EXCLUSIVE'The Side That's Not Sexy For Cameras': Rachel Lindsay Abasolo Opens Up To OK! On Her Self-Care Journey, Plus Her Kim Crawford Wines Partnership
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On Wednesday, September 7, Kim Crawford Wines took to NYC during the pre-New York Fashion Week festivities for a celebration at West Edge above Chelsea Market. The occasion for the wine brand? Aside from a city packed with young and hungry fashion fanatics, it was for the exciting continuation of their popup event series, dubbed "Camp Kim," in collaboration with Refinery 29 and Black Girl Ventures.
Unlike usual alcohol-sponsored events, Camp Kim was centered all around taking care of yourself and teaching those how a glass of wine can be the perfect compliment to one's self-care routine. With a beautiful bar stocked with, you guessed it, Kim Crawford Wines, tunes from the DJ twin Duo Angel and Dren and fun photo ops, the NYC party was the perfect place for those in attendance to let their guard down, indulge in some delicious drinks and enjoy themselves.
The night also included a "master your walk runway experience by model, Davanna," and a "cathartic paper shredding moment" where guests could write down anything they wanted to shred and release. The event continued with a round of 29 Questions with Youtuber Dolapo.
Among Camp Kim's guests was their newest brand partner, Bachelor Nation's Rachel Lindsay Abasolo. OK! exclusively got the inside scoop on how this collaboration came to be, along with all of Lindsay Abasolo's best self-care tips and tricks she's learned over the years.
"It [partnership] came about just friends talking in conversation. It's always beautiful when you do a partnership with a brand that you've been a fan of for such a long time," The Bachelorette alum gushes. "People will come over to my house and they'll see the Kim Crawford bottles and they're like 'Oh my gosh, this is the BEST!' When I look at a wine menu at a restaurant, I'm always like, 'Okay do they have the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc?' That's what I'm getting."
Like many, Lindsay Abasolo's love for wine grew tenfold during the start of Covid while spending more time at home. "I actually became a wine connoisseur during quarantine. I really can't drink hard liquor like I used to, and wine became my thing," the attorney admits to OK!.
Although wine may not be everyone's first thought when thinking of taking care of themself, Lindsay Abasolo let us in on how Kim Crawford Wines is her little secret to the perfect self-care routine — no matter the occasion.
"If I'm chilling at home after a long day and I'm practicing self-care and I'm having that bubble bath, I'm pairing it with Kim Crawford," she spills. "If I'm reading a book, it's Kim Crawford. If I'm in the pool, it's Kim Crawford Wines, or it's the Rosé if I'm having people over — Rosé is always for entertaining!"
"If [wine] helps me decompress. I don't overindulge, I do it responsibly," the reality TV star continues. "But it really does help me just relax, especially when pairing it with another self-care activity. It completes the activity; It compliments it. As if I was having a meal — like with a steak, I love a good wine — I love it with my self-care activity."
In today's day and age, self-care is a widely used term that can have a multitude of different definitions depending on who you ask. And the same goes for the term wellness.
"Self-care might be a little bit more subjective, whereas wellness is more objective," the Kim Crawford Wines ambassador explains. "For self-care, it's personal to you; What makes you feel cared for? For me, that varies. Sometimes that is me meditating and doing yoga and letting it out in the sauna. Sometimes that's making a bubble bath, pouring a glass of wine and watching anything that's on Bravo. Sometimes that's ASMR — I'm so into ASMR lately — while I'm just laying in bed trying to fall asleep."
Although the 37-year-old is a big advocate for self-care and wellness, she admittedly opens up to us about her struggle with prioritizing it in her own life, telling OK!, "The only thing I'm doing daily is ASMR. My wellness is suffering, but I need to do more to make space for myself."
Being that ASMR is her daily non-negotiable, Lindsay Abasolo shares with us her favorite creators to watch when trying to relax. "I go to YouTube. There's two people that I really love: one is a girl named Simply Kel and another one is Beez ASRM. I love them both. I love the whispering, I love the tapping, I love the brushing. It's not for everybody, but for me, I can fall asleep in under 10 minutes. I could be driving and it calms me down. It makes me less anxious and so, for me, it's been life-changing."
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On the other hand, Lindsay Abasolo explains, "Wellness is always, 'What am I doing to protect myself?' It's that mental piece. For me, it might be one of my self-care activities. It might be saying 'No' and doing what's best for me in the moment," she continues. "I would tell my younger self, it's okay to say 'No.' I'm still struggling with that at 37. You worry what's on the other side of saying 'No.' But it's okay for you to say 'No,' and it's okay for you to make space and time for yourself. And I would also tell myself to relax. I try to do too much and I put too much on my plate — I always have. I'm a hustler and I'm a hard worker, but it's okay to hustle for yourself too sometimes. I feel like maybe I learned self-care later than I wanted to."
But taking care of yourself doesn't always have to mean completing a task, finding what makes you happy or drinking wine. "Sometimes my self-care is crying — like before I came here, I had a full cry," the dark-haired beauty admits. "But a good one! It's therapeutic. I needed it. It had been awhile and I was like, 'I need to let this out.' And I feel great right now!"
Unbeknownst to the public, Lindsay Abasolo really honed in on learning self-care on The Bachelor — an atmosphere not usually described as a place to deep dive into taking care of one's mental health. "I'll never forget my roommate — shoutout to Whitney Fransway. I would want to run around and drink and have a good time and she would be like, 'Let's just put on masks and put on a robe and wash our hair and sit and just be. At first I was like, 'No...' But then I gravitated to it! So that was really when I started using face masks and relaxing and meditating. That all came from her [Fransway], and crazy enough, it was from The Bachelor — the side that's not sexy for cameras," The Bachelor alum exclusively tells OK!.
Another tip the TV personality recommends is lighting a candle. "Maybe this is a sign I'm getting older, but I love a candle. I can't walk in a store and not smell the candles and purchase one. I don't care how much it costs — it could be Target to an Anthropologie to whatever it may be — I have to buy the candle. There is something that releases me when I light a candle. It helps my mind, body and soul to have a lit candle next to me," Lindsay Abasolo says with a smile. When asked about her go-to brand for candles, she shares that her current favorite is Anthropologie. "There's always something new," Lindsay Abasolo reasons. "They always smell good and I have one in every room!"
She is also a huge fan of body oils. Her most recent obsession being Ambre Blends. According to Lindsay Abasolo, "It smells different on each person, and I use the purple one [Ahnu Essence Natural Fragrance]."
As we round the corner into fall, Lindsay Abasolo shares how her self-care routine changes season to season — which is more of a mindset for the podcaster, since L.A. seasons remain hot year-round. "When you think of fall you think of cuffing season and being boo'd up. So I like to be boo'd up watching football, and I do mine with wine," she shares. "It's also curling up with a good book or a board game — Bryan [Abasolo] and I love to play games — and I love to pair that with a good wine. So, either watching a game, playing a game or just curling up and reading a good book."
The biggest message that Lindsay Abasolo wants her fans and readers to take away is, "Take care of yourself. Make time for yourself to take care of yourself, is what I would say. We live in this world where everything is so fast-paced and we think if we don't act now we're going to lose it. My grandmother always says, 'Listen to your body,' and I have to remind myself of that. You have to listen to your body and make sure you're okay or you're never going to be your best self to achieve all those things that you want to do," the self-care advocate advises. "So, take the time to make time for yourself."
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To stay up-to-date on all things Rachel Lindsay Abasolo, make sure you're catching Extra, where the on-air correspondent is on six out of the seven days a week. You can also check out her podcast, "Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay," covering "current affairs, pop culture and all the good things," or her Bravo podcast, "Morally Corrupt Show," which drops every Friday covering your favorite Bravo TV shows.
"And then obviously Kim Crawford!" the brand rep plugs. "It's a dream to partner with a brand that I've been such a fan of for such a long time. So, I'm not just saying this: Kim Crawford is the sh*t."
New York’s Camp Kim debut marks the fourth and final in Kim Crawford’s summer popup series, which first rolled out to consumers in downtown LA and at the Coachella Music Festival in April, followed by Dallas and Chicago.
Keep scrolling to shop Kim Crawford Wines for yourself, directly through OK! below.
Kim Crawford Wines are available for delivery directly through their site at kimcrawfordwines.com.
