I’m sorry Vanity Girls … what a whirlwind of a Holiday we had.  We’re putting out an official press release – but we had 50% growth over last year just for the Holiday season and a 75% growth for the company.  Our elves were working so hard!

One great phone call we got was from a new Vanity Girl named Melissa out NYC.  This Newbie YouTube Guru has been sharing her journey with us.  We love that she is just doing what she loves, telling her unique point of view from a Latina with a bit of sass from the East Coast.

Newbie YouTube Guru @MissMissyBooFul

She and her hubby are outfitting her soon to launch Vanity Room where she will be filming her YouTube videos.  She picked her paint and her backstage mirror will be glossy white. She may even do an assembly video with her White Hollywood Vanity.

If you listen closely to this vid, her hubby teases her that he loves that this makeup table purchase is allowing him to claim his bathroom sink space back from his boo-ful’s makeup junkie habit.

As she gears up to launch her dream of becoming a YouTube guru, it just got me to thinking about dreams and pursuing them.   My dream took vision, it still takes hard work and sometimes REALLY deep breaths to overcome obstacles and frustrations, but in the end is all worth it when I hear a story like Melissa’s.

Like once upon a time, I sat at a commercial lighted vanity at Burke Williams on Sunset Blvd.,  post lay-off, and had my ah-hah moment.  Why couldn’t women everywhere feel like this?  Why suffer in a steamy bathroom with bad lighting?

Beyond that …. I thought lighted makeup mirrors would bring a little piece of Hollywood Glam to women everywhere.  I dreamed of a social media community (at that time, I thought I would build my own – and then quickly gave that up to do our Facebook page which now has close to 12,000 fellow makeup junkies worldwide.  I dreamed that someone like Kim Kardashian or Mariah Carey would use our vanities, that major brands would want us, that VanityGirlTV would make its YouTube debut and the list goes on and on.

Me & Evegail of NYX as we talk about vanities for their brand-new (gorgeous) YouTube Studio. I have studio envy lol.

As we all launch into our 2012 ToDo lists and think about all the cool new things we want to accomplish, I think sometimes it’s also important to just reflect on all the amazing things you have already done!  I’d love for you to share yours with us on FB or right here.

I am so grateful for all of you who have embraced our products, make videos, write posts, tweet me, FB me, etc etc.  I love the looks you create in the mirror.  I love the daughters and nieces and BFF’s you share time with teaching them how to do a Cat Eye or declump their mascara.

I simply love all of you and wish you the best year ever!

xoxo

Maxine aka @VantyGirl

At the 2011 Golden Globes Gifting Lounge

… to me!  What an amazing and crazy past year it has been.  I woke up at the crack of dawn, all excited like it was Christmas morning and I’m not even sure why lol.  I think I’m just grateful today, which is really nice.  I have to admit, I get a little crazy around my birthday.  Like all these feelings of wanting the perfect party and dumb stuff like that come up and I stress myself out which is completely unnecessary.  Today, I’m just really happy for all the great things in my life.  My family, my friends, my health, living in a LA, the ability to travel, to write, to host and last but certainly not least … all of YOU.

Dreams really do come true! Like, once upon a time … Vanity Girl Hollywood was just this thought, “I wonder if we made vanities, like the kind you see backstage at a runway show or on a Hollywood set, would any one really want one too?”  I was lucky enough to have someone who believed in my dream and then even luckier when other people started jumping onboard and then this thing became a reality!

OMG.  The first day we sold a vanity I was beside myself.  It was a gal named Cyrstal M out of Ohio in March of 2008 based on an eBay store and a blog, both of which I built myself.  Anyway, fast forward to now and it’s been more amazing than even imagined.  From celebrity clients to awards shows, to becoming a Red Carpet and travel host, to 5,500 fans on Facebook etc etc. WOW. The reason I tell you all of this is because dreams can come true.  My biggest piece of advice would be to find others who will support your dream, because when they are baby dreams, you don’t need to hear dumb stuff, like,

“Well, you can’t do THAT in this economy”

“You didn’t go to school for that.”

“You aren’t smart enough, thin enough, rich enough … ”

Blah blah blah. Whatever.  You ARE enough to have dreams and pursue them.  Please give me the perfect birthday gift and be the Leading Lady in your own life. This is your backstage moment. It’s the whole reason Vanity Girl was created, and thank you so much for being a Vanity Girl, whether you own one of our vanities or not.

It’s a mindset and more importantly, a heartset (is that even a word?) and on my birthday this year, I’m really grateful for my Vanity Girl and Versa Products family and that includes YOU for listening and chatting with me … here on my blog, on Facebook or on Twitter or even in person at one of our events or just out and about here in Hollywood.

Lots and lots of love,

Maxine