We all use makeup for different reasons. Hopefully those reasons are internal- it makes you feel good to highlight your best features or it makes you feel pulled together and ready to face the day. Sadly, often the reasons we wear makeup are external- society sets a standard of beauty we struggle to attain. Well ladies, I’m about to make that standard more attainable.

It starts from within. The photo above is me. Just me. No makeup, no hair styling. Just fresh out of the shower, relaxed, and ready to tackle my day. 99% of being beautiful is believing you are. It’s believing you deserve to take the time to treat yourself right. Through taking care of your basic needs, your inner beauty can shine through. By drinking enough water, (mostly) getting enough sleep, eating well and supplementing my nutritional needs daily (check out what I’ve discovered here) instead of relying on red bull or coffee, more days than not I throw on a little tinted moisturizer or sunscreen, a swipe of mascara to feel fancy and out the door. Check out my 60 Second Face for details. It took a while to get here, but by building my confidence and being proactive with my skin care and health, I spend less time covering up and more time shining through.

Makeup should be fun. It should be a way to express yourself, but it’s not you. I challenge you this week to spend a day without makeup. If you need to start by skipping makeup at home over the weekend (even if someone might come over or you might have to go out suddenly), start there, but spend a day out in the world as just you. It might be uncomfortable at first- that’s how you grow. Realize that you are beautiful and you are likely the only one to notice or care about your perceived flaws. I spent last week with the remnants of a huge zit right in the middle of my forehead. No one said a thing. I even forgot during the day. No one stared, and if they gossiped, it never made it back to me. If my forehead zit is your hottest topic of discussion, then that’s a sad commentary on you, not me…

Set a water goal for yourself. I have a 15 oz Swell bottle that fits in my cup holder in my car. That bottle goes everywhere with me. I aim to finish it by the time I get to work, another during the day, and I try to drink my 40 oz hydroflask when I get home at the end of the day. That may not seem like a lot of water (half your body weight in ounces is a good goal), but it’s a huge increase from where I was a year ago.  I don’t always get to my goal, but even on days I don’t I can see improvement in my skin and health. Days that I really miss, here come the dry patches, the chapped lips, the grumpy attitude.

If you are happy and healthy, your blank canvas can be anything you want it to be. Focus on what’s inside and the rest will follow.

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