I’m not going to be blogging about beauty products today. Instead, I’m going to blog about blogging about beauty.

Confused yet? Read on.

How many beauty blogs do you read each day? Go on, ‘fess up.

To date, I have about 45 beauty blogs on my Google Reader, which means if these blogs were to be updated daily, that would be the amount I would be reading every day. There are a LOT more beauty blogs out there, which I cycle through every month or so.

If you are new to blogging about beauty, here’s a little bit of info on what we do. We dish out beauty tips and advice based on our own experience. We write about new product launches whenever we can. We also do product reviews. The products we review are either our own, or given to us as samples for reviewing purposes.

Anyways, I digress. Let’s talk about product reviews, shall we?

How many of us are taken by the reviews of the products? How many of us actually buy these products, from the rave reviews we read?

Ultimately, have our spending habits increased compared to the time before we started reading beauty blogs and magazines?

I can safely say that I am a very good example here. I know I have. Before blogs became a norm, I delved into beauty mags like there was no tomorrow. When I was 11 years old, I begged my parents to get me the Teen and Teenage magazines everytime they were in Singapore for business trips (Mum would oblige. Dad thought they were rubbish). When CLEO was published in Malaysia, I was beside myself with excitement. I collected every issue for 4 years. The glossy pages simply fascinated me. When I was a student in the UK, the number of international magazines which I’ve always wanted to read were right there before my very eyes. Before long, I started collecting more and more magazines; I spent so much money on them, that I could have gone for a holiday to Europe with all that money.

I kid you not.

When beauty blogs started to become popular, it was sort of a boon, for I stopped spending so much on magazines. I still buy the odd couple a month, but I now get my fix online. And that was when I started spending money on beauty products.

I enjoy beauty blogs so much more than what I read in the magazines because these are written by the people whom I could relate to, who are very much like me. They’re not paid to write up on a particular brand they love (well, most of them aren’t). The passion and sincerity I read in their words gave me that encouragement to try out what they love.

There you go, money spent. Sigh, it’s difficult being a beauty blogger sometimes.

When I read about how good NARS was, I just had to get my hands on some, despite how frightfully expensive they are here. Someone blogged about a pair of slippers, and the next thing I knew was that I too had the exact pair. A recommended mascara, blusher, lipgloss, body lotion, etc, and I’d be raving to check it out on my next trip to the shopping mall. Out comes a few shopping bags of beauty products which I do not need, but desperately want. Sometimes, after reading a good review, and I’m all “I. Want. That.”, like a woman obsessed.

Have my spending habits increased ever since I started reading beauty blogs and blogging about beauty? Oh definitely. Undoubtedly. Frighteningly.

A friend of mine once asked me if I purchased more products so that I can do a review on my blog. I remembered telling her no, and that I was only reviewing what I already had at the time. Almost a year on, things have certainly changed. There were times when I bought something new just so I can blog about it. It obviously is not a good thing, it’s unhealthy and is something that I hope to change. Practise a little (okay, a LOT of) restraint when it comes to shopping.

I’m a beautyholic all right. Hi, it’s nice to meet you.

What about you? Am I the only one here? Have your spending habits also increased ever since you started reading beauty blogs, or blogging about beauty?

Geekchic tagged me on the contents of my bag. I’ve actually been wanting to do this for a while now, but never got around to it. Anyways, being a beautyholic who loves her makeup, you’d be surprised that I don’t carry a lot of stuff in my bag.

Purse – I got this cheap from Strandbags. I was previously using a very pretty floral Morgan purse, which I bought in Japan 4 years ago, but it was getting a bit worn now. I didn’t want that purse to fall apart, so I decided to use a cheaper one. Plus it’s pink!

Mobile phone – Samsung SGH U700. A gift from the hubby (he was using my Nokia N80, before he switched to an iPhone. Hmph). I wanted something smaller and much simpler, and this one’s pretty sleek.

iPod Touch (in a Belkin leather case, next to the phone. I forgot to include the earphones when I snapped this photo)

Sunnies – I only carry this if I’m wearing contact lenses that day

Coin purse – another pink :p

Dettol hand sanitiser

Nivea Whitening Milk – I’m currently using this as a hand cream. I have so many travel-sized body lotions that I’ve decided to use them as hand cream. At least they do not go to waste.

Sanitary napkin and pantyliner

Pack of tissues

Notebook and pen – courtesy of Tim’s pharmaceutical rep :p

Mints

House keys – the Coach keychain was a gift from a very dear from of mine in the US.

Gold makeup bag

Surprisingly, I don’t have much stuff in my makeup bag. I used to carry at least 2 tubes of lipsticks, which in the end, I felt I did not need, because the lip gloss sufficed.

Compact mirror – 100 yen from the 100yen store in Japan

The Body Shop blotting papers – this is a MUST.

Travel-sized hairbrush – got this free from one of the hotels in Japan

Softlips lip balm – my holy grail of lipbalms

CoverGirl WetSlicks Fruit Spritzers – love this lipgloss; has a very lovely sheen of reddish gloss without the stickiness

Loreal True Match Powder

Small vial of Ralph Lauren’s Lauren Style perfume

I used to carry a lot more stuff in my bag when I was in Malaysia, e.g. my big organiser, business card holder and a small bag of USB goodies (that’s a 512MB SD card, a 1GB miniSD card, a 1GB microSD card, 512MB and 2GB thumbdrives, and a SD card reader. Geek!). All these will go back in the bag when I get back onto the rat race 😉

These items are subjected to change at any time. These are my essentials, my must-haves in my bag. I always end up carrying a lot more stuff anyway.

Adding to my love of daisies, check out these new babies from The Body Shop.

It’s the limited edition Blushing Daisies, which you can use on your cheeks, your face for an all-round glow, your eyes and even your décolletage. Both have a shimmering blush and two illuminating shades in a lovely daisy design.

I’m not sure if this is out in Malaysia yet, but I saw it on the US and Australian Body Shop website (so far, it isn’t available in the UK yet. Weird eh, given that the Body Shop originated from the UK?). Now check out the prices of these for both countries. The Blushing Daisies is sold in the US website at USD19.50, but in the Australian website, it’s going at AUD34.95 (approximately USD32.59 at the time of writing). That’s about 61% markup in price. What gives?!

Anyways, I’m keeping this in view for now. I’ll check it out at the Body Shop store to see if it is really worth that money. As pretty as the blush look with the daisies, I think I’d rather spend that money on NARS or something more high-end than The Body Shop.