Today, I am guest blogging on Lipglossiping.com and we're talking false lashes: how to deal with the little blighters and reasons why you still can't wear them. Click here to read my post.
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Friday, 2 September 2011
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Help! My Google Friend Connect box has gone. How to create an alternative GFC button
Blogger has been a right pain in the bum working not very well lately. As if Blogger being down on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 May was not bad enough, users have been experiencing trouble with leaving comments on blogs and even responding to the comments left by others on their blog. Blogger is aware of it and they're trying to fix it. I hope they're sweating hard to fix it, as the temptation to move to wordpress is getting bigger.
There is another glitch happening at the moment which Blogger has yet to acknowledge and I am left to wonder whether it's meant to be like that from now on: The Google Friend Connect box seems to have disappeared. Whether this is going to be a permanent feature, I don't know but what I do know is that lots of you are quite upset about it.
Personally I couldn't wait to get rid of my Google Friend Connect box: I just hated being judged on the number of Google Friend Connect followers I had. I know that people can still find out how many followers I have but it is not as straightforward as before and I feel happier about it.
My lovely friend Bicky has written a lovely post about why shehates is not a fan of that contentious GFC box and thanks to her video and help on twitter I was able to do an alternative GFC button and still allow new visitors to follow me through Google Friend Connect.
Do you need that Google Friend Connect box anyway? People can still follow you through Google Friend Connect thanks to the navbar at the top, right?
That box is not compulsory for people to be able to follow you. And yes, people can start following your blog using the navbar but not everyone is aware of that bar and what it can do for you. At the end of the day, you need to give people what they want. Getting more readers / followers is hard work and you don't want to put them off because their preferred option of following your blog is not showing. If your readers want to have a button to click on and that is all it takes for them to follow your blog, GIVE THEM A BUTTON. Make it easy for them. Also, some Blogger users may have had their navbar removed for aesthetic purposes, so you can't always rely on that navbar to be there. Sometimes, even when the navbar is on, the 'follow' link is not even there!!! {I am looking at you Internet Explorer}
So how do you get/install/create an alternative Google Friend Connect button?
It's not too much hard work actually and follows a very simple concept:
I'm going to assume you have not removed your navbar. If you have purposefully removed it, I am going to assume that you know what you're doing and that you will remember how to get it back.
Please note this ‘new’ DIY button won't display the number of GFC followers you have. This will be perfect for smaller bloggers who are a bit embarrassed about the number of followers they have. Bloggers with a bigger readership might get upset that they can’t show off their numbers.
If you like this 'tutorial' feel free to share it to your friends, family and pets.
Personally and on a selfish note, I am really happy that the box is gone (I have yet to ascertain whether it’s coming back) and I can’t help myself from being influenced by the number it shows. A low number will make think ‘aww, that little blogger and its 14 followers, bless her little cotton socks’. A high number will make me think ‘how did she got all of those, I am so crap in comparison wow this blogger is doing really well. And if I think like that, it’s only understandable that *some* beauty companies regrettably and frustratringly might think the same too and approach you or not accordingly.
Do you know what would be funny in an ironic way? That the wretched Google Friend Connect box reappears the minute I publish this post.
Read more ...
There is another glitch happening at the moment which Blogger has yet to acknowledge and I am left to wonder whether it's meant to be like that from now on: The Google Friend Connect box seems to have disappeared. Whether this is going to be a permanent feature, I don't know but what I do know is that lots of you are quite upset about it.
Personally I couldn't wait to get rid of my Google Friend Connect box: I just hated being judged on the number of Google Friend Connect followers I had. I know that people can still find out how many followers I have but it is not as straightforward as before and I feel happier about it.
My lovely friend Bicky has written a lovely post about why she
Do you need that Google Friend Connect box anyway? People can still follow you through Google Friend Connect thanks to the navbar at the top, right?
That box is not compulsory for people to be able to follow you. And yes, people can start following your blog using the navbar but not everyone is aware of that bar and what it can do for you. At the end of the day, you need to give people what they want. Getting more readers / followers is hard work and you don't want to put them off because their preferred option of following your blog is not showing. If your readers want to have a button to click on and that is all it takes for them to follow your blog, GIVE THEM A BUTTON. Make it easy for them. Also, some Blogger users may have had their navbar removed for aesthetic purposes, so you can't always rely on that navbar to be there. Sometimes, even when the navbar is on, the 'follow' link is not even there!!! {I am looking at you Internet Explorer}
So how do you get/install/create an alternative Google Friend Connect button?
It's not too much hard work actually and follows a very simple concept:
- Grabbing from the navbar the short line of code which, when clicked on, enables your visitors to follow your blog
- Creating a picture which could say for example 'click here to follow me on Google Friend Connect’
- Creating a widget/gadget where you are going to insert that picture with the 'follow' link. No need to tinker too much with your main template and have great knowledge of html. woop.
I'm going to assume you have not removed your navbar. If you have purposefully removed it, I am going to assume that you know what you're doing and that you will remember how to get it back.
 | Grabbing the 'follow' code from your navbar Sometimes Blogger (on internet explorer) goes off on one and won't display the 'follow' link. You'll have to refresh the page, or log in again, or open your blog with a different browser until you see your navbar display the 'follow' link properly as shown below:  -- Click on FOLLOW. This will in turn display a line of code in the address bar of your browser (at this stage you don't have to follow your blog if you don't want to) we're only doing this to see the line of code.  -- Select that line of code, copy and paste it in a word document or text document (right click on the link to copy the code)  |
 | Creating or choosing a picture for your alternative Google Friend Connect button If you have no skills whatsoever in Photoshop or similar programme, by all means feel free to pinch one of the pictures below, or all of them if you want. Although they are not the nicest pictures. Bicky has done her DIY button to match her template and is just so pretty.   transparent on white background:     transparent on dark background:     You don't have to have that Google logo in there, but the Google logo will make people feel at home and immediately recognise it. If you are going to create a picture, and if you want to put this picture in your sidebar, please make sure that the width of the picture is not bigger than the width of your actual sidebar. If it is blogger will |
 | Add the widget/gadget -- Click on design, then page elements, then ADD A GADGET and choose to add the PICTURE gadget.  The rest is pretty self explanatory: -- Where it says 'link' paste that line of code you retrieved before and pasted into a temporary document -- Upload your picture (if you choose to use one of my pictures, please be considerate to my bandwidth. Download the picture first, save it on your drive and upload it on your server, thank you) -- No need to add a title, but if you must, you can type 'follow my blog' with Google Friend Connect or something like that. Click on SAVE and voila. |
Please note this ‘new’ DIY button won't display the number of GFC followers you have. This will be perfect for smaller bloggers who are a bit embarrassed about the number of followers they have. Bloggers with a bigger readership might get upset that they can’t show off their numbers.
If you like this 'tutorial' feel free to share it to your friends, family and pets.
Personally and on a selfish note, I am really happy that the box is gone (I have yet to ascertain whether it’s coming back) and I can’t help myself from being influenced by the number it shows. A low number will make think ‘aww, that little blogger and its 14 followers, bless her little cotton socks’. A high number will make me think ‘
Do you know what would be funny in an ironic way? That the wretched Google Friend Connect box reappears the minute I publish this post.
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
A new revolutionary way to cover/block your eyebrows?
Eyebrow Covering or Blocking: now would you want you want to cover your eyebrows? There are many instances when you would be wanting to cover your brows. You could be wanting to recreate a 1920's inspired makeup look, where the focus is on the eyes and lips and the brows usually very pale or non existent:
Or creating a drag makeup look: erasing your own eyebrows and creating instead higher and exaggerated ones:
or you could be doing some all over face makeup, where the eyebrows are in the way and where the look would would look better if the eyebrows didn't exist and were out of the way.
There are plenty of tutorials on how to cover your eyebrows on YouTube and many methods too, from using glue stick, soap, spirit gum etc.. But the general consensus is that it's a very tedious, frustrating, time consuming process and one heck of a skill to acquire and master, especially if your eyebrows are thick and very dark. This process is so irritatingly frustrating, you'd be wanting to shave your eyebrows to be done with it.
YouTube makeup artist/guru anaarthur81 has treated us to many dramatic and extreme makeup looks, many of them involving the tedious need for eyebrow covering and came up with a GENIUS idea which I can’t wait to try myself:
The use of surgical tape as a way to mask
and cover your eyebrows effortlessly.
Why didn’t anyone come up with this genius idea before? It makes so much sense and is also so easy to find, in any country and so affordable. Watch how she does it, when she transforms herself into a snow drag queen, and the impeccable seamless coverage of her brows:
Have you ever done a makeup look which needed eyebrow covering?
Read more ...
Or creating a drag makeup look: erasing your own eyebrows and creating instead higher and exaggerated ones:
or you could be doing some all over face makeup, where the eyebrows are in the way and where the look would would look better if the eyebrows didn't exist and were out of the way.
There are plenty of tutorials on how to cover your eyebrows on YouTube and many methods too, from using glue stick, soap, spirit gum etc.. But the general consensus is that it's a very tedious, frustrating, time consuming process and one heck of a skill to acquire and master, especially if your eyebrows are thick and very dark. This process is so irritatingly frustrating, you'd be wanting to shave your eyebrows to be done with it.
YouTube makeup artist/guru anaarthur81 has treated us to many dramatic and extreme makeup looks, many of them involving the tedious need for eyebrow covering and came up with a GENIUS idea which I can’t wait to try myself:
The use of surgical tape as a way to mask
and cover your eyebrows effortlessly.
Why didn’t anyone come up with this genius idea before? It makes so much sense and is also so easy to find, in any country and so affordable. Watch how she does it, when she transforms herself into a snow drag queen, and the impeccable seamless coverage of her brows:
Have you ever done a makeup look which needed eyebrow covering?
