Sarah Tay Takes a Gong Bath, Drinks a Beauty Elixir

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Welcome to Beauty Diary: seven days of getting glam with an industry insider. From publicists to professional makeup artists, this a week in the life of someone who lives and breathes beauty.

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• Before I do anything else, I go downstairs to start my juice cleanse. I’m a juice nut. When I was a kid, my brother and I would run out to the garden and pick out whatever was ripe and we had the freshest juice ever.
• Organic and natural shampoos have different personalities, so it’s always fun to try a variety of formulas on the market. My latest infatuation is from Avalon Organics. It has the ease of a natural lather
• If it's been a rowdy Monday at work, I'll treat myself to a bath. Adding bath accessories like candles and a cup of tea helps to sooth the mind. My favorite recipe is adding two cups of coconut milk, seven drops of vanilla extract, and four drops of my fa
• After my morning cleansing ritual, I layer on a natural perfume or essential oil. What’s fun about having this ever-changing collection is that I can mix up a new scent everyday. Today I’m wearing a light colored dress with bold green scarf, so I think I’
• Rose-Marie Swift is a famous New York makeup artist that has created this attractive line of color cosmetics. She’s such an inspiration to the green beauty industry. I’m so in love with her lip and cheek pigme
• Good morning world! As I open my door, I saw this cracked eggshell lying on the ground. There’s a new bird in Brooklyn today and it’s a probably a sign of good things to come.
• I’m not a huge fan of abrasive exfoliants. I find this natural sponge from the Konjac Sponge Company to be fantastic at gently lifting off dead skin cells and revealing a healthy surface underneath.
• A hair therapist could tell from my strands that I hadn't been drinking enough water and that’s it’s also affecting my scalp health! I’ve taken to lovely carafes to make the process a bit easier on the eyes.
• I spend about 20 minutes in the evening to prep for bedtime. I really like Radius' cranberry floss, which I picked up while doing a photo shoot in Vancouver. I found this shiny gold toothbrush in Paris
• I love, love, love going to apothecaries and drugstores whenever I’m traveling. These are just a few things that I’ve picked up and been gifted: a body lotion from Greece, miniature dental floss from London, bar soaps from Tahiti, and a natural bug repell
• I grew up in a home with a garden and some friendly chickens. All of our fruit trees were organically grown and our family used natural mulch and our own compost to fertilize the soil. My favorite scent is the aroma of fresh orange blossoms on the tree. I
• Drawing another bath today as the winter weather is bringing on dry skin. I usually switch it up and play with different products. Here are a few things that I'm looking forward to using this month: Smith & Chang Gen
• If you're going to use a natural and organic formula, you should use organic cotton rounds for optimal results. Organic cotton goes through less chemical washes and may help to reduce the chance of irritation that conventional products sometimes cause. Th
• My friend Abby introduced me to the Gong Bath. It’s an amazing ritual that the ladies at ABC Sanctuary host during the night for every new moon. While lying flat upon a floor mat, the harmonic overto
• I think I have a sty coming on. My remedy for this is to make a double dose of T Salon chrysanthemum tea, then take the lukewarm tea pouch and use it as a compress against the eyelid, to help reduce swelling and
• I think seeing beauty is uplifting for the mind, so I’m constantly checking out museums whenever I get a chance. Here’s a modern take on the classic birdhouse I saw at MoMA PS1.
• Our staff dermatologist, Sharona Yashar, is one of my oldest friends, and one of the smartest people I know! She uses her aunt’s advice of getting as much sleep as possible, whenever, wherever. I p
• I'm picking out a perfume for a brunch date with the girls. I usually pick up the smaller vials at the store—they’re so handy to pop into my handbag. Here are my two current favorites from Aveda and
• Riding the over the historic Brooklyn Bridge never gets old. In fact, I like sitting in traffic during busy times because I get to see the intimate details of its architecture.
• My Sunday nights are usually pretty quiet. I think if I’m more organized this year, I’ll cut down on some of my daily stress. I’ve been using a traditional planner for the past seven years and I love it. Something about the feeling of the bound book can g

Prior to beginning her week of documented beauty, Sarah Tay's masseuse yelled at her for being so stressed out. As the founder and creative director of organic luxury skincare brand TAY, Sarah keeps ultra busy developing formulas from her workshops in Red Hook and Los Angeles.

In an effort to detoxify and relax, Sarah starts her week with a Love Grace juice cleanse and shares her recipe for the perfect bath (including an argument for bathing in tea). She reveals that she has also fallen in love with the Konjac sponge, explains why she likes traffic, and shows a few uses for tea that go beyond drinking. Find out what a gong bath is and so much more in Sarah's Beauty Diary, after the jump.

· Beauty Diary [Racked NY]