Belinda Bennett is a skincare junkie and make-up addict. A former journalist, she started her newspaper career on the Exeter Weekly News, which is no longer in print, in 1983.

She worked for Northcliffe, Newsquest and Archant, and edited the award-winning Midweek Herald for seven years.

Prior to launching a B2B content creation agency in 2015, her final stint in the local press was as a senior page editor for Newsquest. Based at the offices of the Dorset Echo, Weymouth, she sub-edited pages mostly for the Bournemouth Echo and Salisbury Journal.

Belinda was diagnosed with Stage 3 HER2+ inflammatory breast cancer in January 2020. She underwent TCHP (Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin and Perjeta) chemotherapy for six months before being considered a suitable candidate for a mastectomy and lymph node clearance in October of the same year. Pathology revealed a complete response to chemotherapy - no cancer remained. Prevention treatment continued until June 2021 (Herceptin and Perjeta and then just Herceptin, plus 15 x radiotherapy sessions with a bolus).

What saw her through the entire treatment period was her passion for skincare and make-up - her face was the only part of her body not impacted.

She started this blog as part of her road to recovery in December 2020, initially on a WordPress website.

In May 2024, an annual MRI detected an unknown anomaly in Belinda's remaining breast. It didn't show up on a mammogram and an ultrasound-guided biopsy had to be abandoned when the scan couldn't find the problem area. A CT scan confirmed its presence.

In July, Belinda underwent a second mastectomy. Pathology confirmed a small, 1.3cm lobular cancer that was ER+. A second operation to remove a few lymph nodes for testing revealed the cancer had not spread. She is now on Letrozole, a simple daily tablet which she will take for five years.

Throughout this period, the big fear was that the initial cancer had returned. However, that was not the case; it was an entirely different breast cancer. Belinda has been tested for the BRCA gene and the results came back negative. She has chosen her new 'falsies' and was delighted to be able to downsize - 'from mountains to molehills' - and to, at last, have 'breasts that are on the same level'.

Belinda keeps active by working part-time in a busy hotel close to her home on the Dorset coast. This website is purely a passion project - something started during the depths of despair and a pet project that she can't quite let go of. It is not a money-making venture.