Now, before I begin, I'm going to warn you. I'm not traditionally a person who does 'resolutions' every year. While I AM a very goal-oriented person (I DIYed my own bullet journal, dont'cha know?), I don't believe it wasting time. If something isn't working out for me, I tend to pivot. I'm always moving forward so if I make LONG term goals that don't agree with me, I just change my entire direction and go somewhere else!

So you're not going to find any "I promise to blog 3x a week" or "I want to upload 1 YouTube a week" or "Hit 10,000 Instagram fans by the end of the year" because numbers also don't always reflect what we want to improve or what we want our lives to look like. I'm trying to make my goals ones that improve me PERSONALLY, not just the blog. I'm not a brand, or a business after all, I'm just a gal who likes makeup :)

But the one thing I DO know about resolutions is that accountability is very important, especially telling others about your goals to make sure they keep you motivated. And working with others and asking for help is also how you can accomplish these kinds of goals, so I want to be up front about my weaknesses and how I want the blog to grow as I improve!

Thus, I present my 2017 Beauty Blogging Goals:

• Improve my photography skills. I literally have MULTIPLE cameras, tripods and lighting set-ups at my disposal but I'm not taking advantage of the tech I have to make good photos! I don't know much about photography and get overwhelmed and then, well, do nothing! So I want to use my ring-light for swatches, my light box for product, and test all the cameras at my disposal, not just my handy Nikon.

• Create more posts from makeup already in my collection. Some of my favourite posts from last year were highlights from my beauty inventory, instead of just new things I've bought or received. So I want to do more of that this year. Especially since many of my favourite and regularly used beauty products are permanent items that people might want to go and find themselves.

• More beauty looks, or beauty looks in general. I'm not sure why I've never really done this. I think it's a combination of insecurity (my wing is bad! My contour is bad! Aaaah) and, more likely, laziness. I rarely get my camera out when I'm gussied up, so I need to figure out a way to set-up my office in a way that I can make impromptu photo shoots really easy to set up.

• More nail posts. I've gotten lazy with my nail posts, I LOVE painting my nails and taking pretty photos of them, I really should do it more often! Plus it also makes me use more from my collection instead of the regulars that I usually go with.

• Video. Video. Video. I'm not sure how many of my readers know this, but I literally spend 5-6 hours of my day in video or in-person meetings. I'm always in meetings or leading calls and somehow I'm afraid of a little YouTube channel? Pfft. 2017 is the year to get over this.

I have a few other mild goals with regards to growth and data to help me pitch to bigger brands, but I'm going to keep those close to the chest for now. I know that if I hit a certain amount of posts by spring, I'm going to spend some money on custom-branded images and a redesign, but let's see how these things go first. ;)

What are your goals for 2017?