The scary world of beauty vlogging

PS. I wanted to add cute gifs to this post, but as I'm technologically challenged, it didn't work. Sorry.You'll have to look at random photos from my Instagram instead.

I'm always conflicted whether I should post so-called opinion pieces from time to time, or just stick to product reviews. I'm not going to post skincare advice, ever, because I am not a cosmetologist, or a skincare professional. And besides, only a total idiot would take skincare advice from an unqualified blogger. Sadly, judging by the stuff seen in the beauty blogging world, there are idiots aplenty out there.

I was asked today why I don't do vlogs.
There's a short answer - I don't do vlogs, because I'm lazy, and a long answer - because the beauty vlogging world reminds me too much of high school, and I'm way too old for that shite.

High school was quite traumatic for me. It's not the time of my life I want to remember, or revisit, in whatever shape or form. No, thank you.

Kumamon agrees

There are some beauty YouTubers (of various levels of popularity) that I watch from time to time, mainly to keep up with new product releases. But as they are paid for their opinions, I tend to turn down the volume and just watch the images. Convenient and stealthy, if the only time you can watch YouTube is at work.

Being a small time "beauty" blogger (in quotation marks, because I don't do winged eyeliners and lipsticks) with only a handful of followers means that I'm pretty much an outsider to the beauty blogging community. And as such, few people, if any, pay attention to what I have to say.

Surprisingly, that has its good points. Because peeps like me fly under the radar of popularity, I can be as obnoxious and controversial as I want to be, and nobody's none the wiser.

We have a string of public holidays right now here in Japan and that means that I have some time to burn on Instagram and YouTube. And that's exactly what I was doing this morning.

There was this event called Beauty Week 2015 in Seoul, where the movers and shakers of the beauty vlogging world got together to eat, drink, look pretty and be merry.

And looking at the coverage of the event on Instagram and YouTube, it became painfully obvious that the beauty vlogging world is even more like high school than I thought.
You have the popular chicks, the prom queens, the homecoming queens, the upper echelons of high school life, err, pardon me, of beauty vlogging "community".

My cat doesn't give a fark. She's smart.

For them, this is business as usual. It's a job. They do their job. And they are damn good at it.
They worked hard for their success and hats off to them. They deserve to be admired for what they've accomplished.

Then you have the hangers-on. The adoring fans, who think that because their social media following might be in the low 5 figures, they are hot shots, too. Newsflash lovelies, you're not. Not even close. While appearing friendly and open on the surface, their mutual adoration societies are basically the extension of high school cliques. And can be just as brutal.

And then we have the masses, the misfits, the wannabes, the outcasts, the outsiders, and whoever else is left in the graduating class.

The top level vloggers understand that their job is to mingle with the masses and look happy doing so. After all, they get paid for their presence. The second tier, with its inflated sense of self importance, is a lot less accommodating.

While looking at the instagram photos from the event, it became painfully obvious that for the hangers-on image is everything. And that's no surprise, they are clawing their way up the vlogging food chain, so for them image equals credibility.

It got to the point that it was painful to look at.

Photos with the itsbubzes and xsparkages of the world were carefully tagged and marked with everyone's instagram handles, so they would be easy to find by the important people. Unlike photos featuring the happy-to-be-there-rubbing-shoulders-with-the-gurus members of the masses. And if said member happened not to have the physical appearance of a high-powered beauty vlogger? Hahaha! You can't be serious!
You can't expect the pretty people to remember the handles of the not so pretty people. An honest oversight? Who are you kidding!

All those deep thoughts made me hungry.

So there you have it.

My long answer as to why I am not interested in beauty vlogging. I want no part of that world.
I am happy being a small time blogger doing the stuff that small time bloggers do.
Small time beauty bloggers can be as controversial as they want. They do not answer to corporate sponsors and have no ambitions of turning pro. (At least I'm speaking for myself here).

Basically, being on the fringes of the beauty blogging community, we can say whatever we want to whoever we want however we want.

For me, to be a beauty vlogger and be taken seriously based on my appearance, first I'd have to go on GoFundMe, or whatever it is, and beg for money for dental and jaw realignment surgery. Preferably by some miracle-performing Seoul plastic surgeon.

Hey, at least I have cute arm covers!

So that's the end of that story.

What I can do instead is a podcast.
But what the hell would I talk about?
Any ideas?


PS. I am very aware that a similar pecking order exists in the "traditional" beauty blogging community as well, it's not exclusive to vloggers.

The scary world of beauty blogging

First up, I am spewing more of the same more regularly now. Which can mean only one thing.
We're on Twitter now. Yay for me!

I need to get them small, fancy icons ready for easy following and such. But at my advanced age all new technologies can be a bit intimidating.

My week on Twitter was spent diving head first into the beauty twittersphere, or whatever that place is called, where prominent bloggers feel the need to retwit over and over links to their old blog posts. It's boring, it's tiring and frankly, it reeks of desperation. But I guess the struggle to stay relevant and stay on top is real out there. There are only so many press samples and PR events to go around, right?

I am no stranger to beauty blogs, featuring both Asian and western perspective. Though in all fairness and honesty, I've always tried to avoid the heavily sponsored, "I'm a full time blogger" sites, as I feel their opinions are heavily compromised by the fact they make money touting new products and companies.

Of course, there are exceptions, but they are far and few between.
Add to that the fact that many top tier bloggers (or those who delude themselves into believing they are top tier) don't provide clear disclaimers that what they are posting are paid advertorials (yes, most reasonably intelligent readers know it already, but it's the principle and basic honesty that matter) and the waters get even more murky.

The Asian beauty blogosphere is starting to swim in the same murky waters, and as Asian cosmetic companies and retailers are waking up to the PR potential of English language bloggers, the waters are bound to get even muddier. Watch this space.


What caught my attention was a blogger (British mid-tier by the looks of it), who had the balls to actually speak up about the situation. But whether it is a genuine concern and effort to make the British blogosphere a better place, or just an attempt to stay relevant, well, that's anyone's guess.

Though since I'm linking to the post here, clearly, the ploy is working.

I actually found that blog to be quite pleasant. Yes, the products are sponsored, but the content is fun and fluffy, and if I weren't driving to work, it would be something I'd like to read during my morning commute. You know, just to see what's happening on the other side of the world.

Tonight I ended up reading it in the bath instead of my usual materials:

(Yes, I know, I know... smartphones in the bathtub are a really dumb idea.)

It's also interesting to me as a non-Asian beauty blog. And the author did say that:

"Technically speaking tanning is a bad thing and a sign of damage, even though we associated a sunkissed glow with health and radiance."

Love at first read!

Anyway, where was I?

Ah yes, the popularity contest of pro beauty bloggers...

On that blog, I also noticed this:
Blogger Ads and Promotional Packages

Holy mother of Batman! Bloggers actually advertise on popular blogs? And popular bloggers charge money for this service?
Sorry, but to me, this is just against the spirit of blogging (though if I were blogging for a living, I'm sure my opinion would be very different). And it made me appreciate those heavy hitters, who very kindly linked to me without financial strings attached.

On the other hand, I am really curious if such paid services really deliver.
And on the other (third?) hand, if I had 25 or 50 pounds lying around in my paypal account, I'd rather order me some more Whamisa or Cremorlab. Or books.

So yes, my week on Twitter turned into a crash course into the ugly reality of trying to stay on top in a very competitive blogging marketplace.

It also made me glad that I am just a small time blogger blogging about small time things with no real aspirations of becoming an Asian beauty powerhouse.

Have a great week everybody!