Wednesday, November 13, 2019

I Publish My Blog Stats Part Three


Hello, my beautifuls! 

This post is waaayyy late, y'all. Cheers to life and my pro artistry career keeping me super busy. In addition, must be awoken the creative spark within states Yoda. Anyway, here's to the rest of this year being super successful for all of us. If this is your first time reading my SOTU (state of the union) blog address, then go ahead and click here then here before you proceed. It might make more sense to read them first to see the progression. Otherwise, you're a grown adult and can make your own decisions. 



We write this yearly post because I love me some reading about the industry.

Either way I'm comfortable with the fact that 99% of you wonderful people might be confused about blogging in general. In fact, I'm still confused about all of it. Yet, at the end of my day I conclude that there still needs to be more transparency. Other bloggers should take this SOTU blog address clue and speak of their personal experience, then back it up with honest stats. Put it out there. What do you have to lose honestly? Let's all strive to live in a statistical blogging Utopia. Just don't sign yourself up to migrate to Mars. That's just cray cray. Plus, doesn't Thanos live somewhere up there? #Thorsday

One could spend hours analyzing even one of my social media accounts. My multiple Internet personality weirdness is admittedly strange but each of them has a purpose. What is the purpose? To actually provide value related to a particular topic or content. As a blogger, I'd rather take a backseat and provide my readers/viewers with things that they themselves are interested in. Let's be honest. Could I plaster my face all over? The answer is yes. But what my hands do on a face is way cooler than I'll ever be. I make women happy, y'all. I'm not self absorbed and I realize that I'd be nothing without my readership and fans. We're in this together. We're a team. You rock way more than I do. I genuinely want to know what you enjoy. Apparently based off of my Twitter demographics, you all really like beauty, fashion and Thor accounts.

Matthew McConaughey just said, "Alright, alright, alright."

 


In a world of "look at my face daily" YouTube makeup tutorials which most of me and my pro makeup artist friends actually wholeheartedly despise because they undermine everything we stand for, this blogger right here vows to serve the realness. Let's all as a whole industry of bloggers take a pact that includes showcasing our talent and not our looks. Beauty is temporary and subjective anyway. Stop showing me the same stupid smoky eye look with a different color scheme everyday. I can't. I just. Can't.


Don't be a yes, sir.

If there's anything I could reiterate about my entire Internetty experience, it's that you are a divine creation my friend. No one thinks like you. You've always been lightning before the thunder. I love stumbling onto one of my followers accounts and it screams uniqueness.

You're going to go much further if you wholeheartedly believe in your purpose. No one understands the what or why behind my writing and social media. They probably never will. I can still wake up in the morning and tell myself I'm a bad B while I'm glamming up for work. No regerts. Oops, I mean no regrets. I just totally regretted that sentence but not my God given talent.


Some wonder what I'm up to lately. A lot of things, actually. At this point I earn my living representing several brands as a pro makeup artist. Shout outs to Smashbox Cosmetics, GlamGlow, Estee Lauder & It Cosmetics!

As cool as that seems, I'd be lying if I told you I didn't focus much on my Internet career. It consumes me. Give me five minutes of quiet time. 99% of that time you'll find me creating some type of content. Another title I take seriously is consultant. Really soon you'll find me telling you my media company's website is almost live. Everything I've done to this point has been organic and not paid for. Maybe you'll want to hire my company to run your social media accounts, help allocate your online marketing budget or even ghost write for you.

I can honestly say that after years of my friends and family wondering what the hell I'm doing with my life and how I'd be combining my interests, I finally am. Cue in Chris Brown because when there's a will, there's a way. Look at me now.

xoxo



When you need someone to cling to, call on me love. Answers are not fair. I'm a firm believer that if you have a good heart, you will find a way to cheer.


#2017 #progress! Since I've been keeping track of my #stats. Some accounts we've been tracking for a while, where other accounts we weren't. Google+ & Vine remain a stagnant number for several years since they've closed. I still have my work cut out for me, lol. #bbloggers #fbloggers #writersofinstagram #blogger #vlogger #beautyblogger #affiliate #contentcreator #contentmarketing #socialmediamarketing #smm #blogstats #makeupbyj #makeupthebay #socialmediareach #twitter #instagram

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Sunday, August 12, 2018

Lose Your Innocence With These Fall Beauties













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Saturday, February 3, 2018

Spring Beauty Picks: Take My Soul


Well, they can take my money 
but they can't take my soul. 

Wait a second. Are we both looking at the same new beauty collections? They can take my soul, actually. Not even kidding.

These picks below are pure fire and sure to spice up your Spring beauty routine. We've had the chance to play with them all in-store and whoa buddy. The pictures don't even do them justice. Rich pigment, blendability and non-chalkiness are some of the qualities these colors all share. What are they you ask? None other than Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess Illuminating Powder Gelee ($45), Nars' Wanted Narsissist Palette ($59) and Smashox's Photo Edit Eye Shadow Trios ($22).

If one were to ask me what I like seeing in Spring, it would be bronzy gold skin dripping in color, giving Winter drabness a swift kick in the rear end. It's totally okay to have one amazing color on your face, whether it be a killer eyeliner color, eyeshadow or bright lip. So don't bore me with neutrals, y'all.

Read on for thee gloriousness and happy Thorsday, by the way.

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Thursday, November 2, 2017

Sensitive Skin Makeup Removers You'll Want More Than You Know


I just need to get this off my chest, baby. 

Actually, let's correctly label this dire beauty situation. This makeup is all over my face and I need it off tonight more than you know. Since Halloween is here, our makeup endeavors are getting serious. Combine that with donning waterproof eyeliners and mascaras (thanks, allergies...) and we've got a lot of night work to do. 

Since we've taken it upon ourselves to use our fragile eyeballs as guinea pigs so you don't have to suffer as well, read on for some of our top favorite makeup removers for sensitive skin. They don't sting at all and do a great job emulsifying and breaking down any makeup deemed regular or waterproof.

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Micro Cleansing Balm, $46
Shop Ulta here.

Hello, beautiful. Where have you been all my life?! Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Micro Cleansing Balm is amazingness in a jar. It also doubles as a cleanser for sensitive or dehydrated skin. Scoop a little out on dry hands and rub the balm into your dry skin. It will slowly warm up into an oil and once you splash your face with water, the magical product rinses off like a milk. It also does a fantastic job at moisturizing the face with its end result being a more radiant complexion. Ingredients to note include lavender, chamomile, safflower oil, coconut oil and Vitamin E. Bye bye, pollutants!

Dermablend Long Wear Makeup Remover, $22
Shop Dillard's here.

Considering that Dermablend is the master of long wear camouflage, it would make total sense for them to be a boss of taking off their high performance pigments as well. Both vegan and sulfate free, this lightweight cream is also safe for contact lens wearers. I rub this into dry skin and then tissue it off. I then follow with splashing my face with water, although water is not necessary. Skin loving ingredients include coconut oil and glycerin. This is truly a great choice for your pro kit if you're a makeup artist always on the go.
Smashbox Primer Oil, $42
Shop Ulta here.

My obsession with Smashbox's primer oil runs deep in my veins. Not only is it a safe moisturizer for people suffering from rosacea, a few drops go a super long way. My bottle lasts me roughly a year when I use it twice a day. This one time, at band camp... Lol... I was borderline having an allergic reaction around my eyes. My skin started to swell and my skin around my eyes got so dry it was almost scaly. It was at that moment that I knew any makeup remover or cleanser for that matter, would undoubtedly sting my face. So I rubbed some of this oil into my dry eyes and off came my waterproof eyeliner and mascara. But I couldn't stop there. I had to see if it would break down my matte liquid lipstick and I was not disappointed. This stuff is like my Frank's hot sauce for real. I put this stuff on everything, including scrapes, dry skin patches on the body, my cuticles and lastly my kids. Yes, my six year old daughter requests this as her facial moisturizer of choice after her showers and baths. The ingredients to note are almost too many to list: sweet almond oil, tamanu oil, Vitamin E, sunflower oil, apricot oil, jojoba oil, evening primrose oil, lavender oil and many more. Since it's such a good blend, we prefer to tissue it off when using it for makeup removal. Let those oils soak in to your skin, my friends.

Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre, $9.95-$28
Shop Target here.

Here's another gem that often gets brought backstage by pro makeup artists for their models. Cue in Embryolisse's Lait-Creme Concentre which can be used as a makeup remover, facial moisturizer and primer. When I use it as a remover, I tissue it off. Otherwise, I've been known to go to town with applying it as a moisturizer with a traditionally shaped foundation brush. This magical cream doesn't make you feel sticky even in hot or humid climates and has been safe for every single skin type I've put it on. That's really saying a lot. Physician developed, ingredients worth mentioning in the formula are aloe vera and shea butter. Embryolisse also makes a lighter version of this for the body. It's fantastic.


Oh, my goodness. Micellar waters are all the rage in new beauty routines. In the above video, you can totally hear why they're so awesome. I love the smell of this La Roche-Posay Micellar Water Ultra and I love that it attracts even the most microscopic dirt and debris on my skin. I've been using this on its own with cotton rounds or splashing some of it on baby wipes, especially when I've glittered my eye makeup to the point of it being visible from space. It's a very reasonable product depending on what size you buy. Although I could of bought the 3-oz. $7.99 size, we went with the 13-oz. $19.99 option. You don't have to rinse it off after you use it and ingredients to note in the formula are glycerin and thermal spring water. 

La Roche-Posay Micellar Water Ultra, $19.99
Shop Target here.

Enjoy, lovelies. 
You're sure to love these magical makeup removers more than you know.

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Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Feel Glorious About Starting Your Social Media Strategy

  
We're planting a flag. They don't understand.
The world is up for grabs.

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Fortunately or unfortunately, computers are here. Phones are even computers. I can honestly tell you I might even utilize urbandictionary.com at least once a week. The world is advancing, man. So let me ask you a direct question, my friends. What are you doing to proactively secure your space on this world wide web? If this social world is not your cup of tea, that's fine. Go back to blaring that vinyl record player while not ordering uber eats while looking up LOL cats on that foreign technology we call a computer.

You might have a business. You might be using your social accounts to help promote you in your career or catapult you into working in your passion field. Whatever your goal is, your dedication to the Internet and social media accounts can really advance you into whatever you want to do.

Do you want to know how much I've spent on online marketing, growing my follower lists or getting more likes on my posts? Zero, y'all. Ever. All I simply did was take my time to get a clear understanding of each social platform. School of hard knocks is how I roll and it's true I could of hired people or firms to help. But I take joy in knowing all aspects of my business and I have zero qualms about being able to tell people if they're BS-ing me or not doing the best that they can for me. 

Can I now tell my friends objectively if their online marketing plans are working for them? Absolutely. But don't freaking ask me if you're not willing to accept advice or have the want to understand. At the end of the day, this is your business! The one piece of advice I have for you is this: Grab your business life by the horns. Ride that bull until the knowledge seeps into your brain and continue riding that bull until you appreciate it. One can teach the willing. Yet, ignorance is bliss. 

So, how do you create a perfect social media strategy? To answer that correctly, it depends on what your goals are. Do you want branding? Do you want to sell stuff? Do you want your followers to remember you? Do you want to be considered an expert in your field? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you've come to the right place. Now that's a start. Good for you...

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So, yeah. I'm no genius but my persistence continues to pay off. I was pleasantly surprised to calculate my mid-year total Twitter views (which is 564,843 as of yesterday). Yes, there are several factors that have affected this number which I explain here and here.

For your reference:
Total Views Across All Platforms
1,528,926  Dec 2015
2,170,818  Dec 2016

While I'm great talking out of my butt on several topics (since ignorance is bliss), here are some pointers that I've learned throughout my time blogging on how you can develop a solid social media strategy. Enjoy. Let me know if you find them helpful or if you'd like to give me the talking out of your butt on social strategy 2017 award of the year. Heh. Heh.

#1- Think about what your goals are for your business. For example, if you're selling stuff online, you might want to opt for social sites that have "Buy Now" button options for advertising. Think click-thrus to your website. 

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#2- Which sites do you enjoy? Also, what are a few you really enjoy after trying them out for a few days consecutively? You're going to need more than one so you spread the risk of it dissolving evenly over all your social platforms. 'Tis not good to have all of your followers in one place. At least then you won't want to curl up in a ball and die if someone buys that social channel out, something bigger comes along or the social site simply can't stay afloat with either the money needed or the technology to take out the next best thing. RIP my Vine channel. At its prime and before Vine announced it was closing, I had close to 9,000 followers in a little over two years. None of which I paid a cent for. Never thought I'd be learning valuable lessons from something I never dated. Lols. But man did it feel like a marriage. Heh. Heh.

#3- Make a plan and write it down. You've got to be able to measure and track your efforts.

#4- If you're a business, you better turn them into business accounts ASAP so you can gain access to the analytics and stats. Some of mine I didn't turn into business accounts until late 2014. What was I thinking?! My numbers would be way bigger if I could of kept track since 2012. Another lesson learned from something I never dated. Heh. Heh.

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#5- Set yourself a monthly budget to spend on social efforts and growth since you're not a weirdo like me. Seriously. Running all this stuff myself and growing my follower lists organically consumes a very large portion of my time. At this point, there is no turning back for me. I'm not a quitter and because I am an insanely dedicated person, I simply cannot stop until I prove to myself and all of the doubters that I'm not crazy. I told people long ago (probably dating back to 2009) I was going to figure out this digital advertising and social media marketing space we call the Internet. Furthermore, if you're going to pay to play with your socials, pay the companies directly (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) to help you advertise. Never pay $20 for several thousand followers! First off, you're cheating. Second, your likes, shares, click thrus and views are still going to suck. Trust me when I tell you that most people in digital marketing can smell an account with a fake liking app or fake follower app. I don't even want to know you or associate myself online with you. Shake. My. Head. In your general direction.

#6- Use HootSuite. HootSuite allows you to look at several of your social media accounts all at once and in one place. For a mere $19 a month, you can manage up to ten social profiles. Scheduling posts? Yes. Posting to a few or all at once? Yes. Tracking trending or your personal business hashtags that you'd like to interact and play along with? Yes. HootSuite will not disappoint you, my fine friend.

#7- Ahh, lucky number 7 is going to tell you to stay active and fresh with content. Also, followers remember consistency. You've got to stay memorable since all of your competitors are trying to inundate them with dark forces. The next thing you know is you've lost your sale and customer to Darth Vader. We've also been told Darth Vader wakes up early and eats worms.

#8- Be yourself. Boring posts excite no one except maybe my robot Roomba. Authenticity mixed with occasional vulnerability makes you real and followers will be more empathetic to your cause.

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#9- Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Every month or two, schedule yourself a meeting to analyze your growth. Reassess what's happening. Also, a monthly spreadsheet couldn't hurt for comparisons. You'll want columns for follower counts, impressions or views, click thrus, profile views and amount of posts per month.

#10- There are a ton of valuable YouTube videos that you can watch to help you with social sites. Chill on the netflix and chill and dork out with a fellow business friend who might enjoy watching these videos as well. Also, Marketo Blog is a valuable source for all things digital marketing. We may or may not know them very well. Click here. Or here.

Feel glorious about starting your social strategy.
Now's the time and today is the day. Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions and interact with me on your social media accounts! I promise I play nice and will do my best to help increase your likes, shares and online exposure.

Much love, my friends.

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Friday, July 7, 2017

I Hope You're Somewhere Praying


In life, you're going to get what you give. 
Hopefully your soul is changing.

Karma knows and so does God.


Enjoy life.
You only have one.

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