After five years of this intro draft collecting dust in my private blog because 🎤 I’m such an overthinker1 I couldn’t muster up enough courage to hit “Publish”, I finally did it.
Welcome to Ursa’s Beauty Diary, my very own beauty blog where I’ll be talking about skincare and other beauty-related topics! 🥹🎉
Now, why on earth would I start a beauty and skincare blog at a time when blogging, according to some people, is dead if not dying?
Why a beauty blog? Why now?
And coming from ME, of all people, coz good lord, my friends will have a heart attack if they find out!
Okay, lots of things to get into, but let me start with some self-awareness. Yes, I know I’m not the most “beauty-oriented” person in the friend group. I’m not known for being the kikay or the glam aesthetic girlie. As a matter of fact, I can distinctly remember my 7th-grade English teacher looking me up and down and saying, “Hija, do you not have a comb?” But just because 🎤 I’m Pretty2 laid back with makeup and have a nonexistent hair routine doesn’t mean I haven’t been absolutely skincare obsessed for over a decade now.
It started with a terrible bout of acne when I turned 14, and, having no access to a dermatologist at the time, my young, science-loving self took to the internet to see what could be done in my capacity. I ended up falling into the beautiful and exciting but sometimes overly complicated rabbit hole of K-beauty products and advice.
I remember looking up guides on how to create your own 10-step routine or how to do the 7-skin method and being so fascinated by the blogs that people built during the peak of the Korean beauty craze. The excitement from trying all these innovative products from Korea and being able to tell the world about your experiences through your website was so amazing to me. Before the over-curation and overconsumption that dominate most beauty content today, the casual but real style of those 2014 to 2020-era blogs, such as SkinfullofSeoul, Berries in the Snow, fanserviced-b, Fifty Shades of Snail, Snow White and the Asian Pear, and countless others, inspired me to start my own too.
I get that blogging about beauty and skincare in the old “product reviews and empties 💕” format is considered dead or retro now. Most of the blogs I loved and frequented are now inactive. The industry has definitely moved, first to YouTube and IG, and now to TikTok. Still, blogging holds such a special place for me. Maybe it’s my love of reading. Maybe I talk too much and need a place for long-form content. Maybe it’s just me appreciating the authenticity of content created by everyday people… Or maybe it’s a vintage thing, 🎤 simple as that.3 Regardless, the thought of having my own little editorial section on the internet where I am free to publish my ideas is so empowering and exhilarating! Starting an online beauty diary has always been in the back of my mind, but the pieces never really fell into place until lately, so here we are now, 🎤 even if I mess it all up and make a million mistakes.4
Through this mini-project, I’m excited to practice my writing and obsess over my blog’s UX and design. I want to have something I can look back on to see how I grew in my writing, voice, design choices, and even coding skills (because, side note, your girl just graduated from a programming bootcamp and now I get to use my new skills to make my websites prettier and better 🥂)!
What you’ll find here
I’m mostly going to write about skincare since that’s my main interest, although I will occasionally write about makeup if I have something to say about them. Beauty diary—which I totally took from the Taiwanese brand My Beauty Diary because their Sake Yeast Mask is sooo 🎤 boba tea ~gnarly~5 legendary 😭😭—makes sense for me because it kind of captures my plan for this blog… Can I just quickly say how I hate that AI has hijacked the use of em dashes? =( It feels weird writing long-form now because it’s like one of my favorite punctuation tools is cursed. Oh well. 🥲
Many times over the years, I would find myself watching skincare videos on YouTube or reading reviews on someone’s blog or Instagram and having something to add but no way to say it other than in the comments. I think we’re all subconsciously reviewing products as we use them anyway, like, “Oh, the smell is a little strong,” or “I don’t like the consistency of this serum,” to “This toner does nothing for me, why do I even bother?” Ursa’s Beauty Diary is basically just me posting those inner thoughts. If it happens to help someone out there make up their mind about a product I wrote about, then great! ✨
So yeah, whoever you are, thank you for reading this, and have a beautiful day! 🌹
P. S. To any EYEKONS out there, hope you enjoyed the references! I didn’t intend for this post to be slightly KATSEYE-coded, but when you get a rare opening to sing on a blog post, you take it! 😉 Also, Manon pls come back soon. 🥺
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