Joining is for the third instalment of Sliding Drawers is Award-winning freelance journalist, presenter, and producer, Elfy Scott. The senior producer and host of The Junkee Takeaway scored herself a B&T 30 Under 30 win for the producer and journalist category in 2021. Along with this achievement, Elfy has had her work featured in publications such as The Guardian, BuzzFeed News and SBS. Are you as keen as us to delve into Elfy's bedside drawers? We won’t keep you awaiting any longer! Elfy chatted with Par Femme on all things self care and more:
With long raven hair and wide eyes, Elfy Scott's beauty is pulverising - you can't help but get lost in it. Continue to comb and you will likely settle on her skin; gloriously fresh-cheeked and enviably radiant, Scott's commitment to skincare is apparent (something she's more invested in lately as she reconciles saying goodbye to her 20s).
But it's her mind that is perhaps most impressive. Scott is a successful science journalist and presenter; published in The Saturday Paper, The Guardian, BuzzFeed News and Vice, she was the winner of the B&T 30 Under 30 in the Producer and Journalist category in 2021. Currently taking some time off to write a book about complex mental health conditions in Australia - ’The One Thing We’ve Never Spoken About’ due for release in early 2023 - her work is a moral illumination of mental health and the silence and stigma that still surrounds it.
Beautifully eloquent, gracious and ebullient, here we get under the covers with the bookish beauty and discover her skincare sine qua nons, the sentimentality of the space beside her bed, and the pleasure a particular Celtic actor brings her...
What’s in your bedside drawer? Talk us through your products and why they’re bedside essentials…
I’ve recently become preoccupied with keeping my hair as healthy as humanly possible so I always have hair oil sitting on my bedside table now to run through my ends after a shower (I love Oribe’s Gold Lust), I also use a vitamin C serum every day (generally it’s Medik8 C-Tetra Vitamin C Serum), so they’re often sitting next to one another. I also have a stack of research books on my bedside table (mostly to remind myself to get through the pile), as well as lip balm and some sort of scented candle (preferably one so absurdly strong that it permeates the room without ever really needing to be lit). Between all of that and the obligatory glass of water, there’s never a huge amount of room to work with.
Do you see the space beside your bed as sacred? And why?
I do – I’m very choosy about my house and my spaces in general. I love neatness and order and that absolutely applies to the wooden table beside that holds all the silly little objects that are important to me.
Do you incorporate intimate wellness into your routine? And how?
I don’t really have a routine per se – I keep my POM Vibrator in my bedside drawer, so it’s at hand when necessary, my partner and I have a great sex life, I watch a lot of movies with Domhnall Gleeson and loudly exclaim to my partner how much I’d extremely let Domhnall do anything to me, that sort of thing.
What sex / love advice would you give your younger self?
I would say, “Hey! You are doing absolutely fine. Well done! I tell all of my friends now how awesome and caring your first sexual relationship was and how much you lucked out with your high-school boyfriend. Maybe, just stop buying lingerie, it’s expensive and literally nobody cares.”
Do you practise “self-care”? And what rituals do you believe are important in self-care?
I can’t say that I do, really – at least, not as any sort of conscious practice. I try to eat healthily (by that I mean, nutritious food with absolutely no restrictions whatsoever), I don’t drink alcohol a whole lot anymore, I box at least twice a week, sleep approximately nine hours a day, and generally prioritise comfort.
I’m very lax about these sorts of things and I’d never preach the importance of any one activity because self-care means something completely different person-to-person – although I will say that I started meditating daily, both for my anxiety management and concentration skills earlier this year and think it can be incredibly helpful for some.
Can you share a bedtime secret?
I watch Instagram Reels much more than I read books.
What’s your nighttime / wind down routine or ritual?
I love to take care of my skin, so before anything else I’ll wash my face down with a Halo pad, use some retinol (I prefer the Murad Retinol Youth Renewal Serum) and then do a heavy moisturising (I use Thalgo’s Silicium Marin as I’m not long for my 20s and trying to put the groundwork in over here).
I’ll then drink a glass of water in bed, put on lip balm, and I’m basically gone.
Do you read in bed, if so what?
I do most of my reading during the day (mostly non-fiction books about complex mental health conditions and first-hand accounts of life with schizophrenia at the moment), bedtime is for rolling around with my phone reading the news or sending dumb memes to my friends.
What’s the last thing you do before bed / sleep? (Has this changed regarding use of technology, etc?)
I’m regularly conned into giving my partner a back massage in my final moments before sleep. I try to throw my phone away from myself long before this point.
What’s something you only do in bed, and nowhere else?
Bed is the place I’ll scurry off to most afternoons to shame-watch 2 hours of television after I’ve finished work to switch my brain off. I can only do it there because I’m almost guaranteed that nobody will bother me.
What’s the last you think about before you go to sleep….
Honestly? Almost nothing. Once I’m comfortable my brain ceases to function and I fall asleep every night in about 30 seconds.
Pick one:
PJs or naked? PJs always – massive men’s t-shirt and pants is the preferred uniform. I look like a rather haggard toddler when I go to bed.
Lights on or off? A low light, always on
Late night snack or nothing? A cup of genmaicha and a handful of whatever candy happens to be in the cupboard – mostly dark chocolate but I’ll take gummy bears or a scoop of peanut butter.
Shower before bed or no? Sometimes, as a treat.
Shop Elfy's Bedside Drawer and more at Oz Hair and Beauty.
