Inspired by Marie Claire - Beauty Journalism

I had the chance to attend another Marie Claire inspire and mentor event tonight this time about 'how to get into the beauty industry' including journalism, PR and makeup artistry. It was so inspiring and motivational that I am actually writing this post on the tube ride home.

I have lots of goodies from Estee Lauder which I am really excited to try and some great tips from makeup artist Alan Pan, which I will share in another post once I have had a chance to put them into practice!

It was great to learn that I am on the right path to a career in beauty writing/ journalism. Starting the blog being one of a few tips mentioned.

I'm pleased to say I plucked up the courage to ask questions to Lisa Oxenham, beauty and style director /editor of Marie Claire. She was really helpful and gave me some food for thought with my blog and promoting myself in order to ‘break into’ the career.

This in turn has made me want to ask for your input. I would love as much feedback as possible on my blogs and writing style in general (if i have one!). Let me know, do you enjoy reading my posts? and why? What can I do better? I know writing and beauty writing is a skill I need to keep working on, so constructive comments good and bad on this post as well as ones in the future would be really appreciated.

One of her recommendations was to find a niche and be known for that. Which makes complete sense. When I think about this, as much as I love makeup and haircare my main interest has always been skincare.

Part of me doesnt really want to change my blog so much to only focus on one area especially since I know that you have to try a regime for a while before you can really know if it works. Also the scientist in me knows that for something to be a fair test you have to minimise the variables, which would mean I would post a product review every few months! Not ideal for a blogger.

However, I know this gives me the chance to be creative with my blog by branching out and talking more about ingredients and skin generally.

Again I want your thoughts on this, after all I wont ever be successful if people don't actually read what I write! Hopefully you can tell how excited and motivated I am right now, I can't wait to hear from you.

With love, 

Vintage Fair Inspiration Customised Hats

I went to a vintage fair back in February, and I have to admit I am not a convert to the vintage thing. As much as I like what I see on other people and even at the fair, I saw some people holding some really lovely buys but I just never seem to find anything and I am not one for rummaging around in the dark. I suppose in this case they were trying to create an atmosphere but it just isn’t my thing, maybe it will grow on me.

There was one thing I liked though, unfortunately I lost the womans’ business card, but she hand-makes vintage/60s inspired hats/berets. I debated over the colour and style for a long time at £12 they weren’t unreasonable but I was a little put off by the fact that all the berets (which I think suited me best) were covered in sequins. I just don’t think I could or would pull off wearing a hat like that on a daily basis. Each of the hats had some form of flower or feather on them, having a quick peak at how it was made, essentially these were just stitched onto the hat. So I walked away and decided that I would make my own.

I pulled out a few of my old hats/berets and picked up some nice flowers I had seen in ASDA and voila my one of a kind hat at half the price. Unfortunately I didn’t have the foresight to match the colours of the flowers with the hats I have but seen as they are multifunctional it isn’t a big deal! The flowers were £3 and £4 although I can’t remember which was which. They have both a brooch pin and a crocodile clip attachment they are easy to add to any hat temporary and removed so that they can still be used as a hair accessory too.