This is the first week in a long time that has felt quite long indeed!

This is because it was almost divided into two parts as the first half consisted of sore throat and fever, again I know (!) And the other half has gone so smoothly and I have been so happy, alert and tagged! :)

So it feels like it's two completely different weeks type!

Emailed makeup manufacturer!
Now we have taken the first step "out into the world" with our new business idea! Because this week I emailed out our presentation to different manufacturers!

It's really the first step and a long way to go, but I've worked on the presentation so much (just deciding exactly what we want was a big job, then getting everything down on paper + photoshop pictures of prototypes etc) so it still feels like a huge step forward, it's not just me who sits in the chamber and works longer;)

And you know what? The answers have already started to trickle in! I thought I would have to sit and wait for an eternity but we have already started a dialogue with two manufacturers, both from Italy. Then you have to compare and talk to several different people to see who you choose to order from, so the process is long!

A fun detail about this is that in the astroblog Helena's Horoscope reads like this this week: “The joy shines through and whatever you start within 10 days, you can see a result of, or a culmination of, in about six months. Cool! Enjoy!"

Just finding all potential manufacturers was difficult, it's not an easy googling if you say so… But I made that list a long time ago so now that the presentation was finished I just had to start emailing! I was so excited when I clicked "send" the first time! :)

Sick of stress?
Then it was time again, for 2 weeks I got to be healthy. It's almost starting to get laughable? :) My course of antibiotics ended last Saturday and on Sunday morning I woke up with a fever and sore throat with white dots and large, swollen tonsils again.

I talked to the health center on the phone but there is not much they can do, because antibiotics kill a lot of good bacteria as well, so they do not think it is good that I start a new cure (and I do not want that either). And I do not want to operate on the tonsils either.

I start to think about external factors that I asked the doctor about. For example. my sister realized that it might be due to black mold around the bathtub that we can not get over. But the doctor said that then it does not come as an infection from time to time, but then you have symptoms every time you take a long shower / bath, not that it comes once a month. And this time I had not washed my hair in a week when I became ill again.

Then I asked about stress, I do not have a more stressful period at work than usual (on the contrary almost) so it is not strange there, but it is a pretty big internal stress on the private front that gnaws at me. And the doctor said so indirectly can be, so I do not get infections from stress but stress can affect the immune system which in turn leads to susceptibility to infection. The inner stress started in June and it was after the midsummer weekend that I got sick for the first time, and the only month I stayed healthy was when we were in Spain and I was away from it all. Could it have a connection?

When I was little, like 5 years old (note I do not remember this myself but my mother has told me) she and dad separated and I started living with dad every other weekend, he then lived in Uppsala which is about 1 hour from Gimo. I absolutely did not mind being there, but I did not like being from my friends and sisters when they came up with fun things this weekend. So mom changed this later so I was just there on vacation, do you know why? Not because I do sa that it was a problem, but because I got sick every time I went there. So really sick with fever and all, not that I was released. So she began to see a connection.

Could that be so? That the body kicks back completely when it is not comfortable with a situation?

Since I get this every month, I also wonder if it could be hormonal or due to my IUD. It is never around the same date every month though, sometimes it is at the beginning and sometimes at the end. I have had a hormonal IUD for over 6 years now (inserted a new one 1.5 years ago) so it should not be it. But I'm really thinking about everything now!

I'm not terminally ill as well and the throat I can live with, but this with a high fever and having to nibble Alvedon and Ipren just to be able to sleep at night and not be bedridden during the day, it does not feel good.

Note a tip that you can remember when you get a fever in the future! You know how much you sweat at night when the fever goes down if you take alvedon before bedtime? You splash in the bedding haha. Sleep in a long terry bathrobe! Best thing! Absorbs everything, even around the whole arms :) And to mix Alvedon (paracetamol) and Ipren (ibuprofen) do not choose one or the other, it is magic it too, even for sore throat in fact. / The girl who begins to learn to live with a fever.

But Miska is in any case very cute and cooked anti-inflammatory food for me every day and has bought home type "good bacteria" that I take in the morning. He has delved into a lot of things like that and read a book from the USA about bacteria. So it's good with a helpful and knowledgeable boyfriend ♥

It's all about contacts
This is a small and rather insignificant thing, but I still got a little ego boost when it went my way! A large company that I work with wants to sell an innovation to an existing makeup brand and I mentioned a super large brand where I have a contact. Not a person I know because we are acquaintances but us know each other in the makeup industry you could say. This contact is of course incredibly busy all the time and in a completely different time zone in the world than we are. But in the end we got through her contact information to the head of product development. This was a few months ago and the company I work with a bit has tried for a long time to get answers, but has not succeeded.

Now they are going to the country where the head office is located and of course want to have a meeting instead, but how do you book a meeting with a person who is too busy to answer emails? Joo you ask Helena for help;) haha zero humility with me here!

No, but I had to contact them and CC them into the email conversation and everything was resolved. Thanks little me! Even if none of this concerns my own company, it still feels great fun and a little credible to help with something that is important to judgment. You should never be afraid to help others, apart from the fact that it is fun, it usually leads to greater benefits in the long run as well :)

Looking for new premises
As you know, we want to change premises for the salon for several reasons. We had one in sight but it did not happen in the end anyway, so last Monday we were looking at another. It is in full renovation so we had to wear a helmet, construction work shoes and reflective vest due to safety rules haha.

This room would be optimal as it has a good location, will be completely newly renovated with ventilation etc. and there is a small downstairs also where you can have a warehouse, staff room and staff toilet.

The only downside is that it will take much longer before it is ready than we are willing to wait. So I continue the search and have sent an expression of interest on 10 other premises! But it is difficult to know what to prioritize, there are cheap and very nice premises as long as you end up 10-15 minutes walking distance from the center where we get better premises for about half the price. But at the same time, it is not worth having cheaper rent if the booking schedule will be empty because people think it is too long. And you do not know until you test, and then it's a little late;)

Just this week, however, we were told that we have a new property owner on our current premises who booked a meeting with us next week. You should never hope for too much, but the most beautiful thing would be if it is a sensible person who understands the value of having us left - what if they could have invested in improving the premises instead and we would have avoided moving completely :) is really not very likely though but you can always wish;)

Homework 3 days
I do not have a physically strenuous job so I can work even though I am ill, but you are still far from as efficient and focused as you otherwise are. But the good thing about it is that when the brain does not keep up, you can take the opportunity to fix small things that you have thought about for a long time but never had the time to deal with.

One of the things was that I lay in bed and made "highlights" on my Instagram, you know if you go to a profile you can see selected Insta Stories at the top with both movies and photos? :) I think it's a fun thing because I only have high-resolution system camera images in the flow, so you can still offer more "live" content such as mobile-taken make-up images and small film clips from everyday life and so on.

I love quality and nice pictures, but it's also fun to be able to offer a little everyday life that does not always have to be so nicely arranged. A bit like these Sunday posts too, which mainly consist of half-baked mobile pictures :)

This is what it looks like on my Instagram now! The categories are full pictures of make-up, eye pictures of make-up, work stuff, travel pictures and then one that is a bit mixed :)

When the alveolus was about to go out of the system and I got a fever dip, I lay half in bed and worked by building up with the blanket behind the computer so that it was possible to write half lying down. But it went so well:

There you can sit;)

I have also mixed my own lipstick with paint cans that I received in a press release from Pixi! You can read more about it in yesterday's post.

I used my hand and arm to test the domonic tones before I mixed a larger amount in the jar :)

This was so much fun! Making makeup is, as you know by now, a big dream for me! Imagine when we get home samples for our very own makeup brand - wow!

Surely it turned out fine? I really overpainted my lips, not to get bigger lips but to get more lipstick haha!

Perfect autumn and winter color for a cozy knitted sweater!

I have worked a lot during the weekend as well and caught up with things I did not have time for during the week when I sat with the new company presentation + was not so effective when I felt bad. But now I'm fit again so it has not been hard at all, just fun :)

Hope you all have a fantastic Sunday ♥

This week I feel much, much better than last week! I ate the last antibiotic tablet yesterday and now you can help me keep my fingers crossed that I stay healthy! Do not want to go on the same sore throat and fever tangle in a month again! :)

iPhone X
How easy it was in the past when you knew that if you bought a new phone, you started on a "blank sheet". You just put in the old sim card and continued as usual, no backup, apple ID or subscription with different GB surf that you have to decide on. A new phone meant 100% joy!

Now it's about 50% joy and 50% "I shit in this fucking phone I drive with my old one instead!" Lol. I do not have bad patience at all except when it comes to technology.

When it is not possible to back up because the phone memory is full, and then it is not possible to back up to the computer either without first having to update to new versions on iTunes here and there. So I get shovels :)

But now it's ready! So I bought a new phone this week because mine was having trouble with both the camera, when talking on the phone and with the speakers. But now I have an iPhone X with a much better camera and it's fun just one such thing!

AND so I got a little ego boost from the fact that I managed to solve all the technical hassle on my own. It's so easy to ask Miska for help but I'm trying to be a little more independent. It is always useful to learn things yourself, but above all I think from a feminist angle, that it is not just Miska who will take care of everything related to technology, the car and fix things that break down in the home. This summer I cooked e.g. locked on our patio door and put up a broken cabinet door in the kitchen, far outside my comfort zone but I did it and was so damn happy! :) Same now with the phone! Go girl !!

When I got home in the evening, I hung out in the makeup room for probably an hour and tested the mobile camera, great fun! There are a few different settings you can use so that it becomes blurry in the background as with a real system camera, that's what I like to play with!

Helena's Horoscope
Do you believe in horoscopes, spirituality and such? I do! I also believe that many such things are science actually only that we have not researched evidence yet.

I follow Helena's Horoscope which is an astroblog on Amelia and she also mixes in a lot of details about success and dreams, I love it! :) I strongly believe that such things are connected, the law of attraction e.g. This week I even bought a pepper package that she made with both horoscopes and turhoroscopes but also exercises and tips with a focus on realizing her dreams.

One thing I got from her is that the number 8 stands for money and if you clean your wallet and put in a note with the number 8, the economy will improve. I did this not only in my wallet but also in the reception at the salon AND in the door frame at Annika's old premises that she will sell or rent out.

We got a quick return on the premises immediately, it had been a bit slow but after only 2 hours she came and said that two of them had already heard from her! How sick is it? :)

I first thought of printing a picture of a nice 8 but I think it gives more energy to write it myself. I also put on some small sheets and visualized all the time while I drew that at the next hug meeting we will see the metrics on the report skyrocket and everything is thanks to this eight haha! Continuation follows, I must say;) Now this is fine on our receipt printer ♥

New company presentation
We want to start our own make-up brand and this week I spent a lot of time with the presentation that we will email out to producers. We will probably be able to do it next week! I only have a few small things left :)

Last Wednesday I worked from home and then I almost just sat with this.

I fixed prototype pictures in photoshop to give a picture of what we are looking for and to illustrate the size, I cut in a picture of our prototype as if I was holding it in my hand. But to get the right size on the hand (that is, how I would keep my fingers), I went through my sewing box to find various buttons and stuff and measured which gadgets I the right size. So I photographed them and then in photoshop I replaced the gadget with our prototype :)

It turned out very well actually !! I long until I can tell you about our concept !!

I have worked with this every night and made a cozy moment of it with tea, fire and cat cuddles on the couch!

Poddpaus & Clear Thoughts
I have never seen myself as one of those "mobile addicts" who spend a lot of time scrolling and scrolling. I'm not doing it. On the other hand, I have realized that I always push my own thoughts away because I constantly listen to podcasts!

Podcasting is my thing because I can listen to it even though I do benefit. I listen almost constantly actually, even when I wash off the makeup and brush my teeth, it's too boring if I do not listen to anything at the same time.

I like it! I get inspired and mix general education, humor and work-related (both around entrepreneurship & beauty) but it is actually not so good in the long run I have noticed… So now I have taken a podcast break!

Why? Even though I think it's nice and not a bit hard to listen, it requires focus, it's not like listening to music. I never feel quiet and my brain is constantly running - which results in it becoming much tougher and more tired than it should be.

I started with the podcast break last week and I already feel the difference! Partly I am more focused when I work but also I have a better memory. But also, am I a little more in touch with "myself" if you understand what I mean? I listen to my own thoughts and it becomes almost like meditation :)

Most people probably do not listen to as much podcast etc. as I do, but if you do or do something else that constantly takes focus, I can really recommend that you treat yourself to a little silence and let your brain rest. We are not made to stimulate the brain exactly all the time.

This is a typical picture of how I always looked before, always headphones in my ears. We'll see how long I run this podcast detox, but I'll never listen as much as I did before. I notice so big difference, it's not worth it!

New treatments on the website
I have also updated the website because Helene has new treatments underway! At present she does carboxy, lymph drainage and massage, but now she has also trained further with microneedling (brand BCN), deep cleansing and the facial dermaOXY which slides hyaluronic acid into the skin. So fun!

It is not published on the website yet but I have prepared everything ready so it will be published next week :)

I always feel so smart when I sit with html codes haha! It's not a bit difficult but it's still a bit cool to write characters and then it's a nice headline with a banner background as well :)

I also photographed the dermaOXY treatment so that we have some pictures on the website!

New month
Now October is over, it's a new month and that means reports and statistics, invoices, salary lists to be fixed, the campaign pictures to be replaced, receipts and documentation to be handed in to our finance girl and more, and more.

The beginning of autumn is always calmer for us, so we have averaged 71% occupancy (meaning that the staff is 71% booked and 29% unbooked) which is perfectly ok but during the summer we were above 90% so there is a difference in the reports. But we have grown so much that a quiet month for us now would have been a dream month when we started with employees!

You do not have to have that lump of worry when you pull the report receipt out of the cash register if you say so :)

We get the reports from the cashier on a long receipt which I then go through and write in our statistics documents etc. It is super important to keep track of the finances! We sell a lot but also have huge costs so there are still months when we go minus.

Make-up films
Since I have a new phone with a much better selfie camera, I tried for fun to film two make-up films with it!

The quality can not be compared with the system camera, but I still thought I would only use them on Instagram, as a small bonus to many make-ups, so there does not have to be any HD quality anyway :)

So I take my step-by-step pictures just as usual, but at the same time the mobile is set up and filming, so there will be no pictures or film without both!

Then I have iMovie on the phone so on the bus to work I cut the movie down to 1 minute. Goes fast and smooth! I would like to be able to change the light and color as well, but it does not work in the mobile version apparently. So it's completely unedited but think it was pretty light and stuff anyway. The results will be on my Instagram @ imakeyousmile.se soon!

The work week ended with me working from home on Friday and then going to Stockholm with Frida for hotel night and heels in the roof! We had so, so much fun! I love to dance! :) And now I will do some good at home and recharge the batteries for a new work week tomorrow.

Have a great Sunday everyone! ♥