Renee operates Beautyfool.net, a terrific blog for women (and some men) about the latest trends and recommendations in the ‘beauty’ world. She’s intelligent enough to run Thesis on Wordpress and is a pretty fun gal too! I was lucky enough to meet and talk to her…
1. Renee, introduce yourself to my readers. Who are you? What do you do?
Hello readers! I am Renee, currently a university student studying media and communications … I also blog at beautyfool.net!
2. So a Beauty Fool huh? Other than simply being female, what makes you so interested in blogging about this?
“Beautyfool” is actually just a play on words of the word “beautiful”, but I don’t think anyone gets it… haha! I can’t even tell you what it means, everyone has interpreted it differently, which is really cool!
Discovering Beauty
Inside and Out
Basically, my tag line is “discovering beauty, inside and out”, so my blog focuses on outer beauty – products, reviews, how tos, information, and inner beauty; so topics like self image, happiness, health, and well-being are also written about.
I can’t really say why I have an interest in this but I’ve always loved writing and the idea of having a publication for young girls and women (my dream was to own a teen magazine) that talks about what young girls/women go through in terms of self image, self love, you know, feeling ‘beautiful’ on the inside. Also, what girl doesn’t love beauty products?! So it’s really a mix of the two.
3. You use Thesis and Wordpress on your site. What’s been your experience with both?
Thesis is great for people like me, who are never satisfied with how their theme looks, so the endless customization is perfect. Wordpress was the first blogging platform I used, and it just works perfectly. No problems from both of them for me… They are both fantastic and I never plan on changing!
YOU too can be just like Renee! Get Thesis Here.
4. How did you hear about Thesis?
Once again, I was dissatisfied with the theme I had and was just clicking around the Internet at 4 in the morning, and found it. It was love at first click, so I bought it immediately.
5. You seem to have branched out for help from time to time with Thesis, who are the people you go to for help and/or tutorials?
Their forums are really good, I got a lot of help from the other users over there. Your site also helped me, Matt! ;) Your post, “10 ways to customize your thesis theme” was really useful.
Seriously. Brilliant Answer. Wow! I didn’t even ask for that!
6. What are the goals for your blog? Do you want to go full-time with it?
I blew over US$1000 to get this blog started because I had changed my mind about so many things. My dad really shouldn’t have given me his Paypal details … I went a little insane buying the most random things, hiring designer after designer… and in the end, what you see now is what I did myself! Sigh. So money-wise, my goal is to pay my dad back. And sure, being a blogger full time and being your own boss would be the ultimate dream. But it’s not easy, so we’ll see what happens! In the meantime, I love my site and it’s fun; so my goals for now is to pay my dad back and continue having fun!
7. Do you have any interest in starting another blog? Or writing for another blog? Why or why not?
My best friend and I were thinking about starting a faith based blog. But she’s on the other side of the globe and we’re both busy with school, so we’ll have to see. I really hope it happens, though. Other than that, no plans for now!
8. What’s the one beauty product that everyone should know about? (Remember, I have lots of male readers!)
Alright, boys! The one beauty product – or should I say tool – is that you should own a pair of tweezers. I don’t care what anyone says, crazy unibrows are a no-no! I used to do the eyebrows of one of my male friends and it made such a difference. Plus I know he secretly loved it – he would admire them in the mirror after, saying how much ‘cleaner’ he looked.
Renee, I dare you to try to pull out my eyebrows. There will be fatalities.
9. How do you publicize your blog? Ads, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Technorati, etc…?
I haven’t (publicized) yet, but I should. My blog just turned 1, and that first year I just focused on starting it up, writing, and spending money on my never ending quest for the perfect design. My traffic seems to come from the other beauty blogs, comments, Google, and regular readers that I love! I really should get a Twitter account though, I heard it’s great … but it terrifies me! Maybe someday.
Another Shamless Self-Promotion: Follow me on Twitter – @Matt425.
10. Any bad or crazy experiences online or with your blog? If yes, tell us about it.
So far, no. Hopefully it will stay that way. But I did get my first hate-comment today. Why is someone on a beauty site if they are just going to insult the fact that some women like to wear makeup?!
11. Do you have any tips for current or prospective bloggers?
Yes! Pick a topic you are actually passionate about. You see some blogs and it’s obvious they aren’t into them, because they post once a month, and there are ads at every corner. Blogs are meant to be like an online diary, so write about what you love! The benefits (comments, readers, community, pocket money, etc) will come naturally.
12. Do you have any plugin recommendations for Wordpress other than the popular ones (Akismet)?
I love “Recent Comments” the best because I just like seeing what everyone’s talking about! And the usual ones like Akismet, Related Posts, Sociable, etc are great too.
13. Have you had a nightmarish beauty related moment? Tell us!
Oh, many! The one that traumatized me the most was when I was 15 and did an at-home hair color session. It was supposed to be light brown, but turned out orange! It was a nightmare; bright orange is obviously not my color. I was also in a “punk phase” then and would wear red eyeshadow … I thought it looked “eye catching” – more like eye infection!
14. And lastly (and for fun), tell us about your worst date or romantic experience!
… All of them. Just kidding. I don’t really date, I’m more of a relationship girl (hehe).
But I can imagine that the worse first date for me would be if the guy cooked me mac and cheese (I’m lactose intolerant), introduced me to his pet lizard (terrified of them), and then wanted to watch golf on TV (no interest!) … No offense to golf fans, of course!
If you have any additional questions for Renee, post them in the comments and I’ll make sure she gets them! And tell about your worst date! Also, does anyone actually know someone who owns a lizard?
