7 Ways to Make January More Sparkly

In case you haven't noticed, it's January!

It's dark, I'm back at my desk and I'm guessing that you are too, it could even be the reason you are sitting at your screen reading this.  Let's face it, January is the darkest, bleakest month and most of us are in hibernation mode. I know amongst my own friends, very few of them are actually chipper and full of the joys of "Spring".

It's my first day back at my desk today and my overwhelming feeling is that I should have just taken off the whole of January. Photography outdoors on dull, grey days like today isn't fun, especially when you take the cold January temperatures into account. I'm sitting at my desk right now with my fake sunshine in the form of a SAD lamp trying to trick my body and brain into believing that it's actually much more summery than it actually is.  I am resolute though, yes it may be tumultuous weather, it may threaten to snow at any given minute, but this year I want to encourage everyone to make January more sparkly.

During the Christmas break I've been thinking and collected at least seven ways to make your January sparkle with some fabulous products. Hopefully these will make the first month of the year way better, and before you know it, Spring will be here!

7 Ways To Make Your January More Sparkly 

1. Make sure you're getting enough vitamins

If you really are feeling the winter blues, Vitamin D3 is guaranteed to help. I'm living proof - for the first year ever I'm taking a high strength Vitamin D3 and it really has made a difference. I can get up in the morning, my brain is actually functioning better and overall when I've used it along with Magnesium (which helps the body absorb the vitamin D3) and my SAD lamp, I've seen my moods be much improved from previous years. You can buy high strength vitamin D from here. 

2. Say goodbye to dark circles

On the first of February I shall be 44 and I'm not one for ageing gracefully. I'd like to hold back the hands of time for as long as I possibly can and thanks to wonderful products like Angel Eyes from Angela Langford Skincare I can do just that. I've been using this over the Christmas period and it really does help with dark circles under the eyes, not only that, you can really smell the cucumber.

3. Take time to pause and reflect

Amanda from The Chapel would like use to January to take more pauses, with her amazing candle collection which invoke the smells of different times of day. Isn't it nice to just to pause and reflect every once in a while? I've burnt the Oparus candle a couple of times now and it fills my home with heavenly scents. I've really tried to practice mindfulness whilst burning it, trying to focus on the scents of the morning and I think we all owe it to ourselves to pause during January, to help make plans for the year ahead because soon it will be time to go on new adventures.

4. Guilt-free chocolate treats 

This year I've been looking into the fact that January is so completely guilt based. It was brought to my attention by Naomi and all of a sudden my eyes are open to it all, the fact that we're encouraged to feast in December and then lose weight in January. Well Jim Jams spreads are totally not guilt based, they contain 83% less sugar than other branded chocolate spreads and they're even suitable for diabetics. I love that indulgence is still encouraged! They come in Hazelnut and plain chocolate flavours and January is the perfect time to try them.  I shall be swapping a certain other brand for these jars of tasty wonder.

5.  Add inspiration to your walls

I have walls full of funny or positive sayings around my house. I love the fact that wherever I'm sitting I can quickly glance at something which invokes a memory or encourages me even on the darkest day, so when I found a new plaque for my wall at Melody Maison I knew I had to have it on my wall - even reading it makes me feel better, stronger and more determined that this year I'm going to sparkle the heck out of 2018!

6.  Accessorise (and protect) your phone

Whilst we are on the subject of sparkling, I love my new iPhone case from Speck. Not only is it gold and sparkly it's also military grade and drop tested from 8 foot. Remember when protective cases used to be boring, black and reinforced? Well this gold sparkly one just proves that protective doesn't have to be boring and it also means I'm more likely to have a phone which survives my every day clumsiness.

7.  Redecorate and refresh your home

Finally, and this one is an introduction to what's about to happen, Looby needs a new bedroom. She wants to float on a cloud and January is definitely the month to plan redecoration, in fact we're off to B&Q tomorrow to purchase some Valspar paint so we can start the transformation. If you want to see what we do with her bedroom (which is currently a pit of despair) well you'll just have to follow the progress and I promise I'll be sure to share it once it's done.

Will your January sparkle?

So there you have it, I challenge you to use any of these products and not feel a little more sparkly, I'm determined that when February arrives I'm going to burst into it having sparkled my way through the darkest month. Stay tuned to my blog to see how I progress - January, I am coming to get you.

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