by theglamscientist | | beauty, beauty business, business, color cosmetics, consulting, cosmetic chemists, cosmetics, cosmetics industry, esteem, Glam Life, startup advice |
There’s just no way around it. If you want to succeed, advance, learn, be a leader; you must read. I’m willing to bet if you interviewed the top beauty brand owners and leaders you’d find they have a list of reading material that played a role in their success. Someone like you that is on a quest for success and advancement in the cosmetic industry has to be intentional about your reading. Not just any book will do. I like to have an arsenal of reading material so that I know or am learning a little bit about everything that applies to my direction in life. I always set business and personal goals for the year. I use those goals to guide my reading. Not only should you select books that matter to you right now, but you have to read with an open, active, critical and investigative mind. It’s not so much about what’s written on the page as it is what those words spark inside of you. Pay careful attention to the sparks.
So what should you be reading?
The key to a successful business is to have a healthy personal life, a productive business life and to be knowledgeable in subjects that affect your beauty business.
I recommend reading self help books and/or blogs that build and maintain your self esteem. This kind of reading will teach you what to say when you talk to yourself and how to protect yourself from negativity. You can also look for blogs written by life coaches and lifestyle brands to help you maintain an inspired, motivated and positive outlook.
I also believe every business owner or aspiring business owner will benefit from reading marketing and branding material. Find books whose title and description speaks to you and where you are right now. Look for bloggers whose voice/style is reflective of yourself or someone you can see yourself being friends with. This will be easy reading for you and these nuggets can be dropped in your inbox daily. I personally like dry humor, a touch of sarcasm, or high energy. Marketing bloggers are really good at that.
Finally, you’ll need to read material that applies directly to your industry. You’re reading this blog so I’m willing to bet cosmetics is your industry of choice. Luckily, our industry has a lot of trade publications to keep you in the know. I’ll list my favorites below. Being apart of this industry means you get to read fun, girly stuff, too. Your favorite fashion/lifestyle magazines will all touch on beauty in every issue. What you do with the information will determine if it is golden or not. Here’s a TGS secret… It’s ALWAYS golden. *wink*
My favorite trade publications:
GCI Magazine
Cosmetics and Toiletries
HAPPI
What are you reading right now? Drop your favorite blogs and book titles in the comments for all of us to enjoy.
Here’s to the Glam Life!
by theglamscientist | | color cosmetics, color therapy |
One of the reasons I started this blog was to encourage self esteem through cosmetics. That may sound superficial to some, however, I see it as very real and very necessary. Cosmetics help enhance the beauty we already have. Though I’m not a makeup wearer, I do see how makeup makes women feel good. When you think of makeup, you think of color… a rainbow of colors in just about every shade, hue and intensity you can think of. Have you ever considered the role color cosmetics play in enhancing a woman’s overall esteem? I’m not talking about masking imperfections. I’m talking about makeup artistry– using the face as a canvas to create art and freedom of expression.
The fact that color appeals to one of the five senses is a clear indication that it can affect us on a deeper level. Color has the capacity to incite or simply complement a full range of emotions and moods. In my daily life, I use nail polish as a form of color therapy. I like to wear colors that make me feel happy and pretty. I’m a bright color kind of girl. That’s not to say I wear neon nail polish, but I tend to avoid colors on the darker end of the spectrum. Yesterday, I fell in love with a periwinkle blue color that has been brightening every second of my life since I brushed it on. This color reminds me of a clear blue sky over a body of water. It is just so pure. To complete the therapy, I added big yellow polka dots to one nail. That’s like my sunshine. Of course a mani will only last so long, but I’m taking in every moment of this one.
Don’t be afraid to use a little color to brighten your days, too. Here’s to the Glam Life!
by theglamscientist | | chromium dioxide, color cosmetics, inorganic pigments, iron oxides, manganese, titanium dioxide, ultramarine, zinc oxide |
“Nothing says Spring and Summer like color, color, color!”– Me
When spring arrives, there’s color everywhere– green grass, pink and lavender flowers, blue skies. It’s nothing short of inspiring, so out comes the colorful nail lacquer, lipstick, gloss and eyeshadow. Various ingredients both natural and synthetic go into making the beautiful colors you wear on your eyes, lips, cheeks and nails. I thought it would be fun to explore color with you from a nerd’s perspective, so this is Part I of a series of all things color…. Welcome to my Glam Color Lab 🙂
On the Natural Side
Natural colorants are popping up everywhere, but how do you know if your fave natural beauty product really is? Mineral makeup is mostly comprised of inorganic pigments. For this discussion, the terms organic and inorganic do not refer to the method of growth or extraction. Instead, the terms will be discussed in their chemical definitions. Simply put, organic chemicals contain Carbon, inorganic chemicals do not. Inorganic pigments are metallic compounds found in nature and refined for use in cosmetics.
Iron oxides are inorganic pigments that are very popular in makeup products. Iron oxide colors are typically shades of red, yellow and black. They can be blended to make an array of natural colors for blush and foundation. There are no restrictions for the use of iron oxides so they are safe for eye and lip products as well.
Chromium dioxides are another category of inorganic pigments used in makeup products. They are available in shades of green ranging from darker greens like olive or brighter blue greens, etc. Chromium dioxides are not approved for use in lip products.
Ultramarines cover a broad spectrum of color. There are ultramarine blues, greens, pinks and purples. While the ultramarine blue shades are not approved for lips, the others are all fair game for outrageous lip, eye, face and nail colors.
Manganese is a bright purple color and is also an inorganic pigment. It is most popular in lip and eye products, but that’s probably obvious. When I was an undergrad chemistry student, I LOVED working with manganese because it was so pretty. I thoroughly enjoyed all my chem labs, but sometimes it’s drab and mundane… manganese brightened my day a few times 🙂
Iron blue is a very dark and intense blue inorganic pigment. If you haven’t already noticed the trend, iron blue is not approved for use in lip products. However, it is widely used in other cosmetic products.
We’ve discussed the basic colors which can be mixed, matched and blended to create some amazing color cosmetics, but what about white? Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are commonly used to achieve the white color in color cosmetic products.
All of the above pigments can be found in nature. Commonly, they exist with other metals and must be separated and purified to cosmetic grade.
In future posts for this series, we will discuss micas, FD&C and D&C colorants, lakes, organic pigments, metallics and pearls, etc. You won’t want to miss finding out what’s really in your color cosmetics.
Got a question about color? Leave a comment!
Here’s to the Glam Life!
