Sunday post v.37

Long since I wrote a Sunday post now due to vacation and a lot of work to catch up, FUN to be back on track again! :)

At the time of writing, I am sitting with a cup of coffee and slippers as it is unusually cold today and the rain is pounding on the windows, cozy! I have some work stuff to fix even though it's Sunday but still wanted to take the time to write here again in between.

The holiday of the holidays

I have posted a lot of pictures on my Instagram Story during our road trip with a rental car in Spain and I guess you who have been interested have peeked there? :) So I did not intend to blog about the trip itself - but if you thought it looked great in my pictures, I can tell you that it was even better (!) In reality!

You can also make a disaster holiday look perfect on social media, but we had it so good that it was not even possible to show. The seats, the atmosphere, all the laughter !! ♥

Oh what I want to live in that country, up in the mountains with a view down over the olive fields… I shudder!

What was nice this year was that it did not feel hard to come home! Last year I had a lump of tears in my throat when we waited at the luggage straps at Arlanda, oh what I had wanted to hug that Helena!

But now I came home rested and with a great dose of inspiration and motivation to put my teeth into all the work again! :) In addition, we were welcomed by wonderful baby-Mileya who missed us, just such a thing ♥

Imagine being able to drink your morning coffee to a great view every day, talk about goals!

Upsalite is now available in the makeup market

I kicked off after the holiday by going to an event with Palina in Stockholm!

It is 2 years ago that I started doing consulting work for the material Upsalite and the company Disruptive Materials. Our collaboration continues, but I have been 0% involved in the project with Palina, so it was very exciting when I was at the press event last week for the first make-up product on the market with Upsalite in it - Palina Prowder! :)

Jag har testat pudret ordentligt och kortfattat är min recension att den jämnar ut porerna jättefint och är ett väldigt bra puder, jag är dock van att jobba lite mer hardcore “för oljig hy” med Upsalite och Palinas puder är också återfuktande för att passa alla hudtyper. Så för oljigheten är den inte fullt lika effektiv som ett Upsalitepuder can be but it is still a super good powder that I think many will like!

Maria Strömme (left) is a professor of nanotechnology and one of the researchers who developed the material Upsalite. Upsalite was made mainly for the pharmaceutical industry but an unimaginable property was extreme absorbency of moisture, oil and even odor! The particle has lots of small pores and therefore becomes almost like a sponge.

Åsa Frank (center) is Product Development Manager at Disruptive Materials and thus works with the product development of cosmetic products with the ingredient Upsalite.

Lina Ivarsson (right) is a makeup artist and the founder of the makeup brand Palina, which is now the first brand to launch Upsalite makeup!

It is always just as interesting to listen to Maria! She talked about summer a few years ago, I recommend you listen to it - link.

My contact with Maria shows why it is important as an entrepreneur to talk to people you have no idea who they are, not only at events but with ordinary private individuals as well - it can lead to unexpected collaborations! That's how Maria and I got our eyes on each other and that's how my collaboration with Disruptive Materials and Upsalite began!

In the presentation with Disruptive Materials, they showed one of my test pictures I did with Upsalite! The result is not made with Palina's powder but a mineral mixture with 90% Upsalite if I remember correctly. I have matte make-up for normal skin on one side and Upsalite make-up on the other side, then the picture is taken after 9 hours.

Disruptive Materials does a lot of testing on the material and showed some results. They have their own equipment for their own lab tests but I was also there once when we were in the middle of in vivo tests on the staff, so tests on live skin on people :) Everyone walked around with tape on their face and went and tested themselves in labbet regularly haha.

It was an extra fun event to go to because I knew many of the guests and those who held the event :) And that I was a little involved in the presentation and have an insight into the company before! Great fun!

Autumn feelings and kickstart

Jag hörde i en podd för ett tag sedan “I say like the cliché - autumn is more New Year's than New Year's Eve for meAnd was completely shocked, cliché? I really thought I came up with that expression myself hahaha. Of course I do not have that then proven :)

Jag vill bo i ett varmare land men jag gillar inte sommaren i Sverige jättemycket just för att det är en så kort period att man liksom lever i något typ av “undantagsfall”. Folk har semester, aktierna sjunker i botten, allt går på halvfart.. Visst är det väl lite skönt när det är över? Eller är det bara för att jag är företagare som jag känner så?

We have late vacations at the salon so we actually have a week left before everyone is back from vacation, then everything is finally as usual! GREAT!

Första tanken när jag slog mig ner var “var ska jag börja ens?” för jag hade så mycket olika lösa trådar att ta tag i. Pjuh! Men jag har fått riktigt mycket gjort sedan vi kom hem och njuter verkligen av det.

First I worked from home so I just had to make a big cup of tea! Making the surroundings cozy when you work can certainly for many make you become too relaxed and go at half speed, but for me it is quite the opposite - then I get great focus and can work several hours in a row and lose the perception of time completely!

Min plan med de framtida Spanien-planerna är ju att jag ska bygga en karriär där jag alltid kan jobba på distans. Många skulle nog tänka “men hur kan man ha självdisciplinen att jobba hemma när man bor ensamma i bergen?” men jag tänker tvärtom. Det lugnet och den harmoniska stämningen kommer öka min prestation enormt! Jag tror på riktigt att jag skulle bli så effektiv att om jag skulle minska jobbdagarna med 2 timmar och ändå få samma mängd arbete gjort haha.

I have also had some time in the makeup studio, which I never get tired of! Here I sit a late night and go through the pictures :)

Bryn education

Last December, Stina started having a long-term internship with us, she is training to be a makeup artist and we quickly realized that she was a keeper :) We have had as many interns as possible at the salon and some have extremely much to work on but sometimes there are gold nuggets that are natural talents and have the artistic eye in their blood - we noticed that with Stina!

So we started teaching her on treatments and now this summer she was fully trained for lash lift and has started working extra with us. We do not need another permanent makeup artist, but on the other hand, it is worth its weight in gold with someone who can work on Saturdays and skip certain times.

She has also done eyebrow picking and coloring on many trainees and models and feels ready to receive such clients now, so did my colleagues but myself who is not as much at the salon anymore felt that I wanted a training day with Stina first, partly as a teacher and partly to see her work in real life. I trust the staff's judgment but you know how it is with the control;)

So we arranged a bunch of brow models! First I did the whole treatments myself while she listened and watched, then she had to do it herself as well.

It was as I thought, no problems at all and now she is bookable even for brow pick and color!

Plan kickoff and determine goal image

This week Annika arranged a babysitter and we had a planning day!

It was partly a financial meeting because now after the holidays we have to plan expenses and income on the smallest krona. No salary for me and Miska this month if we say so: P

But partly we also planned our kickoff in 2 weeks! The fun thing about having your own company is that no matter how depressing periods you have with finances or other problems that arise (which you always have from time to time, nothing new) you have the opportunity to influence! What can we do? What are our options? What ska we do?

I do not think that problems are very difficult as long as I feel that I can roll up my sleeves and do something about it :)

Here we sit and make a current picture, then we write in all the problems and opportunities we have right now. Then we rank the most important points, which gives a summary of what we should do first. Otherwise it will be easy to want to do everything at once and then it will be pancake - you have to prioritize so that you do the right things first :)

My customers are the best!

Working with people is really so rewarding ♥ Last Thursday I came to work with a slew of financial stress, packed to-do list and for various reasons a little emotional imbalance. Nothing serious like that but you know how you can feel sometimes just!

And then I had booked regular customers in the afternoon and did treatments on the conveyor belt until 19.00 and was refueled with positive energy and forgot everything else!

En kund sa till mig “it's always fun before you come here, fun while you're here and fun when you get home!”Hahaha, so go! :)

When I finished my job shift, I had received this email:

You melt! ♥ I am so grateful for all the nice people who want to book me regularly and often it feels more like friends than customers! Love it!

Now I will continue to work :) Hugs to you!