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Tag: Shop
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Online Beauty Shopping Guide
Thanks to an increase in niche beauty brands, the rise of the natural beauty industry, and an insatiable enthusiasm for Korean beauty products, we are in a golden age of beauty shopping right now. And there have never been more ways to get your hands on all of these products thanks to online beauty shopping.
Here, we’ve rounded up the 25 sites that are killing the beauty retail game, whether you’re looking for products for curly hair, hard-to-find sheet masks, or vegan lipstick.
Now grab your phone and go shop.
Kat Von D lipsticks. Best Variety
Sephora: No list would be complete without the OG beauty retailer that arguably took beauty out from behind the department store counter. Its online experience is just as good, with hundreds of passionate, candid product reviews and an app that’s worth downloading for the exclusive deals alone. The retailer has been killing it lately by introducing new brands and offering tons of exclusives that no one else has.
Ulta: Ulta is growing in leaps and bounds, and a lot of that growth has been due to an improved online experience and a revamped rewards program that allows you to score all sorts of free stuff. It’s also still the only retailer totally dedicated to offering prestige and drugstore brands right next to each other; plus, there’s a huge haircare and hair tools department.
Dermstore: While not as large as the previous two, this underrated gem has a nice mix of natural brands and heavy-duty clinical skincare brands. (You can get harder-to-find brands like Skinmedica, Skinceuticals, and organic brand Eminence, too.) The makeup selection is also well-edited, featuring smaller brands like Pur and Jouer. As a bonus, Dermstore tosses in a generous handful of samples with every order.
Bluemercury: Another incredible skincare giant, Bluemercury is worth checking out for its best-selling peel pads from the house brand, M-61. You can also find crowd-favorite makeup brands like Bobbi Brown, Tom Ford, and Hourglass, as well as a huge selection of candles and home scents.
Natural
Credo: Credo, which was started by a former Sephora exec, is growing and now has stores in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and soon Boston. It carries a huge variety of natural and organic skincare, but most importantly, it also stocks several natural makeup brands. Good natural makeup is a bit of a unicorn still, but check out Nu Evolution and Rituel de Fille. It also offers a “clean swap” service where you can put in a current product you use to find a “clean” alternative.
Cap Beauty: This New York City jewel-box shop has a pretty whopping selection, and it now also ships globally. Cap has brands like Tata Harper, Vintner’s Daughter, and RMS Beauty. Most notably, it carries tons of beauty edibles, a quickly growing category in beauty.
Follain: This East Coast-based chain of five shops is growing, with a new pop-up in New York and a really robust selection of brands online. Follain carries several organic skincare and bath/body brands, as well as faves like RMS and Ilia.
Indie/Hard-to-Find Products
Beautylish: Beautylish’s strength is its huge and engaged online community, which includes forums, tutorials, user product reviews, and interviews with brand founders. It also sells products, particularly those that have found fame on Instagram and that you won’t find anywhere else, like Jeffree Star cosmetics and Wayne Goss brushes.
Cult Beauty: This UK-based beauty e-commerce site is an incredible deal for US shoppers now thanks to the pound/dollar exchange rate and not having to pay VAT tax. It also has an incredible assortment of indie and natural brands, and it focuses on the products from each brand that have a lot of buzz. The curation is some of the best we’ve seen on either side of the pond.
Ricky’s: Ricky’s is an institution in New York City for pretty much any product you need, from backstage hairdresser-approved bobby pins to Manic Panic. Its website is admittedly a bit of a mess, but one that’s worth digging through because Ricky’s is not afraid to pick up an obscure brand. It’s also committed to finding viral Instagram products like Morphe palettes and Ardell lashes. Finally, check out its impressive RickyCare collection, a house brand featuring beauty and hair tools.
Marjani: Marjani, the beauty e-comm site specifically for women of color, was born out of founder Kimberly Smith’s frustration with the lack of diversity from mainstream beauty retailers. The site stocks haircare, skincare, makeup, and more catering to various skin tones, ethnicities, and hair textures. Some brands, like Beauty Blender and The Wrap Life, might already be familiar, but for the most part, Marjani delivers some truly under-the-radar names full of promise.
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Become a Successful Beauty Blogger
Some are paid to sit on the front row of shows wearing free designer clothes in return for tweets; others command an audience of millions of viewers – or get the opportunity to work with the biggest brands and names in the world. These days, when it comes to making it big in business it seems to be the new generation of bloggers who have all the power.
The problem however, is that discovering how to successfully build and project yourself to this level of influence and prowess is no mean feat. A lack of funding, long, unsocial hours and a need to constantly be on the cultural pulse are just a few of the tricky obstacles that can stand between you making it big and having a truly rough ride.
So, where do you start? To help give us some insight we sat down with fashion stylist and beauty blogger of four years, Gemma Carey, to get her top tips on how best to break into the barmy world of blogging.
FIND YOUR NICHE
“The first step to creating a beauty blog is coming up with an idea that is unique to you,” says Gemma. “With so many beauty blogs on the market now, it’s difficult to find something that hasn’t been done. Think about what you like most about yourself in terms of beauty (but not in a vain way!). Perhaps you have long hair that is easy to work with, so you could specialise in hair tutorials. Or maybe you have nice nails, so you could focus on posting nail tutorials. Or, if your passion lies with cosmetics, that’s okay too, but try and make it different somehow.
“You also have to think about your backdrop/location/layout in your photography. Look at other blogs and find something that you could do differently. It’s all about making your blog unique to you.”
MORE GLOSS: An Email Exchange With…British Beauty Blogger
CHOOSE YOUR AUDIENCE
“Next, you need to think about who you want your blog to be aimed at, which will in turn help determine the content of your blog. For example, if you want to inspire teenagers you’re looking to write about affordable brands such as Rimmel and Natural Collection. However, if you’re aiming at women aged 25+, you need to look more at skincare and anti-ageing products from brands such as Rodial and Dermalogica.
“You also need to be constantly aware of considering your audience when choosing your style of writing, layout and the general vibe of your blog. If teenagers read your blog, keep your writing chatty, your layout girly and pink! For an older audience, keep it clean and simple.”
UNDERSTAND THAT IT TAKES TIME AND COMMITMENT
“Blogging looks easy and glamorous. Well I tell you it’s not easy and mostly not glamorous either! Becoming an appreciated blogger with lots of followers takes commitment and certainly doesn’t happen overnight. Compiling and writing quality posts can also take hours sometimes. So, make sure you have some time available on evenings or weekends between studying or a full-time job. You won’t be able to quit your job and become a full-time blogger straight away, so spend the spare time you have working on your blog until you reach your desired goal.
“There will also be times when you feel demotivated and don’t know what to write about. This happens to bloggers. What I do is read other blogs and search for inspiration on Instagram – it soon motivates me to start writing again!”
MORE GLOSS: How to be become a successful fitness blogger
INVEST
“There isn’t much investing you need to do to become a blogger, but it’s always a great idea to own a good camera. Don’t worry if you can’t afford one though, you could always consider collaborating with a photographer. Often, student photographers are happy to work together in exchange for a credit on your blog (e.g. Photography by xxx). This is a good way to have good quality photos without you having to fork out lots of money. The only disadvantage to this is that you have to work around each other’s schedules, which means you can’t always work when you want to.
“If you are working on the photography yourself, ensure you have plenty of space with good light. There’s nothing more unprofessional than awful photos on a blog when you’re trying to sell a product!”
MORE GLOSS: How to become a successful beauty vlogger
QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY
“It’s really important to remember that quality is so much more important than quantity. Posting a really insightful article with beautiful images once a fortnight is much better than posting a quick, half-hearted review every day.”
THE TECHNICAL SIDE
“Choose a blogger platform to work from – Blogger.com or WordPress.com are the most popular and are both super easy to use. Also for a blogger to be taken more seriously, it’s important to have your own personalised domain. For example, www.beauty.com – not www.beauty.blogspot.com. It isn’t expensive – mine only cost me £7 for the year from Godaddy.com.
“Another way for bloggers to make money is advertising. There are various ways to sell advertising space – you can simply put tweets out and sell them directly yourself, or you can use platforms such as Passion Fruit Apps, sign up to Google AdSense or join a blogging network called EtailPR. These not only allow you to display ads on your blog, but they also work alongside many brands who you can request samples from for you to keep and write about.”
BRAND COLLABORATING
“There are a few different ways to collaborate with brands. They can send you products to review, you can write a sponsored post where they will pay you to write about them, brand ambassadorship or via an affiliate programme. The most popular is gifting bloggers, which of course is a great perk to the job! But don’t be disheartened if some brands reject you – you have to remember that they get inundated with blogger requests and have to be quite picky on who they work with.
“Brand ambassadorship can bring you a monthly wage but only really works for bloggers who have thousands of followers. An affiliate programme is a good way to earn some money at any stage of your blogging – this is when you feature a product and if someone purchases it from clicking on your blog, you receive a percentage for what is sold.”
NETWORKING
“Networking is so important and is the main way to gain followers and readers. Make sure you have at least two social media sites – Twitter and Instagram being the most important. Comment on and favourite other bloggers’ tweets – have conversations and discuss your favourite products. By doing this you’re building relationships with fellow bloggers and gaining followers. You can also join blogging networks such as Bloglovin’ and EtailPR. Attending blogger events is also a great way to network.
“Soon enough you’ll be invited to them, but at first I’d suggest getting in touch with PRs, introducing yourself and asking them to let you know when they have an event on. At the events you can mingle with fellow bloggers and build relationships with PRs – those are the people that are going to help you build your brand. Also, try and comment on other blogs with a link to yours – they will most likely comment back and leaving a link to your blog increases your brand exposure.”
To read more from Gemma, head to her blog, find her on Instagram or follow her Twitter feed.
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5 Best Hair Masks From Around The World
I am VERY selective when choosing hair masks and treatments after a very traumatic keratin hair mask experience a few years ago. I honestly won’t even lookat a hair mask if it contains protein or keratin, or anything questionable or too harsh or that matter, for fear of damaging my fine locks. I’ll go crazy on face masks and treatments, leaving them on my face well over the directed time, but my hair can’t deal with that same aggressiveness. Do you feel me on this?
I recently went cold turkey off hair masks to prevent another disaster. But as time passed, my ends became dry and needed some extra love (because if you haven’t heard, winter is never ending in New York). So, I slowly and carefully started trying hair masks again. My rule of thumb is that I look for masks that are vegetable based and don’t contain any keratin or animal proteins. I don’t want anything heavy or over-chemicalized that will leave my hair feeling lifeless and greasy. I need a mask that delivers beautifying results and comes packed with moisture without weighing me down.
After doing a little research, I found a few masks that are AMAZING and non-damaging. These are my new favorite go-tos that I rotate through on a weekly basis. I trust these babies to (SAFELY!) get the job done right:
Philip Kingsley Elasticizer (England): Philip Kingsley has over 55 years of Trichological experience, which is the scientific study of the hair and scalp. He’s like a doctor, but for your hair. His range of products target specific problem areas to promote healthy and nourished locks. I visited his New York City based office a few years ago and was introduced to this super-conditioning pre-shampoo treatment that intensely moisturizes the hair’s cuticles to boost elasticity and add bounce to the hair. Leave it on for 20 minutes pre-shampoo and you’ll notice increased suppleness and shine after just one use. I love it!
Christophe Robin Cleansing Mask with Lemon (France): Christophe Robin calls his Cleansing Mask the “Rolls-Royce” of shampoos for colored hair. The non-detergent formula fixes color and restores a natural gloss and bounce to dyed hair. Lemon Zest extracts clean hair and scalp and help rebalance pH levels, while soothing Chamomile and St. John’s wort extracts prevent loss of artificial pigment.
Davines Minu Hair Mask (Italy): This illuminating and regenerating mask is another that is ideal for colored hair. Its formula is designed to deeply nourish the hair, making it soft and silky. It even improves the duration of color – without weighing it down. The mask relies on plant-based active ingredients like capers from Salina, Italy. Yum yum.
Cocovit Coconut Oil (India): By now we all know about the magic of coconut oiland its multiple uses, so it comes as no surprise that it’s amazing for the hair too. I’ll apply a tablespoon of oil to my hair’s cuticles and through to the ends once a week before shampooing. It gives you that shine and moisture that the freezing temps and dry air take away. It seriously helps condition hair from the inside-out providing strength, moisture and shine.
Bumble and bumble Mending Masque (USA): I am a HUGE Bumble fan…It’s my go-to salon in New York, so I basically use all of their products, and I really just trust the brand. This masque is geared towards those with colored and damaged hair – aka me. For the ultimate repair, use it weekly to restore strength and elasticity.
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Online Beauty Shopping Guide
Thanks to an increase in niche beauty brands, the rise of the natural beauty industry, and an insatiable enthusiasm for Korean beauty products, we are in a golden age of beauty shopping right now. And there have never been more ways to get your hands on all of these products thanks to online beauty shopping.
Here, we’ve rounded up the 25 sites that are killing the beauty retail game, whether you’re looking for products for curly hair, hard-to-find sheet masks, or vegan lipstick.
Now grab your phone and go shop.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7556059/kat_von_d_beauty.jpg)
Kat Von D lipsticks. Best Variety
Sephora: No list would be complete without the OG beauty retailer that arguably took beauty out from behind the department store counter. Its online experience is just as good, with hundreds of passionate, candid product reviews and an app that’s worth downloading for the exclusive deals alone. The retailer has been killing it lately by introducing new brands and offering tons of exclusives that no one else has.
Ulta: Ulta is growing in leaps and bounds, and a lot of that growth has been due to an improved online experience and a revamped rewards program that allows you to score all sorts of free stuff. It’s also still the only retailer totally dedicated to offering prestige and drugstore brands right next to each other; plus, there’s a huge haircare and hair tools department.
Dermstore: While not as large as the previous two, this underrated gem has a nice mix of natural brands and heavy-duty clinical skincare brands. (You can get harder-to-find brands like Skinmedica, Skinceuticals, and organic brand Eminence, too.) The makeup selection is also well-edited, featuring smaller brands like Pur and Jouer. As a bonus, Dermstore tosses in a generous handful of samples with every order.
Bluemercury: Another incredible skincare giant, Bluemercury is worth checking out for its best-selling peel pads from the house brand, M-61. You can also find crowd-favorite makeup brands like Bobbi Brown, Tom Ford, and Hourglass, as well as a huge selection of candles and home scents.
Natural
Credo: Credo, which was started by a former Sephora exec, is growing and now has stores in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and soon Boston. It carries a huge variety of natural and organic skincare, but most importantly, it also stocks several natural makeup brands. Good natural makeup is a bit of a unicorn still, but check out Nu Evolution and Rituel de Fille. It also offers a “clean swap” service where you can put in a current product you use to find a “clean” alternative.
Cap Beauty: This New York City jewel-box shop has a pretty whopping selection, and it now also ships globally. Cap has brands like Tata Harper, Vintner’s Daughter, and RMS Beauty. Most notably, it carries tons of beauty edibles, a quickly growing category in beauty.
Follain: This East Coast-based chain of five shops is growing, with a new pop-up in New York and a really robust selection of brands online. Follain carries several organic skincare and bath/body brands, as well as faves like RMS and Ilia.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7556409/Screen_Shot_2016_11_29_at_9.09.24_PM.png)
Indie/Hard-to-Find Products
Beautylish: Beautylish’s strength is its huge and engaged online community, which includes forums, tutorials, user product reviews, and interviews with brand founders. It also sells products, particularly those that have found fame on Instagram and that you won’t find anywhere else, like Jeffree Star cosmetics and Wayne Goss brushes.
Cult Beauty: This UK-based beauty e-commerce site is an incredible deal for US shoppers now thanks to the pound/dollar exchange rate and not having to pay VAT tax. It also has an incredible assortment of indie and natural brands, and it focuses on the products from each brand that have a lot of buzz. The curation is some of the best we’ve seen on either side of the pond.
Ricky’s: Ricky’s is an institution in New York City for pretty much any product you need, from backstage hairdresser-approved bobby pins to Manic Panic. Its website is admittedly a bit of a mess, but one that’s worth digging through because Ricky’s is not afraid to pick up an obscure brand. It’s also committed to finding viral Instagram products like Morphe palettes and Ardell lashes. Finally, check out its impressive RickyCare collection, a house brand featuring beauty and hair tools.
Marjani: Marjani, the beauty e-comm site specifically for women of color, was born out of founder Kimberly Smith’s frustration with the lack of diversity from mainstream beauty retailers. The site stocks haircare, skincare, makeup, and more catering to various skin tones, ethnicities, and hair textures. Some brands, like Beauty Blender and The Wrap Life, might already be familiar, but for the most part, Marjani delivers some truly under-the-radar names full of promise.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7556443/ghd.jpg)
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Become a Successful Beauty Blogger
Some are paid to sit on the front row of shows wearing free designer clothes in return for tweets; others command an audience of millions of viewers – or get the opportunity to work with the biggest brands and names in the world. These days, when it comes to making it big in business it seems to be the new generation of bloggers who have all the power.
The problem however, is that discovering how to successfully build and project yourself to this level of influence and prowess is no mean feat. A lack of funding, long, unsocial hours and a need to constantly be on the cultural pulse are just a few of the tricky obstacles that can stand between you making it big and having a truly rough ride.
So, where do you start? To help give us some insight we sat down with fashion stylist and beauty blogger of four years, Gemma Carey, to get her top tips on how best to break into the barmy world of blogging.
FIND YOUR NICHE
“The first step to creating a beauty blog is coming up with an idea that is unique to you,” says Gemma. “With so many beauty blogs on the market now, it’s difficult to find something that hasn’t been done. Think about what you like most about yourself in terms of beauty (but not in a vain way!). Perhaps you have long hair that is easy to work with, so you could specialise in hair tutorials. Or maybe you have nice nails, so you could focus on posting nail tutorials. Or, if your passion lies with cosmetics, that’s okay too, but try and make it different somehow.
“You also have to think about your backdrop/location/layout in your photography. Look at other blogs and find something that you could do differently. It’s all about making your blog unique to you.”
MORE GLOSS: An Email Exchange With…British Beauty Blogger
CHOOSE YOUR AUDIENCE
“Next, you need to think about who you want your blog to be aimed at, which will in turn help determine the content of your blog. For example, if you want to inspire teenagers you’re looking to write about affordable brands such as Rimmel and Natural Collection. However, if you’re aiming at women aged 25+, you need to look more at skincare and anti-ageing products from brands such as Rodial and Dermalogica.
“You also need to be constantly aware of considering your audience when choosing your style of writing, layout and the general vibe of your blog. If teenagers read your blog, keep your writing chatty, your layout girly and pink! For an older audience, keep it clean and simple.”
Salon WordPress Theme – Blogger UNDERSTAND THAT IT TAKES TIME AND COMMITMENT
“Blogging looks easy and glamorous. Well I tell you it’s not easy and mostly not glamorous either! Becoming an appreciated blogger with lots of followers takes commitment and certainly doesn’t happen overnight. Compiling and writing quality posts can also take hours sometimes. So, make sure you have some time available on evenings or weekends between studying or a full-time job. You won’t be able to quit your job and become a full-time blogger straight away, so spend the spare time you have working on your blog until you reach your desired goal.
“There will also be times when you feel demotivated and don’t know what to write about. This happens to bloggers. What I do is read other blogs and search for inspiration on Instagram – it soon motivates me to start writing again!”
MORE GLOSS: How to be become a successful fitness blogger
INVEST
“There isn’t much investing you need to do to become a blogger, but it’s always a great idea to own a good camera. Don’t worry if you can’t afford one though, you could always consider collaborating with a photographer. Often, student photographers are happy to work together in exchange for a credit on your blog (e.g. Photography by xxx). This is a good way to have good quality photos without you having to fork out lots of money. The only disadvantage to this is that you have to work around each other’s schedules, which means you can’t always work when you want to.
“If you are working on the photography yourself, ensure you have plenty of space with good light. There’s nothing more unprofessional than awful photos on a blog when you’re trying to sell a product!”
MORE GLOSS: How to become a successful beauty vlogger
QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY
“It’s really important to remember that quality is so much more important than quantity. Posting a really insightful article with beautiful images once a fortnight is much better than posting a quick, half-hearted review every day.”
Salon WordPress Theme – Blogger THE TECHNICAL SIDE
“Choose a blogger platform to work from – Blogger.com or WordPress.com are the most popular and are both super easy to use. Also for a blogger to be taken more seriously, it’s important to have your own personalised domain. For example, www.beauty.com – not www.beauty.blogspot.com. It isn’t expensive – mine only cost me £7 for the year from Godaddy.com.
“Another way for bloggers to make money is advertising. There are various ways to sell advertising space – you can simply put tweets out and sell them directly yourself, or you can use platforms such as Passion Fruit Apps, sign up to Google AdSense or join a blogging network called EtailPR. These not only allow you to display ads on your blog, but they also work alongside many brands who you can request samples from for you to keep and write about.”
BRAND COLLABORATING
“There are a few different ways to collaborate with brands. They can send you products to review, you can write a sponsored post where they will pay you to write about them, brand ambassadorship or via an affiliate programme. The most popular is gifting bloggers, which of course is a great perk to the job! But don’t be disheartened if some brands reject you – you have to remember that they get inundated with blogger requests and have to be quite picky on who they work with.
“Brand ambassadorship can bring you a monthly wage but only really works for bloggers who have thousands of followers. An affiliate programme is a good way to earn some money at any stage of your blogging – this is when you feature a product and if someone purchases it from clicking on your blog, you receive a percentage for what is sold.”
blogger – beauty NETWORKING
“Networking is so important and is the main way to gain followers and readers. Make sure you have at least two social media sites – Twitter and Instagram being the most important. Comment on and favourite other bloggers’ tweets – have conversations and discuss your favourite products. By doing this you’re building relationships with fellow bloggers and gaining followers. You can also join blogging networks such as Bloglovin’ and EtailPR. Attending blogger events is also a great way to network.
“Soon enough you’ll be invited to them, but at first I’d suggest getting in touch with PRs, introducing yourself and asking them to let you know when they have an event on. At the events you can mingle with fellow bloggers and build relationships with PRs – those are the people that are going to help you build your brand. Also, try and comment on other blogs with a link to yours – they will most likely comment back and leaving a link to your blog increases your brand exposure.”
To read more from Gemma, head to her blog, find her on Instagram or follow her Twitter feed.