Welcome Friends!

Hello,

My name is Jillian, and this is Jillian.OC (my baby!). I want to sincerely thank you for whatever rabbit hole landed you on my page. A few necessary introductions; A self-declared Beauty Enthusiast, I spend my time trying new products (mainly to cure my stubborn adult acne-prone skin), re-creating looks from those incredibly talented Beauty Gurus, scrolling Pinterest for inspiration, and liking your photos (yeah you) on the ‘gram because if we’re being real, keeping up with the Algorithm is a full-time job these days. 

Like many before me, I have contemplated, started, abandoned, deleted, and restarted numerous ‘blogs’ in my time. For one reason or another, they just didn’t stick. Too often, I found myself disappointed in the quality of my work. I felt that I had so much more in me to share, but hadn’t quite mastered how to share it. Adjacent to that struggle, I have taken part in my fair share of going through it if you know what I mean. From inevitable boy trouble, to cliquey girls, to struggles with my faith, the past 10 years have been no friend to my creativity. 

I began my first blog when I was 17.. If you guessed that it was on Tumblr, you guessed right! Your girl had plans to be an infamous Tumblr girl **queue G-Eazy** Unfortunately, that didn’t pan out. I may or may not still entertain my Tumblr craving from time to time (if you can find me, you should work for the CIA). A slue of WordPress, SquareSpace, and WIX websites followed suit. Each one lasting a few months, before being left to the wolves. So, you’re probably wondering what makes this any different? 

Well, for one, I bought a domain. Have you ever bought a domain? Not cheap.. Especially for a part-time chick living beachside in Orange County. Ok Jillian, what is it in you that’s not going to quit this time? 

In the interest of being an open book, I’ll say my faith is driving this thing. Over the years, I have known Jesus as a Savior, but most recently, I’ve known Him as a friend. 2018 was a very growing year for me, to say the least. I was pushed and pulled and stretched and grown in ways I did not even know I needed. Pain, progress, and even fits of situational depression were all present in my everyday life. Through all of this, I knew my only hope of victory was to lean into my faith, and the peace that comes from a deep connection with the Father. You see, I believe with every fiber of my being that it is not God’s will for us to experience pain. However, pain is still something that most of us are no stranger to (more on that in a later post). So how did I land on starting a blog? This season of growth revealed to me that I had been searching for my identity in so many of the wrong places. Quiet time with the Lord, and digging into my triggers, brought up lies that I had been believing about myself for years. 

Things like:
– I’m not good enough 
– My beauty is physical and subjective
– My heart is not pure
– I am not intelligent enough 
– I don’t have the resources and therefore I will fail 

All of these things are false. It took a LOT of searching my heart, and forgiving myself for believing these lies, to arrive where I am today.. to start this journey, publicly. But, through all of this, I realized that my WHY was much more than to be a Tumblr famous girl. I want to put myself, my struggles and my strengths, on blast because I know that I am not alone. If I have learned anything from the many young women I have come in contact over the years, it is that more often than not, we struggle with our identities and believe lies about ourselves. Lies that are meant to bog us down, and hold us back from reaching our potential. Whether that is to become a Television star, a Beauty Guru, win the World Cup, be an incredible mother, or even create an online community.. sometimes all we need is a little nudge. And I know that nudge can come from the most unsuspecting of places. 

So, my WHY is this: I want to impact you. I want to be your nudge. Whether you know Jesus or not, if my page is a place you come for beauty advice, you connect with my skin struggles, or you just want to feel understood, I thank you for coming.. and I hope that you stay! 

Xo,

J. OC