7/14/2022 0 Comments Mutually Creative: @ellessentially_ -- Playfulness in Beauty, Content Creator vs. Influencer, and (Content Creators’) Workers’ RightsIn this new series, I interview one of my internet mutuals about their makeup, fashion, or whatever cool, creative thing it is that they do. While some of them may consider themselves to be "influencers," many of them are everyday people who happen to have a skill and a hobby with a platform. However they self-identify, let's dig a little deeper into their creativity and style in "Mutually Creative."
Out of all my Instagram mutuals, Elle of @ellesentially_ is one of the most "professional" as a content creator. With an impressive resume of beauty brand partnerships including Glow Recipe (skincare), Cirque Colors (nail polish), and L.A. Girl Cosmetics (makeup), she has built up a portfolio of work which she was actually paid real, American dollars to produce -- because exposure does not pay Sallie Mae.
Elle is probably best recognized for her macro shots and satisfying texture close-ups, but I also know her as someone who advocates for fair treatment of creators from beauty brands. Every so often, she will post on her IG story the exact rate information she sends to brands, putting on for public display the exact dollar amount she charges for content. From across the country via Zoom, we talked about being playful with beauty and beauty content, the role of content creators in marketing and consumerism, and her efforts in trying to get paid fairly by brands for her work.
I had no idea how much skincare was available and the nuances of ingredients. I was just throwing everything I could at my face. The closest I had was like Neutrogena or Clean & Clear washes, like the grapefruit wash from Neutrogena; that was the closest I had to "advanced" skincare. So in, yeah, I'd say like my first year of college, I started exploring cleansers and more skincare, like moisturizing. Even at that point, I don't even think I was wearing sunscreen consistently whatsoever.
It was really around like 2017, 2018 [that] it started becoming more of a passion, and then I started my [Instagram] page late 2019. So in my first couple years of college, that's when I started realizing that this was a whole world of information and products and brands that were all doing different things.
"[Makeup] is unserious to me ... it really more feels like being able to play with stuff on my face and seeing what looks cool rather than the approach to makeup as a science of making yourself look 'perfected' or 'fixing' things about the way you look."
When I first started out, I was actually -- I think I was "ellepanning" because when I first started out, I was just creating a separate account to follow panning accounts, which [are] accounts that track the progress of the use of their own beauty collections and [that] show them using up their products. I thought that was really interesting, and so that's why I started my account. I was like, "Oh, I can do that too. I want to practice looking into my collection.
So as a panning account, there's tons of flatlays, which is what I started off doing; [it] was a ton of flatlays of my products, of what I used for one face of makeup. It started as a much more methodical tracking account, and that soon developed into a photography style of a lot of white backgrounds and flatlays. After I transitioned from just taking photos with my phone camera to taking photos with my camera camera, I started exploring more macros, more colorful -- well, I think I've always been colorful -- but I think more close-up things, more stylized shoots, stuff like that, but it's always been whatever I think looks cool. For the past year or so, I've really been loving using the macro lens to capture textures and different products, so a lot of my content's that.
"The fact of the matter is I'm sure I could be described as an 'influencer' -- it's just that I think the assumptions of what that position is ... I don't want to highlight as the focus of my page because I don't see that as the focus of my page."
GM: Would you consider yourself to be an influencer; would you call yourself that?
ELLE: I try not to. I try to say "content creator" more because I feel like the point of my page is not to convince people to buy things; it's to create content surrounding the stuff that I like and stuff that I think other people might like or creating stuff that I think looks cool. The fact of the matter is I'm sure I could be described as an "influencer" -- it's just that I think the assumptions of what that position is, and the fact that [being an influencer is] so ingrained in marketing, and consumerism, and hyperconsumerism, and pushing sales that I don't want to highlight as the focus of my page because I don't see that as the focus of my page. I see the focus of my page as a place where I can talk about cool things and make cool photos. GM: How did you make that transition into doing paid work [with beauty brands]? ELLE: I'm trying to remember now, and I think it all happened very "organically" ... I had started receiving PR here and there, and I actually got invited to a Sephora program in which they'll send you a gift card to buy and then review a product, so it's not exactly being paid. That was kind of all [I'd] had for a minute, and then, at some point, I think Zitsticka -- this was like a one-time event, but I think it might have been them -- they reached out to create a post for them. I know I did a photo and a Reel, but I can't remember the terms of our agreement, but they just said, "Do you want to work with us?" And I said, "Sure, let's create something," and that was winter of 2020. Then, it just built very slowly into a couple other people reaching out to me.
"It only hurts others to be secretive about how to progress, how to ensure you get paid well."
It's part of this much bigger change in society, I'm hoping, where the discussion of money is no longer as taboo as it has been. It only hurts others to be secretive about how to progress, how to ensure you get paid well -- especially as women, especially for minorities. That's systemically how you continue getting underpaid: you don't talk about it, and you don't hear from other people how much they're getting paid.
So it's crucial for me to see other people getting paid what they get paid because I get to understand, "Oh, I could actually charge this much," and not feel delusional about it, especially if you're representing yourself. There's so much doubt and imposter syndrome that goes into determining that you should actually get paid for the labor that you do that being reassured from others is so valuable, and having the advice of others and transparency from others is so valuable. I just want to contribute to that.
Graphic courtesy of @ellessentially_
GM: Considering you study marketing in school, so you're on the business side of it, but then, in practice, as a creator, you are on the other side in which you are the person that marketing people are working with, do you feel like that gives you a certain perspective?
ELLE: I think it does, but I don't think it's that revolutionary from the understanding most other people have. Marketing's a fairly simple field: you have a thing, and you want this thing to reach the right audiences so that those who enjoy it will pay for it, and you can find more people who like it to pay for it, right? It's a pretty cut and dry thing. So I don't think I have any real trade secrets that I've been like, "Ooh, I know something they don't!" I think you understand that the people you're working with are just working for a brand, and you can understand why a brand might say, "Oh, we only have this much budget," because a lot of marketing is what can you do in your budget, you know? Then as a creator, you understand if you're making an ad, or if you're making something for a brand, you want to appeal to people. You don't want to be disingenuous at all because that's actually like poison to marketing. Truly, you want to be able to appeal to people and say, "This is what this is. If this is something you like, you'll probably like it." It's a very simple field, in my opinion, but I'm also not a working marketer; I'm a working photographer. That's just how I see it; I don't think I have any huge secrets. I think you just understand that brands want people to like them, and that's their point of view -- they want [creators] to get more people interested in what they have to offer.
Follow @ellessentially_ on Instagram, and follow me (@glowymino), too!
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about @glowyminoI have dry skin and very dry and textured lips. I also have a medium-light skintone (somewhere in the realm of NC25-30) with strong warm yellow/olive undertones. I have a tendency to prefer a glowy, lightweight base and color cosmetics in shades of a warm undertone. Read more about me in the about page! Archives
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