My Fashion + Beauty Goals for 2019

If you like a little romp or meander through YouTube every once in awhile, you’d have been hard pressed to avoid the absolute plethora of videos announcing a serious reduction in buying clothes, or buying things in general, that took over the community during the month of January. 

It feels like everyone’s got a fashion related goal this year, and the predominant one is: buy less, use what you have more. 

I really do admire that goal, but I don’t know that I’m quite there yet, and I feel like I need to be honest about that. 

Not buy any clothes in the year 2019? 

Yup, I don’t think that I’m that brave yet!

But it’s got me thinking about my own fashion and beauty goals for the year so I thought I would take todays post to share them with you. 

Develop My Personal Style

I’ve always loved the idea of a really iconic personal style, the kind that your friends are family just associate with you. The kind of style that’s so you that they can walk into any store and point out exactly what you would wear and what you would never wear. 

And in a way, I’ve kind of done that over the years. I’ve tended towards things like cutesy floral dresses (the husband’s not a fan let me tell you but I am all for that granny life!), smarter plaid skirts, lots of neutral colors, a ton of pink. But I’ve always ebbed and flowed with each style- sometimes going for tons of plaid pinafore dresses over turtlenecks, and other times being an absolute explosion of floral pink and cream for weeks on end. 

I have a few personal styles, that have no bearing on each other really, and whilst I am honestly okay with that, and uncertain whether that will every truly change, I do feel like it might be useful to hone it in even further and streamline my varying tastes into one cohesive look, something that’ll also help me make smarter shopping decisions for clothes I fully intend to pick up in the near future! Guilty as charged! 

Work Out My Summer Style 

I feel like you’re either a winter dresser or a summer dresser. We all manage to get ourselves up and presentable at all times of year but deep down we know there are certain seasons that are just us in a nutshell, seasons where we actually love what’s in store, rather than riffling through trying to find one item we can see ourselves loving. 

In that case, I’m definitely a winter girl! I am all for opaque tights, little booties, full sleeves. 

I’m just not good at dressing in the summer! You’ll often find me trying to take my winter outfits well past their expiry date, sweating it out, the only person made enough to wear boots in the Dubai heat. 

I’ve had summers where I got it kind of right, just by wearing summer dresses in pretty pastel shades, but those dresses weren’t definitively me, and many have been relegated to the back of my storage closet, probably never to see the light of a summer’s day again. 

This year I want to get more invested in spring and summer dressing and make it work for me in a way I’m excited about. 

Tan booties perhaps and ditch the tights? I’m working on it! 

Invest in More Pieces I’ll Treasure 

I’ve been kind of late to the party when it comes to investment pieces. They always used to make me feel really guilty- who was I to buy something that expensive or special?

And then I would go and spend approximately as much as the bag I was denying myself on a splurge at Asos or places like Forever 21, where the quality was so poor, the money was basically a right off a few washes later. 

It took awhile but I soon realized how silly that was. If I can afford to I would now much rather spend a lot more on a good quality bag that will last me at least the next five years, if not my life, than a bunch fo bags from Accessorize that start to look worn out and tired after a few months of proper use. 

Don’t get me wrong I still love a cute Accessorize backpack every once in awhile, and Asos is by far my number one online shopping destination, but at this point the pieces I’ve invested in (two Mulberry bags at this point, and my prized collection of Ted Baker dresses), are the ones I use on the daily and intend to keep until I can no longer fit into them! 

And you now what? They all look as good today as they did the day I bought them so if that doesn’t justify treating myself more, I’m not sure what does! 

Be More Experimental With Makeup

I love makeup and I literally love to wear makeup every single day, even if I’m sitting at home all day (which whilst I’m in Iraq, I often am). 

Maybe I’m super weird in this and in the minority, but I love the process of putting makeup on in the morning and really enjoy that time, with a lovely cup of coffee and my favorite YouTube videos on in the background. It really, really sets me up for the day, and so every morning, without fail, there I am at my cute little dressing table, having the time of my life!

But when you do your makeup every single day it’s easy to fall into a pattern of wearing exactly the same look every single day. 

I’m not attempting to change that because I am really happy with my every day look and I know it’s what works for me and takes me from day to night if I need it to. 

But. 

I would like to occasionally be more experimental with my makeup looks this year. I have so many eyeshadow palettes- I mean forget the palettes, I have so many shades in my favorite Naked 3 that I barely ever touch! I have all these tools in front of me to experiment and have fun with and I’m just not doing it! It might be superficial but I feel like it’s such a shame and it’s something I definitely want to push myself to change this year. 

Be Less Wasteful With My Makeup 

I streamlined my makeup collection right before my wedding, majorly. I had a ton of makeup in my collection at that point as I had been experimenting like crazy for my bridal makeup look (I did my own makeup on the day and have written about it on the blog too, best decision I made!). But in the excitement of planning for the big day I got really into buying makeup, which was seriously shameful of me, and I built up a collection I could never get through!

Even though I downsized my collection and gave away all the unused products, I still find myself wondering how things like my concealer or my setting powder run out so very quickly! 

I don’t apply a ton of product to my face but I do apply it a little wastefully, or get rid of makeup before it’s fully used, to swap it out for the one I always have in reserve. I’d like to work on this and work on using my makeup in a more conservative, thoughtful way and making it last as long as it actually should last. 

Downsize My Lipstick Collection + Keep Shades I’ll Use On The Regular

Even though I have a really streamlined makeup collection when it comes to things like foundation or eye liner, I mostly only stick to my regulars, I have a lot of lipsticks. I have a problem where I can’t quite give them away, not being sure if I ever may suddenly fall for one or need one. 

And I literally only ever wear Charlotte Tilbury’s Miss Kensington. 

Which is a real shame because lipstick can actually totally transform your face and whilst my regular every day lipstick may be my favorite on me, it doesn’t mean I should look exactly the same every day!

So this year I want to downsize my lipstick collection because have 15 lipsticks gives me decision paralysis, and prevents me from changing up y shade. Maybe a maximum of seven lipsticks that I actually wear is going to work best for me. Although they do look so pretty lined up on my dressing table. 

They really really do.  

Get Serious About Skincare 

I love skincare but I can get seriously lazy about it. And very comfortable using the same products day after day, week after week, unsure if they’re really giving me all the results that I want. 

I don’t want to look back in 20 years and regret not taking my skincare more seriously so this is the year I want to get right back into it with as much gusto as I possibly can, and really hone in on the products that give me visible results. 

For me that looks like reading and watching up more reviews, getting some samples of products I would like to try out, and then actually observing the results. 

A couple of months from now I would love to have a beautiful bag of skincare products I whip out every morning and night and really enjoy using. 

Oh and fabulous skin of course. A girl can dream! 

Treat Myself to More Facials 

Which leads me on to- facials.

I actually love facials. 

Believe me I am not that girl who ‘gets a facial’. I’ve probably had three in my entire life but I have loved the effects and the look of my skin after every single one, and I always intend to go and get more, more often- and I never, ever do. 

Facials are expensive and feel like a luxury and that’s definitely a reason why I put it off- but I think an occasional facial, carefully selected so it’s not totally extortionate, would be great not only for my skin, but also as a way to unwind and feel like I’m really giving myself a treat that’s good for me. And totally pampering. 

Win win. 

Make Every Day A Day Worth Dressing Up For 

I definitely don’t have a crazy social life or week filled with fun events and engagements. When I’m in Iraq I literally go out once a week, and even when I’m back in Dubai I am a super low key person when it comes to going out. 

But I still want to make every day this year a day where I get dressed nicely (even if that’s in lounge wear, it can be in super cute co-ordinate, properly ironed lounge wear!), do my makeup, do my hair, and show up for the day the same way I would if I was meeting 20 people and doing something ‘special’. Every day should be special with it comes to your own personal look- because feeling my most presentable self is something that makes me feel good. 

It makes me feel happy- and that’s worth taking the extra effort for. 

It’s even worth the whole tedious process of removing my mascara at the end of the day!

And there you have, my fashion and beauty goals for the year. They’re nothing ground breaking but having them down on paper I think will really help me to stick to them, and I know if I do stick to them consistently, they’re going to make that sublet shift in my day that has a knock on effect on everything else I do. I would much rather unload the dishwasher in a cute new Asos dress than a dressing gown. Am I right?