Today I celebrate a big one - 15 years of blogging! I cannot believe how long it has been and honestly how fast the time has gone! I remember just toying with the idea when I was working on my Computer Science degree in 2010 and then I thought that maybe having a blog would be good Javascript practice. I was also buying a fair amount of beauty products, but not wanting to show my face or identity because Instagram wasn't really a thing yet in 2011.
What started the blog was when I started doing my own nails after having removed my acrylics and realizing that I had a fairly steady hand and could muddle my way through some fun nail art. A friend of mine suggested beauty blogging as a way to chronicle and share my nails. I thought about it for a long time before finally deciding on the name "Cosmetic Proof" (like a math proof!) and having this space be a place to share nails, beauty hauls and my MANY subscription boxes at the time.
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Blog for Yourself and Write About What Interests YOU
I have seen this advice be given over and over and it's so true. For me, success was never about being able to make a living from this, it was about staying interested and being consistent with what many of us lovingly call "a successful hobby". Yes, having some sponsored content has been nice and I've made a few bucks from beauty blogging, but what has stopped me from burning out or losing interest is knowing that even if I wasn't given ANY press samples that I would just go out and buy what I want to talk about. Being fortunate enough to receive more beauty products than I could ever use in a lifetime has been life-changing, but getting product was never the goal. I got caught up in the FOMO of press samples and event invites about years ago, but now I realize how tiring that chase can be and that I will always have enough product to create content that interests me and if I am lucky, you as well!
Don't Beauty Blog as a Full-Time Job
In general, I don't believe the notion of "if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life". I have found that when I love something, it can't be the ONLY way I make a living so I have to do bits of ALL the things I love. I love my job in the luxury jewelry world, I love beauty, I love Pixyls and all of those things together make me money, but my day job makes me the most money with (to me) the least amount of uncertainty. I know that if I work one hour at my day job, I will receive "X" dollars for sure. That is not the case when you freelance or are self-employed and some people are totally fine with that.
This line of thinking certainly does not apply to everyone, but call me old school when I say that the hustle that comes with trying to be a FT beauty blogger is not worth it. For me, I'd rather focus on making money at my day job that has an actual payroll department that HAS to pay you or its illegal. I like knowing that just showing up physically and clocking in hours is worth a set rate and that if there is a day that I don't feel like being perky online, that my livelihood does not depend on it. This is certainly not for everyone, but having tried the beauty hustle as a freelancer over a decade ago, I realized it took the joy out of beauty for me. Though we have TikTok now and much more short form content, I also believe that this short form content has led to "brain rot" so I think I will stick to doing this as a hobby and loving it!
Here's to another 15 years of beauty products, sheet masking and whatever else this crazy industry comes out with! I will be there!
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