Don’t stop the presses

Having done a science degree I decided I didn’t want to stick to research but I did want to stay connected somehow and use the knowledge I have. I was lucky enough to get a job at a weekly science journal where I have learnt about a whole new industry and the chance to apply to things I enjoy, science and writing.

As a team we were fortunate enough to visit the printers of our journal. The printers are responsible for another 40 weekly publications and a number of monthly ones too. I was excited to see when I got there that they print New Scientist, TV times, Red, Elle, Asiana and Cosmopolitan and lots of other publications we would typically see in the supermarket/newsagent.

They talked us through the process of getting from the page we design on a computer to the finished product. What I found the most impressive was that all magazines/papers are typically printed using only 4 dots of the colours, black, cyan, magenta and yellow (in that order). The density of these dots is what gives us the ‘illusion’ of the image that we see. It was fascinating to see the paper go through at such speeds through each colour and build up into a picture. The printing happens on huge reels of paper, with up to 32 pages printed at a time (16 pages each side of the sheet) in such an order that when the paper is folded it is all in the correct number sequence.

There is obviously so much more to the process, but the whole trip was fascinating. Unfortunately as an industry publishing is suffering, a combination of more information being online and the economic situation in general. I hope to continue being involved in the editorial side, and that is partly the reason I started my blog, to continually improve on my writing skill, as well as of course share my beauty passion.

I tend to buy magazines sporadically, as and when there is a good freebie mostly! I am guilty of using the internet to get whatever information I want and for reading. But having seen how it all works I really want to subscribe to some magazines. My individual contribution to keep the industry going, as well as benefit from subscription discounts!

I have Red magazine in mind but I wanted to ask what magazines you subscribe to or what you enjoy reading? It doesn’t have to be beauty related, I am also considering New Scientist so I would be really grateful to have all your suggestions. I will be going away soon, so I plan on stocking up at the airport and making my decision to start in September!

Sunday Night Thoughts - Beauty Confidence

It was lovely to have so many peoples opinions two weeks ago on fake beauty. I wasn’t very organised last weekend to schedule a post to go up while I was at the wedding but I wanted to carry on the discussion into beauty confidence.

I read this article about women’s spending habits when preparing for a holiday. I wasn’t really surprised at the amount women spend on clothes in preparation, in fact I was surprised that it was the over 50s group they were referring too, since I imagined under 50s would spend a lot too. But I was suprised that the psychologist they asked for a response, commented that this was essentially an issue of confidence in themselves.

I personally don’t like being away from home and not having all my comforts and things. I just don’t like being unprepared so having to fit everything into a suitcase is not a fun task. Generally for the sake of space and weight I will try and reuse outfits if possible and take away a few key pieces, particularly ones I cannot wear here! I already pick clothes which I think are flattering so I don’t tend to have a fear of looking bad.

I personally feel less insecure about how I look while I am away. But am I the exception here? I don’t agree with the article at all, but I would be interested to know your viewpoints.

Sunday Night Thoughts - Fake Beauty

I read this article on fake beauty this week and was surprised at the definition of ‘fake'. So I wanted to pose that question to anyone with an opinion on the topic and ask what do you consider to be fake?

I personally have always thought of cosmetic surgery as being the definition, something that is a permanent and drastic change to your appearance. Just to be clear I have no objections with people getting cosmetic surgery, I am very much of a live and let live attitude. But I was surprised in the article to read on the list of ‘bold treatments’ that things like nail art were considered to be fake beauty. I understand that I wasn’t born with bright red/orange/purple etc nails but surely that doesn’t put me a category of ‘faking it’?

I have always thought makeup enhances beauty, as well as gives confidence. The article suggests the new faking it, is going by what we individually think looks good rather than actually trying to convince others that is what we really look like all the time. But surely this isn’t a bad thing? Or have I just been completely taken in by advertising and media and not seen that we are all thinking that it is ok to enhance  our hair, lashes, and nails on a daily basis and not see anything wrong with this.

What do you consider faking-it in terms of beauty?

Pictures over text?

It’s been a while since my last Sunday nights post but tonight beauty bloggers chat on twitter got me thinking, and I wanted to pose a question for my followers and hopefully get as much feedback and comment as possible.

I personally have always written a blog which I would like to read, which seemed like a good strategy, since surely there must be others like me!  So I tend to have a lot of text and hopefully enough detail to fully review something, as well as some pictures to attract people too. I know there is a higher ratio of text to pictures. But what do you like to see? Generally what do you like and not like seeing on my blog? And, therefore, what would you like to see more or less of?

All suggestions/comments are welcome, and I will do my best to fulfil any post requests.

Also if you have stumbled across my blog for the first time, I would love your opinion, what do you like to see and what would make you come back?

Sunday Night Thoughts #5

I hope everyone is having a lovely easter weekend. I love London in the sunshine, the good mood it brings to everyone and how pretty it makes everything look!

Now at the risk of sounding like a kill-joy, I hope everyone is protecting their skin!! Being a science graduate (and a skin care geek), I went to plenty of lectures about skin, cancers, and skin cancer, and remember being very scared by the things I was told. What I do think is good though, is that every summer, in magazines and on the television we are told about the best ways to protect our skin. Where with some topics, I find the information, confused and contradictory, with regard to sun protection I don’t think that there is any reason that people are not sure of the best way to use and apply their sun screen/block.

So just to add to the masses of information out there, I wanted to remind all of a few key points, since one thing which upsets me a lot, is the sight of burnt skin.

• Sun screen should be applied at least half an hour before sun exposure, take advantage of being able to strip off in your room and apply fully all over. Then reapply every 1-3 hours. Sun block on the other hand provides instant protection. 
• Be generous with it, you’ve brought it, you won’t be able to use it again at a later date, so use it!! I think as a rule 1 standard size bottle for a week away, per person! With sun screens in particular cover yourself so your skin is white and let it soak in if you want the full protection.
• Factor 15 or higher, preferably higher, with UVA and UVB protection.
• For those of you who sit under an umbrella you still need sun screen! It only blocks out 50% of sun rays. 
• Ladies, take advantage of the opportunity to wear that oversized hat, and that colourful printed coverup you brought!!

Having learnt that a tan is essentially a sign of damaged skin, it has changed my view somewhat, and I am not disappointed if I end up the fairest in my holiday group. It does seem strange to me that the majority of the year round we use anti-ageing moisturisers and serums and when the main culprit of skin damage literally shines on us, we abandon our concern and expose as much of our skin possible. 

This is a subject I could actually ramble on and on about, especially when you start to think about different cultures viewpoint on tans/skin colour, which sun protectors actually do the job, if different parts of the worlds rays are different and who is the most at risk of serious damage. However, I will stop here and make my final plee with all to protect your skin!! Would love if people would comment on good reasons not to get a tan, mine is the money I will save not having to buy another shade of foundation! 

Sunday Night Thoughts #4

Tonight feels like the right night to talk about the name of my blog and my whole reason for starting. Please don’t take this as a pity post, or attention/compliment seeking, I just intend to be completely honest and share a side of myself which I might not choose to if I was asked face to face and I certainly haven’t spoken about in detail with anyone in my life.

I have never considered myself to be an attractive person, I always saw my features as being a bit odd. This impression of myself was negatively reinforced by being bullied at school and I can specifically remember times when people commented on the way I looked, laughing and mocking. I briefly mentioned last week, that even my own family would comment on how I looked. I know I was an easy target at school, I was shy and awkward and to a certain extent I still am. I can’t help but feel that image of myself has carried on through until now in my late 20s and it does make me insecure, even about forming friendships with people. Having also suffered from acne I am sure many can relate to the insecurity that brings. I thought that once I left puberty behind me my skin would be spot free and flawless, instead I still break out and have scars I won’t even deny that there are days when that really bothers me.

However, with age comes a confidence and an acceptance of yourself. I think at 25 I became really comfortable with who I was as an individual. I knew my character, my beliefs and I noticed that I liked the way I think about things and how I treat people. I think it was really important for me to find things about myself that I liked, since feeling good on the inside, takes you half way to feeling good about how you are on the outside. After all only on the days where I am feeling a little low do I look in the mirror and not like the reflection. I believe it is so important to have that inner level of confidence that is completely your own and not reliant on others impressions of you. It was at this age I also became more interested in beauty, I found a means of escape in watching YouTube videos, practising makeup looks and nail designs. It was the creative outlet I needed at a time when I felt very pressurised.

The major turn around for me was last year, having got into a fight, my character was put down and I was told how ugly I looked, how the scars on my face made me so unattractive. Without context I know that that won’t sound like a big deal, but I don’t want to go into that. Needless to say those words rung in my head, even stopped me going out for a few days and I avoided looking in the mirror for a long time after. It was only when I clicked that I never ever wanted to feel that way again and I certainly didn’t want to think that was true, that my impression of myself changed permanently. The thing is, as I mentioned, in that fight, my character was put down too, but it was only those words ‘you’re so ugly’ that really bothered me, and I can only think that is because I was happy with who I was/am as an individual, but I was always insecure about the way I looked. In a twisted way I should be grateful that that whole episode happened since, after that I finally applied all that acceptance into the way I looked and started to find things that I liked.

‘Discovering Beauty’ is was happened after that. I still have my off days, but on the whole I feel so much better about myself. It was important for me to first recognise that I let myself be made to feel bad, then to find my outlet and things which made me feel better about who I am. Luckily these things all work on positive feedback, or a cycle, which ever way you like to see it, so working on the inside helps with the outside and visa versa.

I thought it was important to do posts like this sunday night series as a reminder that we all have deeper layers and that although I may post my opinions of products and makeup looks, there is always more to someone than meets the eye. I hope that I can inspire someone to look at themselves and see things they like, not to let comments consume you and try to turn negatives into something positive.

With love all,

Ayshe (Discovering Beauty)

Sunday Night Thoughts #3

This week I thought I would share something that crossed my mind today.

I have a long face.

'and what?’ I hear you think. 

I have lost count of the number of times that I am casually standing by and someone thinks it’s constructive to tell me to 'cheer up', or to ‘smile’. Most frequently this is at a bar or club, having spent a bit of time getting ready, doing nice hair and makeup and generally feeling quite good about myself. Even my own family would comment when I was younger. At this point I do then become a bit sad, and I am the sort of person who’s emotion shows all over my face and I have always found it a little difficult to pick myself up after that. That’s my face, I’ve learnt to deal with it, so why can’t you hold back on your comment? It is funny thinking about it, and it is something I have got used to now. I can only put it down to the fact that my face is long, or that somehow all my features happen to come together in such a way that I look miserable. I am just the sort of individual who when I am not smiling and lets face it, when you think about it most of the time doing our general daily tasks we aren’t, I look sad. It is something that I am very conscious of when I meet new people though and more recently at interviews, it is a strange thing to think about your facial appearance so deeply and be so aware of how you may appear to others.

Writing about it now however I do find it comical, I guess with age you do just accept these things about yourself and realise there is nothing that can be done. So just for the sake of other people out there who have the same issue, please, don’t make a comment if you think they look sad, maybe like me they can’t help it.

:-) 

Sunday Night Thoughts #2

I mentioned last week that I wanted to begin a 'Sunday Night Thoughts' series, speaking if things on a slightly deeper level. I always intended to explain the name of my blog with this post but as the week has gone on particularly over the weekend I have changed my mind. That particular story comes with a lot of bad memories and although I am in a far better place now, the story is not something I have shared with many. Without over dramatising I won't continue, the story is nothing particularly tragic, but I am in a far too positive mood than to risk dampening it!

As you may know I am a graduate struggling to find a job, I know what I want to do I just can't seem to land a training position due to lack of experience or just falling short of other candidates. I have managed to stay positive about it on the most part but earlier this week I found myself really deflated with the whole process. There is very little to apply for at the moment and chances are with a lot of applications I will hit the same obstacles until I find that one employer who is willing to give me a chance. So it is just a case of perseverance and patience!

My week did turn around though with the positivity I got from this blog, in particular this weekend having found a number of new followers and reaching over 800 hits. I started the blog because I wanted to share my love of fashion, make-up and beauty related things in general and tried not to set any expectations and more to just enjoy it, so it is that much more of a bonus to know there are a number of people out there who take the time to read the things I write, follow me so as to continue to hear from me, as well as comment on my posts. I can’t express how much that means to me so I really wanted to take this chance to say a very big thank you. I hope that my sincerity comes across in this, the positive feeling I have got since doing this is nothing short of amazing and it is great to feel connections with people whom you haven’t even met.

Thank you again so much, and hopefully there will be a few more milestones to mark with this whole process and you will continue to enjoy what I do.

With love,
Ayshe (discovering beauty)
xxx

Sunday Night Thoughts

Having returned from a lovely weekend break, I can’t say I am happy to be home but I am glad to be back to the internet and of course to write a new post!

First of all I want to send my heartfelt thoughts and good wishes to all those involved both directly and indirectly with the devastating disaster in Japan. It did not feel right to continue posting without mentioning this.

I have been thinking about my blog a lot recently, I always intended it to be a mixed bag of fashion and beauty, but very personalised. I have never claimed to be an expert, more just someone who has a passion for these things and wants to have an interaction with others interested in the same. I would like to take an additional angle though, probably sticking with the Sunday Night Thoughts title and writing anecdotes of things that have happened to me, as well as things I have heard/read essentially that have sparked my interest on a deeper level. Everybody has a deeper level to their characters and interests and I think it will be nice to share that will all who are interested also. Unless I get any overwhelming objections I will start this as of next Sunday, I already know what my topic will be but I know with each post they will require a little more attention than usual and didn’t want to rush that tonight.

I hope that you will all join me next week.