14 things no one tells you when you start a beauty blog

Inspired after a conversation with the lovely Gemma from Miss Makeup Magpie the other night, I thought I'd write a bit of a tongue-in-cheek post about the things no one tells you when you start a beauty blog - it's all true, but somewhat silly :)

1.  You WILL get bombarded with emails to try the fecking Younique 3D mascara... OMG leave me alone!

2.  You WILL get loads of emails from 'SEO's' telling me I rank badly for important terms - get lost, can't you see I'm a lowly blog and not a big corporate website!

3.  So many brands will email you, offering 'FREE' content that will improve your blog, all they need is a link, but don't worry, there's no budget for this, we just want you to spend an hour editing it so it suits the tone of your readers and your blog, include the links we specify on a topic that doesn't relate to your blog, k?

4.  You'll try to justify spending £500 on a DSLR and semi-professional photography set up to take slightly clearer blog pictures of lipsticks... yeah. I did that.

5.  Your obsession with makeup will spiral out of control into a full blown addiction 

6.  You'll accumulate a makeup collection that'll put some makeup artists to shame

7.  How the fear of missing out never goes away, you always NEED the latest thing! (CSI blog)

8.  How you'll never be able to leave Boots empty handed (Miss Makeup Magpie)

9.  You can't touch any new products until you photograph them, no matter how hard you try (Miss Makeup Magpie)

10.  It's sooo obsessive (Frazzled Beauty)

11.  3 for 2 means 9 for 12 in Boots etc :) (Beauty Queen UK)

12. Yes you do need all those eye shadow palettes, lipsticks, foundations, powders, blushers, bronzers, brushes, concealers, face primers, eye primers, brow kits, mascaras, eye liners etc

13.  You'll curse the winter months for poor lighting to take blog photo's in

14.  You'll NEED your own room just to store you're out-of-control makeup collection, and then only use 10% of it

If you  have any more to add, please leave them as a comment below :)

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Overcoming bloggers block

Continuing the theme of helpful posts this week I thought I'd put together a quick post on overcoming bloggers block.  I've helped a few bloggers with this in the past and hopefully you'll find my tips useful too :)

Pinterest

If you're ever in doubt look to pinterest.  Search through the different pins until you feel inspired, the chances are after spending 10 mins on there, you'll have inspiration oozing from your brain!  If you're feeling a bit more organised, head over there now and set up some boards, perhaps one for home, one for makeup, one for hair, one for nails and start pinning away.  That way, when you have bloggers block you'll have boards of pins you love ready to inspire you!

YouTube

Have a search through the videos of YouTubers you like, just because it's a video, doesn't mean you can't write a blog post on it.  As a bit of a backwards example, the Autumn TAG I created ended up on YouTube too by other people picking it up.

TAG, TAG, TAG

These are always a fail safe and you know what? Readers often like them too as they'll typically show a bit behind the blogger which people usually respond well to.  Searching on Google or YouTube for the word TAG is a great way to find both new and old ones.  Don't forget to search on Twitter too :)

Backup posts

There's some pretty standard posts out there you can keep tucked up your sleeve for those days when you just don't know what to write, like;

Blusher collection

Foundation collection

Palette collection

Lipstick collection etc

Five product face

What's my face worth

Skincare routine

Seasonal picks

Wishlists

There's lots and lots to blog about, even when you can't think of anything.  I hope this post has been helpful, and if you have any ideas I haven't mentioned, leave them in a comment below for others to see :)

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Jess from Coffee Cosmetics

 

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How to build relationships with brands

As your blog gains momentum it’s only natural to become keen to work with brands.  Whether they're new brands you're just discovering, or big brands you've loved and admired.

I've been thinking about writing this post for a while but I've been a bit hesitant because I don't want it to be perceived as a way to get free stuff, because that’s not what it is, it’s a guide on how to build genuine relationships with brands that will hopefully stretch for the life of your blog.

Social media

Start interacting with the brands on social media (Twitter/Facebook/Google+), make sure you follow them on all those platforms too.  If you see tweets you like, favourite them or even RT them if you want to make sure your followers see it too.  Add them to your circles on Google+ and +1 their posts, even comment on them :)

Reviews

Write honest reviews on the products of theirs you love, don’t be afraid to put negative comments in about a product too, every brand will expect a balanced point of view picking out both positives and negatives and positioning it on how it’s worked for you, and your skin type.

Email

Drop them an email to say Hi – Don't email them saying ‘Hi I'm a blogger and I want free stuff’ as that'll get you nowhere other than the Deleted Items folder.  But don't be scared to email them to introduce yourself and your blog, and ask to be added to their mailing list ready for when they send out PR’s for new products.  On the back of that, when they do send out a press release to you for a new product, consider publishing one of them on your blog from time to time to help create awareness – just make sure it’s something that genuinely interests you.  Don’t feel you'd have to copy & paste it either, perhaps take points from it, dates, times, product details and write your own post about it.

In the email you send to them, make sure you are yourself, and keep in touch with them regularly. Over the last 1-2 years I've built up some great relationships with brands just by being my normal chatty self with them on email (like Ginvera – that’s an easy one though, Jan is so lovely!).

Keep in touch

At the time, the relationship may just be you saying 'Hi' every now and then, and them sending you a press release on a new product that’s coming out, but somewhere down the line you never know what opportunities that could bring.  So always be yourself, be nice and always polite.

This isn't about getting free stuff, that should never be the goal. It’s about networking and building up genuine relationships with PRs and brands.  If you have a strong enough rapport with the person on the other end of the email, they may even contact you when the move on to new brands and roles, and in some cases, you might make a friend out of it too :)

So don't be afraid to be the one to contact them, they're people just like you and me, and some are even bloggers, just don't go asking for things.  If they think you're a good fit for their brand, they'll approach you when the time is right :)

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Jess from Coffee Cosmetics

 

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