Ask anyone and I promise you no one will say that Winter Quarter is the best quarter. Fall Quarter is marked by feeling anxious but excited, and Spring Quarter is basically just a countdown to summer break. Coming back to campus after the nice month-long winter break is undeniably dreadful (I felt like I was being dropped off at preschool the entire drive up to campus). While these products aren’t powerful enough to change my mind about Winter Quarter, they make it significantly easier to handle:
- Dr. Dan’s CortiBalm
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My natural stance in lecture is pretending to pay attention with my iPad open while I pick at my lips and try to look nonchalant as my lips start bleeding. If you happen to also love picking at your lips, throw away your Laneige lip mask, Rhode lip treatment and even the Aquaphor tube for Dr. Dan’s CortiBalm. My credentials? My lip eczema (yes, this is actually a real condition) flares up once a year, and I’ve tried every possible lip balm on the market. Dr. Dan’s CortiBalm contains 1% hydrocortisone which relieves the pain of chapped lips immediately, and it’s currently the only hypoallergenic medicated lip balm. It doesn’t leave a weird film over the lips or contains ingredients like menthol which can cause even more sensitivity. Whether your lips are chapped from the weather, cold sores or Accutane, I promise CortiBalm will make your lips nice and kissable in a few days.
- Pure Enrichment-XL Heating Pad
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There’s something about Winter Quarter that makes my body age a decade per week. By the time midterms roll around, my kneecaps feel bruised, my daily headaches are back and I swear my astigmatism gets worse. So at the end of the day, there’s truly nothing a sensitive person like me needs more than an XL heating pad. Some days, the only thing I look forward to is cranking this heating pad to the highest setting and slipping into a warm bed after taking a long shower. To give you a sense of how good this heating pad is, my roommate sometimes crawls into my bed just to use the heating pad while we separately scroll on our phones.
- CLIO- Kill Lash Superproof Mascara
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What’s Winter Quarter without a few good crying sessions? I used to be so embarrassed about crying that I would do anything to prevent it, but recently I’ve been letting myself cry when I want to, and I’ve never felt better. But because I hate messed up makeup more than suppressing my emotions, I won’t let my tears stream down my face without this waterproof smudge-proof mascara. This CLIO mascara lengthens my lashes without creating clumps, holds the curl and is borderline impossible to get off.
Note: Because of how difficult it is to get this mascara off properly (micellar water and cleansing oil both failed), I recommend only using it on the days when you feel a sob session coming.
- Sony- WH-1000XM4 Wireless Noise-Cancelling Headphones
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My short attention span means I can’t do work in the dorms (I fall asleep), with friends (we talk too much) or without headphones (who cheated on who with who???). I admit I wouldn’t be able to differentiate between amazing and poor sound quality, so there are probably a lot of alternatives that work just as well, but these headphones are truly so comfortable and the reason I finish my assignments with ease.
Note: A huge pro is the amazing battery life. A huge con is that wearing these headphones means saying bye to ANY volume in your hair. My hair looks flat and limp after wearing these for less than 5 minutes. I don’t even bother styling my hair when I know I’ll be wearing these headphones.
- Tower 28- SOS spray
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I ordered the SOS spray because I liked the name and it resonated with how I always feel during Winter Quarter. The SOS spray supposedly minimizes skin irritation, redness and flare-ups with hypochlorous acid. I use it in place of toner as soon as I dry off my face. While I don’t see a difference in my blemishes (I can’t believe I still have acne), it definitely helps soothe my extremely sensitive eczema-prone skin. It does smell like a heavily chlorinated pool though, so hold your breath while using it. It’s probably the worst-smelling skin care product after Topical’s Faded serum (rotten eggs). Using these products together in a communal bathroom should be considered a crime against humanity.
I would be lost if any of these products were to vanish suddenly. They make me feel grateful, in awe of technological and scientific innovations and wonder how people can come up with such ingenious products. I hope these products also make your Winter Quarter more bearable!