Four boring but useful websites

There are many things in life that are boring but necessary. These include taking out the garbage, having a cleaning rota  if you share a house, and making sure you see the dentist once or twice a year. To go with those lovely mundane chores I have a selection of yawn inducing websites for you to peruse, that will nonetheless prove invaluable should you need any of their services. Entertainment definitely not included, but service is free.

Opening Times

It’s 10.50pm on a Saturday, you’re starving for a pizza, yet reluctant to pay an over inflated price for a grease ridden delivery. You know there’s a Tesco just round the corner, but will it be open? After ten minutes of debating it ‘Maybe’ ‘Maybe not’ ‘Umm’ you decide to search for it online. Once you’ve navigated through the Tesco website, narrowed you locale down by town and borough and then edited out the metro versions, whaddya know? It’s 12.01 and it’s most definitely shut.

Opening Times lists the various local businesses in your area and will give you a definite yes/no and till what time for anywhere you should choose to go. You’d be surprised how useful this is when nipping out for some emergency ice cream/toilet roll, but it most definitely comes under ‘boring’ in terms of websites. Read more…

Tags: boring websites, opening times, useful times

How to hold a Beauty Bloggers event: What to do and what NOT to do

I’ve been sitting on this post for a while for fear of offending any of my friends in the beauty PR world* but a recent rise in particularly impressive events has lead me to believe that a post like this could only be viewed as constructive. I’ve worked online for many years now in a variety of sectors, and whilst ‘meetups’ in other areas such as technology have been widely accepted for years now (probably due to the face that the web is a technological phenomenon) other sectors have been less than ready to accept the blogosphere as a reputable form of journalism. To ease confusion I will say that by blogs I encapsulate EVERYTHING from company run websites such as Cosmopolitan.com and Handbag.com to smaller sites such as www.Cultbeauty.co.uk, www.Kissandmakeup.tv and people who blog personally- every bit as professional, but not necessarily full time, such as British Beauty Blogger or Lipglossiping. To an extent one could even argue that those who blog personally are less restricted by advertising demands and the requirements of their companies, and are therefore either more honest or more in depth (due to no time constraints but that’s a whole other post.

Suffice to say, PR companies are now getting on board with bloggers and are hosting more and more events tailored specifically to this domain. I can’t applaud this more, it shows creativity, innovation and suggest that companies are embracing rather than being scared of new media. Just because you have an idea though, doesn’t always mean it’s implemented right, no matter how good the intention may have been. Here is my short guide on the things that companies are doing right and a couple of points on what they could do better.

Good things to Do.

Number One: Think about the Timing of The Event- and the Location

A meetup is all well and good, and a really nice way for the PR’s to get to know bloggers, and bloggers to meet each other in person. However many bloggers do NOT work full time and scheduling an event in the middle of the day means you’re automatically ruling out a majority of attendees. It’s a lovely plan, but you have to think realistically, and if it’s the bedroom bloggers you want to reach, and evening, or dare I say it-weekend- would be much more ideal. How are you planning for people who live out of town? Whilst major media outlets may be primarily based in London, for an event you’ll be bringing together from all over the country, so be prepared to offer travel expenses, or miss out on some high profile attendees

Number Two: Give them Images..of EVERYTHING!

Bloggers and web editors have one major thing in common- we work online. C’mon, that should be simple enough to figure out! So help us help you- give us IMAGES in JPEGs, CD’s, USB drives, we don’t mind, just give them to us NOW and don’t fill our bags with paper releases. Don’t promise to send us emails later, and then forget, hand us a USB stick with all the pics we could ever need. Make sure everything you say is there is ACTUALLY there, and if it’s not tell us why. If a product is an exclusive to someone, tell us why we don’t have the image, don’t let us run all the way home and then be infuriated when we load up our computer. Read more…

Tags: beauty blogger meetup, Beauty Bloggers, Beauty blogging

Some people will buy anything…

I love a good Japanese beauty gadget, as they have pioneered some of the strangest products in the world. The Beau Bust Roller is the latest in a  long line up of uncomfortable looking products designed to help you increase your bust size. Forget about Wonderbra’s and chicken fillets, this is an electronic breast stimulator which is designed to be rolled across the boobs. This torturous looking device is designed to react with a gel used across the area, and together this machine is meant to promote growth and firmness.

Quite apart from thefact that the BODY DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT, it looks like it would be pretty painful as well. I’m not sure how desperate you would have to be to invest in one of these, but it would have to be verging on insane, as not only is this unlikely to make any difference, it’s also pricey and fricking HUGE- you couldn’t just leave it lying around the room!  Get it for $116 from the Japan Trend Shop.

Tags: Beau Bust Roller, increase bust size