It feels like just yesterday that I was telling you about the 5 things I love for January and the next thing you know, February is almost over!
So much has happened for me, in the past month! I’ll share with you what I can 🙂
And, we’re in a Leap Year this year with 29 days this February, so today isn’t technically the last day of the month. To be honest, I cannot believe that we’re ONLY in February. So much has happened globally and domestically that it feels like we should be at least halfway through 2020 already!
I do hope that everyone stays safe, avoid crowded places so we keep the Covid-19 virus at bay, keep a cool head, and don’t pick too many unnecessary fights over political matters that are beyond our control. Keep calm, and eat good food! Everything looks and feels better after a good meal 🙂
As always, I’d love to hear of 5 things that you’ve loved in this past month. Think about it for a bit. There’s always something that will lift your day and mood and bring a smile to your face 🙂
WHAT I LOVE: Sherlock
The best thing that’s happened to me in the past month is this – I got a dog! 😀 Yes, that’s the Sherlock in the title LOL!
I’d toyed with the idea for a little while. I am not much of a pet person, but I’d always told myself that if I were to get a pet, it would be a dog or nothing. I love dogs, especially large dogs, but circumstances were such that I never had time nor space for them.
Recently, I realized that time was something I now had, to lavish on something other than myself. I had the time to train and to enjoy the company of a dog, and I got a beagle! I’m not sure if I picked the right dog, because he’s a bundle of pent-up energy and I can barely keep up! 😛
If you aren’t aware already, please meet Sherlock, my little beagle. I document his adventures on Instagram @iamsherlockthebeagle if you’d like to see the hijinks he gets up to, or if you’d just like to enjoy some cute doggie photos like this one 😀
On most days, I’m to be found standing in my living room, hands on hips, saying “SHERLOCK!!” in a most exasperated voice; and I find myself channeling Mrs. Hudson from Sherlock, the BBC series LOL! We are both equally exasperated with our charming, but troublesome lodger! 😛
The funny thing is that many people have told me, upon finding out that yes, that naughty little beagle is mine, is this “You never struck me as a dog person!” Well, surprise, I am! 😛
If you have a beagle, or if you have tips on what I should be looking out for with a young pup (he’s already half destroyed my slippers and the corner of the wall skirting on one wall!), please share! 😛
WHAT I LOVE: Not wearing Makeup
Yup, you read that right – no makeup. Rather, very little makeup.
If you have noticed a dearth of reviews of makeup products on the blog recently, it’s because I haven’t been wearing much of it. You can’t share an opinion on something, if you don’t use it!
It’s simply because I haven’t had much inclination nor reason to wear makeup recently. It will change of course, my moods change all the time. But for now, I’m enjoying this no-makeup phase.
Most days, I’m out bare-faced, or with just a little concealer, brows and a lip colour. Unlike last month, when I favoured a bold lip colour, this month, I’m all about tinted lip balm! Talk about a study in contrasts LOL!
RELATED READING: Here’s a new tinted lip balm I’ve been enjoying READ HERE
WHAT I LOVE: New Challenges
To be fair, I’m not sure if new challenges are what I love haha! 😀
I’d established a fairly comfortable routine in recent years, and it’s left me very comfortable. I do what I like, I go where I like, and I enjoy what I like, whenever and however I like.
But all that has changed in the past month.
There was a little whisper of an idea, a giggly dream built and then a more serious “What if we made it a reality?” and we have. Slowly and surely.
I’ve been very busy setting up a new little venture, of which I will share in time to come, and will be launching a product or two. But hold your horses, friends. I don’t plan to further saturate the beauty industry, so it won’t be something for everyone I’m afraid! 😀
WHAT I LOVE: The Most Expensive Cream I’ve Ever Used!
I’m almost afraid to say that I love the Cle de Peau La Creme, but I do. And it’s NUTS! 😛
I am finishing up my full review very soon where I will tell you more about it, and why I like it.
For now however, all I can say is that this cream, expensive as it might be, has been very nice to my skin. My skin looks and feels moisturised, hydrated and comfortable and I don’t even use very much.
I also feel like it’s helped even out the texture and colour, and my skin just stays calmer for longer. I will tell you also that it is purely anecdotal, but it is my anecdote to tell, and I will. Soon 🙂
RELATED READING: What is the Cle de Peau La Creme 2020 version? READ HERE
WHAT I LOVE: Life
What I love about life this time is self-acceptance.
I shared some thoughts on IG Stories a few weeks back, where I used both these photos to illustrate my point.
In both photos, I have nary a scrap of makeup on, and am proudly sporting a spot on my chin. Damn hormones! 😛
In the picture on left, I have applied a filter. On right is the photo raw off my phone camera.
What I said was essentially this: So often on social media, we are shown ‘bare faced’ photos, but unknown to us, a filter is applied. A filter usually evens out skin colour and texture, and generally, makes a person look more attractive. When that is done, without disclosing, it may lead viewers to feel inferior about themselves, about why they don’t look that way in their bare-faced photos.
In reality, what you really get in a true bare-faced, unfiltered photo, is the photo on your right. And that is something that everyone can relate to, because there is every possibility that that’s what people see when they look in the mirror.
I can understand why people apply a filter to their photos and videos. Everyone wants to look good and viewers want something attractive to look at. It is disclosure that is important, because it helps people manage expectations.
The thing to remember when going online is this – self-acceptance. When you accept yourself, blemishes, imperfections, grey hair, warts and all, you will not feel inadequate about how you look. You can strive to attain some form of perfection, but you have to understand that filters are in place for everyone, be they face filters or thought filters. We never truly know anyone from their online persona because filters are in place, whether they say so or not.
So if there’s one take away from this month’s 5 things I love, it is to love yourself. You are enough. You can be better, we all can be, but you are enough 🙂
RELATED READING: Speaking of self-acceptance, do share your thoughts with me on grey hair since we’re all greying! READ HERE
What are 5 things you love this past month?
Do share – or at least tell me how to stop my pup from chewing up my shoes and house LOL! 😀
Paris B
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