Blogging sensation Em Ford caught the attention of the beauty community and beyond with her evocative YouTube video 'You Look Disgusting'. The video, that contains hurtful comments left on social media when Ford posted images of her acne scarred face, has now had over 22 million views. Since then, she has become something of an industry sensation and even counts Kylie Jenner as a fan. She continues to post makeup and skincare tutorials on her social channels and website My Pale Skin.
As a fan of New Zealand-based brand Antipodes, Ford was recently in Australia to help launch its new range of natural lipsticks. BD sat down with her to discuss what it takes to make it as a successful beauty influencer and why honesty is so important.
How has the blogging industry changed since you have started?
I guess the one thing that has changed for me is seeing how many amazingly skilled young teenagers are at doing makeup and how incredible their skills are. When I was a teenager my makeup was terrible, absolutely terrible. Everybody just laughed at me. Now I see people who are the same age that I was and they have such amazing skills. I think that’s the thing that changed the most, is how young and knowledgeable people are.
What affect do you think bare face videos have on viewers?
I think honesty is the main thing. Just being open about it because it’s so taboo and that's ridiculous. A lot of people don’t realise that 80 per cent of us will be affected by acne. I think the more you have that conversation and share pictures of yourself without makeup, the more people will realise that we’re all human. It’s finding a healthy balance, if you like wearing loads of makeup then do it, but if you don’t want to then embrace it. Good for you, there’s no right or wrong way and I think people need to realise that.
Viral videos have exploded. What do you think people want to hear from beauty bloggers now?
Again, just honesty. If I don’t like a product then I'll say so. I'm always testing beauty products, a lot of them don’t work so I’m not going to lie about it, so I think more of that.
