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Confessions of a Blogger Chicara from Lipgloss Kisses

Today on Confessions of a Blogger, we are featuring the gorgeous Chicara from Lipgloss Kisses, one of my favourite local beauty bloggers!

Hi, I’m Chicara and I’m a 30-year old (Eeek!) beauty blogger that lives in Pretoria. I’m a freelance web designer and some might call me a computer nerd, However, I’m probably not your typical ‘nerd’. I’m utterly obsessed with makeup, beauty, TV games, cupcakes, coffee, dogs and hello kitty. If it’s girly, pink or cute then chances are I love it.

When did you start your journey as a blogger and why? Almost 3 years ago. October 2011. I’ve always loved reading other blogs and decided to put my own experiences, personal views and creativity to good use. I remember when I first started blogging. I was worried nobody was going to read my blog and that I would be a laughing stock. Wow, look how far I’ve come!
Do you blog full-time or do you have a 9-5 as well? I’m supposed to blog part time, but seeing as how I’m a freelancer and I work at home the lines are often crossed. Oops! I sometimes find myself spending my work hour’s blogging. It’s just so much fun. I can’t help myself! I also have a slight problem with procrastination so I’m sure you can guess what I’m doing when I’m supposed to be working. *blush*.

Tell us a little about your space on the interweb and what you blog about? My blog, Lipgloss Kisses, is my own personal wonderland of pink, beauty & fashion. I blog about everything I love and all the things that inspire me daily. I share my personal thoughts on beauty products, what foods I currently love or even what I’ve recently spotted at the shops.

Being a blogger is not always easy – what motivates you and keeps you going? Blogging is really hard work. It’s not necessarily as glamorous as just being sent free stuff to test out. I usually have to take about 50-100 photos in order to find 2 or 3 that will work for a post. Can you believe it? I spend all day in pajamas without any makeup on. There ain’t anything glam about that is there. My skin sometimes reacts badly to a product and I often feel the pressure to blog every day. But I usually look at how far I’ve come and all that I’ve accomplished and that motivates me to carry on. Also when I receive comments and emails it totally makes me smile and sometimes I even do a happy dance. Internally of course 😉

What have your biggest blogging challenges been? I would have to say it’s a tossup between time management and competitiveness. I actually only discovered how competitive I really am when I started blogging. But I think it’s only natural to want to succeed at your endeavors. Blogging isn’t a walk in the park. There are so many good things that come with blogging but there are also a lot of not so good things.
What do you love most about being a blogger? I love chatting to followers and fellow bloggers. It’s just so amazing having all these people who share the same likes. I’ve met so many people and even made new friends. I love every second of it.
Do you have any blog related or social media pet peeves? {things that other bloggers or social media peeps do, that really annoy you} I think the biggest thing for me is when people create a fake persona on social media. It’s almost like they’re a completely different person. They only show the best side of themselves and this really irritates me.
What has your journey as a blogger taught you {about yourself or in general}? Has it changed your life in any way? Absolutely. It’s given me confidence and it’s helped me meet new people. I’m so shy and blogging has really made me feel more comfortable with who I am. Okay, I might be getting a bit too soppy now.
If you had to give a newbie blogger any advice, what words of wisdom would you impart? Be yourself. Don’t try and copy other bloggers in the hopes of being recognized. Your followers will value your honesty and they will appreciate you if you share your true self with them.
In three words tell me what blogging means to you: Passion, Happiness & Hard Work

Thanks Chicara for sharing a bit more about your life and blogging journey with us! If you would like to find out more about Chicara and Lipgloss Kisses please click the links below.

Blog link: www.lipglosskisses.com

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If you would like to be featured on Confessions of a Blogger, then please email Fiona or leave a comment below.

Image Source: Lipgloss Kisses

Be Inspired, Blogging, Interviews

Confessions of a Blogger – Why I Blog

Funny thing really but I find it amazing how many people ask me why I blog – well I can tell you straight off, it is certainly not for fame or fortune! After having this question posed to me so often lately, I decided to bare all in my Confessions of a Blogger!

First a bit of histrionics – I started off blogging over 4 years ago, with very little intention of it ever being more than a personal journal. Little did I know where it would end up! When I started blogging my motivation was to write about my experiences as a mom and share this with, well I guess in the beginning, only my friends and family. My children were much younger when I started out and I was still very much in the “mommy” phase of my life. Don’t get me wrong, I am still very much a mother, but both my family’s needs and my own, have changed.

Along with the changes in my personal life, my blog needed to change and evolve as well, which is what motivated me to eventually change the name last year. There have been quite a few times over the past year, for other more personal reasons, that I have come close to giving up blogging altogether but I here I am still doing it!

I guess the natural question is what makes me keep doing it? I have always enjoyed the creative side of life, whether it be drawing, cooking, putting an outfit together or painting my nails – it all comes down to being creative. I have always loved fashion and beauty – especially as a teenager, I loved pouring over copies of my mom’s Fairlady magazines, swooning over the gorgeous models and all the stunning fashion! Before leaving school I even considered a career in print media but life had other plans! I think this is one of the reasons I am so drawn to blogging and why I keep coming back to it! Blogging has become my creative outlet, a platform to explore and share the things I love.

As I mentioned before I do not blog to earn money {much to my hubby’s disappointment as he would love to retire} but I do it because I really enjoy it! There are definite perks to blogging and I won’t lie, I love receiving lovely free goodies, being invited to amazing events and meeting new and interesting people. Blogging has opened many doors for me and forged new friendships, across the globe but my favourite part of blogging is still creating the post. It does not matter whether it is writing a review or an interest piece, it is the creative process that I love. One of the most enjoyable aspects for me is the photography – I am by no means a professional photographer but I love styling and photographing – well just about anything! I guess in essence it is being able to sit back and say “hey look at what I have created” and feeling proud of it.

With the fun creative part, comes the slightly more tricky part of balancing everything. One of my greatest blogging challenges, at the moment, is the lack of time to do everything I would like to do or the inevitable FOMO – lets face it nobody likes to miss out! The balancing act of being a wife and a mother sometimes does not lend itself to being as free and independent as I would like to be but my family comes first!

So in a nutshell I blog because I like it and it makes me happy! 🙂

The greatest lessons I have learned from blogging are not to take myself too seriously, to do what I love, that I can do anything I put my mind to and not be too concerned by what those around me are doing or saying, especially if it is negative.

I will leave you with one of my favourite quotes…

If you are a blogger and would like to be featured in my new blog series “Confessions of a Blogger” please email me for more details.

Be Inspired, Blogging

Cape Town Blogger Meet

Near the end of last year Lauren over at Lipglossed Ninja, announced that she was planning a blogger event in Cape Town – the first ever Cape Town Blogger Meet!!! Yay!!! Needless to say I was super excited, which may seem strange to those, who are far happier hiding behind their computer screens 🙂 but I had been dying to meet some of my fellow bloggers for some time now and this opportunity was perfect.

I immediately contacted Lauren and asked if she could add me to the guest list, what I was not banking on was that she would ask me to speak at the event!

Well this Saturday past was the big day and I must firstly say a big thank you to Lauren for organising a great event! The venue Shelley’s Gourmet Cafe, was a first for me, it was lovely, a treasure trove of pretty decor and all things girly, I will definitely be heading back soon.

After everyone had arrived and settled in with a beverage of their choice, Lauren welcomed all the gorgeous gals and introduced me to the very enthusiastic group of bloggers. Unfortunately the tables were arranged in two separate rooms, making it a bit tricky for me to get my message across to everyone successfully, hence my decision to do post and share what I spoke about on Saturday. As well as a few things I forgot to mention in all the excitement.

“When Lauren initially asked me to speak today I have to admit I was a tad nervous – not because I have an issue with public speaking, lets face it I love to talk! As my hubby pointed out recently woman use up to 20 000 words per day – I think I pretty much use my quota everyday 😉 My issue was more with finding the right things to say, something that would be relevant and encouraging to all of you here today.

When brainstorming and thinking about what to say, I thought about my own blogging journey and the things that have stood out for me.

Most importantly – I cannot stress this enough! Do something you are passionate about! Why waste time doing things you do not enjoy, life is too short. Find the thing or things you love, things that keep you awake at night and pursue those things. I also find it vital to reassess what I am doing every few months because you can so easily get drawn into doing something, you should not be doing.

As a blogger, it is helpful, if you can find your niche early in your blogging journey, this will help give your blog more direction. If like me you simply love too many different topics, it can be tricky but as long as you structure everything properly and do not confuse readers, it should work just fine. I guess that is where the banner Lifestyle Blog comes from 🙂

Find your own unique voice and sense of style in your writing. In other words be unique otherwise you will simply become a number. There are so many blogs out there and if you want to stand out in the crowd, you need to be you! Readers will respond better if they have a sense of the person behind the blog.

Good content is the backbone of a good blog and the only way your blog will grow, which comes back to being original. Use your own images as much as possible. While it is ok to post the odd press release, readers want to hear your views and opinions – not someone elses. Especially when it comes to writing reviews – it is impossible to only write positive reviews, so be honest. Make sure you actually use the products before you write about them, paid reviews are a great way to make money but the question I ask is – can you remain objective is someone if paying you?

Social media can be a powerful tool to help your blog grow but use it wisely! Do not use social media as a means of emotional venting, we are all guilty of this at some point in our lives but if you are trying to grow your brand, make sure social media becomes a positive extension of your blog. Do not allow social media likes or follows, to become the sole purpose of why you are blogging.

Most of all do not be afraid of change – if something is not working for you then change it. As some of you may know I decided to change my blog name and URL last year May. I essentially had to start over because I eventually lost most of my website traffic, due to a few technical hiccups. Many people thought I was crazy to take this step but something I have learnt is I need to remain true to who I am and follow my heart.

My main aim with blogging has always been to be an inspiration to others! I am by no means perfect and have lost my way occasionally but I feel that if I give the smallest amount back and help inspire and encourage woman, then I have done what I set out to do.

Last but certainly not least remember to follow your dreams – DREAM BIG! I will leave you with the words of one of my favourite quotes:

“If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough!” ~ Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Once again a big thank you to Lauren, for a fabulous event, with yummy food, fab people , stunning prizes and to top it off a goodie bag jammed full of awesomeness! I think I can speak on behalf of those who attended and say it was a wonderful success and I am looking forward to the next one 🙂

To see more photographs from the event you can pop over to Lauren’s blog Lipglossed Ninja.

Be Inspired, Blogging

New Beginnings

As many of you may remember I changed the name of my website in May this year from supermomsa to inspiredlivingsa. I won’t bore you and go into too much detail, as to why I changed the name but it was a necessary step to move forward both in my personal life and my blogging journey!

Supermomsa was a great learning curve and taught me so much, if it were not for that website, I do not think I would be where I am today.

In an attempt to not loose readers and maintain the supermomsa site for a period of time I implemented a redirect to the new inspiredlivingsa website but I think the time has come, to officially to move on and cut the ties all together! It is a time of New Beginnings!

I just wanted to put the word out there and let everyone know. Especially readers who use Feedburner, who may still have the old supermomsa details, please change to the new details Subscribe to Inspired Living SA by Email.

For PR companies who were in contact with supermomsa, you can contact me via email to discuss any further campaigns.

Be Inspired, Blogging, Lifestyle, Super Mom

Inspired Living

As you may have realised by now the name of my website has changed! The change to Inspired Living was not an overnight decision but rather one which has been mulled over for months, if not longer! The one thing I have realised in life, is that I need to trust my instincts and that is exactly what I have done 🙂

Change as they say is as good as a holiday but not always the most comfortable thing to do. The motivation for this name change, stems from a need to better reflect exactly what my website represents and what message I am trying to convey, which is how I arrived at the new name Inspired Living! Essentially my website was created to be inspirational and inspire others to do the things they always wanted and dreamed of doing, especially moms!

My passions are many and this has inspired me to create this space on the web to share my passions with you, which will hopefully in turn inspire you to explore your passions. The main thing about blogging or writing is to remain true to what you love and enjoy doing because this will reflect in all that you publish.

I chose to use a dandelion flower to represent the new name because this is what I would like to achieve – “sow seeds of inspiration” to readers and help motivate and inspire them to follow their dreams and aspirations. I chose the colour pink for the logo because as you know it is one of my favourite colours and has been a common design thread throughout my blogging history.

The Name: “Inspired Living SA”

The Mission: “To sow seeds of Inspiration”

The Action: “be inspired”

So thank you for being such loyal readers and welcome to my new home on the web! I hope you love the name and logo design as much as I do and value any comments or feedback you may have 🙂