Goodbye to Be Beautiful

Well that was the month that was and the Be Beautiful series is over. We saw the event that I helped to organise, You're Beautiful, Woman which was a tremendous success come and go. One thing that Be Beautiful has allowed me to do is get to know the beauty bloggers a lot better. I finally got to feature Erin Scandalous as Blogger of the Month as well as other great beauty bloggers. All in all I have had a ball and I hope you have too. I would like to take this time out to thank you for your support.

Be Beautiful: My Space featuring The Makeup Queen

The first thing I notice about The Makeup Queen is how pretty it looks. Fettered in fushias, pink, coral and crimson, The Makeup Queen is about as girly girly as it can get which is just as well considering that it is a make up blog. The blog was set up in December 2009 to cover the beauty industry from an insider's perspective. Topics such as new make up collections, new fragrances, make up look and cool hairstyles are covered. I caught up with The Makeup Queen to discuss where she blogs.

Describe the concept of your blog. 
Reviews and the like from a beauty insider's "point of view."

Where do you scribe? 
At my desk.

Why that place? 
I feel that I'm able to accomplish more when I'm sitting at my desk.

 

What is on your desk at the moment? 
My stack of mags, nail polishes, hand cream, and my MAC Barbie Doll for "inspiration!"

What form of inspiration do you have on the wall?
I don't have my inspirations on the wall, yet. I just moved my desk into an empty room in my house. I'm going to redecorate soon.

Do you keep a tidy office or are you a messy worker? 
Although, my desk is a little untidy now, I like order. I can't concentrate in clutter.

You can read MUQ's blog here.

You can follow her on Twiiter.

If You Want to Cry, Go Outside by Kelly Cutrone

Apart from my Mum there are not many women who I look up to. There are women who I like a lit and admire such as Michelle Obama, Stephanie Savage, Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers. Mara Brock Ali. Well you can add Kelly Cutrone to that list: the no nonsense taking entrepreneur is a real role model for ladies. If You Want to Cry, Go Outside contains personal and professional stories from Kelly about her secrets to success without compromising your soul and values. She draws on her vast experience in mentoring women on how to make it in fashion to create a modern lady's guide. If you do not have the 'perfect' life ie hubby, kids, career and home then this book will most definitely talk to you. Kelly's main mantra is that you should create the perfect life for you by finding out what it is that you want and what makes you happy. She also advises that you stick to this philosophy and do not let anyone steer you away. She points out that today's society teaches us to ignore our inner voice and follow the crowd but in this book Kelly enables us to stop pretending and start living.

I normally do not do self help or how to books as I find them to be cheesy and frankly only produced to make a fast buck or two. I picked up this book because after been made redundant I have reached a bit of a crisis in terms of my career plans. Also I am fascinated about how Kelly got her fabulous career and not to mention that wonderful loft apartment. I admire her feistiness and success and really wanted to know more about her and how she got where she was. The book is not a chronological narrative of Kelly's career but instead it is theme based. Each chapter has a message and an example from Kelly's colourful life which has taught her a valuable lesson and she merges both personal and career together into a seamless tale. If You Want to Cry, Go Outside is a book that really makes you think about your contribution to society is. There are a few complaints from PR wannabees that they were expecting the book to be mostly about breaking into the industry, I guess that is only natural given Kelly's background however, Kelly does state in the introduction that this is not the case.

If You Want to Cry, Go Outside is available to buy from amazon.

Cosmo on Campus

Student magazines which are written for students by students are two a penny and they range from niche fanzines to truly trendy arts of work to glossy award winning ones. Some even break out of student territory and graduate to full blown grown up status. However, when you think about it there are very few publications that are produced by large companies for the student population. Time Out do a student issue but that is only yearly - well Natmags are producing a publication aimed at this demographic. Cosmo on Campus will hit the streets in during Freshers Week in October and will be packed with features and articles which are geared specifically to 18 - 21 year old females. The aim of the magazine is to entice students into the Cosmopolitan brand and ultimately subscribing to the magazine. There will also be a website with city guides, career advice, how to live on a budget and fashion tips.  The publication will be 56 pages and printed on recycled paper similar to the ones used for Stylist and Shortlist. There will also be a Facebook page as well as a Twitter account.

This is an interesting concept and I cannot wait to see what the outcome will be like. Cosmo on Campus will be published four times a year to coincide with term time and will be distributed to 65 University campus locations.