**Thanks to CVS, Dove, and Global Influence for sponsoring this post. As usual, all opinions and thoughts are entirely my own!
I guess I got it from my mama – and she got it from her nana. “Put a little color on your lips!” My love for bold lipcolors began before I was born, because my mom was always encouraged to wear a nice berry lipstick whenever she visited her grandmother. My mom taught me how to use makeup at a relatively early age, but it was always a fun lip color that we’d be experimenting with – it accentuates your smile! To this day, I literally define my mood by the color I’m wearing on my lips. Lately, Maybelline’s Brazen Berry has been my go-to for a cool grapey vibe, but my current *travel* lip pack includes:
Revlon Balm Stain in Sweetheart Valentine // Maybelline ColorSensational Lipstick in Brazen Berry // Maybelline Baby Lips in Neon Pink // Nyx Butter Gloss in Pop // Fresh sugar in Tulip
And my mom also taught me – and continues to teach me – how unaverage I am. How average doesn’t even begin to explain who I am and what I do and how I live. And here’s the kicker: It doesn’t begin to explain you, either.
Now watch this video (which I just so happen to love *so much* that it almost made last month’s link roundup!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=159&v=7DdM-4siaQw
Alright, now which door would YOU walk through?
Part of my love of experimenting with makeup is inherited, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that part of it too comes from insecurities with my skin that I’ve had for a looooooong, long time. I’m yet to have a day where I wake up and feel truly beautiful in my skin. (And I’m speaking, quite literally, about my actual, physical skin.) I’ve struggled with acne for a long time, and that’s something no fun lip color, stick, gloss, stain or goo can fix. I’ve tried dermatologist recommended and prescribed creams and pills. I’ve tried Proactiv+. I’ve tried different routines and drugstore regimens and products out the wazoo. And some of it helps…but only momentarily. I guess there never will be one do-it-all product that forever cures my acne without turning my face in the friggin’ Sahara desert, but I’m learning to be OK with that – it’s now about finding the right products to get through the everyday, products that will just help me work towards someday having my skin get it right, where I can wake up and feel beautiful with zero makeup whatsoever.
Dove is here to help with that.
Now, between Operation Beautiful and the hoards of inspirational jazz that I love bringing to this blog on the reg, I would hope that you all know that when it comes to beauty, makeup isn’t even the half of it. You have to feel beautiful, and that has gotta be a combination of outer and inner radiance. The way you make others feel – if you make others feel beautiful – is as much a reflection on your own beauty as it is on theirs.
I got really lucky in having family that stresses that message everyday. One family is four generations of Dove, and their sweet tradition as told by their grandfather is ridiculously adorable. (Watch it here!) The grandmother used the Beauty Bar for decades and “passed it down” to her daughters, who did to theirs, and now it’s literally four generations that swears by Dove for their absolutely gorgeous skin. I don’t know about you, but I’d sure like to not get carded when I’m 41…
And a fun aside…
The other day, I had picked up some French or Italian bar of soap for J since his was done. But then I noticed he wasn’t using it – he had bought another new shiny white bar instead. Because apparently he only uses Dove. #ThingsYouLearnWhileEngaged Since the Dove Beauty Bar is 1/4 moisturizing cream, it doesn’t leave a gross residue on your skin after washing – it literally just soothes, softens, and  moisturizes unlike any other ordinary soap. My fiance knows what’s up – obviously his taste is en pointe.
This is also en pointe: for the rest of the week, from now until Saturday (5/23), you’ll get 50% off any on Dove product when you buy one of equal or lesser value at CVS.
But this isn’t meant to be a sales pitch for Dove.
It’s meant to be a sales pitch *for you and *to you.
You are not average. You do not deserve an average life full of average people and average products and things.
You are beautiful. You really are.
Today, tomorrow, and everyday. Have the courage to live out your beautiful life, constantly show love to people and show them they’re beautiful too, and invest in products that help bring out your beauty, both inside and out.
What’s your #BeautyStory? Have you used the Dove Beauty Bar?
Please tell me – what influences your opinion on beautiful? Who first gave you a beauty story, and who inspires you to this day to live and be beautiful, inside and out?
Now excuse me – I’m at a conference with J, and it’s time for this girl to hit the beach!…but it’s sub-70 out, cloudy and the water might literally freeze my buns, so “beach” means “spa.” Ya feel? #happyhumpday
