ALU blogger Michelle Mismas, who’s collaborated with Barielle and Rescue Beauty Lounge (and been quoted all over the place as a nail expert) was nice enough to ask ME a few questions this week.

Check out my “What’s on your nails?” interview at All Lacquered Up!

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I remember when I was first approached by b5media in the summer of 2006 to write a makeup blog for them. I was beside myself. Makeup Minute officially launched in September of that year and from the start my readers were from all around the globe and just as enthusiastic about makeup as I was. You became a part of my life and I thanked God everyday for such a loyal readership. So many of you have been with me right from the beginning. Getting more exposure as a writer helped me land a really great job at a PR firm that I am eternally grateful for. The more I get involved in the beauty industry, the more requests I get to go speak and teach beauty brands about social media…so readers, if you find yourself at Cosmoprof North America this summer, I will be there speaking.

Writing Makeup Minute has been such a blessing in my life and a great outlet to share my love of makeup with people who understand the need to have 15 lip glosses in their handbag at all times. And maybe a compact. And some blush. And a mascara or two. But I digress…

I will surely miss you all and my family at b5. I am eternally grateful to both. Thank you for the sunshine for the last 2 1/2 years.

Much love (and lipstick),

Shannon Nelson

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Aren’t my boys so handsome? Hope you had a great halloween!

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Lawrence Zarian (of Regis & Kelly), Billy B, Syd Curry (celebrity hairstylist), Gilles Montezin (SATC Movie designer and upcoming Confessions of a Shopaholic) will also be there.

Joining me on the panel is Lianne from TheMakeupGirl and Christine from Temptalia.

I’d love to see you there–and tell your friends! Get 25% when you use the code FASHIONABLE at checkout!

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A fellow beauty blogger, Lianne from TheMakeupGirl, Samara and myself. We were at an Italian restaurant (IL Menestrello) that as Lianne put it, “Was real gangsta!” I had a great time at dinner with these ladies and we certainly laughed a lot.

I was invited to an event at Estee Lauder with Total Beauty and The Beauty Blog Network. We were given a tour of Mrs. Lauder’s office, intact the way she had it while she was still alive. The room was gorgeous, although I remarked on the fact that her bathroom was all mirrors, which kind of freaked me out. Loved the view from her office out to the skyline of New York City. This is the event where I also got a picture with Bobbi Brown.

These are Mrs. Lauder’s antique compacts–aren’t they beautiful?

These were some of the items designed for Runway to Change, which I wrote about on my work blog. And we all know how much I adore Isaac Mizrahi–so when I was paying the cab driver when we pulled up to the event, Isaac was leaving the VIP portion of the party with Russell Simmons in front of him. I tried to make the cab driver move a little faster getting me my change so that I could talk to him, but Isaac was quick and got in his car and left. I was so disappointed, but at least I can say I saw him in person and he has such a bright smile as you see in all of his pictures.

This is Pamela Pekerman, who attended Runway to Change with me (and was also at The Budget Fashionista party where I met Carson Kressley). In full disclosure she is a Pierce Mattie PR client, but nevertheless, she is exceptionally nice and we had a really great chat that night.

Here’s just a small video of what it looked like inside Runway to Change:

This is me in my hotel room a few hours before I had to speak at the HBA Expo (and later that night met Jane Iredale.) Leandro Bare from Lancome came to my hotel room to do my makeup (because he is amazing like that!) He had fallen asleep on the bus ride over and left his whole makeup kit on the bus. So he used what I had. Just goes to show you what an incredible talent he is!

Then this is just me in the last few hours I was in the city hanging out at Pierce Mattie’s Media Oasis.

Of course, look through the archives here and at A Girl’s Gotta Spa! and you’ll find more photos from backstage. I look forward to going back again next year!

*Photo Credit: All photos (c) Shannon Nelson

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Thank you Mike–and thanks to everyone who left comments there!

xo
Shannon

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So check out the issue and subscribe! It is a great magazine and I am so incredibly honored to be in it! Woo!

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Makeup Minute is a cosmetics blog intended to be a fun place for all of my readers to come and feel like they are hanging out with an old friend. My email is posted there in the sidebar and anyone at any time can email me. That means my readers, a cosmetics brand, a PR firm, anyone and for any reason. My comments section is moderated, but anyone at any time is welcome to post a comment.

I think it should be clear that I am not a novice or new to blogging. I have been doing this a long while, originally starting out with A Girl’s Gotta Spa back in 2005. So it greatly annoys me when people come to this blog and post comments promoting their products and company or better yet, attempting to disguise themselves as multiple people praising a product or brand. Maybe they don’t know that I have IP tracking for each comment? Maybe they don’t realize I’m not a newbie excited to even get comments? So let’s be clear, self promotion is not allowed from any company, from any brand, from any PR person or any intern in my comments section. Makeup Minute is for my readers and not to be utilized as an advertising tool for your company.

If I continue to see total disregard and disrespect for me or my readers with said above actions, your company and products will no longer be written about or reviewed here. Period. For one such company who has recently done this, all of those spam comments you posted as enthusiastic consumers have now been deleted.

So please stop wasting my time and allow me to get back to doing what I love most–reviewing makeup and engaging in conversation with my readers. Thank you.

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My 6 year old, Connor, was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (another autism spectrum disorder) a few years ago and well, I knew that was what was going on with him, so the diagnosis fit–no big surprise. He is difficult and wonderful all at the same time. But Gavin? I knew something was going on with him, but could never understand what. He is like Connor just in a different way.

When we had finally gave the doctor the OK to put Gavin on psychiatric meds several months ago, they gave him Straterra. He had bad side effects to it…and dear readers, he tried to kill himself in March. My wonderful loving 9 year old–it devastated me. So I have been taking him to countless doctors since his hospital release and now they all concur what I should’ve seen all along. Aspergers.

It’s not really so bad, there are plenty of famous, brilliant minds who have it. It’s just that schools don’t know how to deal with it–at least not around here. That’s what makes it tough now while he is still young. Having people understand it.

This is what brings me to Autism Speaks. If you are not familiar with autistic spectrum disorders, definitely learn about it and if you are so generous, donate to their charity. Today the Psychiatrist told me that Aspergers diagnosis’ are growing at an alarming rate. It has tripled with 1 in 20 kids now having the disorder. That’s crazy and research needs to be done to find out why.

Autism Speaks…check it out.

*Photo: Brody’s 1st birthday. Gavin is in blue and Connor is in green.

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Picking a winner–Brody picked two, so Duncan picked the winning caption. You can see the intensity and seriousness of the situation.

Duncan proudly reveals that the winner is Michelle Simons.

Congratulations Michelle! You now get to have a Spinlash to call your own! I’ll be emailing you shortly!

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