GIVING UP MAKEUP FOR LENT?! – WELL BEING

Hey, all!

In my previous post, I talked about what lent is and why Christians tend to make a deal out of it. I wrote about how it is linked with when Jesus was in the desert and how He fasted and was tempted by the devil, just to show devotion to God. It also is to count down the time until Easter, arguably the MOST important Christian holiday.

To read my previous blog post, click here.

Therefore, I’ve decided that this year, during lent, I’m giving up makeup! I mentioned in my previous post, how nervous that makes me but I’m going to go all in and hope for some positive outcomes.

When I was considering starting up a blog, it was mostly because I was trying to heal my acne and wanted to share and have shared with me, ways in which my skin can be improved and how I take care of it. I’ve been trying to cut down the amount of makeup I wear, knowing that I tend to choke my skin with loads of layers of concealer and foundation. Therefore, I know that not wearing makeup will significantly improve my skin.

So here’s my list of reasons as to why I’m giving it up:

1. It’ll improve my skin – wearing makeup can suffocate the skin and clog your pores. While my skin was really bad I used to deny this to be true, but it really is! I’m hoping that by not wearing makeup, it’ll give it a better chance of healing and allow any new spots to disappear sooner, rather than lingering. Also, in the summer (or the spring, or anytime at all), the sun can really improve the skin when it is able to reach it. I might even get a bit of a tan! 🙂
2. I can learn to be happy with the skin I have – I can be very conscious as to how my skin looks and I’d like to think I’m good at accepting compliments, but when I’m not wearing makeup, if someone says I look nice I’m like “lol I have no makeup on so clearly you’re joking.” This is a very negative outlook to have, not only towards how other people view me, but also how I view me. I remember reading somewhere love yourself more than others do. This has really stuck with me, I shouldn’t rely on my self-esteem boosts to come from those around me. So my plan is, that while not wearing any makeup, I’ll begin to love my natural skin, no matter how it looks.
3. I will ultimately become more confident in the way I look – it is easy to find your least favourite qualities about yourself, and base your view of yourself on those insecurities. So I’m hoping that by not wearing makeup, I’ll become less concerned as to how my face is looking 24/7, and instead begin to focus on my body, eating well and making myself feel great. As well as becoming happier with my skin and how it looks!
4. I can find other ways to make myself feel beautiful – along with this, I want to find other ways to make myself feel good. Be that by working on how my body looks, trying to find an outfit in the mornings that is a little more classy than “sticking on some jeans and a hoodie” or by improving my skin without covering it up!
5. I’ll take more time caring for my skin – I am soooo lazy when it comes to a skin routine, and I really like to keep things simple because I can’t be bothered to do anything else besides 2 or 3 things AM or PM. Therefore, by trying to improve the way my natural skin looks, I’ll have formed a routine that works and makes me feel great, along with boosting my confidence in the time I’m makeup free!
6. I can use the time I save to do something else – my current plan is to spend the time I use in the morning to do my makeup, to instead to do a bible study. I really cannot tell you how little I sit down and do a bible study by myself. Therefore, I’m using this newly gained time to spend time learning about God and what the bible teaches about how I should live my life. I’m also hoping that this will make me look to God more and seek God more often in my life.
7. It’ll save me money – I’ve already worked out that I spend a crazy amount every day on my face and I’ve worked out how much that comes to overall for the 40 days! Although I’ve had to guess roughly how long it takes me to get through my makeup, I’ve worked out that I spend roughly 54p a day on my face and in the 40 days of lent, that is £21.74 (to the nearest penny). That is a scarily high amount considering I don’t think I feel like my face is worth 54p most days! 😀
8. I might even exercise! – this is a very “might” but there are two reasons I think this might just happen:

a. A lot of the reason that I don’t want to exercise is that I can’t be bothered to take my makeup off before I do and that I don’t want to be seen outside without makeup on. Additionally, when I get sweaty, I don’t want my makeup to slide down my face.

b. If I’m trying to find other ways to make myself feel good, I can instead work out and exercise and make myself become happier with my body and how it looks.

While it might still be optimistic to say that I’ll exercise, I’m going to try and bring that into my routine.

I have below the table of how much I spend on my makeup per day:

I’ve worked out that overall I’ll be saving £21.74. That is a ridiculous amount of money when I think about little money others have.

Also during lent, I’m going to have a little money jar, where all my spare change will go, and on top of this if I choose to buy any makeup during the 40 days, I’m going to add the amount I paid, onto a “tab” (as such) and at the end of lent, all of the money I’ve saved, spent and the amount I’ve not used on makeup in that time will be donated to WaterAid.

For information about WaterAid, and the work they do, click here.

This is such a scary idea for me, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it. I’ll try to keep updates on my blog about how it’s going and at the end, I’ll give a whole rundown on what’s happened and changes that I’ve seen in myself! In the meantime, I’m going to stay positive.

I really hope that what I’ve spoken about might encourage you to also do something challenging and cool for lent or just to raise money for a good cause! If you feel compelled to sponsor me, please just donate to WaterAid, it is an amazing foundation with a great aim and they do so much great work! Drop me a message and let me know if you’ve done something similar!

Question: what are you planning to give up for lent?

Talk soon,

Caitlin xx

WHAT IS LENT? – TOPIC TALK

Hey, all!

So in case you live under a rock, it’s Shrove Tuesday (or, as I refer to it, “pancake Tuesday”) on the 28th of February which is really exciting and means I can stuff myself silly with sweet treats! But is also reminds me that Lent will be starting in under 24 hours.

As a Christian (that I kind of feel like you should know about me if you don’t already) Easter is a really important time for us as we believe this was when Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our sins, and to show that He bridged the gap between Heaven and Earth. Therefore, we tend to do a lot of “celebrations,” for lack of a better word, and (especially in my annual traditions) this involves a lot of walking and a service in the centre of our town, on Good Friday. But I’ll talk about the significance of Easter closer to the time. Today, I want to discuss Lent and how it is significant and what it is supposed to represent.

What is Lent?

Lent is a time in which Christians tend to (although are not pressured to) “fast” in some way for 40 days.

It goes back to the start of Matthew 4 where Jesus is in the desert, fasting from food. He does this for 40 days and nights (a very common number in the bible, as featured in the story of Noah and the Ark).

Matthew 4:1-11 (NIV)

Jesus is Tested in the Wilderness

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2  After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”

5  Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerting you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and wordship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'”

11 Then the devil left him, and the angels came and attended him.

In this passage, we see that Jesus was in the desert and while fasting, He was tempted by the devil to worship the devil, to break His fast and turn against God.

Why did Jesus fast?

I’m stealing some of the answer to this from (www.reference.com) which says that Jesus was fasting to prepare for God’s ministry for Him (to be put to death). Despite being tempted, Jesus remained faithful to God and as verse (11) tells us, He was guarded by angels after Satan had left Him.

Many Christians often fast, (most commonly from food – but it can be anything that they feel would be difficult to give up, to try and show more devotion from God. It is to say: “I want and love God more than I want or love said ‘item’.” Very often fasting is used for reflection and to try to become closer to God, in the Christian faith.

Because of this, I try my best to give up something for lent, or sometimes “take something up” that will either be a positive thing for myself; or, strengthen my relationship with God. Before now I’ve given up chocolate (several times actually, most of which I horribly failed at), bad language and overeating/being greedy. This year I’m also planning to give something up, the idea of which really makes me nervous, but you’ll have to wait to see my next blog post to see what that is! Along with this, my plan is to take up reading the bible more and spending more time learning about God and spending time with God.

I hope you found this interesting, I really want this to be remotely beneficial for anyone reading and that you find it tells you a little bit about why lent exists and what the point of it is. Although I haven’t published my blog post about what I’m giving up and why; I’ll make sure to link it. (Incase you’re wondering or reading this before my next post goes up, it’s due to be up on Monday 27th at 16:30!)

Although I haven’t published my blog post (as of when this goes live) about what I’m giving up and why, I’ll make sure to link it on here so if you read this later, you can skip straight there!

Question: regardless of if you do something for lent or not, what might you give up this year?

I hope you enjoyed, talk soon!

Caitlin xx