Oh come on, we’ve all been through enough this last 24 months without some website edit suggesting you should now strive to be a whole other person as soon as the clock strikes midnight on January 1st. I mean seriously, “new me?”, I thought I was doing pretty damn good job with the “this me”. Sure, there may have been days when I’ve been hanging on by my fingertips, but generally speaking, I’ve woken up each day, got myself dressed, squeezed in some exercise, pushed myself to maintain a half decent skincare routine and, most importantly, I’m still here.

So, if you make just one New Year’s resolution for 2022, make it the same as ours at Project bYouty. Before you bewilder your friends and coworkers by trotting out a barrage of woefully antiquated terms, ditch the outdated phrases that will have woke folk coming at you with pitchforks.

Regardless of the audience, topic, or industry, or whether the setting is a stand-up presentation, sit-down conversation, telephone discussion, or an online platform, we use language to influence someone’s mind in order to achieve a certain result. In short, words matter.

While we love our products and are staunchly proud of all the brands we stock and what they stand for, we also don’t claim to have all the answers. But one thing we can promise you, our thoughts, ideas and inspiration this year will be laced with encouragement and packed full of positivity.

Here's five phrases you won’t hear from us and why.

1 'New year, new you'

You’re already bloody fantastic, so why on earth do you need to reinvent the wheel? Isn’t it about time we viewed ourselves as far more perfect than problematic? Yes, make some improvements; a few tweaks here and there. But no need to start from scratch, jeez, who’s got time for that?

If your skin hasn’t been your top priority in 2021 we suggest making some small changes to begin with. A brand new, 30-minute-a-day skincare routine will more than likely be the equivalent of signing up for the gym every day in January. You’ll do it twice, maybe three times.

Start with a promise to yourself to do a simple but effective face mask once a week, or every other week if you’re really pressed for time. We love the Rose Glowing Potion Box from Maskologist London, which contains four masks. These guys have somehow found a way to bottle the feeling of great skin, combine it with heritage, take full advantage of science and make it totally genderless - wellness all round.

2 Here’s to being body beautiful

Oh please, are we still here? Body beautiful, or idealised physical beauty. What a croc of %#*T

According to a survey from Yahoo Health, more than half of all women are either body ambivalent or body negative.

To be fair, our biggest beef with these two words are how they are interpreted today. The definition of body beautiful in the dictionary is simply a “beautiful body”, which, as we are all well aware, covers a rather large scope. Short, tall, round, slender, black, white, orange frankly, the idea we’re all beautiful is far healthy mindset and one that luckily is slowly catching on. Step away from the photoshopped magazine covers and instead feed your imagination on the now thousands of pics of folk, from all walks of life, including the oh-so-influential celebs, who are happily going everything free — make-up, touch-up and styling. It’s empowering to see a growing trend of people showing the world who they actually are, not just in that one fleeting Instagram moment.

There are ways to feel confident in your own skin while also working toward weight loss, skincare and health goals. And if you want to feel strong and sexy while working on you, the best way to start is by looking in the mirror and loving the person to see back to begin with. It will make all the difference.

3 Here’s how to get perfect skin

Really? There’s no such thing – shut up. Harsh, but fair. At Project bYouty, perfect skin is out and healthy skin is in. There is no such thing as perfect skin. Perfect skin is an illusion perpetuated by everyone. Whether image retouching, camera/app filters or social media or influencers, it can spiral if every time you look in the mirror you see less than perfection. What is perfect skin anyway? Smooth skin? Unlined skin? No visible pores? Dry skin? Oily skin? Mature skin? Young skin? It’s none of these?

We’re in full support of the movement from those in the public eye, asking for their photos not to be retouched, asking that their photos are left alone, so that the “real” them can be seen – whatever shape, size, or style they are. This movement is extending into the ‘beauty’ industry, so that we are seeing more images of real people, authentic and un-retouched.

Healthy skin is what everyone should be striving for. But honestly, it’s up to you. Stand by your definition.

4 How to lose “this many” kilos

Kill me now. Stop reading these articles, they just make you feel bad and put unachievable goals in place. Yes, if you want to lose weight, eat less, move more. Honestly, that’s as far as we’re going to go with this. Instead, we say focus on your mental well-being. Go for walks, be outside, enjoy time being mindful or focusing on yourself. Take that bath you keep meaning to, read that book. But promise us one thing, do not overthink any of this. Take time for you is all we’re really trying to say.

5 It’s time to digital detox

Because that’s going to happen! A digital detox refers to a period of time when a person refrains from using tech devices such as smartphones, televisions, computers. Well, apologies, but given I haven’t memorized a phone number since 1990, have a job that requires at least eight hours a day starring at a laptop, and kids, who frankly can’t make it through the day without an episode of Peppa Pig, this fabulous suggestion feels just a tad out of my reach. But yeah, when I’ve quit my job, friends and family and moved to a remote island in the Bahamas, I’ll get back to you on the digital detox and let you know just how that’s working out.

We get it, and it would be nice; probably hugely beneficial. But if the genius who came up with the idea can also come up with a way for us to pay the bills, we’d love to hear it. In all seriousness, it’s a little No4 above, that’s all. Take some time for you. File, buff and paint your nails instead of scrolling through Facebook or Insta – that’s all. Invest in a nifty new product — one that also helps the environment — and direct your thoughts and ideas for a moment.