Cassie DeNisco

My Relaxing Night Routine Essentials

March 12, 2021

If you’re anything like me, once night rolls around you’re ready to unwind. With the days looking the same because of the pandemic, I often just feel exhausted of the day to day routine that I’ve found myself in. I love getting to relax by getting ready for bed and using my relaxing night routine essentials. They help me rest and recharge for the next day and rest of the week!

Set the Mood

The first step to relaxing in my mind is lighting. I like to make sure I turn off my very bright and harsh over head light and switch to softer and less bright lights. This is my first step because it seriously helps my brain to realize it’s time to start relaxing because it’s getting darker. I also like to light my candles at this point because it just helps give off that cozy vibe.

Essential Oil Showers

I don’t know how anyone can take a shower in the morning and then get into bed at night. For me, I have to be clean before hopping into bed and I absolutely love using essential oils in the shower. I like to sprinkle lavender all over and then let the shower get hot and steamy. It seriously is a game changer and something that helped enhance my shower. In addition, I also recently found this Dr. Teal’s Lavender Body Wash and all I’m going to say is you need it! It is so bubbly and would be awesome in a bath.

Another level of relaxing I like is to take a shower in the dark. I have a small night light in my bathroom but taking a shower in the dark with my essential oils really reminds me of being at the spa. Just small things like this help to elevate my shower to make it that much more relaxing and recharing.

Comfy Clothes

After I shower, the most important thing to me is how comfy and cozy the clothes I am about to put on are. I love my Barefoot Dreams Robe because it is like being in a cozy warm hug. This robe seriously makes me look forward to my night time routine because I can’t live without it.

Something for You

One thing that leveled up my routine was realizing this is basically a date with myself. This is 30-60 minutes of uninterrupted me time each day that I need to be able to tackle another day. I like to end my relax routine by doing something for me. Whether that’s cooking my favorite salmon dinner, reading my favorite book, or steaming/face masking, it’s just something little for me that makes me happy.

I think my overall theme here is for you to take time for yourself. Just a few minutes with yourself each day can help to rest and recharge you to keep going for the rest of the week. My Monday nights are dedicated to this in depth routine because it’s when I have the most time to really relax and unwind without having to rush home from work.

Let me know in the comments below what is essential to your relaxing night routine. I am all about relaxing and recharging in 2021. If the pandemic taught me anything, it’s to make sure we slow down once in awhile and get back in tune with ourselves.

My Tips to Unwind Before Bed

January 6, 2021

There’s nothing I love more than getting into bed early and with a good book. It’s so therapeutic for me to snuggle up with a comfy blanket and seriously just helps set the mood to fall asleep. I know for many falling asleep isn’t easy, so I’ve put together my tips to unwind before bed!

1. Find a Good Book

Reading before bed is seriously so calming. There is no better feeling to me then a fuzzy through blanket and a good book. I do make sure though that I am ready something that won’t stress me out or scare me so that it is not going to keep me up. I love reading easy reads before bed not only as good stories but reading the words on paper is so relaxing.

2. Aromatherapy

Essential Oils are something that I actually just started using but can already see the benefits off. I love using a little lavender on wrists and inhaling deeply. The smell of it is so soothing and really helps me to relax. I also notice an immediate shift to sleepiness when I smell it and highly recommend trying it if you’re looking for something to help you calm down and get relaxed.

3. Lighting

Lighting is something I feel like we often don’t consider but is crucial to relaxing. I love turning off my overhead lights as I’m getting ready for bed and putting on my cozy twinkle lights. This seriously helps me set the mood and immediately switches my brain from night to day. I think dimming your lights is an absolute must when setting the scene to relax and unwind for bed.

4. All Natural Sleep Aids

I will admit, these Olly sleep gummies might be slightly addicting only because of how great they work. Often, I am up all night with anxiety or nerves but taking these pills helps me to relax and just let go. I do wake up groggy and know that it is proven that too much melatonin can mess with you. I make sure to not take these every night but do utilize them on the nights I really can’t get to sleep naturally.

5. Turn off the Screen

This might be one of my hardest tips but most effective. It is so hard to turn the screen off at night but so important. I like to put my phone on charge and then immediately open up my book so that I’m not tempted to scroll. The blue light from our devices can cause us to not sleep well and keep us up all night. Turning off the screen an hour before bed will help you relax and unwind in no time.

I hope these tips on how to unwind before bed help you in getting the best sleep ever. When you sleep well, you feel well which is just so important. Now more than ever, sleep is also helping us keep our immunity up with COVID too.

Let me know in the comments below your tips to unwind before bed!

Check out my last blog post here! And be sure to follow me on Instagram @cassiedenisco.

My Fall Night Routine

November 3, 2019

Fall is totally my favorite time of year because of the change in weather. Summer is fun but the coziness of fall is my absolute favorite. My first night routine post was pre puppy so everything is so different now. I thought it would be fun to show you my chill fall night routine. Here’s a night in my life!

10/30/19

I get home different times from dance but the first thing I always do is take a shower. Because I’m a dance teacher and I’m moving around for my job, it’s inevitable that I’m going to need to shower. After that I start my dinner. Usually I’ll have already meal prepped for it, meaning that I have already cut up the veggies and the meat and just need to throw it all in the oven. Prepping it beforehand seriously makes like so much easier and it helps me to make sure that I’m eating healthy. While we eat, we like to feed Sky too around 7. This ensures that she eats but also that she won’t be around begging us for food. She usually doesn’t but just in case she decides to start that habit she can’t.

After dinner in my fall night routine, I like to hop right into skin and hair care. Usually while we eat I like to keep my hair up in a towel. It soaks up the water and then I use the It’s a 10 leave in conditioner to detangle it. I really love it because it makes my hair so smooth. It also acts as a heat protectant for when I’ll style my hair in the morning. After that, I’ll always wash my face in the shower so I start using my Drunk Elephant and Clinique products. I use my Clinique toner first and then go in with Drunk Elephant’s T.L.C Framboos and Eye cream. Skin care is so important so no matter how tired you are make sure you get to it!!

Once all of that is done in my fall night routine, it’s finally time to walk Sky and head to bed to watch a show. Since I’m writing this in October we did watch American Horror Story and Halloweentown High last night to get us in the Halloween spirit. Sky will usually head right to bed once I put her in my bed which means that I have time to actually sit and watch a show without her running around and being her crazy little self. I usually will walk her one more time around 10pm before bed and then I’m in bed before 10:30 since someone likes to wake up at 7am.

I hope you enjoyed reading my fall night routine! It’s pretty chill and relaxing which I need after a long day with the puppy, school, work, and my internship. Let me know in the comments below if you do anything special for your fall night routine.

Follow me on Instagram: @cassiedenisco !

My Nightly Rituals for Better Sleep

June 19, 2019

After sharing my morning routine with everyone, so many people messaged me to share my night routine too! It varies depending on what time I finish teaching a dance class but for the most part everything else is the same. After such a long day, I look so forward to coming home and relaxing. Here is my night routine and rituals I can’t live without!

Regardless of whether I’m home for 5:45pm or 7pm, my first step is to always shower. I love a hot shower to help unwind and put my night in the right direction. Because I either meal prep in advance or just prepare everything before I go, dinner is always quick and almost ready for me after a shower.

After dinner, I like to make my Pukka Tea to detox after a long day. This tea is my favorite because it has ginger, lemon, and honey in it which will help with digestion. Caffeine free tea at night also has been proven to help you sleep better and just reset your body during the night.

Either while my tea is steeping or once I finish drinking it, I move on to my skincare routine. This will vary from night to night because sometimes I’ll use a face mask or sometimes I’ll actually just wash my face in the shower. What doesn’t change is my Clinque Toner and Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos serum. This combo leaves my skin looking great when I wake up.

After my skin care, I loveeee curling up in bed and watching a great TV show. Some of my favorites to watch right now are the Bachelorette on Mondays and Big Little Lies on Sundays. When I’m not watching those shows I am definitely watching either the Office or Gossip Girl.

Once I start myself getting tired, usually around 10pm because I’m a grandma, I’ll start reading whatever book I’m currently into. Right now I’m reading the first book int he Game of Thrones series and it is so great. I like to also put on my Sleep Cycle app to track my sleeping because I’ve found that using it helps me sleep so much better.

Getting into a routine is so hard but so worth it. Of course all of this looks so much different if it were a weekend or a special occasion but for the most part I stick to this format. I thrive on routines and find that it really helps me relax and get the best night’s sleep.