The rarest thing in the world is a woman who is pleased with photographs of herself. ~Elizabeth Metcalf

The key to being beautiful is to know that you already are. Beauty doesn’t have a face or a particular pants size.

The definition of beauty is: the combination of all the qualities of a person or thing that delight the senses and please the mind. Nowhere in the dictionary definition does it mention what hair or eye colour makes one beautiful nor does it say that only a girl wearing tons of make up is beautiful. That’s the beauty of being beautiful – You don’t have to compete in a race or take a course on how to be beautiful because you are – whether you are a size 8 or a size 16, whether you have long blonde hair or short brown hair – you are beautiful!

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Don’t hide behind make up – it will run with your tears

Many of us are guilty of hiding who we are and hiding our natural beauty with make up – causing us to feel less attractive or even ugly when not wearing make up. Don’t get me wrong make up is a great invention and should definitely be used to highlight our features or even as a confidence boost, but it should not be a mask that covers up the insecurities and who we are.

Stop comparing

As long as you compare yourself to others you will never be happy, in all aspects of life comparison is not good. Very often it will actually make you feel inferior. Instead of avoiding the beach because you don’t look as good in a bikini as a model, get a sexy one piece costume and show that you can look just as gorgeous in your own way. We are meant to be different so embrace yourself and your uniqueness. You know that feeling when it’s taking hours to find a perfect outfit for an occasion and you arrive to see someone else is wearing the exact same outfit? Imagine if the similarity to that person wasn’t just an outfit.

Accept compliments

Never doubt a compliment – there is always a truth behind it. Deep down we love compliments so why do most of us question them when receiving them? Say thank you and store that compliment – you may need it again. Compliments can actually come in handy when we are making decisions about appearance and outfits. If you receive many compliments for a particular hair colour, chances are you will keep that colour for a while.

Forget stereotypes

While everyone has their own taste – the stereotypical beautiful women (fed to us by the media) is a thin woman with no stretch marks and perfect skin. Even those women have flaws and bits they would change if they could. Don’t get wrapped up in stereotypes, rather embrace being different.

Life is to be lived

All the self doubt and low self esteem will probably hinder one from living the best life possible. Learn to love yourself, your beauty and every part of your body and get out into the world and soak up all that life has to offer.

There will always be someone who has negative remarks, but their remarks actually relate to themselves and not you. A person who isn’t happy with themselves will always look for the bad in others – don’t be that person. Be the one who spreads self acceptance and appreciation.

Every women needs to know that she is beautiful – and a women can never hear that enough so lets help each other by giving compliments where they due, bury the green eyed monster called jealousy and stop wishing to have what others do because we were made in a special way to live a special life full of self love and happiness.