Happy Birthday BlushingAmbers.com!

Dear reader,

Today marks the 1st full year that Blushing Ambers has been in existence. As it's author/owner I have worked hard to provide both great design and content that is relevant, educational, and entertaining. You may have noticed our recent changes to the design. Special thanks to one of our readers, Omar who volunteer to help us in that area. Over the time we've expanded, I can honestly say that we have an intimate engaging community online via twitter, facebook and now myspace. I am currently seeking other venues to communicate with more readers like you. Be looking for more makeup and beauty tutorials (as they have been highly requested) and even webinars, actual live presentations that have chatting capabilities for you to ask me all of your beauty and makeup questions as you watch me do demos. If there is anything that you would like to see Blushing Ambers provide, please email me at BlushingAmbers@gmail.com.

Another great way that we learn more about you as our dedicated fans/followers/visitors is through our surveys. Please take the time to fill out the surveys that may come up from time to time and are posted on Facebook. This gives us great detail on what your interests are so that I can tailor posts to what you want.

Last, I'd like to thank each subscriber. The encouraging words and continual support has helped me to write on days when I don't feel that I have anything worth reading. Those are the days I receive the most comments and for that I am truly grateful. To show my appreciation I would like to give a special present to each of you. I have created a newsletter to keep you all updated and informed, but most importantly to send you FREE documents, the latest of which is a new PDF, The Look Book. Once you subscribe to the newsletter, you will begin to receive free products, like The Look Book and other offers for exclusive events and giveaways.

Thanks again for your dedication and I hope that you will continue on this journey of beauty blogging with me. Deuces!

- Amberly

Coming Soon: E-Book

Many of you have asked me about where to start with makeup.  I always answer skincare, but for those of you that want a more in depth answer on my thoughts and techniques on having a flawless face with and without makeup through skincare and beauty products I will be releasing my 1st beauty e-book, Blushing Ambers' Beauty Basics for Beginners before the end of this month. It will include health tips, product lists, blogs to read and even makeup tutorials on my signature looks. I can't wait to share all of this info with you. Stay tuned!

How do I get to a point where I am living off of my passion?

Sometimes makeup is the only thing that brightens my day. There is so much to be thankful for, don't get me wrong, but I work at a job that is not fulfilling. It didn't start off that way. I work in higher education for a grant funded program called Upward Bound. My students are usually the highlight of a boring day, but lately even their smiling faces hasn't been enough to keep me interested in my work. This may be due to the numerous problems I've been having in the workplace since November 2010. Also, in the summer time I don't get to see the students during the last two weeks of July and the whole month of August unless they are coming in for a brief visit. I'm going on the 2nd week of kid withdrawal. So today, like the last couple of weeks, I'm feeling a bit underwhelmed. I want so much more out of life and although I have a Masters degree in Education: College Student Affairs, I feel a sense of gravitation towards makeup. It's my passion and every morning I wake up and want to paint faces or write about how to paint faces.

I'm looking for my utopia, a place where I can let my creativity run wild. Right now there's no balance in my life. I have a steady pay check, but I'm paying a steep price of that in makeup time and blogging time. How much sense would it make for me to up and quit my "semi-secure" job (so not true for grant salaried workers) to be a freelance makeup artist or makeup counter artist or even a beauty blogger... Probably not a whole lot, right? I guess I'm in need of some encouragement and direction. How do I get to a point where I am living off of my passion? How do I reach for a dream without taking too much of a risk. And I'm so tired of self-help books that don't offer tangible solutions... The idea of trusting myself, hard work and talent to provide a steady income every month that covers my mortgage and bills is scary to me, right now. If I jump from one career to the next, is there a safety net to catch me if I fall short of reaching the other side? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

As you can see, I don't have all of the answers. I can't tell you how to become a full-time makeup artist so that you can quit your crappy job... I'm still trying to figure that one out. BUT what I can promise, is that if I figure it out, I will happily pass that information your way.

Pretty Little Bloggers

I am a member of a group on Facebook with some fanta-bulous (yes I just made that up) beauty bloggers and here is a list of their top post from last week. Check them out! If you like them, and I know you will, subscribe and drop a message in their comment box. If you are a beauty blogger and wish to join click here.

KIllerlipgloss@gmail.com
http://killerlipgloss.com/make​-up-for-ever-flash-color-palet​te/
Make Up For Ever Flash Palette swatches

BlushingAmbers@gmail.com
http://blushingambers.blogspot​.com/2011/08/no-one-gonna-love​-you.html
Lessons from Jennifer Hudson's "No One Gonna Love You" video on the beauty of self worth

dallas@product-junkie.com
http://www.product-junkie.com/​2011/08/urban-decay-15-year-an​niversary.html
Swatches of Urban Decay's 15 Year Anniversary Eyeshadow Collection

eyeadorepretty@gmail.com
http://www.eyeadorepretty.com/​2011/08/soleil-tan-de-chanel-b​ronze-rose-bronze.html
Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronzer in Bronze Rose & Bronze Corail Swatches

3 of My Favorite Makeup Gurus

Here are 3 of my favorite faces in Makeup and Beauty. They either have strong makeup chats on Twitter or great Youtube videos and Blogs.

Makeup Doll - She not only does makeup tutorials, but hair as well and she recently did her big chop and transitioned from permed to natural hair. Crazy part - it's all on film! Welcome to the club Keisha! Follow her on Twitter, too!

DulceCandy87 - She does a lot of great hauls and product reviews. She is a catch all guru. You are guaranteed to find something you like that she does on her youtube video from fashion to beauty and she doesn't hold back. She is completely comfortable being herself in front of the camera. I feel like she's one of my girlfriends. lol. She has a blog with great photos and she's on fb and Twitter, too. Check her out!

Jennifer James Beauty - Her makeup chats and tweets are always helpful for the rising makeup artist. She's had a very successful career in the beauty business and her advice is from experience. Everything she says you can be sure she knows what she's talking about because she's a credible source. Future MUAs follow her on Twitter so you don't miss out!

Beyond the Blog

I want my blog to be my full time job one day and here's why.

I actually have a full time job that has a lot of down time and allows me the opportunity to focus on my blog almost from 9-5. It's really convenient at the moment, but I would love to work from home. I feel that what I do matters and I would like to be as productive as possible. Much of my inspiration comes from just being around makeup or sitting in my home makeup studio. More importantly, I'd like turn the blog into a full on organization that does community service and programming. I want to provide more information and research on body image in a scientific and scholarly way.

I had a discussion with other beauty bloggers this week and we talked about Christina of Temptalia.com, a great beauty guru who said she plans her life around her blog. Here's what I had to say about that:

I see my blog as something that can be larger than me, especially since it creates awareness for serious issues such as body dysmorphic disorder and issues formed around body image. I already look at myself as a director of an organization rather than just an author of a blog. I feel like the "work" I do matters. I actually don't want to have kids because I think that will keep me from giving the time and attention this work as a public speaker/writer/fundraiser/​researcher deserves. In the same breath, if I were to get married and have a child, I'm sure I'd find a way to work it all out. I have that much passion for the work I do with Blushing Ambers.

 I appreciate all of the comments and support from friends, family and followers/readers. Please continue to spread the word about Blushing Ambers and our causes. Subscribe, Like and Follow Me!



Encouraging Comments From Readers:

‎''Set your standards high and force people to match your worth'' ~Amberly C. (Such a powerful statement!!!) Girl I finally had some time to read your blog site. I am so inspired by you and your mission to inspire women. May you continue to use your creative mind and positive leadership to accomplish great things...." - Cocoa 'Mimi' Campbell on Facebook

"Hey girl, I didn't get a chance to write on your post that you put on my wall, but I just wanted to thank you. I find your articles very interesting, keep em coming! Hope you're doing well! And.. btw..every pic u upload is beautiful! xoxo" - Sharia Cotton on Facebook

"WOW. Ambi, this work that you are doing is something serious. This speaks volumes. Thank you so much for putting yourself out there like this." - Vanessa Leon via email