If Only Eyes Saw…

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Beauty Is Not…

“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” –Kahlil Gibran

We Delight…

You Are Imperfect

You Are…

“You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful.” ―Amy Bloom

Perhaps The Butterfly Is Proof

Sweet Little Surprises

I haven’t written anything in a while, as I have been plagued with the severe exhaustion and agonizing pain that is Fibromyalgia. Every single day has sounded like a good day to sleep. No amount of sleep has seemed to be enough for my body, and the pain has been excruciating to the point where I’ve been pretty distraught. Unfortunately, I have had an onslaught of appointments during all of this and had no real time to truly rest or focus.

In the midst of all this, I have had great support from a select group of friends. I am going through something seriously awful in my personal life and these friends are trying to help me navigate it, to the best of their ability. It’s one of those things where you cannot say thank you enough because you get to see people’s true colors.

It’s amazing how sometimes, through all the trauma and awfulness in your life, little surprises pop up and you’re in awe of the thoughtfulness of the gestures. I have been on the receiving end of some really sweet, thoughtful surprise packages and here I share “my stash”.

   

This sweet little package arrived via UPS and totally made my day. Mally Beauty had been holding a 100,000 Fan Giveaway on their Facebook page. I entered, left a comment as to why I use Mally’s products, and never thought anything of it afterward. Then, out of nowhere, I get this adorable set of eye liners and a nice little note as a gift. I was so touched (I also have to mention that Mally personally responded to me when I sent her a thank you. That is the epitome of class!). The colors are Caribbean Sea (kind of like Emerald Green meets Teal), Milk Chocolate, Royal Purple, Midnight Black, and Silver. If you’ve never used a Mally product before and you love make-up, as I do, I highly recommend starting with Shimmer, Shape, & Glow. You’ll feel like you belong on a Red Carpet in less than a minute. These liners are a fun treat. Also, for all you animal lovers out there, Mally does not test on animals whatsoever. In fact, she’s the owner of two rescue dogs that she adores. You can now find her products nationwide at ULTA.

 

Prior to New York Fashion Week, Kate Somerville Skin Care had a contest to win this Save Our Skin package. Kate has some seriously amazing products and as a fan of ExfoliKate, I tried entering the contest, to no avail. I sent the company a message to let them know there was a problem with the contest page. They told me they were working on it. After the contest ended, I received a message letting me know that they had saved one of these packages for me and just needed to know where to ship it. They came to the right place, because that is just plain good Public Relations. The package was beautifully wrapped and contained all of this:

24 Hour Pimple Punisher on the bottom (Yes, I still get the occasional breakout. This stuff is nice and has already cleared up a few breakouts I had before the package arrived!), above that is CytoCell Eye Cream (I’m a religious user of a different brand, but this one is very nice.), to the right in silver is a product called DermalQuench Liquid Lift (I’ve been using this on and off and I see a difference in how sculpted my face looks. Might be the product, might be the weight I just lost, who knows?). In the middle are two of Kate’s self-tanning towelettes, and on the left is my beloved ExfoliKate. For the record, the ExfoliKate usually costs about $350 a year, with the assumption that you’re using it 2-3 times a week, so anytime I can get a small one, I’m thrilled. I returned the last full size tube I bought because $200 (which included tax and shipping) was a hefty price to pay, and I decided to stick with a gentler product for the time being. However, I am thoroughly enjoying this lovely little box from Kate Somerville Skin Care. There’s a reason this stuff is so expensive, the ingredients are high quality.

 

  

My other surprises included this awesome little package from Dove Dark Chocolate. I received this with no knowledge whatsoever that I had won anything. Inside is a coupon for a free bar of their chocolate (free chocolate is never a bad thing!) and two special Nicole by OPI Nail Polishes in two different shades called Better After Dark (lighter shade on the left) and Promises In The Dark (darker shade on the right). I am really into dark polish right now, so I am going to enjoy wearing these. 🙂

  

The biggest shocker was one I received earlier in the year and absentmindedly forgot to share. It’s from Tria Beauty and is a Laser Hair Removal device. Not only did I win this in a fan giveaway, one of three they offered, but I also got to choose which of their lasers I wanted, they even sent me an additional message to ask if I wanted it in a special color. For me, this was a HUGE gift to receive.

This laser happens to be their top of the line device, and I can attest to the fact that it is much faster than the one I already owned. I’ve been a fan of their products for a few years now, and I do still use the previous laser even though it’s much slower. The results are amazing, so long as you are fair to medium complected and are removing light brown to black hair. This laser is not yet FDA approved for redheads or blondes, but I am sure they’ve got one on the way. This company has amazing advancements not only involving hair removal, but also involving skin care, so keep your eye on them, and don’t be afraid to follow them on whatever social media platform is your favorite.

Life has truly felt like absolute torturous HELL at times, but every once in a while, I get a really sweet surprise and it helps me see that my hard work and sacrifice is noticed by a much Higher Power than anything here on this plane of existence. These are the little things that make me smile, apart from my tiny little minx, my Goddaughter, my best friends, my friends on a whole, and the fact that I am forever reaching towards the light at the end of the dark, long tunnel.

I hope you have sweetness in your life too, in whatever form it may come in. Let us all count our treats and blessings. 🙂

*I am not a paid advertiser of any of these products, merely a customer.*

Beauty In Our Midst

Nail Polish Trade

This will be posted on my beauty blog as well, but I’m posting it here for my regular readers, as I didn’t want to exclude anyone. (Sorry guys. I know none of you want to hear about beauty products. Ignore us girls for a sec. LOL.)

I’ve got a considerable amount of polish (E-mail me for photos directly. They will be taken with an HD camera.) from various brands that I am looking to trade for colors more suitable to my life.

We’re talking Avon to OPI, and so many others in between. If you’ve got a color I am looking for in any brand, I am 100% open to working with you. We each pay the shipping costs to ship to one another. I can only open this to my U.S. readers as Canadian and overseas Priority Mail shipping is outrageous for nail polish. None of us would be benefitting there, unfortunately.

Anyone interested in trading, you can find my e-mail address in the About Me section. You can also leave me a comment here and let me know you’re sending an e-mail so I know not to delete it if it hits my SPAM filters.

I’ve got an immense collection and I’m primarily looking for shades of blue and purple, and a wide array of greys in return.

Hope to hear from someone, or several someones, soon!!

CURRENT COLOR LIST (with more to come)

Avon: Olive Green

China Glaze: First Class Ticket,

Essie: Mojito Madness, Fear Or Desire,

Orly: Green With Envy

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: Thinking Of Blue

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails: Hard To Get, No Hard Feelings, Tough Luck

OPI: Suzi Says Feng Shui, Mermaid’s Tears, Hong Kong Sunrise, Jade Is The New Black, mini Alpine Snow, (I have one other purple/blue flip mini, but I cannot remember the name of it because it came without a label. I believe it’s from the Shrek collection.)

Essence: Dress To Party, Trendsetter

Rimmel: Zenith, Fuel, Twisted Chic

New York Color Quick Dry: Lincoln Center

Hard Candy: Flash

Revlon: Limited Edition Plum Cherry

Sinful Colors: What’s Your Name

I also have a silver, red, and green glitter polish that will work for anyone who likes to do nail art of any kind.

Learning To Love Our Bodies

Learning To Love Our Bodies

http://celebritybabies.people.com/2013/08/14/garcelle-beauvais-blog-learning-to-love-our-bodies/

I’ve been meaning to share this blog for quite some time now. It breaks my heart that any child would ask if raisins are fattening. I openly admit to having an image problem, but I can tell you that it did not start until I left gymnastics and it didn’t begin at home. In fact, I never saw anything wrong with myself physically (except for obvious things that all girls find issue with at one time in their life or another) until people started pointing my flaws out left and right. All of a sudden, I was avoiding mirrors and wouldn’t purchase new clothes.

As women, we make this worse. Instead of building each other up, we tear each other down. It’s disgusting and I don’t want to be a part of that. If I think someone is beautiful, be it inner or outer beauty (occasionally it is both, but not all the time,), then I find absolutely nothing wrong with saying it. That doesn’t mean I want to be in a relationship with them, it simply means I’m not blind.

Zero and Double Zero are not sizes, even if that’s your “natural weight”. It should not be anyone’s goal of perfection because perfection is an illusion. Be yourself. Be comfortable in the skin you’re in because you’re going to be in that skin for a very long time. Be kind to yourself and try to achieve self-acceptance, because it’s so much easier than “perfection”.

Full Harvest Moon + Happy Sukkot!

For most of us, the Full Harvest Moon will rise this evening and be as beautiful as most full moons are. Last night was the beginning of Sukkot, a harvest based celebration marking the official end of summer, much like the Fall Equinox/Mabon on Sunday, minus the religious connotations.

With the already changing Fall weather, now is a great time to share a snack or a meal underneath the stars, or maybe even just take a walk and breathe in the crisper air.

Generally, this is the start of my favorite time of year. Not just because I prefer this kind of weather over all other weather, but because it is the lead in to my birthday next month. Under normal circumstances I really get into it, but this year I’m kind of just content to let it pass over. Surviving another year  feels a little trite for me right now. Maybe in the coming weeks I’ll feel differently.

Hope everyone has a lovely view of the moon and a lovely night in general.