Alicia Vikander Covers British Vogue August 2016

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Vogue is one of those magazines you are programmed to love as a fashion enthusiast. It is commonly known as the ‘Fashion Bible’, and it is one of those monthly magazines you see on the desks of fashion stylists, models, celebrities, bloggers and vloggers. I am one of the few fashion bloggers that is vocal about my dislike for Vogue Magazines. I find them bland and so boring. I can count on 1 hand how many Vogue Magazines I have bought with my money, and on 2 hands how many I have read.

The magazine’s articles hardly interest me, and the covers are usually a hit or a massive miss, but I still love talking about them. However, I do love their online magazine. I love the articles they have on there. I find them interesting and down to earth, and I remember visiting the online site on a daily basis when I had the luxury of time. Wish I could do the same now. Wish they could fill the magazine pages with more relatable and interesting articles, but I guess I am not the target market.

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The cover girl for this month’s vogue is Alicia Vikander. Her name does not ring a bell, but after some digging, I realised she is the Oscar-winning star from the hit movie – The Danish Girl. I am yet to see the movie but I do want to so I will be keeping my eyes open for when I do come across it. Gosh I miss Blockbusters sometimes. I hope it does not take forever to come on Netflix.

I am not a fan of this cover at all. I am not feeling her pose, hair and makeup. It just looks boring. However, some of the articles on the cover look promising. Like Accessory Preview – The bags and shoes to upscale your look, Style Agenda – Get ahead of the new season, and When a holiday becomes a life reset.

I will be looking out for this issue in the waiting rooms.

What are your thoughts?

 

 

6 Beauty Crimes You May Be Committing

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Many of us are committing beauty crimes without us knowing. I know I am, and I know many bloggers, vloggers and celebrities that commit a few of the beauty crimes listed on here. Nobody’s perfect, neither is any makeup or skincare routine, but some crimes are worst than imperfect, they could leave us with lasting consequences.

Here are some of the most common beauty crimes I see around:

Bloggers/Vloggers Selling Used Makeup

I see a lot of bloggers/vloggers selling old makeup online, claiming it has only been swatched or used once, so it is good enough to be sold. Deep down, I am hoping we all agree this isn’t right. Like lipsticks, foundations, concealers, eye pencils, mascaras, and all the others, should not be shared, or bought unboxed. The only makeup you should be buying, should be brand new. Sharing makeup products could lead to skin infections, eye infections, and other skin problems you really can do without.

The only exception is when it comes to makeup artists. So if you are having your makeup professionally done, you will likely be using the artist’s makeup, which is fine as long as every product is applied with a makeup brush. The artist should obviously have the makeup brushes cleaned after each use.

 

Swatching on the Back of your Hand

I see a lot of bloggers/vloggers swatching makeup products behind the hands. This is so common and so wrong. The skin on back of the hand is a lot darker than our face, due to sun exposure. To ensure you get the ride shade, swatch the makeup products preferably on your jaw line, or the inner part of your arms, which is the closest shade to your face. This ensures you pick the right shade of product.

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Concealer before Foundation

The concealer should be applied AFTER the foundation and not before. The reason being is once the foundation is applied correctly, you may find that you don’t have to use the concealer as much, if at all. The foundation creates the right base for makeup. It is called ‘foundation’ for a reason.

 

Wrong Shade of Foundation

I have been sold the wrong shade of foundation like I said in my previous beauty post, so I know all about buying the wrong shade of makeup. However, some women deliberately go for a light/pale concealer, thinking it will help conceal the areas that need concealing better. This is so wrong. Your concealer should match your foundation to cover up and hide shadows.

If you find that you have the wrong shade of concealer already, do not panic. You can most likely correct the shade by mixing your concealer with a bit of foundation, providing that foundation is in the right shade.

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Not Cleaning Your Makeup Brushes

Many of us do not clean our makeup brushes as often as we should, which is BAD. You should clean your makeup brushes as often as you use them. I use mine like twice a week most times, so I clean them once a month. If you use them every day, you should be cleaning them every week.

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Watering Down your Cosmetics

I know I am so guilty of this. I tend to water down facial wash products when they are almost finished. I don’t know why I do it but I do it. Maybe it is because I do it with the dish washing liquid, it has become a kind of habit now, but it is beauty crime. Skincare products contain water, making them susceptible to contamination by micro-organisms: bacteria, viruses, fungi and yeasts. That is why it is so important not to water down cosmetics, as you change the natural balance of preservatives designed to keep products safe.

Have you committed any of these beauty crimes? Let’s discuss in the comment section.

 

 

 

 

 

How Bloggers Make Money Part 3

This is the final part of the ‘How Bloggers Make Money’ series. If you missed the last two parts where I wrote about how Bloggers make money through Google Adsence and WordAds, click here, or how Bloggers make money through banner advertising and affiliate marketing links, click here.

How Bloggers Make Money

I am happy many people are finding these posts very useful. Blogging and its vague financial rewards should be discussed frequently. I wish I had posts like this to read two years ago. I won’t have made the many mistakes I made in the early days. Here are some more ways Bloggers make money:

Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts are posts brands pay Bloggers to write and publish, usually with links to the brand’s site. Sometimes, the brand writes the post and all the Blogger has to do is to edit and publish. This is a very popular way Bloggers make money and it is my favourite way of monetizing Fashion and Style Police; I remember getting my first sponsored post offer just four months after I started blogging. What you could earn from one sponsored post could be anything from £20 to £200 or more, depending on the brand, your followers, blog engagement, whether you write the post or the brand writes it, the blog’s traffic, the blog’s domain authority, and so on. I know some Bloggers who charge hundreds of pounds for a sponsored post and some even charge a couple of thousands of pounds, these Bloggers have a huge following and a lot of traffic so work on growing your blog before you start requesting such amounts.

If you have at least 5000 unique visitors a month and you have a Domain Authority of 25 at least, you can charge £30 and above for a sponsored post. You can check your blog’s Domain Authority and other information here.

At the end of the day, charge what you are comfortable accepting, don’t work for free and always remember to let your readers know when it is a sponsored post. Transparency people! I will be writing a more comprehensive post on what to charge for sponsored posts using various examples so watch this space.

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Product Gifting

The difference between product gifting and sponsored posts is that the brands pay the Blogger by sending products for free in return for a post. If a Blogger has accepted a product, you see a post with the c/o (courtesy of) alongside the product details letting the readers know the product was gifted. I started receiving gifts from brands months after I started blogging. Many Bloggers still charge a fee alongside the product to guarantee a post depending on the brand and the product in question. Bills in 2015 cannot be paid with clothes and shoes unfortunately. Bloggers are usually gifted all sorts regularly by brands. In a month, I usually receive over 5 items by brands and their PRs and that is a small figure. Many famous bloggers can easily receive over 20 items or more in a month. This is a nice perk of the blogging job but I only receive products I will happily buy with my own money from brands I love and respect. I get offers from so many brands trying to send me a $10 sunglasses or shoes in return for a sponsored post, no thanks. Not on Fashion and Style Police. I have My Brand to protect.

Sponsored Giveaways

Sponsored giveaways are when brands offer your blog readers a product through a competition on the blog. You must have seen this on blogs, it is quite popular with Bloggers. Some Bloggers run a giveaway with their own money, I have done this in the past, and some Bloggers organise a giveaway sponsored by a brand on their blog. In other words, Brand A contacts Blogger A and offers to send a pair of jeans to a blog reader chosen by Blogger A, Blogger A gets traffic and readers are excited and eager to win, everyone loves a freebie. Brand A gets free advertising or paid advertising if Blogger A is smart enough to charge for this giveaway and also get a pair of the jeans for herself.

Most Bloggers charge to organise a giveaway. The figure varies depending on various factors like the brand and item in question, the blog’s followers and traffic, how influential the Blogger is and so on.

Brand Ambassador

This is when a Brand selects a Blogger or Bloggers to promote its products and services. Usually, the brand will send its products regularly to the Blogger and there should be a banner ad up on the blog as well. I know a couple of Bloggers that are Brand Ambassadors and they usually get free clothes and accessories monthly, and they publish sponsored posts for the brand regularly as well. There are so many cool blogs all over the web, so you will need to stand out from the rest to be noticed by the brands. Work on publishing the right content and market the hell out of your blog. Make use of all the social media channels and get noticed.

OTHERS

Many Bloggers are now making money by writing books and e-books, writing for other online sites and magazines, attending events, organising Twitter chats and Instagram takeovers for brands, vlogging on YouTube, the blogging opportunities are indeed endless and it is a profitable venture if you get it right.

 

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