Hello, it's Temptalia! Let's do an AMA! :)

When I started, beauty blogging was newer, and the landscape was completely different then compared to now, so I don’t think anything about my journey was helpful 🙁

I think what is important if you’re starting now is to find ways to differentiate your content from everyone else, and as a result, I don’t think that covering all products or even all the popular products/new products makes any sense if you have limited funds. If you are just reviewing products, it is a very expensive road to take. I think sharing how to use products, how to get more mileage with products, how to combine them with your stash, etc. is going to make your budget stretch further per product!

I find having a schedule and a procedure for what I do routinely helps make sure that I don’t waste time – e.g. I clear out important emails in the morning but then don’t bother replying to anyone until later on in the afternoon (barring any important exchanges I’m expecting). I also try to photograph/swatch only as much as I can edit and have ready for posting the same day, as it is easier to do it all in one sitting, which means that I try not to take photos/swatches every day so I can alternate time spent writing reviews vs. photographing/editing photos.

For what type of product? Normally, I think skincare or maybe foundation so Cover FX would not immediately have come to mind…

Drunk Elephant seems to be a big skincare brand for more sensitive skin from what I hear from readers (I wouldn’t describe my skin as sensitive/reactive… more like resilient, lol). There’s also Paula’s Choice, which isn’t quite as pricey as DE. I also like Kiehl’s and Origins for solid skincare offerings that don’t feel like they over-promise (most of the time).

For foundation and sensitive skin (in terms of brands), I’d say more like Dr. Jart+, Clinique, Dr. Brandt (probably brands that are known for skincare or mixing skincare+base together).

Hi Michelle,

I haven’t done YouTube in years, and when we did, my husband handled editing and used Adobe Premier (we also used PCs and Nikon equipment – all less popular choices in the YT community!), so I can’t help there… I prefer WordPress for a blogging platform, and I think it’s still a solid entry for anyone starting out.

Tips and tricks:

1.) Make sure you’re doing it for the love of beauty – it is hard to emerge and make it a living.
2.) Think about your content and how it can be different from what else is there. If you are doing the same thing as everyone else with nothing new to offer, what will make you stand out or why would someone watch your content over all the other channels they’re already subscribed to? People only have so much time; they can’t watch everyone, so make sure you give them a reason to tune in.
3.) Have fun!

1.) It’s more inclusive and accessible – I feel like you can get just about any product you want at the right price. There are better shade ranges (and still room for improvement!), and there are brands that I think speak to different types of people and preferences but nothing is barred. I just feel like it’s more acceptable to wear blue lipstick today than it ever was in the past.

2.) Not really. I still love my corals and teals, love my shimmer! I’d say that I appreciate neutrals and more understated makeup more now than I did when I was younger, but I still enjoy and gravitate toward brighter and bolder options.

3.) I am very fortunate that my mom is and remains my business mentor, so she helped me avoid making mistakes. I think I’d tell myself to work harder sooner since I didn’t know where it was going initially!

4.) If I know I have a ton of errands that need to get done, I’ll do them in the morning and then put on makeup for testing when I get home. I don’t love putting makeup on and then removing only to put it all on again re: my skin (I do it often enough with removing blush and eyeshadows that I don’t want to aggravate my skin more!), so I’d go without makeup vs. putting on a minimal amount. I can’t recall taking a day off – even if I need to do something like hang out with family all day, I’ll still be testing something! But we can pretend that I do, and my answer would be: whatever the mood struck me as; I might play with products I recently enjoyed or pull out something I used to love or I might wear no makeup at all!

5.) No style icon!

I think you’re just too kind, Patti! It has honestly been trial and error for me – and practice makes perfect! When I was in college, I routinely played around with makeup and always loved eye makeup over everything else, so you could often find me applying dramatic eye makeup at 9PM and washing it off an hour or two later!

I do review Bobbi Brown here and there (Luxe Lip Colors, Highlighters – there have been 30 reviews this year), but a lot of their palettes have been terrible so I stopped buying those (and I bought one recently, and it was still terrible) and more so than other brands, their seasonal launches seem extremely repetitive. I do review Estee Lauder as well – 60 reviews this year – like the Victoria Beckham collaboration, Bronze Goddess Gelee, and just about all shades of their Pure Color lipstick ranges. I don’t recall them coming out with that much else this year, though? Lancome is similar to Bobbi Brown where they have some really big misses and aren’t that popular with readers, so I only buy products that are getting buzzed about. All three of those brands are also ones that I purchase 100% of product from, and while I don’t have any problem buying product for review, I have to careful I put more of that money toward products that readers really want to see most first.

All three of those brands, though, release a LOT less product compared to some other brands, like MAC, Urban Decay, ColourPop, etc.

I haven’t – I don’t wear it often since I’m usually testing other products. Maybe a few times a year if that!

Hi Lin,

Frankly, I hope I can just manage to stay relevant in a space that is constantly changing! I don’t anticipate any major changes, since we’re established and major stuff is usually confusing for the readers so it’s more likely that we continue to expand and refine features over time based on the needs and wants of our community!

Hi Emily!

It depends on the day, but I usually wear a full face of everything for 10 hours and I change my lip product as I go through the day, usually putting something on around 7AM. For lips, I try to do something from 7AM, then eat lunch, apply the next product after lunch, then have dinner, and then after dinner, at least one more, so three per day on average but sometimes I can squeeze four in and other times only one or two if they’re very long-wearing!