Oh hey

Yeah so I promised to update but didn't. I'm working on a new blog but will most likely have it go live mid-January.

I created this blog as a space for testing the waters. I have been writing for almost a decade now and meant to make blogging my main source of income. I have put it off for years and years, trends have come and gone, bloggers I looked up to have gotten married and either settled down to a quieter life offline or branched out to expanding their personal brands to grander commercial ventures. Only recently did I have this nagging desire to finally do something about my writing. Because hey, when am I ever going to do it?

I have lost all my excuses. This just has to happen already.

A couple of weeks ago, I was checking my metrics, some technical aspects of online publishing, and I was shattered by what I found. A seasoned beauty blogger, someone I don't necessarily look up to in terms of taste, beauty or skill, but envied nonetheless because of rankings (she must be earning bajillions by now), seemed to have copied my work. I was surprised because the contents of this blog are shitty. LOL

That's not a flimsy attempt at self-deprecation. The shittiness of this blog is intended. My goal with Live It Pretty has always been to test what works in the Philippine beauty blogging space as far as SEO, advertising, virality and organic readership is concerned. I tried writing about CELEBRITIES, ONLINE CELEBRITIES, PEOPLE I WANT TO BECOME ONLINE CELEBRITIES because I believe in them that much, some random MUNDANE THING WITH A VIRALISH TITLE, reviews of CHEAP MASA PRODUCTS, a philanthropic guide for people who can't afford WISDOM TOOTH EXTRACTIONS, another philanthropic effort to shed light on the beauty black market (I HATE FAKE PRODUCTS, IF YOU BUY FAKE BEAUTY PRODUCTS, PLEASE GO AWAY, YOU ARE KILLING THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY AND YOU ARE KILLING PEOPLE AND ANIMALS AND MY HOPE FOR A BETTER WORLD), and another random philanthropic initiative to unite people who have been scammed by the E-HAPPY TV SYNDICATE. The things I wrote about are things I would never want to be read by people who know me. That's how shitty I intended this blog to be.

Shitty work and a seasoned blogger still bothered to copy it. It broke my heart because where is this industry headed if the top performers are recycling half-assed shitty work from those at the bottom?

So I thought to myself, alright, something has to be done. If people are making money by spitting on the industry, someone's got to start making money by doing honest work and turn the tide. Please bear with me as I lay down the foundation of what I hope to get huge someday. The beauty blogging industry is so much more than fake products and dishonest sponsored reviews and influencers selling their souls in the name of virality. (A beauty blogger I do respect and admire recently downgraded her taste and attempted to go viral by going the Madam Kilay way. Ladies, don't do this to yourself. What is up with making awkward silly faces on makeup videos?)

I'm excited and at the same time exhausted from all the anxiety. I have been working obsessively, gauging if an honest, personal voice still works. So much needs to be done and I'm crossing my fingers for a receptive readership.

Dear beauty bloggers, this is our bread and butter, let's work together to raise our level of collective discourse. (Don't judge by my website's content - these are shitty by design.)