Categorized: Articles

It happens to all of us. We’re innocently checking out some new blogs then blam-o! We’re hit with flashing banners, or loud music or an indecipherable cursive font. Wait, what decade am I in? Is this 1999?

If you have a blog or are considering starting one, there are some definite do’s and dont’s you should be aware of. I made a few of these “don’t” mistakes when I was starting out also, so don’t feel bad if you’ve committed any of them. We don’t start off knowing everything, we learn along the way!

Themes

There are a million different ready-to-go blog themes out there for the various blog platforms, which is great. However you probably should customize it somewhat if you chose one of them. You don’t want a blog that looks exactly like hundreds of other blogs. If you can afford to have someone customize a personal design (or logo) for you, or maybe just tweak a design you like, it’s definitely money well spent!

Distracting backgrounds

It’s fine to have some kind of background pattern or texture for your blog. And by this I mean outside the main column where you write. Never put a background pattern underneath the main column. Subtlety is KEY here people. No colorful stars, no flashing anything, no neon cats. You get the idea, Subtle, subtle, subtle.

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I’ve always been the kind of person who had an extreme mindset. All or nothing. Black or white. Left or right. Light hair or dark hair. But I have started to realize that’s obviously not always the case with everything. There are grey areas (but not in my hair). There is a middle ground. Something can be both good and bad.

Recently I started thinking about my somewhat extreme position on cruelty-free beauty companies. I believed that not supporting a company who is isn’t cruelty-free (CF) OR was owned by a company that wasn’t CF was entirely correct for me. Why would I want to give any attention or money to a company who in turn gave their money to a big evil non-CF corporation? Well, there actually are some really valid reasons that I never gave much thought to, and now I am starting to see make sense.

There are a couple things that got me started thinking about this. One was that I always noticed on PETA’s site and The Leaping Bunny that they include CF companies on their “do not test” lists that are owned by non-CF companies. I read a little more about what they had to say about it and it made sense. The other event was I was contacted by a PR Rep from a company that is CF, but owned by one that I believe still isn’t. She said she was sending me samples then I mentioned I no longer supported that company and why. She emailed back saying she had checked with the parent company and they said they were CF with cosmetics. But aside from the whole parent company thing, it got me thinking, why am I just ignoring great CF companies because of who their parents are? I hope people don’t judge me by my parents actions! Continue reading »

The “As Seen On TV” Salon Express Nail Art Stamping Kit is normally not my kind of thing since I’m not much into nail art.

But after seeing how easy it seemed to use and how inexpensive it was, I felt I should at least give it a proper go. That’s my inner Brit coming out there.

I had also heard that these were at both CVS and Rite Aid and the kits were slightly different in that they contained different stamping plates inside. That’s true! I bought it at both CVS first then Rite Aid, and the plates are all different.

The kit comes with

• 1 Scraper
• 1 Stamper
• 1 Holder
• 5 Design Plates (each with 6-7 designs on them)
• Instruction guide

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It has come to my attention from a few comments on my poll about site design that maybe some of you didn’t know you could search on my site. So I figured I would show you some screen shots of different ways to find information you may be looking for.

There is a search area in the upper right-hand side of the site. You can also search by my Categories section, but more on that later.

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Photo courtesy of London Makeup Girl

Hello!

I thought it might be time to do a brief post about the subject of nail polish wear, since I get asked A LOT about it in the comments (which is completely understandable).

I very rarely mention wear-time of polish because quite frankly nearly every brand and type of finish only lasts 2-3 days on me tops. I think only 3 times or so have I ever had a polish on for 4 days with it looking decent. Never longer than that. Everyone has different body chemistry and situations that factor in, so not every nail polish will behave the same way on everyone equally.

The main contributors to my nail polish wear are water (I wash my hands a lot), typing all day on a keyboard, and ridges, which can split my nails at the tip, causing chips. It’s REALLY annoying that nothing lasts on me, but it never has and it is what it is. Actually on the flip-side, I get tired of things very quickly anyway, so I like changing out my colors a few times a week. Continue reading »