2 YEARS BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY: A REFLECTION

Hello everyone,

How crazy, I can't believe that 2 years ago I started my blog! It's been an absolute rollercoaster of a ride, but something I never imagined I would fall so head over heels for. Blogging has become a core part of my life and something that I genuinely look forward to doing. I thought that today I would take a little trip down memory lane and have a look at how far I've come in the past two years, and some images from some of my favourite blog posts.

 Let's start with a flashback. December 2014 and I was in the middle of my A Levels. As well as this it was coming to applying to university and writing the dreaded personal statement. I already knew exactly what universities I wanted to apply to and which courses I wanted to do - a mix of communication and media or journalism. When it came to writing my personal statement, I wrote about my extra curricular clubs, my part time job and work experience at a primary school. But I realised I really didn't have anything to show for my love of the media and writing. I needed to find something which would make universities want to have me study with them. I had a little think and it came to me, why don't I start a blog?

I have loved reading blogs, watching vloggers and all things beauty, fashion and lifestyle related for as long as I can remember (when I was little I used to try and make magazines on my computer, using Microsoft word and paint) and I've always know that this is a field that I want to go into. The first beauty vlogger I watched was Megan Parken (meganheartsmakeup), and I always loved reading Lily Pebbles and The Anna Edit (Viviannadoesmakeup). I always thought I wanted a slice of the cake, but really was not confident enough to start it. I also was scared because I literally am the worst with technology and had no idea how to make my blog look as pretty as I wanted to. But at this point, the personal statement was enough for me to start it finally.

My first blog post was a round up of seeing Taylor Swift at the O2 earlier that year. The photos were taken on my Samsung Galaxy S3 mini, really of awful quality. My blog was a simple template powered by blogger, with no header design and images of the sea as the background. SO not professional and very very tacky. However, I absolutely loved it and definitely caught the bug. I wrote 7 more blog posts that month. 

Since then,blogging has been an amazing outlet for me to write about what I'm interested in and I've found such an amazing community of lovely ladies and gents who are also bloggers via social media, espescially twitter. I was also so lucky to receive a Canon DSLR camera from my parents in summer 2015 as a present for getting into university, so I have been able to take gorgeous, good quality blog photos. 

And now, whilst I don't see blogging as all about numbers, I am really proud of how my  blog has grown in the past two years. I now have over 10k followers on instagram, over 3k on twitter and 1k on bloglovin'. As well as this I get lovely comments on all of my blog posts all the time which just put me in the best mood. Over the last year, I have also had a fair few PR companies send me goodies which I just never thought would happen! 

This autumn, I also decided to bite the bullet and buy myself a professional looking layout from etsy, and my own domain name. As well as this I've really taken care of how I take my photos and making sure that I am super happy with them before I post them to my blog. I feel like I have really improved the aesthetic of my blog and made it much more appealing to readers - I have noticed a huge surge in readership since I gave it a makeover! 

I know that my blog isn't as big as some others out there, or as elegant or professional as some of the big names, but I am really proud of my little corner of the internet. This blog has truly opened some amazing doors for me, and given me something that I truly have a passion for and want to improve every single day. I really hope you enjoyed this post and didn't mind me gushing on for too lomg. Here's to the future of www.yasminanicole.com.

Love, Yasmin xx