The Beaut.ie blog seems to be the rising star of the irish blogging community in the past few months. I asked Aisling would she be interested in doing an email interview and she was happy to do so.
Who are the mystical ladies behind beaut.ie? (For those that don’t read the About me page)
(Image above is hotlinked until I get home and host it myself)
Well, we have three contributors: Kirstie, Aphrodite (Kirstie and Aisling McDermott) and Makeup Meg. Kirstie and Aphrodite are just two sisters who love makeup, skincare and cosmetics and we’re sorry but we can’t possibly mess up Makeup Meg’s karma by revealing her real identity.
What’s the story with Beaut.ie? Why did you set it up? Where did you come from to get started in this area? What are your backgrounds?
We don’t have any background at all in the beauty industry – and that’s what we think makes us trustworthy. We’re not affiliated to any brand or company – when we recommend something it’s because we really love it – and we’re not afraid to say when we don’t! We are just normal lasses who have a bit of the compulsive shopper (particularly online) in them and a love of a bargain. We were fed up with reading about products and treatments that sounded great, but were unavailable in Ireland and websites that promised the earth in terms of cheap products, but failed to deliver to Ireland, or else did so at a prohibitively expensive price. We just set up a blog we’d love to read ourselves.
Kirstie is a web designer and a fanatical reader of blogs. We love the blog format because it’s interactive and more informal. Plus it’s instant and you get instant reaction to posts.
How much work are you putting into this daily? It seems like quite a lot of work. Do you expect a return in investment? Do you fear burnout? What’s the secret to staying focused and pumping out the blog
posts?
Good questions. It is lots of work but we really love what we’re writing about and we’re not that worried about burnout for a few reasons. Firstly the reaction we’re getting is a great buzz and it seems as though people really want to read our stuff. Secondly, the readers themselves are coming up with more and more ideas for things they’d like to see us cover – things we wouldn’t have really considered ourselves. Finally, we have a really broad topic area – we can write about anything related to beaut.ie that takes our fancy – books, films, celebrities, products…
Are Irish people more into beauty these days and spending more time and money on personal appearance? Is this a good thing?
Definitely! People like to look good, it makes them feel better about themselves. Not to get too heavy here, but it’s one of the most positive things you can do for yourself. And it can cost a fortune if you want it to, but it most certainly doesn’t have to. We’ve had a great response to our DIY and Cheaper Cosmetics posts for that reason.
We all know women have been looking after themselves for centuries but nowadays men seem to be getting more into the act as well and in the last ten years men are admitting to actually using moisturiser! It seemed to start with gay men and 1then metrosexuals, do you think even the tough as nailsover-macho man will start massaging in the Clinique m-lotion?
Those tough as nails men ARE doing it – they’re just not admitting it! Gay men are just much more open about it and so they do lead the way. But call it what you will, men are definitely realising it’s not a sissy thing to slap a bit of moisturiser/aftershave balm/lotion on your face after shaving. And you hit the spot there with the Clinique M-Lotion – it’s one of the best. We get quite a lot of questions from those so called hard men who ask us not to reveal their names, in case their rugby team/football mates ever get to hear that they wrote to us. We’re delighted to help and of course everything remains anonymous!
If you could give just give two bits of advice to men when it comes to looking after themselves, what would they be?
- Learn how to shave properly, it’s the best thing you can do for your skin. So many men don’t do it properly and butcher their faces. Razor bumps, ingrown hairs, dry skin… Read the tips on our site and you’ll be delighted!
- Moisturise. Unless you LIKE to look like a weathered turnip!
Now that wasn’t hard was it?!
John Ryan recently sold his VIP Glamour blog, what’s your price?
We’ve never even thought of it to be honest!
What’s your first port of call when you log on in the morning/afternoon?
Comments and email definitely. We love to see what people have been saying. And then we start posting!
How goes the media exposure? November was an impressive month for you guys. You’ve been getting a lot of recent attention. Well done. Are there any publications/media that you’ve love to see Beaut.ie mentioned in?
Apart from Damien Mulley of course, we’d love more radio – it’s great fun! And it gets an instant reaction. But any publicity is good, that’s our motto! We’re going to be featured in Prudence next month so watch out for that!
What’s the traffic like these days? You getting a lot of visitors and return visitors? How big can you grow the site, do you think? Room for expansion? What are the plans for 2007 for Beaut.ie? Will this be merely the first step in a blogging empire?
Yeah we’ve been really impressed by the reaction, our visitor numbers are growing daily. Right now I’d say we’re averaging over 7,000 unique visitors a week (tens of thousands of page impressions) – which is pretty good for just over two months out I think? The numbers are growing in leaps and bounds though so it’s increasing all the time. Loads of repeat visitors yes, which is brilliant, they add so much to the site with their comments and observations (usually hilarious).
Plans for an empire hmmmm? God knows what will happen! We’d love to do something for men all right though. For 2007 we just want to have more of everything, more advice more tips, more bargains and expand the areas we haven’t developed fully (e.g. male grooming, organic and natural cosmetics, Irish products and producers). Visitor reaction and comments have given us a good idea of where to go. We have a hair expert on board already, we’re bringing in a beautician and a male grooming expert next year and we want to bring our visitors more promotions, freebies and competitions.
If there is anything else you want to add or let your public know, pass it on!
Yes! Keep reading – tell your friends. Post your comments on the blog – we love to get them. In 2007 Beaut.ie will be getting better and better!
21 categories. Maybe it can be expanded further next time but going from 13 to 21 is good enough for this one. I’ve also taken on-board the comments about sponsorship and so will try and be more frugal with the event expenses and so ask for less from sponsors. There will not be a main sponsor.