We all know how rubbish it is trying to take blog or Instagram photos this time of the year. The winter season is the worst time to try and shoot, with day light hours restricted and gloomy days more likely than bright ones. It can be hard to find the right time to take some pictures with the weather outside not playing ball, social events growing at this time of the year with Christmas just around the corner and also longer hours at work or school before the holiday season hits. Taking blog photos in the winter can make you fall behind and struggle to even get one decent shot, but there a few tips and tricks you can do to try make things work better and also fit with the time of the year.

Being a beauty blogger, I spend a lot of time working with beauty products and shooting photos of them. When you really love a product and want to share it with your audience, you want to be able to show it off in all it's glory and show exactly what is is worth. Although this sometimes can be difficult to work with different colours, reflective products, funny angles and getting them to stay exactly where you want them. Over the past couple of years of running this blog and definitely in the last year, I have learnt just how to shoot beauty products and experiment with doing so. Here are some of the things that have helped me...

One of the many perks about blogging is that is has such a huge community of like minded people, that it can make what is essentially a lone wolf hobby a lot less about being alone and more about being surrounded by other bloggers. Although if you are shy or suffer with social anxiety, it can be hard to put yourself out there and engage with others. Or perhaps you just don't have any idea as to how you can get involved and how you can stop isolating yourself from bloggers. 

Whilst the majority of bloggers are pretty friendly and will welcome you with open arms, there are the few hard gems that will try to tear people down. Don't let these people ruin your hopes of wanting to join the community. Anyone and everyone is welcome. Whether you're a small new blogger or  have been around for awhile, you all deserve a chance to get involved in the blogging community and here are some ways to do just that...

You're laying in bed on a Sunday morning, having a little scroll through Instagram admiring everyone's latest uploads whilst you sit in your warm bed with a cuppa, when suddenly you see someone has uploaded yet another new blog post that week. The realisation suddenly hits when you think back to the last time you uploaded or even wrote out and took photos for a post. With your daily routine of going to work or spending hours in education, socialising with loved ones and catching up around the house when you do get a spare moment, and overcoming any problems that arise in the week that can knock you for six, it can be easy to let your blog slip out of your hands and completely get lost in the chaos.

With October now here and some bloggers deciding to partake in the famous blogtober (blogging everyday in october), it's only rightly that us bloggers start to think about taking on the challenge of blogmas throughout december and the lead up to Christmas. Like blogtober, blogmas focuses on blogging everyday until the 25th of December. For the first time last year, I participated in the challenge and I definitely learnt a lot from daily blogging during that time. So today I thought it would be a good idea to share some of my top tips for a successful blogmas, the tips I plan on using and that I hope you might too if you decide to take on blogmas this year.

A media kit is a common phrase used within the blogging and influencer world. It is one that not all of us seem to get and almost wonder what the hell one of them even is. A media kit is something I believe all bloggers need. No matter how big or small your following is. You need to have one. A media kit is the best way you can showcase yourself and your blog in the exact way you want to. It's a documentation that outlines the key information brands want to know about you and will help persuade them to want to work with you. 

Creating and starting a blog might have always been something you've always wanted to and the whole reason as to why you've stumbled across this post. You might have never had the guts to take the plunge and start one. Or perhaps you've just never know where to really start and the whole thing just daunts you. The truth is starting a blog really isn't as scary as it may seem. Sure it may be a little overwhelming at first, but you'll soon get the hang of things and ask yourself why you never started sooner. If you need that extra push as to why you should start a blog right now, then here are 6 reasons to try and persuade you...

I think most bloggers are pretty competent on how to accept brand collaborations for brands and how to work with them to benefit your readers experience, what comes from one one of the pretty amazing perks of being a blogger and building an interactive audience. But what about those brands that do not suit your blog criteria or do not make good enough offers to you for you to even consider working with them? Those are the ones that can become more difficult to respond to and decline. You can sometimes feel guilty or disappointed with not being able to go through with a collaboration for whatever reason it may be. If you struggle to decline some brand collaboration requests, then keep on reading because I'm going to share with you just how you can decline brand collaborations:

Whether you're a keen photographer or a blogger who enjoys taking photos for their blog, a bright image is something we all aim for and know looks a lot more aesthetically pleasing to our audience. It can be difficult to always achieve a bright image with things like the weather, lighting or using the wrong camera settings getting in the way. I know for me when it comes to taking photos for my blog or Instagram, I do struggle to achieve a bright image and have to rely on editing tools to help me out. But sometimes my images do come out bright with a good white balance and looking crisp. And not only is this such a good feeling when this does happen, but it also means I've been able to pick up some good tips and tricks to follow to even achieve this process to make it work in the way I want to. 

There seems to be some misconception within the blogging world that we need to be on our game 24/7 with making content, promoting said content and thinking of new said content. Whilst doing this can be good for progressing your blog along and bringing success, it can also be toxic if you burn yourself out, especially if you are already feeling deflated with your blog and know that you need sometime away from it. Blogging breaks are fine. Blogging breaks are needed. Everyone needs to have a break from blogging, the same way we have days off work or education, breaks are highly beneficial for so many reasons. The same applies for blogging and taking breaks. The benefits you can get from taking a break from blogging is endless. 

So two years ago today, I hit publish on my first blog post and after that I really got myself involved in the blogging world. It's crazy to think I have stuck with this hobby for two whole years. I don't think there has been any hobby that I've stuck with for this long so it's definitely been worth it. Of course, like everyone's blogging journey, I've had my ups and my downs. There has been times when I've wanted to quit and other times when I feel like I'm really on my game. But I'm really pleased I've stuck it out even when times were tough. Although when I first started, I never realised what I could achieve nor what blogging really entailed. It was a complete mystery to me. There's so many things I wasn't aware of and I thought I would share some of those things in today's anniversary post: