No one sent me a letter for advice this week, hmp! I'm hurt, you guys! You need to give me something to work with! Haha. Okay, to hopefully encourage you to email me, I will send a gift to the chosen letter sender - could be skincare, could be makeup. I will ship it to  you as long as you're based in the Philippines. 

Please keep the letters coming!

For this week's Liz Says, I will just answer a question I received on the forum. Clarissa asked:

Hi Liz. I've always been a fan of your blog. I'm starting my own today, but I would like to ask...How have you achieved everything that you have achieved? How did you start out and how do bloggers get in to blogger events, etc. I'm really curious! Thanks!

This is a bit of a tired topic since I've answered these questions several times in the past, but since it's 2012 - hey why not. I started beauty blogging in 2008. I was still in college and starting to really get into  makeup. I've been learning so much, reading reviews and watching tutorials, that I decided to put up a blog to share all my cool finds and tidbits of beauty wisdom. Snap, it was that simple.

My family was not rich. We're comfortable, but not loaded enough that I could ask my parents to buy me expensive makeup. So like any teen I started with Ever Bilena, Nichido, and Avon makeup.

I spend serious time taking product photos that I even have it down to a science. So understandably I'm not happy whenever an online store filches my photos to earn money. I mean, how hard is it to take your own product photos or even just ask permission from the owners? 

Those are my Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter photos. Do not approve  ಠ_ಠ

Not meaning to be a bitch here, actually. I'm not mad, just baffled. All my photos are under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 (CC BY-SA 3.0) license. It means that:

I think that the Internet should be a free place to share our ideas and output, and to police it by banning people from using your photos is just pointless.

The other day, some random troll on Twitter said that beauty bloggers like Shen, Sophie, Nikki, and I shouldn't be beauty blogging because we're not pretty. I forget the exact wording since I immediately blocked the account. I'm not even irritated or anything - I just rolled my eyes. That particular Twitter account was set up solely to troll celebrities like Solen Heussaf and the Magalona sisters. 

Anyway. The comment reminded me of a conversation I had with other people over on Twitter some months back. A well-known fashion blogger commented that most beauty bloggers don't have the looks to be actually doing it. Again, I'm not offended, but the comment did hit a chord since it misunderstood the essence of what I do.

I replied to her and said that the point of beauty blogging is to demonstrate how average women can look better than they already do.

I've always wondered how it would be like if I were a glamorous celebrity. I would imagine the lights, the makeup, the beautiful clothes, and a score of people attending me as I prepare for a fab shoot. But I am not a celebrity, so all I can do is wonder (and D-I-Y to death) - that is, until Sunsilk asked me to join a shoot by one of the country's top photographers, Niccolo Cosme!

Sophie, Shen, Nikki, and I

I've been blogging for a few years now. In the course of my "career", I've luckily experienced a few cool milestones, but being part of a real photoshoot is definitely a first. It's all thanks to Sunsilk, who chose four beauty bloggers to celebrate with them after they reached 1,000,000 fans on their Hair Experts Facebook Page.

What do you think? I normally hate this angle of me, but Niccolo Cosme has some magic in his shutters. ;) Anyway, would just like to share a photo diary of what transpired at the shoot. You'll see a lot of Sophie, Nikki, and Shen as we prepare for the shoot behind the scenes.

Nikki is bright and sunny as always

I woke up with a headache today - it must be from watching Dune (2000 version) and playing Scrabble on the iPad all night. Apparently we are going on a road trip today so I need to fix myself up pronto. Then I saw an email from someone who's writing an article on Inquirer's 2bU asking my opinion on the whole DTI contest permits for bloggers chorva, so I started to update myself on the latest comments for the nth time this week.

Might as well write down my thoughts while I'm answering the writer's questions.

Two things you REALLY need to know about this issue

One, the initiative to require bloggers to get a permit before running contests is not from DTI. It's from one person only, and her name is Janette Toral. You will remember her for her push to create a National Bloggers Association a few months back. She supports the institutionalization of blogging.

As of now, DTI has no official statement about this issue. It is all coming from one person and her personal blogs. I believe she has had a dialogue with DTI about this but only her side and her cause has been heard so far.

Two, a business entity who holds a contest requires a permit. This is not up for discussion. This is already a law - it's called the Consumer Act of the Philippines. The real question is, does this law apply to bloggers and blogger contests?

Two provisions for contention

This is the definition of sales promotion according to CAP.

Last Friday, I did the stupidest thing I've probably ever done in my life: I walked that gravel parking lot next to The Podium from Megamall to ADB in 5-inch stiletto heels. Never again! What was I thinking? Anyway.

I managed to drop by the Malayan Plaza hotel for the Bloggers United bazaar. I wanted to see all my blogger friends, maybe chat a bit, because I don't know when I'll be able to see them next! I didn't get to stay that long though because I wanted to talk shop with Paul, one of the two guys behind PMP Communications. Had fun seeing everyone nonetheless.

Pax and I. She's wearing Ferretti!

I met Mr. Fu of Love Radio!!! The dude's a riot. And we both love NARS!

This is the full text of the talk I gave during the Vanity Fair event. Hope it can help you improve your blog!

I've been racking my head all night last night thinking about an interesting topic to present to you guys. I initially wanted to do something like “Vanity in the online space” but we’re all experts at that already - it would be redundant! 

Kidding aside, I landed on a simple, but always overlooked question: how do you take your blog to the next level? Let's make it a little harder. How do you take your blog to the next level - without losing your credibility and integrity as bloggers? Now I know that blog conferences past have already tackled the topic. But I believe that none of them have answered these questions in the context of beauty and fashion blogging.