Your friends are always complimenting how great your skin looks, how on-point your nail polish is, and how well you rock your natural hair.
You know a thing or two about how to present yourself well, and you want to share it with the world.
Or, maybe you’re just obsessed with the latest beauty news and trends.
If any of these apply to you, then starting a beauty blog might be the thing for you to do.
As with any blog, however, starting a beauty blog can feel intimidating.
Where do you even start?
What sort of content should you create?
Which trends are hot right now, and which are already old news?
To answer these questions, the best approach is to do your research.
Of course, we’re sure that you’re already up on the best beauty bloggers out there.
But have you ever stopped to consider what makes them so helpful, so appealing, and so glamorous?
That’s what we aim to address in this post, where we’ll look at nine of the best beauty blogs out there to inspire your own blogging journey.
We’ll look at what each blog does best and what lessons you can learn to apply to your own beauty blog
How We Chose the Blogs
There are thousands of beauty blogs out there, so how did we narrow it down to just nine?
We looked for blogs that exemplified a wide range of styles, as well as a wide variety of topics.
You’ll find everything from beauty product reviews to hair styling tutorials to beauty industry news.
And, of course, makeup tutorials. Lots of makeup tutorials.
Your blog doesn’t have to be exactly like any of the ones we discuss.
In fact, it shouldn’t be.
One of the things that will make people want to read your blog is that it will be uniquely you.
However, the examples below will help you get started.
So with that, let’s get to the first blog.
Top 9 Best Beauty Blogs to Follow
1. Beauty Is Boring
If you want to learn how to do makeup (and beauty photography) from a professional, then you need to be reading Beauty Is Boring.
Robin Black is an inventive, internationally acclaimed makeup artist who’s worked with everyone from models to musicians to artists to actors.
On Beauty Is Boring, she documents her process for each client, discussing what inspired the look and what materials she used to create it.
The posts are concise, the photography is gorgeous, the video tutorials are helpful, and the product recommendations are enlightening.
If you’re looking to do makeup tutorials (or any other kind of beauty tutorials), then Beauty Is Boring delivers a valuable lesson in how you can monetize your blog.
Each post contains a “Shop the Look” section that lists the products Robin used to create each look.
While it’s not obvious, each product image is an affiliate link, meaning that Beauty Is Boring earns a commission if you click on the link and buy the product.
While Robin is no doubt doing well on the basis of her client work alone, the extra money from this affiliate program is a great example of how you could turn otherwise free makeup or beauty information into a source of income.
2. Lisa Eldridge
Lisa Eldridge is known for her work with celebrities like Kate Winslet and Emma Watson, as well as makeup work for top fashion houses around the world.
When she’s not busy working as the global creative director of Lancôme, she finds time to work on her blog, which is a treasure of information on makeup, skincare, and the history of makeup.
In fact, the top lesson you can learn from Lisa’s blog is one of categories and organization.
Lisa’s blog covers four clear beauty topics: makeup, skincare, inspiration, and history.
Within these four categories, there’s lots of room for creativity, but having such clear categories also helps maintain the blog’s focus.
You should do the same when starting your beauty blog: have clear topics you write about so that your audience knows what to expect from you (and so that you can stay on track when you feel writer’s block).
3. A Model Recommends
Ever curious what products and beauty brands professional models use?
Want to find genuine recommendations that aren’t just based on whichever company is willing to pay the most for an endorsement?
This is what you’ll get when you read A Model Recommends.
Ruth Crilly is a former professional model who now spends her time testing, reviewing, and recommending the best products out there.
She covers body care, fragrance, haircare, makeup, and skincare.
She doesn’t write about just any products, either.
Each product recommendation is the result of her rigorous testing and personal experience, and it all comes with a commitment to transparency and integrity.
She won’t recommend something just because a company pays her to do so; she openly admits turning down far more sponsorship opportunities than she accepts.
This is the top lesson A Model Recommends can teach you about starting a beauty blog: Work hard to earn your audience’s trust, and never betray that trust in exchange for money.
It can be tempting, especially as your blog grows and you need money to keep things running.
But you must resist this temptation, as the value in any kind of product review blog rests in the honesty of the reviewer.
A Model Recommends shows that not only is it possible to succeed while still being honest, but that honesty is the key to that level of success.
4. Into The Gloss
Seeing other people’s beauty routines is always inspiring, especially if those people are famous or remarkable.
Into The Gloss gives you the glimpse you’ve always been wanting into the beauty routines of famous women such as Jenna Lyons and Kim Kardashian.
It’s about more than just beauty, however.
The profiles on Into The Gloss also discuss careers and what it means to be a woman today.
After each profile, the reader comes away with inspiration for which beauty products to use next.
The main thing you can learn from Into The Gloss is that while people love product recommendations and beauty tips, they also love the stories behind the people who use them.
You should never forget the value of the human element.
Use storytelling as much as you can in your beauty blogging, because it’s the stories that get people to keep coming back for more.
5. Cult of Pretty
The world of beauty brands is vast and at times confusing.
Each new product seems to sport more marketing hype than the previous one, making it difficult to decide which claims are outrageous and which are genuine.
Cult of Pretty helps you cut through the confusion, all while informing you of the best beauty brands you’ve never heard of.
The focus is on indie beauty companies and entrepreneurs, and they also donate a portion of the proceeds from products they sell to different charities.
Our favorite part of this site, however, is how they’ve nailed the voice they use for their content.
They’re speaking their audience’s language.
The best example of this is the site’s About page, which you can see below.
It accomplishes the goal of telling readers the purpose and value of the site while simultaneously using language that speaks to the audience.
Saying “um we love good packaging tho” isn’t what you’d typically find on a product review website, but it captures the way the blog’s audience talks.
If you can zero in on the way that your audience speaks and relates to the beauty topic you’re covering, and then reflect that in how you write, you’ll have a winning blog on your hands.
6. Barefoot Blonde
Barefoot Blonde is the online home of Amber Clark, a beauty expert, entrepreneur, and mom.
She discusses all three of these roles on her site, with a special focus on hairstyling.
The focus makes sense, as Amber also runs a clip-in hair extension company.
In addition to posts about hair and beauty, Amber also discusses traveling the world with her family and what it’s like to be a twenty-something mother.
Amber’s blog is an excellent example of how you can use beauty blogging to promote another business that you run (or want to start).
In Amber’s case, it’s hair extensions.
For you, however, it could be any kind of beauty product.
The key is to get creative with the content you create related to the products you sell, and Barefoot Blonde will show you how to do that.
7. The Sunday Girl
The Sunday Girl is a blog that hasn’t forgotten its roots.
It began in founder Adrienne Loren’s bedroom, and it’s continued to maintain an unpretentious, straightforward approach to beauty product reviews.
The blog has received notice from “Cosmopolitan” and Johnson & Johnson for its work reviewing lipstick.
Our favorite part of The Sunday Girl, however, is the site’s design.
The handwritten fonts are a lovely touch, echoing the designs you’d see on makeup or skincare bottles.
And the color scheme of white, black, and gooey bubblegum pink is classic yet playful.
You don’t have to use the same colors or design for your blog, but you should pay just as much attention to the power of color and design.
They set the tone for your website before a visitor has even read a single word.
8. She’s In The Glow
If you’re curious about what natural beauty looks like in the modern world, then you should read She’s In The Glow.
The site focuses mainly on skincare, ranging from everyday face masks to anti-aging treatments.
It aims to strike a balance between the best ingredients that nature has to offer and the most cutting-edge scientific advances in beauty technology.
The result is skincare and beauty advice that’s informed by nature but also realistic for busy women to find the time to implement.
What we love most about the site is its name.
It’s a delightful pun that’s also easy to remember (and spell). When choosing a name for your blog, you have to strike a balance between creativity and simplicity.
If a name is too long or complicated, no one is going to be able to remember how to spell it or be able to pronounce it when they tell their friends about it.
The name “She’s In The Glow” shows just how you can strike this balance.
9. A Beauty Junkie in London
Jen is a full-time blogger and social media consultant.
A Beauty Junkie in London is where she shares her musings on beauty, as well as the stories of her travels and life.
The focus on travel is especially interesting, as it shows you how beauty routines can fit into even the most hectic and active of lifestyles.
Jen has also written extensively about the experience of being a new mother, even authoring a post on what she’s doing to help keep her baby’s skin healthy.
What we like most about this blog is something that we already alluded to: It’s not just a beauty blog.
Sure, there are plenty of posts on it that cover beauty topics, but there’s also a healthy mix of posts about travel or even the author’s life.
This is yet another example of the value in letting your personality shine through in your blogging.
If travel is a part of who you are, then share it.
As long as it can fit into your overall focus of blogging about beauty, you should go for it.
Debut Your Beauty Blog Today
We hope the examples in this post have inspired you to create your own beauty blog.
There’s a vast range of topics you can cover, and even more approaches you can take to cover them.
The key is to choose your focus and make sure that you never lose sight of your distinct voice and perspective.
For more information on blogging, including which web hosting provider to choose, check out our complete guide to starting a blog.