MY RESPONSE TO A SHITTY BLOGGING TWEET

A few months ago I saw a tweet by a blogger that I follow that really wound me up. I’ve been wanting to write a response to it for ages, but I didn’t know if it would be too obvious, and I certainly didn’t want to @ her publicly. But it was a really shitty tweet, and one that I’ve not been able to completely forget. So, I wanted to respond and give my 2 cents on the matter (or my 10 quid, because I’m having a vent after about 6 months of being pissed off with it).

The tweeter in question is a really lovely girl who lives in the North of England and she writes really great beauty and lifestyle content. I’ve been following her on Insta and Twitter for a good few years now, and while I wouldn’t say we were ‘blogger friends’, but I'm sure that we know of each other and I often comment and like her posts on her various social platforms. I love catching up on her blog, so even though I'm writing this post, it's not an attack. It's just an example of something I see in the blogging community a LOT, and I wanted to give my honest response... 

You know when someone starts off with "no shade..", then shade is about to occur.

Other than the tweet itself, what shocked me is the number of comments and likes it got. It would seem that a lot of the blogging community from outside of the capital have [dare I say] false expectations of what living in London really means. 

Don’t get me wrong, before I moved to London, I lived in a small town in Devon. There was nothing around apart from charity shops, pubs, and the world’s tiniest Boots shop. If I wanted to do a ‘haul’ blog post, or just have some makeup or skincare to write about, I’d have to travel into Exeter. It was 25 miles from where I lived, but it had a decent high street and better shops, but it was obviously a ball ache to get to. And even then, it’s not filled with picturesque cafes or instagrammable spots.

Having said that, it was so cheap to live where I was living. I had about £250 a week, after bills and what-have-you, to spend on whatever I wanted. I could buy any shoes, makeup, skincare. I booked spa treatments, my roots were always freshly done, I could go out for drinks with my friends whenever I liked.

But I couldn’t wait to move to London. I thought it would catapult my blog into far more people’s view, and I’d start getting recognised in the street and I’d be attending all the blogger events and blogger brunches. I thought I’d be swanking it up in restaurants, dressing in better clothes, and taking a million blog-photos a day. That’s not what living in London is like. 

And that’s not me trying to dissuade anyone who wants to move here from realising their dream and moving here, but it winds me up to think that those of us bloggers who are lucky enough to live in London are automatically granted a head-start with blogging. Here’s how it really is:

For those of us who live in the capital city, nine times out of ten, we are skint. Rent here is ridiculous. Lots of us are house-sharing because it’s the cheaper option, meaning it can be awkward to film videos with housemates around. Some of us can afford our own place, but they’re not the penthouses you see on some of the famous insta-accounts; they’re little studio flats or tiny one-bedders that could do with a little bit of work. It’s hardly what you’d expect to see as the backdrop for a beauty review or a lookbook blog post.

Then there’s the cost of living. Whenever I go home to visit my family, I’m  s h o c k e d  by how cheap a pint in the pub is, that a taxi costs so little, or that I can get a pasty, crisps and a drink for under a fiver. In London, my favourite glass of wine at my local (which is also the cheapest) is more than £6. A coffee can be four or five pounds. Wondering why my roots are a mile-long at the moment? Because I got quoted £275 for a bleach and a toner, and ya gal can’t afford that.

I can't stress this enough: I HAVE BEEN INVITED TO SO MANY BLOGGER EVENTS, and I've been so disappointed that I haven't been able to make it to a single one, whether it be because of work commitments, or lack of money to travel there, because some weeks I can't even afford to top up my Oyster Card to get the bus to Lidl for the food shop. I moved to London with money, but it is so hard to hang onto it when the cost of literally just surviving here is so high.

On top of that, can you imagine how competitive it is? Bloggers in London strive to create unique content for their readers, and it’s always challenging to come up with fresh ideas. But I wrote a blog post about my visit to Peggy Porschen last week. Can you imagine how many other  h u n d r e d s  of bloggers have written up a practically identical review? I get bored of seeing a million instagram outfit pictures taken on Oxford Street, don’t you? 

My point is that yes, there are more opportunities in London, and I love this city more than anywhere else in the world. But you can still create amazing content in your hometown and have an incredible blog. London-living it isn’t all waltzing around with a Gucci bag sipping PSLs and booking photoshoots. It’s working hard to afford your rent, whether that’s in the blogging-field or not (mine ISN’T; I’ve been in London for two years and I’m still working in a pub to finance myself), and it’s establishing yourself as a blogger in one of the most competitive industries in one of the most competitive cities in the country. 

So please don’t look at me and think that I’ve got it easier than someone who doesn’t live in London. Some of my all-time favourite bloggers are rural southerners, girls from Brum and all the way up in Scotland. I guess it all comes down to not comparing yourselves to others, and being grateful for what you do have. The grass isn’t always greener, after all!

Lots of love,

Jasmine x

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