As you may or may not know, me and my wee blog have been around for quite some time now and I started my blog back in 2014 after falling down the rabbit hole and completely in love with all things beauty blogging and YouTube. If you're read my post, Why I Started Blogging | My Everlasting Love for Blogging, last year you might have an inkling that Zoe (Zoe Sugg, AKA Zoella) was one of the first beauty YouTubers - or should I say beauty guru's; there's a term we don't hear around much any more! - that I absolutely adored, resonated with and watched religiously. Fast forward seven years and I still watch and love her old videos to this day and find that absolute cosy feeling in watching her content.
I miss those old YouTube days. There's nothing quite like it these days and I know a lot has really changed. I really wish there was still a little piece of that YouTube today.
A few months ago a lovely friend of mine, miss Hanna who runs the blog and YouTube channel Hanna Mai, decided to complete Zoella's YouTube Show and Tell Tag on her channel and I absolutely loved her video! Here's Hanna's YouTube Show and Tell Tag if you'd like to see her answers to Zoe's YouTube tag questions yourself; I can assure you it is a delight to watch! Now I've not seen many others complete Zoe's YouTube Show and Tell Tag but I absolutely loved watching her and Hanna complete it so I thought, for a bit of fun, I'd do a blogger's version of Zoella's YouTube Show and Tell tag myself, here on the blog! So behold... Zoella's YouTube show and tell tag, blogging edition, completed by moi, answering all Zoe'sYouTube tag questions with a blogging-related twist!
As inspired by Hanna and (and of course, Zoe). There's blasts from the blogging past to everything I have loved and loathed about my blog and things I've never shared from my seven years of blogging before.
Enjoy!
...
Why and when did you start blogging?
I started blogging back in 2014 and published my blog in the August to be precise. About a year prior I was your typical teen in love with everything Instagram and, at the time, had quite the obsession for all things floral Instagram and pastel grunge. - Hello pastel grungers and floral beauty gurus; comment below if you remember this quite excellent era back when Instagram was in it's heyday or if that was one of you! I see you with the old Cath Kidston bedding there! Oh I could only dream of having that! - I had always been mesmerized by beauty, makeup and fashion and loved nothing more than scrolling endlessly through pretty outfit inspo and stylish girls I aspired to look a little like. At the same time, that latter half of 2013, my long standing relationship with acne began and the once odd spot became annoying, painful acne. Frustrated and self-conscious with my newly flourished, never-clearing acne I was adamant to find the best makeup and skincare products for hiding and curing my acne. Paired with my long routed love for all things makeup and beauty, I found myself stumbling across something I'd never seen before on the internet. Product reviews. With every review I stumbled across I began to develop a little list of skincare and makeup for acne to try. I became familiar with the place I was finding these never before seen "product reviews" - blogs - and it lead me to discovering the world of beauty YouTube. Not only did my obsession with all things makeup, beauty and fashion implode with this whole new online world I had discovered, I also found an Alice-in-Wonderland-like love for the world of blogging and YouTube and found numerous creators I loved to watch and catch up with. Both beauty and otherwise YouTube related. I found myself having so much fun trying out products for my acne and seeing how they worked for my skin and found so much joy in consuming the world of blogging and YouTube I excitedly decided I wanted to make my own blog, in the hopes of helping others on their journey with acne as other's blog posts and videos had helped me, and to share that slice of fun the world of blogging and YouTube gave me.
To this day, my hope to help someone else on their journey with acne or with other beauty woes, sharing what I love and sharing a little piece of that online world that I used to escape to that once and still brings me so much happiness is still the very reason I blog today!
Okay, that was probably my biggest answer in the post,... that was a hearty question! I promise it will all be quick fire from here!
What's the reason you started your blog and how does that compare to why you write blog posts today?
Oops I kind of answer that one already; I waffle on way too much! As I mentioned above, I first found the world of blogging when I was trying to find a cure to my acne and the best of the best highest coverage, long lasting makeup to conceal my spots. Finding the world of beauty blogging and YouTube, I fell in love with it all. Paired with the helpfulness I had found from other blogger's and YouTuber's reviews and tutorials and the pure joy I got from blogs and YouTube I decided I wanted to start a blog too, to share what I had found that had helped me manage my acne and create and share part of that joy that I got from consuming other's blogs and YouTube.
Again, this is still the very reason I blog today and ultimately enjoy it as a personal sharing space of all the things I love, whether that be beauty product finds; any makeup look I can imagine; developing my hobbies and skills and sharing it to develop with others looking to do the same; helping others by sharing how I've over come tricky things or things I wanted to improve (winged eye liner I'm looking at you - comment below if you'd like to see a post on improving my winged liner skills!); and sharing my inspiration and passions with the world.
What is the first blog post you ever uploaded? Show us a snippet.
Beauty Haul and first ever blog post !!! - click to see the post and yes this really was my very first! Enjoy :'D
Who was the first person (blog) you subscribed to?
Oh goodness, that is a very tricky question and back in the day I tended to revisit my favourite blogs more so than follow them as I didn't have a means of subscribing to blogs until I published mine and was able to follow blogs on my reading list on Blogger. Who remembers that?! Blogger still has this feature too did you know! They hide it away very well though, I only recently realised it was still there!
I wish there was a way you could see the blogs on your Blogger reading list by the date you added them but it doesn't seem to be a feature. :'( Scrolling through, as I think my Blogger reading list will be the earliest place I ever subscribed to a blog, I'm going to guess it was either Georgia Louise or Freshly Pressed Beauty, who I adored their Instagram before I discovered blogging, or Gh0st Parties (now known as Kate La Vie). Kate was my absolute gem for pasty pale foundation and base product reviews and recommendations and I remember following her after watching what I think was her top pale foundations video (sadly I think the video has now been deleted).
The most recent blog you subscribed to?
At the time of writing this post I think it was Katie Emma Beauty. She has a gorgeous beauty blog and I am obsessed with her Instagram flatlays and beauty posts and have recently stumbled across her YouTube! An old school style beauty blogger with lots of exciting beauty content! To date though (I've been waiting to upload this post way too long!) it would The European Closet! I found Rita and her blog through a Pinterest board I'm part of, bloggers post share, that I've been browsing through more recently as I've been trying to up my Pinterest game. I think it was a blogging or Pinterest advice post I stumbled upon, found it so incredibly helpful and noticed more fab posts from Rita in the feed. I love her mix of blogging advice and tips and style and fashion.
What is your least favourite blog post you have ever uploaded?
Hmmm, that's a tricky one to pick and there's probably a couple and it's more often than not the photography that lets it down and I end up hating the post (story of my Instagram :'D I think I've lost the ability to take nice pictures as the years have gone on! ðŸ˜). I'd say either my Pumpkin Pie Makeup Look because I hated how the pictures turned out - dark, unfocused and the colours were super off - or I'd actually say My Christmas Wish List | 2020 purely just because of the post picture as I think if I had taken the time to practice I could have made it look so much better. I'd also throw in my Witches Hats: Quick and Easy No Bake Last Minute Halloween Treats. The recipe didn't quite turn out how I envisioned and I don't think the icing and Hersheys combination actually complimented each other very well in the end. I'm not sure I even finished eating the left overs! Trial and error, trial and error.
Maybe I should do a vegan version of the Halloween Witches Hats treats? Let me know below if you'd like to see that...
What is your most popular blog post and why do you think that is?
My most popular blog post is my Vegan Lotus Biscoff Brownies: For Cosy Days. It currently has 2506 views and still gets a few views each day. It is one of my most proudest posts. I have never been quite sure how it has done so well and it stands out in terms of views considerably from most of my other content though I've had an inkling of idea that I just accidently SEO'd the title and post very well and very much unknowingly! I certainly did not know what SEO stood for back in 2017, haha.
How many blog posts do you have privated?
Other than drafts of a few posts I am in the process of writing, I have two old blog posts that I never ended up writing and would no longer interest me in sharing anymore and one I reverted back to a draft. The two old posts were Tried and Tested No7 Products (I'm shocked I had actually part wrote this already!) and My MAC Collection. The pictures for these are better than the pictures I can take today! Oh the irony! The one post I have privated (returned to draft) was titled Reality Check. After much deliberation I didn't know if it was too personal to share at the time as I was starting to have doubts about my career path but thought it would be unprofessional to keep it up. It was a cathartic and emtional post to write and I remember feeling such a relief and release sharing it. I'm sure in Zoe's YouTube tag questions she said share a bit so I'm going to share a snippet of that post here...
"Right this isn't something I would normally post on my blog. I try to keep my blog separate from other things in my life, which in many ways is good, but after a lot of consideration over the past sort of month I guess I've realised that blogging is a actually a part of my life. It's a massive part of my life, not because I have a big following (I barely have any following XD) and not because it's like the "in-thing" or a "cool-thing to do", it's because it makes me so unbelievably happy to just sit down and write a post about something that I love and enjoy and that I am so passionate about and that brings me so much joy.
Preparing to go back to college I was most certainly excited and looking forward to it, although a little apprehensive as my confidence got knocked a bit a few weeks before I broke up for summer. I thought this apprehension would fade as the weeks went by and I got back to working towards the career I love and aspire to achieve. However it didn't really go this way."
At the time it got 18 views and two comments, which I thought was incredible, oh bless me!
Which blogger would you choose, above the rest ,in your subscription box at the moment?
Oh goodness, that's always a hard choice! Of current I would say say it's been Katie Emma Beauty but as I've already mentioned Katie I think I'm allowed to name one other. I'm going to say Hanna Mai - the inspirer of this post! - I've been really excited to catch up on her posts recently. As times been busy I'm almost batch reading her content. I just adore her old school blogging style! I must stop myself quickly, I could mention more!
Who would be your dream collaboration?
Oh goodness, again, what a choice! The mind boggles as there's just so many people to pick from. On the blog, truly I'd just love nothing more than to collab with some of my closest blogging friends, Hanna Mai, Luci Barker and Lorna Loves! I'd also love to collab with Katie from Katie Emma Beauty as I'm just obsessed with her beautiful old school beauty blog at the moment.
What was the hardest blog post for you to write?
Mmmm, now that's also a tricky one. To date, I would actually say my Why I Started Blogging | My Everlasting Love for Blogging post. It was the last installment in the blog re-launch series I had planned and probably the one I was most excited to write. As the initial re-launch of my blog came to a halt in 2019 with the post prior, Get to Know Me | So, Who's Ellie?, I felt like everything was resting on this post to officially re-launch my blog and re-start my blogging again. I honestly think with writing and tweaking (LOTS of tweaking) it took almost a year to finally complete, given working around my hours in my old job too. I felt so much pressure to get it perfect and to convey everything I wanted to in the post exactly how I envisioned it. Nothing is perfect and I'm sure the post is far from it but I was really pleased with the end results. It took a lot of hard work but I was really proud of it in the end. It did really well and holds a special place in my heart. Go ahead and give it a read if you haven't seen it, it's a treat, especially for you golden oldie beauty blog readers I can assure you!
If all your blog posts but one were deleted which one would you keep?
Oh my goodness, quick fire I'd say my Acne Coverage Makeup Tutorial. I wrote it in 2018 but all the steps I talk about are still very much prominent techniques in my makeup routine today, from all my years of learning to live with my acne with my love for beauty and makeup. I was going to say my Why I Started Blogging | My Everlasting Love for Blogging post, which as I said holds a special place in my heart as it is just filled with so many special memories but, just as my Acne Coverage Makeup Tutorial begins with, it was my acne that lead me down this path of beauty blogging and the online world of blogs and YouTube. As it was the very thing that I struggled with and led me to start my blog I'd like it to be my lasting legacy of my blog in the hopes, just as I hoped for when I started my blog, that the tips and tricks I have learnt along the way might help others on their journey with acne too.
What is the best thing to come out of creating a Blogger account/ a blog?
All the friendships I have made along the way. That's all your lovely selves reading this post (you know who you are!), friends I've met from ventures my blog has taken me on and friends I met along the way but have left the blogosphere now. In an umbrella term I'd say all the special memories blogging has given me.
Let's see if I can insert a couple here...
- Getting invited to The Body Shop Blogger's Event! - Ad | My First Blogger's Event! | An Evening With The Body Shop Liverpool
- Doing my guest post for Luci's blog, Luci with an I - Three Halloween Eye Looks to Try Before October Ends. | Blogtober
- Writing my Why I Started Blogging | My Everlasting Love for Blogging blog post (it has my most favourite flatlay I have ever taken!)
- My Christmas Blogger Q&A I did for Steph's blog, Steph's World, in 2018 - Christmas Blogger Q&A // Ellie Bows and Sparkles
- Creating my Nightmare Before Christmas Sally Makeup look, and my Halloween Cinderalla makeup look for that matter too. The best part was walking dowstairs to greet my mum like a blue alien on the day I was trialing the tutorial, haha. - Nightmare Before Christmas Sally Makeup Tutorial & Disney Princess Makeup Look: Cinderella
- My most popular blog post to date, I am forever proud of - Vegan Lotus Biscoff Brownies: For Cosy Days
- Creating this Sunset Makeup Look Tutorial, which out of a spurt of excitement I decided to try and film as a YouTube video. I've never shared it and probably never will but this was my first ever filmed video!
- Writing my Empties Post No.6, back in 2018. I remember laying out all my empties on a blanket in the garden to picture. It was the hottest and one of the best and Summers I've had and I remember it felt like me and my mum lived in the garden all Summer long. That was a special Summer.
- Taking part in Helen's call for blogger's who would like to review her vegan doughnuts. This was the first gifted post I had ever done and, at a time, I had just began my vegan journey. I had so much fun creating this post. I adored how everything turned out and out of everything, I found one of my most favourite vegan doughnut and cake creators in the whole world! Helen truly has incredible skills when it comes to sweet treats! ❤ - Ad | My Best Vegan Doughnuts Ever and Cake to your Door! - Miss Microphone Head Bespoke Treats
- Doing my DIY Christmas Snowflake Decorations post. I remember this was one of my Christmas scheduled blog posts I had planned back in 2017, when I decided to really up my blog game and things started to take off with my blog a little more. At the time (it actually turned out to be a really rubbish time) my nan was really poorly in hospital for a long while until she passed away early the next year. Me and my mum would visit my nan almost every night and catch up and natter with her and I remember asking if I could borrow her roll of string, the one she always kept in the kitchen draw, for a blog post idea. For some reason this tickled my nan and we giggled about it together. It was a special memory I have of that precious time and paper snowflakes where also something I used to make with my nan when I stayed with her and my Grandad of Christmas times when I was little.
- This moment from taking pictures for my Mystical Witch Halloween Make Up Tutorial. It was one of the last pictures I took with my dear cat Tasha and I'll treasure it forever! She will forever be my spooky little sassy cat!
What one piece of advice would you give other bloggers?
Only blog with your heart and do it with passion.
That goes for anything in life.
Yes writer's block is a thing and an absolute pain (it's a bloody nightmare) and there are times when it ain't all perfect (look at me!) and, irrespective of blogging, in some circumstances in life you have to try and pull yourself through and push yourself to get up and keep doing things, even when you feel no feelings at all, to keep going along the healing process, but true happiness in what you do though comes from true passion and ultimately shines through what you do.
Bonus Zoella YouTube Show and Tell Tag question...
Who are your current favourite bloggers (and YouTubers)? (If you are doing this tag on Youtube, tag all the channels you are loving in the description of your video)
Bloggers
YouTubers- Zoe Sugg
- Alfie Deyes
- ThatcherJoeVlogs
- Louise Pentland
- Fleur DeForce
- Exploring With Josh
- Exploring with Fighters
- Dark Arts TV
- Hanna Mai
- Something you want to save? Pin me! -
I love this post! What a throwback, I miss the old YouTube days too, as I used to love Zoella too; it's mental to see how much she's fallen off in the past couple of years. Also what a throwback those pastel days were. Great answers xx
ReplyDeleteHannah | https://luxuryblush.co.uk/
Oh Hannah I am so sorry, for some reason Blogger has only just notified me of you comment! Madness! Oh I am so glad you liked the post :D . Shall we just hop on a time machine and go back in time? Nothing beats it these days! I really would love to go back to those days; it's just not the same. I try to embrace the new content out there and I really enjoy Zoe's current content still but I do wish she'd bring back a little flavour of her old content creation back. I REALLY enjoy her beauty content. It's nice that what she has made in the past will hopefully be there for a long time to go back and enjoy.
DeleteOh my goodness yes, how many pastel Instagram accounts did we all follow back in the day, haha! Thank you lovely!
Ellie xx