Hello you beauties!

Long time no see! It's been a while since I last uploaded a post - 4 weeks to be exact. And I really do want to apologise for that. I made a promise when I started this blog that I would stick to a schedule and I have failed to do so.

There are many, many reasons for my absence from this blog and I know some of you may simply not care what these reasons are, but I want to explain myself anyway.

The first reason for the absence is my A Level Exams. Yes, the dreaded exams. These have taken priority in my life for the past 3 years, so this year was no different. I was so desperate to pass this year that I literally forgot about everything else in my life and simply focused on those. I even pressed pause on my relationship so I could focus on my exams. But now, despite the weeks of unwanted stress, I have completed them and should now be able to use my free time to focus more on this blog again.

There have been many other things (that I am not going to disclose with you all, unfortunately) that has caused stress in my life and honestly, it has been hard. It has made me very, very ill and so a focus on my life has been to just cope, rather than worry about writing for you all. I'm getting better now - while the stress is still affecting me, I feel a lot healthier now that a lot of these things have gotten themselves under control. There is still a lot that I'm stressed about though, which isn't helping me a lot.

Mainly due to stress, I have also found myself simply not enjoying blogging anymore. Wow, that really isn't something I ever wanted to admit. But it happens sometimes. Just because there is one time I don't feel like blogging, doesn't mean I'm going to give up altogether. Blogging is always going to be something I enjoy but I just feel like I needed a break. And that break is what I got. And now I'm excited to start blogging again.

The final reason for not blogging recently is the fact that I simply haven't used makeup within the past month or so. I am the person who only usually wears makeup when I go out - drinking or for family events, etc. Due to college/exams, I have been stuck between either home or college and so felt no need to wear makeup. And what's the point in writing blog posts about makeup if I haven't been using it? I was running out of ideas of things to post about. That's the problem with running a beauty blog - while the world of makeup and fashion is very large, you can become restricted in what to write about. But now I have more free time on my hands, I do believe I'll be out of the house a lot more and therefore using makeup a lot more.


However, even though I've sorted out a lot of things meaning blogging is going to be easier for me, there is still a lot going on in my life (such as preparing for university and my relationship) that take priority meaning blogging is not going to be something easy for me. Therefore, I have decided to change my upload schedule. Yes, it means that I'm going to be uploading less but it means that I will be able to still write with a passion and give you posts that are worth your time to read.

So I'll be changing my schedule to posts every Wednesday at 9am. Yes, it means I'll only be posting once a week so half the amount of posts will be going up each month, While it doesn't seem good that I'll be posting less and less, at the end of the day, it'll help this blog grow. It means I am more likely to come up with great post ideas to keep you all entertained and gives me extra time to focus on writing them - I can focus on one a week rather than panicking and writing 2 or 3 a week.

I may upload extra posts if I feel the need to - like for birthdays or special events - so you're not necessarily restricted to just one post a week from me, but that is all you should expect. Please don't expect too much from me. Life can be hard sometimes and so things become less of a priority. I just hope I can always have the support of you readers though.

I hope you can all understand my reasoning for my absence and continue to support me and my writing.

I hope you liked this post. If you did, be sure to subscribe/follow, comment and share with friends.
Byeeee!

Hello you beauties!

So two days ago marked the 1st year anniversary of my blog! I can't believe I've managed to keep it up for a whole year - I never expected to stay so dedicated but I'm glad I have because I really do love writing my posts for you all. Deciding to become a blogger was one of the best decisions of my life and so I am going to share with you everything I have learnt in this past year through blogging.

1. It'll be hard to build up an audience
If you've been here reading my blog since the very beginning, then I just want to thank you, because honestly I was nervous about starting my blog. Knowing I do have readers is very comforting but, to be honest, you can't always expect to have a massive audience. When I first started writing my blog, I thought I would get tons of readers straight away. That is not how it works. It's going to be tough, and take a while, to build an audience, but as long as you love writing what you're writing about, then that's all that matters.

2. Creating a schedule is important for motivation
I have tried to create blogs before, but never managed to keep them going as I had no schedule. So I never had any motivation to upload any posts. But now, I have my schedule of Wednesday and Saturday at 9am, and this keeps me motivated as I am always making sure to have posts ready for you all. Planning these posts in advance really help too.

3. You won't get tons of brands emailing you for collaborations
This was one part of blogging that I was really looking forward to. Of course, free items are nice but that was not the only reason. Helping to promote brands that I love to help them get more customers will make you feel great too. However, I have not yet had such opportunities. I've written for a dating website, but that is all. Yes, I got recognition on their website but that was it. If you want to work with brands, you have to approach them. Which in itself is almost impossible as they're always looking for people that stand out, that have a massive audience. And there are so many bloggers out there which means that it is very unlikely that you will get to work with brands straight away.

4. Coming up with post ideas is not easy
It's hard to not repeat posts that you've already written when you upload so many posts for so long. You also don't want to feel like you're copying other people's posts, although you do really like the idea of putting your own take on something (which is completely alright, as the origin of most post types is not always obvious). This is why I spend an hour or so every so often planning a month's posts, and looking through posts that I have already written. There are some great generic post ideas on the internet too which I often swear by.

5. Not everyone will approve
While a lot of people seem to be blogging these days, there are a lot of people in life who will see it as a waste of time. Those calling it a hobby are at least bearable, as it is true that most people are doing this as a hobby, but, especially for those of us who hope to make a career out of writing one day, it can be quite insulting to have people be so dismissive. Just ignore these negative people - you're doing what you love and that's all that matters.

6. Your posts will seem worse than they are
You will definitely understand what I mean by this if you're a writer like me. Whenever you write something, you feel like it sounds uneducated and boring, but in reality a lot of people will enjoy your writing style. You learn to hate your own writing because you're forced to read it so mjuch and often end up criticising it more than you probably should. There is a reason why your blog has readers, and that is because you're a good writer.

7. Social media is key to promotion
While having well-written posts with interesting content is important to building an audience, how are readers going to know about your blog if you don't promote it? Social media is key for this - build a Twitter page and interact with readers. Create an Instagram account and post your favourite blog post pictures, linking your blog on there. I wish I used my Twitter page more - I guess this is something I should aim to do more within my next year of blogging.

I hope you have all found this post useful today, and I would also like to thank you all for reading my blog for this past year. I can't wait to see what this next year brings for me.

I'll be back on Wednesday with another post for you all.

I hope you liked this post. If you did, be sure to subscribe/follow, comment and share with friends.
Byeee!

Hello you beauties!

Just a quick post for you. Just to let you know my plans for a schedule for this blog.

I plan to post every Wednesday and Saturday. However, there may be some posts on different days, such as my monthly favourites posts, which will be posted on the first day of every month (for example, my April favourites post will be uploaded on Sunday 1st May).

Thank you!!

P.S. This schedule is starting from Wednesday 27th April.