Why I Beauty Blog & Vlog
1. I'm a woman who loves makeup and all things beauty. Let me rephrase: I could rattle off stats (for makeup brands, magazines, favorite looks, models from the 80s and on) and create a beauty version of Fantasy Football (Why aren't we?).
2. I've learned to embrace this passion in a way the doesn't cripple my self-image: It used to. I once saw makeup as an escape from how I looked and what I didn't like. Today, as Tony Robbins as it sounds, it has the opposite effect of fueling a positive self-image. I envy the girls coming of age in this decade, because the messages were much different 15 years ago.
3. I can write, and I can review: Bachelor's in Journalism and 10 years as a journalist make me dissect a beauty product and geek-out. When makeup brands started putting the 24-hour stamp on their products, I actually did test their products for a full 24 hours. Then I saw other reviewers laughing at the concept and realized I was alone.
4. I hate beauty marketing: In America, there are no standards for how to market a beauty product. This baffles me, that we are behind other developed countries with stricter standards on airbrushing, retouching, claims, and even quality control. Yes, American beauty cosmetics have looser standards on ingredients and can include things that other countries have banned for safety reasons. That said, I'm not an ingredient nazi and don't live in paranoia. My advice is to always keep yourself informed and try to keep the emotion out of your purchasing habits: Know what is good because it's been independently backed up, not because a brand claims it will work miracles (and they do literally make those claims). I love how a good beauty reviewer can level this, and by "good" I mean ethical, intelligent, knowledgeable, succinct. As beauty blogging explodes, the irony is it's becoming harder to find a truly good blogger. I don't claim to be that; I just say the marketability of blogging has unfortunately created many advertisers in blogger's clothing.
5. It pushes me out of my comfort zone: Inherently, I am extremely shy. Putting myself out there, even on paper and especially in video format, is always a test to my nature. It works in a good way.
6. I get surprised: My most read beauty review by leaps and bounds is of Kett Hydro Foundation. I wrote it in April 2011, and it still gets the most reads daily. Unfortunately, it was a negative review. All those views put some sense of accountability on me to the point where I think I should do a second chance. To other beauty bloggers/vloggers: Kett is where it's at. Review it and they will come.
2. I've learned to embrace this passion in a way the doesn't cripple my self-image: It used to. I once saw makeup as an escape from how I looked and what I didn't like. Today, as Tony Robbins as it sounds, it has the opposite effect of fueling a positive self-image. I envy the girls coming of age in this decade, because the messages were much different 15 years ago.
3. I can write, and I can review: Bachelor's in Journalism and 10 years as a journalist make me dissect a beauty product and geek-out. When makeup brands started putting the 24-hour stamp on their products, I actually did test their products for a full 24 hours. Then I saw other reviewers laughing at the concept and realized I was alone.
4. I hate beauty marketing: In America, there are no standards for how to market a beauty product. This baffles me, that we are behind other developed countries with stricter standards on airbrushing, retouching, claims, and even quality control. Yes, American beauty cosmetics have looser standards on ingredients and can include things that other countries have banned for safety reasons. That said, I'm not an ingredient nazi and don't live in paranoia. My advice is to always keep yourself informed and try to keep the emotion out of your purchasing habits: Know what is good because it's been independently backed up, not because a brand claims it will work miracles (and they do literally make those claims). I love how a good beauty reviewer can level this, and by "good" I mean ethical, intelligent, knowledgeable, succinct. As beauty blogging explodes, the irony is it's becoming harder to find a truly good blogger. I don't claim to be that; I just say the marketability of blogging has unfortunately created many advertisers in blogger's clothing.
5. It pushes me out of my comfort zone: Inherently, I am extremely shy. Putting myself out there, even on paper and especially in video format, is always a test to my nature. It works in a good way.
6. I get surprised: My most read beauty review by leaps and bounds is of Kett Hydro Foundation. I wrote it in April 2011, and it still gets the most reads daily. Unfortunately, it was a negative review. All those views put some sense of accountability on me to the point where I think I should do a second chance. To other beauty bloggers/vloggers: Kett is where it's at. Review it and they will come.
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