Living up to my Name. It’s not all about the haul people it’s about cultivating gratitude, gratefulness and wanting what you have.

Happy new year!

Hope you all had a good holiday over the Christmas and NYE period.  I had an amazing December spending the first two weeks in Australia on a belated honeymoon, and then off for another week for the last week of December.

I am still wrapping my head around work, as my mind is still on the couch watching endless episodes of ‘The Wire’ or ‘Breaking Bad’.   Are you struggling to get back to work/uni/ real life?

So what is new for me?  What is new for ‘Make do & make up’?

 No more hauls, but new format going forward and living up to my blog name.

For the past 2-3 months I have picked up a few bits and pieces make up wise see the pictures (some from the UK and a lot from duty free whilst travelling.)  Having thought about it I am, in the year of 2014, not going to do any more hauls.

‘What?’ I hear you say?

‘But it’s only Jan Carrie!’

That’s right I am no longer going to present haul posts for the year of 2014.  Over the Christmas break I had a massive clear out of my wardrobe and of my makeup collection.  I realised that I have far too much make up for one person, I have far too much clothing for one person. (However I do not have enough socks, I NEVER have enough socks as they go missing.  WHERE DO THEY GO? SOCK HEAVEN?).   I promptly got rid of everything that I don’t use and I want a fresh start.  I want to actually use what I have as opposed to let it live in my drawers unloved, unused, and effectively staying rent free in my already small flat.   Also, and more importantly, the hubby and I are trying to save for a house which rules out splurges at Space NK, Boots or Selfridges.  In my clear out I put all my nail polishes in a massive fishbowl vase for storage, I put it on display in the living room and promptly got a massive telling off from Ben about how much make up I have.  He is, of course, totally right.  I have 45 bottles of polish people, 45!! Eight of which are pretty much the same shade of fuchsia pink! The new format as of now is a budget of £100 to blow on make-up, clothing, skincare, toiletries. Or a combination of all 4 totally to £100.   So at the end of the month I have to decide what to spend my money on in those four categories.  I will be blogging on items in my make up – Skin care collection and basically  arguing a case of why they should remain in collection, or why they shouldn’t. 

There are 359 more days of 2014 and I’m convinced that I can come up with enough fodder in what I own to entertain you all.   By the end of the year I should have 12 items of make up/skin care/clothing/toiletries to show you and why they are special and why you should purchase them.  I think through this I can get a sense of my own taste, as opposed the buying stuff, posting about it and shouting 

“look at my new shiny things peps!”  it going to be like:

“look at my one shiny new thing” 

But Do at look at my tiny shiny praying mantis that is worth looking at! Lol

Although it could just be a bottle of shower gel & toothpaste.  Say what?  You guys need toothpaste what’s wrong with reviewing toothpaste?  Actually I do one to blog about one as one tube did actually do me a tremendous favour once!

 

I hope that going forward I can really better my blog and write about topics other than “Space NK haul”.  It is lovely getting new things, but I really feel that when there is so much stuff in your life you really don’t appreciate what you have and just get locked up in a cycle of buying more, consuming more, and not really enjoying any of it along the way.    Two of my aspirations and goals is to be a beauty writer and successful beauty blogger, but I think in order to get there I really need to be a bit more genuine about who I am and where I am going, AND where my money is going.   I am not made of money, and I am at times not the best steward of it which I regret.  There are times when I haven’t been able to sleep at night because I am making a mental list of things I want to purchase.  I feel sometimes that I am literally choked with number of things that I want, but it’s not really a true want it is just brief yearning that, once satisfied moves onto the next thing.  That is just wrong and mental and ridiculous, and also really dangerous as I am focusing on what I don’t have.  When I should be focusing on what I do have.    I am not going to get to be a good writer or blogger by going to Space NK every month and buying the latest thing.   I have touched on this in the past about placing things over people sometimes, and I am guilty of this and for this I am whole heartedly ashamed.  I love the beauty blogging world, but I don’t like the vicious circle it creates with the hunting of the new thing, the chase, the kill and the crying of my wallet.   I love make up, but the fact that my lipstick is in limited edition colour from MAC, in the grand scheme means absolute nothing.   It doesn’t make me a better person, it doesn’t make me clever,  or more beautiful, it just makes me someone who can hunt out a limited edition lipstick and spends an unhealthy amount of time in her local MAC store. 

 One of the reasons I gave this blog the name that I did is that I do truly believe in making do with what you have.   Not that making do is settling for something that is rubbish, but knowing what you have and really appreciating it and being grateful.  It’s funny when you do concentrate on all the things you do have in your life how much you really do seem to have.  I suppose that is in part what this blog is about it trying to nurture my gratefulness, it’s trying to curb my silly desire for things that I don’t really want.  

 

Thank you for letting me rant on and having a wee heart to heart with you guys.   

 What are you new resolutions for this year?  Any more tips for keeping it real for 2014?

 Thank you again for reading I really appreciate everyone who reads my wee little blog. 

 

Carrie x