Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Frenzoo Updates

Enhancements:

  • Greater commenting power! You can comment on individual entries within a show, instead of merely on a whole show! Let your favourite contestants know how much you like their entries!
  • Greater deleting power! Make a mistake in a comment? Now you can delete it and try again, on any wall in Frenzoo!
  • More profile power! Edit your ztylist nickname and status from your profile page!
  • More zooming power! Male avatars can now zoom to their upper half, and you now get zoom control in the hair and beauty sections of your closet!

Thank you, Frenzoo!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Frenzoo launches its newest goodies!

It's an exciting time for Frenzoo: a whole heap of new features have just been introduced! Right from the get-go, as soon as you log in, you'll start experiencing the differences!

Front up for a new look

Part of the main page

The landing site contains a wealth of information that we would previously have had to search the site for: different varieties of news, competition results, popular products and people, and recently personalized items, are now all featured on the main page!

All-new Frenzoo mag

Magazine header

The Frenzoo mag is all you'd expect from a magazine put out by the classy Frenzoo team: polished and to the point, the mag fills you in on all the latest Frenzoo features and what's happening in the community. Expect even more content in the future!

Save me, Help Angel!

Help Angel button

In the wake of the Superhero contest, a new Superhero has arisen, and her name is Help Angel! She will provide context-sensitive help at the touch of a button!

Strike a pose, there's nothing to it

Posing your ztylist is now a more individual and fun experience than ever before! VIPs can create animations for their shops, and everyone can create personalized animations, by combining poses in the Pose Creator. As with the Design Tool for clothing and accessories, the Pose Creator is simple enough that you can learn how to use it quickly, but is sophisticated enough that you can make some really nifty animations if you spend enough time with the tool. Importantly for me, you can also choose your own facial expression to go with the body movements!

Dreaming of a new outfit?

Try out the new Dream Outfit feature! Here, you get a chance to rifle through the contents of all the shops and all the content creators' work, try it on and snap an image of the result, all without spending those precious coins! Even better, you can save the result, so you don't have to go searching for all those items again!

New shop items

The Frenzoo team has been working frantically to bring you a whole heap of new items in the shops – including the Freebie Shop! Go check it out, now!

Watch for bugs (yuk!)

This is an important time to watch for bugs on the Frenzoo site! As with anything new, there are always a few bugs to be ironed out; getting rid of bugs make the site easier and more pleasant to use! So, if you see a bug, try to be as detailed as possible in your report – the Frenzoo team needs to be able to replicate the bug in order to fix it, and to see if it's fixed. See this forum post if you are looking for a place to report bugs, and this post for more information on how to report.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

"KISS and Makeup" – Makeup hygiene

Makeup - it's not always pretty :) 

Makeup hygiene – simple, effective, and uncommon.

Hygiene in general has a simple principle: prevent bacteria, fungi and viruses from getting where they don't belong. Hygiene prevents illness and promotes health, both for ourselves and for other people.

Makeup hygiene is the practice of using makeup and makeup application tools in such a way as to prevent illness. Seems simple enough, yes? And yet, many people who use makeup, including makeup artists, do so in an unhygienic fashion.

What sort of illness could you get from makeup? Most commonly, infections.

What sort of infection? This depends on how you have treated your makeup and makeup tools. If other people have been using them, you are potentially being exposed to infections that those other people have had. STDs, herpes simplex, colds and influenzas come to mind first, but essentially anything that has a sufficient lifespan (lives long enough to be transmitted to you) or has the correct vector (right way of getting to you, for example, by contact, through water droplets, or whatever) can reach you through your make up. Secondly, makeup "goes off". What does this mean? Makeup that has gone off will often contain a fungal or bacterial culture. If you put it on, the chances are good that you will "get sick" – you will be infected with that bacteria or fungus, or a combination of multiple bacteria and fungi.

Yuk! No wonder makeup wearers sometimes end up breaking out in spots (bacterial infection), getting conjunctivitis (bacterial or viral infection), or suddenly starting to get cold sores (herpes simplex) where they had never had them before.

What can you do to prevent yourself from catching all this nasty stuff? The following list contains many ideas that will boost your makeup hygiene and prevent illness:

  • Wash your hands often. Go to the loo? Wash your hands. About to apply makeup or just finished? Wash your hands. About to eat or just finished? Wash your hands. You get the idea. :)
  • Keep your hands away from your face. Where possible, do not use your hands to apply makeup; if your hands are the best tool, at least wash, but preferably disinfect your hands.
  • Wash or dispose of makeup tools after each session, and after each person. Wash brushes and sponges; dispose of spatulas, mascara brushes and gloss wands.
  • Disinfect everything you wash. Isopropyl alcohol is cheap and effective. Put some in a spray container for convenience.
  • Keep your kit clean! If you spill something, clean it up asap, and disinfect.
  • Do not use makeup straight from the container. Use a palette and a spatula.
  • Do not blow air on anything! Not brushes, not your client's face! Blowing air is just as bad as spitting.
  • Do not "double dip". This contaminates the product in use.
  • Dispose of products BEFORE they go off. I can't emphasize this enough – if you think the product has gone off due to smell or appearance, you may be TOO LATE! The product may already have turned, and may be causing you an infection. Therefore, keep a close eye on "best before" dates, and have a regular routine of throwing out products before they become a problem.
  • Keep mascara for a maximum of 3 months.
  • Keep lipstick for 1-2 years, lip liner for 3 years, lip gloss for 6 months.
  • Keep foundation for less than 2 years.

Discontinue use of a product if you suspect it is making you sick. If you have symptoms that persist, see a doctor. You may find that you require treatment, either for an infection or for an allergic reaction to a cosmetic product you are using.

Correct hygiene takes extra time, but prevents you from getting sick. Isn't that worth it?