Why things have changed:
- Honestly? I was bored senseless of the old format and it was making me not want to blog. When I removed my beloved Nana from the header to make way for the Give and Makeup shoebox campaign, I thought ‘Right. That’s it. Bless her heart, but she’s not going back up.’
- I want to devote more time to the blog and you can’t do that when you’re uninspired and encumbered with a slow, glitchy, site.
- Blogger had too many glitches, which I now know was to do with the size of my back catalogue. In the changeover we moved over 1350 posts (not a lot by blog standards) and 50,000+ comments. As this site moves towards 80 million page views, I needed a platform that could support its needs.
- I needed a better servicing platform for things I have planned. This is only 75% or so of what the new site will be. There’s a new header coming, new branding etc, but I wanted the old format and site gone, and I was tired of putting it off.
- I needed inspiring. Going back into treatments was life-changing. In the best way. Meeting clients, building up regulars, using different professional products (more of which in a min), basically getting my hands properly dirty again, has been wonderful.
- The main change is the platform. I started my blog in 2010 on blogger. This site is now Wordpress.
- I’ve deleted some posts. (Not a lot, under 10). Old ones, irrelevant ones, or things that I no longer want on my site for whatever reason. Very liberating. I had to stop myself going further.
- Some old posts that were put live with no visuals will now look a little odd on the home page. This will slowly be addressed throughout the month, but I’m not rushing to fill them with any old picture for the sake of it.
- If you subscribed via email, you will need to re-subscribe. It always baffled me (and infuriated me) that my emails were still being sent from ‘Beauty Mouth’, when I had removed that name years ago. It turned out once you had set it up on Feedburner, it couldn’t be changed. So it’s gone. I’m not concerned about losing subs, readers will notice they haven’t received anything and sign up again. It’s more important to me that this site is how I want it.
- The site is now much easier to navigate; there are now categories (my new favourite thing, as you may be able to tell), better tags and therefore more search options. I'm still working on these behind the scenes, it's a long process.
- There is now a ‘Shop’ page. When Mode went bust last year, ad options disappeared. I prefer the site without ads, so in order for it to make some sort of income, I’ve added the Shop page. Anything on that page is endorsed and used by me – as regular readers will be able to tell in an instant. The links are affiliated, so if you click through and buy anything, I will get a (small!) commission. I’m still not putting any brands that I work with professionally on there, as I think it’s a conflict, but when I’m not working with them, I will add them. None of the shop items will be sponsored by brands, i.e. brands cannot pay to be in the shop.
- A note on the shop: items are listed randomly, showing no preference, but at the moment it is still showing them in groups of how they were uploaded, which I am doing by brand, so there is some grouping and prominence of brands, which is unintentional, and will eventually right itself. The shop includes both American and British-facing retailers, mainly based on availability in those areas.
- If the shop has a missing picture it invariably means that the retailer has sold out of whatever was showing. Annoying, but hard to stay on top of. Sorry!
- Comments have now moved on to a Disqus platform, making it harder for spam to get through and easier to manage.
- More reviews.
- More reviews on professional products. I’ve never really been a fan of ‘faff’ or ridiculously expensive department store products (‘mortgage payment products’), but in the last 6 months or so I’ve found myself actually becoming intolerant and angry towards them. I’m over the BS marketing, the ‘patented’ whale sperm ingredients, the exorbitant prices for what is essentially a thick emollient cream. So my reviews will reflect that.
- Better photographs.
- More content in general.
- More videos. I spent a lot of time over the Christmas break sorting out my office space to make it more suitable for filming. Half the problem with filming videos is finding time to film when the house is quiet. It took me a few years but I now realise that our house is never quiet. Ever. So again, I took action.
- Facials: Due to the press launch for the Double Cleanse, I am not going back into facials until February. Please do not email or call Teresa’s clinic for facial appointments. I am taking the appointment-making process in-house from now on. It wasn’t fair to leave it to Teresa and her team. It’s a massive job. When I’m set up and ready to go, I will give out the new email address on here and start the process. IF you are already on the waitlist, please do not worry, I already have your details and you will be contacted. I promise! Clients that have been to me before will get priority and I will be in touch later in the month. I will update on here as and when.
Please do let me know your thoughts, any requests for reviews for 2017, any requests for videos/further content and do let me know if you spot any massive errors. Like I said, it’s a work in progress, and I’ll happily accept help. ;) Thank you so much for the first 6 years and 8 months of reading this site, I hope you’ll stick around for many more on the revamped one.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
