Love Yourself This Valentine's

I have a love-hate relationship with Valentine's. The romantic in me likes the planning and the reaction of creating something to share love to another, the cynic in me hates the force fed feeling that I must show someone I love that I love them today or else! These two sides have battle overs the years and have left their scars behind, I have many war story's that I could share.

I now, thankfully, have a loving husband who does the little things that reminds me that he loves me everyday, as well as tells me he loves me everyday. When we came to our first Valentine's day we both came to same conclusion, we spend every day loving each other; Why is this day any different from any other? We both re-met after 7 years apart (we originally met as 13 (him) and 15 (me) at school) on a night out with friends exactly a week after Valentine's. It made sense for us to put the day to rest and create our own day.

A tradition I did continue from my teenage years is that I brought a present for myself, it usually was something that was a treat - In my younger years was chocolates, etc. As I grew up and my love of beauty came forth it turned into Lush bath products, face masks, nail varnish. This year is the eye shadow single from the latest Bourjois collection - it is a pale lilac sparkle beauty in compact.

What I am really building up to is that this Valentine's is love yourself. Love yourself for who are, what you have accomplished, and love how stunningly beautiful you are (stop arguing - you are). Throw convention out of the window and treat yourself. I'm not talking about madness here, even just taking 10 minutes of the day to take a breath and take stock is a treat in itself.

Now matter what you choose to do I wish you all a Happy Valentine's and remember: You need to learn to love yourself because how are you going to let someone else love you?