In honour of my blog’s third birthday I thought I would do a how it all began post, answering the one most asked question over the past three years, that being ‘how did you start blogging?’ Before answering the question let me just give a little background to me. I always knew I wanted to work in fashion and as soon as I turned 16 I got myself a part-time job in retail (albeit First Sport, now JD Sports which is not exactly high-end fashion but still!) I went to London College of Fashion to study Fashion Management and studied many areas in fashion such as buying, finance, marketing and PR. I developed a huge crush on buying all whilst being obsessed with beauty and make-up. There was no such thing as simply passing through the Selfridges Beauty Hall, I had to swatch and buy! I then went on to become a buyer and thoroughly enjoyed it.
When I wasn’t at work, I was still the person to ask for style advice, beauty tips or where to find the best skinny jeans. When I discovered my all time favourite hair straighteners (Corioliss) I literally messaged everyone I know and people joked that I must get commission but still went out and bought a pair based on my recommendation. I left the wonderful world of buying in 2010 to start a family and my shopping addiction then went onto buying baby clothes, baby products and nursery furniture. Still, every time I discovered a new lipstick, moisturiser or perfect gift I found myself texting almost everyone I knew. I then thought to myself rather than texting everyone why not put all my new discoveries in one place like a blog and share it with everyone, if others then stumble across it even better. I felt I had some great product knowledge, beauty tips and fashion advice I wanted to share with everyone!
I had no idea how to start a blog so I googled it and signed up to Blogger. I then had to think of a name, being very naive I wanted to almost be a ghost writer, simply sharing my tips and reviews but didn’t want to put my face or even name to it. Hence, Secret Style File launched its first blog post. Over the next few months I started to follow a lot of other blogs, read lots of articles on successful blogging and had PR’s contacting me to collaborate. I soon learnt that a fashion or beauty blogger cannot hide, you need to be the face of your brand. Oh and your brand is your blog and your blog is your business. I had to become a complete social media queen to build up my following and move over to a self hosted site, not before finding out what that actually meant! To be completely honest, I started blogging as a hobby I had no idea it would take up so much of my time and that three years later I would also have a YouTube channel, doing freelance social media and get asked to be a make-up artist from time to time. I really enjoy it and by no means am I an expert but I have learnt a lot (post to come!) I will never get bored of creating new make-up looks, trying out new beauty products and simply playing with make-up.
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Don’t forget to enter the big birthday giveaway to win all four Naked Palettes here!
