This post is different from my typical Wednesday break-down of one fragrance in particular. I’m feeling inspired by Colognoisseur’s post Am I An Influencer? on the topic. And I think the topic of influencers is something that’s been going around on social media lately in general.

I started this blog in 2012 when blogging was still the popular thing to do. Youtube was still a niche hobbyist activity. I remember watching some early makeup tutorials from Lisa Eldridge and the Pixiwoo sisters around 2011 – 2012. Being a youtube “content creator” wasn’t a job and I’m not sure if you could even monetize videos back then.

The landscape has changed so quickly. I haven’t always kept up with my blog posts here on a regular schedule, just due to work or personal life commitments. Although, part of it was that I could sense the shift away from blogging. Everything moved to youtube and instagram. I will be honest, at times, I felt like my blog was too irrelevant to keep updating, even just for my own pleasure. (I do still keep up with reading a couple of the OG beauty blogs, like Temptalia and The Beauty Look Book, so blogging is not completely dead!)

I’ve decided to lean into blogging here because I enjoy writing and I enjoy perfume. Writing out detailed analysis of different scents helps me work through my own thoughts. And I think it’s important to look through a critical lens, even towards a subject you love. There are so many fragrance releases these days — it would be impossible to blindly love everything! (I think we can also be critical of this crazy volume of launches and releases that we’re dealing with. It’s far too much and not sustainable.)

I also love the community here on wordpress with fellow perfume bloggers. The community on instagram is different. People make sponsored posts and do not always disclose the relationship, or only show photos of bottles they’ve been gifted without indicating that it was gifted. I’m not inherently against sponsorships or being gifted PR items. I just wish more people would be completely upfront about what they’ve been given. Right now on instagram, you almost have to do a little bit of detective work and look beneath the surface to figure out what you’re really looking at. An ad should be more straightforward than that.

If I were trying to be an influencer, I’d be doing a pretty bad job of it! I don’t think I’ve ever influenced anyone, which is just fine with me. I’m a blogger, a writer, and a perfume enthusiast. I will continue to keep up with instagram, but make an effort to not get caught up with the number of likes and followers, etc. The numbers and metrics aren’t the important factors for me. Connecting over scent is what matters to me.

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Thank you all for reading my writing week in and week out!

The photo was taken by me. It’s my travel spray of Do Son set against an editorial from the Chanel Spring/Summer 2019 magazine. Chanel sends me their seasonal magazines (they are clear: it’s not a catalog!) because I tend to purchase quite a bit of makeup and fragrance from the brand!