Thankful for Blogger friends TAG

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the New Year celebrations and since this is the first post in 2014 - the start of a new year in so many ways, it felt as if it's just the perfect time to do the Thankful for Blogger friends TAG that I was nominated for. The first part of it tells you a little bit about my approach to blogging and some thoughts about blogging in general, and the second part gives you a few more facts about myself and I hope you enjoy it!

 Blogging and I:

1. How long have you been blogging? Almost 6 months, my first post went up in July 2013 - it's been an absolutely amazing time and I've got to know some wonderful positive and encouraging people along the way.

2. Are there any bloggers who helped you out/encouraged you when you first started your blog? Well, it depends on what you mean. I have a very positive experience of the blogger community, I've always received a lot of support and encouraging feedback from others and I try to do the same for others, but I also do believe that progress is in proportion to the effort you invest in your blog.

3. What Social Media has given you the most traffic to your blog? Is there a platform that you don’t use? Since not all social media give you a statistical overview of traffic, it's really difficult to say which platform is the most efficient one, but at the moment I promote my blog on Google+, Facebook and Twitter. I'm not currently on Instagram since it's not compatible with my Blackberry, but I'm very excited to be upgrading my phone in April and to start using Instagram, which I think will be great fun, especially since my friends call me the Happy Snapper - so after April you can expect to see a lot more from me.

  4. How often do you post? Do you have a regular schedule? I post every day, unless I'm away on holiday or doing something that forces me to do it less frequently for a short while.

5. Where do you blog? From my home office.

6. What camera do you use? What photo editing software do you use? I have a Panasonic Lumix FZ 28 that comes with me everywhere I go, but I don't use any photo editing software and it's definitely an area that I'd like to explore a bit more to create interesting effects with photos.

7. How did you come up with your blog name? As soon as I decided that I was going to try blogging I actually came up with the name more or less right away. I knew I wanted to use something with candle in the title since I love my candles, and after trying on a couple of names for size I settled very quickly on Makeup by Candlelight. 

8. Do you do any regular “series” posts on your blog? Yes, I have some posts that I do regularly throughout the month, and this year I'll also be introducing some new concepts which I'm very excited about.

 9. What draws you to a blog? For me it's very important that a blog expresses a well formed, balanced and genuine personal point of view, e.g. I don't mind reading a negative review of a product as long as it's clear why the product disappointed. I also really appreciate blogs where you feel that a lot of thought has gone into it and which uses quality photos taken by the blogger.

10. What turns you off of a blog? We all have different styles, which is also all part of the charms with blogs and I while I really do appreciate and know that blogging takes a lot of time, the only thing I don't like is when there's a lack of content, or the post is just one or two sentences - there are other social media that you can use for that. For me it doesn't matter how often there are new posts on a blog, as long as they have content that actually says something. I guess it's all about the quality, not the quantity.

11. How many blogs do you subscribe to? Are they all beauty related? I read several different kinds of blogs (food, lifestyle, fashion, beauty, travel), because it's like having the world at your fingertips and you can experience things through others almost as if you were there too - well, almost... But I also think it's important as a blogger to keep your finger on the pulse of what goes on in Blogiverse in general and I want to continue to learn as much as I can from the amazingly talented bloggers out there so I can keep developing my own style.

 12. When do you generally read blogs? In the morning before work, and also in the evening after work to catch up with the blogging day

 13. What is your favorite/least favourite type of post, and why? I don't really have a favourite or least favourite type of post and I'm curious to read about anything from mascaras, to recipes a book review or pets. For me it's again all about the content and that there's a clear point of view behind it.

Some facts about me:

1. Where do you live? Tell us a bit about your city! I'm based in Winchester in the south of England about 1 hr from London. It's a beautiful quaint university city that has a gorgeous cathedral and lots of interesting historical things to see - Winchester was even the capital of old Saxon England in the 7th century. 

2. What about your home? I'm the first to admit that my personal style can be a bit OTT, but our home is completely the opposite - it's minimalist and very inspired by my Scandinavian roots so it has big windows to let in lots of light, white walls, wooden floors and is very paired down. 

3. Single or taken? Very happily married and celebrating 5 years anniversary in August.

4. Do you have children? No, just my fluffy 4 legged feline baby

5. Do you have pets? Well, we have a temperamental and proud tortoise shell cat, but the way she sees it - SHE has us, not the other way around... after all, Him Indoors and I are just ground staff...

6. Do you have a “day job”? Yes, very much so.

7. How tall are you? I'm an Amazonian 5.4 (a bit over 160 cms)

8. Do you have siblings? Unfortunately not, although I have always wanted an older brother - perhaps I can find one on eBay...

9. 3 words to describe yourself. Organised, Inquisitive, Animal lover

10. Who is your style icon, and why? This probably sounds really boring but I don't actually have a style icon and I take my inspiration from lots of different and unexpected places and people, but there are certain fashion houses and designers that I naturally gravitate towards and find very inspirational e.g. Gucci or Dolce & Gabbana - and from that you can probably tell that I'm not afraid of standing out when it comes to clothes!

11. 3 favorite bands or musicians. Adele, Emily Sande, Mindy Gledhill

12. 3 favorite movies. I love to watch films and have many favourites that I'll watch over and over again so this is a very difficult question for me, and also since I have a serious as well as a childish side I have to list 3 films for each I think; Shawshank Redemption, The Usual Suspects and Edward Scissorhands (who doesn't like a bit of Tim Burton's slightly skewed view of reality). And then we have the childish, bouncy side of me that loves films like How to Train Your Dragon (Toothless reminds me of my cat!), Ice Age and Madagascar and when we go to the cinema I seem to always laugh even louder than the kids.... hrmm... 

 

 13. 3 favorite books. The Pickwick Papers, 1984 and The Brothers Karamazov

14. 3 random/weird facts about you.

- I have named every car I have ever owned and so far I've been the proud owner of Frog, Sheep, Fox, Shark and Squirrel... I'm sure it's not just me doing this...
- I'm a complete addict to news and absolutely have to have SKY or another news channel on in the background all through the day so that I'm in touch with what goes on in the world. I think it's a side effect of working from home full time.

- I don't eat any type of meat or poultry - if you insist on putting a label on my way of eating it would be pescetarian, and no I didn't just make that word up...

It was really fun to do this TAG since it made me really think about what I appreciate and want from a blog. As usual, anyone is welcome to join in, but I also TAG the following:

Zara from Bows and Pearls

Ruby from Total Modisch

Rochelle & Natasha from Next Route Style

Christie from It's Christie Friday

Bess from bess // fashion, beauty, lifestyle

I'm back as usual again already tomorrow with a new post and I hope we all have a great 2014! Xx