Want Some Extra Cash? eBay Those Clothes!

Take a look at everything in your wardrobe. Can you honestly say that you wear everything in there?

My guess is that the answer is no and this is where you can start making money.

I lived in rented accommodation whilst I was university which I funded with my student loan and my saturday retail job. If any of you have been to university you probably did the same irresponsible thing as me when that loan came in and spent most of the money on clothes, drinking, food and other wasteful resources. One term, in my second year, I went too far and spent all my money on a huge shopping trip. I have to admit I was a complete shopaholic (I have it a bit more under control now I don’t have a student loan and earn a pitiful minimum wage as a waitress/actress.) I had no money left to pay my rent, the banks wouldn’t give me a credit card as I already had a student overdraft and couldn’t face asking my parents for money, now that I was a responsible adult!

I had to make money some how and fast. This was when I opened up my 4 huge wardrobes (Yes 4! I had a huge room) and realised I hadn’t worn most of the clothes in at least 6 months and some items still even had the tags on. Ebay was the way forward!

I have to admit it was painful to part with some of the clothes I sold on Ebay. I loved most of them but I said to myself “If you haven’t worn it in the last 6 months, you probably won’t ever wear it again.”

I made over £400 and was able to pay my rent on time.

Tips For Selling On Ebay

• Be brutal with your possessions. If you don’t wear it sell it, plus its better to sell items whilst they are still in fashion. You won’t regret it once you see the money build up. 
• Only sell good quality items. If the dress has a stain or has shrunk in the wash, don’t try and sell it to others without making a clear note of it on the sellers page. It is dishonest and will likely get you negative seller feedback and you will have to give them a refund.
• Be relistic about how much the item will sell for. It may have cost you £40 last year but it’s not new fashion and it has been worn. It will go for alot less than what you bougtht it for but those £3 here and there really do add up.
• Ebay often do free listing for sellers. If you put a starting bid on at over 99p item you will be charged a listing fee. This cost can add up so its great to take advantage of this offer when you see it.
• Download the Ebay phone app. It is time consuming listing items on Ebay but the phone application make it a lot easier. It enables you to upload photos straight from your phone and it is overall easier and less fiddly.
• Schedule a listing time. The best time for your bidding to finish is in the middle of the week at around 9pm. More people will be browsing the web then rather than on Saturday morning at 4am. This only costs 6p and is more likely to get you those bids.

So if you need to make a quick buck and have a wardrobe full of unworn clothes then eBay is the way forward. Tested and proven! 

My Blonde Highlighted Hair

I got my hair highlighted yesterday and I was very happy with the results so I thought I better share it with you all.

I have never found a hairdresser that I have stuck with. Either they are to expensive, made my hair too blonde, not blonde enough, the streaks were too thin, to wide or they didn’t get the colour close enough to the roots. Maybe I’m too picky or just dam unlucky.

Finally I have found a hairdresser that got it right. Hooray! My sister found this girl on Gumtree who needed models to show her work on. So the best thing was it was free! She is a great person and a great hairdresser. Next time she said she would come to my flat to do a full head of highlights for half the price it would cost at regular london salon. I feel Lucky!

Last time I came out of the hairdressers I looked as if I hadn’t even been. I still had roots. I don’t know what happened but the streaks were so thin they were barley visible. In fact, somehow she had actually managed to make my hair darker. So this time I said I wanted to go BLONDE!

My sister had a full colour change. She went for this gorgeous copper, red colour which I love. It makes her hair look so silky and shinny.

She was worried that the hair was too Amy Childs like, but I make her realise that she had a completely different look and there was nothing to worry about. Ha!

My Everyday Makeup

This is the makeup that I wear on a daily basis. Nothing fancy just my everyday look.

If its the weekend or a night out I will juzz it up a lot more with different brands, eyeshadows, highlighters and maybe even eyelashes.

My basic make up never stays the same for long. I get bored with products and switch it up mainly changing foundations, eyeliners and blushers.

FACE

Foundation – Revlon Photoready. I am loving this foundation. I rarely buy a foundation twice as usually when I get to the end of the bottle my skin starts behaving weird with it, but I am on my second bottle of this. The coverage is great and great for combination skin.

Powder – Rimmel Stay Matte. Light coverage that makes my face matt. I do lightly brush my face with this powder again by midday as my skin does get oily.

Bronzer – Benefit 10 – This is a bronzer and highlighter and I have to admit it is not my favourat product. I went to buy Dallas but they were out of stock so I thought I would try 10. It doesn’t have a strong enough bronze for me but I use it as my everyday makeup so it doesn’t go to waste.

EYES

Mascara - Maybelline The Falsies - Easy to apply, thick coverage with only 2 coats. This is undeniably a great mascara for everyone by I only wear it in for everyday normal occasions as I have long eyelashes which touch my brow so I find that it can leave marks above and below my eyes when worn for too long.

Eyeliner - Revlon Colourstay Liquid Eye Pen – I discovered these eyeliner pens recently and find them so quick and easy to use compared to usual liquid eyeliners. Smooth lines on top lid and they make it easy to do flicks at the end of your eye.

Eyebrows - Benefit Brow Zings - I love this brow kit. It comes with shaping wax, powder, brushes and mini tweezers. Downfall is the guy at the Benefit counter told me to go for the medium colour but when I got home the colour was too dark. I do need the light shade but will use this until it runs out.

LIPS

Lipstick - Mac Yasha - I always wear nude lips in the daytime so this matte light brown is perfect for me. It gives my lips a bit of colour and helps shape them.

Lip Balm - Body Shop Born Lippy Stick, Toffee - Smells amazing, easy to apply and does the jobs of keeping my lips smooth with a very light tinted colour as a bonus.

Whats Your Typecast

If someone asked you what character you would cast yourself as, what would you say?

The tough guy?
The geek?
The slut?
The mother?

I had this discussion with a group of actor friends of mine and found it quite surprising about how they viewed themselves.

Typecasting isn't based on your personality but it is the way you look. A 6ft tall, size 8, very attractive female is highly unlikely to ever ever be cast as a butch, aggressive criminal in a gangster movie, even if she has had a few clash ins with the police in real life. She would most likely be cast as the beautiful girlfriend or successful business women.

I noticed that most people cast themselves as how they want to be viewed as a person and not how they stereotypically look. A male friend of mine thinks his casting is the leading man and the successful entrepreneur. I was shocked by this as he has only ever played supporting roles as the thug or the common best mate. When I told him what he would actually get cast as, he got very defensive and said he hates it when people cast him as the thug for the reason that they are not the roles he wants.

Well tough luck! The acting world is cruel and if you want to get jobs and become successful you need to embrace your typecast as no one is ever going to cast you as the innocent teenager when you are in your mid twenties and covered in tattoos. You will just be fighting a losing battle. You may not at first like being stereotyped but once you embrace it and the jobs start coming in, you will soon start to appreciate it.

Some of my type casts are like my personality and others aren't.

My type casts:
Bimbo - very stereotypical, as I am a blonde.
Girl next door - I have a young face.
The girlfriend - just a role that I always get cast in.
The bitch - not something I would ever want to be perceived as in real life but as a slim blonde people seem to cast me as the bitch.
The young professional - I've been the librarian, the trainee nurse, the office worker. This one stubs me as why from my appearance but I like to think its because I look smarter than I am. Ha!

Of course I would love to play many other characters but I have excepted these are the role I usually get auditions for just from my headshot.

A lot of very successful actors seem to have got stuck with their typecast and recycle their performances over again but it is great to see that many are able to get the opportunities to break this cycle.

Helena Bonham Carter - Crazy, eccentric typecast. (Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland.) This character has done well for her recently in Hollywood with the help of her husbands, Tim Burton, movies. I am happy to see her branching out more (The Kings Speech) to show her true talent. We know she is a great actress from all her previous work, before Hollywood came calling.

Colin Firth - Wet, serious and awkward typecast. A great example of an actor that used his look to his advantage but since his roles in The Kings Speech and A Single Man he has been able to break away from his typecast.

Others however, use it to their advantage as they don't seem to have the acting ability to create other characters.
Hugh Grant
Jennifer Anderson
Sarah Jessica Parker

The most legendary actors are the ones that never play the same characters twice in movies but you need to play to your typecast when starting out in your career.

Embrace your typecast as a newbie because as an actor your appearance is your first selling point, so you might as well use it to your advantage.

The Best British Actress - Natalie Dormer

I have been obsessing over the actress Natalie Dormer for the last year. Not only is she an amazing actress but I love her casual beauty look.

I first saw her in TV series The Tudors back in 2005 where she played the role of Jane Eyre. She was amazing and perfectly casted for the role. She isn't known as a huge star yet but only give it time and I think she will be the next big hit. If you don't know who she still is she has more recently been in Game of Thrones as Margaery Tyrell.

  

I love her naturally styled hair and the golden blonde colour. She also just always looks amazing in anything she wear.

Last year I unexpectedly saw her in the play After Miss Julie at the Young Vic Theatre in London. Natalie completely stole the show. In my opinion the play isn't the most exciting but she played the role of Miss Julie so perfectly I was grabbed the whole way through.

I bought the play, learnt a monologue and got the next audition I went to. I was so excited about the play and in love with the character that it obviously came across in my audition. It's definitely a monologue that I keep in my back pocket.

Yes, I want to like her in every sense!

Am I a Waitress or an Actress?

I like to call myself an Actress but in reality I work far more as a waitress and definitely earn more money as a waitress.

A casting director once told me, “You can’t call yourself an actor unless you are getting regulary paid work for acting.”

So the fact that I have been trained in acting and that most of my past work has been profit share for fringe theatre show or my own work I have put on in tiny theatres, where I most definitely didn’t pay myself, does this mean I’m not allowed to call myself an actress. Is it just seen as a hobby.

If your parents put you in adverts and shows as a child or your family are in the industry, it is much easier to succeed as an actor. Looking at famous actors IMDB’s they all seen to have their first jobs at a very young age unlike me who is still plugging away at auditions. This isn’t always the case, especially for British actors but the majority of the time it is… I’m not bitter, Promise!

It’s hard to make a living from being an actress and for me working as a waitress is a must at the moment, no matter how much I cringe at saying that's my job and becoming increasingly annoyed at the pubic! However I have clear goals put in place this year so hopefully my luck will finally change. All I need is that paid acting job and I can keep the waitress part of my life a secret for a while.

Overcoming Audition Nerves

Unfortunately to get that role you really want, you have to do something you don’t really want to.

Audition for it!

We all have to go through this tedious, nerve-wracking and sometime embarrassing process. I have done so many auditions over the years that I now rarely get the sweaty palms, turning stomach and uncontrollable nerves.

When I finished my training I was terrified of auditions. I probably suffered the worsted anyone could do, that it nearly stopped me from continuing my career as an actress. At times I struggled to even make it to auditions. But enough was enough and I told to myself ‘Get the hell over it!’ I can’t be an actress without going to auditions. So the next audition I had, I walked into the room, picked up a script, took a deep breath and sight-read (which I am terrified of). The next day I got a call confirming I got the role! Yippee!

Auditions are really not as bad as I had anticipated them to be. 99% of the time everyone is lovely and I now actually quite enjoy them. Casting directors really do want you to do well. They are not people to be afraid of and a lot of them have been in your shoes. I find them usually to be very accommodating, encouraging and positive, especially when they can see that you are nervous.

Although I do believe that the only way to conquer audition nerves is by going to audition after audition and gaining experiences, here are some tips I find really help me when I feel these butterflies coming on:

• Be prepared – If you have a script to learn, learn it well otherwise its likely you will stumble over words and not portray any kind of character.
• Believe in yourself – You can only be yourself and that is the best you can be. Be proud of it and believe you can nail the audition.
• Breathe - It’s so simple and important but most people forget to breathe. It will help you slow down your speech and not speed through it like you can’t wait to get to the end. Plus it helps you relax.
• Warm up – Before you go to the audition, do vocal and physical exercises. This will help you focus and relax.
• Loose yourself in the speech – Don’t think about what you are doing, just do it. It it obvious when people are thinking about what they are doing and not acting on instinct.. This becomes easier after a few auditions but keep at it and you will get there.

All auditions are going to be different and things will happen that are unexpected. Last week I went to an audition for an indie feature film and the casting call was described as:

“Tony’s Girlfriend: Bubbly, fun girl with brains. No preparation needed. Scrip will be given at the audition.” 

When I turn up there were two friendly guys with a camera, they asked a few questions and then told me that the girlfriend was only in one club scene. They asked me to dance for 30 seconds, with NO music, like I was in a club… this is nothing like what I expected. There was no script and no words. I am not a dancer and I don’t even dance in clubs, I sway! It was humiliating and embarrassing but as soon as I walked out of the room I fell about laughing. What us actors do to get a job is crazy and my friends would laugh if they could see me. Oh, and no surprise I didn’t get the part!

Take weird auditions on the chin, dust yourself off and go onto the next.