THURSDAY RAMBLINGS: My view on blogging

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while for a while, you know I have a full time job. I wouldn’t even call it a full time job, more of a 1+1 job, since it’s not unusual for me to reach 250+ hours per month. I also have different hobbies, a house, hubby and a princess kitty to take care of and quite recently, I added a baby to the mix. So it’s not like my life was boring before I started blogging. 

When I wrote the first post, I seriously doubted anyone will ever read anything I wrote. I didn’t know how to take photos (I mean, they are still not excellent, but looking back I will say that I’ve come a long way in the past two years), I didn’t know how to tag, how to address people, what information to include and so on.

Two years later, I don’t really care about blogging rules that much I like my photos as they are and I’m not willing to invest more money into new gadgets and aids to make them any better. I don’t buy subscribers on any platform. I don't really use GA. I know that people prefer shorter posts and more photos, but I don’t care about that – I will give you long, like super long posts most of the time. I love writing so that’s the way I roll – if you don’t like it, nobody is forcing you to read it.

I remember the time I received my first product sample. I had about 40 followers on Facebook, most of them other bloggers. I didn’t understand why anyone would send my anything, but I was happy nonetheless. Now, I probably get around 20 % of the stuff that the bigger Slovenian bloggers get, and I still get overwhelmed by the amount of things that are waiting for a review. So it’s simple for me – if I have a solid opinion on something, either good or bad (yes, I also write negative opinions, you can find a bunch of them on my blog), you will hear about it. If not, I will not be writing about the product. I’m not asking for the products to be sent to me and if the companies don’t like the way things roll, they can simply stop shipping things my way. I make sure to let them know about my views before they send me anything.  I haven’t got the best relationship with some of the brands because they weren’t willing to understand this, but I see it as their loss, not mine.

Some people think that everything that we show on our blogs is sponsored or we got the products for free. Personally, I buy about 90 % of everything you see on my blog, and a lot of other things that you don’t see as well. I am lucky that I have enough means to be able to afford myself the products that are appealing to me. And just to make an example – I’m happier if I receive products from – let’s say Essence, because I know that they are more interesting to a wide audience than – again this is an example – a Lancome mascara. So no, it’s not about the money and free goodies. I am blogging because I love trying different products and if I can help my readers make good decisions it makes me the happiest.

I do make an effort, however, to try things from different brands, both Slovenian and international, so I can have a good overview of the market, but it's not like Sephora is my biggest sponsor (although, Sephora, if you are reading this, we can make things happen) ;) And no – I have never gotten paid for a review.

I don’t feel pressured into blogging more or less – I took a hiatus during the last month of my pregnancy and the first month with my new baby and I enjoyed some time without having a single thought about my blog, but boy, oh boy, did I miss it. Now, with the new set structure of posting, I feel like I have a lot of control over what is happening each week, I can plan way ahead and the posting is much easier this way.

I love to see a post reach a wide audience – sure, who doesn’t? I’m happy if you’re interested, reading, commenting, sharing what I’m saying. I’m proud if I see that my opinion matters. But that doesn’t mean that I’m willing to plan my life around blogging – as you can probably tell, 80% of my posts are published in the night time when they don’t really reach a lot of people, but hey – that’s life for me right now. I can write when the baby is asleep. If you don’t want to miss a post, you can subscribe and you’ll get a notification. But my personal life will not suffer because of blogging.

As far as the beauty blogging community in Slovenia, I have various feelings about it. Most of the bloggers are wonderful girls and we’ve become good friends. I get a lot of support and help, if I need it – be it about blogging or simply finding out where the sheet masks are hidden in a particular store. On the other hand, some of the bloggers are taking things a bit too seriously in my opinion. If something is a hobby, it should be treated as such. I’m not saying that you don’t need to make an effort, you absolutely should, but you know how we girls are (yes, only girls are beauty bloggers in Slovenia as far as I know?) – obviously, some jealously, a tiny bit of backstabbing and some condescending tones are a must in such a gaggle. Still, my experience with my fellow bloggers are 99,9 % positive and I enjoy their company a lot, while we are growing together as a community. And you know what they say – if you think that I’m writing about you and are offended by what I'm saying, you’re probably right ;)

So, to recap – I love blogging because I like trying out new products, I love writing and I have a big mouth so I love my voice to be heard. I don’t know how long I’ll keep doing it or whether I’ll start doing something different in a couple of years. But for now, this is where we stand.

If you feel the need to share, please do so in the comments below but keep it respectful, please :)

Until next time, stay beautiful.