#1 - Introduction to my Substack
It has been AGES since I've written something. Welcome...
After countless attempts of starting up a YouTube channel, creating video content for beauty brands, and even trying to make it big on TikTok, I have finally found a platform that (I hope) makes sense for me.
This time 5 years ago I launched a blog titled ‘xdesfan.com’ where I developed my own little corner of the internet exploring beauty and fashion. I posted mini photoshoots of me modelling my handmade sewing creations, I spoke about my newest beauty finds and makeup looks I loved, and really just did whatever I felt like! I was 19, stuck studying a law degree, and my little baby blog became my escapism.
During all of this, I remember thinking to myself “why the heck aren’t I getting any readers?!”. I started to wish I was in the early 2010s, where it was super cool to have your own blog and everyone was excited to post on the internet, authentically. Looking at iconic careers such as Victoria Magrath’s success with her Inthefrow blog, to Chriselle Lim, Aimee Song and Chiara Ferragni, I was feeling defeated that I was “in the wrong era”.
I developed a love for something that felt extremely outdated.
SO, I ditched my mini photoshoots and articles, and began to create short form content on social media. It was the start of the 2020s, and all anyone had the attention for were 10 second quick snappy content. It was so difficult for me to go from freely writing paragraphs, to making 20 second videos cramming and compressing every step of a full face of makeup. It felt so hard to have my own voice within the never ending chain of reels, flooded with micro trends that lasted 2 seconds.
Despite my seemingly negative takes on social media and short form content (it can be AMAZING, and there are so so many talented creators), I’m glad I forced myself to adapt. With the help of my loving partner (he taught me everything I know in content creation) I learned how to record and edit videos so well to the point I do it as a full time job now! If I hadn’t tried to adapt, and I stayed on xdesfan.com forever, who knows where I would be now.
However, the girl who loved to write freely about beauty and fashion is still alive and well (seems a bit cringe to say but you know what I mean). Since being obsessed with the Girls Life magazines at 8 years old, my love for articles never died out.
I hope to reignite my writing hobby and use this space as a literal canvas board for me to talk about any and everything beauty related. As cliche as it sounds, I want it to be my own virtual diary about my natural hair journey, makeup styles I love, new products etc. There also may be completely random yet in depth articles about the beauty industry too, just so you know.
Although xdesfan.com is gone now, you can find the archive of all my past posts and creations at xdesola.com in the ‘blog’ tab.
Thank you for reading, I hope you like it here!
x Desola