This post has been a long time coming, and is maybe the most difficult one I've ever written. After years of swimming in beauty products, and loving every minute of it, I'll no longer be posting in this space. It's not that I don't still love everything beauty, but my interests and passions have changed and expanded over the years -- which I think is totally normal, and one of the best things about living. Over the past couple of years I've found myself wishing I could blog about cooking, or restaurants, or travel, or my new hobby -- DIY projects and refinishing furniture (I know, I know...that's a HUGE departure from lip glosses!).

I've had an amazing time building Beauty Addict over the past few years; through the blog I've been able to experience some pretty surreal moments, most notably, the first time I stepped backstage at Fashion Week, and being featured in the New York Times. I've had so much fun, learned something new every day, made a little money, and best of all, I've made some honest-to-goodness lifelong friends who I treasure.

From my heart of hearts, I thank all of you who've read, commented, reached out, and encouraged me over the years. The best part about this blog was always the interaction with readers and fellow beauty junkies!

So where do I go from here? Well, many of you know that I've been living part-time in Hawaii the past couple of years. Right now, John and I are working with our landlord to fix up and manage a vacation rental home here in Honolulu, and we're having an amazing time with the process.

We realized we had a unique opportunity to write about our experiences, from documenting our efforts to fix up the house and its furnishings, to sharing local restaurant reviews with our guests and tips on things to do in Hawaii (some features on Hawaiian beauty products are guaranteed to sneak their way in, too).

So we've attached a blog to the website for our vacation rental, which is still in progress -- right now we're waiting for the professional photos of the space, and then we'll be ready to start renting it out. In the meantime we've started to post some updates on our progress, and I have to admit, it feels really good to be blogging again.

I hope you'll check out our vacation rental website at Hillside Hideaway (and consider booking with us if you're ever planning a trip here).

And definitely check out the blog! Things are just getting started, but I promise it'll be a fun collection of DIY projects, decorating ideas, photos, restaurant reviews, recipes, tropical-style beauty features, and local tips.

As for beauty, I'm planning on keeping my original passion alive through Twitter (@beauty_addict) and Pinterest. I'll use Twitter to share my likes and loves just like before, albeit in a shorter format. And if you're not yet familiar with Pinterest, it's an online pinboard where you can document favorite products, ideas, photos and inspirations. Kind of like a "Favorites" folder on steroids. I love it, and have been using it to pin favorite things like clothes and accessories, recipes, home and DIY inspirations, and lately, beauty products -- because even though I'm not blogging here anymore, I'll always be a beauty addict.

Catch me on Pinterest here. If you need an invite, email me at kristen@hawaiihillsidehideaway.com.

Keep up with me on Twitter here, at my original Twitter handle.

Again, a huge thank you to each and every one of you who read this blog and helped keep Beauty Addict fun and vibrant over the years. I hope to see many of you over on Twitter or at the Hillside Hideaway blog!

Lots of love and aloha,
Kristen