Daily writing

Writing every day was one of those habits that I tried to resist for years. Decades really. I've known since I was 9 years old and first fell in love with Stephen King that I was going to be a writer. But for some reason I didn't want to do that writing every day thing. Even though I read somewhere that's what you needed to do to be a writer. I still didn't want to do it. Procrastination. Fear of not having anything to say. Or what I would say was crap. Or I should only write when I'm inspired.

Funny thing about writing is that you aren't always inspired, meaning what you write at first isn't always inspired. Most people know this, and full-time writers who get paid to write know this down to their core. It took me creating a contract with my mom committing to sending her one chapter a week for an entire summer for me to realize that not only do I have to write every day but that every day writing might suck. Then you do a magical thing called editing. I wrote every day for 13 weeks and finished a 77,000 word first draft (about 1,000 words a day). Two years later, the final draft (at least the most final draft right now) is at about 100,000 words.

I'm getting to the point when I'm going to start quering my young adult fantasy novel. I should have done it weeks ago but I was struggling a bit. Not necessarily with the query letter but with the idea of a bunch of agents rejecting my novel based on my query letter. And not really with the idea of rejection based on a query letter but on the bigger fear of what if they request a partial (part of my novel) or a full copy and then reject it? Oh god. That just sounds awful even typing it.

So instead of sitting around and worry about rejection, I've decided to start writing again. It feels good and terrifying to start up the daily process of writing. That's 1000 words a day for 15 weeks (yeah that's right I've upped the ante) to crank out a second novel in the series. But along with my 1000 words a day goal, I'm going throw daily blogging into the mix. I've loved blogging on beauty for the last six months, which surprised me. I knew that I liked writing, but I'd had two unsuccessful blogs in the past where I couldn't sustain weekly posts. There's something to be said for writing on a topic you really care about. Apparently Trader Joe's and Inspirational Quotes wasn't enough to get the creative juices flowing.

I got lost down the rabbit hole of the internet today and stumbled upon a blog by writer Penelope Trunk that was interesting enough for me to open up and read 35 million of her past posts. One that really got me going was Penelope's Guide To Blogging. It doesn't say anything about regular blogging, but that's sort of implied. You gotta have content for people to want to visit you often. Although digging deeper down the rabbit hole I found this article on really easy instructions for how to start a blog. My two favorite are 5. Practice Practice Practice. and 6. Ignore Your Lack of Readers. So I'm going back to my daily exercise of writing every day which now is going to include a morning Beauty By Ilana post. And I'll ignore the fact that no one is reading except for my awesome cousin Allison! And sometimes my mom.

Design Portfolio

Examples of my design work:

Wax ad for Frenchy's

Full Menu for Frenchy's

Wax Coupon for Frenchy's

CD cover and back cover artwork for Dialtone's debut album, "No Hang-ups"

Flyer for Dialtone

Flyer for Dialtone

EP Cover for Dialtone

T-shirt design for Dialtone

EP Cover for Dilatone

Ringtone ad for Dialtone

Read Your Labels! And Eat Your Vegetables!

Everyone has that moment when they realize they made the right decision. I agonized for months trying to figure out if I really should go back to school to get my Esthetician license. The idea of leaving a cushy (albeit annoyingly political) corporate job for the uncertainty of being my own business owner was terrifying. I kept looking for signs that my choice to become an esthetician was the right one. I was looking for signs everywhere, in encouraging comments from co-workers ("you'll make more money then all of us someday!") or friends ("what a perfect fit!") even from the internet (articles about people following their dreams during a recession).

But the clearest sign and the moment when I knew I had made the right choice was when my teacher Ms. Angela picked up a skin care product on one of the very first days of Esthetician school and said, "To be successful in this industry, you need to be a label reader." She proceeded to lecture on the science and chemical compounds behind many popular ingredients in skin care products. Now it may seem strange to many people that my ah-ha moment came courtesy of an admonition similar to "Eat Your Vegetables". But I'm a label reader at heart. I can go into CVS and spend an hour or two browsing the hair and skin care aisles scanning the products for their ingredients. I knew what cyclomethicone was years before I worked in the hair care industry (thanks Dale!). I've been obsessed with active ingridients in skin care products ever since 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide saved my life in a way that 10% Benzoyl Peroxide never did. So I knew as soon as Ms. Angela told us to start reading labels that I had found the right industry. 

How do you develop your own label reading skills? First things first, you have to have a healthy dose of skepticism to all the marketing BS on the front of the packaging. I worked for 10 years in marketing so I can call it BS. Mostly what they are calling out on the front is "New," "improved" and some made-up, focus-grouped word like "illuminactiv" that's supposed to make you think it's a new technology. But really it's just some made-up, focus-grouped word. Then you need to start looking at the top three ingridients of your favorite products. Nine times out of ten, the first ingredient is water, which I know is disheartening. But water is essential to life, so why wouldn't it be essential to your hair and skin care products? Ingredients are listed in descending order from most abundant to least abundant, so the ones that you care about, the ones that companies are spending the majority of their cost of goods on, are at the top. 

Why does this matter? I know some skin creams that advertise a magical ingredient and then when you read the ingredients on the back of the package, that magical ingredient is near the bottom of the list. It pays to be a label reader and to start to learn the key ingredients that work with your skin and hair. For example, I like cyclomethicone in small doses on my hair, but I have to be careful if it is listed near the top of the ingredient list. Or if a product has salicylic acid, it's more than likely going to break me out. The more you know about ingredients, the smarter consumer you'll be. 

Which brings me to the article that inspired this post. From the New York Times, a story about gold in skin care products.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/fashion/27skinWEB.html

This type of stuff makes me so annoyed. It's about combining the latest trend (luxury! anti-recession!) with some scientific mumbo-jumbo to create the new must-have product. Only if you talk to dermatologists, they'll say there's no real proof that gold does anything for your skin. I'm sure the companies that market these products can dig up some dermatologists that say how amazing gold is for your skin. But the truth is probably something closer to the quote at the end of the article, "At best, they do nothing, and at worst, they can give you irritation of the skin." So before you rush out to buy the latest and the greatest product that is marketed to change your life, make sure you read the label and do your research.

Here's a pic of a label from my favorite sunblock, Blue Lizard.

The resolution's not that great, but trust me, the first ingredient is water. The other thing I want to point out is the active ingredients at the top. The best definition that I found on active ingredients is:

"Components of a chemical product which (irrespective of their relative quantity) help directly in achieving its performance objectives."* In plain english, active ingredients give a product the ability to do what it says it's going to do. So when you are looking at skin care products, pay close attention to the active ingredients. This is especially important in Sunblocks, where they list whether the active ingredients are physical (e.g. titanium dioxide) or chemical. If you have problem skin, like acne, or sensitive skin, these active ingredients are where you are going to get the most bang for your buck. But don't always assume that the higher the active ingredients the better the product. I learned that lesson from 10% Benzoyl Peroxide which is too harsh for my skin. Look for the active ingredients and do your own testing to determine what is the right mix for your skin! 

What if your product doesn't have any active ingredients? It doesn't mean that it's not going to do anything for your hair or skin. But what it probably means is that if you looked at your favorite moisturizer, for example, found the ingredients at the top of the ingredients list and then looked for something similar, you'd probably get the same effect on your skin. This doesn't take into account other factors, like smell or texture that you might like in particular about your favorite product. I'm just talking about boiling down products to the key element, ingredients. It's a different way of looking at your products. For example, my moisturizers that I like are all pretty much water and glycerin. And my dry shampoos that I love so much? Butane and starch.

So what are your favorite active ingredients? What key ingredients do your favorite products have? It's a fun exercise if you are like me and dream of being a beauty scientist!

*http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/active-ingredients.html

Glitter Tattoos

Yup they are the latest craze sweeping the nation. Well maybe not but help me start a trend by getting your *glitter tattoo* at Frenchy's today!
If you come in for prom make-up at Frenchy's, you get a complimentary *glitter tattoo*.
Plus a free *glitter tattoo* on your birthday!

A fancy glitter star next to a real tattoo. The real tattoo is jealous!

glitter zen is the perfect compliment to your ankle

glitter flaming skull makes anyone stand back and take notice!

a subtle glitter butterfly to peak out behind your glamourous updo

Waxapalooza!

My friend Kelly is doing a great job of promoting through Facebook. She started at Plush Salon (featured on one of Tabitha's Salon Takeover shows) in January of this year as an esthetician. And she's been tearing up the charts with Facebook posts for Plush ever since. I love some of her promotions so I'm borrowing one - $60 for 60 minutes of waxing.

How is Facebooking/Twittering changing marketing for small businesses? A lot has been written on this subject, mostly about food trucks. I'm interested in the health and beauty biz so I'm wondering how many people out there are following/friending their beauty salon or their stylist. I asked a trainer that I'm working with the other day if she posted on Facebook, since I'd be interested to hear her thoughts on health and read any articles that she found interesting. None of my clients have asked if I post beauty articles through Facebook, so I'm not sure if the beauty biz is as technically connected. Sure people want to hear about deals, but do they really want to know about the latest skin care innovation? I know I do because beauty is one of those things that I'm really interested in. Interested enough to make a career change.

I think the Facebook/Twitter/Email list is a great way to connect with your customers on a more frequent basis. Most salon goers come in twice or three times a year. But if they sign up to be tweeted at, they are committing to once a week communication. Although I still haven't figured out the twitter thing and I just did a massive hiding of most, if not all, of the business pages that I had friended on Facebook. I'm pretty sure all the uproar in the press about Facebook lately and privacy got me thinking that I was spending too much time reading posts about too many things and spreading myself too thin. After the massive hiding campaign, I spend at most a couple of minutes a day reading my News Feed. I'm hoping to start using my lost minutes to Facebook for something productive. Like tweeting to my customers. Which I know is a massive contradiction.

Revitabrow Test: Week 4

Here is a side-by side comparison of Lacey's eyebrows - Week 0 and Week 4.

Full disclosure, I tinted and waxed her eyebrows last week. And she's using a different camera so that's why the pics look a little different. Don't you love how you can tell I'm a wannabe scientist since I want to control as many independent variables as possible? Yeah I totally had to look that up. Hey, it's early on a Saturday!

I think I see a real difference. They definitely look filled in. The issue is that Lacey wants them filled in at the center part of the eyebrow. I'm starting to see some movement inward, but I'm not sure if Revitabrow can regrow eyebrows where you didn't have them. We will just have to wait and see the full 12 weeks!

Lurkely!

My friend Cassandra made up the most awesome word today so I needed to blog about it, of course. Lurkely. Adverb form of "lurk". As in someone who reads content on the web but doesn't comment. Lurk is definitely a web word, although I'm sure that it entered the English language long before Al Gore invented the internet. A quick check of Merriam-Webster confirms that it came into existence in the 14th century. Although it came into prominence with the advent of message boards.

My point is not disparage the lurking, it's to praise it. Writers today are in such a unique situation - immediate feedback! Online discussion group! Comments galore! The power of the internet is that writers can now use the written word to not only communicate what we are feeling but also to have an active two-way discussion. Which is nice. Don't get me wrong. I love when people comment. But I'm sure if I had thousands of followers or if I posted a controversial article, I wouldn't be as excited about the comments.

Sometimes not commenting is just fine. I'm just glad you are taking time out of your busy day to spend a moment and read my thoughts. Knowing how much information competes for your attention, that makes your moment really mean something to me. So feel free to lurk away! Lurkely! (TM Cassandra)