Social Media Sharing, Over-sharing and the reality that life is not a bed of roses

Paris B 42 Comments

men playing chinese chess

Life isn’t just seen in black or white

I usually have a carefully planned out schedule of posts for the blog so I know just how the week will progress but I bumped off the scheduled post for this rather impromptu one instead. Ah, blogging on the fly – gotta love that feeling 😉

Anyway, over this week, I read 2 posts from 2 bloggers which touched on a similar subject – public perception of the social media/blogging you vs the real you. One was by Renee of Beauty Fool and the other was by Bangsandabun. Both had me thinking.

When you read a person’s blog, or view their social media profiles on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram (I’m only picking the 3 most popular ones at the moment) do you sometimes think “Gosh, what a charmed life he/she leads. Free holidays, free food, free parties, I want that too!” or “He/She is going on holiday again! So lucky!” or “He/She always gets free stuff, so lucky!”

You won’t be alone, because I sometimes do the same. Yet I am quite aware that the face we wear on social media is and may not be the same face that we wear in real life. No matter whether you own a blog, many of us these days are on one social media platform or another, sharing, sharing and sharing. Over-sharing, some might even say.

Yet, how many of us choose to share only the good and happy things? To project a smiley face to the world because its just easier or its expected of us? Or do you share the moments when you feel down, upset, angry too?

Continue Reading

Your say: Do you research new brands and products before trying? What is your criteria

Paris B 38 Comments

how much research do you do for new products

As consumers, we are almost daily bombarded with news of what’s new in the market, be it a new restaurant, a new gadget or, in keeping with the theme of my blog, a new cosmetic brand or product. Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed? I do! 😯

Every other week sees the launch of a new product, a revamp of an existing product, and sometimes, a new brand attempts to break into the already saturated cosmetics market. Every now and then, I receive pitches from random brands, many of which I’ve never heard or read of before, asking if I’m willing to try their new brand/product. I am always a little hesitant to though, and I usually do very intensive research before I even decide if I want to. That said, for me, this is true whether or not I blog or as a consumer. Its something I’ve been doing.

But what I’m curious about is how much research you do, if you do any at all, into a new brand or product before you take the leap of faith and buy or try it? What are things you look for?

Continue Reading

Scrumptious Saturday Vol. 24: Juicing for Health and Better Skin

Paris B 42 Comments

This whole week, I’ve been talking about making changes to various parts of my skincare (toning and using a cream/milk cleaner) with great success. The primary reason I’ve had to do this is because last month, my skin decided to throw a tantrum. I had terrible acne and clogged pores on the lower half of my face – one of the worst episodes I’ve seen since I got my skin under control. I remembered my previous experience when this happened, where I found that what my food intake can also have an effect on my skin. Over the Chinese New Year festivities, a lot of food was consumed, mostly not very healthy and significantly lacking in fibre and greens.

So when I got home and settled back into my routine, I sat down and decided that I had to do something about my fibre intake and I hit on the idea of making juices with fruits and vegetables. I looked it up online and its a really really huge thing. There are blogs and websites dedicated to just juicing! But I ran into a problem.

juicing for health

I don’t have a fruit juicer! I thought about picking up one, but there were so many things to think about – did I want a slow juicer or a normal juicer? Did I want something that was pricey or could I make do with something cheap? How long could I keep this up for before I fall off the bandwagon?

It was about then that I remembered I had a blender. So I looked up information online and it turns out, blending fruits and vegetables has its own niche and following too! Gosh, is there nothing that no one is an expert on online? 😛

For the past 2 weeks, I have been blending a fruit (and sometimes vegetable) drink almost daily and I have to say, I really enjoy it! Not only that, I believe I’m getting health and beauty benefits too 😀

Continue Reading

Your Say: How dedicated are you to collecting brand loyalty points to redeem vouchers or products?

Paris B 60 Comments

brand loyalty memberships

Every now and again, I make purchases from different counters and every now and again I get the same questions “Are you a XXX Brand member?” It appears that every brand has their own loyalty membership system now aside from the department store loyalty memberships. I know its a way for the brand to track their customer’s spending patterns and what they buy and the members benefits are just to sidetrack us from this.

Recently, I went to the Dior counter to pick up the Spring blushes for friends and when they pulled up my record, it showed that I’ve been to 2 other Dior counters to apparently pick up the same items 😛 It was quite creepy, and I can tell you the sales assistant was puzzled but to her credit, she didn’t say anything, just asked if the other counter did not have what I wanted haha! No, it did, I told her. I’m just getting more. She must think I snort blush or something 😛

But the thing is this though – I don’t monitor my loyalty points nor do I actually know or care how many points I get. I know I don’t usually get enough points to redeem anything. Last year, I received a few statements from some brands I’d signed up as members for. I saw that in one brand, I wasn’t too far from being able to redeem a cash voucher, while in another, I was light years away from redeeming anything. The first brand even called me up to tell me to top up my purchases so I could get a voucher.

So, did I go and top up my points so I could redeem a cash voucher? Or maybe did I top up purchases to be able to redeem something? Would you?

Continue Reading

I tell stories on Instagram @parisbmws