The Style Blogger Starter
GLAMOUR is searching for the next big blogging talent, which is why we – in association with Orange– called on our readers to send us links to their blogs to stand a chance of winning big.
Now, we’ve selected the super-talented five finalists, and here they are! Their blogs show off their personal style, writing skill, and passion for fashion – but now we want to see them taking all that to the next level. To show that they’ve got what it takes to blog with the best of them, the fashionable five will compete in four weekly tasks, starting right now.
Our five finalists were told to each choose a venue to review. The place had to have opened in the last few months, and the review had to provided useful information about it.
The reviews
Jess van Wyk of The Avant-Garde Guide reviewed Italian eatery 86 Public, while Complete Disbelief’s Zaahirah Bhamjee chose to dine at Daleahs. Also eating out was Phume Msomi of Makhosazane, who reviewed Petit Fours New York, while Pretty Mint’s Leigh Harding wrote about upcoming pop-up shop The Shoestrong Collective and Sabu Mdee from Life Times & Haberdashery reviewed Pouty Boutique. Click on the links to see what each blogger had to say about her venue of choice!
What we had to say
All of the five finalists impressed the GLAMOUR team by producing reviews that were well-written and provided useful information.
We liked Jess’s short, clear review and felt that her description of the restaurant’s decor was well-suited to her blog’s audience. Her photos provided a good idea of what could be expected from the restaurant. One detail missing from the review was any information on pricing: while it isn’t necessary to provide a full price list, we’d have liked to have known whether 86 Public was better suited to a modest budget or a post-payday splash-out dinner.
Zaahirah’s pictures of the food and decor are beautiful. She not only provided lots of useful information about Daleahs, but also managed to incorporate it into the text to make for more enjoyable reading.
Phume’s review style was a little different, weaving a story of a day out into her review – and this could have been frustrating for someone purely interested in information about Petit Fours New York, or intriguing… and the second option seems more likely, as Phume’s readers presumably love her blog because it shares stories about her. The details of the restaurant were laid out in accessible lists of ‘greats’ and ‘not so greats’.
Leigh did a great job of providing all the information necessary in a review while writing about a pop-up shop that hasn’t even opened yet. While this did mean that she couldn’t really express much about the The Shoestring Collective’s feel, she did lay out everything that a would-be shopper would need to know before paying a visit.
Sabu’s review of Pouty Boutique was short and informative, blending information that the average shopper would need with other facts that were included just for their interest value.
And the winner is…
It’s a tie. Zaahirah and Phume both wrote reviews that we really enjoyed reading, and created the impression of places that made us sure we’d enjoy visiting their chosen venues, too. Who do you think wrote the best review? Cast your vote below – you might help your favourite finalist to win a Style Blogger Starter hamper from Orange, and you could win, too.
