Design Showcase // Lovely Little Luxuries

A few days ago me and Ana Ina from Lovely Little Luxuries launched the re-design of her blog. It was something that we worked on together for quite some time, we tossed ideas back and forth and did everything so that she would be as pleased with the new design as possible, after all we all understand that undying love for our blogs, right? So slowly but surely we did, and we are both pleased with how it turned out. As she's a beauty blogger (albeit with hints of lifestyle, fashion and personal posts) we opted for something a bit more on the girly side, though still keeping it as simple as possible. We went with a nice touch of floral in the header, and kept the colours in the peachy, orange-pinky shades.

Yesterday I met up with Ana Ina in one of the busiest coffee shops around town, right next to the river. I was worried I wouldn't be able to spot her right away but luckily was greeted with waves from her and her family. Safe to say that I couldn't have missed them even if I tried, thank god. Of course Ana Ina was keeping it in the style of the new design and opted for a lovely floral black dress, some black tights and beautiful suede shoes. Her hair was looking amazing in the indirect sunlight, as she had them let down in all of their majestic glory. We all slowly sipped on our coffee's and had a little chit-chat while also discussing future work career plans, which is always an interesting topic. After a short while, me and Ana Ina remained alone and it was at that point that the interview began. The coffee shop remained as crowded as when we met up, the streets behind us filled with people enjoying a walk by the river. And our interview slowly unfolded. 

When did you start blogging and what was your motivation? 

My first Lovely Little Luxuries post was published on 25. January 2013 (to be honest, that wasn’t the first ever post on this blog but I deleted everything before it so let’s pretend it was) but in reality I began blogging years before. First I kept a few online journals where I used to write my thoughts, poetry, stories and pretty much everything that came to mind. Later came book blogging but when Uni started there was so much literature to read for classes that I lacked time to read anything else so I eventually deleted that blog (I am thinking about starting a new one but we’ll see how that goes). In 2012 I got into reading beauty and fashion related blogs and after a while started thinking about writing my own - so I did. I am a writer by soul and I’ve always enjoyed writing, no matter what it was about. I saw Lovely Little Luxuries as a chance to combine it with my other passions, like make-up, fashion and lifestyle, while sharing everything with like-minded people all over the internet. 

 How do you think your blogging and the rest of the blogging industry changed over time? 

That’s a hard one… I guess at the start I only wrote beauty related posts and avoided anything personal - I even blogged under a nickname and wouldn’t dream of posting a picture of my whole face online. That’s definitely the biggest change - now I write under my real name and am not afraid to show my face or write about personal topics, no matter what they are. You have to be able to see the person behind words to make a connection and really like their work, at least I do when I’m reading other blogs so it seems only fair to show myself on mine. My posts now vary from beauty and style to lifestyle and personal, there’s a mix of everything and I like it better than I did before. I think my writing has evolved, my pictures became better and I got a lot more confident through the journey than I was before. When I began reading beauty blogs and started blogging myself there was far less blogs out there, especially ones based in Slovenia. There was quite a few big and somewhat famous ones, but the real thing was just starting. Now it seems like everyone has their blog and there’s literally so many all over the internet that it’s hard to keep track. Blogging world is growing, expanding and changing daily. There are amazing people who do it for passion and unfortunately there’s also a lot of people who do it for free stuff, at least lately. There wasn’t as much of those when I searched for my first blogs to read. One big difference here in Slovenia are definitely brands, which really started reaching out to bloggers and working with them. I know that’s nothing new around the world, but it’s new here. 

Tell us a bit about yourself, your blog and where do you see your blog heading in the future. 

My name is Ana Ina but I usually go by Ina. I am an almost graduate from Comparative Literature and Philosophy, starting my Masters in less than two weeks. My biggest loves are reading and writing and I hope to be a published author one day (also work as a journalist and blogger in my spare time). Other passions include animals (I made a hobby of saving stray cats), music (which I can enjoy daily thanks to my guitar-playing Boy), ethics, aesthetics and, of course, beauty and fashion. I love to spend way too much time with my friends, drinking coffee and talking about everything that comes to mind. There’s also this nerdy part of me that loves video games, fantasy series and everything Harry Potter related. 

Lovely Little Luxuries is my little place on the internet where I share everything I love with people who like reading it. There’s a ton of beauty reviews, swatches and make-up related posts, but also some lifestyle oriented where I show you a day in my life, where I like to spend my time or what I’ve been up to. Every now and then I throw in an outfit of the day or two, but I really should get better at it since I tend to neglect it. I hope in the future my blog will continue to grow and evolve, that I’ll always be able to find inspiration in things around me and incorporate it in my writing. We’ll see where the road takes us - after all, not knowing is the most exciting part of it. 

What is your blogging process like, has it changed in time and how? 

Usually when I’m planning posts I like to sit down alone in a comfy coffee-shop and write down ideas for future posts. When I think I have enough, I will do a timetable of what’s to come so I can prepare pictures and main points in advance, rather than do it last minute, all stressed out. I keep four blog-related notebooks: one for post ideas, one for scheduling posts and events, one for statistics and one for writing down posts on the go. Once I have a schedule for the next week prepared, I take all the pictures I need (usually all at once or spread across two days) and edit them so they’re ready to go online. Most of the time I blog in the evening, with some light music on and a cup of tea nearby. I think my process hasn’t changed much with time, there’s only one big difference - I used to share a camera with my mom so I was only able to take pictures during the weekend and was quite limited when it came to it. Now I have a great camera of my own which makes all the work so much faster and easier. 

Who is your inspiration in life? 

That may sounds cheesy but my biggest inspiration is definitely my mom. She’s a fighter and unbelievably strong, even though she doesn’t see herself that way. I couldn’t be happier with my family, even though they drive me crazy on a daily basis. My other inspirations in life are different authors I love, some bloggers I’ve been reading for years and influential people that fight for causes I believe in. Do your close ones know about your blog and are they supporting at what you do? At the beginning I kept my blog to myself and did everything I could so no one from my ‘real life’ would find out about it. Now things are completely different, most people that are close to me know about it and support me at what I do, even though they don’t always understand it. Life would probably be easier for them if I wasn’t always thinking ahead, planning posts in my mind and snapping pictures of everything, but they understand and don’t mind it all. I really am lucky to have amazing people like that in my life, I don’t know what I’d do without them. 

Last, but not least, what is coming up for Lovely Little Luxuries in the near future? 

So much exciting stuff! No kidding, while I was on my little study hiatus, I kept writing down all the ideas for future posts and now there’s more than 150 of them so there will definitely be something for everyone. I am learning how to operate my new baby (camera) fast and I can’t wait to see how it will improve my photography. I’ll keep writing about beauty, of course, but there will also be quite a lot of lifestyle and personal posts thrown in the mix and hopefully my readers will like it. :)

Shortly after we finished our interview, we both decided that it would be a good idea to grab ourselves some frozen yoghurt (well I somehow ended up going for a delicious blueberry and yoghurt smoothie instead), and then treated ourselves to some window shopping, albeit we both ended up getting a little something as a reward, of sorts.