Phyrra Answers Questions for the Beauty Spotlight Team

The Beauty Spotlight Team wanted to do a little Q&A with its newest member, me! So here are the questions that they asked.

1. When you shop for makeup, skincare and perfume, do you do it with the blog in mind first and foremost– or with your own use in mind?
I shop with my blog in mind, for the most part. Sometimes if I know I’m in need of a specific type of product, I’ll shop with me in mind.

2. How has your relationship to beauty products changed since you began blogging?
I’m more educated about ingredients and animal testing. I’m also more aware of what I like and what I’m likely to dislike. I try to stick to products that I think I will like. I don’t want to waste my time on products I know I won’t like.

3. What is your greatest joy about blogging?
I love all the friends that I’ve made. It’s great to be able to connect with people who share my passions.

4. What is the best piece of advice that you would give an aspiring beauty blogger?
There is no one ‘right way’ to be a beauty blogger. Find your voice and follow it. Definitely take constructive feedback and constantly try to improve yourself and your skills. Try new things and if you don’t like them, try other techniques.

5. How do you find the motivation to keep making the effort to keep the blog going?
There are always new products to try, which makes me excited!

6. Is there a category of products you dislike blogging about?
I find skincare to be a pain for several reasons. While I love skincare products, because the skin is so individual what works for me may not work for you. So I may rave about how awesome a product is and how it works for me and it may do nothing for you. Also, spending 2 to 4 weeks testing skincare is really tedious, so I feel like it takes a lot of time and commitment for a single product.

7. What type of product is the most fun for you to test and review?
I really love to blog about eyeshadows. I love seeing all the brights, figuring out how to work with neutrals and coming up with new looks and tutorials. Eyeshadows make it all worthwhile.

8. How do you feel about foundations?
I wore the wrong foundation shade (too dark) for years because MAC matched me to the wrong shade (NW15 or NC15, depending on the MUA). There wasn’t actually a shade pale enough for me at MAC but they wouldn’t tell me that. So once I found that out, I started hunting for the perfect foundation shade, which led me to indie makeup and ultimately to starting my blog.

It used to be VERY hard to find the right pale foundation shade but since more brands have realized that paler people do exist, I’ve had better luck at finding shade matches. See some of  my favorite pale shades here.

9. What’s the last book you read?
The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison. I love to read, so my kindle fire is filled with books. Before that I re-read Bitten and Stolen by Kelley Armstrong. And before that, The Crimson Veil by Yasmine Galenorn. Right now I’m currently reading Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire.

10. What was your first real job?
My first real job after college was working at a video game development studio. I worked there for 7 years. I was the right hand to the CEO and head of the customer service department for 5 years before moving in to project management.

11. Are you a cat person or a dog person?
I always thought I was a cat person until I got Phaedra. Then I realized I am very much a dog person. Specifically I’m a standard poodle person, as Phaedra matches my personality perfectly.

12. What are you watching on tv?
Currently I’m watching Bitten, Being Human, The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf, Lost Girl, House of Lies, Supernatural and the Originals. I make use of Netflix to put things on at night when I’m writing. Basically if it’s got fangs, fae or fur, I’m probably interested in reading about it or watching it on tv.

13. Music?
I’ve got fairly eclectic taste in music. Most of the time I listen to one of two SiriusXM stations – Electric Area or BPM. However, the most recent cd I purchased (pre-order) was Raised by Bats by Voltaire, my favorite musician of all time.