'Glow Up'/ "Princessing" 2024 Thread 1

[Chaiselongueallday]

I've had some success with these in the past. Have realised that over the years I've picked little habits from these that I've been able to sustain so I thought ahead of the new year I would start a thread for 2024...anyone else want to join me?
I'm 46 this year and want to focus on being healthy, happy with my style and attuned to my body and skin. I don't want to waste time worrying about not being good enough. I am including a bit of health and fitness on my list as I feel better in my clothes when I'm toned and generally healthy in body and mind. I'll be doing yoga, walking and mad living room dancing. I'll not be bothering with foundation (unless a very special occasion) this year fed up of wearing a mask..so looking after my skin will be important. I won't be spending on fast fashion ...I've done quite well on this in the past, inspired by this board and capsule wardrobe threads.

I'll think about a more detailed list and post it later.

I've copied some useful info from a previous 'Princessing thread' below for anyone that fancies it and needs inspiration.

*The term "Princessing" was invented back in 2011 by a poster called Blackswan. It was the year of the royal wedding and she proposed that every year you should get ready for a wedding you were attending as if it were your own.

I took that idea and ran with it!

The general idea behind that original thread and all the "Princessing" "Grooming" "Operation Revnovation" threads since has been to make small sustainable changes that help make you feel better. To make this measurable, most people finds it helps to make a list - not too long, no more than 20 items really of the changes you want to make. The original thread had one general list but as no two people have the same priorities I think it's better for everyone to have their own individual list. To anyone in need of inspiration the original list was:

1. 8 glasses of water a day

1. Exfoliating
2. Using some kind of teeth whitener
3. Using some kind of regenerative face cream
4. Intensive nail care (feet and hands)
5. Some kind of eyelash growth serum
6. The Shred / other intensive exercise
7. At least 2 extra fruit & veg
8. Healthy breakfast daily.

10. Hair oil (moroccan hair oil for eg, or kerastase etc) 11. No alcohol during the week 12. Daily vitamins 13. Body brushing 14. At least 2 servings of salmon or other fatty fish per week. 15. One early night once a week. Suggest 9PM. 16. Regular hair removal 17. Give up one naughty favourite item e.g. chocolate/crisps 18. No more fizzy drinks 19. DAILY body moisturising. 20. Warm water with lemon first thing in the a.m.

You don't have to post your list but I would recommend you write it down somewhere for yourself.

Original Princessing thread*

1. Increase Water intake.
2. Increase Exercise.
3. Increase Reading.
4. Reduce eating to excess.
5. Write a one line journal entry daily
6. Carry out a skincare routine daily.
7. Aim for 8 hours sleep.

Track through: MFP, Fitbit, Storygraph and my notebook, as well as on here!

Today I had an “everything” shower! Face mask, hair mask, body scrub, foot file, body lotion, foot cream, sheet mask on face then blow dried and straightened my hair. Went out for a walk with DH and the children and booked a few gym classes for the rest of the week. I’m back to work tomorrow so hoping to get back to eating better rather than snacking on Christmas chocolates and biscuits all day!
Sleep is something I also really need to prioritise! I’m terrible for staying up late just to feel like I get some down time once the children are in bed (toddler also usually ends up in my bed fidgeting around all night too!)

I've been doing some nightly teeth whitening over the last couple of days as maintenance, tonight will be the final night before leaving the whitening to next season.

Food, water, supplements, exercise wise I'm doing ok, maintaining things.

I've made a 2024 vision board on Pinterest and changed the songs played on my alarms today- before it was the default Samsung setting for years but I realised I could have anything (and years ago as a teen used to customise, this dropped off as I got older unfortunately) and woke up to Taylor Swift's Wildest Dreams piano Bridgerton version which was so nice.

@CynthiaKnicksOn that's inspiring, I need to look in body brushing and making sure I don't self flagellate myself mentally, be much kinder.

@Redcase I love your ideas for Sunday, I need to do something similar now that the school holidays have finished, need to return to some structure.

Continue
Daily walk
Reformer Pilates
Drinking water
vitamins
eyebrow threading
boxing
weekly facial scrub
collagen powder

Need to do/have

More sleep
cut out sugar in my coffee
refuce caffeine
Eat more fish

I've been sideswiped by a horrendous Mrs Trunchbull of a period that is 10 days late (pre meno?). Lots of pain and an awful night's sleep. Usually I would wallow, feel sorry for myself and consume chocolate and wine for comfort.
Not today Mrs Trunchbull, I had an extra hour in bed but now I'm up, had a banana and freshly brewed flat white and ready to hit the gym. I'll work out through it and have a pamper session afterwards. I'm going to the library too for some new recipe books for healthy family meals.

*No alcohol for January: have had far too much to drink in December.
*Sleep: 10pm bedtime.
*More fruit, veg and non meat protein.

• Remove facial fuzz. *Try out anti-pigmentation treatment. *Make a conscientious effort to floss daily. *Gym for toning up. *Walk for skin, energy levels and MH.

*Limit time on social media (eg. once a day for 5 - 10 minutes)
*Avoid people and situations which do not align with what I want for myself.
*Keep gratitude/positivity diary.
*Do not seek out sources of negativity: clicking on online news. Be mindful of what I take in.

Morning! Off to a good start today, did my skincare routine last night so my face feels lovely, drunk my green tea, taken my vitamins and even managed to do the first day of YWA 30 day challenge (with a baby rolling round next to me and a cat trying to rub himself on my face lol)

So for accountability:

Continue:
not drinking
16:8
early to bed
reading daily
low carbing
make up and hair daily (even when working from home / not going anywhere)
improving personal style / Vinted shopping for quality
cutting out negative people

Start:
hair masks weekly
walking / exercise daily
sort out décolletage (redness / wrinkles)
learn more about skincare
daily journalling
habit tracker
look after nails / stop biting them!
find personal style

Joining…

In November I started a face routine of cleanse/serum/spf in the mornings and cleanse/retinol 3 times per week and just moisturiser the other nights. It was amazing how bright I looked after a while of doing very little given I’m WFH.

Started a 3mile walk on YouTube, but fell off after a few weeks.

Finished the Christmas / New Year indulgence yesterday, so spotted this at exactly the right time.

Finished my 1st litre of water already today 👍🏾. Only had cereal for breakfast, so will fix that tomorrow.

Thanks @Chaiselongueallday .

I followed the last one of these threads, but never posted, so joining now.

Things to carry on doing:

Skincare - have a good routine going with Beauty Pie products which I like and seems to be working. Must remember SPF though as I use retinol at night.
5:2 - fell off the wagon a bit over Christmas but will be picking this back up. I find it easier on days when I'm in the office rather than WFH as there's less temptation
Vitamins - already take a multivitamin and vit D, plus magnesium
Running - slacked off a bit over December, but went out yesterday and am aiming for three times a week

Things to improve/start doing

Water intake - not as good as I'd like, so will aim for 2 litres a day (pure water, cups of tea don't count!)
5 a day - I do eat a lot of salad but I think I overestimate how much F&V I actually consume. Have downloaded a habit tracker app to remind me - 4 down so far today
Nails - home manicure weekly, keeps them looking nice and stops me reaching for snacks.
Flossing/interdental brushing - I had a good routine with this a while ago and need to start it up again.

1. Week planned and have factored in time to do everything without impacting sleep ✅️

1. Exercise fail today as couldn't find tablet for online exercise video. Located in teens room so good for tomorrow ❌️

1. Healthy lunch ✅️

1. Skincare routine every evening ✅️

1. Outfits planned ✅️

Bonus

Back doing Noom ✅️

Ooh love this post!

• continue no/ low alcohol
• eye lash and brow serum daily
• paint nails weekly
• use leave in conditioning hair spray and only Blow dry when necessary
• stop munching so much UPF snacks
• Use my nu face gathering dust!

✅Went outside for a walk and did some breathing exercises in nature
✅Started YWA 30 days of yoga
✅Plenty of water
✅Journalling
✅Used a leave in conditioner in my hair last night

Keep forgetting my mini strength workout!

No gym for me today but managed just over 10km walk on the fells before work( in a down pour!) I needed a shower and hair wash when I got to work as I looked like I'd been swimming in the local reservoir!!
Tomorrow is a gym day and also work on my mobility and flexibility.

@Dweetfidilove hi! Can I ask what the thinking is behind cycling retinol with regular moisturiser and which products you use? I've been pondering retinol but haven't quite managed to get my head around it.

Any podcast recommendations? I have just come upstairs and now have 30 or so mins of princessing ahead of me. I am very good at being distracted by scrolling through social media but not only is that distracting but will lead to inefficient princessing if one had is one my phone! Anything relating to generally getting your act together or improving your life would be good. Crime or history probably aren't what I'm looking for at the moment

Today has been a good first day! I have

• given blood (not really part of princessing but it made me feel good!)
• been to a Pilates class (only allowed to do limited exercise immediately after donating)
• eaten a huge amount of vegetables plus some fruit, lots of lean protein, limited and nutritious carbs, limited dairy (causes me to bloat) and a mint club (after donating)
• drunk 2+ litres of water, had one milky coffee and lots of peppermint tea
• done my nails
• done my face thoroughly
• come up with some ideas around what I'll eat for the rest of the week to avoid falling into the biscuit tin
• am currently using the foot massager (suffer from water retention and this makes a massive difference)
• have set my alarm for 6.15 tomorrow so I can do W3R1 of C25k (had got to the end of week 7 but haven't run for over two months so this seems like a realistic point to re-start)
• will moisturise my legs before I get into bed (something I never do).

Let's see how these good intentions last once I'm back at work tomorrow!

@oliveroses hey!
I bought a Dermalogica medibac cleanser and serum as I started getting hormonal acne around my period. They had the spf and retinol mini set as free gifts, so I figured why not. Never used retinol before, but it worked a treat. Cleared my skin in a week and by week two I had a visible glow, so purchased the full- sized.

The recommended routine by Dermalogica is to use serum twice per day and retinol twice per week, building up to more if you wish, but I find that’s not needed.

Morning I use cleanser, serum and SPF.
Night I cleanse, retinol twice per week, other nights just moisturise (no serum). On the nights I use the retinol, I skip the moisturising.

So my alarm didn't actually go off this morning so no run. Also managed to drop my body butter down the back of the cupboard so didn't put that on last night.! Not such a great start as I'd planned!

Yesterday didn’t quite go to plan! I drank a lot more water than usual (I guess between 1.5 and 2ltrs) and stuck to a reasonably healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner but then it all went pear shaped once the kids were in bed! I ate so much leftover Christmas chocolate!
Today is a new day! Have a gym class booked for after work so hopefully that will put me off the chocolate as won’t want to ruin my hard work!

I think this thread is just what I need. Loving all the positive energy 😊

Continue
2 litres water
No alcohol
Skincare morning and evening
Prioritising sleep
Finishing showers with a blast of cold water
Vitamins (Vit D, B complex and magnesium. Thinking of adding in Omega 3 as I’m veggie)

Start
Flossing daily
Face and hair mask weekly
Salux cloth (thanks to this thread!)
Walk to work twice a week
One coffee a day (2 absolute MAX on a sleepy morning!) and none after midday
Making a realistic meal plan and sticking to it (instead of looking after everyone else and eating toast at 10pm)

I love Mel Robbins for positivity and sorting your life out.
Dr Chatterjee’s Feel Better, Live More is also fab (but a long listen! He does do some bite size ones)

Agree with @NoAprilFool - Mel Robbins and Dr Chatterjee are the best. Absolute game changers.

@Dweetfidilove thanks so much, this is really interesting! I'll try and work out what's best for me - I had no idea you cycled retinol and/or built up use.

I haven't really made a start yet. We had a sickness bug in the house so that's been great. Official start date for me is 9th, when DH goes back to work. Bit flaky of me I know I did buy some masks for hands and feet and a new cleanser and toner though.

On another note I am kind of surprised that cleanser, toner, moisturiser is still the recommended routine. Same as when my mum first helped me start a skincare routine when I was 15. I don't know why but I thought something would have changed since then!

You’re welcome and I hope you’re all on the mend.

Start with the masks and when you start glowing, it encourages you to do more 😀. When I saw how bright my skin looked, I started sticking to it more. My teenager was rolling her eyes at how excited I was, as she’s been telling me for ages to tone and use SPF 😅.

There are so many routines that will confuse or encourage you to purchase too many products, but the old-fashioned 3 steps seems to be working for now/still. Just as well, as they are so expensive.