A year on

I spend an embarrassing amount of time moaning about blogging, about the weather not being sunny for taking pictures for the blog, about not being invited to certain events, about not being good enough to be noticed by companies awarding bloggers, but deep down blogging a lovely hobby to have and the beauty blogosphere is a lovely place to be. Nearly a year ago I started a little side venture, in a way to show my gratitude to the bloggosphere who has welcomed me with big open arms. Les petits cadeaux, a weekly beauty blog giveaway gazette was born.






About a year on, I've finally got my act together and finished my 'submit-your-giveaway' form and it's now easier than ever to submit your own giveaway. Click here if you want to see the revamped blog, and discover new blogs through the fun of giveaways.

If you are a blogger yourself and you're feeling generous, feel free to help yourself with the blog buttons below to show your support to the giveaway gazette.

<center><a href="http://www.petitkado.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Beauty Blog Giveaway Gazette" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8REZCifi790EFgRLcyAfISZCZbX4ISIkCYeD_G_vHgWCgwX5d7SPK4JmWFlTZXDfWBxiPQZ3Zs0iAdYCGgsjCYTnWNJrr34AnHQkOSFCAHMSR3REVxM1RxYZzL6z1KkvVk60sOBf-uQr4/s1600/01-white-kado-cupcake.png"/></a></center>	<center><a href="http://www.petitkado.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Beauty Blog Giveaway Gazette" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF5HCFLqOrZdEEvtWv4aWqmc83QUzzc6MsjFNDwQRTrAuubHHTlOUqyUo5R6wh1PoVGPM50Ht3ntjGFP-h7phHf9QPG5Nt5dXWo4psjRvTtyEmBzJ8BOPilgIlRoqlAc6NnkJLUdQUCQLh/s1600/03-white-kado-cookiestack.png"/></a></center>	<center><a href="http://www.petitkado.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Beauty Blog Giveaway Gazette" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibPT7UPto-CJolrvd79meGJhtpCyfbpfg-KGxwv6X5ATfRReEUUPIb_IBCu-8u6vyhspUejqHIu9G1YuaPQUHjlGhWqCNU4sJjDokIiBrWRzJQBBZ3Oi1XrvfCQZwSpaYfDeoa5JN4deE3/s1600/05-white-kado-present.png"/></a></center>

There are no less than 19 new blog giveaways this week featured: chances to see Jessie G in London, teeth whitening kits, Urban Decay Naked palettes, Zagorra slim-down-a-size gym pants, nars blusher and much much more but most of all there are small, medium and bigger bloggers who want to meet you and share their giveaway with you. This way for the giveaway train.

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The best things in life are free... My side project

Just a quick post to let you know (or remind you) about my second blog, a little project of mine which had been brewing for a quite a while. Those of you following on me twitter will maybe remember the now defunct clonky and impractical 'giveaway bonanza' tweetletter which got outdated the minute I tweeted it. I was also unhappy about the flood it created to my timeline everytime it was updated and although the intention behind was good, the tweetletter was rubbish all around.

Les Petits Cadeaux, or giveaway gazette is born from the ashes of this newsletter and I hope you like it. The concept is simple: The blog is updated every Monday morning, before breakfast time and gives you notification of lots of beauty blogs giveaways, well the ones I know of and comes across whilst reading my blog subscriptions. There is so much going on this week, click here if you want what great giveaways are waiting for you.


If you a beauty blogger and unsure whether I am following you, you can also submit your own giveaway there. Similarly, if you know I am following your blog and don't want your giveaway to be mentioned, that's fine by me too and I'll make a note of that. No problema :)


Have a lovely week xx

Liloo
@tsunimee on twitter

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Les Petits Cadeaux

Hello my little citrouilles,

Today is not an ordinary Monday. It's Bank Holiday in England and lots of us get to have a long lie in bed. I would like to celebrate this happy day by introducing my new baby to you, it's my secondary blog, entitled 'Les Petits Cadeaux'.


Les Petits Cadeaux is French for 'Little Presents' and talks mainly about Blog Giveaways. The Blog is updated once a week and aims to deliver you, every Monday morning, an update on blog giveaways which I come across throughout the week. So every Monday morning. direct to your inbox (or your preferred blog following manner) you can have an update on lots of current beauty blogs giveaways. Your first edition is waiting for you.


Click here or on the picture of a present to access Les Petits Cadeaux and get up to date with lots of cool beauty blog giveaways.




Talking of picture, I would live to give a massive thank you to the kind Sarah Ali who beauty blogs Glossicious.com  for letting me reuse her fantastic arty photograph.






So, what's the English for 'citrouilles' then? :)
xx

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Oh so wiser…

There's been a little bit of action of the blogosphere today. A certain list  might have made the day or some bloggers and ruffled the feathers of some others. Ok maybe just my feathers. Today 'So Feminine' released the names of their top 100 beauty blogs.

Oh so what, did you say? I have never heard of them either. Bloggers who successfully topped in their 100 favourite blogs were emailed about it and can proudly display their award on their blog: a cute and snazzy badge linking to the oh so feminine website. I have been genuinely delighted for all my blogger friends who made it, until tonight when another friend of mine, couldn't help herself from feeling a little bit disconcerted for not having featured in their top 100. Me, being me, I would need to kick up a fuss about it on twitter and got all melodramatic about it. While I am by no means proud of another twitter drama, talking to my twitter friends helped me to see the light:


Who are 'Oh so Feminine' anyway? How did they come up with their list of 100 favourite blogs? If these 100 blogs are oh so good, why were not these blogs hyperlinked anyway from their website? What if this list was just a marketing ploy to have these 100 blogs talking about them today and displaying their badges? What amazing publicity would that be for them if all 100 of blogs 'featured' would blog about them!


Well, you know what? I don't like that list. Lots of my bloggers friends and their awesome blogs didn't make it and therefore, it's not a very good list. Oh So feminine, I don't need your badge. I've got one way cooler and it's got Cassoulet on it. Cassoulet is great. It's like  baked beans, but it's got sausages in it. Do you know who made it? My favourite blogger: Charlotte from Lipglossiping.com. So there.

I feel a bit silly to have totally fallen for their marketing ploy.
I might still be a bit childish to get worked up about silly things but I am a little bit wiser, oh so wiser.

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My favourite reads

I've always considered myself more as blog reader than an actual blogger. Blog reading is a big deal to me, and checking for new content for my 300+ blogs subscriptions have become part of my daily routine. More than 300 blogs is a lot and I follow each one of them for a unique reason.


There's probably no one quite like Jangsara to blow me away with her make up skills, MakeupbyKaty for her eyebrow transformations, You've got Nail for her amazing photographs and reviews of nails polishes and I could go and on and on.

 

But if I had to narrow it down to just 2 beauty blogs which wow me on every aspect, without the shadow of a doubt, I would say that LIPGLOSSIPING and COSMETIC-CANDY are my ultimate favourite beauty blogs. As if blogging every day was not impressive enough, their posts have an unique style of writing: witty, friendly, humourous, and with a little bit of sarcasm. Their humour is not forced , they are just naturally funny people and it makes it more even more captivating to follow their beauty adventures. And to top it all, they have amazing photography skills.



Outside their blogs, they are a joy to follow on twitter and keep me entertained. I will never forget the day when I first posted about nail polish (I was so shy, I only painted my thumbnail then) and when Lipglossiping.com supported me and commented on my blog. I wanted to frame that comment as the encouragement and boost it gave me has been truly uplifting. I am beyond grateful to the time they spend blogging: it makes me happy.


Outside the realm of beauty blogging, I've been following LUVANDHAT has me in hysteric fits of laughter pretty much every time they post. Luv(e) and Hat(e) follows a very simple yet genius concept. It is a hilarious match of opinions on everyday topics between (mostly) Stuart and Robyn. I am not quite sure when they find the time to blog outside their busy jobs but I am so glad they do as they keep entertained from daily humdrum. If you're new to Luv and Hat, oh boy you're in for a treat. You could start by reading their post on the 'Post Office' and 'Google +'.


For its second year running, Cosmopolitan Magazine wants to celebrate the best of British Blogs and are running their Blog Awards. They are inviting blog readers to nominate their favourite blogs. If you had a minute, I would be so grateful if you could help me support my favourite reads and nominate them to the Cosmo Blog Awards 2011. To do so, it's very easy, go to: http://bit.ly/cosmopoliblog and paste their blog address:

Cosmetic-Candy: http://www.cosmetic-candy.com/ (Established Beauty Blog Category)
Lipglossiping: http://www.lipglossiping.com/ (Established Beauty Blog Category)
LuvandHat:  http://luvandhat.tumblr.com/ (Lifestyle Category)



 

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Is your blog mobile friendly?

Do you have a blog? Have you ever wondered if your readers can access your content easily from their mobile phone? Do you read blogs when you  can't be bothered to get out of bed/sofa you're on the go, on your mobile phone?


 

Well, this is something I've never, shamefully, paid any attention to really. I have been able to access my blog, from my HTC Wildfire Android phone, but I have to confess I have much thought about how other mobile users can read my blog, until a twitter friend's plea for every blogger to make their blog mobile friendly. Why? Because the layout was totally all over the place, with sidebars overlapping the main content columns and a whole host of assorted problems.



 


With the guidance of Katie (@redsbeautyblog) and reassurance of Ellie (@missy_ellie_uk) @PinkSweetSz and Antoine (@thechapblog) I've finally decided to make my blog mobile friendly and I was truly gobsmacked on how easy it was. The process involves to switch just one setting on and that's it: Design/settings/email&mobile 






Turning this setting on won't chance the web layout of your blog. What it will do, will be to transform into a no-frills, just text and pictures version of your blog post, a bit similar as when you read a blog with Google Reader or with Feedburner. 


     


The mobile friendly version also includes a comment box and you're able to also comment (well, if Blogger cooperates as normal). I don't particularly like the standardised mobile friendly version of my blog, and seeing my content on white, as I am very fond on my black background, but I feel it's necessary, even if I hate it personally.


The things I do for you, hey?


I hope this has been useful to some of you. If not, well, never mind, hey? :)
Happy blog reading
xx

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Your life, your time, your blog… Summary of #Bbloggers ‘Time Management’ Twitter Chat

Last week, in the absence of Fee from Makeup Savvy, I had the chance to host the weekly #bbloggers twitter chat, where bloggers from all walks of life were invited to join and talk about 'time management'. The chat gathered 226 of you. A whopping 1600 {or thereabout} tweets were exchanged. What was said? Without much further ado and with profuse apologies for my delay and {ironically} bad management of time, here's an attempt at summarising one heck of busy and fast paced hour. 






Right from the word go, it was evident that 2 main trends of ideas were developing, which actually put into question the very need of a twitter chat based on 'Blogging and Time Management'. The chat seemed to divide itself in between 2 teams: the super organised and the spontaneous.


I hope you will enjoy this ‘summary’. Please stay till the end to find out:
- what you chose to retweet the most from the whole hour,
- the top 10 contributors to the #bbloggers chat and last but not least
- some feel-good, perk me up motivations tweets.


Go with the flow, be Spontaneous

 


Being organised and having a routine makes you happier


  


How you fit blogging around your life, tips & tricks


  

 




Not that I can give advice on time management myself (this post is, after all, one week late) but I personally swear by using Windows Live Writer and couldn’t see myself blogging without. This Modern Panda is a big fan too and has written a guide about it.


 


The most re-tweeted by you…

 “Blogging is a full time job. Photographer, coder, designer, researcher and PR specialist all on top of writing” @BonVivantClique, BVC, Bon Vivant Clique

“If u aren't going to blog for a little while - fatigue/holiday etc - tell your readers.” @britbeautyblog, British Beauty Blogger

“Blog what you like, when you like, how you like. Ignore people who say "Don't do this or that", we all have different styles” @Get_Lippie, Get Lippie

“One thing, blogging isn't a competition on how much you post or followers you get. do it cos it's what u love” @JessycaLouise, Forever Miss Vanity

“As Bloggers we must support one another, no matter how busy we are. Communication is key.” @LaCara91 Oh la la, Curves

“Blogging shouldn't consume you. It doesn't take a long post to make an impact. Quality over quantity. “ @LaCara91 Oh la la, Curves

“Even when you don't have time to blog. Try and make time to comment on other people's blogs. Show support, and you gain support”. @LaCara91 Oh la la, Curves

“I'll never blog just because I have to. It's a hobby - not something you have to do. Never feel pressured!” @lady_makeup Lady Makeup

“Make sure you have plenty of time to write. don't blog when tired/rushed..your writing will probably lack passion” @ntlieread Natalie’s loves. Beauty has no label

“Save time by being efficient-stay organized, don't waste time trying to find things, whether it's email, products, photos, etc”. @temptalia Temptalia

“Blogs are our babies. We improve while raising and watching them grow up, they find their friends and a place in the web”. @theannamontana Fernua Beauté

“#bbloggers: Summed up: Blog when you feel to blog. Schedule when you like to schedule and spend as much time as you like. Love your blog. :)” @theswatchaholic The Swatchaholic

“When it comes to blogging, don't feel like you have to a schedule - just blog when you feel inspired and have some free time” @ViviannaMakeup Vivianna does makeup


The top 10 contributors (or the most gobby ones depending the way you look at it ;)



@duckingfabulous, Ducking Fabulous,
@talei, Benebelle,
@Rikkchen, Sticky Sweet Danish,
@vodkaandroses, Vodka and Roses,
@Thelipgoss, The Lip Goss,
@MegOnaHunt, Bargainista on a hunt,
@Lisahh_Jayne, Lisahh Jayne,
@MuaCosmetics, Makeup Aacademy MUA,
@EmWampach, It’s Em,
@HippyMeow, Blood. Feathers. Lipstick,


Feeling a bit slow or not as productive as you would want to be? These tweets perked me up…


Blog, Have Fun, and Be Happy :)







I hope you enjoyed the chat and that it has not invaded your twitter timeline too much. This made me chuckle. I just had to include it :P

• I think #bbloggers should go on all night
• SHUTUP ABOUT #bbloggers
• Oh God #bbloggers chats really grind my gears - idk some people just take the internet waaay too seriously

Thank you for reading and happy blogging everyone
@tsunimee xx

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Interlude: What I get up to when I'm upset or bored...

There are hundreds of things I need to blog about. I am really behind with my blogging but tonight I am not in  the best of predispositions to blog. My day was ok, nothing bad happened bad at work. I went to my first class of  Zumba tonight, and let's just say that I was left pretty disappointed, with a deflated self confidence. Even  letting it all out on twitter didn't help.

When I feel a bit under the weather, it's actually doing a little  something for someone and hopefully making them smile which brightens my mood. I find that focusing on someone  else, instead of just myself, helps forget my own miseries, a little bit anyway…





So tonight, even if I have a backlog of emails and hundreds of things to do, I just wanted to play with my paint  shop pro (I can't work with Photoshop to save my life) and do something a little bit creative: a little banner  for my friend Catherine. Her blog is called Perfectly Polished. I think she likes as she has just adopted it :) 


This is the before:




and this is the after:


 


I am still a bit  mift about the whole zumba trauma and probably won't go to one of these zumba classes in  a hurry but I feel a little chirpier.


While I'm showing off, this a simple banner I did for  LouLou’s Blog. The brief was something simple, which goes with the existing background and with flowers and a bit of pink.



 





and this is a little banner/header I did for Miss Lori.
Again, this nothing special, very simple but different. It matches her love of pink, zebra and features one of my favourite pictures of her. I had so  much fun playing around with her banner.








I can't imagine why she didn't pick this one, can you? ;) Love you sweetie xx





Fancy a header for your blog?  I am not the best with taking photos but I can cook up something basic and simple  for you if you don't have a banner/header at all or if you fancy a change. Let me know.

Have you had a good day?

Liloo xx

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Behind the Scenes of Blogging - Commenting Resolutions and Google Reader Readability

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I am still overwhelmed and buzzing from all the responses and feedback you left me on the poll on 'Blog Commenting'. Thank you very much again for your valuable contributions. Not only did it open my eyes but it inspired me to try to become a better blog commenter: I want to leave more comments and show my appreciation to blog posts I've enjoyed reading. I am going to check my Google reader a few times a day, mark my favourites ones and make an effort to leave some time at the end of the day to comment on these posts which caught my attention during the day and which I favorited/starred throughout the day. This was my sytem before, it worked very well, I just need to stick to it.


A few people have asked me to explain how Google reader works so I thought this post could be a good opportunity to do that. I am sorry if the following sounds a bit too baby-ish or if you already know the following information.
If you've never accessed Google Reader, this is how you could access it.
If you are using Blogger/BlogSpot, go to http://www.blogger.com/ to access your dashboard and click on the 'View in Google Reader'






Your screen should now look more or less like this. Note that I have chosen to display all my unread blog posts in a LIST format.






To read the post, simply click on the title of the post, and the whole post should open itself within the same window of Google reader. However, it's not possible to comment on a post within Google reader. For this, you'll have to click on the actual blog post as usual and do your thing there.








However, there are certain posts who only appear in a summary format within Google Reader, and need you to click on that little arrow to read the full post, and you see this to be happening, which is a little bit annoying as it defeats the object of Google Reader really:






How do you know if your blog is set up to be shown as a summary on Google reader or if your readers can read your full posts within Google Reader. Well, you could follow your own blog and see how it shows up on Google Reader or you can check the 'Site Feed Settings'.
To check/change your site feed settings
open your dashboard again,
Then SETTINGS, SITE FEED.


 





Within SITE FEED, select 'full' if you want your readers to be able the entirety of your posts within Google Reader. This is a valuable tip from Louise from Get Lippie.com who I am extremely grateful for. Thank you very much again. And then voila, your readers should be able to read your (blogger) subscriptions posts without any problems on Google Reader



What are the advantages?

- My blog is not very accessible to readers. It has white text on black background which some viewers might find straining on the eyes. Allowing readers to see my site on Reader gives them to see them on white background, without me having to give up my beloved dark background.
- Lots and Lots of people use Google Reader to view your posts: very easy, very quick and for me the best way to keep on top of the content of my 250+ subscriptions. If your site appears in 'summary only', it's one click further away from being read and people sometimes have so many subscriptions, they sometimes don't bother reading it, if they need clicking

Disadvantages


As I see it, unfortunately viewing posts in Google readers doesn't allow you to comment on posts. If you were on the actual blog itself, you would just go the comments box at the bottom and do your thing. Readers are already on your site, so if they want to comment, it's already there for them. However, if you read post onto Google reader, the commenting page is one click away and sometimes people have got so many subscriptions to keep track, they carry on reading the unread post below, next in line, and never click on your actual blog and leave your post.

Full? Summary? Which option is the best I don't know. For some obscure reason, my site feed was on 'summary' before but I have noticed an increase in my pages views since I have changed the settings to 'full'


This post is dedicated to lovely Ann from Girl in the City in Glasgow Blog and I hope to be able to read her posts very soon, in their gorgeous entirety in my Google reader. I hope this has been useful to some of you and that you have not found this too beginner's level or baby-ish.


If you like Google reader, make sure to save it in your favourite bar (if your browser support it) .





Then next time, you open your browser, just click the little symbol of ‘Google Reader’ and you are straight into Google Reader.





Happy Blog reading xx
liloo/@tsunimee

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