Purposefully Vain

I was talking to one of my friends on the phone this weekend and she stated, matter-of-factly, that she is purposefully vain.

This particular friend is a woman 27 years older than me who has been a wonderful role model on aging. At 75, she is what I consider a truly beautiful, life-filled woman. She is wise, has a great sense of humor, lots of energy, enthusiastically looks forward to new projects, and takes really great care of her face and body, all while possessing a well-defined and pulled-together personal style.

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The Idea of Being Purposefully Vain

I immediately loved the phrase purposefully vain.

We talked about what that meant to her. She said her husband appreciates that she takes such good care of herself and still puts effort into how she presents herself to the world. But more importantly, it’s something she enjoys, a self-loving ritual in her life.

For my friend, movement is non-negotiable, as are facials, healthy food, learning new things, and the occasional shopping spree.

The Dark Side of Vanity

Of course, vanity can be a bad thing.

It can:

• Make you self-centered
• Keep you from fully enjoying the sweet moments of everyday life
• Trap you in endless comparison with others
• Cost a fortune and lead you to do unhealthy things to your body
• Separate you from loved ones in painful, anxiety-filled ways
• Prevent you from seeing the bigger picture

Sadly, I’m speaking from experience on many of these.

The Bright Side of Vanity

But there’s another side to this coin. Vanity, when rooted in the right purpose, can be powerful. It can:

• Help you take great care of yourself
• Showcase your creativity through personal style
• Cultivate discipline in movement and fitness
• Inspire healthier food choices
• Motivate you to build new habits that support vitality

Most importantly, it can help you love yourself more.

Putting time and energy into expressing your most beautiful self is like a “fake it till you make it” approach to self-love. You can start small with simple self-care rituals and immediately see the benefits they bring.

💡 It’s hard to do something truly good for your body if you don’t love yourself. Luckily, it’s even harder not to love yourself when you consistently do good things for your body. One of life’s greatest hacks 🙂

Lessons From My Daughter

When my daughter was in high school, she struggled with terrible cystic acne, and as you can imagine, it was incredibly painful for her. I took her to the dermatologist multiple times, and they prescribed all kinds of medications that didn’t work. We were stumped, it seemed unstoppable.

What happened next, though, turned out to be one of the best things that could have come from the situation.

My daughter started researching on her own, looking for ways to care for herself in the middle of this problem, and she leveled up her personal beauty routines.

I would come home to find her:

• Doing a face mask or applying an at-home treatment
• Wearing pimple patches so she wouldn’t pick at her skin
• Adjusting her diet to include more skin-loving foods and fewer beauty betrayers

Through this, she discovered self-loving rituals and routines that helped her feel more grounded, secure, and beautiful, even in the midst of one of the most painful beauty disruptors a teenager can face.

And all the while, she was teaching her mama a heck of a lot about becoming more self-loving through purposeful beauty routines.

Your Turn

So, if you want to be your highest and best, most beautiful self…what would you do differently?

✨ How can you level up your beauty at 16 or 76?
✨ Are there small changes you could make to your routines that would help you look and feel like a more beautiful version of yourself?
✨ What other benefits might those new routines bring into your life?

My Takeaway

For me, it’s been a lifelong journey, and I have absolutely no regrets.

I feel better, healthier, and happier than I ever did in my younger years, and I’ve truly learned so much about loving myself through being purposefully vain.

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This post isn’t sponsored. I only share what I genuinely love and use in my own life. Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Thanks so much for supporting Girl Gone Glam—I appreciate you!

Favorite Self-Care Routines

Here are a few of the beauty and lifestyle rituals that keep me feeling my best. Each one is a small act of purposeful vanity that adds up to a big difference.

✨ Skincare Rituals I Love

• Cleanser I always come back to — gentle but effective
• My 1x a week overnight mask — makes a huge difference in overall hydration & glow
• Favorite Gua Sha — the everyday lymphatic drainage that makes such a difference

💪 Movement That Keeps Me Energized

• My everyday yoga mat — a must have to build fitness into your everyday at home routine
• Favorite yoga pants from Amazon — buttery soft and come in so many colors, will want to wear everyday
• The bra to match the pants — its so much more fun to work out when we feel cute

🥗 Skin-Loving Foods

• My everyday favorite collagen supplement — I mix mine with almond milk and its soooo good!
• Snack I reach for instead of cookies – these are so so delicious
• The most eye opening book I’ve ever read about beauty & food my bible – Everyone should have a copy of this
• The cookbook written by my friend that helped inspire my food journey — so many great nourishing recipes

🎀 Little Luxuries I Indulge In

• My favorite dry brush — I do this a couple times of week to increase lymphatic drainage
• My favorite trench coat from the drop – a must have for fall fashion
• Bring on fall with this beautiful pumpkin chai candle — I love natural soy candles for creating a beautiful and luxurious feel in my home