Mornings In: The Czech Republic

Name: Jay Bee
Hometown: Prague, Czech Republic
Age: 32
Occupation: government analyst
My alarm is set for: 7.00 a.m.

My Czech breakfast

Right after I get out of bed, I fix myself a glass of warm lemony water. (It’s a great way to re-up on vitamin C, alkalise the body, and kick-start my metabolism.)

I usually follow up with some fruit or blitz up a smoothie to take with me to the office. When I feel like a treat, I buy a pastry from the nearby bakery. The Czechs have AH-mazing pastries – rich, sweet, and doughy. My favourites are kobliha (a doughnut with jam or chocolate filling instead of the hole), koláč (a yummy leavened flat cake with quark and/or plum jam and/or poppy seed paste), and buchta (a kind of mini-brioche filled with quark/plum jam/poppy seed paste).

Many Czechs would have something sweet for breakfast, often with cocoa, if not tea or coffee. For a savoury option, a simple breakfast of typical Czech (cumin) bread, a spread of some kind (spreads are a BIG deal over here) and ham or cheese.

A typical breakfast that many people remember from their childhood (and which I’ve even seen offered by cafés) consists of a buttered piece (or two) of bread topped with sliced radishes, and sprinkled with chives. On weekends, everyone and their grandmother goes out for brunch, with eggs (done twenty different ways) in the lead role, supported by specialty coffee.

My Czech beauty routine

The weather in Prague can vary between arctic frost and tropical heat, so I need to make sure that my skin stays protected and healthy year-round! Every morning, I scrub my face with a home-made paste of sugar and olive oil, and then apply a trio of corrector/toning make-up, mascara, and lip gloss/lipstick.

I use the Matt Control corrector stick or the Toning Cream 2 in 1 from Dermacol (a Czech brand recommended by a friend, and the only make-up my skin will tolerate) and the False Lashes mascara from Alverde (a German brand focusing on environmentally and animal friendly skin-care products).

When I’m feeling fancy, I reach for Alverde’s kohl eyeliner (it’s gorgeously rich and sumptuous) or their Color & Care lipstick in Cherry (which I always, always get complimented on). For a more casual look, I opt for Clinique’s Chubby Stick in Mega Melon, which I also dab on my cheeks when I feel I need some colour (usually in early spring).

For the small country that the Czech Republic is (with a mere 10.5 million inhabitants) it has an astounding choice of local skin-care products. In the winter, I swear by nourishing facial creams from Ryor and protective make-up from Dermacol.

In the summertime, I love the fresh and herby scents of Manufaktura and Dr. Botanicus. Only recently, I discovered Havlíkova přírodní apotéka (Havlík’s Natural Apothecary) and fell in love with their shampoos. The latter three aren’t just local, but also organic! Win-win-win!

Then, I head to work by:  Foot! I’m extremely lucky to live within 10 minutes walking distance from my office. However, most urbanite Czechs would use public transport (which is super-affordable, über-clean, and probably more reliable than a Swiss watch, although the routes sometimes change sporadically, which can be adventurous!) to get practically anywhere. That said, quite a few guys at my office arrive to work every morning looking like Tour de France contestants. Czechs take their bikes very seriously!

Thanks so much for sharing, Jay! Czech readers – what’s your beauty + breakfast routine?

P.S. My 3 product makeup bag!

photo credits: moyan brenn // jorg schubert // schnytlik // wikipedia // once upon a chef