I'm sure we're all well aware by now (unless you're somehow living under a rock), but yesterday YouTube made the announcement that there will soon be changes to their requirements for channels to benefit from their monetisation within the YouTube Partner Program. This simply means the requirements to make money from YouTube have risen - the standards have been seriously (and I mean seriously) amped up.
Whilst I still have a relatively small channel, I am fortunate in the sense that these changes will not affect me when they're set into place on the 20th of February this year, however I certainly understand why so many creators are upset at this drastic change. For the last couple of years the requirements have been that you must have 10,000 views on your channel to be eligible for monetisation - I remember exactly what it was like just trying to get my first 1000, 5000, 10,000 views (although I believe I could benefit from monetisation at an earlier point when I began YouTube in 2015), but I can see why there's great frustration that creators will now need 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time (within the last 12 months) on top of that on their channel. It can be incredibly difficult to reach that when you're first starting out; I certainly know!
Evidently I am a makeup lover, hence why I created this blog in the first place. I like many others love to try out and experiment with new makeup and for so long I've been lusting after a variation of different products from Kiko, a brand that before now I had previously never tried before!
That recently changed however, as rewind back to November when Black Friday sales were at their peak, I decided to place a pretty hefty order on Kiko's website. At the time they were having a Buy 6 Get 3 Free sale on and I quite simply couldn't pass on that incredible deal. As they were being shipped directly from Italy it ended up taking roughly two weeks to arrive, but I sat patiently and waited...well not literally!
Happy New Year! How did 2017 come around so quickly?! I feel as though I'm definitely not the only one who feels as though 2016 just started a mere month ago, so is incredibly baffled by how swiftly this new year has made its way around to us. And although 2016 was certainly filled with many downs for us all, there were also many positive points too - the ones which at the end of the day we should be focussing on! For me, my highlights include graduating from university with a 2.1, heading to Disney World on my first trip abroad without my parents and improving my driving confidence; before this year I had never driven on my own despite having a license for a while, but now I can happily say I have - such a massive deal to me!
And within the online world, I've also had many positive points. Having both a blog and YouTube channel, I've been able to create so much content of which I'm proud of. Throughout the year I have successfully managed to upload once a week, since increasing to twice a week due to the introduction of my Disney World vlogs; a big achievement in itself. And whilst my blog has been somewhat abandoned for a large portion of the year, I fell in love with blogging again after recently partaking in Blogmas. I was able to create so much content that I am truly proud of and can see drastic improvements from over the years. But this year I really want to work on bettering my blog (and YouTube channel) and the many different aspect that come along with it!
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has been with just days to go until Christmas and still yet to find that perfect present for someone. And with Christmas looming around the corner, (is it seriously next Sunday), we all need to kicks our butts into gear! So if you get your mum the same present ever year, have nothing in mind for the grandparents, or just have a hard to buy for friend, I may actually have you sorted!
Yes, 50 ideas! Whilst none of them are specifically tailored to any individual, I have collected 50 different ideas which may be suitable to buy as a last minute gift for honestly, absolutely everyone! Whilst the majority of items shown are my own, and will therefore be highly suited towards 22-year-old Disney obsessed, makeup loving females, there are still many options that could be altered to fit the tastes of your 82-year-old gran or even your 6-year-old brother!
So make sure to watch the video below for a quick run-through of 50 last minute gift ideas and let me know what you think!
Before I get into the main part of this post I first want to start off by apologising for the lack of posts on this blog recently. It's not that I no longer have a love for blogging, it's simply that other things have gotten in the way. And I know that that can be a common excuse but when you're having to juggle university with many assignments due in a short time frame, a part-time job, and more recently my YouTube channel, blogging can be a little hard for me to do. And for me since I only had the courage to start a YouTube channel only 4 months ago, something I'd wanted to do for years, I really wanted to focus on working on that as I enjoy it so much.
Anyway I basically want to say that although there has been a limit in the number of posts on this blog, I most certainly have not forgotten about it. Due to the fact that my date for assignments to be handed in looming (literally, I have one week today), and then straight after that I'm on holiday, the posts on this channel may be quite limited for another month, but once I'm back it should hopefully be back to my usual two posts a week! My long summer is really going to be focussed on improving both the quality and content of my blog posts and YouTube channel!
In the meantime, as I was saying that I'm really focussing quite a lot of my time on my YouTube channel, I still wanted to write a post to inform you as to what is going on over there! As I am going on holiday in barely any time I have decided to put up a sort of "travel series" on my channel, featuring some videos like "What's in my Makeup Bag", "What I'm Packing", but more importantly "What's in my Carry On", the video you can view right now!! I am also planning on vlogging my holiday (to the US & Canada) to share my experiences with anyone who may be interested, although I cannot see these being uploaded until after my holiday.
So yes, as previously mentioned, you can already watch the first video in my little travel series! I've chosen to take my cute striped backpack from Urban Outfitters on the plane with me as it carries so much stuff and is just so, so practical! Make sure to watch the video down below to see what I'm going to be packing in my carry on, and let me know what you usually pack in yours!!
New videos are uploaded every Friday (and occasional Monday) on my channel, so make sure to Subscribe if you would like to be notified of new ones - it's free!
Once again, I am extremely sorry for the lack of posts, however once back from holiday they will resume as normal...after all I will have roughly 4 months off before I need to go back to university!
So after saying to myself that I was going to be good this month and spend absolutely no money on unnecessary clothes and makeup, I can safely say that this has pretty much gone tits up...
Sometimes when I have a little time to spare whilst at uni, I always somehow seem to end up in Boots, Superdrug or some clothing store, and then my purse just magically appears whilst I'm waiting at the checkouts with too much stuff in my hands...how does this always happen?!
I have been picking up both beauty and fashion items, however in this post I'm simply going to just show you the makeup products I picked up - if you want to see what fashion items I picked up, make sure to watch my new haul video at the end! Before getting started, I'd also like to apologise for the lack in posts this week. I've had a lot to deal with these past two weeks, but now as I have some spare time, I'm here again!!
As Winter is drawing to end (even though it's still freezing here in the UK), I thought now would be the perfect time to show you one of my biggest obsessions this season...COATS! I have created a video on my YouTube channel to show you each of my coats, but I also thought it would be a great idea to write a little blog post to tell you about each and every coat in a little bit of detail.
It's quite hard to believe that I'm actually saying this, but today is my blog's 1st birthday! Yes, that's right. I've been blogging for exactly one year today! I think it's fair to say that I'm so proud of everything that I've achieved so far, and can only hope everything continues to improve from here!
As you may or may not know, I actually very recently started making YouTube videos. This is in fact only my second video to date! As I currently love watching them myself, I decided to film a What's In My (University) Bag so any of you similarly nosey people can have a little look yourself!
I definitely carry around a lot of different items with my on a typical university day, from my purse to some slightly unexpected items. I was even discovering new things in there - just goes to show how organised I actually am!
I hope you'll be able to take a few minutes out of your day to take a little look, and please leave your YouTube links down below (or in the video comments) and I'll be sure to check it out! I'm also looking into purchasing a better camera for my videos, so fingers crossed the quality will be much better very, very soon (as I don't have 1080p on my camera right now).
I hope you enjoy my What's in my Bag video! I can assure you that my next blog post will be unrelated to my YouTube, however I'm sure that you can understand this is simply one of the best ways to tell everyone about my new channel! Please let me know what you think!
Yes, you heard it right! I've finally plucked up the courage and created my first ever YouTube video. YouTube has been something that I've been really wanting to do for almost 3 years now and for so long I just haven't had the confidence to do so. Blogging has helped so much and, well today was the day that my confidence arrived!
I know that compared to the majority of Youtubers, what I've filmed is in no way amazing, but like a blog, YouTube is a learning curve and I expect only to improve as time goes on. I can remember exactly what my blog was like almost a year ago, and to think I've managed to get it to this point is incredible. I can only hope that I can improve as much within YouTube! I've been planning on buying a camera that will be more suited for filming (as well as blogging), as I'm currently stealing my parents camera which is the best option I have right now! Obviously the quality isn't incredible so please leave me any suggestions on suitable cameras!
I'm also aware that occasionally at times when bloggers start YouTube channels, they tend to abandon their blog. My blog is 100% my first priority right now, and I can assure that (as long as I'm not stressed with 700 pieces of coursework), I will be posting at least twice a week. With YouTube, I'd also like to post roughly 2 times each week, however I understand that sometimes I may not have the time to to do so. Therefore I'll aim for two each week, but if I can only post once, it'll have to suffice...I don't think I'm going to have a strict posting regime.
Anyways for my first video I decided to film my 2014 fashion favourites. I know it's a little late, but I blogged about my 2014 beauty favourites, and personally just found it too hard to take pictures of fashion items for such a post, so I thought it would be a perfect first video for my channel! I'm already looking forward to filming more videos very soon, hopefully getting others involved as well!
There's only one video uploaded so far, but expect more very soon, and I would be extremely appreciative if you'd take just a few minutes out of your day to watch my video (link below). If you'd like to possibly give me some feedback on how to improve, that would be incredible :)
I hope you enjoy! Suggestions for future videos would also be appreciated! Thank you!
