A Single's Valentine's Day

Welcome back, little birdies and Happy Valentine's Day!

I do hope you're all doing well today. I'm trying to stick to a schedule with my blog and while I was planning it out, I realized that I was scheduled to put up a blog post on Valentine's Day. Immediately, I got flustered on what to write about - debating whether I should acknowledge the day or not and put up a regular non themed post. When I was trying to get into the spirit of making it Valentine's themed I realized that everything I was thinking about was "date night ideas" or "what to get him for V-Day" and it frustrated me more because I have no idea at the moment. If you did or didn't know, I am single and have been for quite a while now. I have no idea what exciting adventures to unfold on date nights and have no clue what to buy a guy for that particular day. I was building up this "Perfect Blogger" idea in my head that this is what you're supposed to write about on Valentine's Day but that's not me. I've past the point of bitterness or feeling sad for myself on this day because I'm single. I love reading the cute date night stories or what cute thing a guy did to surprise his girlfriend. Although I do, it's not what will be happening for me this Valentine's day. So I started thinking, what would I do on this day? For me? I figured I'd write a Single's Valentine's Day guide. Grab some ideas, enjoy and love yourself today and every other day!

Dress Up or Dress Down!

1.  Dressing up for yourself! I love getting dressed up and love getting myself ready. I love doing it because it makes me feel good! I love the way I look and it makes me feel confident!
2. Dress down. Don't feel pressured to have to get all dressed up that day if you don't want too. Need a no makeup, sweats, and messy hair day? Rock it.

Don't be Afraid to get your Independence on!

1. Movie for one? Yes, please! I love going to the cinema but one of the hardest things is agreeing what movie to actually watch. There will be movies that either you want to watch and they don't and visa versa. This will be a stress free, any movie YOU'D like kind of day. And you won't even have to share popcorn. ;)
2. Go shopping. Going out and finding new outfits is such a great feeling! Retail therapy is a real thing and it feels fabulous. I love finding new things to wear. Especially for spring which isn't far away! You'll be ahead of the game. 
3. Treat yourself to a Spa Daaaay. A great way to take care of yourself is going to get a massage, facial and mani - pedi. You'll thank yourself for having one of those days.
4. Do something adventurous! Go out and do some rock climbing, or those obstacle courses. Depending on where you live you can go skiing or sledding. Take some chances on things you always wanted to do but were always too afraid of doing!
5. If you don't want to go out at all - stay home. There's seriously no place like home. It's the best snuggling up on the sofa or in bed, wrapped around my Totoro fluffy blanket, finding new shows to fall in love with on Netflix.

Create some Deliciousness in the Kitchen

1. Go to the grocery store and stock up on cake mix and frosting. You can even buy those cute heart shaped sprinkles in different colors!
2. Scroll through Pinterest for baking ideas. I've typed in "Things to Bake for Valentine's Day" and the list goes on for miles on ideas. From chocolate covered strawberries, to marshmallow pops, to red velvet cupcakes, oh my!
3. If you've baked a special Valentine's Day treat, leave your links in the comments! I'd love to see what you've come up with.

And there you have it! A few ideas on what you could be doing on your Valentine's Day as I know I'll be doing a few of these as well. I'm ready to take on this day with positivity and love towards myself. Bonus points for treating yourself! I hope you enjoy this day whether with a significant other, friends or family, or even just flying solo. Sending some Blissful Beauty Bird love your way.

Thanks for reading!

Until Next Time,

Jay

Summer Inspired BooHoo Wish List

Welcome back, little birdies!

Recently, I made my first purchase over on the BooHoo USA site after being recommended it by one of my friends. I've always heard of BooHoo but because it wasn't a store I could physically go into - I was skeptical about the clothing and if they'd fit. One thing that worries me with online shopping is if an item doesn't fit. I'm sooo impatient that I'd probably be a bit disappointed that I'd have to send it back and wait for a replacement. Regardless, I took the plunge and ordered online. I'll do an outfit post on what I bought in the future as I absolutely LOVE what I got and I've gotten so many compliments from the items that I did buy from there that I'm excited to purchase more!

By my wish list you might suspect a theme. Dark and lace. I'm just loving these summer inspired tops. The Sally Ruffle Neck Lace Georgette and the Julia Crochet Trim High Neck Sleeveless Blouse make me want a beautiful holiday over in Spain. At a beach,. with a pina colada (virgin).

Along with that I love the Petite Dina Crochet Lace High Neck Bodycon Dress (these names are loong haha). It's the perfect summer dress and I choose the color in white to help out with the tan. Can I quickly just mention how much I love when a clothing store has a Petite section!? It can get hard sometimes finding clothes we're not swimming in or having to hem the bottom of the pants for. :)

The last two, Erin Long Sleeved Ruffle Shirt and the Lola Slash Neck Fisherman Jumper are great summer night items when things start to get chilly. One casual and the other dressy.

I know summer is quite the way a ways but I love the thought that it can be so close and we can get ready for it by buying clothes for the warm weather! These are definitely in my cart ready for check out for my next purchase as I just adore these items. Nothing wrong with wishful thinking for summer months to get here soon!

Thanks for reading!

Until Next Time,

Jay

HandPicked Beauty Box January 2017

Welcome back, little birdies!

I hope you're all doing well on this fine day. One thing that gets me excited for a new month is the box I subscribed to at the end of November. HandPicked Beauty Box is a fairly new subscription box that consists of 5 FULL sized items! Isn't that amazing?! The only catch is this box is more expensive than the other boxes out on the market at the moment - which is totally understandable seeing as these are high end products. I'm certainly enjoying it and it's only my second box. I'll be showing you what I received for the month of January 2017.

The first thing I saw when I opened the box was a Tony Moly Lip Scrub in Kiss Kiss. My lips are almost always dry and I can't seem to make them nice, smooth and plump. So I was excited to see this in the box. I've heard great things about the brand but have never tried them out myself. I'm SO ready for beautiful luscious lips so I hope this does the job. :)

The next thing in the box was this SkinFood Lettuce & Cucumber Watery Toner. To be honest, the foodie in me thought it was a drink at first when I saw it just before reading that it's for my face - haha. I'm so intrigued by this. I do want to do a little more research on this though as my skin is pretty sensitive and when I tried to look at the instructions on the back of the bottle it was all in Korean - it did although have a sticker of ingredients on there in English so you know what's in it. I'd love to learn more about this brand and see how my skin takes to this new toner. I'm excited to try it out!

I then saw a beautiful package that said Urban Decay on it. This is only the second box I've received from this subscription and this is the second Urban Decay product I've gotten and that makes me so excited! It's one of my favorite brands and I love that this helps me to be able to try out different products from there I probably wouldn't have gotten before. I received this UD Revolution High Color LipGloss in the color Fail Bait. It's a lovely pink shade that's super glossy. I feel like this will be a staple in my collection over the summer.

Next I saw a little Becca box. I loved seeing this in here because I always hear great things about Becca cosmetics and I've never gotten anything from them before. I'm happy to finally have a product of theirs. It's a Shadow and Light Brow Contour Mousse. Now, I'm not great at doing my brows. Actually, I'm pretty horrible at it haha. So I'm glad to have a good high end product to practice with. I did try it out today and the formula is brilliant - very lovely. The only thing with this is that it's in the shade Cocoa and it's a bit light for me as my hair is quite dark. Regardless, I think this is a great product and it applied smoothly.

The last (and biggest) item in the box is this Fiona Stiles Eyes and Face Contouring Palette. I've never heard of this brand and had to look them up to see what it was all about but the palette looks absolutely high quality and I'm pretty excited to try out all the shades in here. I did use the contour shade in the palette and it is SO pigmented. It's matte so it has no shimmer in it. I feel like that's my favorite contour shade I've seen so fair. I can't wait to use the shadows, highlights and blushes!

Over all I was VERY intrigued with January's HandPicked Box. I feel like it was very focused on enhancing your natural beauty -  from eyes, brows, and face contours to skin / lip care to a natural gloss to your lips. This box has gotten me so excited for the summer time. I'm glad for all the things in the months box and I can't wait to fall in love with all the products like I've done with some already. If you're interested or looking into a subscription box and wouldn't mind spending a little extra I'd recommend giving this a little look. I've been enjoying it so far.

Mini Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I purchased this box with my own money and have a monthly subscription with HandPicked that I pay for - monthly.

(Random behind the scenes haha)

Thanks for reading!

Until Next Time,

Jay