Self Love Brunch, Fashion Beauty Concierge

Love and Brunch.  

Love is in the air—self Love. With the rise to make Self Love a verb and not just stopping at affirmations, February 14th and surrounding days are becoming more inclusive for those of us singles.  

Instead of relying on the expectation that you will feel more love once you get into a relationship, more than a few events are taking place to combat this. Many of us are now making our single season (or seasons) an opportunity to concentrate on becoming more and more of ourselves rather than being down and out about either being single. And also to unapologetically practise more self-love and self-care, whether single or not.

With Galentines and Self Love events becoming increasingly popular, I thought I should begin to indulge. I will be spending this Valentine’s evening on a health-related call. Yes, exciting, I know. But I would be celebrating the day before at a Love Brunch on February 13th hosted by Valerie John-Lewis of Fashion Beauty Concierge.

Over cake, bubbles and afternoon tea, a group of women were brought together to celebrate ourselves. And more importantly, to be shame-free of being single (I think for most of us that attended) on the hyper-capitalised day of Love.

There was Cake, Laughter, Music, Activities and Conversation. It was in a pink floral and intimate setting curated to be a safe, glam space for women to take time to pamper and put themselves first in a world that has always put us. And we did just that.

After our pre-arrival drinks, we settled down for our introduction to the event by our host, Valerie. She spoke about her love of Valentines Day, her self-love routines and practices, and the importance of loving yourself. We were then given a jar, wrote affirmations to ourselves, and placed them inside. These would be our gifts to take home, and Valerie encouraged us to take one out daily or when we felt we needed to and remind ourselves of the loving words we had written for ourselves.  

After more bubbles and treats, Valerie shared her self-love box. It was huge and filled with her favourite candle, perfume, herbal teas, books and pampering items. It was glam, huge and overflowing with goodies. I’ve the smallest box at home filled with face masks and some other bits, but this showed me that maybe I need a little upgrade. 

Next up was writing a Love Letter to ourselves. I really enjoyed this. I’ve written letters to my younger self before, but it was cathartic to write one to myself in real-time. We sealed these in envelopes and then wrote our names and addresses on the front. Valerie will be posting these to us in a month as a reminder for us to keep the love going and flowing. I can’t remember what I wrote and am looking forward to reading it to see what I said to myself.

On to afternoon tea, I love afternoon tea. It’s the best British tradition and turned into an RnB/Soca Brunch. We had a lot of fun and also an unexpected surprise. As a treat to all the ladies, Valerie had arranged for a masseuse to give us all complementary massages before the end of the day. Such Bliss.

And then there was more. Oysters and champagne followed, and the incredible tray of desserts. Sadly, I had another commitment that evening and had to leave just as this course was being served. I said my goodbyes and well wishes and took one last look at the oysters and champagne that were on the ice. Maybe next time. I remembered to pick up my goodie bag. This had some ideas on practising self-love and some sweet treats which I would save for Valentine's Day.  

This would be the last month that Fashion Concierge would be hosting events in this gorgeous space, and I’m sure the next location would be equally fabulous. Even if I spend next Valentine's Day with someone I will keep up with a tradition of celebrating myself and sharing the experience with others about how we love and can love ourselves more. It's an imperative thing to do before you even think about loving someone else. You can’t give what you don’t yet have. It has taken me a long time to realise that.

So why not piss off the ego and dedicate the rest of your life to unlearning all the unhealthy ways you have inherited from the world around you and then learning to Love yourself fully and deeply despite everything in the world telling you not to.

https://fashionbeautyconcierge.com

My Self Self-Love Jar Affirmations

I am worthy of great things and great abundance and all the, abundance, and beauty in the world.

I am blessed and continue to be blessed and bless others.

I am Love and attract healthy Love.

I am a creator and create things and opportunities to bring more Love and healing into the world.

I am worthy of Love.