Not every queen has a crown. A smile and inner confidence is all you need to channel your inner queen. Oh, and if you want a crown, then you go for it![/caption]
As any frequent readers will know, I love a beauty tip. Whether it’s the best new mascara, a face mask that promises to make me look years younger or even just a new way to style my hair, count me in. Sadly, one thing that often gets overlooked in the beauty pages is how to let your inner beauty shine through. With that in mind, I thought I’d share some tips for showing the world your inner queen, with help from a few women whom I find totally inspiring.
Brains = Beauty
I have a list of inspiring women as long as my arm who I can look to when I need a little pick me up. Sometimes it’s Marilyn Monroe in the morning as I do my makeup. Sometimes Oprah Winfrey when I feel my freelance career idling a little. Yet one of the traits I find inspiring beyond beauty, or enormous success, is brains. In this respect, there is one woman who really inspires me. Celina Lin is the ultimate brainiac, flitting effortlessly between dominating poker tournaments, being a total super mum and fitting in time to post the most envy-inducing travel Instagram shots.
She gets to travel the world, doing the thing she loves most in the world — her job! Celina is a major player in the PokerStars team and her brains enable her to rise to the top in all of the biggest tournaments. I’m super lucky to be able to freelance for a living, it enables me to spend more time with my family, as well as doing work that I generally enjoy. For me, there’s nothing that helps me shine like the knowledge I’m achieving the things I want to in life. It might not be as glamorous as Celina’s life, but it works perfectly for me. Taking time to learn new things and train that brain is important for developing the confidence you need to shine.
Curate Your Mornings
If there’s one trick to letting your beauty shine, without the need for makeup, then it’s this. Start your day as you mean to go on. It’s so easy to wake up, roll over and scroll through endless rubbish on Facebook, but it’s also surprisingly easy to stop this habit. Plan yourself a morning routine that you know you’ll enjoy and, to the best of your ability, stick to it. This could be something as simple as making fifteen minutes to sit down with a cup of tea and breakfast and flick through a newspaper. It could be that you want to fit in some exercise time, a proper blow-dry or even some mindfulness.
Personally, I love listening to a ‘feel good’ playlist whilst I put my makeup on. It’s a little secret bit of total alone time that I can have, guilt-free, in the mornings. All the queens feature heavily, but Aretha Franklin is probably the biggest inspiration of all. That powerful voice gives me a real get up and go feeling. My favourite quote of hers sums it up perfectly, ‘Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you’re doing. If you’re not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.’ Confidence always shines through, if you start your morning loving your self and your life, that inner confidence will be clear for all to see.
Make Peace With Your Wardrobe
So many of us women have a section of the wardrobe dedicated to things we bought thinking we could wear them when we lost weight, toned up, grew a couple of inches, or something else equally ridiculous. I’m here to tell you — get rid of those clothes. I don’t care how you do it. Take them to a clothes swap, give them to a charity shop or put them on eBay. The point is, they serve no more as a motivator than they do as a negative feelings instigator.
Keep a wardrobe full of clothes that make you feel good. It could be your favourite pair of pyjamas (ones without holes in!) that you just adore wearing. It could be a bargain dress that you picked up and feels like it was made just for you. Whatever that feeling is when you put those garments on, remember it and search through to throw out all the rest! Get rid of those clothes that you don’t feel comfortable in and make the most of the ones that make you feel like your best self. In the words of Marie Kondo, ‘Keep only the things that spark joy.’
Post written by Michelle Hughes. Photo by Ashton Mullins & Carli Jeen on Unsplash