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I had just had my second baby, I had stopped working and, well, it’s nice to be at home with the children but it’s also tiring, not necessarily super rewarding and isolating... I had always been passionate about the world of beauty and it hab been a while since I started following blogs and Youtube channels. So, I decided to start my own, to get busy, to do “something else” and share. Little by little, the blog has grown and I have also developed other passions like: writing and photography! Before I would never have defined myself as being creative...However, I found an area in which I can express my creativity and that’s great!
I tried all kinds of frequencies: once a day, once a week... Now, I publish 3 times a week, it’s a good rhythm for my blog and myself. I can organize, anticipate and have time for social media. I also post two videos a month on my Youtube channel. Some things are better in videos and I love it. If I could, I would write, I would post and I would film more... However, I have to find a balance between this activity, my work (since then I took a 30% job as a nurse) my children and my husband. And, it’s good, the balance is there! :-)
Although it’s not easy currently with all these algorithm and engagement stories, I really like Instagram. I love photography and, with Instagram I can go out of the “blog” frame so I can share more personal photos, moments, moods. I also can organize my feed with my photos of roses that I took. When I look at all my feed, it is certainly not perfect but it reflects me well – because I am anything but perfect, thankfully!
My husband supported me from the beginning, he even helped me when I created the blog, I did not even know what Wordpress was! He understood this need that I had to do something else. Always now, he gives me excellent advice and motivates me when there are hard moments. My daughters participate sometimes in the photos, we can also see their little hands :-). My mom shares all my articles on her social accounts and we spend a lot of time discussing beauty products.
I also have some friends who are very interested in what I do and support me hugely. I especially think of Michèle (Couleurs du Paradis) who also participates in the blog twice a month with lifestyle articles or makeup because she is a sport coach and professional makeup artist.
Since I’m setting up other projects in parallel with the blog, I need time! We agreed with my husband that I could have either Saturday or Sunday to work and that he would take care of our daughters. Then girls are now at school, so I can scrape a few hours here and there in the week between school, after-school activities and my job. At the end, if I join my job as a nurse (at 30%) and my activities for the blog, I think I work well at 80%!
Social network requires a fairly sustained attention. Hard not to become addicted to your phone! I help myself with some applications and some evenings at 20:00, I give my phone to my husband to let go.
People often asked that question! And I must admit that I have never had any worries about inspiration or white-leaf syndrome. At the end of each month, I schedule all my publications for the following month. I am very lucky to have very nice partnerships with beautiful shops and brands, so I often have new products to present. Or I search in my drawers and talk about one of my last purchases. This year, I also decided to reveal more personal things, some reflections or observations of life... I also keep lists in a notebook: I write down everything that goes through my head!
I have a Nikon D5300 with flip up screen, an essential for selfies. I love that camera. I have a normal lens and a macro. I am passionate about macro photograpahy and I use this lens to achieve most of my shots. I also have two Light Boxes – really needed when you live in Yverdon ^^ and a tripod. I film my videos with the Canon family camcorder. I would like to do better videos but it is a financial investment. To edit my videos I use Final Cut Pro. Since I have this software a small part of my life has changed ;-)!
Well, I’m human, sometimes I do not care and sometimes that’s... arggggg! Especially when people complain about giveaways and they don't even have met the conditions. Generally, I remain polite, I answer. Sometimes, I post it in Stories, it makes people laugh well ^^.
Realizing I have hooded eyelids has been revealing for me! I finally understood why such pretty makeup on others did not work on me. So, yes, I wear makeup differently. I also understood the need to have good brushes, the concept of pigmentation. And I’m a big addict to the highlighters: even if this goes out of fashion, I will continue to wear them... Even when I will be 80 years old at the retirement house.
Hmm it’s difficult to make a choice... I’m going to generalize by saying Highlighter and lipsticks. Of course we can find very affordable and really good ones at Cosmetics Obsessions!
Overall, I hope that blogging has a bright future ahead. But we must also be rational: I wonder where this race to susbcribers, these purchases of followers and likes will lead us. We do not really talk about bloggers anymore but about "influencers"... I’m having a little trouble with this term. I’m not here to influence others but to share and give my opinion. I blog so that those who read me can identify whether the product is for them or not. If they think so, they buy it but only if they feel like it. I do not like the idea that readers would buy a product just because I talked about it.
Similarly, I do not like the idea that partners (shops, brands, agencies) only consider the influence, the number of followers for collaborations. Very often, having a small community means that it is real, without buying followers and that the blogger/influencer is closer and attentive to his audience. Well, at my stage we speak rather of micro-influence... In short, "beauty blogger" suits me very well.
Firstly, we have to separate things: do we want to blog because we like writing, photography, expressing creativity? Or, do we want to blog to have free products and get a great salary at the end of the month? I start my answer here because I receive messages weekly asking me how to receive products for free, while people are not even bloggers yet. And that irritates me!
In Switzerland, only a handful of elected bloggers live on their blog and their social networks (and no, I do not belong to them). Otherwise, with learning, creativity, perseverance... we build a beautiful blog that makes us proud, who helps others (whatever the subject) which allows to make beautiful encounters, to develop other passions. Then, it is possible that agencies and shops approach us to propose us partnerships and possibly, sometimes, one can help pay the bills. So for me blogging is first of all passions: sharing, writing and photography :-).
Thanks so much to Charlotte for sharing with us! We hope you liked this type of interviews as more are coming!
You can follow Charlotte on her social media:
- son blog
- Youtube
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