The Beauty Editor’s Side Table: My AM–PM Rituals In All Their Chaotic Glory

If you really want to know a person, don’t check their Instagram. Look at their side table. Mine is part wellness station, part clutter magnet. Somewhere between the magnesium, scalp oils, and phone charger sits the story of my days—the quietest rituals I keep and the chaos I pretend is curated.

As a beauty editor, my vanity rotates like a revolving door. But my side table? That’s where the constants live. The AM–PM essentials I actually reach for, in all their unglamorous, sometimes questionable, glory.

Morning: The Side Table Kickstart

Probiotics

They glare at me every morning. On weeks I’m diligent, my skin thanks me. On weeks I skip, my stomach doesn’t complain—but my chin definitely breaks out.

Vitamin D + Omega 3

Two capsules that remind me Indian sunlight is a scam. You can spend hours sweating in Mumbai traffic and still test deficient. Omega 3 joined the team in my 30s, when I realised hair fall wasn’t just stress—it was also nutrition.

Electrolyte sachets

Tucked away for mornings after (and not just the party kind). Sometimes the exhaustion is from deadlines, sometimes from dehydration. Pour, stir, and pretend I’m an athlete.

Lip balm

Always within reach, always missing when I need it most. There are usually two—one almost empty, one completely new. Both live on the side table until they migrate into handbags and disappear.

Phone and charger

Not chic, but honest. My most-used side table item is the thing I swore I’d keep out of the bedroom.

Night: The Ritual Reset

Magnesium

The one supplement I evangelise. Without it, I’m up at 3 AM spiraling about deadlines. With it, I sleep through the night like someone who has life figured out.

Ashwagandha drops

My grandmother swore by ashwagandha; mine comes in a glass dropper bottle that costs the same as dinner. Call it modern Ayurveda, call it branding—I call it the reason I survive stressful weeks.

Chamomile tea bags

They sit on the side table like a promise. Do I brew them every night? No. Do I feel like Gwyneth Paltrow when I do? Absolutely.

Scalp and body oils

The modern champi bottles — equal parts self-care and placebo. One promises density; the other claims to calm me into sleep. I believe both, if only because ritual matters as much as result.

Silk scrunchie & pillowcase

Half aspirational, half practical. The scrunchie is for nights when I remember to tie my hair properly. The pillowcase is for mornings when I want to pretend my frizz has been handled in my sleep.

Kindle

The sleekest object on my side table. It flatters me by looking intellectual, even if I’ve been stuck at 17% of the same book for six months.

Side tables are more honest than vanities. Vanities are for display. Side tables are for survival. Mine doesn’t look chic, but it keeps me human. And if you really want to know me, don’t scroll my feed—just glance at the magnesium, the scrunchies, the Kindle, and the pile of half-drunk water glasses I’ll swear I’ll clear tomorrow.