Ways In Which I Want To Improve Sweet Allure.

This post is something I've had in the pipeline for a little while but I felt with my last post, My Blogging Journey, it was only fitting that I followed on with this post about the things I'd like to improve on my blog.



First of all I'd like to go over a couple of things I'm really proud of around here and that is my content. I try really really hard to come up with original content for my blog, I like to stand out from the crowd and offer something a little bit different from the 'norm'. If I write a beauty review I always try to take a different twist on it, like with my 'to highlight or not to highlight' post and it's something I'm really proud of. Although this does mean from time to time content is delayed, as I'd rather wait and put out something I'm happy with, rather than churning it out for the sake of it, I do think when you come here you can find something a little different.

However the main downfall and probably my big weakness around here is my photography. I love photography but I just don't have the best equipment available to me at the moment to really give my blog that extra oomph. I am actively working on this behind the scenes, I'm squirrelling away money so that come the black Friday sales, I can buy myself a proper camera, some lenses and some blogging lights. This means I'll have everything I need to experiment and hopefully take my blog up a notch, plus it also means I'll have to go shopping for loads of blogging accessories, and this makes me very excited! A prime example is the photo on this blog post, why is it so blue!? Ugh.

The next concern I have with my blog at the minute is my schedule, I've blabbed on about it constantly but since starting my Etsy Shop I've been so crazy busy that I've had no real spare time to work on my blog, but this is something I'm really working on and I'm determined to get back to a 3 posts a week schedule. I didn't realise how much I missed writing until I made a return this past week or two and I'm excited to really get back into it. I've got plenty of things to talk about over the next few weeks, although do be warned, the week or two coming up to my wedding will be pretty sporadic on my blog, but that's pretty understandable!

Then lastly, I want to make much more of an effort to interact with people. I do try to reply to everything I get on twitter but I've been pretty useless at replying to blog comments. I ran a poll recently and a lot of people said they check back or expect a reply to blog comments, which I was quite surprised by, but it is something I've thought about since and will try to improve on. I find it hard to know when a blog comment needs a response? I'm sure I don't feel alone in this and I'd rather be honest with you guys, so this is me saying I will make more of an effort on that front!

I guess now I've told you guys about all of this I kind of have to stick to it? Balls.

My Blogging Journey.

When I read my friend Holly's post about why she started blogging, it really inspired me to talk about the reasons I started blogging, as I'm not really sure I've shared that here on my blog before.

About 2 years ago, I'd been in my job just over a year. Although the premise of video-game testing sounds like the best job in the world, but like with any job, it gets pretty repetitive and mundane after awhile and I started to feel really sad and uninspired.

I started trying to find ways to fulfil that need outside of work and I landed on going to the gym. I enjoyed the gym and it kicked started me losing the weight I wanted to lose, which was awesome. However I had started a little fitness blog along side my gym sessions, talking about how I felt, what work outs I was doing, how much weight I'd lost etc etc to help keep track of everything and I just found myself really enjoying writing it and reading other peoples journeys.

After the gym sessions fizzled out, not because I got bored as such but because I'd lost the weight I actually wanted to lose and felt quite happy with myself, but obviously my fitness blog kind of fizzle out with it and I started to slip back into being really bored and sad outside of work.

I ummed and ahhhed for quite awhile about starting a proper blog, I had no idea what to talk about, what to name it, how to go about being a 'blogger', until one day I took the plunge and SweetAllure happened. It started out for awhile being a beauty blog for people who was just getting into makeup AKA, me. I hadn't been into skincare or beauty for long and thought it'd be an interesting place to learn and grow, but after awhile I realised writing about one thing forever wasn't for me, I had so many other interests in life so why would I limit myself to one topic?

I slowly started introducing lifestyle and fashion posts and I just felt so much happier. It was keeping me occupied outside of work, thinking about topics and content, trying to take a none blurry photo and discovering the magical world of Twitter. I think becoming obsessed with Twitter and finding this HUGE community of bloggers was the turning point for me, before it was just a hobby but something changed and it became this huge drive and passion.

Talking to random people all over the world about everything to do with blogging was amazing and that was before I discovered 'Twitter Chats'. I remember just sitting on my sofa all weekend joining in chat after chat and talking to so many people about so many different things, it was just so new and interesting! I still do this when I get time and still love talking to new people about random stuff, it's the main reason I'm obsessed with Twitter.

After a few months I managed to somehow end up being invited along to a blogger meet up, where I met some people I still talk to now! It was so terrifying and bizarre but it was also pretty fucking awesome too. Before I knew it I was popping along to events and meets up all the time, meeting new people and making some amazing friends along the way.

I honestly could never have imagined the world that has been opened up to me from blogging. I've met so many amazing people in a city that I was so lonely in, I had no friends, no social life and writing about stuff on the internet changed that, how mental is that?!

I get invited to so many awesome places in Sheffield to try new menus or drink menus, check out awesome new venues that have opened up or try new products, it still blows my mind.

Even more recently, it's opened up another avenue for me with my artwork. I've always been creative, for as long as I can remember. Art was always my best subject in school, I'd sketch and paint or knit and cross stitch in my spare time. When I decided to share that artwork with you lovely lot, it just exploded. I really cannot explain how insane this last month or two has been on that front (and still is!). But I just don't know where I would be without all of this, writing, painting, events, meeting and talking to people, I'd still be sat being so sad and lonely crying to Nick that I just wanted some friends to talk to. But hey, guess what? those people are you. Every single last person that has spoken to me in real life, on twitter, in a blog post comment, it was every single one of you that lifted me out of a really sad hole that I thought I would never get out of.

So I want to say thank you. Thank you for being so fucking awesome, every single day. I hope I can always continue to carry on this wonderful journey with all of you as I change and grow as a blog and as a person! The support of the community has always been so amazing and I honestly wouldn't change it for the world.

I would genuinely love to hear your blogging story/journey, so please feel free comment below or tweet me a link to your blog post! (@sweet_allure)!