I first started blogging when I was seventeen back in 2012. The whole blogging and YouTube phenomenon was relatively new, to my knowledge and outsiders didn't really know what it was all about. This was until what I like to call 'The Zoella Effect'. 

Before Zoella became the huge Internet star that she is, the little community was, I feel, a judge free place where views, hit counts and followers didn't matter as much. People wrote what they wanted because they enjoyed it, they didn't write what they knew would get the most social media views. Nowadays it seems as if everyone has jumped on the bandwagon and just wants to be the next Zoella.

Now, I'm in no way slagging off Zoella, I'm a big fan and have been from the very start of her career, but from her rise to fame the idea of 'you have to be a certain type of blogger to get noticed' has made me question myself constantly.

I've had a few blogs over the past few years, each with different amounts of effort and success. The blog before this one held nothing back, it was rude, it was crude and I loved it. I wrote for myself, I wrote for my friends and although an audience is important in this business, I wasn't caught up on numbers.

image by @badgyldini 

This is what I want Lauren-Georgina, my little space on the Internet to be. I want to write with substance, not what I think will get more views. I want to tell the ridiculous stories of my life, because trust me I have many. I will continue writing perfume reviews and releases, because they're something I enjoy, but I also want to talk about periods and equality and mental health. I don't want to worry about who reads it, so to my family that may be reading, I can only apologise for what you might learn about me!

I will never be your fancy lifestyle blogger. I don't have a clear white background to take professionally shot flat lays. I'm a student whose budget doesn't afford for amazing makeup and beauty products. I can't take great looking outfit of the day photos. I can't live up to the typical blogger lifestyle.

I don't want to be Zoella, well I do, I think she's amazing, but more importantly, I want to be Lauren and Lauren is a bit rough around the edges!

Lauren-Georgina x