A Week of Beauty, Day 7: A Beautiful Mind

For our final day in A Week of Beauty, I'm talking about having a beautiful mind.  See you on the video!

A Week of Beauty, Day 6: At Home

In writing this post, I asked myself the question ‘how can I feel beautiful in my home?’  Here are some ideas I came up with.

Choose beauty even with perfunctory items.  When I buy the paper facial tissues that I use to cleanse my face, I choose the prettiest box even though it won’t be on display because I keep them in the cupboard underneath the basin.  I see them every time I use one.

Keeping possessions well-curated and regularly decluttered so that I feel at ease when opening my closet or a drawer.  Items are all in good order and I use them often. Keeping on top of things also means I am only surrounded by my favourite and most beautiful things.  Donations and rubbish are gone straight away.

Having healthy and chic food in my pantry and fridge means there is not an assault on the eyes from garishly packaged le junque food.  I love the quote ‘tacky people eat tacky food’, I heard it was attributed to Jackie Onassis.

Displaying anything I am going to eat attractively on a plate.

Playing my ‘hotel lobby’ playlist when I’m at home.  You know the easy listening piano music that hotels play sometimes?  I love music like this, and when I play it at home it instantly makes me feel relaxed and like I’m in a plush hotel.  Richard Clayderman, Carl Doy and the Northquest Players are artists I have, plus a very kitsch sounding ‘Chilled Dinner Party Piano Gold - 40 Smooth & Mellow Classic Piano Hits’.

Reading a glossy magazine.  I’ve bought one or two lately, and after a long period of buying none it feels quite nice.  I love to feel inspired by the beauty others create and share.

Turn down our beds at night.  After dinner but before bedtime I go up to our bedroom and close the windows, draw the curtains and make sure our room is tidy.  It’s so soothing to go up to later on.

I love having bar soap in the shower but like pump soap by kitchen and bathroom taps and always choose beautiful scents, plus have a pump hand cream next to it.

Having my favourite enjoyable rituals – hot tea in the morning, cocktail hour in the late afternoon on weekends, Sunday night movies.

Candles always add a touch of beauty to the home and we have at least one burning every night, even in the summer when it’s still daylight.  When I’m at home for the day I light a scented candle in the morning.  It feels very spa luxe.

Finally and most importantly, I choose the way I want to feel.  I choose to feel beautiful, relaxed, calm and organised.

I’d love to know, what makes you feel beautiful in your home?

A Week of Beauty, Day 5: Loungewear

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I find it quite interesting that my most read post of all time with over 31,000 page views is ‘What to wear at home’.  Obviously it's not just me who always has this topic on my mind.  I love to change my clothing when I get home after work or a day out but I'm sometimes stumped on what the best thing to wear is (yes it's a first world problem).

Home loungewear needs to be a peculiar blend of alluring, comfortable and not too delicate.  Loungewear is not pyjamas either.  I have two sets of man-style pyjamas, one in striped blue cotton and the other a mushroom and cream baroque-print satin.  Even though they are 'man-style' in name, I feel very feminine in them.  But putting them on straight after work doesn't seem right.  I did do this once after a late afternoon shower and when my husband got home from work he thought I was going to bed.

This past winter I've worn leggings and a v-neck fine merino top which has been successful - cosy, attractive and, with two sets I always have one outfit to wear while the other is in the wash.  In the summer I've worn fine cotton or satin palazzo pants with a complementary t-shirt.

I wouldn't mind getting some even prettier pieces than that though, items that are specifically loungewear.  I will be sure to purchase in 'my' colours too - and I can really enjoy using the prettiest and most feminine shades of Soft Summer.  I was looking at camisoles today and had my Colour Me Beautiful wallet in my bag which was fun.  I didn't buy anything though because none of them were quite right and I'm going to shop more intentionally and resist the instant gratification of taking something home.

Since my wardrobe is more pared down than it was, it's quite nice to be sick of wearing something at the end of the season and looking forward to the next season.

Please do share your favourite home loungewear ideas.  Do you have specific clothing for this or keep your day clothes on?

A Week of Beauty, Day 4: Serenity

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How many times do you focus on what’s wrong with the world instead of what’s right?  It may come as a surprise to you but it’s not your job to take on the worries of the planet, you’ll only make yourself sick with the stress. 

Believe it or not you can actually keep up with what’s going on around the world without immersing yourself daily in the sensationalist and stressful information product that is the news. 

Alarm bells people: the news is not impartial.  We are only ever presented with a skewed perspective that suits that news service and their advertisers, and most of the time these stories are negative.  Don’t give them your mental airspace! 

Here are just some of the stories you are unlikely to hear on the news:

Couple has long and happy marriage and lives in a quiet and peaceful way

Office worker sets up longstanding automatic payment to her favourite charity

Woman helps out elderly neighbour with her shopping every week

Group of friends finally set off for overseas trip they have been saving for and planning for two years

You will just not hear those stories because they do not sell.  Sadly only the bad stuff sells newspapers, increases page views and creates riches for the news companies.  So why should we play into their hands?  Opt out, delete the news!  Don’t worry about missing out - you will hear the headlines from others anyway, guaranteed.

Enrich your life and focus on what’s beautiful in the world instead.  Start with your own world and work your way out from there.  Be a shining beacon of light and hope.  Be that person others love to spend time with because you are always cheery and upbeat.

And what can you do with that extra half hour or one hour a day that you now have? 

Read something enjoyable instead – it might be uplifting, inspiring or laugh out loud funny.  All these things have a much better effect on your health – both mental and physical.

Go to a movie – mingle with others outside your home and see something new.  I prefer happy or funny movies myself.  I’m not paying money to be stressed or made to feel bad.

Decide to learn something new or take up a craft. 

Make a home-cooked dinner. 

Call, write to or email a friend.

Choose how you might help another – set up a small Automatic Payment donation, knit premature baby tops or puppy coats.

Start your book – keep the negative thoughts at bay and just do it – you are good enough to finish that book, just keep writing.  You only lose if you quit.

What about you, are you a news person?  Do you have a secret as to how to keep up with what’s going on without spending too much time or draining your energy by reading the news?

A Week of Beauty, Day 3: Colour

We’re just coming out of winter here in New Zealand and I’ve been wearing a lot of black.  Black is almost our national colour because so many Kiwi women wear it exclusively.

I knew I was being a bit naughty and not doing myself justice though because black is very harsh on my colouring.  It is for a lot of women actually, and I even heard that it makes the dark circles under your eyes stand out and your skin look older.  I don’t want that!

I had my colours ‘done’ in the nineties and I am a Soft Summer which is summer tending towards autumn.  I thought this was quite apt as late summer/early autumn is my favourite season.  I have muted colouring that is easily overwhelmed with bright, clear colours (and black), and my best shades are in the image above.

Even though it was very trendy to have your colours analysed then, I’d still recommend it now because the right colour (especially near your face) really makes all the difference between looking fresh and youthful or… not.

I still have my colour wallet so I am going to go through my new season (the season is new, my wardrobe is not) clothing and see what it looks like to only put soft summer colours in my closet and leave out the rest.  I think what I’m afraid of is that there might not be much there.

Another great tip which I’m sure I have mentioned before is that your hair colour, eye colour and skin colour are three excellent shades for you to wear in clothing.  In my case these would be light taupe/grey, dark blue/grey and blush pink.  I have a linen shirt in a dark blue/grey and receive compliments every time I wear it.  My black tops?  Never.

I was inspired to get back to my best colours after watching Mary Michele on One Chic Mama TV on YouTube.  She has a lot of really fabulous wardrobe, colour and style videos including an interview with Jennifer L. Scott, author of Lessons from Madame Chic and At Home with Madame Chic (I have both her books and love them, and yay, a new one is out soon - Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic).

Do you love the colours you wear and what are your favourites?  Have you ever had your colours done?

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A Week of Beauty, Day 2: Grooming

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Usually the first thought that comes to mind when I think of beauty is someone’s face and their cosmetic routines.  The beauty section of a department store is that glamorous place of gold and mirrors and beautiful shades to adorn ourselves with.

Whether you wear makeup or not, I’m sure you feel more beautiful when you are up-to-date with your grooming regime.  Taking two minutes to shave my legs means they are beautifully smooth.  Blow-drying my hair rather than tying it back wet means I can enjoy the silkiness of a fresh blow-dry plus it looks better.

Nails is an area where I’ve stepped up my game lately.  In the past I’ve used the excuse that my nails would become chipped within one day at work so why bother doing anything with them except file them shorter once in a while.  A couple of months ago I decided that was a lazy ole story I was telling myself so I got out my nail polish and painted them.  I even invested in a base coat on the advice of a friend (I already had a top coat too).

What has made me love my painted nails more, aside from the fact that I think they look really feminine and yes, maybe a little bit French, because I imagine all Parisiennes wear nail polish (they probably don’t), is the fact that I decided to cut them really short and then paint them.

The colour lasts much longer, I think, because shorter nails don’t have any bend in them like a longer nail does.  Plus, it looks très modern in my opinion.  I always felt a bit 80s Dynasty with long(ish) coloured nails.

I have four colours, all crème (no sparkle or shimmer) – pink/nude, dark taupe, fuchsia pink and electric coral pink.  I used to only wear pink/nude on my fingernails and saved the other three for my toes in summer, but I have been wearing the dark/bright colours on my fingers and enjoying the change.

With colour on my fingernails I treat my hands differently - I don’t use them as tools!  I change them once a week and have had a ten day breather with no colour so far, because I don’t want yellow nails.

I also, on the same friend’s advice, apply a top coat most days and this keeps the colour glossy and stops the edges wearing.  It dries really quickly so it’s not a big deal.

What about you?  Are your nails lovely?  What grooming area would you like to step up during our week of beauty?