How many times have you had a mini-meltdown in Sephora while searching for new mascara? Or shopped for hours for that perfect first date outfit only to come home empty-handed? With so many choices being offered up by the beauty industrial complex it’s become impossible for a girl to choose.

And when it comes to seeking guidance, don’t bother looking to advertisers and women’s magazines. Advertisers could care less if the $30 lipstick you just bought rubs off after only five minutes and newsstand glossies are hardly the authority on "real women." But don’t despair—today there are places where a girl can go to get the honest dish on beauty and fashion, and have loads of fun doing it: Blogville. 

Since the blogosphere exploded a few years ago, a number of blogs devoted to fashion and beauty have sprung up online. Many of them were started by self-proclaimed makeup or fashion junkies who wanted to share their enthusiasm with the Internet community. Some beauty bloggers are completely unaffiliated with the beauty/fashion industry, while others are involved with it in some capacity. For instance, some makeup bloggers earn a living as makeup artists.

On their blogs, these women share everything from their excitement about a particular product to makeup tips to product deals that they’ve stumbled upon. Others share their own tried-and-true beauty secrets or document their shopping escapades. 

These divas serve up their beauty/fashion advice in a fun, witty style, while always shooting straight from the hip. But, most importantly, there’s no airbrushing involved—they’re all real women. “I like to inject my own personality into my blog,” says Lianne Farbes, who writes a popular blog called The Makeup Girl.

In addition to delving out priceless beauty and fashion advice, these blogs generate a sense of community among readers. Readers begin logging onto the blogs for beauty research. At first, they just want to know what the bloggers thought of the fall makeup trends or whether they had tried a particular beauty product. But before long, readers are eager to log on to find out if So-and-So enjoyed her weekend getaway or how So-and-So made out on the blind date she was dreading. 

When it comes to the makeup blog world, no one does a better job of fostering community than Elke von Freudenberg, who hosts the Beauty Blog Network, a network of handpicked beauty blogs. If anyone’s qualified to be the mayor of Beauty Blogville, it’s von Freudenberg. She’s a photography makeup artist whose clients include top magazines, advertisers and celebrities. She launched her own personal makeup blog about three years ago as a creative outlet. Initially, her blog had only about 200 hits a day, but it wasn’t long before word spread. Today her blog gets upwards of 3,000 hits per day.

Von Freudenberg started the BeautyBlogNetwork.com as a way for other beauty bloggers to mingle. For the bloggers, being a member of the Network is a great way to gain credibility, exposure and drive traffic to their sites. For readers who are newbies to beauty blogs, the Network’s Web site is a great place to start exploring the beauty blog world. By logging onto the Beauty Blog Network’s Web site, anyone can gain access to the members’ blogs.

Not all beauty/fashion blogs are written by individuals who are simply passionate about the topic, some blogs are tied to other endeavors. Indeed, it’s hard to find a media entity that doesn’t have a blog: everyone from CBS to the New York Times to CNN has a resident blogger or bloggers. For their part, several makeup companies have follwed suit by appointing their own resident bloggers. Many of these blogs are extremly useful and informative, especially if their tie-in entity is a small, boutique business, like Beth Bender’s Beauty Blog.

“At the end of the day, if a beauty or fashion oriented blog has made a woman smile—that is what truly matters,” says Dana Prigge, author of the popular Dailyfashionista blog. Whether someone’s blog originates with a person or a commercial entity, or a person who is part of a commercial entity, what’s most important is that after reading the site the woman feels informed and empowered.”

The bottom line, and the true beauty of the blog medium is that the only way a blogger can be successful and attract readers is to blog from the heart.

My Favorite Blogs:

Daily Fashionista
Elke von Freudenberg’s Makeup Blog
Liberty London Girl
Top Button’s Star Style Blog
Top Button’s Beauty Blog
The Makeup Girl
Faking Good Breeding
Beth Bender’s Beauty Blog
All About The Pretty
Blogdorf Goodman
California Style
The Fashionator

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