Art Pop BeautyIf you have been following my blog, you might be wondering what happened to my website. First it was full of content, then it disappeared, and now it’s a completely blank slate. Well, a lot happened.
To be completely honest, I haven’t been very happy lately. I felt like each time I was trying to put in the time to blog, I would just get stressed, overwhelmed, and just mentally check out. The blog would go on pause (even though it had just come from being on pause). I wasn’t very happy about it. It would eat me up inside. Like, really? Everyone else can just start up a blog so easily why can’t I?
The Problem? I wasn’t ready.
If you watch or read about a lot of icon’s journeys, it’s very common for them to fail or flop on their first couple of tries. Either they were going in the wrong direction, or they were missing something key that made their ideas unique. Once they had the right knowledge, tools, and self-understanding, they were able to hit the ground running and make their name known to the world.
Blogging is something I’ve tried to get into since 2016/2017. I’ve flopped so many times on this blog, pretty much to the point to where I would sometimes ask myself,
“Am I just not meant to do this?”
I can say now that I am confident that this is the direction I wanted to go, but in the past, I just wasn’t ready. I didn’t know who I was, I didn’t know why I wanted to get into blogging and YouTube, and I definitely didn’t have the self-management skills to handle all the responsibilities I was putting on myself.
My Turning Point
Even though I haven’t been posting on my site or on social media, it didn’t mean I wasn’t keeping up with the beauty community. I still got online a few times a week and watched the latest youtube videos.
I’d also been listening to Julie Solomon’s The Influenster Podcast. And one thing that really hit home was a particular episode about putting your focus on engagement rather than followers/subscribers. They were saying it was actually GOOD when someone unfollowed them. Why? Because it meant the ex-followers had realized the content being produced by that influencer wasn’t for them.
There is no point in trying to serve people who don’t benefit from what you have to offer.
Put your time towards your target audience and don’t worry about the people who don’t fit in that category. Don’t feel like you need to meet everyone’s needs. Not everyone is the same.
Wanting to take that a little deeper, I was inspired to declutter my life. I’m talking Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, makeup – even my phone and my room. If it was good for someone to unfollow because that media wasn’t for them, then I should clean out all the media I consume that isn’t 100% for me. And as bad as I felt about it, I also felt free. I wasn’t just doing myself a favor, but also doing those other influencers for brands a favor.
And just like that, everything changed. I was able to focus on media I was really interested in and discover new brands or icons that piqued my interest. There I found out more about myself and I realized exactly where my passions were.
It’s all about knowledge. No, really. It is.
I’ve always believed that information is power. And those who have the information have been given the power to make better decisions in their everyday life, know their options, and broaden their horizons. If that wasn’t true, why would we read reviews? Ask for opinions? Do research when we need more information on something?
Therefore, if I have knowledge that could help someone save money, time, and effort, then I should share it so I can make someone else’s life better.
My New Direction
We have a lot of skincare products out there that actually harm our skin and will increase aging rather than protect it. So at some point in the future, I want to go to Aveda for their Esthiology program and learn about skincare (they cover makeup, but not as much). All my artists out there know that you need to have a good base in order for the paint to go on well. Our faces (our canvases) are something that needs to be maintained DAILY, and if we want to have good makeup, we can’t just blame the makeup products, we need to have a good skincare routine.
Accompanying my more scientific approach to skincare, I want to take a more realistic approach to makeup. We have a tendency to watch these beauty gurus reviews of products and buy all this makeup they recommend simply because they say it’s amazing.
And it’s not that those products aren’t amazing but at some point, you end up having 13 palettes, 50 lip products, 20 different eyeliners, 82 blushes and you barely use any of them. They expire. They get old. And then you have to decide between throwing them out because they don’t work anymore or keeping them because you spent money on them. I don’t want that. I don’t want to become the kind of beauty influencer that has an entire wall of makeup that I never use because I don’t even use, much less know what I have.
So Here’s My Plan:
Over the next couple of years, I am going to learn how to keep track of my makeup collection and only keep what I need or think I will use. Once it’s expired, it’s going in the trash. There’s no point in keeping something that doesn’t work. And because accumulating new products is something that beauty influencers do, I’m going to be smart about my purchases and make sure that I try to never have more makeup than I can manage.
I’m also going to turn this website into a beauty database. As I discover new makeup or skincare, I’ll put it on this website. You’ll be able to access information about brands, consistency, ingredients, where to buy, collections they’re a part of and more through these pages and a trusty search engine I’ll put on my page. As I get established on YouTube and Instagram, I’ll also connect posts and videos featuring those products so you can see how they look on me and get inspiration for what you can do with that product if you choose to purchase it.
I know I just made a ton of promises, but I have every intention to keep them. Thank you in advance for your patience and support as I continue to work to establish myself and put all of this into the works.
Be on the lookout for more content soon!
XOXO
Art Pop Beauty
