marissa belle ｡･:*˚:✧｡࿐

It only took me an entire month to realize that I was too busy talking about small businesses, makeup and skincare to write a December Monthly Recap! I can’t believe I forgot about it – I am usually organized as hell and I plan the post about a week beforehand.

So I guess this monthly recap will be a combination of both December 2020 and January 2021.

It has only been 27 days into the new year and I cannot tell you how much I have hated retail life even more. Not only are we incredibly busy, but customers are a whole different breed! Something must have happened overnight because I get yelled at about 3 out of 5 days a week that I’m at work.

My boss and I did a massive declutter of the office to get rid of whatever ‘negative energy’ might’ve been lingering from the year before. Fingers crossed it works!

A Change Of Scenery

You might notice I had a new icon commissioned! This lovely piece of art stems from the very talented Kale from Twitter – they had a $10/icon deal for a couple of hours and I was lucky enough to snatch one up! If you couldn’t already tell, my icon is Animal Crossing themed!

Very chuffed with it, totally worth the $10 and I’m using it for my personal socials now as well as my blog. I would highly recommend getting yourself a custom illustrated icon from anywhere – Etsy has loads of great artists, as well as Twitter’s search!

Running My Small Business + A Rebrand!

December was my busiest month for my small business, as Christmas is the time for gift giving! Things have definitely slowed down and even though I needed the break, I am sad that sales have plummeted the way they are. If I were to just get 1 sale a day, I’d be content!

I’m happy to have made my very first sales to Finland and the US this month too! Thank you to everyone who has bought anything from me. I appreciate it so much! It fills me with so much joy to pack your orders.

I started creating new products too, such as solid lotion bars and wax melts! Wax melts aren’t very popular in Singapore but I really hope they will start to trend soon, like in the UK. Depicted above is my new favourite soap creation!

I have also rebranded my store name to Snuggly Duck Crafts (instead of ‘duckling’) as copyright infringement seems to be a big issue among small businesses these days and I’m just a paranoid little chicken. I like it, it’s shorter, easier to pronounce and still as cute.

Dealing With Long Distance – Even Further

By the time this post is published, my boyfriend Chris and I would’ve been apart for 1 year and 2 months, which is the longest we have ever been apart.

When I moved back to Singapore in 2018, we told each other that we’d see each other twice a year at least. Thanks to the global pandemic and people’s lack of social responsibility, that hasn’t been possible. That photo above was taken during our last meet-up when we went to Disneyland Paris in December 2019.

It has been very tough but like we always say, we have done this before – we can do it again. Sending each other gifts and weekly video calls have definitely helped us a lot, but the thought of being 6,000 miles away from each other.. not so fun.

Accutane – 6 months In

I’ve been on accutane 6 months now! I can’t believe how that time has flown.

My dermatologist has dropped by dose lower, so now instead of taking Accutane 3 times a week, I’m down to 2. I’ve been down to 2 pills for 7 days now and sadly, two spots have already popped up on my face! I was genuinely so happy the past 6 months having absolutely no issues with my skin, my cystic acne was gone! And within a week of decreasing my dose, this has happened.

Feeling a bit disheartened by it but I’ll see how it goes. Fingers crossed.

How has the first month of the new year been for you? Let me know!

Shop my small business here!