By Camilla Cossermelli
Brazillian based artist and writer.
Lives & works in São Paulo.

Keeping a consistent body care routine has always been a challenge for me. I always felt that lotions left my skin feeling sticky, the scents were either too sweet or too weird, and committing to the routine was overall just so time-consuming. I honestly didn’t see the point of slathering on lotion from head to toe every single day.

Well, yes, we all know (and have always known) that there are loads of benefits in using lotion on a daily basis. Who doesn’t want moisturized, soft, youthful and glowing skin? But this awareness just never had been enough to motivate me to actually stick with it.

Bear with me for a minute: the things we actually commit to carrying out every day are completely essential, and most of them have relatively short-term consequences. Eating, showering, brushing our teeth, exercising, going to work. When we manage to keep consistent with a hobby amid the rush, it’s a homerun.

There are just so many things to keep up with in day-to-day life. Adding yet another obligation — let alone one that won’t leave me starving if I neglect it — isn’t exactly a priority. And that’s okay. It’s part of human nature, I guess.

But as the title of this post gave away: there’s a plot twist.

I had a change of perspective. And it came in a (super cute) bottle.

My whole new experience with bodycare started when I first pressed the pump of my Nativa SPA Quinoa Body Lotion. The sweet aroma was just right. It was the end of a long day, I was sitting in bed, and the room was cozily lit by the yellow warmth of my bedside lamp.

The next morning, I woke up to a hint of that same perfume, and I took a moment to feel the softness of my skin brushing against the fresh sheets.

From time to time throughout the day, I was reminded of the tender fragrance. Which made regular, everyday activities — like typing into my computer, reading an article, or taking a short break before getting back to work — a little sweeter too.

In the mid-afternoon, I felt the unusual desire to take a moment and indulge my forearms with some lotion. My skin effortlessly took in the light texture as I spread it gently from elbow to wrist, from wrist to elbow. Then to my shoulders. And on my calves and knees too, why not?

Then, as if I hadn’t just coated almost my whole body with lotion, I carried on work feeling my skin (and self) light, refreshed and comfy all over. Not wet, not sticky. Just perfect.

The days went by and I began to notice something that made all the difference: I was actually looking forward to my bodycare moments. I enjoyed them in every sense. How they smelled, felt, looked. I confess I didn’t recognize that behavior coming from myself. But it felt amazing.

Something even more beautiful to realize is how this spontaneous impulse wasn’t just making my skin softer, brighter, and healthier. It was creating moments that made my every day a bit softer. Brighter. Healthier.

This is when I made the switch. My body care wasn’t consuming time. It was making time. It wasn’t a routine. It became a ritual. Yes, my skin was moisturized, soft, youthful and glowing — and that was something that happened from the inside out. Because I genuinely felt like it, not because I thought I had to.

Since day 1, I’ve had my ups and downs. I don’t use lotion every single day. But when I do, it’s a moment I feel good — from the softness of my skin to the comfort within.

Whether just before bed, after a relaxing shower, or between zoom meetings, something as simple as a pump of body lotion can create something that’s so rare these days: a moment we put everything else on hold to take care of ourselves.

This is the real beauty of body care.