I’m not really a “beauty person”. Here’s why I ended up sharing products anyway.
Let me be upfront about something. I am not, and have never been, a beauty person in the conventional sense. I don’t spend hours perfecting a look. I don’t follow trends. I couldn’t tell you what’s on the cover of any beauty magazine this month and I genuinely couldn’t care less.
So when people find out that I “sell” beauty products, the reaction is usually some version of — really? You? In fact on one memorable occasion, a Facebook friend actually messaged my other half worried that my account had been hacked because I had been talking a lot about mascara 😀
But…Yes. Me. And I think that’s actually exactly why it works.
What I am is a sceptic
I approach beauty products the same way I approach everything else — with a healthy dose of suspicion and a tendency to do my research before committing to anything. I don’t buy things because they’re new or because someone with a lot of followers told me to. I buy things because I’ve looked into them properly and concluded they’re worth the money.
That means when something makes it into my routine it has genuinely earned its place. And when I recommend something it’s because I actually use it, not because I’ve been sent it for free or because I’m chasing a commission on something I’ve never tried.
I think there’s a real shortage of that kind of recommendation in the beauty space. Most of what you see online is enthusiasm without discernment — everything is amazing, everything is a must-have, everything is the best thing the person has ever tried. After a while it all blurs into noise and you have no idea what to actually believe.
How Curated came about
I came across Younique the same way I come across most things — someone mentioned it, I looked into it properly, I tried some products, and some of them genuinely surprised me. The make up in particular. I wasn’t expecting much and I got more than I bargained for.
What interested me about the Curated platform, which Younique has morphed into, was the concept — one storefront, multiple carefully selected brands, all in one place. As someone who finds shopping across multiple different websites for five different things deeply tedious, the idea of a single edited destination appealed immediately.
So I set one up.
What’s in the edit right now
Currently the storefront carries Younique — skincare, makeup, supplements, and make up tools. Adorned — hair accessories, and JoyBelle — stick-on nails (that I was deeply sceptical about until I tried them and had to admit they are actually excellent).
Why I think non-beauty-people make the best beauty editors
Because we’re harder to impress. We don’t get swept up in packaging or marketing or the excitement of something being new. And when we say something works, we mean it in the most straightforward possible sense — it actually works, I noticed a difference, I kept buying it.
If you want to have a look at what’s currently in the edit — no obligation, no hard sell — the storefront is here. And if you have questions about anything in it, just ask. I’ll give you the honest answer, not the promotional one.