How LYMA Helped Me Through the Stress of Wedding Planning

Stephanie Saltzman is Fashionista's beauty director. She studied journalism at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and previously worked as a digital editor at Allure, before joining the Fashionista team in 2016. She has spent more than 13 years reporting and writing about beauty and wellness products, trends and innovations.

In the 13 years I’ve spent working in the beauty industry, the lines between beauty, wellness and health have become increasingly blurred. It’s a positive evolution, in my view, since these fields can truly help support one another. We now understand the impact that our mood, stress levels, quality of sleep and nutrition can have on the way we age, how our skin responds to hormonal changes and so on. And while I’ve found it fascinating to explore the nuanced interconnectedness of these fields in my professional life, it’s also been useful in my personal life — especially as I’ve spent the past year planning my own wedding this fall, and grappling with high levels of stress and anxiety while also trying to optimize my skin-care regimen with the aim of looking my very best for the big day. Sleep deprived, panic-stricken and haggard looking are three vibes that are definitely not on my bridal Pinterest vision board.

The LYMA Supplement has been one of my best coping tools (along with ample therapy, visits to my trusted dermatologist and of course, support from friends, family and my fiancé).

I’m confronted with a whole lot of wellness products and supplements as a beauty editor — and so many of them have miraculous-sounding claims. It can be tricky to discern what is just marketing spin, and what may actually have real, science-backed efficacy. That’s why I appreciate the emphasis LYMA puts on research and science. Every ingredient included in the Supplement is there because it has been studied thoroughly and added with intention. And moreover, it’s dosed with intention.

As the brand’s founder Lucy Goff told one of my writers in an interview for Fashionista, “If you don't dose [an ingredient] correctly, it's like taking half a paracetamol and wondering why it doesn't get rid of your headache. The whole purpose of proving a dose is proving the amount that works.”

When it came to my year of wedding prep, I was most interested in the impact the LYMA Supplement could potentially have on my anxiety and stress levels, as well as how those factors were showing up on my skin. I tend to get flushed and suffer from stress-induced rosacea; I also have struggled with hormonal acne flare-ups throughout most of my life.

LYMA uses a patented version of saffron that has been shown to help quell anxiety in peer-reviewed (!) trials, which is a big deal. Other LYMA users have noted that it’s helped them overcome panic attacks and stop taking antidepressants, which can be highly effective but can unfortunately sometimes come with unwanted side effects. The Supplement also incorporates ashwagandha, an ingredient with a long history in Ayurvedic medicine, to help boost mental clarity and performance. Enhanced mental performance also translates to better productivity, in turn helping me tackle my never-ending To Do list and cut down on feelings of overwhelm. (Sometimes, nothing is more useful at reducing anxiety levels than actually getting stuff done.) In addition to helping me better handle anxiety and stress, LYMA also contains ingredients that have been scientifically shown to help bolster skin health, like anti-inflammatory curcumin from turmeric, antioxidant lycopene and keratin (which has been shown in studies to make nails 88% engineer over 20% less hair loss and give 80% improved skin smoothness).

Fall is my favorite season, so I had my heart set on an autumnal wedding date — which also meant that the thick of wedding planning ended up overlapping with my busiest, most stressful time at work: New York Fashion Week. The September New York shows perfectly aligned with the dates when I was also finalizing song lists, doing dress fittings and tastings. In the past, any of these things piling up would certainly be enough to put me into panic attack mode, but I found that staying true to my routines — regular yoga and popping my LYMA Supplement, especially — kept me mostly level-headed, clear minded and (relatively) calm.

I’ve been taking the LYMA Supplement throughout the entirety of my wedding planning process, with only one short gap when I (accidentally) ran out of it — I’ve been busy! In that time, my instances of breakouts have reduced dramatically, my rosacea flare-ups have become less frequent and I’ve been able to better manage the waves of stress and anxiety that have come my way. While I’m still not a perfect sleeper, I’ve noticed my nights have become more restful and restorative (backed up by my sleep tracking device, the Oura ring). Suffice it to say, in addition to my therapist (and, of course, my fiancé), LYMA has been among my most crucial wedding planning companions.