Tuesday 3 January 2017

my favourite bloggers/YouTubers

Believe it or not, there was a time, and that time was not so very long ago (ahem, are you hearing me all you over 50's?) when I had no idea what a blogger was. I had no idea that there were people out there who would actually allow you to watch while they put their make-up on..I mean..come on..how generous is that?! Most of us look awful without our make-up on (and in my case, awful WITH makeup on..I really needed a lesson or two from a friend). Once I discovered that there was, literally, a UNIVERSE of helpful friends out there who would teach me everything from how to clean my house, to how to create a capsule wardrobe, to how to start a blog of my own..FOR FREE..I was hooked!

My foray into social media has changed my life. I know that some people really despise the 'unreal' world of cyber-friendship but I'm not one of them. I think its FAB.U.LOUS. For me it was all about being humble enough to be taught how to do the simple things in life that I was failing miserably at. I'm very grateful to the bloggers and YouTubers that I follow, so I thought I would share them with you.

1.  The Daily Connoisseur



Jennifer L. Scott probably takes first prize for being the person whose ideas and lifestyle have influenced me the most over the past three years. She has written three books, Lessons from Madame Chic, At Home with Madame Chic and Polish your Poise with Madame Chic - they're all great and I highly recommend them if you're interested in living a more..well, chic..life. But what I'm most grateful to her for, is introducing me to the concept of the 10 Item Wardrobe. That started me on the journey of, what I call 'quality-minimalism', that I am still on today. The idea is to curate a wardrobe that has fewer, better quality pieces in it that are scrupulously aligned to your actual (as opposed to fantasy) life. I will definitely be sharing more about my personal journey in this regard as the year goes on. 






Wendy Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American who first shot to Internet fame for her creative video about how to tie scarves (i'll pop it in below). She's a fashion guru and her blog features her outrageously fashionable, ever-changing, extremely high-end, daily outfits. None of it very attainable or desirable to me. But, why I'm grateful to Wendy is that at one time she made many pairing videos, showing women how to wear, for example, a denim jacket. My 'real' friend, Rina, got me started initially on styling and pairing and outfit creation..and Wendy took up where she left off. I LOVED those videos and they helped me get better at what I really sucked at..personal styling. So..here's the famous scarf video and a sample of one of her pairing videos. 











I'm not going to lie, no-one in this world has a more soothing voice than Rhonda Jones, who is The Christian Meditator. At a time when I was hanging on to Jesus by my fingernails (to be truthful, one fingernail), I discovered The Christian Meditator. I'm so grateful for her quiet, steady faith. It really spoke to me. Furthermore, she helped me to see how it would be possible to tackle devotional subjects using social media, something I intend pursuing myself this year. More about that later. Here's a sample of one of my favourite of her YouTube guided meditations. 







This lady (I think she's an actress turned film producer) is hilarious. She's on a mission to make life fabulous after forty. Check out her YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgdUicXOtV5eqfuDSEVMRmA 
and her blog here

She's kinda steamy, but one thing's for sure, she knows how to put on make-up and do amazingly glamorous transformations. Plus, she's hilarious (did I mention that?) I just love the way she rocks 50+. 




Ok, I have to admit it..this is the YouTuber that I watch the most. Maybe that's because she puts out the most content, I don't know. In trying to analyse what's so fascinating about Lydia, I realised that for me, she's like that Barbie doll I used to have when I was little. I don't mean that in a disparaging way at all. She's clearly a very hard-working and astute young businesswoman. But, like Barbie, she looks gorgeous all the time, she changes clothes all the time, she believes she's good enough to own high-end luxury items like Chanel handbags and she lives a very aspirational life. Except she talks to you, is adorable, sometimes just wears a huge oversized dressing-gown and slippers, like the rest of us, and has really really great taste. It's like Barbie came to life and said "Stop dressing me and let me start dressing you." So much so that I am basing my own Autumn wardrobe this year entirely on hers. I'll show you more when the time comes. She might be one of the fastest growing social media Influencers at the moment. Since I've been following her, which is only about 4 months, she has grown from under 100k followers to over 300k. Check her out and tell me what it is about her that makes everyone want to watch her. Here's her blog url and here's her YouTube url.

I'm very aware that this post is getting extremeeeeeeeely long but I have so many other wonderful cyber friends that I'd like to introduce you to (I subscribe to over 100), like Audrey Coyne (capsule wardrobe), Sugar Mamma (finance), Gennaro Contaldo (Italian cooking), Fit Couple Cooks (meal prepping), Marie-Anne LeCoeur (adorable French lady), Reasons To Dress (general lifestyle in Italy), Clean My Space (sardonic hostess takes you through how to clean your home), Aesthetic Alterations (a writer who takes an "enamoured approach to life", visits Paris often and introduces you to fragrances you've never heard of before - what's NOT to like about that?),   and..oh gosh, truly, too many to mention. Just click on their names to check them out. OH MY WORD. I cannot believe that I nearly forgot to introduce you to someone who ranks up there with Jennifer L. Scott..so here goes. 




Mai Tai isn't her real name but a pseudonym that's she's known by by Hermes enthusiasts around the world. She's the guru of Hermes scarves and indeed, all things Hermes. Someone once described this lady as "looking like Royalty". She definitely has that Regal thing going for her (without being stuffy and all Queeny) and that's what makes her such an inspiration. I doubt that I'll ever be able to afford a Hermes scarf in my life, let alone a handbag, but I love this blog. You will too if you're..cough..more mature. Her style is simple but impeccable. Plus she lives in France. On a wine farm. Need I say more?  

So now that I've introduced you to some of my Internet 'friends', how about introducing me to some of yours. Also, if you'd like to know who the other 89 bloggers and YouTubers are that I follow, let me know, and I'll do another post like this some time. 

Blessings! 










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1 comment:

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