The ONE thing that makes me feel pretty

A friend of mine recently called me at 6:00 am in a panic, having forgotten her mascara at home while attending an out-of-town conference. It was a make-up emergency. When I arrived, tube of mascara in tow, she claimed that she looked really tired, didn't feel pretty, and couldn't look anyone in the eye. I laughed at the time, thinking how silly she was and how beautiful she looked anyway, but self-reflection has everything to do with self-confidence. For her (and like so many women), mascara was her one thing. You know, the ONE thing that you just can't leave the house without doing.

It got me thinking, what's the one thing that I do to make myself feel pretty?

It may be a stupid answer, but I wear high heels. It doesn't matter what I look like or where I'm going, I like my shoes high. In my mind, they transform me, from ugly duckling to beautiful swan. From shy and awkward to confident and out-going. I don't know when my love affair with high heels developed, somewhere between high school and university, but all I know is that I can't live without them. I cringe at the thought of what my collection of high-heeled shoes must be doing to my posture and back alignment, but I don't care. To me, the world looks different when I'm a little taller and simply put, I just feel pretty. I once left mid-way through a party to drive home and switch my 2-inch heels to 3-inch heels. That extra one inch made all the difference. It's silly, isn't it?

After asking around my group of friends, I discovered that everyone has a thing that they do to feel pretty. It is highly variable between women, and it obviously ranges depending on where one is during their life stage. Here are some answers that I received from the beautiful women in my life:

I always straighten my hair.
I wear sexy lingerie, even if no one else can see it but myself.
I curl my eyelashes.
I iron my clothes.
I tweeze my eyebrows obsessively.
I wear my contacts instead of my glasses.
I drink red wine while having a bubble bath.

and my all time favourite answer from Granny Anderson,

I wear my "good" dentures.

With the exception of the last answer, many women can identify with some of the answers listed. They all work the same way to boost our mood, spirits and self-confidence. Yet despite their great impact, each answer has no other significance to anyone else but yourself. In fact, I'm sure that all of these things are probably not even noticeable to anyone else.

These beautifying rituals that we do everyday may at first seem to help us appear more beautiful to others, but in reality, it's the exact opposite. It's simply to feel beautiful for the joy of it, for nobody else but yourself. And when you feel good about yourself, you cannot help but radiate a beautiful and positive energy.

W. L at Pretty Organic Cosmetics