It’s been at least 3 months since my last Ask Me Anything and since I’m feeling rather chatty today, why not come on over for a chat and, well, ask me anything!
If you’re new to the blog and don’t know what this segment is all about, it’s just as the name suggests: you can ask me any questions you want. It can be questions about blogging, beauty, food, tech, fashion (er really? Me? Fashion? Hah!), travel … seriously, whatever rocks your boat. I’ll try my best to answer them and if I can’t, perhaps the readers can help. You never know, it can get a bit crazy here. 😛
It’s been a busy week for me preparing for next week. Preparing for what, you say? If you’re following me on Twitter or Instagram, you’ll know on soon enough *wink wink*.
If you don’t have any questions for me, do drop in and say hi. If you haven’t commented on the blog before, I’d love for you to de-lurk and wave hello. There are a lot of you out there who reads my blog (hello and thank you!) but only a small percentage of you leave comments. Aww come say hello!
Cup of tea? Check. Chocolate biccies? Check. Ready for your questions? Oh yeah, let’s do this!
When is Janey’s birthday? 😛
21 December! Will be her first birthday with us. Let’s party then! 😀
Alright! Party!
Next Q: why aren’t you online?
I’m here! Y U NO SEE ME?
Hi Tine, I wanted to start a blog soon to share my learnings & tips in life (a huge part will be skin care and make up). How long did it take you to generate some decent interest in your blog? Is there any particular reasons that you are not doing vlog? Thank you x
Hi Grace, yay glad to know you’re starting a blog soon! To answer your questions:
1. I started in 2007 when beauty blogging wasn’t big then (heck, even Temptalia was considered small). I had no social media platforms and was just faffing about. I had a bit of a following from Malaysian readers (some are still following me now. Love them!) but it didn’t grow all that much until I came to Australia. I reckon if I started on social media earlier, it would have generated a lot more interest quicker. It took me at least 3-4 years for people to roughly know who I am.
2. The reason I don’t vlog or do Youtube is that I really cannot stand being in videos. I don’t know why. I have a very strong aversion for seeing myself in videos. I’ll camwhore with a camera to the max (tsk tsk so vain) but when it’s a video camera, I completely freeze. I’ve tried making videos many times and every time I look at myself, I cringe because I’m very stiff in front of the camera. It’s a real pity because given how strong YouTube is, it can draw traffic to your blog so very very much quicker than just the blog can. Perhaps in future when I can somehow get over myself and relax in front of the camera, I might try vlogging. 🙂
Good luck!
Hiya,
Where is good to go for food in Geelong? I’m coming over that way in October for a dance weekend, and might need munchies at some point (seeing as I’ll be dancing for way too many hours in a row, I can afford some yummy food!) – probably staying at The Mercure Hotel Geelong. And if I fly (not sure if we are doing a road trip or not at the moment still), do you want to get together for pancake kitchen (or similar) if I arrange my flights to suit? Its Oct 16-19 weekend 😀
😀
Hilary recently posted..Bacon!
Oh dear. This is one question I can’t answer you because I have no idea! I did go to this really good seafood place at Geelong a few years ago but I can’t remember the name. Sorry Hilary, I’m no help to you here. Anyone reading this comment, if you know a good place for food in Geelong, help! 🙂
Oooooh I’d love to finally meet you in person if you’re coming to Melbourne as well! From the looks of it, I don’t have anything major planned during that weekend. 😀
No worries – I might be too busy dancing to do much eating anyway, but if anyone knows anywhere that would be cool (so I can look cool to others, obviously – soooo sad I know :P)
And yay on the meeting up 😀 Will email you nearer the time when I’ve actually confirmed I’m totally going and how I’m getting there etc 😀 Yah again! :@D
Hilary recently posted..Bacon!
Hi Hilary,
Try Little Creatures for good food and beer. I swear by their chips/fries. The one in Brunswick also does great pork sliders.
Tine,
ShopWindow is Australia’s Online Shopping Channel – it’s like TV shopping but online.
We are looking to start and establish a Beauty / Skincare channel.
Who would you recommend as the best suppliers and companies to work with and why? (We are based in Sydney)
I’m afraid I can’t answer that Jay as it’s a very wide niche. It really depends on what you intend your content to be.
Hi Tine. Just wanted to drop by to say hello 🙂 I was wondering, do you and Tim eat in for dinner everyday and what do you guys usually have? Also, what is a typical weekend for you like since you blog full time?
Hello hello Victoria! I cook 4 times a week and it’s usually Chinese food (stir fries, soups, that sort of thing). But there will be at one pasta meal a week ‘cos I must have my pasta. The rest of the time, we’ll eat out. Thursdays are late night shopping evenings so we usually eat out then as well.
I keep my weekends free from blogging. I don’t touch the computer unless I have and don’t go on social media much. I try to keep a proper working schedule during the weekdays and weekends will usually either be going out with friends or hanging out at home with Janey. 🙂
Hello Tine, I am new here. Maybe not so new, haha read your blogs few times but I never commented as my comment tend to be short. I really love the tips you gave in Bloggie Wednesdays. They helped me a lot in starting a blog. Just a question, how long did it take you to practice to get all the beautiful pictures in your blog? I write about makeup but I cant give accurate swatches. Not sure where I went wrong 🙁
Hi Shirley, so glad you enjoy my Bloggie Wednesday posts. 🙂
It took me quite a long time to get my swatches right. A lot had to do with the camera and lighting. I don’t use flash on my swatches at all, although many bloggers do it and they give an accurate representation on what the product looks like with flash and without flash. Me, I just prefer without. Check your camera’s Auto White Balance and calibrate it if necessary. Usually all you have to do is photograph a piece of white paper. Check your camera’s manual to see how this is done. It takes a lot of practice to get it right. I take a minimum of 10 shots per swatch and for some angles, I can take up to 30 shots just to get one photo right. As for the rest of the photos, I take advantage of natural light that comes in from my big windows.
All the best. I’m sure you’ll ace it in no time. 🙂
Ah I see, alright, shall try changing the white balance. Thank you so much! 🙂
Hi Tine,
As a fellow blush fiend, can you recommend your favourite blush brushes?
Thank you 🙂
Hello fellow blush fiend! I’ve amassed an unnecessary amount of blush brushes over the years but these are my favourites for the past 3-4 years: Louise Young blush brush, Hakuhodo blush brush, and the Real Techniques blush brush. I like the Real Techniques face brush as a blush brush too because of its tapered end. Love Ecotools’ blush brush as well. My next acquisition is *hopefully* the cheek brush by Suqqu but we’ll see because that brush is crazy expensive!
I have looked at the Real Techniques blush brush previously and was a bit wary on making the purchase as it looks huge! If only it was easier to buy Hakuhodo brushes here in Australia, I have heard a lot about it.
Also the Sigma brushes too.
Thanks for the recommendations 🙂
The RT blush brush works better with pigmented blushes because it’s so big and bristles more widespread. Wouldn’t be that effective on sheer blushes. Keep a lookout for IMATS in Sydney because that’s the best time to get Hakuhodo brushes. 🙂
Which Hakuhodo blush brush do you use?
I think it’s this one but I can’t really remember the exact name. It’s been a while! 🙂 http://www.hakuhodousa.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_18&products_id=146
Hi Tine,
Thanks for putting Ask me anything. I have two questions.
1) What all things we should do get our blog more visible to PRs ( I am getting on soon with the media kit thing with the help from your ebook), but apart from that do you have any tips ?
2) I want to host a giveaway on my blog sometime in future. Do you have any tips, learning ? Also may be a dumb question, but what kind of postage do you recommend ? parcel, registered ?
Thanks a lot 🙂
Saumya recently posted..Review – Savvy by DB Eyeliners
Hi Saumya,
1. Build a relationship with them. Instead of waiting for them to approach you, you can always send them a friendly introductory email introducing yourself and your blog (this is best when you have your media kit ready). Attach your media kit along with that email. Tell them what your blog is about, who reads them, what you normally review and so on. Never ask for products in the first couple of emails. Just tell them you’re just there to say hi and if they could send you any latest press releases of latest products, that’d be great. I did that not long after I moved to Australia and it worked.
2. If it’s a giveaway by a brand (ie they initiate the giveaway and provide the prizes), arrange with them that they send out the prizes and not you. This way, there’ll be no out-of-pocket costs on your end. It’s a waste of money anyway for them to send the products to you and you send them out again. This usually only works if the giveaway is done locally and not open internationally as most brands will not cover the international postage. If you’re running the giveaway with products you purchased, it’s up to you really. I normally go for the cheapest postage simply because postage fees in Australia are high. On the other hand, if I’m posting the parcel internationally to areas where the postal system is possibly not that reliable, I’ll fork out a little extra for registered post.
Hope that answers your questions. 🙂
Thank you so much Time for your reply 🙂
Sorry Tine 🙂
Saumya recently posted..Review – Savvy by DB Eyeliners
Hi Tine! Not Wednesday here anymore but probably somewhere in the world! My question is… how do you make money from blogging/your blog? I’m not talking about numbers as such but more the process behind it. Is there a way you could answer without unveilling too much (ie: private details)?
Hi Carole, I mostly make them from advertising and sponsored posts. As you can probably tell, I don’t write sponsored posts often so I do rely on ads more at the moment. I also make money from affiliate links. The latter is not a lot given that I don’t write a lot about luxury items or tech gadgets (tech gadgets can make a whole lot more from affiliate links). So even though I do this full time, I have to supplement the income by doing freelance web design work. That’s it!
Thanks! I get the picture now 😉
Do you make a schedule or set aside a certain amount of time to network with other blogs. Since I have started my own blog, I have found it so hard to manage to read other peoples blogs etc. Any suggestions on time management?
Beth and Beauty recently posted..Beth and Beauty’s Makeup Eraser Review: Does this really work??
I used to but to be honest, I’m pretty lazy when it comes to that these days. There are a certain number of blogs that I will comment on at least weekly but I’m so far behind my blog reading list now. My Feedly list is growing by the day. Sigh. Thanks for the reminder, I really, REALLY should set a schedule for blog reading and commenting too.