Hello my lovelies and I hope that you are having a fabulous day! This has been bugging me for awhile now and I had to address it! Twice this week I have seen this same subject matter come up on fashion blogs and it bothered me to NO end! If you have been following me for over a year now, you have seen such a big transformation with my style.
I wanted to be taken more serious, so I have been trying to revamp and change up the way I look and with my image. With my new look, I have been getting lots of new endorsements, sponsored campaigns etc and Pink Suga has to pay the bills. Don’t get me wrong, I will still give my honest opinion on different things but mainly if I do not like something I just do not post it. Trust me, I get products in all the time, you just don’t see me write about it. Its simply a waste of my time to even sit and blog about it. I just kindly email the brand back and say I will not be doing a review on it. I think that is the best way to handle it and I think it looks more professional. It just all depends basically on how I feel too lol.
With that being said, I was looking at a comment today that someone left on a fashion blog site who seemed a bit disgruntle with top bloggers getting items sent to them to wear/promote etc. The fashion blog was basically talking about how top fashion bloggers style has transformed over the years and thats when a commenter said, “lets be clear, designer brands work with them, that is why”. She went on to say that bloggers have no original style anymore because of all the endorsements. I wanted to explain a little bit on how it works with me because this has irked my nerves now! I’ve seen it time and time again and some folks are just haters because perhaps they couldn’t work with a particular brand or they don’t have the resources to reach out or knowledge on how to start a fashion blog, the income to buy designer items, whatever the case may be, so they throw shade at someone else who is on their grind. At the end of the day, blogging is a lot of work and its time consuming. For all the hard work, you want to get recognized by top brands to work with later on down the road, who wouldn’t want to do that right?
Anyway, brands reach out to me all the time. They send me lookbooks to pick out items that may peek my interest. I do this on a monthly basis with some of my favorites. Yes items are gifted to me and I choose things that “I like” so how is it that I have no style, if I am the one picking out my own looks? I think a lot of people on the outside looking in don’t understand that this is normally how it works lol.
VERY rarely will a brand just send me an item that I didn’t pick out. What people dont realize too is that a lot of times, I don’t see anything in their Spring/Summer or Fall/Winter lookbooks and may skip a month or two before I see something I actually like and want to wear. Do you kind of understand how it works now? It just bothers me that people have formed all these opinions and don’t know.
They think brands just ship us items and hope and pray we wear them to promote it or pay us. That is not how it works, at least that is not how I operate my blog lol. If I don’t like something, I still have the option to say yay or nay. I have complete control of my ship. They do not tell me how to style my items, what to wear, when to wear it, they do not pay me to wear items either. I wear it because I want to. If it was like that, I would have to have a full disclosure/disclaimer, which I also do on certain paid posts. I truly love the outfits, shoes, purses, jewelry etc that I wear here. I also know my audience and what works best. Over the years, I have studied my demographics, analytics etc and I know what my readers want to see. Trust me, its a science to this people. So I just wanted you guys to kinda understand how it works. I do have my own original style and I wear what I like.
So if you are a blogger or aspiring to be one, always keep your individuality and don’t just work with a brand just because you have no other options or because its free. Wear what really makes you feel good about yourself, what fits your personality and so on. Some brands may not fit your style, but more will come around in due time. Thats my two cents for today but if you still have some questions or issues on this post please leave your comments below. I would love to read what you have to say about this. Till next time! xoxo
Images by Paras Griffin/The Photoman Life
Great post!!!
I’ve seen people criticize fashion bloggers for this as well, and it baffles me because, as you correctly stated, we have the free will to wear what we want and certainly dont feel compelled to give it a positive review because it was sent free. I have more experience in this from the parenting blogosphere, since I was a ‘mom blogger’ for many years before transitioning to fashion blogging. But the same philosophy applies. I received many free products and trips and 1) I only blog about it if i feel like it, not because i feel pressured to do so, 2) you will ALWAYS receive my honest opinion about a product, including the good and the not so good, and 3) I will always disclose that something was gifted to me, as per FTC standards.
So yes, i agree with you that some readers are just un-informed. Glad you set the record straight!
Thanks for your comment Yakini! xoxo
P.S. Your waist is SNATCHED in that dress. Werk boo!
This is why I love this blog. Yes I love fashion and that you present it in a way that’s not so up there, but I like that you drop these nuggets. I am not a fashion blogger or even a blogger for that matter, I like getting glimpses into what goes on behind the scenes.
I try lol
Im working on it! LOL