On eBay, there was only one seller in the whole world! I thought it was strange but then again I thought, it’s an expensive merchandise so it makes sense that there’d be few if any sellers. I researched the seller, she had >1000 positive ratings and the most recent reviews were good. I happily paid $200 and got myself hyped up about it. I even made a blog entry for the contest.

I ordered this stuff right after my final exams in March and I knew I was gonna travel for the next 4 months. The seller informed me that delivery would take 2 weeks and she even sent me a USPS tracking number, which I checked on the website and it said USPS had received notification that the package would be sent. I kept checking my address for the next 2 weeks and… no package. I convinced myself that it would come and bla bla bla. When it was 3 weeks, I started worrying because even when I ordered stuff from China, it never took so long. Finally I received an email from the seller saying the package was scheduled for delivery at the end of next week as informed and a new tracking number. I could have sworn I saw 2 weeks not 4 .5 weeks when I ordered it. I thought oh well at least it’s end of next week, I’ll wait. Just postpone the contest because once I travel I can’t hold it again till August when I return.

It took me a good 10 days to set up my internet at my destination. First place I went was USPS- no package. Checked my address, no delivery. When I went back on ebay, the listing had disappeared. I didn’t understand this mystery. Little did I know that eBay only monitors things for 45 days! When I rang eBay, they said ‘We are sorry, we can’t help you.  Keep trying to contact the seller’!

Rrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiigggggght! I seeeeee…

This evil seller had planned it so well and I was trapped. I wasn’t as annoyed about the money as I was about the scam. It’s so awful. I didn’t re-contact the seller or visit her page. I couldn’t. I was heartbroken.

You’ll be pleased to know that I finally braved up and looked up the seller. Even though I didn’t make it on time, other eBay users did and she has been removed from the site…

Good riddance if you ask me.

I was in Sephora last week and I didn’t recognise any of the new collections. I was not surprised though, according to my reader I have 1612 unread posts! Wow! I better get reading and blogging.

Now If I can just get my life back in order…

He he he! I finally made it through 6 years of medical education and passed all my exams and now they put BSc MBChB after my name . I am ever grateful to God and to my family and friends and everybody who has contributed to my sanity these past few weeks.

It feels weird to be blogging after such a long time and I have just realised that my scheduled posts have been going on (#fail).

What’s next?

Well I’m off to sunny and rainy West Africa for 6 weeks or so, I’m very excited about natural and organic, in-cosmetics, Make-up show and IMATS. I’m gonna be dousing myself with endless make-up and events.

I also have to move houses, graduation is in July and then get used to the shock that is working in the NHS.

I am so happeee!!! No more school!!!

This issue has been on my mind for a long time coming. It first caught my attention when I read somewhere that Tavi Gevinson, the infamous 13 year old blogger had graced the front row at the New York Fashion Week in September. She apparently wore a hat that was so awkward the ‘media’ sitting on the rows behind had difficulty viewing the stage (personally I think the girl is a genius but that is besides the point). Some media were infuriated by the mere sighting of a tiny teenie being given more attention than they were and went on a rampage about ‘bloggers’ taking over fashion shows. It seems like mere bloggers or rather bliggers with laptops as some have suggested, do not have the necessary qualifications to be at such events. All they have is a brain, some fingers and a laptop- not good enough!

I refused to pay any attention to all of that because I’m not a fashion junkie and I chose to be oblivious to the fact that the beauty industry should take a hint. After I read a certain post on a certain make up advice forum, I felt the pinch and was awakened! This editor completely dissected a group of (super amazing) beauty bloggers who she met at IMATS. According to her, bloggers do not have the right to be classed as media (but she does because she is a professionally trained artist with a website) and she was annoyed at how the organisers of the show even conceded to such an idea of having bloggers with press passes.

I happened to also recently visit a site where the editor claimed that he was happy customers could see through the bloggers who were trying to steal them (OK I paraphrased that a bit).

I still refused to budge. I would rather just keep blogging and ignore it all.

I happened to be driving through Elephant & Castle at precisely 2pm on Wednesday afternoon with my dad when something came on the radio that tickled my eardrums. It was a man who was being interviewed about the role bloggers are playing in the media industry. I could not believe my ears when he said bloggers are unprofessional and unedited and will not be taken as seriously as mainstream media (something like that- my dad was munching the bananas quite loudly).

I refuse to ignore it any more. I mean, London radio is huge isn’t it?

On the night of the 82nd Academy Awards when I was looking for images of outfits, as soon as I googled, the first site that came up was Temptalia. If you read or follow Temptalia’s blog, you will see that she puts in a kind of effort that is very hard to find in any beauty magazine. That site had 1 million visitors in 1 month. How can anyone in their right minds say that bloggers will not be taken seriously? That is preposterous.

My dad is an avid historian and he told me of how anyone who drove an automobile in the early days, had to wait until all the pedestrians and animal riders had finished using the roads before they could move. The automobile was new and people could not fathom it. They refused to give it a chance and eventually it took over.

The rate at which bloggers are being generated is a clear message to the so called mainstream media. There is something about bloggers that the media cannot provide that is why we have been embraced. If something is working, there is a reason for it. I understand that most of the writers in mainstream media studied for years for a journalism degree or something similar. They were trained and will mostly find it frustrating that ‘quacks’ are being taken more seriously. I however see that as a questioning of the relevance of such education to online press, if millions of people out there, without that qualification, are doing it (better in some cases). It is not like that with most professions. No one will hire their cousin to represent them in court, it has to be a lawyer. No one will let a neighbour operate on them, it has to be a surgeon. I refuse to believe that just because I do not have a writing degree, I cannot logically put my thoughts together, research deeply, take amazing images and put them out there.

IMATS London had the most pre-event ticket sales in the history of the show. Pardon my ignorance, but I have never read about IMATS in cosmopolitan (my mum is addicted to those so I have no choice but to browse) or elle or marie claire (or whatever else there is). I believe it was solely the work of bloggers and ‘YouTube gurus’ and of course the show organisers. The way I see it is, Tavi has over 4 million readers, I’d give her front row if I organised an event!

Alas this is only a temporary situation. The blogger train is a high speed one and there is no stopping it. The world is changing fast and my best advice to the media is to change with it or face extinction. In fact I believe it is the fear of extinction that is causing all this drama in the first place.

There will always be those (ostentatious or otherwise) who will not reduce themselves to a blog. They’d rather read something in a prestigious magazine or the like. For those who are travelling too, magazines play a huge role. Our generation however, is not accustomed to all of that . We are the online generation and media must adapt. It is not like they have no place and as far as advertising is concerned, we’ll let the advertisers choose where they want their message.

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