Hi y'all!  How are you? It's been a long time since the last time I wrote.

I just realized that it's been a year since I stopped all my activities in blogging and social media. Wow! It's crazy how time flies by. To be honest with you, it feels weird to be back here, but I know I'll be back again. For me, this blog is my home. And I will always have a reason to go back home, no matter how far I go.

The reason why I've been inactive was I just needed time and space for myself, to take a break and focus on my growth. In the past year, my life has experienced a lot of processes, and it wasn't all rainbows and butterflies 😂. I wanted to give up, but I believe every process was meant for good so I stayed accountable to it. But looking back to it : the pain, the struggle, everything. It was all necessary.

Anyway, we're now halfway through February, which is known as the month of LOVE (yup! Valentine's Day!) By the way, how was your Valentine's Day going? People say Valentine's Day only belongs to those who have a partner. It's the lovey dovey day of the year!  Well, I think it's not entirely true though. I personally don't celebrate Valentine's Day with romantic dinner, flowers and such. I think we should always celebrate and love people every day. But I know, it won't hurt to make an extra effort to show love to people we care about on Valentine's Day, so if you had plans to make the day extra special, that's awesome 😀

I'd like to share with you the outfit and makeup attire that I wear for this month's theme. It's a little different from previous Valentine's Day makeup that I did few years ago. It's a lot subtler and pinker! Plus, I grow my hair so my current hair length makes me look.. more mature I guess? (a subtle way to say that I'm indeed looking older lol)

[READ : Smokey Valentine Make Up Collaboration]

FACE

EYES

LIPS

Nothing much has changed about my make up look, as you may have noticed if you have followed my blog for a while, I always opt for light, natural makeup. I tend to play safe on my eye area that's why I mostly use neutral and soft colors with natural-looking lashes. I don't like how heavy eye makeup looks on me 😓I use shimmery pink eyeshadow and blend it with dark plum color on the outer corner. As for my lips I use light pink matte color and top it off with red gloss on the inner part of my lips for a fresh look.





I really love this dress by Berrybenka! It's a beautiful dusty pink dress with embossed sunflower pattern. The satin material is so lightweight and reflects the light so it glows beautifully. The puffy sleeves also make it extra feminine. I like it so much! To complete the look, these beige embroidery shoes by Lace Lynelle are just perfect!

SO, WHAT IS LOVE?

Anyway, speaking about love, what do you think it actually is?

The first thing that come to our minds is probably that fuzzy, heart-warming feelings, the unexplainable, weird chemistry that happened inside ourselves (Come on! you know what it feels like💖). Love is oxytocin, love is having butterflies inside your stomach, love is like being high in the clouds. Love is a roller-coaster ride, love is a painful high fall. Love is when I feel like it, love is an attachment.  I love my mom, I love my shoes, I love ramen, and the list goes on and on.. It's as if we couldn't love if there are no feelings involved.

I remember when I was in junior high, I loved this song by The Darkness called 'Love Is Only a Feeling", and it goes like this:

Love is only a feeling(Drifting away)

And we've got to stop ourselves believing(It's here to stay)

'cause love is only a feeling anyway

It's a natural thing for our minds to associate love with warmth and feelings. But love was an active choice to ACT beyond any feelings. Lately this is something God presses hard on my heart, to learn how to love people genuinely and selflessly. From what I've learned from the truth (that I've just discovered ever since I devoted my life to God) love is a genuine desire for the well-being of another. Love does not always mean loving a romantic partner, but also loving other people in our lives. Love is not limited to just giving it we are in the mood, or when other people are also good to us, or when we need recognition from others.

True love is when we keep loving people who are difficult to love or even reject us. True love is when WE CHOOSE to keep loving even when our ego gets in the way. True love is not demanding and does not have ulterior motives underneath it. You just.. give love and not expecting any kind of return, to everyone, including your enemies.

It's hard right? That's why we must be full of love first to love others. We can't share to people what we don't have. Most of the time we demand so much love from other people to fill the void inside ourselves, and it never works. because human doesn't have unlimited love bank :)  We can't use human love to fill the void inside our hearts.

Took years for me to realize that love is not that shallow. I really have to shift the focus, from inside myself to really take a look outside, who's in my surroundings that needs love right now? For me, a small step to love can begin with having extra patience at work (sometimes you get so wrapped up in your work, you get upset at your coworkers), or as simple as giving up an empty seat on the train for someone who needs it more than I do.  It's about doing things that I don't normally do because of my ego and fleshly desires.


There was this long darn quote by an apostle called Paul who wrote hundreds of letter to people around the world:

To actively loving others is a choice, it's the commandment that I keep by heart to always try to show love and mercy to other people. It's not easy of course! (It's hella difficult because I have my an enormous ego to deal with). I don't mean to say that I'm a nice person who have it all together by saying these things, trust me I can be quite unloving and unlovable at times. I'm still learning (and will continue learning for the rest of my life). These lesson have greatly impacted the way I treat those around me, and who knows how many lives are being impacted by your actions too?

We have setbacks and limitations, and that's okay because we're human. What matters is that your foundation is firmly rooted in God and get up every time you make mistakes. 😊