Articulating action points
photo cred: pinterest
I’m so thoroughly energized from the conversation my last video on YouTube generated. It’s impossible to ignore that MANY people have been feeling disenchanted with the mainstreaming of the green beauty community, along with the luxification of products and routines, and the onslaught of incessant marketing from every angle. There’s so much more to say and analyze on all these themes and topics, and what I *don’t* want to happen is just a return to business as usual on my channel.
I’ve been thinking about some concrete ways that I plan to steer L’Amour et la Musique in some novel directions. So this is serving as a bit of a roadmap for myself, detailing some actionable ways that I intend to use this platform to move forward in new ways.
* Product reviews and PR samples: I still have a deep love for beauty products and beauty rituals, and I intend to keep sharing my favorite discoveries, my routines, products I think are really noteworthy. I want to continue working with Beauty Heroes because I so fully support Jeannie and her mission, and I want to selectively review other brands that I feel inclined to share. However I’m no longer interested in amassing a vast array of PR samples and want to be extremely selective about what I accept and what I show. With respect to sponsorship, I have never received any kind of compensation to post a review or talk about a product, and that will not change. If I am ever in the position where I am consulting on a beauty endeavor that is not L’Amour, I will ALWAYS be extremely clear and transparent about that.
*More single-theme conversation videos, almost pseudo-academic lectures?: I’ve taken a page out of Jess (Stark Skincare) and Jordan (Jordan Samuel Skin) and their approaches to videos. Jess makes videos on a single topic (e.g. fear mongering and pseudoscience, overwhelm in green beauty) and shares her thoughts anywhere from 10-20 minutes in video format. I really love that style of video, and since I have so many thoughts swirling I want to start a list of similar topics I could do almost academic-lecture style videos on (but more conversational and not uptight and pretentious the way so many academic talks are : p). If you have any suggestions for this sort of video, please comment!
*Vlogging: I have been saying this for years but I *really* think if what I personally am after in the YouTube/blogging/social media space is an authentic, raw, quotidian expression of beauty then I need to put that kind of content out. While I love sitting in my bedroom and recording videos, sometimes it can feel a bit stale and I think doing vlogs that are more dynamic and multifaceted is really the next step I feel pushed towards.
*Diversified content on “beauty” as a truly holistic concept: This is related to the above point, but since I am re-evaluating my framing as a “green beauty channel,” I want to allow more space for videos on varied content like DJing, sharing my musical history/narrative, gluten-free/paleo recipes, crystal collection, bullet journal flip-through, et cetera.
*Increased blog activity: I feel an urge to write more than I have in a LONG time. I think because as my critical thinking skills have clicked into high gear, I’m very comfortable writing about these themes after so many years in school and so many academic papers later. So, I’d like to really put fingers to keypad more and just EXPRESS.
*Collaborative hybrid academic-beauty projects: I am in the nascent stages of collaborating with another academic/beauty enthusiast on a project she is just getting off the ground. Together I think we can produce some interesting and thought-provoking short articles, and also intend to conduct social science research to buttress our own experiences in the beauty community and what we’ve been observing and critically thinking about.
That’s all for now!
xoxo, mercedes