THE TALK WITH BEAUTY BLOGGER MARIANNA HEWITT
Photographed by Amaris Granado
ART DIRECTION AND STYLING: Giulia Juliet Belkin
MUA / Hair Alla Peysakhova
It is a well known fact that influencers rule the world today. It 's not just about the audience, but how well you can engage them. It's an ability to create something that fans will like and relate to. Bloglovin’s Best Beauty Youtuber of 2016, Marianna Hewitt is a founder of Life with Me. She calls herself an educated consumer and make-up junkie at heart. She loves to share all her favorite products and techniques with her wide audience. It was Marianna's father who introduced her to makeup and beauty.
"He did the next best thing, he took me to the MAC counter when I was really young and had one of the girls there introduce me to makeup," she says. "I actually still have one of the brushes he bought me because I just can't get rid of it." We met with this Girl Boss in West Hollywood and chatted about how she inspires her viewers through beauty tutorials and outfit posts.
Juliet: What would you classify or define as a Marianna Hewitt style of Blogging?
Marianna: Attainable and aspirational. I love luxury beauty products and traveling the world, but I never want to share so much that it doesn’t seem like it could apply to the lives of my readers. I try to always tie in ways that you can also achieve the same things. I speak to my readers like they are my friends and I always keep it a two way conversation.
Juliet: What were you like as a child?
Marianna: I was a tom boy until I hit high school when I started to love makeup.
Juliet: You grew up with your dad, who took you to MAC counter for makeup lessons? Was he the one who inspired you to do what you do now?
Marianna: Both of my parents always were my biggest fans. My Mom always encouraged me to be an independent woman and to always rely on myself. My Dad taught me that I could be anything I want to be in life. They were both so encouraging in giving me all the tools I could to grow up to be anything I wanted, as long as I worked hard and they are both examples of that.
Juliet: What does it take to become an influencer?
Marianna: You have to be comfortable doing lots of different jobs. You are the stylist, makeup artist, director of photography, writer, and editor. You are doing your own marketing, networking and emails. You hold all the jobs any media outlet or publication has, but often just as one person or with a very small team. Being an influencer isn’t just what you see online, there is so much work that just goes into one photo, post or video.
Juliet: What moment would you point to as an illustration of success?
Marianna: Success means different things to different people. For myself it has always been being able to do the things I love. If I don’t enjoy an aspect of my job or a project I am working on, I try not to force myself to do something I don’t enjoy. Of course there are things you have to do day to day at work, but if I am not truly enjoying my work then I don’t think that is success at all.
Juliet: What is the toughest part of your job?
Marianna: Having to constantly stay relevant. There are so many influencers and new ones coming up every time you open your instagram. You have to stay consistent with your content and keep your readers engaged and manage to do this for years to stay at the top of your field.
Juliet: What is the best part of your job?
Marianna: Inspiring my readers to try a new product that makes them feel more confident, to travel to a place where they can make lifelong memories or to go after their dreams and goals to live a life they love. Inspiring my readers and hearing their stories of how much joy something I showed them did, makes my job so fulfilling.
Juliet: Do you think part of success of the bloggers such as yourself is the actual weakness of magazines?
Marianna: No, I think they go hand in hand. I don’t think magazines are going anywhere, but I do think the outlets that work with the influencers and bloggers instead of against them will be the ones that readers gravitate towards.
Juliet: How effective has Social Media been in marketing your blog?
Marianna: It is everything. Social media is a way to grab my readers every single day and push new content to them. They might not head to the site daily, but they do follow me and see my photos everyday. It is a platform to constantly keep me and my blog on their mind.
Juliet: Who are some of your favorite Fashion or Beauty products?
Marianna: Armani luminous silk foundation is a product I cannot live without and I always apply it with a beautyblender, it is the most genius tool that no one has been able to replicate. My current fashion favorites are platform Saint Laurent sandals and a velvet Gucci bag.
Juliet: What's in your makeup bag?
Marianna: Lipliner, Kopari lip love, Oribe dry texture spray and Charlotte Tilbury powder.
Juliet: What is next for Marianna?
Marianna: You'll just have to wait and see.
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