Monday Collective + A Blog Update

When I was brainstorming reviving my weekly brain dump post, I was stumped on what to call it. For now we’re going with the Monday Collective… a place for me to just get all my thoughts on paper and fill you in on the products I’m trying, any internet finds I’ve happened upon, new tips & tricks I’ve learned, and anything else that I think you would enjoy reading about as much as I’ve loved discovering.

Why I’m No Longer Doing Sponsored Blog Posts

If you’ve been around this blog since the beginning then you will remember it originally started as a “Style Guide’ where I would investigate where to shop, what to buy and how to style everything from your wardrobe to your next dinner party. Over the years I’ve been very fortunate to work with some brands that I really love and a large portion of my blog slowly shifted to sponsored content. Now that I have a new business baby (my lifestyle shop) and a real-life new baby (Isla James) that hasn’t left me with a ton of time for me to put towards blog posts that aren’t contractually obligated to post on a certain date. I have around 80+ blog posts in various draft stages that I have been meaning to get to and I wish that was an exaggeration. For the time being, and maybe permanently, I’ve made the decision to step away from sponsored posts on the blog and focus instead on those!

When I first started doing this whole blog thing, brands were way more laid back than they are now. They used to contract you to post about their product and you just had to submit it when it’s done. As social media has grown, and as brands have moved away from print and media ads, a lot more of their marketing budget has gone into influencer and social marketing. Which is great and I think is just such a cool way to make a living. However, with this increase in budget has come an increase in legal documents and talking points and what you can say and what you can’t say and even down to how the photos need to look. Don’t get me wrong, that is rightfully the brand’s decision to make and I totally understand the need for guidelines and standards and creative briefs. But if I’m being honest, it removes a ton of joy for me personally from the process. I want to be able to talk about a product I’m trying without having to check a document over and over to make sure that I’ve said everything 100% correctly. I want to be able to post about my favorite brand without having to submit it to someone to approve it first. And I also just feel like I need a little break from the pressure of everything that goes into sponsored posts.

I will still continue to work with brands in blog post format throughout the year that I have signed contracts for, and I will continue to do social campaigns on my Instagram channel just like I do currently. And who knows, this decision might not be forever. But at least for the foreseeable future, I am excited to carve out time and finally get around to the plethora of posts I have been meaning to and want to publish.

Obviously this is a risk as some of my income is from sponsored blog posts but I am excited about the opportunity to grow my newsletter readership by publishing more posts like travel guides and our favorite easy recipes, to feature my shop with more entertaining and home decor post and maybe continue to grow this brand through a refreshed creative lense. I will probably turn ads back on (sigh) so that I can make income as people scroll my posts, but I promise to limit them as much as possible and always prioritize the reader’s experience.

Moving forward, you can sign up to get posts delivered to your email here, sign up to get the weekly newsletter here, and as always you can shop my links on my shop page, my Amazon storefront and my LTK.

5 Of My Favorite Drugstore Products of All Time

I love a good drugstore find. There are so many beauty products that I grab off the makeup aisle that could have made this list, but here are a few of my absolute favorites.

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A 30% Off Sale You Don’t Want To Miss

Mango is one of my favorite retailers not only for myself but also for my girls. Think Zara vibes but with way more wearable styles (in my opinion). Well, today they are having a 30% off sale!! I rounded up my favorite styles for women, girls, and baby girls. You can save an extra 30% off of all of them with code EXTRA30.