Sammi the Beauty Buff: Confessions of a Beauty Blogger (Tag)

Hi, friends! I'm back again this week (thanks to Monday's productive snow day) with a fun tag post! I read Priyanka's tag on Glamour and Giggles, and it looked like so much fun that I wanted to do it myself!

1. When did you start your blog?
My first post was March 10, 2013! It was a review for the Wen Treatment Mist, because that was one of the things I had in my room at the moment. Wow, that post is old.

This was the original banner and title for the site! Don't worry--it didn't last long.

2. Why did you start a blog?
I had "gotten into" makeup a few months prior, and I had no one to share my feelings with. On the Amtrak home for spring break I got the idea to start a beauty blog, and I created it right then and there.

3. When did you start becoming serious about starting a blog?
Probably around May 2014, when I purchased my domain. It was great. My mother went around telling everyone that her daughter "was a dot com" like I'd won some kind of award. When I broke it to her that I just paid $15 for it, I felt so bad!

4. How many hours a week do you spend planning/writing/uploading posts?
It's very sporadic, especially when classes are in session, since I just squeeze in a few minutes here and there whenever I have some time. Right now I can only manage one post a week (not counting weeks when Boston basically closes down due to snow). Including photographing products, I would say about 5 hours if I'm doing an Empties or Favorites post, but somewhere around 7 if I'm doing a post that requires a lot of research, like a review or ingredient master-post. That also doesn't include times where I try to change my web design and things go horribly, horribly wrong.

5. What has been your biggest challenge about blogging?
Getting good-quality photos. I have a dinky point-and-shoot camera and the only window in my door room faces out into an alley, meaning I hardly get any sunlight. That's why the photo quality differs so greatly when I go home for breaks. I also might be getting a DSLR as a graduation present, so we'll see!

6. When is it easiest for you to write your posts?
I like to do a little bit each day, that way I don't wake up on Sunday and freak out. Usually if I wake up early enough in the mornings, I can get a bit done before class. Typically, by Sunday morning, I like to have all of the formatting and photographing done and just have to fill in the words! Believe it or not, the easiest part of blogging is just saying what you want to say!

7. What makes writing posts comfortable for you?
The fact that I just write in my own voice. I write how I talk--uncensored, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing--so it's easy just to get my thoughts out there. I talk on my blog as though I'm talking to a good friend. The only difference is on here I (try) to be less obnoxious and actually take the rules of grammar into account.

8. Where do you see your blog in one year?
That's a very good question! I've been playing around with the idea of rebranding, since I won't be in college a year from now (ohmyGodohmyGod). I would just really miss being the College Beauty Buff, especially since I've established myself as such for almost two years.

9. What is the most rewarding thing to you about blogging?
Helping other people. A friend of a friend came up to me the other day to thank me profusely for the Holiday Wishlist post I did. She said she was in a "big makeup store" and felt totally lost, but then remembered what I wrote about in that post and bought the [Elizabeth and James] Nirvana perfume and fell in love with it. I almost cried.

Probably the only category of my post that any of us can afford right now.

10. What’s your worst makeup/hair habit?
Wearing the same thing every day. I'm a creature of habit, so I always do a neutral everyday look and the same hairstyles (if you can even call them that) over and over again. I'm trying to branch out. It's a process.

11. What’s one quote you wish the world would live by?
"Don't look down on somebody, unless you're helping them up" (Jesse Jackson). It was actually my high school yearbook quote, because I'm a nerd.

12. How long do you spend getting ready everyday?
That depends on what time I manage to pull myself out of bed! It can be anywhere from 15 minutes (if I'm going to be late for class) to an hour If I care about my appearance that day.

13. What your favorite post on your blog?
Anything that has to do with how ingredients work! I love sleuthing around and figuring out the science behind it. Maybe I should have become a chemist or something, though I hate science, so the fact that this interests me so much must be a fluke.

This post was all about why lemons make me sad.

14. Who is a beauty blogger that you think deserve more subscribers that they have?
I honestly don't understand why Collective Beauty doesn't have ten million subscribers. It baffles me.

15. What’s one thing you’re excited about in the coming year?
Graduating college. I love school and the environment of being forced to only be a half-adult, but as terrified as I am, I can't wait to see what the future holds for me.

16. What has been your favorite blogging moment?
Really, just any time someone comes to me for beauty advice. It makes me feel like some sort of scholar. See #9.

17. How long does it take to prep for a post?
See #4, since at school I only really have time to do one post a week.

18. Are you wearing jeans/ skirt right now or are you wearing pajama bottoms?
Jeans. It would have been sweatpants, but I was supposed to go see a show today and I totally forgot because I was writing this, and now here I am.

Now I'm going to tag...

Kristina from The Feminine Files
Vivienne from Jolie Pagaille
Julie from Collective Beauty
Lauren from Little Blushing Birdie
Megan from Southern Charmed

I also tag all of YOU! Anyone who wants to do this, please let me know so I can read it! I love these kinds of things.

Well, that's everything! I hope you guys enjoyed this post and getting to know me a little more. I would love to get you all a little more! Tell me below how long it takes for you to get ready!