LOVE in ALL WAYS with ECOTOOLS

Posted February 5, 2018

In Holidays & Special Occasions, Lifestyle & Beauty

Hey loves! Happy February!

I hope your month is off to a good start!! This is the month where we celebrate love and I wanted to write a little bit about how I’m celebrating February’s special dates.

For the longest time, I was miserable during V-day. Everyone seemed to be selling the idea that if you’re single you should hate February 14th. However, over the past years I’ve seen how brands and the marketing trends in general lean towards celebrating life, self love, family & friends and I love it!

I truly believe that you need to love yourself first in order to love others the right way and by any means should you stay at home on V-day (OR EVER!) sad and lonely just because you’re not in a relationship.

So, my friends at Ecotools curated a box that promotes self love, and I’m beyond excited to show you guys what’s inside and how I’m using it to celebrate LOVE in ALL ways.

First, I celebrate with myself:

As I mentioned above, loving yourself comes first. I know it sounds cliche and everything but it’s true. I struggled with this for the longest time and after ending a 13 year relationship I had no choice but to find out who I was and how to love ME above anyone else.

This of course includes to love myself inside and out. In my case, what happened was, that I genuinely loved who I was on the inside, but I didn’t love how I looked like when I was standing in front of a mirror. Crazy right? And totally unacceptable!

How did I change it? Well, it me took a while, but here’s what I did (and still do):

A little pep talk every morning in front of the mirror. It only takes one minute and works miracles!! I promise.
Meditation. I love meditating! I have to admit that I don’t do it daily as I used to, but I am getting better at it this year, by including at least a 10-minute session each day.
Working out regularly. I don’t love this one but I know it’s good for me and I just do it, you know? Try to do the things that are good for you without focusing on results like looking a certain way or losing weight. Just do it because it’s good for YOU!
Read something inspirational. And if you’re not a fan of books, reading on SM works as a starter. Pinterest quotes, inspirational IG accounts etc. Anything that helps. We all need motivation daily.
Time for YOU. I mean quality time with yourself, not just sit on the couch and watch TV while eating mac & cheese LOL. Think of a solo dance session, a massage, a charcoal mask and full body exfoliation while sipping on a glass of wine, followed by a crazy good bubble bath while listening to classic music… Yes! All of that good stuff!

I loved this charcoal mask by Ulta that came inside the Ecotools box… and have you guys tried their mask applicator brush? OMG it’s a must! It comes with 3 mask remover sponges that are spa quality, reusable and super helpful when taking messy masks like this one off. It makes your life so much easier. Like, who wants to make a mess while trying to relax!?

Not me!

Second, I celebrate with my friends and family.

Even though I’m an immigrant, I’m lucky to have my family here in Chicago. They are seriously my EVERYTHING and I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for them and their unconditional support. I’m so thankful for my beautiful family, I really am.

Also, my friends… I have the best friends! There are not many of them and sadly I don’t have regular contact with my friends from school, but I know they’re still there. The friendships I’ve developed over the past couple of years though, they really are something and we are celebrating V-day together this saturday by having brunch and drinks together.

I’m always trying to make new friends and connect with more people. Thankfully, because of my job, I get to meet a lot of like minded ladies and that’s pretty cool because I can establish meaningful friendships pretty fast. Over the past year I’ve met the most incredible group of women at events, thanks to brand partnerships and church.

It’s very important to surround yourself with inspiring and positive people, so I strongly advise you to invest some time on finding those.

Best advice? Find your tribe and love them HARD!

For this Valentine’s day, send someone you love a little card or hand written note. It’s a great way to brighten up someone’s day and make them feel special. Especially if they’re not expecting it.

Third, I celebrate with my love.

I leave this one last intentionally. Not because Gordon is less important, but because he hasn’t been with me since the day I was born like my family and well… myself LOL. So, yes, I love him and he’s the love of my life, but before meeting him I did spend a lot of V days alone and sad and I wish I would have known how to celebrate with myself as well as with my friends & fam. So please, do not dare to feel bad if you’re single, on the contrary take that time to know yourself and prepare yourself emotionally so you’re ready when the right person comes.

This will be our second Valentine’s day together and it seems like out little tradition is for him to plan something special. It’s usually dinner at a nice Italian place because well, Italian food is my favorite! We try to have dates every week, so Valentine’s day is only another date that we try to spice up a little.

Here are some outfits ideas for date night on V day, which to be honest, work for any date night. These are all for different types of dates and of course, weather play a big role on how you dress, but just choose one that works for you and your situation.

Hope you find some inspiration if you don’t know what to wear yet 😉

And of course hair and makeup is a must! At least for me. I style my hair on my own now thanks to the Beachwaver. This tool seriously works miracles and for my makeup I use my Ecotools of course. These are the brushes I cannot live without.

The set that comes inside the February box, is called ‘Confidence in Bloom’ and it’s a new limited edition set that comes with 9 brushes for you to inspire and try out new looks! From a smokey eye, to a glam look, to an every day no-makeup look like the one I did here, there’s nothing you can’t do with this set of brushes!

For V-day I’ll just add red or purple lips, depending on what I’ll wear 😉

Check out Ecotools’ YouTube channel for more tutorials! They seriously have so many great tips and beauty advice. It is thanks to them that doing my makeup has become so easy these days. And trust me, this comes from someone that’s just learning how to do different types of makeup. So, if I can do it, you can too!

Also, these monthly boxes are available now on Ecotools’ website. They are NOT subscription boxes. They are releasing one each month with different themes and you can check out what’s inside and decide if you want it or not.

Super easy and convenient!!