January 2017 | the same old chic | fashion, beauty and lifestyle by bridie

Sunday 29 January 2017

Delving Back Into Style

The Products I'm Currently Testing

As a blogger I'm lucky enough to receive beauty samples left, right and centre but I have to be careful because if I throw them into my blog basket (yes, the products have taken up residence in their very own designated space) then I can easily forget about all the new, exclusive luxuries I have to trial and eventually indulge in. That is until I give myself a shake and my room a revamp and rediscover those bits and bobs absent from my routine. Recently, I've been testing out a random bunch from various brands and I've loved the alternative introduction to my usual. It's been a while since I've mixed it up and I've really valued the change as well as the advances.

Fifteen Reasons To Be Happy Right Now

I'm not going to lie and pretend I'm a relentlessly positive person because I'm not and I don't believe anybody can remain all skipping through fields of flowers and humming lullabies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Whether we have an optimistic mindset, a cheery outlook on life, or a passion for productivity, we all have down days. There'll be triggers, a build up of annoyances and bad luck and that's okay - we can scream and shout and wallow in the cruel world but I think it's always important to let it all out of your system, hit refresh, and get back on track - sharply. A short term negative state is actually healthy, not because it's nice to beat yourself up but because it can help you move on to the next stage; to feel the euphoric highs I think it's necessary to also experience the shitty lows. However, long term unhappiness is not and along with seeking relief, it's sometimes stimulating to flick your reasoning to the present tense; reminding yourself why you originally felt that beacon of happiness in the first place. Without going all cliche 'how to beat the January blues', 'ways to interpret mindfulness into your daily routine' and 'let me force this cyber therapy' on you, I wanted to put a whole new focus on the word 'happy'. Not to question your existence as such, but to ensure you never lose sight of how important your contribution is, and how lucky you are to be sharing that, despite the obstacles that may be in the way.

What I Got For Christmas

We're nine days into January now so Christmas seems like a distant memory, or at least to the people who have actually found the time and place to store their gifts instead of just staring at the heaped blockade hoping it'll eventually rearrange itself (ahem, I'm totally not referencing myself, here). I haven't seen many of these posts lurking around this year (or last year, whichever you prefer as you program your brain functioning) so that made me even more hesitant to list my presents but I figured if you're anything like me, you won't take sharing as bragging but instead sharing as caring because if there's ever a time to demonstrate curiosity meets nosiness it's in the post Christmas - still finding an overkill of glitter all over the house - period.