Word Up - This Is How My Blog Will Change This Year

Twenty-Seventeen is only a couple of weeks old, but it seems like we've been back to work and (theoretically) back to bossing all over the shop for an age already. The start of a new year always brings with it endless possibility and the opportunity to refresh, re-look and re-jig - as well as to plan for what's to come. I've no doubt this year will be full of exciting projects, big launches and new social platforms to get our teeth into, but I've also no doubt there will be big change in the bloggersphere; in order to continue to sustain our positions and influence it's vital to grow and evolve, changing up the norm for something new. 2017 marks seven whole years of London Beauty Queen and over that time I've refined my tone of voice and definitely pin-pointed who I am as a woman, entrepreneur and blogger; as a result, this year a few things will change on this here corner of the internet to make it something I can continue to be passionate and excited about.


Beauty will always be my first love (for many reasons,) but I also have a passion for books, history, travel, fashion, politics, feminism and championing awareness of issues that are not often discussed. Over the last months I've started to dabble in those areas to gauge the response, but I've realised that a lot of my consideration should be based upon what *I* want to write about - because the rest will follow. I want to have the freedom to discuss topics outside of just the world of beauty, without worrying that they're not quite 'on brand.' I want to explore being a woman in her thirties and I want to share the clothes I'm wearing; I want to give you the lowdown on what I'm reading and where I'm going, alongside what I'm thinking and what I'm passionate about. Already I have trips booked and outfit shoots in the bag, and I can't wait to share it all with you in the coming months; for the first time in a long time, I'm excited.

In my opinion, this is the year that the simple review site starts to die. Collectively we want more than just endless reams of beauty reviews: we want opinion, insight and to be educated. I've made the decision to focus less on product features and more on trends, predictions, edits and new ways of presenting what I'm using - so the information is more useful to those of you looking for recommendations. For a long time I feel like beauty bloggers have been in the hands of brands, bowing to pressure to feature one thing over another because of obligation rather than passion, and I for one am stepping out of that game. I'll continue to bring you news and information on what's new via my 'New This Week' features (the first one of which you can find here,) but unless I'm absolutely convinced you need to know about something on a stand-alone basis then it'll make room for something a little more interesting.

Yep, get used to my mug because you'll be seeing a lot more of it on here. In a shiny world full of perfect twenty-somethings with better eyebrows than I'll ever have, it's hard to build up the courage to share pictures of my slightly greying hair, expanding waistline and increasingly wrinkly under-eye area. But it's also incredibly frustrating to see a whitewash of little more than cookie-cutter moulds all over my feeds. I feel somewhat of a responsibility to my fellow thirty-somethings to put myself out there a little more, personalise my site and enable you all to feel like you know the face behind the blog. I've found a great woman squad that has helped me gain the confidence to just crack on with it, as well as connecting with people that can actually take my picture - hoorah! To be honest, that's most of the battle, so I'm making a concerted effort to let people snap my face and revel in posting it on the internet.  

Here's to a great year ahead. I hope you enjoy the changes and what's to come as much as I surely do!