Rainy Beach Day

Today I planned to go to Bournemouth beach to shoot an OOTD post. The weather had been hit and miss however it did say that it wasn’t going to rain until the evening. I was scheduled to leave at 1 pm because my photographer was busy until then however we ended up leaving later than planned. When we got to Bournemouth, we actually ended up in the wrong place. At first I was thinking we should just stay where we were and work with what we have however my gut was telling me to go the place I originally planned. Once we got there and parked the car, it started to rain a little so we decided to go and get some lunch first and that way we would be sheltered. We decided to go into Zizzi’s because I had never been and then I found out that they offer up to 40% student discount! I used my initiative and decided to mention that in the blog post I had planned for the day. Once we had finished eating the rain had slowed down so we made our way towards the gardens. When I visited Bournemouth last time, I walked through the gardens and they were beautiful so I thought that they would be the perfect location for some pictures. We got a couple but then it started to rain again so I decided to head to the arcade. The vibe inside the arcade was so cool so we decided to get some pictures in there too. Although the lighting wasn’t the best, it gave the pictures more of a vintage feel, you could tell we were in an arcade. By this time the shops had closed so there wasn’t much more to do so we decided to head back home. Although the day didn’t go to plan, I still enjoyed it and am happy with the pictures and if anything, it gives others ideas as to what to do when it’s raining in Bournemouth. If I were to do this again I would try and go on a day with better weather and leave earlier. I would also come up with a backup plan so we would have more indoor places to go to.

Change in blogging days

Whilst researching for another project, I found that the best days to post online are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. I have been posting on these days however because I work all day on a Saturday, I don’t really get the time to properly promote my new content. This is why I have decided to post on a Sunday instead. I still work all day on Sundays however because we close earlier, it gives me more time during the day to share my new post.

I have also found through this process so far that because I post three times a week, it only gives me two days to promote that piece of work before I have to move onto the next one. Sometimes I feel like it would be better to post twice a week instead and that way I would have more posts planned in time and I would be able to give them the time they need to be promoted. I may alternate some weeks by posting twice or three times to see if it makes much of a difference but that I don’t want to confuse followers who know the days I post on.

When it comes to promoting, I’ve found that twitter is the best app for me, some viewers do some from my Instagram but not as many compared to my twitter account. I have created a twitter account purely dedicated to the blog where I follow others bloggers and whenever I publish a new post, I use the relevant hashtags. As there is a blogging community, other bloggers tend to retweet my link so that my content gets viewed by a wider audience.

NEW LOGO

My friend who said would help with my new logo has been quite busy recently and I didn't want to keep bothering her so I've decided to just make my new logo by myself.

I went onto DaFont.com to look at the fonts they had until I found a couple I liked. These are the ones I managed to narrow down. 

Filming First Ever Makeup Tutorial on YouTube

As it is valentines day next week, I want to create a makeup tutorial for my YouTube channel. A big thing at the moment is affordable, drugstore makeup so i've decided that all the products I am going to use are going to be affordable as this ties in well with my USP as I am aiming my blog at students. My biggest challenge for this tutorial is going to be finding a drugstore foundation that I actual like using and matches me well.

Whilst going through my makeup, I came across my L'Oreal True Match foundation which I think is probably the best match i'm going to get and I thought it would be helpful for others with my skintone to know which shade I use.

I decided to film at 1pm as the lighting was best at this time of day. I decided that this was not going to be a talk through tutorial as I am not that confident with talking on camera by myself just yet. Once I was filming there were a couple issues, first my SD card ran out of storage so I had to use my housemates, and then the camera was about to die so I had to be as quick as I could. I made up the makeup look as I was going but I was happy with the outcome anyway.

From filming this makeup tutorial, I discovered that I actually really enjoyed making videos. It has always been a passion of mine to watch tutorials but I never realised how much work actually went into making these videos.

Late Night Library

Today after I finished work, some of my housemates were going to the library after they had their dinner so I decided to go with them. Whilst I was there I managed to write 2 blog posts (Mothers Day Gift Guide & Points Cards Worth Having). I couldn't think of the first image to have for the Mothers Day Gift guide so I decided to make my own. I want my blog to look minimal and clean so I decided to use a white marble background which I found on Pinterest. I then went onto DaFont.com to download a font I liked and one that suited the vibe for the Mothers Day post. Once I had that sorted I then decided I wanted the font to have a metallic/foiled effect. I created my business card with the foiled effect and I really liked the outcome so I had a play around with Photoshop until I remembered how to do it. The next thing I had to do was find images for my Mothers Day Gift guide. As much as I love taking my own pictures and using them on my blog, for this post I had no option but to use images other had took which I found online, however I made sure to give credit to each image.

Grade & Feedback for Proposal

Today I got my grade and feedback from my final major project proposal. At first I was a little disappointed with myself but then when I had time to think about it, I realised I was being harsh on myself and that I should actually be proud of myself for getting a 2:1. I have had it fixed in my head for so long that I need a first in everything however this isn't the case and that a grade doesn't always define my work as long as I out my all into it. I believe that my blog has potential to help others whether they are students living around Hampshire or someone with a similar skin tone wondering that shades may suit them.

From the feedback I received, I am going to make a plan of what posts to post when so that I don't fall behind in posting. My plan is to have blog posts ready 2 weeks before publishing. I've decided my aim is going to be to post 3 times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays because the research I conducted for another assignment showed that these were the days that most people are active to read online posts.