If you had told me just a few short months ago I’d be writing about how I’m embracing makeup-free days well, you’d have been met with a lot of laughter (and possibly a few expletives) but blow me down with a feathered makeup brush, that’s exactly what I’m doing!
I’m in love with makeup (I know I’m not alone). I love everything about it – the colours, the textures, the packaging, what it can do, how it makes me feel! I’ve been wearing makeup from as young as I was able to get away with it. I was quite good at secretly applying it too, I never got called up to the front of the class to be issued with the dreaded baby wipe.
This was all self-taught. My mother – naturally blessed with a flawless complexion – never had a need for makeup (yes, I envied her this too). In the time pre-YouTube, everything I knew was from magazines plus a good amount of trial and error.
Makeup was something I would never leave the house without. I was even wearing makeup during my labour (both of them). Yes, I was obsessed with wearing it. And for anyone who is nodding along reading this, you’ll know how much of a big step what follows was for me.
When choosing the focus for this month I felt inclined to lead with vitality. I mean, New Year is often the time we decide to get fitter & healthier, maybe you’re even taking on Veganuary?
But then another theme jumped out at me, spoke to me if you will. It was something I found difficult to ignore and epitomised what I personally want to give a lot of focus to not just this month but throughout this year and beyond.
Back in April, I took Living.Pretty.Happy (& hopefully all of you) on a more focused mission to help increase our sense of well-being.
It’s believed that an increased feeling of happiness & overall life satisfaction is achieved when all elements of our well-being are in balance. I talked more about these areas in Improving Well-Being: The Key to Being Happy?
This year we started focusing in on 9 of them, highlighting each in turn every month. Whilst we still have a few more to go, I felt with 2019 drawing to a close, a quick look back might help us to realise how far we have come.
It’s perfectly natural to want to feel closer to the people in our lives. The strength of our connections is often highlighted to us more so at Christmas than at any other time of the year.
Therefore, Christmas is a great opportunity for us to do some very simple things in order to help build our bonds with those we hold dear.
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I love discovering new things. Especially when said ‘new things’ aren’t things you would necessarily stumble across on the high street. Discovering products that make my life a bit easier, help me feel happier & maybe even indulge me just a smidge are absolute winners in my book.
This year, I’ve been fortunate enough to discover upon some real gems. So I’ve wrapped them up neatly here for you complete with a great a big Living.Pretty.Happy bow on top. I hope you’ll join me in supporting these fantastic – and on the whole – small, UK-independent companies this Christmas & beyond…
This is my mantra. It resonates so deeply within me. When I say it (and I say it daily) it reassures & motivates me. Who’d have thought just repeating these simple words could have such a powerful effect, but that’s the beauty of a mantra.
A personal mantra is a positive phrase or affirmative statement that you say to yourself for the purpose of motivation and encouragement. The words you choose have the power to alter your mood as well as your mindset.
Truth is, I only discovered my personal mantra recently.
Could there be a more fitting theme for the most festive month of the year?
For the last 3-months we’ve really been looking inward, focusing on self-awareness, self-acceptance & most recently self-worth. Now it’s time to look to our loved ones, to our families & friends – to our network.
To me, there are 3 types of relationships: the good, the bad and the room for improvement.
Sometimes the hardest thing – especially for us women – is to take time for ourselves, to practice self-care.
There have been countless times I’ve wanted to just sit & breathe. But there is always something to do, someone to help, somewhere to be. If I took 5-minutes for myself, my inner-critic would rear her ugly head to chastise me for my selfish laziness. Sound familiar?
What was it saying to myself? My needs don’t matter. And if you buy into this notion, you’re only headed in one direction… burnout. Maybe mentally, maybe physically, maybe both.
However, it really doesn’t need to be that way. We all have the ability to build some level of self-care into our lives. In fact, it’s something we should all be practising daily.
Post updated: December 2021
For me, nothing ignites my Christmas spirit more than experiencing Christmas at Blenheim Palace. When we first visited in 2019, we knew this would become a festive family tradition, and second only to the big day itself, we unanimously vote this as our Christmas highlight.
Say 3 good things about yourself…
I’m a good friend. Are you? Are you really though? I have a list of your epic friend-fails to hand if you want it! I’m hardworking. Seriously? I’ve met sloths more hardworking than you! I have a big heart. What so it fits in your fat body?
Up until earlier this year she dominated my thought process so much I couldn’t say even one good thing about myself. However, through working as I do focusing on well-being, I began to notice it more & start to label the behaviour, thus putting it at the forefront of something I urgently needed to address.
It’s difficult to pinpoint the moment I silenced my inner enemy. The majority of it occurred through the therapy I undertook. That’s not to say only therapy will quieten it down. I also learnt a lot by listening to well-being talks & reading self-help books – so the answers are out there.
Have you ever had a panic buy turn out to be a real diamond of a find? It’s funny how a product can go from ‘this will have to do‘ to ‘I don’t think I could do without’. But that’s what happened to me when I panic bought Clinique’s Even Better Glow Foundation.
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It’s a lightweight fluid foundation containing subtle luminising pigments to give a glowing finish.
The addition of Vitamins C and E brighten & even out the skin tone. Plus they’ve put some clever bits in it that ensure, once applied, this foundation won’t change colour, streak or clog pores! It also won’t catch on any dry bits.
So, if you want to look natural but flawless, this a foundation to sit up & pay attention to.
Well aside from the above, quite a few things actually. Like the fact a little goes a really long way. Enough coverage for me is just two dots on my stippling brush* (which is also what I recommend applying it with!).
It’s so blendable & although it’s sheer, it’s easy to build up the coverage to medium, making it a really flexible foundation.
But most importantly for me, I really love the dewy finish. I have combination skin and previously, ‘dewy’ just looked borderline oily. That’s not been the case with Even Better Glow. I’ve always been genuinely happy with the result.
Subscription boxes have definitely been on the rise over the last few years. I’m a fan & have loved subscribing to beauty boxes in particular. For me, it’s a monthly treat to myself delivered direct to my door – almost like a little investment in myself.
So when I learned about a subscription box that took self-investment to the next level, I was intrigued and since trying it out, also very impressed!
Today I’m joined by author Rosey Lee as she talks about why she writes to uplift & also discusses her new flash fiction series…
I’ve always enjoyed that books offer an escape from the challenges and frustrations we experience in everyday life. I’ve spent hours engrossed in characters’ lives, and I feel comforted, energized, and hopeful after reading a good story. But I’m frustrated if I reach the end of a story and find that the ending isn’t a happy one. After investing my time in characters and their journey, I don’t want to be disappointed.
Let’s be clear from the get-go: your worth has nothing to do with how you look, your bank balance, or your material belongings. Literally nothing to do with these things. So if you’re here thinking that’s how you build self-worth, get ready to turn your attention elsewhere.
As I mentioned in the self-worth month launch post, self-worth relates to how much you value yourself, regardless of these things. And investing the time to start building a healthy sense of it is one of the wisest & most-rewarding things you’ll do in this one lifetime you get.
Personally, I know what it’s like to feel you have zero self-worth. I’ve been there, and I lived there for a long time. But I also know that it’s possible to ‘increase your stock’ so to speak.
As we build self-worth, the way we think & act towards ourselves naturally improves, which in turn has a knock-on positive effect on our interactions with others. It’s a statement to the world, isn’t it…I know my worth, I treat myself with love & respect – you need to do the same.
And now the end is near and so we face our final curtain ‘self’ focus (I worked out I could literally have the entire post as a parody of My Way – but I’ll spare you that).
We really have come to our final chapter in the trilogy of ‘self’. We’ve explored self-awareness, self-acceptance and now we move smoothly on to perhaps the most vital self-concept of all…
This year I faced one of my biggest fears… heights.
We were on a family holiday & had booked the kids on to one of those tree-top aerial adventures. My husband had been due to complete this with them, but rather inconveniently for me (maybe not so much for him) he’d hurt his ankle beforehand and was unable to take part.
I had two choices, cancel the activity & face the look of disappointment on my kids faces or suck it up, strap on the safety-gear and make like Tarzan. From the picture, you can guess which option I chose.
Ahh Autumn! Get ready to snuggle up in a chunky knit & reacquaint yourself with the heating dial.
It’s the time of year where we often start to take our foot off the accelerator. As the nights draw in, so do we. And whilst it can be great to turn the dial to slow for a while, we do run the risk of turning it all the way to dormant, which isn’t great when it comes to our overall wellness.
You see now is the perfect time to prepare our bodies & minds for the colder months ahead. Adopting some simple lifestyle habits will help keep you feeling well throughout autumn and beyond!
Today I’m welcoming fellow blogger Charlotte Smith MBPsS to Living.Pretty.Happy to share her experience & thoughts on a new approach to diet and it’s impact on self-acceptance…
What do you see when you look in the mirror? Are your first thoughts positive or negative?
Do you compare yourself to those you see in magazines or on social media? Do you want to change yourself somehow in order to feel more like them?
If you think that changing your body to fit an ideal will make you feel better about yourself, you’re not alone. We, as a society but especially women, have been conditioned to feel like our worth is measured by the number on the scales and the inches on our waist. From this, corporations are taking our money by selling us products that don’t work.
Diet culture keeps us trapped in a vicious circle which ultimately puts our money in their pockets.
I’m glad you asked! I’d like to introduce my saving grace: Food freedom. A complete rejection of diet culture and your first step to eating intuitively.
My husband & I like exploring pretty towns & villages across the UK. We love a wander, a stop for something to eat and a little browse of (& of course spending in) their independent stores. That’s a nice day out for us.
Now if we mention this plan to the kids, everything other than eating is met with a groan. A really big groan. And let’s be honest, if the kids aren’t having fun – nobody is having fun! So what to do?
Thankfully, for a recent day trip to the beautiful East Sussex town of Rye, we stumbled across a way to get in full-on explorer mode, keep everyone happy and still make time for cake!
