#SummerLondonMeet

Saturday just gone by, I left Bethany with Hubby and got on a train to London (and finally started A Storm of Swords from where I left it when I gave birth!). It was strange to leave the house with no buggy and changing bag and only have a few items with me rather than half our flat.

The meet up was organised by, who I like to call friend, Clare from theloveofallthingsbeauty.co.uk at Dirty Martini in Covent Garden. It was good to have a small mix of bloggers and vloggers so everyone got to talk to everyone at some point. Martinis were enjoyed.

I had tripped over the #MJDaidyChain Tweet Pop up shop on my way there. Simply works that you give the hashtag a tweet go into the store and flash them your tweet to get some goodies. It was only up for the weekend but it was an ingenious use of PR, not only get a mini Daisy perfume and Daisy keyring but I timed it perfectly that one of my Blogging heroes, ZOE LDN who I've been tweeting for a while was in store. I nervously introduced myself, exchanged hugs and had a chat that it great to finally put a face to the tweets. Photo was compulsory.

We all grabbed lunch on the run and started to shop, MAC, Burberry, Space NK, Cath Kidson, to name a few and ending at Selfridges. I did protest I had no money that I would not buying anything, so of course it meant I brought something. We did drop in the Kiko Cosmetics store and I ended up raiding the sale trays and getting some of their amazing eye cream shadows from the latest limited edition range. Once my Hubby is out of the way and I can photo them, I'll stick them up here.

Clare also asked us all to bring our own goodie bags to put into a raffle, I cheated and brought a Selfridges gift card with a note saying that the only requirement is to put it towards something they've longed for ages. I drew Clare's bag, full of bits for a mini pampering sessions including Montange Jeunesse faces masks I haven't tried yet, Soap and Glory's Hand Food which I've been dying to try, and Natural Collection's Blusher in Pink Cloud.

Had a really good day, and after all the stresses of the past few weeks was the tonic I needed to feel a lot more Helen and less like Mummy/Wife. Thank you to Clare to organising everything and hope to make the next one!

Please Don't Vote for Me

It's that time in the blogging calender again where the whole of my Twitter/Facebook/Bloglovin feed is full of 'Vote for me' pleas. It's also the time that I want to go into hibernation until the whole thing blows over. It sends a wave of people begging for votes, then depression as they don't get nominated.

Just because you don't get nomiated it does not mean that what you write is not valued, you have people who read you every time you write, the people who want to work with you. This is the best time to reflect why you started your blog in the first place. I started this to occupy myself while I recover from a knee injury and now it is a record of my daughter as well as my sounding board.

Blogging should give you joy in itself and if it isn't then you should be reviewing if it is for you. Today I reviewed my Tots100 ranking and I had gone from 864 to 1201, yes I was upset and started to beat myself up on it. Hubby reminded me that I started this for me and not for follows, rankings, etc.

I know that I am a small fish in a very large pond and you know what I'm comfortable with that.

I Need to Look Fabulous Giveaway

For those eagle eyed people on my Instagram, I did indeed hint at a giveaway. I do love a good giveaway, and Friday I won the Truffle Shuffle Friday competition to win some money to spend on the site. I hardly win anything before the Truffle Shuffle I think it was a lip balm in a Twitter giveaway over the Summer. I did find it ironic after the latest win that I was scheduling a giveaway for here.

This giveaway has the cutest Limited Edition Liquids Sand minis from OPI that I brought from Olympia Beauty. They are not in the shops yet (October is the launch date I have), so they are exclusive at the moment. To help with glamming up is a set of false lashes with glue and a mini version of Laurens Way Darker than Dark tanning lotion will also be sent with it.

• It is UK only (Stupid Royal Mail and their stance on sending nail varnish aboard).
• There are mandatory entries which must be completed to qualify and yes they will be checked.
• The varnishes were purchased by me but the rest have been gifted to me.
• Closing time and date is Monday 14th October 2013 at 12.00 GMT (London).
• All prizes will be sent 2nd to the winner and a proof of postage will also be collected.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck Everyone

Olympia Beauty 2013 - Haul included (it's a long one)

There is two things I learnt from this weekend: It is not wise to go to a day long event while recovering from Laryngitis and pregnant. I had been unwell with a virus for nearly two weeks but I insisted on going, I love trade shows, not only from a blogger point of view but also as trade.

I arrived about 10.30 as normal the trains confused me (and I know I wasn't the only one), and headed straight to the Media centre. The really wonderful thing about Olympia Beauty is that they do fully embrace beauty bloggers and they are welcome into the rest stop of the media centre. After grabbing a cold diet Coke, I headed into the masses for initial walk around to assess who was there and see if there was any brands I wanted to speak to/spend money on.

After an hour I was back into the media centre for the PR meet and greet, this where the brands who are there come and have a chat with the media about new launches and form new relationships. This was great as trying to speak to anyone on the floor was impossible at this point, the crowds where huge!

I may have done a little fan girl sequel at OPI being there, as many of you know I am a huge fan of their polishes and used them when I first trained as a manicurist. They were there to show off the new Limited Edition Mariah Carey Christmas Collection - rich reds, plums and gold glitters. The part I instantly needed to have was the liquid sands, which have to recently not really bowled me over.

These will be available on the OPI website, on being told that I could buy them at the show did invest in the liquid sands (notice the plural), and if where eagle eyed enough on my Instagram (unevenlemming) you also know that I might have got a set to giveaway.

While I was at Olympia I also refreshed my subscription to Scratch Magazine (Professional monthly magazine for nail technicians which featured Karla Powell's amazing Pop Art make up and nails.) as well as Professional Beauty Magazine (updates on the industry and trends coming through). With Scratch I got a gift worth around £80 with nails foils, OPI mini kit, Morgan Taylor varnish and top coat, files etc.

I also targeted Essie for the AW13 Collection - If you had read my wishlist I had been hankering after For The Twill of It and was determined to get my hands on it. It does not disappoint in person, and after a show and tell to Kat (Tales of a Pale Face) , Alice (Bright Town Girl) , Dani (So Many Lovely Things) and Natasha (Shot of Beauty) we know all now own one (I am not an embalmer - honest). I also managed to pick up some bargain false lashes for £1-£2 each to pop into my kit.

Unfortunately after a long day in London, the Laryngitis returned leaving me with no voice and also open to getting another cold, hence why I'm few a days later than I wanted with this entry as I've been curled up feeling sorry for myself. Lesson learnt.

Entry 200

 

 

"What I love most about rivers is you can't step in the same river twice
The water's always changing, always flowing"
Pocahontas - Disney

What a huge difference a 100 blog posts can make?

Unevenlemming Beauty, I like to think, is entering another phase of evolution, as we never stand still and always change. I, myself are going through the biggest change since I got married, I am creating my own Minilemming to add to the family and as well as to the blog. I realise as my pregnancy progresses that it's going to play a huge influence to my life, people do not joke when they say 'life changing', but also the choices I make for myself and wellbeing.

I love blogging, even in the times that I am stuck in a rut, I still love writing, reading, and eventually planning (I'm still working on this!). I have also made lots of friends from this, who have been a huge support but also the kick up the bum I've needed in the ruts. Many thanks and hugs to them.

Hopefully over the next few weeks you will see some new improvements that will benefit me and give Unevenlemming Beauty a little more of a clear identity, so bear with me during this transition - It will be worth waiting for. Until then thank you for reading and sticking with me, for all the comments, tweets and messages - Some day's it's the best and only thing that keeps me going.

Beauty Swap with Clare (A Bit of This and That)

About late May I signed my name to a Beauty Swap organised but the retro fabulous Kat from Tales of a Pale Face. It is very simple, you get an email to say who you have got as well as contact mail, you send a lot of emails asking about likes/dislikes and arranging when. Clare and I found out that we were both going to London Meet Up at the end of July and decided to save the postage to send more surprises.

 

I mentioned in my emails that the pale person for me struggles to find a bronzer that doesn't turn me orange and I lacked any daytime lipsticks (all of them are mostly red!). Clare said that she kind of liked MAC lipsticks (owns 25 of them , you need help with a MAC lipstick - she's your girl!) and loved premium make up.

 

You can read what I got her here on her blog and see below what appeared in my little bag (beautifully wrapped up may I add, I lasted an hour before I opened them all).

 

Natural Collection lipsticks in Apple Blossom (on the left) and Rose Bud (on the right) - I already have one of the lipsticks and think they're really great value so it was great to see two more for my collection.

Bourjois Powder Bronzer - Smells delicious, have not tried it yet, but the other bloggers around me when I opened it, 'Ohh'd' at it and came with recommendations.

Not Pictured - Montagne Jeunesse peel off face masks - my favourite face mask brand and they have added to the collection. I also gave the exact same ones to Clare!

The one I got most excited about was:

My second ever MAC lipstick in Crème Cup - a beauty bloggers holy grail. I have worn this a few times now and it goes slightly pink on me but looks great for everyday which is what I have been looking for.

Big thank you to Kat for organising and Clare for being really generous.

Dispatches: Celebs, Brands and Fake Fans

I instantly tweeted this last week when I saw the advert for this, as I knew a high majority of the blogger community (regardless of your topic) would be interested in this.

I hate to say that this is nothing new, being able to buy a significant amount of ID's for a few hundred didn't really surprise me. This actually brought up by several other Beauty Bloggers including Really Ree who wrote Twitter Fakes and Twitter Fakes Part 2 which I think has the best writing on the topic.

The most thing that rattled me about Dispatches (as well as making a mountain out of mole hill), is that celebrities only apologise when their hands are caught in the cookie jar. Us bloggers lose respect, followers and can also get named and shamed for doing this.

The Beauty Bloggers I read/follow are honest and will have open discussions on the issue of affiliate links (these are links that if customers purchase they get money from it), gifts, sponsored posts etc. I also like to think that I am also open about what I write on here.

The key tweet that I made tonight on the #fakefans hashtag was this: "Bloggers have a lot more respect for the real followers they have, as we engage more with our readers" We are more clearer than ever before on all of our activates. A large amount of my relationships have actually come through engagement from Twitter.

We are in an age where social media is becoming bigger and bigger, where advertisement and marketing is also getting smarter. Multi million pound sponsorship deals still continue and this is just another branch of advertising.

Channel 4, consumers are not as blind as you think, stop treating us as so.

#JulyLondonMeetUp

Today I meet up with a lot of bloggers in that there London town, to mingle, gossip and catch up on goings on in the blogging world. It's a as meet up should be, a time to mingle with old friends and met some new ones.

Did I get any photos? Urm.. No - I was to busy laughing my head off with Bex, Lisa, Clare, Natalie and a few others (please let me know who you are! I have a terrible memory at the moment, it would nice to get your blog links). We were the slightly louder table by the bar, who were talking quite animated and constantly laughing.

I also want to thank everyone who came up and said congratulations on the pregnancy, it really did meant a lot especially as now I am showing a bump and not looking a little bit fat anymore. I ask forgiveness that I didn't mingle as spent the whole thing sat in a chair, as I was suffering one of the joys of pregnancy which is swollen ankles.

As normal with these events I missed saying hello to several people and my apologies for this.

I had a fantastic day and the last HUGE thank you goes to Helen who has worked really hard (a nod to Grace who I know helped and everyone who helped as well). A well organised day and over generous gifts for all the attendees. Also a huge shock for a beauty blogger in a beauty department store - I didn't buy anything!

Time to put my hot, tired feet up ....

Why I love the #Bbloggers Community

Tonight on the old Twitter I put that I had bloggers block, and currently in the middle of trailing a lot of products I got unfortunately thoughts of, "What do I write about?". I then got a few suggestions over Twitter from fellow bloggers. This is when I got my light bulb moment, this is why I love this community, I know I can put out a SOS and someone, somewhere will have the answer or at least point me in the right direction.

This is more evident as one of the younger members go into hospital tomorrow for a back operation. Shona from FreshBeautyXOX is half my own age but has gone through more what I could only imagine.  Not only is she a fab beauty blogger but also has written about her Solicitous journey (that's an curvature of the spine in S shape). I know I am one of the many people who wish her an extremely speedy recovery and lots of carefully done hugs.

But this is why I love the community - I can have a bad day with my pregnancy and know that I can turn to people from the community to get advice, tea and sympathy (as well as product recommendations that increase my wishlist every chat).

You know who you all are so thank you and I cannot wait to see you guys this weekend in the other Helen's London Meet Up. If you are going and I haven't meet you yet, it will be great to see you and hear you're a fan, but if we have meet before I look forward to meeting you again.

I'll stop being soppy now, I blame the hormones!

Spending Ban - Week 1

I am starting this by stating I have money (Read last weeks here), this was because the morning of the ban the ATM decided to crash and thus take my card with it. My new card has arrived today, with pay day being tomorrow, there will be no pay day treats as the ban continues.

As yet there have been no new beauty purchases, I'm going to modify one of the rules and that is the walking home rule - this is because of health reasons as I cannot handle the huge hill with my knee. I have carried on walking to work the days I have not had a lift from husband.

At the moment it hasn't bothered me that much, I've managed to take a lunch with me or buy one for around a pound so it doesn't hinder me too much. This weekend is birthday present buying for my brother's girlfriend birthday, so I looking forward to shopping even if is for a present. We are also painting our house ready for the estate agents to give us estimates, so we can finally sell it and finally move on from a huge financial burden.

I hope everyone is coping well and not giving into temptation.

Being a Wee Bit Broke and the Start of Spending Ban

 

I have mentioned a few times before that our funds have been very tight since I had to take a job that was a lower in pay. I'd rather of taken the job that have to watch another minute of daytime TV, it was slowly sucking my soul. A few months back we also moved out of our two bed roomed house into an annex adjoined to my husbands family, its taken time to settle but its getting there.

 

This does mean for a while, while the house goes on the market, funds are slim on the ground. This leads me into the spending ban, I noticed that Tales of a Pale Face was looking for volunteers to do a one month ban, I thought it wouldn't hurt for a month to see if I can not give in to my buying impulses.

 

So these are the rules:

 

1. Obviously, no beauty purchases unless I run out of cotton pads or similar.

2. No Magazines - I have four subscriptions, two of which are free magazines.

3. No books - I have nearly 40 that need to be read

4. Walk - Now the nights are lighter I can walk more home, that big uphill climb will also mean I'm getting some exercise.

5. Take packed lunches to work 4 times a week - I work 5 so the spare is a 'just in case'

6. Birthday presents can be brought during this time, I'm not that mean. (A new outfit does not count)

 

I'm just hoping that my first update is not, "I spent all my money."

 

Blog sale is also coming soon

#ldnbbmeet - When Bloggers Attack Selfridges

Monday was something that I had been looking forward to since my holiday had been confirmed at work and I put my name done as coming. Organised by Tattooed Tea Lady (assisted by Lisahh Jayne and Sophie from Candy Cane Heart), it essentially was a meet and greet with an hour touring the beauty halls of Selfridges.

I decided to make a day out of it as the event wasn't until the mid afternoon and I really love spending days ambling round London, I was over due for a trip. I first went to Convent Garden and ambled round the antique stalls, restrained myself at Forbidden Planet and brought a vintage scarf from Rokit for £3.

For my birthday (thank you for the best wishes last week) my husband brought me Gok Wan's Chinese cookbook and a wok as I've been saying that I've wanted to try and cook Chinese for ages. I did my first dish over the weekend (Traditional Noodles with chili), I was eager to go to Chinatown and go round the markets to get some inspiration as well as steamer so I can do some Dim Sum.

After a quick pit stop I started the slow walk down to Selfridges viva a few shops on the way. I did, as well as a majority of people, go into the new & Other Stories store, the new older sister of H&M. I skipped over the clothes, being a plus size person I wasn't holding much hope, I headed straight towards the beauty section. The store is airy and clean with everything laid out making it easily viewable. I ended up with Twill Blue nail varnish, a £5 dupe of Nails Inc Baker Street.

I arrived early so after a sit down and a pot of Earl Grey, I lingered at the Selfridges entrance. Being one of the 'older' beauty bloggers it was over whelming at first, I managed to grab someone I recognised (thanks to Bex for rescuing me, sorry if I sounded like a crazed woman at first!), everyone was welcoming and also felt in the same boat.

We descended on the poor people of Selfridges and brought like mad woman but alas it was soon time for people to move on to other things. A small group of us has agreed before to continue shopping and hit the bar afterwards. The shopping didn't last long and was soon chatting away with a jug of Pimm's, topics included Beauty boxes, youtubing, foundations for pales, and how Superdrug are now doing 50 Shades of Grey kits. We then adventured into Primark afterwards which I'm really surprised we didn't get out for the amount of laughter that was coming from us!

Team Pub was Indra from Alice in Beautyland, Sarah from Some Sparkle and Shine, Face Value Blog, Leotard in Leopard, Kimberly Beauty Blog and Amy from Amoi Universe.

As well as my Chinese food ingredients and & Other Stories polish, I got Antitopdes Avocado Oil and Rosehip facial oil, Whitard of Chelsea instant teas in Turkish Apple and Dreamtime, and Sinful Colours nail varnish in Nail Junkie.

I had a brilliant day and evening, it was great to met some people I knew from Twitter already and a whole new bunch to talk to. It was brilliantly organised and we had a drink to the hard working girls that night.

Unevenlemming Beauty is 1 year Old

Mmmmm Cake

 

Things have moved a huge amount from one year ago when I decided to take the plunge and join the expanding world of Beauty Bloggers.

 

At the time of writting this there is more followers than I ever hoped for reading my ramblings, when i started this it was merely something to keep me sane while I was recovering from knee injury. The inital idea was it was to compliment the business I had started, which has long gone while the blog has gone strength to strength.

 

I appreciate all you guys who read, comment, and tweet this - without you guys I don't this would of lasted longer than a few months.

 

To all the #bbloggers as well thank you for all your support, kind words and recommendations - I am now well and truly broke now.

 

To the bloggers who inspired me to start - You guys are not only a huge inspiration but I thank you for being a support to me and your kind words over the past few months. To get them from people I'd admire means more than what I can put into words.

 

I want to add a thank you for the suppliers who kindly let me try some of their products, its a huge privilage that I am grateful for.

 

To all my friends and family, thank you for being the first set of readers and champions of what I do and doing in the future.

 

And finally to my long suffering husband, who now has a front room that looks like Boots. I am grateful that you put up with my ramblings of why this red vanish is different from another red varnish and why I need both.

 

Just Thank You To Everyone

#Bloglove

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone."
Burt Bacharach

Image from Jaynes Kitschen

I keep in touch with a lot of other beauty bloggers through twitter and would like to think I do contribute towards on the hash-tag twitter chat called #bbloggers (Wednesday and Sunday nights at 8pm - For more information #Bbloggerschat Blog).

From one of the chats it came through that one of the things that other bloggers wanting to do for 2013 is  to promote other bloggers. I think this was a great idea and while chatting about it another blogger, Jayne from Jayne's Kitschen jumped in and said that she started a hash-tag with the same idea. Read her original idea here

For me the beauty bloggers community is just that - A community of like minded people who share ideas, problems and the love of what we do. I am fully behind something that brings people together because together we can knock any problems and negativity. It also not a place for competition on who has more followers than others, we write because we chose to and if people read it - even better!

I have met some of nicest people with a varied mixture of experience and they've all been ready to help (this even included the people who inspired me to start this blog in the first place). No one has ever turned me away for being a "small" blog, they've noticed I'm like them and have spent a good hour talking to them.

To spread some #Bloglove:

• Comment on their entry - Tell them you liked it! I still get excited by comments, for me it shows that what I'm writing is being actually read and not glanced over.
• Play it forward - This is where the hash-tag comes in, tweet about it (or Share on Facebook depending on your social media preference) and share it with other people.
• Think before you speak - Is what about to send to the wide world really a reflection on who you are? Is it promoting #Bloglove? There are ways of providing feedback without being judgmental  a friendly mail is better than broadcasting it to Twitter.
• Engage with other bloggers - Tweet, Email, Facebook, Instagram: we now live in a world where we can connect with more people easier. Like what some says? Tell them, like, share, re-tweet, favourite. 

Share the #Bloglove.

"Your talent makes you who you are. You should be proud of it." –Tinker Bell

An Unevenlemming Christmas

So here it is Merry Christmas.... OK not quite but there's not long to go, my advent calender is nearly empty and I'm only less than 24 hours left before my 6 day holiday begins (and the nation finally takes a collective sigh of relief that for another year, it's all over).

Before I take a couple days break and start on the merry-go-round of going round to see all the in-laws/family - Here's my thoughts on Christmas from my side of the screen (With thanks to Nikki Etc for the twitter tag)

1. What is your favourite thing about Christmas ?

There just seems to be a different feeling around Christmas time, I really can't explain it. I like the decorations, cards, and thinking about the presents to get everyone. I like to put as much thought as I can behind it, as well as reflect on why we celebrate this time of year.

2. What is your favourite make up look for festive the season?

Yes I follow the cliche of red, I like red nails and red lips for the Christmas parties. For the day itself I keep it simple and relaxed - smart pair jeans with a jumper. It is a day off after all!

3. Real tree or fake tree?

This year I have none, yes you read that right this year we have no tree. We were due to move but as we started to move delays came up and the tree is at the other place. My TV stand is a my supplement with all my cards around it as well as red and gold tinsel. I normally have a black fake tree with blue and silver. My parents fake tree is nearly 40 years old!

4. Giving presents or receiving presents?

I like thinking of different and new ideas for presents, so I' certainly a giver. I also make presents as well as buy and make it as personal as I can. This year money is extremely tight so I've used my own skills to make my own gifts including a set of nail art done of fake nails to give to one of my family (who doesn't read this!)

5. Do you open presents Christmas morning or eve / evening

I used to do my 'Santa' presents in the morning and then after lunch do ones from my family. My stocking was opened as soon as I could sneak it into my room. Now I'm a little older, it's husband's after breakfast (another family tradition from my side so I had something to eat and not just chocolate!), then the morning is my family as they go out for lunch, before eating at in laws and presents from them.

6. Handmade Christmas cards or bought?

Brought and even then I haven't sent many out as stamps are really expensive this year. I normally do them for people I don't see often and this year I've even sent some to other bloggers.

7. What is your favourite Christmas film?

Santa Clause The Movie with Dudley Moore. When I was younger they always had this and The Snowman on Christmas Eve (I'm looking forward to The Snowman and The Snowdog :D), once it was finished I was sent to bed to wait for Santa. I have it on DVD now, but I still watch it on Christmas Eve before bed, I am still a big kid at heart.

8. What's your favourite Christmas food?

I do like a good piece of Stollen, a German fruit and marzipan cake dusted with icing sugar. Mince pies can be a mixed bag, my father in law has made 9 dozen of his version this year!

9. What's your favourite Christmas song?

I like Fairytale of New York by The Pogues, however for the time of year it can be a little depressing. I do like The Darkness, Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End or A bit of Cliff with Mistletoe and Wine (I dare you not to sing along after a post dinner Baileys!)

10. What's your favourite Christmas memory?

They've all be very good and relaxed but my first married Christmas, I was getting over the flu and husband had the start, either of us could not eat and just sat on the sofa trying to get the other to make a cuppa (At least it got us out of the family visits).

I must admit this year I'm looking forward to getting more than one day off like previous years, the joys of not being in retail anymore. For everyone who is I hope you have a good break not matter how small.

Rocking Around The #BbloggersXmas Event!

This past weekend has been an orgy of Christmas parties - Husband's on Thursday night (bowling), my current works on Friday night (the 3 D's - Drinks, Dinner, Dancing), and then the one I was most looking forward to: #BbloggersXmas afternoon.

This was in Canary Wharf in The Reebok bar that looked over the temporary ice skating rink, perfectly Christmassy. It was hosted by ever glamorous and hard working Victoria and Lola. I know from running previous events that it is hard work, and they ever rocked it in high heels. Many thanks for the invite to join in, great day was had by all (I might of even heart rumours that might be one in March).

I must admit I was feeling the effects of being out for two nights, but was happy to relax on the sofa with a cuppa and take everything in. I was soon joined by Catherine we were chatting away and found that we only live a few miles from each other, such a small world as well as already a regularly reader which met a lot.

Over the next few hours I ended up hanging out with the glam Dani, Nessie, Erin and Emma. We chatted, ate cake pops and got addicted to barbecue Popchips. At the end of the night we were being kicked out as we were chatting so much. It was great to see faces to tweets including Grace as I won one of her giveaways and it was great to thank her in person. I'm sorry if I missed anyone, but I'm sure I will be seeing more of everyone soon.

I didn't get any pictures as I just wanted to sit back and see what happened as it my first event, if you go to the other girls sites you will spot some (including me). This is however the over generous goodie bag that was included - My highlights it (apart from another packet of Popchips) is the Sleek Sparkle 2 Palette, Bad Apple duochrome nail varnish and Emergency Stylifile. I'm sure I'll find more in the lot below to get crazy about.

Where I have been and where I am going

I regularly take part in the #bbloggers twitter chats that happen on a Sunday and Wednesday night, Sunday nights subject was what inspired you and how you started.

I started this blog on 25th January 2012 after injuring my knee the end of last year. I had a lot of free time on my hands and was browsing the internet where I started reading British Beauty Blogger on a daily basis. It from her blog that I started clicking her favourite links and tripped over The London Lipgloss and A Beauty Junkie in London, which then lead to Jayne's Kistchen (all links to blogs are on the right in 'Blogs I Love' as I am writing this on my tablet straight after the chat and it won't let me link everything up).

For myself I was reaching a crossroads, my injury forced me to relook at the life I was living, I was just plodding along with nothing that filled my time. I still love Beauty and I always looked fondly back on my Estee Lauder days. It just clicked, "I've got experience to throw my ideas out there, why not?" so that how Unevenlemming Beauty was born, with an idea and a little bit of hope.

For me in an year that has more downs than ups, this little corner of the blogging world has been my continuing piece of sanity through it. I want take this entry to thank everyone of you guys who reads, comments, follows, and tweets. I am part of a great community of talented but human people, we need to keep hold of that as it is something really special.

For 2013 I know there are great things coming including a make over for the whole blog, as I grow it grows with me. I will also (fingers crossed) complete my BTEC in February and finish the course that I have always dreamed of doing. This is also a time of moving as I am moving home to something smaller and more manageable (and yes cheaper), this does mean that my husband and I can put a lot of stress behind us. All I ask is for a little patience while all this happens, but it's going to be so exciting and I'm looking forward to sharing it all.