This is my response to that completely craptastic waste of e-space called Is Blogging The New Media?. It paints many beauty bloggers in a negative light. I posted this in their comments as well, but as they moderate their comments, you never know if this will see the light of day. So I am posting it here.
I am a professional makeup artist first, blogger second. I don't go to product launches and I can count the number of free things I've received on one hand, its been 4. Its definitely not the backbone of my blog or why I started it. Its a place for me to have fun and talk bout my work. If I love something I say so, if a product has negative points I say so. I do so in a way that the everyday person, who are the majority of my readers, can understand and I talk about what matters to them. But free items are definitely not the majority of what I review. 99.9% of what I have is bought by yours truly. Half the time I'm so busy in the real world I'm not churning out review after review and look after look. I think it definitely simple minded and hateful to generalize most bloggers. I've met many a "self proclaimed" makeup artist who knows less about products and hygene than some of these "silly and sad women" bloggers. Who are YOU to say?
Blogs have always been a place of personal experience for everyday people. Anyone who has a thought can blog, and they have a right to. Who cares if things are swatched on arms. A girl in Croatia can see exactly what a lipstick shade looks like on the arm of a blogger, because since she can only order the product online, and the only swatch she is provided on the site is a little block of color. A girl who has a darker skin tone can see exactly what a product looks like on another dark skin tone from a blog because the online shop only shows the image on a lighter model. For you to not recognize the benefits and positive impact of blogging is sheer ignorance.
This part of your article:
"Again, I’ve done my investigation since this conversation, and are you kidding me? These are NON professionals who’ve tried them out 2 or 3 times and trashed them straight off. I’m a professional makeup artist and have been using them for about 6 weeks on dozens of different faces and am now prepared to give them an appropriate review, based on experience and a test over time."
One, why are you so upset? Do you have a personal stock or interest in these products? Are they giving YOU freebies? Secondly, it is your right, just like anyone elses, to do a review of a product. That is the whole point of reading blog reviews. Reading the many different opinions of different people. There may be someone who has a certain skin type or condition that impacts her review, and should be mentioned. And there may be a person with that exact same skin condition looking for someone else's experience with a product before they buy. What if one of those dozens of faces you have put a product on goes home and writes their experience on how the application felt and how their skin is once they are home for all to see. Is their opinion totally worthless?
I, for one, am not outraged, I'm chuckling here because your outlook and your attempt to discredit every "non makeup professional" (by YOUR standards) is VERY pathetic and only makes you look like a petty child who dislikes the "new kid". Not every blog is perfect, not every one is useful. Some are all about "hauls", some are not. But there are some authors of these blogs who are more educated than you may think in makeup and journalism and are so to the point that companies and the general public can value their viewpoint. Few people are lucky enough to find work in their field or their passion. Some people are fully trained, but doing other things with their life. What makes them any less of a great view point than you and MAF? Is it simple because they are not in an "online magazine" and haven't "paid their dues"? Stop being so childish.
Oh and I'm not scared to leave my information. I know I'm great and so is my work. My blog is www.justkissnmakeup.com and my Model Mayhem is http://www.modelmayhem.com/897431
