Blogging | Tips and Tricks

Hello Guys. Thank god it's Friday - where's this week going?

In today's post I am going to run down some tips and tricks in how to find your blog, make it personal to you and how to attract your following.

Now you might be thinking - "Charlie, you've only been blogging since December?". Correct, I have, but I have been reading and following blogs/bloggers for almost two to three years now so along the way I have found what makes a blog worth reading - including my very own.

Tip One: "Find your niche!"

Every blogger has there niche, whether it be fashion, personal style, make up, food, music and so forth. When reading mine you've realised my blogger has a series of categories such as mens fashion, lifestyle posts, music and travel.

Bloggers need to find there niche so they know what to post about and what theme to stick to. I know having a mens fashion blog that I can't talk about horse riding (prime example I know) as it will only just throw you and your followers off - yes it might be an interesting post but this isn't what your followers have followed you for.

When finding your niche chose something you enjoy outside of blogging, so that when it comes to writing your blog post it's not something that you'll get bored of.

Two Hundred

Happy Thursday - how's everyone doing?

I am happy to announce in todays post I have hit the big two hundred on my blog - yes I have hit two hundred followers on my Bloglovin' page. I initially started this blog back in December of last year and I have found it incredible how every thing is going since starting my blog. 

No matter how many followers I earn, blogging will always be about fun for me - I started this blog as a hobby which it still is but to gain a growing following each day is incredible and makes blogging that little bit more exciting. 

If you haven't followed my blog already then feel free to follow my Bloglovin' page here

To everyone that's followed thank you and I hope you've enjoyed my content so far, also feel free to recommend my blog to others as I would really appreciate that.

The Ripped Denim Jacket | Loot

The denim jacket. Everyone has one. Everyone who doesn't - needs one.

Denim Jackets were once popular in the 80's and 90's with hard core colourful punks and Irish pop stars (B*Witched remember them?) rocking them but I have found they've never lost their appeal.

Prior to owning a denim jacket I have always saw them as the answer to the double denim horror but how I was wrong. Denim Jackets have taken a worthy place of approval in my wardrobe and I find them the perfect piece of clothing to mix and match with. 

I have owned several denim jackets and my current favourite is the ripped Levi's denim jacket from my local vintage store Loot in Bristol. I have unconditional love for vintage stores and always find that they are my favourite stores alongside the high-street. I have been a loyal customer of Loot for almost a year now so I know their store is best when it comes to wanting to add to my vintage clothing collection.

What's so appealing about Loot is that not only there choices in clothing but their unbelievable prices, I was lucky enough to grab this denim jacket for an incredible £22 which is a great price to pay for something like this. Denim jackets tend to range from £30-50 so being able to get one at this price was something I wasn't expecting.

The Instax

Today's Monday and that means it's a new week and a new blog post so without further or do I bring you today's post.

We live in era of digital photography where we take photos on our phone and upload them to every social media platform for the world to see but what makes that any fun?

Yes I'm guilty of a selfie or two so I can capture memories between friends and family but with the introduction of the Instax Mini my opinions changed. If you don't know what the Fujfilm Instax Mini is, it's the reinvention of what was the classic Polaroid - the instant photography device that was at it's peak in the 80's and 90's where you could capture pictures with a single button and that would last years on square shaped photographic paper, but after the creation of SLR's and camera phones we saw the idea of instant photography nothing but a stone age trend.

Polaroids were always something that I thought were far cool beyond belief, the idea of capturing a day out, a holiday, a memory in one pint-sized photo was so exciting. 

Then along came my 18th birthday where I was handed the Instax Mini 8 as a gift from my sister. I opened the box in excitement knowing that my room was soon going to full of little photos that I have taken with this vintage-esque device. The little photographic pod in matte black was coming with me everywhere, from Paris to days out with friends where I took photos to remember for a life time.

Favourite Blogger Reads

Hey guys - how's everyone doing? 

In today's post I am going to run down some of my favourite blogger reads of most recent. Despite blogging for just a few months now I have always had a love for bloggers for so many years now and they're the main reason as to why I have started up my very own blog.

In this post I am going feature a wide range of bloggers whether they be high profile or if they're just starting out. All the Bloggers I have chosen are ones I read on a daily basis so if you have any that I think I've missed out then feel free to leave your blogger recommendations in the comment section below.

So without further or do: these are my favourite blogger reads.

Steve Booker

Where do I even begin? Just like we consider Michael Jackson the King of Pop and Elvis the King of Rock and Roll, I consider Steve Booker the King of Mens Fashion (can we make this a thing?). 

I have been following Steve's blog and YouTube for almost a year now and I have been a loyal reader ever since. Steve was one of the main inspirations as to why I started a blog, his eye for style and photography is everything that I love.

My Must Hear Tracklist | Spotify

Hello Guys - How's everyone doing? In today's post I am going to rundown some of my favourite songs that I've been listening to on Spotify and collect them all and put them in one great playlist for you to listen too.

Spotify is incredible. Hands down. I never joined the bandwagon prior until late December where I thought it would be a great investment and it sure was - the possibility to access all my favourite music and listen to it on the go was extremely enticing and it couldn't help myself joining the Premium subscription. 

What makes Spotify great is that you access to music of all genres and era's, you have the worlds largest music catalogue in your palms which is brilliant.

Blogging Goals

In today's post I am going to run down some of my blogging goals for 2015. If you didn't already know prior to my current blog I have been blogging on and off for under a year now. I initially started this blog back in early 2014 and posted frequently for six months.

The first time blogging was so exciting, I entered a world I wasn't so familiar with but I knew that with my passion for writing and style I knew that this was a place I would feel most at ease. 

However after having no time and feeling as if my posts weren't as good as they could be I started fresh this December with a new look, new way of writing and the biggest amount of passion to start something again that I adore: which is blogging. 

So without further or do I am going to rundown some of the most important goals that I want to achieve with my blog this year:

The Suede Desert Boots | Next

In today's post I am going to introduce you to a new piece in my wardrobe, the brown suede desert boots from Next. What makes this exciting is that these are the first pair of smart/casual shoes I have owned in a long time and prior to this I was a fond believer that Converse were the perfect casual shoe for every outfit (oh how I was wrong)

To be honest shoes are my least favourite item to buy: I have always found myself living in Converses every single day as these were what I was most comfortable in, this is until I discovered the desert boot which I instantly fell in love with.

One of my style icons, Harry Styles is forever seen in boots such as Desert Boots and this made them that ever so more enticing. Next, which is the store I work in had a range of Desert Boots that instantly caught my eye, they had a range of three colours from cream, brown and black and I knew that I could style the brown pair the best. The shoes cost £48 pounds which I thought was a worthy price to pay for a nice pair of shoes.

Styling these shoes is a lot of fun to do, mixing and matching different items of clothing to wear with the shoes was something I thoroughly enjoyed. I took a lot of inspiration from Harry Styles wardrobe and paired the shoes with some black skinny jeans and a basic white crew neck tee shirt and I found this was such an effortlessly fashionable look which I adore.

The Vintage Dunlop Barrel Bag | Topman

In today's post I am going to introduce you to one of my new favourite pieces in my wardrobe - the vintage Dunlop barrel bag I bought in the Topman sale a few weeks ago.

With my style ever changing and growing I decided to treat myself to a new sort of bag, as always throughout my life I'd find myself having a rucksack or dual string bag to use on the go but the rising popularity of the man bag has given me a new outlook on style.

The man bag has been on the rise since high profile figures such as vlogger Jim Chapman, singer Harry Styles and model Oliver Cheshire have been using them. Instead of having a normal brief case style man bag I thought to stick to my vintage-esque roots and get a vintage Dunlop barrel bag, now I have seen the barrel bag been worn by lots of Instagram followers and I couldn't help by joining the bandwagon myself and get one.

I discovered the bag on a recent trip to my local shopping complex that is Cabot Circus in Bristol and the £20 price tag in Topman couldn't keep me from throwing out my wallet and purchasing the item in a instant rush. 

The Oversized Wool Coat | Banana Republic

Surprise. I'm back.

After a month away from blogging I have finally found the time to do what I love. With quitting College and entering the world of work I have been nothing but busy but today I had my first day off in a long while and I decided to whip out the camera, throw on a wool coat and enter what was the windiest day in Weston.

But enough about that, today I wanted to show you one of my new favourite pieces in my ever growing wardrobe - my new oversized black wool coat from Banana Republic. I have loved oversized wool coats for a while now since I saw one of my style icons Harry Styles wear it out and about not long ago and ever since then I have been after the perfect one to add to my wardrobe.

With a much lower budget than Styles I had to search high and low for a cheaper equivalent of his perfect coat. Doing this I took a day trip to Bath before Christmas where I came across a little store that I wasn't so familiar with, this being Banana Republic. Now I'm an advocate for stores such as Topman, All Saints and Urban Outfitters but I expanded my horizons and tried out a store I wasn't so familiar with.