Beautyworld Middle East<\/a> went above and\u00a0beyond my expectations for the discovery of new brands, very\u00a0promising products, meeting interesting people, and exciting discussions. However, it was also a reminder of the\u00a0indestructible\u00a0clich\u00e9s<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0that brands have about bloggers.<\/p>\n To attend Beautyworld, I registered as a simple visitor on the event’s website, such a\u00a0huge exhibition, over 3 days, with an impressive number of\u00a0cosmetics\u00a0brands, is like the best event of the year<\/strong> for me!<\/p>\n The first day, I got there\u00a0late because I had commitments\u00a0during the morning, and I was there as a “simple” visitor. In BeautyWorld ME, the Orly stand<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The second day, I met a blogger friend<\/a>, who had been\u00a0invited by the Beautyworld organizers, Messe Frankfurt<\/a>. Indeed, having a blog post about a product is very interesting for a brand because in general bloggers will do a\u00a0sincere<\/strong>\u00a0review, often with a lot of\u00a0details<\/strong>\u00a0about the product and\/or service. While\u00a0I can see that some brands really understand the relevance<\/strong>\u00a0of a blog post for their brand and to promote their products, others are still very confused\/embarrassed and do not know how to categorize bloggers: do they have to treat bloggers\u00a0as a\u00a0kind of journalist, business partner, billboard or just as a\u00a0freeloader?<\/p>\n One person\u00a0even asked me\u00a0if I\u00a0was well paid to\u00a0“blog for brands”! WTF!<\/p>\n So, I would like to explain once and for all, because it is true that I’ve never done it, why and how I blog.<\/strong><\/p>\n 99% of the time, a blogger is not a professional, and probably will never<\/strong>\u00a0earn money from their\u00a0blog, the overall costs for many bloggers outweigh any income. In my opinion, very few people live\u00a0from their blogs, and in this case, they are professionals, so to be classified like\u00a0journalists, not bloggers. I have been reading blogs for a very long time, and I love to be able to\u00a0check-out some non-biased opinions about\u00a0products that interest me or that I discovered through these blogs. I read and often comment on articles about\u00a0this complicated relationship between brands and bloggers (here<\/a>, for example). I talk about\u00a0it with other bloggers I know, and\u00a0is a recurring discussion\u00a0we have.<\/p>\n I’m currently working on a personal web project, I feel it is important to not only separate this from my blog, but as it\u00a0is commercially oriented, to not link the two together unless it is relevant. I’m not even talking about sponsored<\/strong> posts. I’m not sure I\u00a0really understand the principle of sponsored content, but as a blog reader,\u00a0this type of\u00a0content\u00a0always seems a little bit suspicious to me…<\/p>\n That being said, I’m not against receiving free products. Clearly, I won’t turn my nose up at relevant products \/ services. Among bloggers who I asked this question, some told me that if they don’t like a product, they don’t speak about it on their blogs. However, with a product that interests me and I am lucky enough to get it as a gift, and finally I’m\u00a0disappointed about it, why censor<\/strong>\u00a0myself and not talk about it? I really want my blog to be\u00a0independent<\/strong>\u00a0from brands. The fact that the brand gives me a product or invites me to an event for the launch of a new product does not\u00a0guarantee a post on my blog. It may seem obvious, but on my blog, I want to understand as much as I can about a\u00a0product in order to give a review\u00a0that is as complete<\/strong> as possible. I find it very interesting to “help<\/strong>” (modestly, of course, just at my level) people who are interested,\u00a0like myself, in cosmetics. What is great about a blog is that the post\u00a0doesn’t stop with the\u00a0last word of your article. It can\u00a0continue or even grow<\/strong>\u00a0through the comments. I’d also like to\u00a0refer you to 2\u00a0very good posts, one from Jane (British Beauty Blogger<\/a>)\u00a0and one other from The Hungry Australian<\/a>\u00a0who have expressed their feelings on the subject.<\/p>\n I had the opportunity to spend 3 days in a huge exhibition dedicated to the beauty business here in Dubai, Beautyworld Middle East.
\nI walked around, stopping at\u00a0stands that I found interesting, and asked lots of questions to exhibitors.
\nWhen I introduced myself as a beauty blogger, there were\u00a0very different attitudes<\/strong> from the brand managers towards me.\u00a0Overall attitudes\u00a0ranged from total contempt, to genuine enthusiasm to tell me more about their brand. In certain\u00a0cases, they gave me the cold shoulder\u00a0and in others, exhibitors spent time explaining their brand and products, and some\u00a0kindly gave me products to try.
\nThe people on Organic Silicon G5′<\/a>s stand, an Irish brand, for example, who were particularly kind<\/strong>, took time to really explain the concept of their products, with a sincere passion (and in French, lol!). If I get to try some products\u00a0from this brand, I will gladly speak about them (unfortunately they are not yet distributed here in Dubai or elsewhere in the\u00a0United Arab Emirates).<\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/05\/BeautyWorld-Dubai-Orly-Bonnie-Garner-400x242.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nIndeed, this year, for the first time, the organizers decided to invite bloggers<\/strong>. A charming young French lady was responsible for facilitating\u00a0meetings between brand managers and bloggers during the exhibition. Thanks to her, the visit was really interesting and pleasant.
\nSpecifically, she asked us what brands and products we were interested in, suggested certain\u00a0other brands\u00a0and organised the meetings with them.
\nI certainly noticed the brands attitude was very different<\/strong> when I was introduced via the organizers. Most of the time, we were welcomed nicely but funnily enough, not all the time.
\nFor example, I was looking for some information about the nail polish brand Orly<\/a>, because I wanted to buy some products (I had my hands full of gorgeous nail polish and nail care products), and I was lucky enough to speak to the brand manager. He answered all my\u00a0questions and very kindly gave me all the products I had\u00a0intended to buy.<\/p>\n
\nAnd without access to a\u00a0product and\/or service, it is very difficult to imagine that a blogger’s\u00a0review can be\u00a0authentic<\/strong>.
\nThis form of unbiased communication about\u00a0a product is close to the principle of word of mouth and recognized as the most effective<\/strong> because it is considered as being honest.\u00a0The cost for a brand\u00a0is still very small compared to all sorts of traditional advertising campaigns.<\/p>\n\n
First, I do not blog for money, to be very clear.<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\nFurthermore, I would say that some bloggers, the\u00a0‘celebrities’ are no\u00a0longer\u00a0bloggers, or even journalists anymore, but more like\u00a0brand\u00a0promoters.
\nIn my case, my blog is costing me money because very often, I buy the products I’m\u00a0interested in\u00a0talking about, not to mention\u00a0it takes me a lot of time.\u00a0For me, it is mostly a hobby<\/strong>. A very time consuming hobby, certainly, but still a hobby.<\/p>\n
\nAnd that for me\u00a0is the difficulty: is it possible to remain sincere<\/strong> when brands offer you products and expect you to say good things about them\u00a0in your blog? When does the content of a blog become\u00a0advertorial<\/strong>? Is it whenever you didn’t pay for the product or service?<\/p>\n
\nI have\u00a0questioned\u00a0myself about this separation, because I really want my blog to be as honest as possible, hey,\u00a0maybe my opinion will change…<\/p>\n
\nBut if I’m given a\u00a0product, would I have been\u00a0interested enough to buy it\u00a0myself, if the brand haven’t offered it to me? I always remind myself of this when I’m writing reviews.
\nAnd of course, if I\u00a0haven’t bought the product, I\u00a0mention<\/strong>\u00a0the fact in my blog post.<\/p>\n\n
So\u00a0what if I don’t like a product?<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\nI’m OK not to speak about\u00a0a product some brand has given me if I’m not\u00a0interested in it. Let’s imagine that a brand has sent me a product that is not suitable for my skin type, my complexion, etc. I had no expectations<\/strong>, or it’s not relevant, so I would not have spoken about it on my blog anyway.<\/p>\n
\nBecause, yes, as a blog reader, if there is a ‘negative’ aspect, this is really something I want to know when I plan to spend my money on a product.
\nOf course, it will be the same if I buy a disappointing product myself.
\nIf I like a product, I will do a positive review and I will explain why the product is good in my opinion, and if it I don’t like it, I will of course explain why the product didn’t match my expectations.<\/p>\n\n
I don’t work for cosmetic brands via my blog:<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\nAlso, for me, the brand needs to make as much effort with a blogger for them to want to try the product, not the reverse.
\nOn my blog , which remains for me a\u00a0personal<\/strong> space, I talk about\u00a0products that really interest me and if a\u00a0brand speaks about\u00a0its concept or product with real passion and transparency, this will\u00a0make a\u00a0difference, and\u00a0convince me.
\nI sometimes feel with some brands that my questions are ‘annoying’, while I just want to understand\u00a0more about their product \/ service.
\nFinally, if someday I decide to organize an\u00a0event with a brand, it will always be mentioned in my blog post, to remain transparent<\/strong> to my readers, so that everything is clear for everyone.<\/p>\n\n
When I review a product, I really have tried it.<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\nIt’s unthinkable for me to write a review about a product I haven’t tried, and this long enough to fully appreciate its effectiveness.
\nI also do a lot of research first before writing\u00a0a\u00a0review because the type and context of\u00a0a product plus\u00a0other reviews will really help me to forge\u00a0a complete opinion. Blogs that have mixed feelings\u00a0and\/or detailed reviews are particularly interesting to me, unlike reviews\u00a0that are always very\u00a0positive\u00a0about every product, just making\u00a0me doubt their overall integrity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n
I also blog because I know the beauty business.<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\nI was a trainer for almost 10 years for a cosmetic\u00a0brand, and my job was to transfer knowledge and a\u00a0technique\u00a0to Spas and\u00a0beauticians.
\nI have always considered my blog to be a sort of extension<\/strong>, even if it’s a bit more personal, of my job. For this reason if you want to ask me questions after reading a blog post, I will always be happy to answer them.
\nOne of the objectives of a blog is to be interactive<\/strong>, which means of course that I\u00a0must accept opinions that are different\u00a0from mine (not the easiest thing for me, I must admit , but I’m working on it!:)).<\/p>\n\n
Because after all, I also blog to share with my readers.<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\nThe debate remains open and many new ideas and concepts\u00a0can be added.<\/p>\nSo if you want to share your thoughts about this topic, I would be glad\u00a0to discuss with you in the comments!<\/h5>\n
EDIT<\/strong>: I am really\u00a0proud because one of my favorite bloggers, Jane from the blog British Beauty Blogger, has written a blog post to continue the debate about bloggers, brands and PRs<\/a>\u00a0after having read my blog post. And her post is so interesting, as always!:)<\/h3>\n
EDIT BIS<\/strong>: You may also be interested in a new article I wrote about a similar topic:\u00a0Brands and influencers: Les Liaisons Dangereuses<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nIf this visit has fulfill all my expectations, it was also crystallized the dilemma I face since the creation of this blog, which is the management of the relationships between brands and bloggers.
\nAnd I realized that I was not the only one to feel this kind of “awkwardness”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"wide-image-layout","iawp_total_views":19,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265,527,540],"tags":[532,533,529,530,528,531],"class_list":["post-5692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-beauty","category-opinions","category-other","tag-authenticity","tag-brands-and-bloggers","tag-dilemma","tag-integrity","tag-relationships-between-brands-and-bloggers","tag-sincerity","entry","override"],"acf":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}