It’s time to take beauty bloggers seriously! Emily discusses the stigma surrounding those who make a living from talking about make-up. It’s not as easy as it looks…

As a beauty blogger, there’s a certain stereotype attached to the work that accompanies the name. Writing about make-up somehow makes the words trivial and shallow, and yet, shouldn’t any form of writing be celebrated? Shouldn’t any passion, no matter what the subject is, be something to get excited about and not something to condescend and criticise?

There’s a stigma linked to women that associate themselves heavily with the world of beauty; that women wearing lipstick do not equate to women of power, and the stigma needs to stop. Wearing lipstick does not define the intelligence and capabilities of a woman – in fact, it brings us together and forms a community of strong, united young girls (it’s a commonly known fact that telling a girl that you like her make up look when you’re standing outside a nightclub is an instant way to form a fleeting friendship.) Whilst it is definitely plausible to say that the idea of beauty can be damaging, particularly in the media, there is no cause to say that it, or anyone who talks about it, is lesser than someone who talks about current affairs or literature. An interest is an interest, and whilst our interests define us, they should not degrade us.

When I first started blogging online, it was a way to keep writing; a method of expression and of keeping the end goal of writing professionally alive. I didn’t start out as a member of the beauty niche, but gradually over time the nature of my writing gravitated towards make-up related posts, and for a proportion of my readers, the credibility of my blog decreased.

For some reason, people associate make-up with vanity, and therefore writing beauty related posts can often seem like a social taboo that should be avoided at all cost. If you wear gold glitter on your eyelids, or God forbid write about it, you’re automatically a little bit less respected by anyone outside of the community. In reality, most of the beauty bloggers we watch and read about are influential businesswomen; Zoella and her era of bloggers did not make it to the top by whacking on a full face of makeup and hoping for the best.

Beauty blogging is a light-hearted subject, and that will always be true, but for many people it’s a platform to build on, to get recognition for heavier topics and to create a place to distract an audience from the reality of everyday life.

So what if the online beauty world will never be a corner of the internet suited to intense academic discussion? Writing a blog (regardless of the niche) breeds a new category of intelligent and business savvy women who are free to use their space for whatever they want to write about. Wearing red lipstick should not constrict us to negative labels, and it certainly shouldn’t allow others to make assumptions about intelligence or shallowness. And you know what? Wearing it makes me feel that little bit more powerful.

Emily Merrill

(Photo courtesy of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hI3zhz12i4)