New beginnings

Welcome to what I hope to be my first of many posts. Although I’ve been planning this blog for some time now, it’s still quite an intimidating thing, deciding on exactly what to focus on, what design elements to incorporate…you won’t believe how many titles I tried and tested before deciding on Beauty Bloggess!

So because we all know how important the first post is, I thought I start with some basic facts about me. I can hardly expect a frequent and enthused following if you don’t know where I’m coming from, now can I?

Why beauty? Well, because I love it. And I don’t mean from the girly “Oooh! Look how pretty!” point of view…ok, well not entirely. I love following trends, exploring new products, engaging with a brand and, most importantly, finding out more behind the making of the product. For the past four years, I’ve been involved in the cosmetic manufacturing industry – reporting on what is happening both locally and internationally. Before that, I was happily studying journalism and politics, convinced I was going to change the world. Somehow though, I ended up in trade publishing. Go figure.

I really should have seen it coming. For the first 16 years of my life, I lived in East London. For those of you in the industry, you may recognise this at the home of Johnson & Johnson. My dad, a cosmetic chemist, worked there for 20 years before moving myself and my family up to the big bad concrete jungle known as Johannesburg. The father of three daughters (yes, I am the middle child and I do suffer from the infamous middle child syndrome), you would think that at least one of us would end up with a science brain, no? No. But when this fresh-faced graduate was looking for her first job, it was my dad who introduced me to the industry that would ignite my greatest passion – the science of beauty. Yes, that was one of the considerations of this blog’s title.

So, a few things about me before we get started. I live in Joburg. I’m currently a freelance beauty journalist and soon-to-be blogger, obviously. I’m a bit of an old fashioned girl – I garden, I sew, I knit, I cook…although I’m a terrible baker. Think it’s the chemistry bit I’m still trying to get the knack of! I love to travel (who doesn’t?). My favourite colour is purple. I’m addicted to my Blackberry and Twitter – you can follow me @BeautyBloggess. I cannot function without coffee. I love to dance and socialise with my friends. I’m a total language nerd although my friends prefer the term “grammar nazi”. FYI – this is a blog. I’m going to write how I think so bear with me if I’m not always 100% correct with my language ;) and I will use emoticons!

Back to the beauty side of things. You will rarely find me without my nails painted. I’m constantly playing with colour. I’m devoted to the proper use of sunscreen and suffer from a morbid fear of wrinkles. I love fragrance. And I’m the first person to “squee” at a new packaging concept. In fact, the gimmicky-er the better. See, a grammar nazi would freak at that. 

So, I hope you like what I have to say. Please feel free to comment – positive or negative – or if you’d like to pop me a mail or ask a specific question, you can email me at beautybloggess@gmail.com - I’ll try my best to answer everything! And if I don’t know the answer, guaranteed I can find someone who does. All thoughts here are my own and I can assure you are not influenced in any way by any one company or person. Product reviews are sincere – if I like a product, I’ll say so. If I don’t like it, it won’t appear here. The first post will be up tomorrow. I can’t wait!