I am fascinated by beauty blogs. To me, beauty bloggers are the unsung heroes of the cosmetics industry, tirelessly reviewing (often out of their own pocket), the newest, sparkliest and maddest products that are thrown onto the shelves. If you consider how many new mascaras alone hit the shelves in a year, you can see that the costs mount up.
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| www.nytimes.com |
These gals love make-up and, although they may have some help from PR companies and some free products to review, in general I would take their opinion any day over the endless advertorials that populate the tabloids and the glossies.
I used to love those articles in magazines where the contents of handbags were unearthed and listed. If you are nosy, like I am, this offers endless fascination. The contents of my own bag have been scrutinized on several wine-fuelled evenings at our local, being a source of endless amusement. Why three tonnes of old tissues, a pile of Fruit Shoot plastic caps, broken crayons and multiple lipsticks all in approximately the same shade (a red which makes me look like Vampyra) should be funny, I'm not sure.
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| www.idealmagazine.com |
But when it comes to beauty blogs, I have two frustrations. Firstly, there don't seem to be many beauty blogs which write for my age group (50 in two weeks, if you must know) and secondly, of the vast array of products reviewed, it's often difficult to know whether those products raved about are actually used much thereafter and are truly the wonder products they often appeared to be considered.
I honestly don't know how beauty bloggers cope with the amount of products they review. What do they do with them all? I have a drawer of lipsticks and eyeshadows I've had for years. With kids, it's difficult to find the time to apply a full face of make-up in the morning. I am always last in the queue for the bathroom and usually get in there just as the kids are putting their coats on. I am more likely to throw a product away because I have become totally bored with it than I am to throw it because it's been used.
This is hardly cost-effective. I wonder how many thousands of pounds are wasted on beauty products each year - I bet it's staggering. I have seen a couple of bloggers do posts about their 'empties' - i.e. products used to the very last drop and to me, that is a far greater accolade than posts which just swatch new colours.
So I am on the hunt for bloggers who write for my age group and those who will share what they actually use and love to death.
