Weekly Poll: Do Beauty Bloggers Require Solid Makeup Skills? | Hello Pretty Bird! - A beauty and not-so-glamorous lifestyle blog

27 November, 2013

Weekly Poll: Do Beauty Bloggers Require Solid Makeup Skills?

Today's Wednesday so it's time to have your say! Come join in the weekly poll, Awesome Patrol!

I'm a POET.


OK, so I'm a bit nervous about posting today's question(s) because I worry that they will be a bit controversial for some. Maybe. Probably not. But YOLO or something, right? This week's topic is for anyone who reads beauty blogs (so all of you):


Do you think bloggers posting makeup looks, FOTDs and tutorials should have a high level of makeup skill? Why or why not? Does your opinion change if it's a professional blogger?


Personally I would say no, because there are people who excel in other areas of makeup blogging that are valuable to the community (like swatching or writing interesting reviews) so having perfect eyeshadow technique or whatever in their FOTDs isn't necessarily that important. And I'm including pro beauty bloggers in that assessment, because there are people who have built hugely successful niche blogs mainly off reviews and whatnot.

As for tutorials, if I saw one that didn't look good I probably would just pass over it without spending too much time thinking about it. Of course you may feel differently than I do - what say you? When do you see a blogger with no makeup skills do you run for the hills? (Okay, the rhyming needs to stop NOW, R.)

21 comments:

  1. I don't really think its necessary. Most of my favourite bloggers are all beauty enthusiasts but not professionally skilled or anything. I'm not an expert and I don't claim to be, I just love writing posts and interacting with fellow like-minded ladies :)

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  2. Very interesting. I'm definitely no expert and sometimes I wish I was a little more 'qualified', but I don't think you have to be a make-up artist or something to be a beauty blogger. However, it helps if you are 'good enough' that people can tell you know how to use the products correctly.

    There's one fairly famous blogger who I trust for most things, but she can't apply eye shadow to save her life, so all eye shadow looks appear the same on her. It makes me wonder about whether she can judge if something is 'muddy when blended' or if it's just a lack of skill? I hope that doesn't sound awful. Haha.

    But yeah, for the most part, I think it's just about being honest when you don't know something and sharing YOUR experiences.

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    1. No, I know exactly what you mean. And I think as long as we're not naming names it's not awful to say that, hah. Based on your description, I would probably continue to read/trust that blogger on most things but maybe take some of their eye product reviews with a grain of salt.

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    2. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, good question. Was interesting to think about!

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  3. Well I say no, but then again, beauty bloggers I like the most are those that really love and use makeup every day, and I mean if you use and wear makeup everyone day and really know makeup, you will inevitably gain some makeup skills as you go.
    With that said, I won't judge if someone has subpar eyeliner skills or can't do crazy contours, I think even makeup newbies can tell me if a waterproof product stands to its claim.

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    1. Yep, I think those things are all true. One would hope that a new makeup user would be able to tell when something is waterproof, anyway. :)

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  4. I don't think skill is necessary. I mean it is nice, and I do make sure to seek out some blogs that post gorgeous looks sometimes, but I also seek out blogs that do great reviews and other things. I think often part of what makes a beauty blog so good is that the person writing it isn't a professional makeup artist. They can give a more honest description of how something will work for the rest of us normal people.

    http://mattekat.blogspot.ca/

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    1. That's the great thing about blogs... there's no "rule" about what you have to focus on, so there are blogs that are excellent for looks, blogs that are excellent for reviews, etc. They don't necessarily have to all be on the same site.

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  5. I agree with you. Sometimes I don't like a particular make-up tutorial done by a pro and sometimes I love the one done by a beginner :-) I think that eagerness to explore, to try out different tricks and to learn even on our own mistakes is more important than the skill itself, because you can always aquire skills, but you can never make up for lack of passion or creativity.

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    1. That is very true, and I think everybody gets better with practice.

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  6. I don't think skill is necessary (I hope it's not since I post plenty of FotDs). I think many people who show FotD pics like the way their makeup looks that day and just want to share. I agree with Kat. I like seeing the way products perform for non-professional artists, because that is how something I buy is going to work on me. I also find non-artist looks can be as inspiring as something created by a pro.

    nentasfrivolity.blogspot.com

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    1. Agreed - I think there's space for everybody, including people who are just sharing or experimenting with their looks. I'm not a professional makeup artist so I appreciate a bit of reality in my reviews too, hah.

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  7. I don't think so. I love reading beauty blogs for product reviews and little personal touches more than for tutorials so I might be biased when it comes to this topic. I enjoy reading a blog when I can tell the blogger is passionate about what he or she is blogging about. Sometimes when an eye make-up look is done so flawlessly, I'll appreciate it but I won't try it myself because it seems too unattainable. I guess it all just depends why you're reading beauty blogs and what you want to pick up from them.

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    1. That's a very good point. I enjoy looking at pictures of flawlessly-done makeup too, but I view those more as inspiration rather than something to copycat 100% as my skills are a bit more average. :)

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  8. I don't think so.

    I think that beauty blogging is so diverse. There are definitely people I follow for reviews, and different people for tutorials, ect.

    The only problem I would say is when people who don't have solid skills post tutorials. Sharing your makeup of the day is nice, but when you're teaching other people and you might be wrong, it's just not a good combo.

    Interesting question :)

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    1. That's a good point. How skilled does somebody have to be to do a tutorial though? Oh these tricky questions...

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  9. As nice as it is, I don't think that it's necessary for beauty bloggers to have a high level of skill. However, when you write about make-up and you're part of the blogging community it's quite likely that you'll learn new tricks from reading tutorials and reviews and from your own experiments, so your skills may improve that way. Great question :) xx

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    1. That's very true - the more different things you experience, the more you learn. :)

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  10. i agree with you :) we can always learned from anybody, applying the quote "someone will always know something that I dont know" as long as they are honest about the things they write on their blogs then it is good <3 interesting topic rebecca

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    1. Very apt. :) I think you're right about honesty - people can often tell when someone is being fake and that of course is not appealing.

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