LIFE
I have been debating whether or not to write this post for a few weeks now, but since so many of you have been so lovely and asking after me, I decided to give you a bit of insight in to why I haven’t been posting regularly since the summer and then hardly at all this year. Posts like this are hard for me to do because I am such a private person, but I have been so touched by how many of you have sent messages and emails checking in and asking after me that I decided to do it. I’m not going to go into great detail as it’s all still hard for me to talk about, but for the past several months I have been dealing with a lot of sadness in my family. I have relatives going through cancer treatment and recently one passed away. This is why I haven’t been as “present” on social media and why the blog has been neglected. It’s hard to see your loved ones suffer and there’s nothing you can do about it except be there, which is what I have been doing, but it hasn’t been easy.
Not only that, I have to be completely honestly and say that everything that has been going on in the world has affected me more than I expected, probably because of what’s going on with my family. I think my emotional defenses are down and the combination of the two have just made it impossible for me to even think about writing about skincare. Since January I have been morbidly obsessed with the news/twitter and feeling sick over what I’ve been reading and what’s happening. Any free time I had to write posts was taken up by hours and hours of compulsive news reading that left me mentally too exhausted to do anything “extra” like blog or Instagram, but after seeing the amazing Katey Denno‘s post (above) I realized I had to stop because I was allowing my need to stay informed “steal my joy” and I’m not going to do that anymore, so here I am!
SKINCARE
The emotional wellbeing that skincare can provide has never been more important to me than right now and brands like de Mamiel, Aurelia, NIOD (I am in love with CAIS again), Pestle & Mortar, La Belle Lune and more have helped me to destress, unwind, relax and just breathe. I couldn’t love de Mamiel’s incredible cleansers more for this exact reason and now with the addition of the newly reformulated mist, I am in skincare heaven and I can’t thank these brands enough for lifting me up when I’ve been feeling down. I haven’t had time for a #SundayFacial or Spa Day or even multi-mask session but the few minutes I do take to look after my skin has made all the difference.
As I mentioned in my Skin Goals post (here), towards the end of the year I found myself reaching for the same group of products over and over again and really enjoying the simplicity and comfort of having a consistent skincare routine again. With blogging it’s easy to use something different in every step every day and while that can be fun, it also lead to a sort of product fatigue where I got overwhelmed by testing so many new things and craved the familiar. This is what lead to the “Cutthroat Cabinet” and I can’t wait to tell you about the amazing products that inspired it. I’m still pretty much using the same group of products and due to my retinol use (more on that soon), my routines have been more consistent than ever and I have been loving it.
BLOG/INSTAGRAM
Again I have got behind with my posts but from this weekend I am going to work on catching up and should have something new on the blog by Sunday. As for Instagram I am going to get back to posting more often because I love the new update and have missed chatting with you all. There is so much to come that I can’t wait to share with you (giveaway on Sunday via Instagram!) and until then, please bear with me and thank you for all your support. It means a lot and I couldn’t do this without you.
Arly
DETAIL ORIENTED BEAUTY 
Hi Arly,
Thank you so much for sharing. I think we can all relate to the difficult time you are going through. Just know that I am very appreciative for all the posts you share with us! Look forward to new posts! Wish you all the best and take it one day at a time. That’s fine for a while. Xx Emilie
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Hello lovely Emilie! Thank you so much for your support and kindness. Your encouraging words mean a lot and I will be back on here very soon. Have a lovely week and thank you for being there for me. Xxxxx
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Sorry to hear about the tough time you and your family are going through. Take care of yourself xxx
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Hello Lynda! Thank you so much for your kind words. We are all getting there and I will be back to “normal” on here soon. Hope you are doing well too! xxx
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Arly, thank you so much for your honesty and your words that has touched my heart. I am so sorry for the time you and your family are going through and sending you a lot a lot of love.
Mar
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Lovely Mar! Thank you so much for your love and kind words. I hope all is well with you and I can’t wait to be back on IG properly and chatting with you and everyone else again! ❤
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So sorry to hear about your personal sadness, hope you find the strength to focus again on what gives you joy and brings you balance – on the inside, and the outside. Looking forward to reading more of your posts, you are my favourite blogger and I really cherish your opinions!
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Thank you so much for your lovely comment Irina. I appreciate your comments so much and your support means the world to me, especially at a time like this. Glad you like my Cutthroat Cabinet lol – I’m telling you, it feels so good to use less and then use the things that you love more. My skin is also insanely happy! 🙂
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And I forgot to mention that I do agree with your idea of a “cutthroat cabinet”, I am also planning to narrow my products down to a “capsule skincare collection” (some day…)
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Oh Arly, sending you the biggest of hugs and lots of positivity. Thank you for being so open with this post. If I could bottle up some CA sunshine and send it to you, I would. Take care of yourself, your heart and health and don’t forget that it’s good to give yourself some you time. I look forward to your posts on your blog and a lady date when you return xoxox
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My dearest Chrissy! Thank you so much for your kind words. Can’t wait to be back in that CA and going skincare shopping with you! I am doing better and will be back to blogging and instagram as normal soon! xxxxx
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:-*
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I’ve only just seen this. I do realise that we don’t really know each other, but I’m genuinely sad that the reason for your absence wasn’t just slight social media fatigue. I am so sorry to hear about your family. And I don’t want to put any pressure on you – you should absolutely do what’s best for you and your close ones -, but I want to say that you are one of the few people whom I actually miss when I don’t see you on the great Interwebs. Sending hugs and kisses and everything!
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Hi Arly, I’m so sorry to hear about what you’re going through and I’d like to thank you for your openness with this post. I just wanted to let you know that I always go back to your blog to see what’s new for beauty products (especially your reviews on Deciem’s line!) and I look forward to when you’ll come back to blog 🙂 In the meantime, I’m sending you virtual hugs!
Also, I’m feeling the same sense of doom (if that’s not too much of an exaggeration) for the state of the world, but I’ve learnt that there’s a reason that the media covers that kind of news perpetually; we keep getting sucked into it! I’m so glad you’ve decided to stop that cycle of compulsive news reading 🙂
All the best! ❤
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Hi Chitra! Thank you so very much for you lovely words and for your support on the blog! It means a lot and I appreciate you taking the time to come here because it put a smile on my face! 🙂 Relieved I’m not the only one feeling these worldwide bad vibes and I will tell you, I have been much happier not reading too much about it. Hope you’re having a lovely weekend and thanks again! ❤
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