Getting into blogging is easy; keeping that blog going and being successful, though, is very hard. Take it from someone who's had several other blogs before and only one took off (this one). So, today I'm going to talk to you guys a bit about things you have to do to have a good blog that you might not read before. (Plus, I've realized that the past couple of posts have been all beauty-related so I need a new post about blogging for you babes! lol!) Let's get started then~

1. Favicon... so incredibly important and no one seems to acknowledge it! The favicon is the little icon by your blog's title in the tabs. It seems that a lot of people don't know that you can change them, no matter if you use blogger or wordpress. For my blogger babes out there, all you have to do is go to Layout and click the little edit buttom under the favicon square! That easy! I can't be the only who gets annoyed and turned off by the default blogger/wordpress favicon!

2. An Aesthetic URL... Maybe it's just me but I think it's really important for your URL to look nice! Not too long, but not too short and it has to be written in a way that it can't be mispronounced -- you know, that sort of thing. Do you guys get me here? lol! 

3. No Need To Spend! Now, I'm not saying this so you don't support our fellow theme makers out there who live off the sales they get~ but if you're just getting started in the blogging world, there are a bunch of free themes out there that look gorgeous! I'm very proud to say that I've never spent a cent in my blog design. How do I do this you ask? Google is my best friend tbh. As an example, here a theme I really love and looks gorgeous! Plus, there's a bunch of blogs that offer free themes like designerblog or websites like themexpose. It might take you a while to find one you really connect to but I never said it was easy!

4. Write what you love! There will be times where you'll write something and you think 'oh, this is just for me! no one would want to read this!' and then you wake up and it's one of your most popular posts. Trust me, this has definitely happened to me and I'm always surprised by it! So, just relax! It's true that you need to pay attention to what is popular and trending in the moment, just like everyone tells you, but don't loose sight of what you want to write.

5. Reply!! This is mostly my own blog's motto, I always try to reply to my comments! I feel like it creates a sense of community on the blog that I love~ Don't close yourself off from you audience! Be friends with them and talk!

And there you go! What are some tips that you think are important? Also tell me down below if you agree or disagree with any of my tips! This post is a bit of a short one but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Don't forget to follow me on bloglovin' and such! See you soon~

• bossfight
• stocksnap
• picjumbo 
• mega pixel stock
• kaboompics
• death to stock
• designer pics
• unsplash

But then there's bloggers who let you download a pack stock photos they took themselves and depending on their personal views, they let you use them without attribution or you have to give them a credit back to their website. Most of the time I really prefer using these because the photos you will be getting are what you are looking for aesthetically so it's worth it. Here's a few bloggers who give stock photos as freebies:

• Ashley Ella Design
• Rekita Nicole - (which is where I found the photos for these post and they're gorgeous!) 
• Pink Pot (you need to sign up to the newsletter) 
• Wonderlass 
• Shay Cochrane (you need to sign up to the mailing list) 

Now that you have the photo you want, what will you write about? Here's a few ideas:

• A wishlist - This could be either a fashion or a beauty one, with this you could make a collage in picmonkey. 
• Any lifestyle post - Goals for the new year; A catch up post; Your thoughts on a topic, etc.
• Lists - This could be a blogpost ideas list (wow how meta), Favorite bloggers/vloggers, Favorite books/tv shows, Favorite thing about blogging or being a beauty blogger,
• Tips - Blogging tips for beginners, Beauty tips, etc.
• Instagram or Pinterest Round Up
• Places to visit
• First Experience with... Beauty, Fashion, Blogging or Anything Else.
• Current Trend You Love
• Share Your Playlist 
• A Tag Post - A get to know me tag or any other lifestyle/blogging tag.
• Lessons You've Learned Through... Blogging or Beauty.
• Brands You've Loved While Growing up 
• Essentials - Desk, Study, Blogging, Beauty and more.

I mostly recommend lifestyle or blogging posts because those are the ones that don't require specific pictures and you'll have an esier time finding a good stock photo that goes with it.

What do you guys think? Do you have any more ideas for a lazy evening blog post? Sorry that list whas a bit of a mess lol, that's just how my brain works. Anyway, hope this helps some of you out there and don't forget to follow me on bloglovin' AND talk to me on twitter because I love meeting you lovely babes! See you soon~

As we say goodbye to 2015 and welcome the new year into our lives, we have to think about what our goals are going to be this 2016. While we all have different facets in our lives with our personal goals, as bloggers there's some aspects we have to work for that we all share. This post is dedicated for bloggers who haven't consider these or as a reminder as the new year comes into our lives. I've seen a lot of these posts but I was mainly inspired by this post by Beauty by Kelsey (that's a lot of uses of the word 'by' lol).

Participate More in the Community: Talk to people, don't just promote your blog on social media. Twitter chats are an awesome way to do this! Sometimes it's hard to get out of you shell but once you start participating, all that nervousness melts away. Join communities on facebook and support each other; you don't live in a void where just your blog exists. Comment on other bloggers' posts! Don't be shy! Everyone enjoys compliments!

Gain Loyal Readers: This is a hard one and it's one I haven't completely figured out; but I think participating more in the community is key to gaining those readers that'll stick around for your next post.

Know that it's Okay to Not Know: If you don't know something, like how I don't know all about the previous point, it's okay to ask for advice or help. There's a whole community out there that know the answer or also doesn't know! Don't beat yourself up for it, especially if you're just beginning to get into the world of blogging.

Improve Your Photos: There's always room for improvement! Trust your insticts, if you don't like a photo you took, don't use it and you take it another day! Being 100% happy with your blog photos is the most important thing because blogging is as much a written platform as it also is a visual one.

Be Proud of your Instagram Aesthetic: In the same root as the previous point, your photos play a huge role in your blog and Instagram is the best platform to showcase your style! If you're not happy with your insta aesthetic, make it better or start a new one!

Be More Confident: Be proud of you and your blog!! Don't compare yourself to others! You got this!! If you don't like your blog or wish it would look more like others, in terms of your logo or template, then change it. If you would like some advice to how to do this without spending any money, tell me down in the comments and I'll make a post later on on how I did it.Take control of your brand and blog, you can make it into anything you want it to be!

Numbers Aren't Everything: As bloggers that work closely to brands, we are often shot down because we don't have a big enough audience. Don't get too frustrated by this; remember quality over quantity. It's important to grow but don't focus too much on the numbers, everything will happen at its due time.

Have some more advice or want to share some resolutions that you have as a blogger that I didn't mention? Tell us in the comments below! Don't forget to join my newsletter and follow my bloglovin so you never miss a post! See you babes later and I hope you all have a very happy new year~

Hey guys, Merzy here! I've been in this blogging world for a few months, almost half a year, and even though that might sound like a lot of time for some people, my fellow bloggers out there know that that's not a long time at all. What I've learned these past few months is this -- no one actually knows what they're doing. This applies to life, blogging, beauty, fashion and all the other categories out there. I don't actually know what I'm doing half the time in this blog, I'm learning... I'm not the know-all of beauty products, it's the exact opposite actually -- that's the entire point of my series New To Makeup. And I think most of us out there are probably in the same position, we stick to what we know and stumble to figure out what we don't.

And then, I questioned... why do I have a beauty blog then? lol! I mean if I don't know much, why do I have something to say on here? It's because I like it. I love writing and blogging and taking pictures and stuff, I love beauty and makeup and love writing what I know and learn. It's fun. I'm completely sure I'm not the only blogger who feels this way. You don't have to be an expert on a subject to have a blog on it; you just have to enjoy it and love it enough to know what to write.

Along with these truths, I also realized that a lot of my friends that I know from school or college know a lot more of makeup and beauty than I do, but they don't have a blog to write their wisdom in. So, I asked them! Turns out they're a lot like me! lol! They don't know much (or at all) about makeup, they just stick to what they know and try new things and mess them up sometimes. That doesn't stop them from enjoying it though and that's great! They didn't have any good ol' wisdom to grant me for this post so let's just move on to the few who did!

Here's a few tips/hacks that I got out of them: 

• Pour some eyedrops down a near-finished mascara and you'll get more uses out of it!
• Put a little water in your brushes before contouring and it'll be easier to blend!
• If you don't have a natural curl to your lashes, a waterproof mascara does wonders to help with that!

What do you guys think? Are you as new as I am to the makeup world? Do you feel the pressure to show in your blog that you're expert when it reality you're not? Tell me all about it down in the comments! Also, if you have any tips or hacks for us, that would be great too! Before you leave, don't forget to follow me on bloglovin' and my new instagram which I made a few days ago exclusively for Merzy's Corner. Oh, and what do you think of the new look? I worked really hard on it so I hope you guys like it! See you babes later~

Websites

• Canva - Canva is the BIGGEST lifesaver for making graphics EVER! Like seriously ever. I love this website so much it's insane. I use it for twitter headers, blog headers, blog photo titles, facebook headers, facebook posts, etc etc etc. They have premade photo templates for every single of these and so much more! It's just so easy and the biggest time-saver! If you don't use this already please do, it's flawless.
• Pixlr - I've been using pixlr since the photoshop free trial ended on my mac aka a looong time ago. The interface is beautiful (which is always a must) & it's honestly one of the best photo editing websites online. You don't have to create an account, you don't have to download anything! It's just great!
• Death To Stock Photo - If you're anything like me, then you love having beautiful, perfectly HD pictures on your blog. Sadly though, you don't own a camera and don't like and don't want to pay stockphotos. So... what do you do? Easy, create a "DeathToStockPhotos" account! They have gorgeous HD public photos that you can use on your blog, trust me, they are to die for! Every month you get a pack of free photos and they are totally worth the wait! I use this for the mayority of my blog photos and they love beautiful~
• Bloglovin + The App - Now, if you haven't heard of bloglovin' I'm going to do you a great favor and tell you all about it. Bloglovin' is the best blogging feed ever. The grand mayority of the blogging world is on there, it's easy to use and set up and the best part? There's an app! And it works! I love the bloglovin' app, I literally go on it multiple times a day to see what new posts I've missed. It's to save posts for later or organizing them into different categories! It's simply flawless.
• Get Site Control - Now, we're going to get a bit technical here. As a blogger, you need to have a way to get in contact with your audience. You also need your sharing buttons to be visible and working. What happens if you don't know code though? Lucky for you (and me), GetSiteControl exists. This website has all of these tools and more, you can customize pretty much anything about them and code them onto your blog easily with this site. It's perfect for new bloggers which is why I always recommend them. 

Apps

• MyMail - Have a ton of emails? Do they range from gmail to hotmail? Want them to be in one app only? Great! Me too! Which is why, MyMail is great! It works, it's pretty and fast! All of your emails in one place, breathe in a sigh of relief on that one. I know I did!
• Do! - Okay so this app is supposed to be a "to-do" list, but I don't use it for that at all. I mean, I guess you can use it for that too but I just use the reminders app for that. Anyway, I use this app for writing down blogging ideas and color coordinating them into different categories. I found this recently and I use it pretty much every day!
• Facebook Pages Manager - Recently, I made a facebook page (~shameless plug to get you to like my page here~) and I strong encourage everyone in the blogging world to create one even if you think you won't get any likes! Don't feel down because it takes you a while, alright? You're just starting! And remember to use #hashtags.
• Camera360 - There's a lot of photo editing apps in the app store and I'm definitely one to try them all as long as they're free. Camera360 is great because their filters aren't over the top, they're subtle and beautiful. They work for everything from selfies to blogging photos.  
• Cropic - I've used cropic since I started my instagram and it's amazing. It's simple, it works and you don't get an annoying credit at the bottom of your photos. Sometimes my blogging photos don't fit on instagram so I use this to get the whole thing there! It's perfect!