I'm back ... 6 years (ish) later! Refocusing my niche + content creation on what I'm passionate about...

Hello! I completely forgot that I was a "blogger" until almost 6 years later  today, 20th July 2020.

When I first started my blog and YouTube channel I was in my last couple of years at high school (senior year, or year 12 if you're here in Australia). From then on, for the next couple of years I began to be immersed in the phenomenon that was known as the YouTube beauty community.

If you watch my old cringey videos from 2014 - 2016 you'll see that I used to HAUL and HAUL until there pretty much was no tomorrow!

From mid 2016 I think, I fell off YouTube and disappeared. That pretty much coincided with when I started my first year university exams and I realised that I might actually have to study...

Now, almost 6 years later I'm back with almost $40k worth of student debt, a fulltime job that boasts 60-70 hours weeks in the peak busy seasons (and that's not even including study luv), but still the same unwavering passion when it comes to beauty but reinvigorated with my new values and focus, and that is smart consumerism! 

To sum it up, when I first started my YouTube channel I was beginning to be at the peak of what was known as Beauty YouTube, back in those days I followed Lauren Curtis, Chloe Morello, Shaaanxo (inspiration for 'xosharonnoelle' btdubs), JLovesMac1, Michelle Phan, Ingrid Nilsen, Weylie and the list goes on and on and on! With the development then of what is now commonly known as parasocial relationships, on top of that I began to be addicted to shopping makeup, and that was partly fueled by the excitement of having a channel and wanting to film videos.

Anyway - cut to reality during 2016, real life clicked in and I soon had no time (and by no time, I mean no money) as I started my university degree and started working up to 4 days a week in my industry job (accounting) while studying. I also applied for an exchange program the following year, meaning I had to forgo spending on makeup in order to save, and that coincided when I fell off with YouTube.

Okay so I was meant to sum it up, and it got long winded, but essentially, in the past few years, while I have made a few videos here and there, I wasn't back properly until March 2020 (hello quarantine). I've realised that I was never a typical 'beauty influencer', and that even when I did start my channel, I was always concerned with finding the best deals and dupes! 

I guess my message to you, whoever is reading now (my lovely followers, from OG or if you're new), that I'm back on Youtube and to beauty blogging, but I'm back with a sense of a shift in focus.

I know all too well how easy it is to get sucked into the advertising, to jump on trends just because your fave YouTuber says so and I just want to be part of that tiny bit of fresh air that isn't all that! 

The reality is most of us, myself included, have regular day jobs, or may be studying, and we can't afford to spend the ludicrous amount at times, on the latest releases or collections when it comes to beauty. As I'm getting older (hello 23), I'm saving to invest, saving for a house, saving for travel, and while I still LOVE makeup, I have so so much of it still from those early years being sucked into the community. 

To end, I want to still share my passion, but also help and cater to those who are in the same boat - to be savvy when it comes to beauty, and hopefully one day if we all reach our financial freedom (FIRE), goals so on and so forth, we can all indulge once we get that larger disposable income.

Until then - I'm here!

xo,

Sharon Noelle