María Monedero is an actress, advertising model, photographer and creator of the beauty and fashion blog Rebeautys.com. The Canary Islander created this website four years ago, where she regularly talks about make-up, hairdressing, photography, fashion and cosmetics. Her visitors will find many interesting articles about the cosmetics sector: ingredients, safety, new products, new trends in the sector... As a result of her innate curiosity, María manages, through her posts, to bring the readers of Rebeautys.com closer to the latest news in the sector and transmits, with a simple language and far from technicalities, the secrets of cosmetic ingredients and the keys to their safety. Today at GTF M. Camps we have interviewed her to get to know her, learn more about her beauty blog, and ask her how she became interested in the world of cosmetics.
You studied Business Administration and Management, but in the “More about María Monedero” section of your beauty blog you offer collaborations as a model, photographer, make-up artist and blogger... How do you manage to move in so many circles?
Actually the hard thing for me is not to do it! If you get your creative mindset going, one thing leads to another. When you like stories from a young age, you become interested in reading, writing and acting. One day you realise that you can tell stories or sensations also with images, and you draw or photograph, or even pose in front of the camera... And when you want to perfect those photographs, you end up getting interested in make-up and cosmetics.
At least that's how it has been for me. Each and every one of the things I enjoy the most leads me to try others. Mind you, if I could have 50-hour days I wouldn't say no... (wink).
Would you be able to pinpoint the moment when you became interested in the world of cosmetics?
Mmm... I always say it was through photography, but on reflection that's not quite true. Photography led me to make-up, and that was much later.
If I want to be honest, I have to go back to the age of thirteen or fourteen. I had a tremendous outbreak of really nasty acne and there was no way to cure it. Until we found the right cream. And it turned out that it wasn't a medical cream like the ones I had been prescribed until then: it was a cosmetic cream that was able to soothe the side effects of the previous ones.
After that, how could I not be interested in cosmetics and everything related to it? Although, of course, I didn't take that interest seriously until much later, in my thirties and with the blog...
Do you think it is essential to know how to interpret cosmetic labels to be a good make-up artist?
Actually, no (laughs). I don't think it's essential, because for many years there have been many good make-up artists who have managed to build a cosmetic kit through trial and error, trying one product after another until they find the ones that work perfectly for them and for their clients.
However, I believe that the path of knowing what they carry saves a lot of time, and makes it much easier to adapt to new products, trends and market requirements.
Nowadays things evolve so fast that no one can keep up with everything by trial and error. It is true that the Internet helps a lot, but it also takes a lot of time. In particular, finding sources with good judgement and that go beyond the simple “it worked out well for me”.
María Monedero, self-make-up session. Source: Rebeautys
What does the beauty and fashion blog, Rebeautys.com, mean to you?
Well, the truth is that it gives me mixed feelings, but the good ones win by a landslide... (laughs).
On the one hand, offline I sometimes have a hard time when I introduce myself as a beauty and fashion blogger. The “title” is very misleading and some people associate the word with empty heads who only think about potentines and little outfits. On the other hand, I know very well that there are many bloggers, youtubers, instagramers... who know a lot about what they are talking about, and it's enough to see their work (their photos, their texts, their impressions) to know that they are not stupid at all... And I'd like to think that I'm not either (laughs).
Fashions are sociology and a very special form of expression, cosmetics are useful for everyone, well understood, and styling, make-up and well-done content are almost an art. But I'm afraid it's too late, the “blogging” community has not known how to “sell itself” and, outside the online community, the San Benito is chasing us.
On the positive side, blogging has given me opportunities I would never have dreamed of before. I would never have imagined that so many people would be interested in what I have to say. That I would attend some of the events I have attended. That some brands would take a first step to make themselves known because of me or that I would be introduced to professionals like the top of a pine tree when it comes to cosmetics.
Besides, I have an enormous curiosity and eagerness to learn, and the beauty blog has helped me to grow in this sense too. And if that wasn't enough, it connects several of my hobbies: make-up, photography, writing... I love working on Rebeautys.com and its contents so much that when I start working on it, time flies by.
What sources of information do you use to write articles on cosmetics and cosmetic ingredients?
This one is difficult (laughs). The truth is that I combine Internet sources (there are people online who give information of tremendous quality, not just anyone...), specialised sources such as books or specialised articles and lots and lots of common sense.
What I am looking for in these articles is for people with more “normal” knowledge to understand how cosmetics and their ingredients work. I want them to have arguments to defend themselves against misleading products, preconceived ideas and urban legends; I don't think you need a degree in chemistry or a professional formulator to do that. For that, the best way to explain it does not always come from reading popular science articles. Sometimes, the key is to simplify the idea as much as possible, to see how other people explain it... Or to make little drawings, which I sometimes do (laughs). If you don't believe me, see how I explain what surfactants and antioxidants are in my blog.
But yes: I always, always try to check what I write in several sources, because sometimes I find real nonsense to sell a product or idea; it takes a lot of work but I can assure you that the end result is worth it.
An image of María Monedero taken from her Beauty Blog. Source: Rebeautys
You are present on the big social networks: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+... Do you use them mainly as a tool to promote your blog or do they also work on their own with different content?
With all of them I try to make the content of my blog known. That's why I have so many: I want everyone to be able to follow me on the network where they feel most comfortable, no one should need to enter a new social network to follow a single blogger. But there are two networks where I do publish special content and not just blog content: Twitter and Instagram.
At Twitter I don't just share my articles, in fact I try to share all the excellent content I find on “my topics” from other people. I believe in the philosophy of sharing and spreading, and I don't think I lose visibility because of that, rather I think we all add up. And there are some very good people out there...
At Instagram, On the other hand, I try to share more of the visual side of what I do and show a bit more of myself. That's the thing about being my own photographic model, that in the end I have to post photos of myself (laughs), but I promise it's not a “look, another selfie of me” type of account hahaha.
Q: Can you describe the typical reader of the beauty and fashion blog Rebeautys.com?
Yes, of course. I would say that they are full-fledged women, between 25 and 40 years old, who already know how to distinguish advertisements from reality and who enjoy taking care of themselves. They don't want to be cheated and they want to know what they are putting on their face or hair. And they want to be able to choose their cosmetics so that they are the best they can afford for themselves (not for the model in the advertisement), so they read about them and get a lot of information before buying anything. And of course, as they are women of means, they can always do their research online on blogs like mine (laughs).
I know many of them directly. I know how they live, what their dreams are, or what their wedding dress was like, to give a few examples. My email and my networks are always ready to talk to them; they usually write to me to ask me something and we often end up talking about everything else (laughs). And I love that, because it means I write for real women.
Q: What are the most interesting topics for readers of the Rebeautys.com beauty blog?
A: Oh, it is difficult to answer here, because after more than four years we have talked about many things... and most of them are still very topical. To name a few, we can talk about cosmetic ingredients (such as parabens or silicones, talc, vaseline...), cosmetics (how sunscreens, make-up or cleansers work), make-up (many professionals read my articles on how to teach self-make-up courses, but I also have tutorials, reports on interesting topics such as facecharts....), cosmetic reviews... I also talk about customs when buying online from the Canary Islands, and about Tenerife and sustainable fashion from anywhere in the world. It's a lot of topics (laughs) but in such a long time we've been able to talk about so many things...
Q: The Cosmetics Regulation works for the whole of the EU, so all products that meet the requirements enjoy free circulation in the common market. However, in your blog you explain that, when it comes to distribution, there are often problems in the Canary Islands when it comes to buying cosmetic products online. Why are many of the cosmetic products we have on the mainland not distributed? Or in other words, how do the borders of the Canary Islands differ from those of the rest of Spain and Europe?
Oops... it's a complicated subject, to be honest (laughs). In short, as we are so far away in the Canary Islands, we have some very different taxes to the rest of Spain. So we still have customs with the rest of the world, even though we are part of the European Union. To give you an idea, we even have customs with the mainland of our own country!
This means that trading with places outside the Canary Islands can be complicated. Of course, these differences can be dealt with, and in reality for a good tax and international trade professional it shouldn't be too complicated. But of course, customs creates a nuisance for both customers and businesses who don't know what they are doing. Both are very uninformed, because for example they do not know that the difference between the percentages of our taxes can benefit them, and a lot. But as we Canary Islanders are a minority, many traders from outside the islands choose to stop selling to the Canaries and that's it....
Q: Can you offer our readers from the Canary Islands any tips on how to make their online cosmetics shopping go smoothly?
This is actually quite difficult. As customs can't check every package properly, it's never quite clear what you're going to pay. However, in the blog I give tips on how to save the customs fees and explain how it all works in detail. I recommend those of you who are interested in the subject to take a look at the section “Online to the Canary Islands”. If I try to answer you here we could spend two weeks talking (laughs).
Source: Rebeautys.
Q: And finally: What are your plans for the future? Where is the Beauty and Fashion Blog evolving to? Rebeautys.com?
You know how you start, but you don't always know how you finish (laughs).
The truth is that even I am surprised at the number of followers I have reached and I can't stop thanking them for their enormous support for what I do on the beauty and fashion blog Rebeautys.com. But among brands I am still quite unknown, and I would love to gain contacts in that sense.
But in any case I am content to keep growing in articles, quality and readers. I live from a normal job in a normal schedule, but if I'm honest, despite the fatigue, I continue with this because I love it. So I don't know what will happen, but I assure you that it would have to be something very big for me to stop.
You know what? I think there's Rebeautys.com for a while.