Hair inspiration

Things you need:

Silicone free white conditioner. I used Suave Naturals Coconut conditioner.

Pink Hair Colour. I used Ion Color Brilliance Brights in ‘Rose’

Hairdressing brush
A mixing bowl
Gloves
An old shirt or cape

How to mix the colour and conditioner

1. Squeeze all of the pink colour of the tube into the colour mixing bowl. 

2. Then pour into the about 2 x more than colour the conditioner.

3. Mix well.
 

Mixture done!

How to apply
4. Section the hair. Starting at the back of the head apply to hair using the hairdresser brush. Pay special attention to the ends and make sure it is completely saturated.

5. Continue this application all over the rest of the head, applying last to the t section ( the top and your hair parting).
6. Let it develop. I waited 2 hours, if you can wear a shower cap too to retain the heat. Wait anything from 45 minutes to all day!

7. Shampoo out and style as usual.

Voila! Pastel pink hair!



Hope you like!

L x

A hint of their bad customer service and maybe food (I have never eaten there so am assuming here) was that they were even on Brit chef Gordon Ramsey’s, ‘Kitchen nightmares’. A show infamous for helping struggling and failing businesses. However, this show was redundant in its aims. They didn’t take on any of Ramsey’s criticism and carried on as usual.

A Reddit thread linked to the restaurant’s page, providing a steady influx of trolls. A more savvy business would shut down their Facebook page. This is not that kind of business. The name itself is just too long! Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro. Still their facebook ‘likes’ are going up by thousands as I type this, so maybe all this hoo hah in offending people is working? Although, no one is silly enough to assume that facebook likes mean anyone will actually go there! Only time and the repo’ men will tell!

Still, watch out facebookers and redditers this company is taking down all your names and will be reporting them to Scottsdale Arizona Police department. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

This insight into how far away employers are to the ‘real world’ of their consumers is sometimes scary. One thing is for sure, more people around the world have now heard of ‘Amy’s Baking Company’ in Arizona. Now that’s fabulous publicity! Not the kind I would recommend however…..

L x

Now you don’t want your time wasted here, even though your morale will be at an all time low when even the receptionist is getting paid more than you and SHE TAKES A LUNCH BREAK! The cheek! So I have complied a list of big no no’s for interns as the ‘Intern Season’ is fast approaching and it would help us all if we all pulled in the same direction.

1. Do everything asked with a smile

Now I am talking about making tea and coffee for everyone, hand posting 700+ invitations to a press launch. You know all the stuff that paid people simply don’t have time for. If someone ask to do something, even if it requires a late night, say yes and with a smile. Your boss wants to know that you can be relied upon for any kind of and it also is a great indicator on your work ethic. The more you can prove yourself in this way, the more likely they will be to take you on or at least give you less mind numbing jobs!

2. Try to Learn and Improve
If you don’t use your time at the internship to learn and improve your skills, then what the hell are you doing there? You are there well should be there) to grow not only for your career but your personal growth too. You don’t know all the answers so be open to your bosses and superiors in guiding you. Always keep your ears open and always have a pen and paper ready. I am massive advocate for taking notes, im old school like that!

3. Dress Professionally

Dress for the job you want to have, not the job you have. If you come in dressed like a casual student, no one will take you seriously. Pay attention to how the true professionals in the office dress and try to mimic that in your own dress.

4. Show up On Time and Don’t Leave Early

Think about it, you wouldn’t do this if you were getting paid or if this was your job right? So why do it interning? Also don’t announce the day before or the morning that you won’t be turning up. It shows a lack of respect to your boss. You are there to prove your worth and if you can’t even hack a full day of work, how the hell will you make it 3 months down the line?

5. Try To Be Proactive not Just Reactive

One thing that will definitely make you stand out from the crowd is being proactive in your role. Anyone can sit around and wait for the next mundane job to be had, who has the guts to think of a new strategy or an idea for a blog? Also don’t be afraid to speak up if you think an idea doesn’t work. Although you will come across an insecure manager who doesn’t appreciate being called out on their inabilities. Use it as motivation to not be that arse and thank your lucky stars you aren’t as dense. People who question everything are the ones who think outside the box and ultimately will be rewarded. Those people, will be the winners in this game. Make sure it’s you!

6. Don’t Bitch and Complain
There is nothing more unprofessional and childish than moaning about your job and people around you. As the saying goes ‘small minds talk about other people’. I mean who wants to be a small mind? You know you are at the bottom of the food chain, do you really think acting that way will gain you a step up? Get real.

7. Be Thankful
A lot of people will take time to help you as an intern, while others simply won’t. It might be a co-worker showing you how to do something, your boss offering helpful feedback, or someone giving you a recommendation for a career opportunity. No matter the situation, always offer a heartfelt thank you. Show everyone just how appreciative you are for their help. You never know when your paths will cross again and you want to leave a lasting impression.

So i’m going to admit I probably broke every one of these rules and have sorely learnt my lesson! To get any way in your career you need work hard. This is just the introduction to the rest of your career and reputation. Make it worth it.

Have you interned anywhere and have more tips out there? Comment below!

L x

I am constantly changing my hair from my natural brown, pic here:

…To many different, some would say ‘fruity’ colours!

Here is my first real dabble with bleach and lightening of my hair! The hair will soon become quite addiction of my playing with different colours, tones and techniques! This was done by a pro using foils, I won’t even begin to try and master that! Some things are simply best left to the pro’s!

Here I was channeling one of my fav performers, Paloma Faith here! I would say I pulled it off quite well don’t you think?

We even have the same smile!

As with any colour I have had I wanted more! The copper just wan’t red enough so now time to move on to fire engine red! This is where I would like to point out that I coloured it red before it was ‘cool’, which basically means before Rihanna went red! It was such high maintenance though, I had to colour and blow dry it professionally every week! As well as doing my own colour dispensaries every week too! It faded so fast, I mean have you seen what faded bright red hair looks like? Ergh!

So Rihanna dyed her hair, it was time for me to move on… to ombre hair! Nothing fancy here just my natural roots and that ‘faded’ out lighter hair! This was a great low maintenance hairstyle for me! Alas, again I got bored! CUE the bleach!

Here I wanted the platinum look as I wanted to go slightly lighter than before but may have had a hair accident! Oh thank god for hair toners! I had to cut off about 4 inches off my hair and it wasn’t ever in a good condition, no matter the hair products I was using. My hair was so dry it would not move if it was styled previously! Great for styling but not for stroking your fingers through!

Which now brings me to my latest pink colour! To check out how I did it please log onto my YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkuWXoLsCx4 and find out there!

Which hair colour do you prefer? Would love to know your input! Vote for your fav and comment below!

L x

Ecommerce Masterplan Your 5 Steps to Successful Online Selling by Chloe Thomas

The book itself is put into 2 major sections.

The first section actively covers the ’5 steps to Successful Online Selling’. The second section is dedicated to actually putting the 5 steps into action. Basically the hard work.

Step 1. What sort of eCommerce Business Are You?

This was simply written and easy to follow. It grouped together the different of ecommerce businesses out there and then set strategies for the mentioned ‘types of commerce. This would be a useful section to companies just starting out and finding out who they are and what best to suit their business needs.

Step 2. How to build right site.

This section was geared towards making the site releavant to what your consumer needs and wants were. There were points in this chapter that were a little complicated I felt for non marketing/business people. However, I found re reading some of the sections helped in understanding more.

Step 3. Cost, profit and growth.

Does exactly what it says on the chapter. Explains about the cost, profit af growth of your business. As this is the main goal in any business is to create prodit and growth it should be a step in your planning. If it doesn’t make you a profit, then why are you doing it? Explains well ROI, margins and scale

Step 4. Products and promotions.

This gave a great introduction in how to construct your promotions to gain as much attention as possible. Great as a starter into bringing in promotions to your ecommerce site.

Step 5. Further marketing actions.

So now you know what kind of site you have, what your price should be and how to promote it. This doesn’t guarantee sales. This chapter looks at different way to boost sales through marketing. This to me was a soft intro into the section 2 of the book.

Section 2, this covered different ways in how to best market your site. I won’t go into detail about the sections as it would need explains of all the different tools to use. However it covers: content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing to name but a few. All of which I will be going into more detail in my own blog.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was simple to understand and gave great examples and ideas that could be applied to the majority of e-commerce businesses out there. So if you are looking for a straight forward and easy to follow book on ecommerce then this is it. Only for beginners into ecommerce though.

Follow Chloe on twitter @chloe_eCMP

Have you read any
books that help your understanding of the current marketing and PR world? Let me know in comments.

L x

I am hoping that this insanity workout will bring me added mental motivation as well as some fresh approaches to life and work. After all we are what we put into ourselves hey! To help motivate me to continue with this program I will be using modern day methods of marketing, social media, blogs, forums…. I will be in essence reviewing from a consumer point of view what I have been preaching since starting this blog about how best to reach your consumer! How appealing!

I am excited to do this workout as I will hopefully be getting fitter as well as losing that much need extra flubber I have acquired since flying over the pond. I will be posting updates including pictures on my progress which I am hoping that this will further my motivation. So please be nice, I am doing this as an experiment from a marketing point of view too, so it’s to help you PR pros out there too you just don’t need to strip down to your bikini!

To make this workout as effective as possibel, I have my everyday essentials which are:

• Insanity workout programme
• Ooolong tea from http://www.teavana.com
• Water
• ‘Clean’ unrefined and non processed food.
• ‘Inspirational’ images, words of advice etc from available sources from Insanity workout online.

Wish me luck guys!

What do you think? Would love to see your comments and if you have done something similar! Oooo the power of online media!

L x

How can you make sure that you aren’t adding to the internet unwanted list? How can you make sure that while on your mission to get people to notice your company by getting media coverage that you don’t end up writing useless press releases that no one will ever read and waste your time?

I hope you like and would really appreciate any feedback!

I am currently perched in San Diego, California and so far it has been ace! I went to Coachella on the weekend and apart from the scorching heat was an absolute blast (I am even talking like an American) haha.

Stay tuned! x

To help understand more on what ‘Brand Journalism is’ I spoke to founder of ‘We Do Stories’, Joel Buckland. ‘We Do Stories’ is a social enterprise that uses creative content marketing to bring a voice to communities that otherwise would go unheard.
“Brand Journalism is an approach to content creation which utilises the principles of journalism and mixes them with modern storytelling technology such as web videos, online photography and blogs in order to tell the over all story of a brand.” Buckland revealed that “This approach to content has been used for years by the big brands such as McDonalds or Coca-Cola however more recently small organisations have been able to compete with the giants at a low cost simply by telling their stories in a compelling and interactive way.”

As great and forward thinking as brand journalism is, does this pose a very real threat to the PR industry? With content creation becoming an increasingly important aspect of public relations and more companies are taking on PR pro’s in-house, you could wonder if some companies are losing out on some core PR components. This just isn’t true! Brand journalism still doesn’t allow for the third-party validation that is such a critical component of PR. Think about it, if you were fed biased stories all the time, you would switch off mentally. A great PR message, incorporates the negative and positive aspects from people not directly linked to the company (i.e bloggers). This will build trust with the consumer.

Smart companies will use both adjacent to each other.There’s no doubt that the need for content has increased, but there is room to share, and, by doing so, both corporate bods and PR pros can create more insightful and meaningful content across the board.

As content creation is often one of the most time consuming aspects for PR teams, by working with brand journalists, not only can PR pros can get more interesting material to use for pitches and longer form content, but they can also regain the time otherwise spent on content creation. This allows more time to really hone in on pitching and cultivating relationships with key members of the press. Where personally the PR’s shine!

What do you think? Will the rising brand journalism trend positively or negatively impact within the PR world?

For a great company in Brand Journalism, check out http://www.wedostories.com.

L x

A little insight into what the story is about. Rose took to twitter under the HMV account to vent her anger at being given the boot due to budget cuts under the hasthtag #hmvxfactorfiring. This was sent to over 63k followers. Rose then defended her actions as an act of what I can only describe as cathartic as she started her career as an unpaid intern constantly proving that social media is needed. By creating a stir, she thought it would teach them a lesson, even if it cost her a job. She gots balls that girl! She’s like a martyr in the under-appreciated world of social media marketing! Bless.

This is a great insight into how some businesses don’t take social media seriously and has even given a few marketing managers a little wake up call. Or at least to change the password before firing your team!

L x