9 Easy Ways To Support Your Favourite Bloggers

*Throws good cheer all around*

Okay, we all know that it's nice to be nice and supporting others really does make a difference. So I'll save you the whole preach.

You really can make a huge difference to a friend with a blog though, or someone you admire; through some really simple acts of kindness. I thought I'd share some ideas of the ways in which you can do this today, and I hope you guys enjoy!

You could also call this a list of '9 quick ways to be BFF's with your fave blogger' - because I'm sure they'll love you after this, haha.


1. Comment/interact.
Interaction is key to us as bloggers, we need to see that there's a point to us spending hours thinking up ideas, writing, planning and editing. So leave a comment, send them an email, tweet about how much you loved a recent post - whatever you'd prefer. But letting them know you're there, reading their words, can really make someone smile and feel valued.

North West Blogger Meet Up

You may have seen all the excitement last week on social media about the #NWMeet event in Liverpool, and I was lucky enough to attend. The lovely Katy was kind enough to arrange the bestest day ever for a bunch of us, and I had so much fun seeing old bloggy friends and making new ones.

The event itself was held at Ameriesko in  the center of Liverpool, downstairs in the venue. I met up with a bunch of lovelies beforehand to go together, and we were a loud bundle of excitement and laughter. I was even reunited with my one and only JIV haha.

Five Favourite Lifestyle Blogs

Not to be dramatic, but this was probably one of the hardest posts I've wrote in a long time! Yes, really! I found it so, so hard to choose five lifestyle blogs I consider the best of the best. Lifestyle is my favourite category in blogging, and I have many blogs bookmarked that I visit frequently. I narrowed the list down to 9, and I knew I had a problem. I decided to take out anyone I didn't consider 'as lifestyle-y' as the others, or anyone who I knew could go in another list in future. For example, there were two blogs I took off the final five, because even though I ADORE them; I'm going to put them a list of '5 blogs that inspire me' sometime.
So I finally got it down to five. These are five lifestyle blogs I love to indulge in when I really need a great read; a blog to get me thinking, to make me see something in a new way, or make me laugh out loud.
I hope you enjoy!

January Advertisers

The first month of the year has come and gone so quickly, I barely had time to adjust. I'm still writing '2015'  and I probably will until around March if I'm honest. 
This month has been an amazing one for advertisers - with my sidebar being packed with fierce, fun females who have been inspiring me with a huge range of posts!
I thought today I'd let them introduce themselves a little, and it'd be fun for you guys to get to know them. So please say hello and give a visit to my lovely January advertisers!

Five Favourite Beauty Blogs

*Warning. These bitches will make you buy shit...


Hi guys! I hope you've all had a great week so far.
After the success of my recent blog post; 5 Favourite Creative Blogs - I thought I'd keep sharing my faves with you guys, and do a little series. I'll also be featuring my favourite lifestyle blogs, that blogs that always give me a giggle, and more. So keep your eyes peeled for those. In the meantime, today I thought I could share my favourite beauty blogs - each just as wonderful as the other. I have so many other favourites old and new, but these are the five go-to blogs for me when I want some great beauty recommendations. It's worth noting, none of them ONLY blog about beauty - but they are certainly the people who make me want to read about their beauty products most. I hope you enjoy!

5 Amazing Creative Blogs

I feel like I have quite a varied audience (hello YOU!) for my blog. There are those of you who love general life update/chatty posts, those of you who are beauty bloggers and appreciate seeing my new fave purchases, those who like that I sometimes even blog drunk (why??!) and those who like when I share my latest creative experiments.
I myself like writing a little of everything, and the blogs I read vary hugely in their categories. But admittedly, my bookmarks are mostly full of creative blogs that inspire me. Whether professional looking, or quickly thrown together on Tumblr; I love any kind of blogger who shares their artwork, creative writing, textile prints, fun diy posts or illustrations. I love people sharing ideas, and talking about what went wrong/right with a project. Those are my favourite kinds of blogs, they motivate me and keep me going. Today I thought I'd share five of them with you, that I've admired for a while.
Prepare yourself for total inspiration!...

1. Elise Joy.

Elise is someone whose blog I come back to time and time again. Hers was one of the first blogs I ever read properly, and I've followed her for years. She's basically a creative powerhouse with her own blog, podcast, shop and workbook. Her blog is one of the most inspiring and motivational bookmarks I have on my browser. I recommend visiting her archive and browsing all her fantastic diy posts.

Want Some New Blogs To Read?

Whether you're needing something to read while you stay in and celebrate the new year at home, or you'd love to start 2016 with a fresh new load of blogs to love - I have just the post for you!

This month I thought I'd give my advertisers the chance to tell you all about themselves, and why you should be following their blogs immediately! So without further delay...

Love From Be - I'm Be. I'm a fan of all things girly. I love to create things and to make everything look pretty. I also love to travel and share everything I live and learn on my blog. If you like pink, travelling, lifestyle posts, crafts or baking, I'm sure we will be great friends!


Wishes, Hopes & Dreams - I'm Fiona and I blog over at Wishes, Hopes and Dreams. I love tea, biscuits and anything with a Liberty London print to it and have also recently become obsessed with Urban Decay palettes. I love the #girlgang and all it stands for - especially helping other bloggers and being able to ask for help in return. I blog about anything and everything but only if I absolutely love it. This blogger is happiest with a large cup of tea, a good book and a cosy blanket.

Sazbomb -
SazBomb is a beauty, fashion and lifestyle blog. I'm hoping to start a whole new series featuring moving out, and baking etc in the new year so keep an eye out for that!

Katie Meehan -
'I'm a business student with a passion for photography, I started my blog as a place to write about the photos I've taken as my Instagram account grew. I've been blogging for just over a year now and it's something I love so much! I love all things makeup & beauty, as well as finding the best spots to eat and drink.'

Two Different Worlds -
Hi I’m Anjalee (aka Angi), the heart and soul behind lifestyle blog Two Different Worlds. I'm a shorter-than-average Northern girl who recently upped sticks and moved to the South.I spend 90% of my time daydreaming and often feel like I live in two different worlds (hence the blog name). My blog is a space for all things cute, creative and beauty-related and I love to chat about all of my passions. The things that make me the happiest are quirky homeware, pretty stationery, animated films, fairy tales, illustration, photography and matte lipsticks. My special talents include watching whole tv series in a week and consuming my body weight in Bitsa Wispa. If you like bright pastel photography, and down-to-earth nattering then hop on over to http://www.twodifferentworlds.com :)

Illustrated Teacup -
Illustrated Teacup is the blog of me; Rachel, a crazy cat lady and mumma-to-be (little eek, ok it was a big eek!) with a penchant for tea. Illustrated Teacup follows the life, adventures and antics of my husband Dann and I, alongside two MASSIVE fur babies, Dante and Archimedes. If you like food, beauty, a lil fashion, events and well just about everything else in between, including many cat photos, then you really can't go wrong!!

Queen Beady -
Hello, I'm Bee from http://QueenBeady.com - my passions in life are fashion & travel. Plus food. How could I forget? I blog from a little village in Yorkshire & I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm obsessed with pizza, Amsterdam and YouTube videos of animals. So if you like them, then we will get along just fine.

Things Sarah Loves -
Hey I'm Sarah from Scotland! As my blog name suggests, I blog about everything that I love: tea, beauty, books, lifestyle, travel and tea again (I'm a huge tea lover). I also write about my transplant story and the importance of organ donation which is really close to my heart. I love chatting to new bloggers (I run #ltbloggers on Twitter) so get in touch if you fancy a chat (preferably with cups of tea, haha).







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Blogging Babes Of November

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm quite an indulgent person, whether good or bad; in a lot of ways. I can never resist chocolate, I have to binge watch shows on Netflix when I discover new ones, and I become obsessed with things that might simply be a hobby for someone else (blogging, for example). I indulge in every aspect of my life, and I like getting lost in something I love.
Which I think is the reason why I love doing my Blog Advertisers posts for the month. These are people whose blogs I've stalked and promoted all month, and always found something about them I love for myself. Whether it's a fantastic personality that radiates across a computer screen, or a blog that inspires me to do something different; I love reading blogs, and being able to tell you all about the ones I've been lucky enough to have in my sidebar for the month. So I hope you guys are just as excited for today's, and give these guys some love!

Getting To Know Other Bloggers

Some days I like to enjoy total blogging indulgence. By that I mean I catch up with the latest posts in my Bloglovin feed, I check out what all my favourite are up to, and I scour the land for new blogs to add to my already huge list. There's nothing quite like visiting a new blog, and falling a little bit in love with it the first time you're there. Whether it's someone who writes with a passion that inspires you, someone who is chatty and friendly like a friend, or someone who is a huge source of beauty/fashion envy (you know, those bloggers that may you *sigh* because they're so perf?); either way it's lovely when we find them.

Blogger Beauty Box

This week I had the immense pleasure of receiving my very first beauty box, and seeing what this subscription malarky is all about. The best part? This one; The Blogger Beauty Box is for bloggers (obviously) and all brought to you from a blogger. How awesome is that?
The lovely Vicky put this whole business together, and I love nothing more than seeing a fellow blogger do well. This month's box was a fabulous one for me to be introducing the subscription.

I Won Two Awards & Cried Like A Baby.

October 3rd shall now be remembered as the day people kept making me cry, but in the best possible way. I'm sure 98% of people who read this blog will have already seen all the shenanigans on Twitter/Instagram/Periscope from the Bloggers Blog Awards, but I needed to do a full post to really express how magical this day was for me personally. Also, I'm sorry but I only have crappy phone pics! I don't regret this though, carrying my 'proper camera' would have been annoying.

Zoeva Brushes & A Big Thank You

Recently I was amazed to win a giveaway from the lovely Claire over at Fine and Dandy (you all know Claire, right?). I was absolutely shocked as I never expected to win, as you can imagine. However, destiny wasn't on our side. You see, Claire had the brushes ready and waiting at home while her giveaway was on, and when it came to packaging them up... she couldn't find them. After searching for literally days, the poor girl got in touch with me crying and so upset. She thought that her or her boyfriend had probably accidentally thrown the box away, and she had been going crazy looking for it. When she spoke to me it was obvious how upset she was, and on top of all that she was worried about looking 'dodgy' (her words!) as if she hadn't had them all along.
I was absolutely fine, obviously! I hadn't lost anything at all, it was poor Claire who was down lots of money, and nothing to show for it. I could completely understand why she was upset but I didn't want it to be that she felt any responsibility to me. I felt so bad on her!
After insisting to her that it was silly to even apologise (literally how absurd is that?), you can imagine my surprise when I came home a few days later to see a pretty package waiting for me!

I almost cried because I was so upset at the thought of Claire spending even more money, and got in touch with her immediately to try send them back to her. She wouldn't hear of it though and I couldn't believe the extent of her kindness. She had felt so awful that she had gone and ordered another set for me. This is both amazing and heartbreaking!
So here's my promise; I'm gonna love these brushes like they are my babies Claire! They are absolutely magnificent both to use and to look at, I can feel the quality with every use. I have already sent Claire a thank you letter which hopefully she will have received by now, and I plan on showing my thanks continually in as man ways as I can think of.
So let's start right now! Please, everyone and anyone reading this; go visit Claire's blog, follow her, tweet her telling her how awesome she is, and generally aim to make her smile. She is one of the loveliest people I've known because of blogging and one of my best blogging friends.


THANK YOU!



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Blogger Evening With Kitti

Drinks. Food. Bloggers. Laughter. Basically the perfect evening.
This happened a few weeks ago when the lovely guys over at Talented Talkers were looking for a group of Bloggers to arrange a group meet up, using the Kitti App. I jumped at the chance to catch up with some of my North West gals, and we took on the challenge!

Myself, Laura, Holly, Sarah, Katy, and Emma all decided to go out for a meal and drinks at The Smugglers Cove in Liverpool, on a beautiful sunny evening. We arranged everything beforehand using the Kitti app and it made everything SO easy.
Let me break it down for ya; Basically you download the app, invite the people you want added to your group from your phone's contact list, and then you can each add money to the 'kitti' by just making a deposit using your bank details. This is powered by Santander and absolutely secure, not to mention easy peasy. This way you get to save up for a group activity and see how much you've all added in, as well as watching your funds grow. Perfect for nights out, events, holidays, group gifts or anything really! Each time you want to deposit money, it only costs around 30p which is nothing really, and I found this way of saving so much more effective than keeping it on my own bank where I'm tempted to spend it!
You also get a card sent out once you sign up to the app, and once you've all collected the amount you want; you can transfer the funds to the card, and use it like any normal bank card! It's THAT easy. I already know Gary and I will be using the Kitti app to save for our trip to Disney Paris!
As well as experiencing an awesome new app, we got to have the best night together and really catch up. It was also my first time meeting Sarah, which was so lovely! I feel like I've found a great group of new friends and I can't wait to hang out with them again :) Even if they do tell me I'm a drunk!... Pshh. Just because they can't handle how awesome I am ;)
Here are some extra photos.. because everyone loves to nose at blog meet up snaps.

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Pretty Ladies, Pretty Blogs

I'm really trying not to be that girl who is like 'JULY?? July already?!', but man it's hard. We're officially closer to Christmas than the start of this year now. Scary stuff. Anyway, I have a few things that'll get you through this fine old month. AMAZING ADVERTISERS. No really, this bunch is absolutely awesome. When I seen how this month had lined up, I was thrilled to see that these perfect blogs wanted to advertise with me. It was rather flattering, as they're all beautifully made and interesting in different ways!
Anyway, let me get started :)

Give a huuuge welcome back to Ali! 
This little babe has graced my sidebar before and I'm so happy to have her back. Her blog is always so positive, interesting and insightful. She writes about her life, goals, important issues, fashion, trips and everything fun! Plus she's always such a sweetheart, definitely add her on Twitter too!

Give a lovely little welcome and hello to the gorgeous Bee! This lady has been an amazing part of my Twitter and Bloglovin feed for months now, and it's so sweet to see her on my sidebar. Also, quick side note, have you seen how awesome her button is?! Anyway. Bee's blog is a plethora of prettiness! She puts her heart and soul into every post, whether it be a fashion OOTD, recent trips or life updates, wishlists or new purchases; and you really get a peek into her life and personality with each post.

Holly is another Liverpool blogger, and someone who I can now gratefully consider a close friend! We met through blog meet ups and she is honestly one of the sweetest, loveliest girls around, EVER! Her blog is inspiring, full of positivity and joy! She writes about books, her life, trips and events, beauty and much, much more. Also, this girl is the biggest Lush nerd I've ever met. Seriously, it's amazing; she is definitely my new fave person to shop at Lush with! Anyway, please follow her!

Imii is a beauty, lifestyle and travel blogger who shares snippets of her lovely life on her blog with us. She has the most beautiful photographs you could wish for, and whenever I visit I get pure blog envy! Her passion and excitement burst through every post and you can't help falling a little bit in love with her blog with each visit. Take a peep and see if you agree!

Clo Clo London is a fabulous jewellery website which provide a beautiful collection of pieces suited to everyone. They offer high quality jewellery in their online boutique with current trends in mind. Whether your style is subtle and pretty, loud and colourful, or something vintage is more your thing; you can find a piece perfect for you. Give them a visit and find something new today!

Say hey to Becca! This little beauty is one of my favourite people. I've followed her and her blog for a long time and it always makes me smile when I see new posts in my feed. Whether she's writing about beauty products, creating lifestyle posts, sharing her travel posts or featuring new fashions she loves; she always manages to let her personality shine through and add fun to every post. Also someone I'd definitely recommend following on Twitter too!

Georgie is found over on Bean's Beauty Blog, but don't let the name fool you; this gal writes about a whole host of topics for you to devour! Georgie's blog recently had a huge layout redo, and it looks absolutely amazing! Packed full of beauty, lifestyle, fashion and travel posts for you guys to rummage through, you won't find yourself without something to love. 

I can't remember exactly how I discovered Pixie Bebe, but I have a feeling it's through another blogger who recommended I take a peep at her, and I fell in love! One of my new favourite people to follow on Twitter and stalk her blog; I don't know how I didn't know of her before. Her blog is an adorable little space dedicated to craft and lifestyle, with anything else thrown in that she adores! I know she's also a big fan of anything kawaii, which made me very happy! To top everything off, she's super sweet. Go give her a follow immediately; I guarantee you won't regret it.

I'd love for you guys to visit my lovely sponsors this month, and also let me know who else I should be following? Link me below!
Have a great week!


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Zoella Beauty 'Tutti Fruiti'

There are plenty of mixed feelings surrounding bloggers/vloggers and their merchandise; the new things they're trying to flog us each week. I for one, like some and support fully, and there's others I just can't be bothered with really. When it comes to Zoe Sugg's new Tutti Fruiti beauty range 'Zoella Beauty', I hadn't quite made my mind up to be honest. When I seen the new products displayed in my local Superdrug, I couldn't help but have a nosey.
I decided to pick up a few items from the range, to give my honest review and thoughts...

'Let's Spritz!' Fragranced Body Mist.
The Good: The packaging! I do think all the packaging is pretty in this range, but this is probably the one that appeals to me most. It's so girly and definitely perks up my dressing table. I also like that it's only £8 and would do for popping in your handbag for day to day use as a change to special perfumes. The Bad: Okay.. here's the thing. This whole range is meant to be 'Tutti Fruiti' right? I expected a lot more of a sweet/zingy smell; which I'm actually a fan of. But I just didn't get that with this body mist. The smell is pleasant enough, and I will use it. But it's not something I love, and I don't think I'd bother buying it again. I know it's cheap but there are other scents out there even in this price range which are beautiful. Overall Rating: Mehh - 2/5. I'll Instagram the hell out of this, and use it for days when I don't wana waste my perfume. But overall, not the greatest.

'Foam Sweet Foam' Cleansing Shower Gel.
The Good: Only £3.50 - Very good price indeed, and a nice size. The scent? Success! I definitely detected a sweeter tone with this product, and was happy to see only a small amount was needed for a good lathering. It left me soft and smooth as a baby! The Bad: Actually.. nothing! Overall Rating: Pretty darn good actually - 4.5/5. I will happily buy this product again.

'Scrubbing Me Softly' Smoothing Body Scrub.
The Good: The scent is lovely and sweet, not overpowering at all. I managed to really buff my legs (problem area with dry skin!) with great ease using only a small amount of this, and it left me with that super silky soft feeling afterwards. Lovely. The Bad: This is a very gentle product, which is great obviously. However I wouldn't have even minded it being a little more exfoliating, a little tougher. But maybe that's just me! Her target audience is a lot younger than me though, so I can understand why this is a very gentle product. It's £7 though and though not a bad price, I can get something more suitable for me in the same price range. Overall Rating: Pretty nice - 3.5/5. I would buy again for most of my body, but I'd be aware that I might want something a little tougher to tackle my problem areas for exfoliation.

'Kissy Missy' Lip Balm.
The Good: It's an extremely cute and pretty product, I must say. I like the texture and I love that it's tainted. You can apply a thinner or thicker pout on depending on your preference, and how much of a colour POP you'd like. I'm a lover of bright pinks, so I was impressed with this. Not bad for £3. The Bad: I wish they'd made it smell as nice as the shower gel and body scrub! This doesn't smell unpleasant at all, but you know that run of the mill, cheap, lipstick sorta smell you get sometimes? Yeah it's a bit like that. That sounds harsher than it is, but it's the only way I can describe it. I don't mind it, but I think they could have done way better. Overall Rating: I still really like this, but it's not perfect - 4/5.

Final thoughts? I think the Zoella Beauty range is good for what it's for. It's supposed to be a lower priced range aimed at her younger audience, and I think a lot of them (or you, if you're younger!) will be very happy. I was left knowing I'd love to buy the shower gel and lip balm again, for sure. I'll consider the body scrub again too, it was really nice; but as I mentioned a lot of the time I consider stronger exfoliators, so we'll see. The disappointment was the body mist, and it's a shame because it's definitely the cutest - this is important to me, ha! - but not everything can be to everyone's tastes. It won't be something I buy again, and I'd recommend taking a sniff for yourself before buying.
Luna had a few sniffs for herself! The life of a blogger with a cat...

Let me know what you think. Have you tried, or would you try anything in this range?




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My Blogging Routine

Over the past year and a half I've developed into my own routine for blogging, which works perfectly for me and my life. Of course sometimes routine simply goes out of the window, due to busy schedules, events or just life in general; that's fine. But mostly, I stick to the same daily/weekly routine for all things to do with this blog, which I find so useful and keeps me organised. So today I thought I'd share that with you all, to give you a little insight into the Dorkface way of working.

Quick note; I work 2 (sometimes 3) days a week part time, and on those days as I'm sure you'd expect; my routine is very different. I spend the day in work, come home, enjoy chill out time with Gary and maybe go on Twitter for a little while. It's pretty much a chillout zone though.
So anyway, on to how I spend most of my days;


MORNINGS
I always wake up before 9am. I do try to get up by 7am most days, but sometimes I admit, It can be later. As much as I love sleep, I hate sleeping in because it makes me feel like I'm wasting the day and sends my whole routine out of whack. Coffee comes first, along with checking emails and notifications on social media. I'll be jotting down my daily to-do list, which puts everything in focus and helps me see what needs to get done.
I also manage social media for a number of clients, which means I always check their accounts in the mornings to see if they need to reply to anyone or address anything. Then I'll crack on planning out their social schedule for the next day or so.

AFTERNOON
By afternoon I'm well into writing out a blog post, keeping active on social media and trying to fit some chores in here somewhere. Sometimes I'll be taking photographs for a post, while I've got clothes in the washing machine, I'm snacking on some lunch and tidying around me as I go. I will stop for a little break around 1:30pm and give myself a proper dinner hour to chill out, watch Pretty Little Liars (no spoilers please!) and play with Luna. After that it's back to it though, crossing off as much on my to do list as possible. I try to take all my photographs between 11am-3pm as that's when I get some amazing light throughout the flat.
Around 3/4pm I'll take a break from all the typing and organisational side of things, by giving myself time to do something creative. Lately this has focused mostly on designs I've been doing for people, whether its a custom portrait or blog header, etc. I'll clear my desk, get the paints out and listen to a Spotify playlist as I go. This is one of my favourite parts of the day.

EVENING
Around 6pm every night Gary and I will have dinner together and watch one of our favourite shows, usually How I Met Your Mother, Bob's Burgers or Friends. I'll also try to make it to a Twitter chat if I know there's one on that I like. Mostly we spend an hour or two together though doing nothing, which is lovely.
From 8pm onward it's all about ticking off the remaining items on my to-do list. I like to have completed at least one post each day, scheduled all my social media tweets, posts, etc for myself and my clients, and done some design work for people too. This is the time when I update my spreadsheets too, to mark off what posts I've done, what needs doing and how my stats are looking. I got this idea from Hayley over at Tea Party Beauty, and it's helped me drastically improve my focus.

Yes I've blurred some upcoming post as I don't want to spoil the surprises haha!
As you can see I write down all my posts I plan to do for the next month or so, and I colour code where I am in completing each one. Green means I've fully completed it, wrote it, got my images and scheduled it. Yellow means I only have the photo, blue means I've wrote it but haven't gotten an image yet, and red means it's a no post day (even I need little breaks!). I also have a separate sheet I use for all my stats such as daily visits, Bloglovin followers, Twitter followers, Instagram followers, etc.
I realise that's a lot, and probably seems way too much work for a lot of you reading this. But I've said before how passionate I am about my blog and how I want to improve in every way possible, so I enjoy treating it like a job. My theory is if I treat it like my job, one day it will be my job. Or at least lead me into the right direction...
After that, it's around 11pm, so I'll have a shower, maybe read my book, and then go to bed if I'm in work the next day. If I'm not in work then you can guarantee I'll be awake until at least 2am doing all sorts still :)

I hope this gave you guys some insight into my days, and maybe even suggested something you could do for your own blog?  And before I go I would just like to say that YES Gary and I actually go out, do things, see friends etc, but I plan for these days ahead. This post was a representation of my typical day at home, but not every day :)
Thanks for reading!



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