Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕
So, as the year is nearing the end, I, like all of us, tend to reflect on the year on the whole and weigh in the good and the bad things that have happened.
Let's look at my 2016 blogging year in the retrospective, shall we?
First of all, thank YOU so much for reading, supporting, commenting and liking my posts, without you my lovely readers I would be nothing! I care about every single one of you and the connection we build is priceless to me 💖 So huge thank you from the bottom of my heart! I just love serving the world by sharing ways to green and eco your life by being super honest about what works and what doesn't. I share my point from sensitive skin point of view. I don't make any money from my blog, but the rewards are different, intangible, I am overjoyed when someone tells me I helped them to make the switch to the green beauty or asks me for clean make up recommendations. I do get a ton of emails in regard to healing dermatitis naturally, so I will do a separate follow up blog post on that, promise. You might be surprised to know that most of my followers/readers come from America and Asia, Ireland being in the third and UK in the fourth place. Life moves in mysterious ways, isn't it?
Most proudest moments
That would have to be my feature in No More Dirty Looks and Sophie Uliano telling me that she LOVES my work! If you don't know Sophie, you need to know, she is a heavyweight and a major player in a green beauty world as well as New York Times best selling author. So that is a major compliment my way if you ask me :)
Most reviewed posts
That would be the following :
Hynt Beauty Duo Perfecting concealer review (older review here), the funny thing is, my review for this amazing beauty called Natural Dupe for CoverFX Drops received three times more views versus the one called straight up "Hynt Beauty Concealer Review". It goes to show that people want natural alternatives to the conventional make up stuff, and maybe I should focus more on these types of posts?
You can see the post here, and as I said, I will make the follow up post as it gathers interest. I am more or less 1 year dermatitis free, I am not out of the woods yet as I did have three breakouts where I accidentally glutened myself, but my day to day life is symptoms and itch free. Also antibiotics and steroids free. Stay tuned for this :)
This local Irish company quickly found a place in my favourites, and I never want to be without their products! This is a big claim, but I think this is my Holy Grail company when it comes to body care, I intend to purchase their products until I cease to exist. The balms and the body butter are to die for, minimal natural mostly raw and organic ingredients and the smell is out of this world gorgeous. Not only that, but they are also affordable and ship for free! I've been shouting about this brand from the rooftops, aka all over social media, and we recently collaborated for a giveaway, which I am super stoked about, as you guys can get a chance to try it too.
This was the item I clung onto the most when I made a switch six or seven years ago as it was the hardest to replace, there were nothing even remotely similar to it in the green beauty world. Thankfully the green beauty scene really exploded since, and I am proud to present not one, not two, but FOURTEEN natural dupes! Clearly, I worked really hard on this :)
Clearly inspired by the iconic Master Mixer by RMS. I am happy to DIY what I can, and you seemed to enjoy this post too. If you missed that post, click on the link above. I plan lots of more DIY posts next!
and last but not least, my
Natural Beauties Series
This is recent addition to my blog, this Natural Beauty Series, where I interview the movers and shakers in the green beauty world. I have to say that I am very happy with this addition, as it gives you the chance to discover more green beauties if you don't follow them already :) Needless to say I am continuing these series in the new year too, and for now, you can check out my interviews with the lovely Sasha from Balanced Beauty Bristol, Vita from Vita Lives Free, Michele from BVGAN and Andie from Andie the Green Queen.
Overall experience
I am so glad and thankful to each and everyone of you who read my posts, liked and commented on any of my social media outlet and to the green beauty community who welcomed me with open arms! So glad to be a part of something bigger than me! In Ireland I am a still a lone soldier in a field when it comes to the all stuff natural. I mean there are a few shops that sell natural products, I don't know any other green beauty bloggers, and there are no expos that would be open to the public! So yeah, I don't have it easy here. I mean we don't even have Wholefoods or even Sephora. Thanks goodness for online shopping! Custom charges are whole lotta of other story, but let's not get into it here. At first when I didn't know where to look for natural products I shopped online pretty much for everything, but now I am coming to realise that Ireland market has changed so much and I can get many bases covered shopping locally (yay or what?) with the odd online order for make up. I also wanted to thank all the brands who worked with me this year, and if your review is not out yet, fear not, it will be out very soon in 2017. I have to say i discovered some amazing products this year, and I am hoping for more amazingness next year!
Goals and resolutions for next year
My previous sentence pretty much sums it up! More amazingness to come please! This was fun, let's keep it up, I mean I hope you found my blog posts helpful and informative. Your messages asking for help in making the switch to the green beauty or help with dermatitis/eczema and/or thank you messages for what I do is the best feeling ever in my mind it confirms I am on the right track! Blogging is my passion and I really enjoy doing it, even though I don't get paid to do so. I sat down the other day and realised I need to learn so much about blogging, of all these other behind-the-scenes things that blogger is supposed to do, I mean it was only this year I heard about SEO and I realized I never asked you guys to like and share my posts! /Insert hand on the eyes and shaking head emoji here/ I clearly run on passion alone! So my goals for next year are to attend the bloggers conference, meet some fellow bloggers in person - if you are a natural beauty/lifestyle blogger visiting Dublin, drop me a line! Also I want to look into monetisation in non annoying ways. I see many bloggers who make their entire blog and IG feed shoppable, and while I can't blame them for wanting to cash in on their hard work (because it IS hard work, everything from testing the products to writing/photographing takes a lot time and effort) but at the same time I do not want to become a giant add myself, cash is not my goal, I want it to be a rather by-product of blogging and it is clearly not what i am in for! You know that honesty is what I am all about, and I've been told this is exactly what sets me apart from other bloggers, and I intend to keep it that way. So if you will see an affiliate link, it will be to only brands or online shops I believe in. I won't be attaching my name to anything that comes my way, much in the same way that I reject 90% of products offered for review. I also want to continue to host giveaways, I love when I get to share the products i love with you guys! I also plan to expand my content a bit, and introduce more varied topics, you can expect easy, healthy and quick to do recipes, maybe some fashion in a form of outfits of the day and a bit of shopping here and there, book reviews and who knows, maybe 2017 will be the year I will start my YouTube channel? It is something I want to do, but because of my insecurities I always take one step forward and two backwards about it. Another things I need to do is to make a blogger business card and media kit.
So there you have it, my thoughts on the blogging business and the goals for the next year. What are your goals, please share with me?
With this I want to let you know I will be taking the rest of the year off, makes sense for the Holiday period, no? Try not miss me too much, and if you will, re-read any old post of mine, I wrote 80 posts this year, so you won't be short of topics, 2016 Best Products is a good way to start 😉
Wishing you all the best this Christmas and see you all here in 2017. I raise my glass of bubbly to you!
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| Grateful heart is a magnet for miracles. Photo via Pinterest. |
Lots of Love and Gratitude for you, my readers!
Renata.
