When a big shopping holiday rolls around, like President’s Day, it can be hard to figure out what you actually need vs what you want just because it’s discounted. Like, do you need a puffer if you live in LA? Or another coffee machine when you usually go to Starbucks? But Tarte’s sale is different. These are the products you’re likely to buy anyway so it’s a great time to stock up on foundation, concealer, blush, skincare and more.

From now until February 25, take 20 percent off the QVC price of Tarte goodies. It’s basically like a sale-on-sale because the QVC price is always less than retail or part of a great value set. Plus, you can pay off your purchase in installments as part of the “Easy Pay” system, which makes this sale a no-brainer. The entire Shape Tape family is included in this event, which doesn’t always happen. We’re calling concealer, foundation, setting spray, powder and more from the iconic line.

No idea where to start? Shop some of our favorites below—until they sell out.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. QVC is a STYLECASTER sponsor, however, all products in this article were independently selected by our editors. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Blush Authority Amazonian Clay Cheek Wardrobe and Brush

Not only do you get three clay blushes and a perfect brush, but if you purchased each separately it would be $67!

Foundcealer Multi-Tasking Foundation with Brush

This medium coverage foundation has a radiant finish—in 30 shades.

Image: Tarte.

100% Pure Cold Pressed Maracuja Oil

This iconic oil contains essential fatty acids and vitamin C to hydrate and brighten the face.

Party Mascara and Liner Set

A smokey eye has never been easier with Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara and Double Take Eyeliner (a gel and liquid!).

Tarte.

Shape Tape Glow Wand

Look like you slept a full eight hours with this liquid brightener available in seven shades.

Tarte.

Shape Tape Contour Concealer

The iconic, full-coverage concealer rarely goes on sale, so stock up on your concealer, highlight and contour shades while you can.

Lippie Lingerie Matte Tint

These hydrating matte lip tints—in five natural shades—are great for under a face mask.

I know this feeling of sameness so well. It starts with being grumpy for a few days or weeks – on edge, short-tempered. Then I’ll start sleeping poorly. I know that it’s taken a hold on me when I don’t want to get up in the morning, when I pull the covers over my head instead of going out on a run.

After a lot of machinations, including denial, a temper tantrum or two, and maybe even outright depression, it will occur to me that something has to change in my life. Sometimes, it’s just a routine that needs to be altered, but other times, I realize I need to make a broader transformation.

When I finally make my way through what’s really going on with me and make a change, I experience one of the best feelings in life. As writer Ellen Glasgow once wrote, “The only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions.”

Still, making a change is not always easy. Where do I start? How big a change should I make? If your life needs some shaking up, consider these five ways to get things going in a better direction.

Make a Small Change in Your Regular Routine

Drive a different route to work or the store. Read a genre of book you don’t normally read. Go to the movies in the middle of the afternoon. Take a long walk on a new path. Any kind of change will begin to break up the pattern, and you’ll start to feel more creative about everything.

If you give it a few days, you will also start to feel a growing sense of empowerment because you’re taking over the reins of your life.

You’re starting to control what you can control – parts of your schedule and the items and events that receive your attention. You’ll be surprised how much these small alterations begin to work their way into larger areas of your life.

Engage in a Life Inventory

Divide a sheet of paper in half the long way. On the left, list the activities and interests in your life that truly benefit you as a person. On the right, list those that do not. Just brainstorm, and don’t spend too much time on each item. There is no right or wrong answer.

This will give you a literal picture of how you’re viewing your life at this moment – what’s working for you and what isn’t.

If you’re like most of us, there are things on the right side of the page that you can’t do anything about at this point. You may have a few years until retirement, for example, so you can’t quit your job, even if it is no longer satisfying.

But if it’s there on the Non-Beneficial side of the page, you can break it down into a page of its own. What’s working for you at your job and what isn’t? Are there parts of it you can change? Are there different ways to approach it?

Take Control of What You Can Control

According to motivational speaker Steve Maraboli who wrote Life, the Truth, and Being Free, “Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.” An inventory can help you see exactly what you’re working with.

Add Something New to Your Life

If you’re bored, or in a rut, or frustrated with the rat race, adding an entirely new activity can change your outlook, your routine and even your set of friends. Join a book group, take a class at a local community college, find a maker’s space in your area and start painting.

We all have long lists of things we’d like to try and now is the perfect time to do it. You don’t have to view it as “the thing you were meant to do”, rather it’s just something new you’d like to try.

Let Something Go

If there is something you’d like to let go of, and you can do it, then go for it. Maybe you have a relationship in your life that’s no longer working.

Perhaps you participate in a regular activity that has ceased being interesting to you. It might even be time to quit that job and start another one, if you can do it without blowing up your whole life.

We hold onto things because it sometimes makes us feel safe to do so. But if it’s slowly killing us, it’s time to let it go, start a new life and just breathe.

Journalist Linda Ellerbee wrote, “What I like most about change is that it’s a synonym for ‘hope.’ If you are taking a risk, what you are really saying is, ‘I believe in tomorrow and I will be part of it.’”

Schedule Regular Attitude Check-Ups

Just like we do with our physical health, we need to check our attitudes consistently to make sure everything is working as we want it to. Especially if you’re making changes, you need to check in occasionally to follow-up on your feelings about these transformations.

You may find yourself happier back at square one, or you could decide to change things further. The point is to be conscious about what’s working for you and what isn’t.

When sailing ships enter into areas with calm winds, they can get trapped for days or weeks at a time. This is called the ‘doldrums,’ and it can happen to people, too. If we stay in one place too long, we can get stuck – a feeling very similar to the one where we don’t want to get out of bed.

Change can be scary, but it can also be the catalyst that will help us enjoy and appreciate our lives in a new way. Take an inventory and make a change. It’s the difference between slogging through life in an unconscious state and being truly alive.

What can you change in your life that would make it more interesting? If you could add something new, what would it be? If you could let something go, what would it be? Please share your thoughts below.

When a big shopping holiday rolls around, like President’s Day, it can be hard to figure out what you actually need vs what you want just because it’s discounted. Like, do you need a puffer if you live in LA? Or another coffee machine when you usually go to Starbucks? But Tarte’s sale is different. These are the products you’re likely to buy anyway so it’s a great time to stock up on foundation, concealer, blush, skincare and more.

From now until February 25, take 20 percent off the QVC price of Tarte goodies. It’s basically like a sale-on-sale because the QVC price is always less than retail or part of a great value set. Plus, you can pay off your purchase in installments as part of the “Easy Pay” system, which makes this sale a no-brainer. The entire Shape Tape family is included in this event, which doesn’t always happen. We’re calling concealer, foundation, setting spray, powder and more from the iconic line.

No idea where to start? Shop some of our favorites below—until they sell out.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. QVC is a STYLECASTER sponsor, however, all products in this article were independently selected by our editors. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Blush Authority Amazonian Clay Cheek Wardrobe and Brush

Not only do you get three clay blushes and a perfect brush, but if you purchased each separately it would be $67!

Foundcealer Multi-Tasking Foundation with Brush

This medium coverage foundation has a radiant finish—in 30 shades.

Image: Tarte.

100% Pure Cold Pressed Maracuja Oil

This iconic oil contains essential fatty acids and vitamin C to hydrate and brighten the face.

Party Mascara and Liner Set

A smokey eye has never been easier with Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara and Double Take Eyeliner (a gel and liquid!).

Tarte.

Shape Tape Glow Wand

Look like you slept a full eight hours with this liquid brightener available in seven shades.

Tarte.

Shape Tape Contour Concealer

The iconic, full-coverage concealer rarely goes on sale, so stock up on your concealer, highlight and contour shades while you can.

Lippie Lingerie Matte Tint

These hydrating matte lip tints—in five natural shades—are great for under a face mask.

Whether you believe in “Hallmark Card” holidays like Valentine’s Day or not, the month of February, also known as the Month of Love, is a good time to think about someone you love, either alive or passed.

Make It More Personal

But instead of sending flowers or giving chocolate, in addition to a phone or Zoom call, you might wish to consider writing a letter or poem.

If the person is deceased, even though it’s not possible to send the letter, there’s nothing stopping you from writing it. My father passed away more than 30 years ago, and I always use this month as an excuse to write to him and tell him how much I love and miss him.

I also thank him for teaching me how to love and follow my heart. My letter usually includes tidbits and highlights about my life, my children, and my grandchildren.

Read Some Examples

For creative inspiration, you might consider reading some love letters and poems by prominent writers. The poetry of the late Leonard Cohen is always inspiring, especially his poetry in Book of Longing.

More recently, for spiritual inspiration and to surround myself with love, I’ve been reading the works of the Sufi poet Rumi, and I’ve been mesmerized by his words and sentiments. There are numerous translations of Rumi’s work, but I’ve found that those by Coleman Barks are the most powerful and compelling.

As Barks says in his introduction to The Essential Rumi, the poems “are food and drink, nourishment for the part that is hungry for what they give. Call it soul.” Barks goes on to say that Rumi’s poems help us feel what living in “the ruins feels like . . . heartbroken, wandering, wordless, lost, and ecstatic for no reason. It’s the psychic space his poems inhabit.”

These feelings are what many of us experience now and then, which is why Rumi’s poems have resonated with me and so many others over the years. They fill us up when we’re empty and illuminate all that is wonderful when we feel good.

Rumi, the Poet

Barks’s introduction shared a lot about Rumi, his history, and his life. This timeless poet was born in Balkh (in what is now northern Afghanistan) on September 30, 1207.

As a teenager, he was identified as a great spirit, and in his 30s he met poet Shams Tabriz, with whom he shared many mystical conversations, resulting in a strong and magical friendship that inspired and informed Rumi’s own poetry.

Rumi died in 1273, and on his tomb is the inscription: “Do not look for him here, but rather in the hearts of those who love him.” For many, Rumi’s poems deepen their overall sense of faith and hope. He was a wonderful soul and spiritual teacher.

As Barks says, “He shows us glory. He wants us to be more alive, to wake up . . . he wants us to see our beauty in the mirror and in each other.”

Rumi’s poems in their original form have no Persian titles. Barks says this is because “they are works in progress in a life in progress, oceanic living tissue always reconfiguring itself”; however, for the purposes of his book, Barks assigned titles for each poem to facilitate accessibility.

My Rumi Favorites

It’s not easy choosing the Rumi love poem I like best – I simply adore all of them – but here’s an excerpt from one of my favorites, “Buoyancy,” which coincides with February, the Month of Love:

Love has taken away my practices

and filled me with poetry.

I tried to keep quietly repeating,

No strength but yours,

but I couldn’t.

I had to clap and sing.

I used to be respectable and chaste and stable,

but who can stand in this strong wind

and remember those things?

A mountain keeps an echo deep inside itself.

That’s how I hold your voice.

Poetry from My Own Pen

I’ve always been inspired to write love poems for my own keeping and also to my loved ones. In 2014, my poetry collection, Lustwas published. It celebrates intimacy through my eyes as I turned 60. My poems address many universal themes, including loneliness, longing, lust, sexual ecstasy and fantasies as I take the reader on a journey through private moments.

Happy Month of Love to all of you!

How do you celebrate the Month of Love? Is it special somehow? Have you written a love letter to someone who has passed? Is love poetry something you enjoy reading or writing?

When a big shopping holiday rolls around, like President’s Day, it can be hard to figure out what you actually need vs what you want just because it’s discounted. Like, do you need a puffer if you live in LA? Or another coffee machine when you usually go to Starbucks? But Tarte’s sale is different. These are the products you’re likely to buy anyway so it’s a great time to stock up on foundation, concealer, blush, skincare and more.

From now until February 25, take 20 percent off the QVC price of Tarte goodies. It’s basically like a sale-on-sale because the QVC price is always less than retail or part of a great value set. Plus, you can pay off your purchase in installments as part of the “Easy Pay” system, which makes this sale a no-brainer. The entire Shape Tape family is included in this event, which doesn’t always happen. We’re calling concealer, foundation, setting spray, powder and more from the iconic line.

No idea where to start? Shop some of our favorites below—until they sell out.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. QVC is a STYLECASTER sponsor, however, all products in this article were independently selected by our editors. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Blush Authority Amazonian Clay Cheek Wardrobe and Brush

Not only do you get three clay blushes and a perfect brush, but if you purchased each separately it would be $67!

Foundcealer Multi-Tasking Foundation with Brush

This medium coverage foundation has a radiant finish—in 30 shades.

Image: Tarte.

100% Pure Cold Pressed Maracuja Oil

This iconic oil contains essential fatty acids and vitamin C to hydrate and brighten the face.

Party Mascara and Liner Set

A smokey eye has never been easier with Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara and Double Take Eyeliner (a gel and liquid!).

Tarte.

Shape Tape Glow Wand

Look like you slept a full eight hours with this liquid brightener available in seven shades.

Tarte.

Shape Tape Contour Concealer

The iconic, full-coverage concealer rarely goes on sale, so stock up on your concealer, highlight and contour shades while you can.

Lippie Lingerie Matte Tint

These hydrating matte lip tints—in five natural shades—are great for under a face mask.