I get a lot of compliments on my style. To be honest, at times I think they are left handed compliments. For example, if I had a dollar for every time someone says, "How do you walk in those shoes?" I'd have Warren Buffet beat financially. Seriously? How do you answer that question? One foot in front of the other? But, I just smile and keep it moving. The thing that's most curious is that I don't spend a lot on clothes, shoes or anything of that nature, I'm not a big spender, rather a savvy shopper. I used to follow a really cool blog and she had so many do it yourself projects I felt it was so cool to take something and make it your own. I bought these boring shoes at Target for less than $10.00. They were in the clearance aisle and with some glue, rhinestones, and tape I made them my own. Here's what I did:
- Cleaned the top of the shoes to ensure there was a smooth and clean surface to attach the stones.
- Figured out the location I wanted for the stones and marked the location on the shoe.
- Applied glue to the surface of the shoe and attached the rhinestones for about an hour.
- Took some tape and placed it over the rhinestones to ensure they dried without slipping or losing the pressure needed to hold the gems in place.
So we take this:
And turn it to this:
The ugly shoes that looked plain and ordinary have become the beautiful swan.
This has got to be the most difficult post I've written. I cannot count how many times I aimed to log into blogger only to be captivated by fear. I let fear hold me back from just being me. So much began to happen and I seriously felt there was no good in the world, no purpose for enjoying the simple things and it was like that of a free fall into a dark abyss.
It began with the dynamics in the beauty blogosphere. What seemed like a hobby among beauty, style and makeup enthusiasts turned into an ugly nightmare. Makeup used to be about fun. Sharing techniques, looks and makeup looks was something I did for fun after high school. There were so many fun forums, pretty girls, and no money, adverts, nor sponsorships. No one seemed to dislike others so heavily and if you were like me, a plain Jane, you didn't worry about the level of criticism. Now, criticism has taken on a level of evil. We all have flaws and work at them, but I literally got to the point, I did not want to look at a mirror and was saving money to try and fix my flaws. Only the most beautiful, wealthy and talented were featured. The days of me watching Panacea81 between classes at uni were long gone and now there were new gurus popping up all over the place, but there was something different about the new batch. Unlike Lollipop26 who was relate-able, people were wanting you to follow them on Twitter, like them on Facebook, subscribe to their blogs, channels, and enroll in various monthly beauty subscriptions and if you dare ask them anything they didn't like they sent their followers to attack you, your mother, your appearance and then blocked you. Not knowing what you did wrong other than want to ask a question. If I hear the word, "jealous" or "hater" again for having a different point of view I will live just fine.
In short, I took the cowards way out. I let a group of thugs discourage me, but in my defence, I had a mum who was ill, a father in hospital, a programme to finish and I was not wanting to jeopardize those things to the level of scrutiny which may have occurred. My mum passed recently and, once more, I didn't have the skin to endure the changes in the beauty community. I live a simple life, and my worst fear is having people expose my home or family to the web world because I like to post beauty articles and photos of fun findings.
I'm blogging in the spirit of my late mother. I don't care about the mean spirited comments, the threats to me or my safety or the scrutiny of my flaws. If I don't do what I enjoy because of a few unhappy people all my hard work and efforts to heal are for not. I'm not 100%, but this is a new start. I can do all things through Christ and this is just one. Here's to new starts and overcoming fear.
Munere veritus fierent cu sed, congue altera mea te, ex clita eripuit evertitur duo. Legendos honestatis ad mel. Legendos honestatis Munere veritus fierent cu sed, congue altera mea te, ex clita eripuit.