With adverts claiming to make your lashes bigger than the Empire State Building, your skin as perfected as a baby’s and your mane as delicious as Cheryl’s, it’s hard knowing who and what to trust these days.
But luckily for the beauty and fashion obsessed, bloggers and blogging is on the rise. With a new blog being created every second of every day, blogs are becoming our “go-to” reading for sincere reviews and breaking news.
What was once quite a niche platform to get your voice heard has now boomed and blogging is considered one of the best ways to get you noticed in the industry.
Magazines and brands are starting to see just how influential bloggers can be and how beneficial working with them and alongside them is.
With cult-like followings and readerships larger than some UK publications, bloggers are no longer just people with opinions – they’re being treated more and more like celebrities – and brands are starting to see the potential that surrounds them.
“Bloggers are incredibly influential, if not more so than the press,” Heather Bloomfield, the Account Director of Wizard Publicity admits. “Blogs can still give honest opinions which are not influenced by advertising or payments which is priceless.”
After four years of working with them, Wizard Publicity know how beneficial working with bloggers is: “Our whole world is moving towards online, this is how the new generation access their information so it is extremely important to recognise the bloggers as a real platform that influence sales,” Heather said.
Illamasqua recently launched a “#Creators” make-up collection in collaboration with four bloggers while YouTuber Wayne Goss has launched his own professional make-up brush range.
Magazines are also noticing the significance of bloggers; the “Cosmo Blog Awards” – an award that recognises bloggers and YouTubers over many different categories such as food, fashion, wedding and lifestyle – allows readers to vote for their favourite bloggers which is not only beneficial to the bloggers themselves, but also to Cosmopolitan as it continually drives traffic to their website.
Early last year (January 2013), Company magazine published an entire issue dedicated to what they called the “superbloggers.” The magazine included interviews, tips and many more from an array of the elites in the blogosphere.
In May 2011, Fee of ‘Make Up Savvy‘ created the now popular “#bbloggers” hashtag on Twitter. “I think most beauty bloggers around the world that use Twitter use the hashtag to ask questions, join in the weekly chat and to promote their blog at some point. So I really am amazed at the scale of it,” said Fee, “But what has surprised me the most is how cosmetic brands, beauty websites and makeup artists now use the #bbloggers hashtag – such as Soap & Glory, MUA, Elf Cosmetics, Company Magazine, LookFantastic and Daniel Sandler to name a few.”
Since then, many other blogging genres have followed the trend and created similar hashtags – #fbloggers, #lbloggers. It is now something that regularly trends on Twitter and a great source and way to contact and chat to bloggers directly. It’s extending the community and friendships are being formed offline as well as online.
Despite the fact that Lincoln is a small city, it’s home to many fashion, lifestyle and beauty bloggers including 22-year-old Brigid Farrell of ‘Feed The Sharks’. “I started blogging as a place to share my love and what I’ve learnt rather than boring the pants off my friends and boyfriend. I get excited about sharing a new product or a new look.”
Sade Akinsanya, 22 of ‘In My Sunday Best‘ first started blogging in 2011 and since then has gone on to win the Company Magazine’s Blog of the Week in association with WAREHOUSE. “I like the fact that blogging has become a lot more than what it used to be,” said Sade, and it’s true.
What started off as a hobby for most has now become a career option and with bloggers now creating their own brands – think YouTube sensation Samantha Chapman and Real Techniques – the blogosphere is most certainly expanding. “The only negative to that is that because blogging is now so popular, everyone has a blog and it’s becoming harder and harder to stand out and be noticed,” said Sade.
I started my blog ‘Bamboozle Beauty’ nearly four years ago. Since then, I’ve seen the blogosphere blow up. Lots of people now head to blogs before magazines for honest reviews and tips and tricks. I started learning how to apply make up by reading blogs and watching YouTube videos.
With positives come negatives, and Brigid says that there are times when blogging goes to the bottom of your to-do list. Sade agrees: “One of the negatives is trying to balance blogging work and events with educational commitments.” A lot of companies and even readers sometimes forget that bloggers are “normal” people who work full-time as well.
Kayleigh Johnson, 22 of ‘Couture Girl‘ who was shortlisted for the Cosmo Blog Awards in 2013, knows about this problem too well: “Blogging and working full time is tough but enjoyable too. When I have ‘deadlines’ to meet from PR companies, I do wish I had more time as it would give me the flexibility to do more and not feel so pressured into getting something up on a certain day,” Kayleigh said.
She continued: “I’d love to be able to post every day as I have so much to talk about and share with my readers but that would be physically impossible for me working the hours I do. At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, blogging is my hobby and a hobby should be something I enjoy.”
Over the years, the community has without a doubt increased. What used to be known as “online diaries” now have their own word and even companies, journalists and newspapers are following the trend. It is a personal way to interact with an audience and with the rise of social media, it’s becoming a tight-knit community.