Anonymous asked: Hi love, do you have any book reccs for communication/healthy romantic relationships ?

true love by thich nhat hanh is the first to come to mind! 

mykonos, 35mm via here

Anonymous asked: You mentioned before that you don't wear much makeup. Has this changed? What is your personal beauty routine?

Slightly! I’ve been experimenting with more variations of the look I always do (warm eye, thick natural brow, natural lips etc) and adding in blush, like glossier cloud paint in an orangey pink or nude-brown + i’ve been using flesh stick as an under eye concealer if i’m going out. btw flesh is incredible - i’ve never ever been able to find complexion products that match my exact skin tone and undertones but i found it w them, shade “coconut” and it’s perf for me bc, when i do want to wear concealer under the eyes, i like it to be the same color as my face not lighter. anyways lol yeah, those are the only things i’ve changed. 

my makeup routine is 1) brows - they’re naturally thick so i just brush with boy brow in brown 2) a little warm toned shadow, no more than 2 shades bc i like a one-dimensional simple look / some days i will only wear mascara (especially lately) 3) a little highlighter on nose and cheekbones … if i’m going all out then i will add in blush and a little bronzer to cheekbones + nose before highlighter and do a deeper toned eye. i still don’t wear foundation bc i don’t like it and most days i do just brows + mascara + highlight but i like to have a signature look that has diff degrees of severity depending on the occasion and mood! 

Anonymous asked: hi!! i love your blog and was wondering if you know of any similar to it? thanks in advance!

first that comes to mind is the lovely @widewaterwoman 

It can feel like a failure to have not yet have solved all of life’s equations, to have not yet built your utopia. You’re so whole, so bright, so alive — how is it that there’s still work left to do, still unanswered questions popping up like green weeds in the yard? This week, remind yourself that this isn’t a failure at all, that a light as bright as yours has no choice but to keep creating life. What a blessing it is, to live in a world that keeps getting bigger. 

my horoscope for the week of my birthday, via here  

#I really really feel this #I have so much beauty and inspiration in my mind #and I'm trying so hard to create that utopia #but I feel like I'm constantly creating it not necessarily living in it #i'm always growing always making new things always evolving #this made me feel better

Anonymous asked: Hi beautiful! Recently, I’ve began to go through a transformative period in my life, mostly with self-love, connecting with and getting to know my own soul, and redirecting my energy. Since middle school, I’ve struggled with self-loathing and comparisons to my female—and sometimes fairer—peers. I’m now a 21 year old young WOC who’s finally becoming one with my own identity and who I am on the inside, but I’m still struggling to love and accept my outside. Do you have any advice? Thank you ✨💫

so proud of you for this growth & for recognizing it within yourself! one thing that i constantly tell myself is that 1 of the worst things i can do as a woc is compare myself to non-woc. as a black woman, one of the worst and most self-sabotaging things i can do is compare myself to a non-black woman. i think, for me, it kind of ends there. because when i think about black women specifically, i sincerely, in my depths, feel such a strong sense of sisterhood and love, and any concept of competition or inferiority is diluted by that feeling. and that propels me to feel better about myself as a whole. 

one thing that’s always helped me is to curate a little world where i’m surrounded by beauty that i can see myself in. on social media, i mostly follow black women. in my personal life, i surround myself with black women and other woc. i no longer allow myself to get to a point of doubting myself or my beauty because i consistently connect myself to the beauty around me. i also think settling into myself helped a lot; wearing my natural hair, not rly wearing a ton of stuff on my face, redefining my own concept of beauty and worth. you have to be gentle with yourself. there is absolutely no reason to not accept yourself. accept yourself first and love will flow through. 

Anonymous asked: How do you deal with being vulnerable? For me is so difficult to really connect with someone and when I do it feels frightening the idea of ending broken. I know the healthy thing is to lower one’s guard but saying it and doing it, is very different. If it’s any advice you could give me I would be thankful!

it takes time, and it takes healing. it’s imperative to begin to heal the part of you that is fearful. why is that fear there? when did it come, how long has it been there? vulnerability is confrontational. but it can’t exist in the presence of fear! you will only exhaust yourself. it takes so much time and energy and love to heal, but it’s possible. don’t focus so much on doing it for someone else though, so you can lower your guard. focus on getting to the root. everything else will blossom and fall into place. and in the meantime, practice little tidbits of vulnerability by vocalizing these fears to the people in your life! that’s such an important and huge first step, saying: I want to be vulnerable with you, but I’m afraid. and I’m afraid because ____. 

Anonymous asked: Do you have an Instagram?

Yes! It’s ofthe.moons :-)