Meet me Mondays with Ksenia – @allmyshittymakeup

Welcome back to the first Meet me Mondays of the year!

I had one planned for last month, but the person I reached out to never got back to me so…

I am interviewing Ksenia today, which some of you may know from IG as @allmyshittymakeup! I only came across her account…some time last year. What I appreciate about her account is her transparency and how real she is. I found it quite hard to come across honest content creators, because people always get caught up in the numbers, and as a result, they dissolve their honesty. Of course that’s not the case for everyone, there’s always a few people here and there. Anyways, let’s get to it!

Tell us a bit about yourself 

My name is Ksenia, I’m 25 and I’m originally from Vladivostok, Russia although I’ve been living in Sydney, Australia for the past 8 years. I own two rescue cats Bagel and Donut, work as an IT recruiter and hoard skincare in my spare time😅

What are three products you’re loving at the moment

• Headbands! – I’ve re-discovered the headband trend and I can’t describe how good is the feeling of your hair not flying into your face! Besides, they help you look very trendy with minimum effort.
• My M.A.C bronzer – It’s very controversial for me because I hated bronzers with a passion for years! However, since I’ve started enjoying fake tan I started to change my opinion on bronzers. Again, it helps to make my face effortlessly glowing and healthy
• Scented candles – my new Sol De Janeiro one in particular! I love candles and hoard them like I hoard face masks and anything that smells like caramel gets a big yes from me.

What I like about you/your account is how honest you are about everything. Why do you think transparency is so important, especially when it comes to content creating?

I am a very honest person, which since the moment I learnt how to talk got me in trouble. When I started my account, I didn’t expect anything serious from it and didn’t care about monetising my content, therefore, didn’t give a 💩 about my language, being nice to brands I dislike and commenting on people’s stuff just to get a like and comment back.

It’s quite liberating when you are not reliant on anyone’s opinion for content creation. I constantly see creators on Instagram that are desperately trying to please every brand that sends them PR or jumping on every single trend and hashtag to stay relevant. It makes me really sad. It just be really tough to restrict your creator freedom in order to receive more free product.

Another thing that bugs me is people not disclosing PR and brand collaborations! I use Instagram as a platform to find creative inspiration and good skincare and makeup advice. And when people praise mediocre products it annoys me to the core! Like, I can do my own research and not buy a crappy product, but lots of followers think that their favourite blogger opinion is 100% correct and then get upset when they end up with a useless and mediocre product. It’s also annoying when brands like Function Beauty decide to do a huge marketing campaign and my feed suddenly gets filled with hundreds of “honest” reviews that even use the same phrases to describe the products.

I always disclose gifted items and brand collaborations. It’s important for me that my audience maintains their trust in me and my opinion. I am sure that brands also prefer to work with influencer who don’t jump on every opportunity and maintain a healthy relationship with their audience. It’s very easy to lose people’s trust by compromising your integrity once, it’s much more difficult to gain it back.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I don’t even know what I’m having for breakfast, yet alone what will happen in 5 years!😅 Blog-wise, I hope I gain enough exposure to open up the door for a dream of mine which is opening a beauty salon here in Australia. Beauty industry here is unfortunately way behind my home country and I’d love to change that. I believe that my blog will enable me to connect with the right people and brands to fulfil my dream.

What are you most looking forward to this year? 

Moving in with my partner! We are moving in together mid year and it’s the scariest, yet the most exciting thing for me in 2020. I am also really excited for my mum to come to Sydney in April. My whole family is back in Russia, so I haven’t seen my mum for a few years.

Top 3 stores for your favourite beauty buys?

• Mecca – Hands down. I’ve never had a single problem in-store or with my online purchases. They have the loveliest assistants that actually give a shit and I never had bad advice from them. Mecca is also a leader when it comes to accessing all the trendy niche brands we see all around Insta
• Priceline – They’ve really upped their game with the brands they sell and it’s just my happy place. When I was a jobless student with a 5$ a day budget I could still come to Priceline and buy something. It’s a store that caters for any budget and that’s what I like most about it.
• Boniik – I love k-beauty and Boniik has the biggest selection of my favourite brands. I enjoy brick and mortar stores more than online shopping as I like chatting to shop assistants and trialling what I buy, looking at the packaging. Boniik has a few stores around Sydney which is really convenient as well.

One beauty trend that needs to stop in 2020?

Devil lips! OMFG have you seen this abomination of a trend?
It started in Russia and it’s basically putting Hyaluronic fillers in your lips, but in a weird way so they’d look all wavy and demonic.
This trend is a big no from me!

Something your followers may not know about you?

My followers know A LOT about me. I am very open and comfortable sharing everything from my favourite food to my mental health struggles. What they don’t know about me? Maybe that I can assemble and disassemble an AK-47, they taught me this in high school!

Care to share a skincare secret?

An anti-bruise ointment works great as an SOS treatment for puffy eyes. I mix a bit with the moisturiser and apply a thick layer under my eyes for 5 minutes. In the absence of good eye patches it’s a damn saviour!

Where can we find you on social media?

My beauty insta is @allmyshittymakeup and I also have an Instagram for my cats which is (surprise!) called @allmyshittycats
All my other social media is strictly reserved for family and friends or work interactions.

That’s it for this weeks blog post, I hope you enjoyed learning more about Ksenia, don’t forget to check our her account, you won’t regret it! See you back here next week for a new blog post!

With love,