2015 Resolution

I know this is coming a bit late as we're already 10 days in to the new year, but today I want to share my 2015 resolution. I've never really taken resolutions too seriously in the past because 9 times out of 10, people don't keep up with them past the first month or two (myself included). So many people in my circle have made resolutions for 2015 about their exercise, their diet etc, but this year I don't want to make a  resolution about one singular aspect of my life.

I, through much thought and discussion, have made the resolution to be more conscious. This year, I want to be more conscious in all aspects of my life: conscious with my movements, conscious with my words, conscious with my saving, conscious with my relationships, conscious of keeping up habits that make me feel good about myself, conscious with my internal health, but especially in the one area I found I slacked the most in this past year; my external health:

 Previous to 2014, I understood the basic concepts of skin care: clean your face, moisturize, if you have a zit treat it. I also understood the bare basics of makeup: if you have a zit, conceal it, if you have uneven skin use a foundation, put on blush for color, put on powder to take away shine, and then use a setting spray to keep everything in place. When I bought skincare, I went for the one organic brand I knew, even if all the products didn't work well for my skin. When I went for makeup, I went for either the cheapest items from the one organic makeup brand most readily available to me or what people recommended because I really didn't know how to explore makeup on my own. Beauty and skincare was very overwhelming and intimidating to me for the longest time: I was scared to explore even when what I was buying wasn't working for me because it was easy.

This past year I dove head-first into makeup and skin-care exploration like an eager scuba student on his first deep-sea dive. Thanks to my Ipsy bag subscription, a bazillion-million youtube videos, countless articles, classes and discussions, I feel comfortable for the first time in my life around skincare and makeup. This year it's part of my goal to be more conscious about what I buy that goes on my body and face now that I actually know what I'm doing. I have always strived to be cruelty-free and organic with the few products I used to buy before, but this past year I got caught up in excitement of the glitz and glam and forgot to pay attention to the fine print of what I was spending my money on. While most of the products I purchased are cruelty-free, many products I brought home are sadly laden with chemicals.

My mother is the most interesting combination of glamorous and earth-conscious hippie, and I strive to be like her in that respect. After many discussions in the last 2 weeks of what we've acquired throughout 2014, show and tells on Skype, and much frustration venting via text from the light bulb realization moments of "Oh my gosh, these products aren't actually good for me, at all", we have both decided to finish what we have, and then encourage and support each other to be smarter consumers. This year, in 2015, as I use up my body care, my skin care, my makeup, my cleaning supplies, I am going to be replacing them with their cruelty-free and organic counterparts.

As you can see, I have a lot of work cut out ahead of me <.3