGIF, what, might you ask is there to celebrate. Well, two things. First, August 1 is Swiss National Day – our equivalent of your July 4^th.

Second, unrelated, in any way other than timing, I am celebrating the first national piece of press on my sisters and I. We are the Polla sisters. And now, the Alchimie Forever sisters. Thank you Vanity Fair.

Perhaps it is indeed all related beyond timing, since we are Swiss. What do you think of when you think of Switzerland? Probably skiing; chocolate; watches; cheese. (If you are thinking about IKEA right about now, you are getting your Sw countries confused…). Here are a few more, perhaps less well knows, typically Swiss traits.

– We are punctual (maybe because we like watches so much). In Switzerland, being on time means being 5 minutes early. Or, as my Mom always said, “The only way to ever be on time is to always be early.”

– We cherish “Apero time.” This is our version of “happy hour.” “Apero” being short for aperitif. No beer, no chips. Instead, white wine or champagne, with olives and cheese. At 5 pm on the dot, any day of the week, apero rarely lasts just an hour.

– We have to introduce ourselves to everyone when arriving at a party; a seated dinner party; a cocktail party; a holiday party… this makes being early or on time particularly desirable, as the rounds of introductions are more manageable when most guests have yet to arrive.

– We don’t touch our drinks until everyone we are with has a drink. This is true at a bar, at apero, at dinner, and everywhere in between. Only once everyone has their drink do we do cheers, and take our first sip. Anything else would be considered rude.

– This may in part be caused by the fact that doing cheers is not only an absolute must, but we must look in the eyes while doing it. Why? Well… if you don’t you will be punished with 9 (some say 7) years of bad sex. So don’t ever clink your glass without looking that one person in the eye.

On this special Swiss day, I wish my sisters, and my Swiss family, a particularly happy Friday. And to all of you non-Swiss, TGIF!