Organic Beauty Lover Andrea Lee On First Impressions, The Sorry Fate Of YouTube And The Social Consciousness of Young People

Organic Beauty Lover Andrea Lee started out like many natural beauty influencers: as a consumer on a mission to change. She had no idea that her switch to clean products, search for beauty treasures, zest for travel and open personality would set the scene for a flourishing social media following. Her audience revels in her jaunts to jealousy-inducing eco-friendly resorts, her downloads on the latest and greatest green beauty finds, and her vulnerability. She isn’t afraid to reveal personal tribulations like leaving a job because of a boss’s derogatory sexual comments. As Organic Beauty Lover matures, Lee isn’t content being simply a content producer. She’s introduced a marketplace where beauty items are sold, auctioned and swapped, and a product testing and review platform called OBL CLUB. Beauty Independent caught up with Andrea to chat about brand partnerships, why she thinks the indie beauty movement is major and her dire prognosis for YouTube.

Why did you decide to build an online presence?

I started off as a regular consumer on an organic beauty journey and posting products I was discovering on Instagram. As a recent graduate swimming in debt, I couldn’t really afford to buy many products to post about. But by posting a few times, I was pigeonholed into being an Instablogger. I rather reluctantly accepted that title. I didn’t feel I was fit for it. Eventually as my following went from 100 to 1,000, I began to feel that I had a voice and that it was making an impact. A thousand seemed like a huge number to me at the time. Meanwhile, I was working full-time in marketing and writing a lifestyle blog for the city of Geneva. I never pictured myself starting a blog about organic beauty [because] it would be too much work. Eventually, as my following started getting closer to 10,000, I decided to finally start a blog and solidify my online presence in spring of 2016. I was sacrificing my nights and weekends to get it done, but it just felt like the natural next step and a way for people to be able to easily access and find specific information they were looking for.

Organic Beauty Lover

Did you have any idea you’d become an influencer?

I really did not. I was a recent graduate, and I was laser focused on building my career. I still see myself as the same person who started posting DIY recipes and non-toxic products she was trying, just with a little more knowledge, structure, experience and an official email address. I also never imagined that I would start a product testing club for brands to connect with my followers in a more meaningful way, and an online marketplace for people to sell and buy from each other.

What’s your focus on Organic Beauty Lover?

My focus is on luxury skincare products though I do mix in affordable products for those on a budget now and then along with other product categories. Travel is also a big part of my life.

What is your favorite way to discover new brands or locations to visit?

My favorite way is by connecting with other bloggers, Instabloggers and even followers on Instagram. I am still quite new to green beauty, in my opinion, and there’s so much for me to learn from others who have been using more natural products for a lot longer than I have. They often recommend great brands and products to me. I can’t have my finger on the pulse as much as I’d like to as I have a full-time career, so I need to rely on others. I also love it when new brands reach out to me.

Organic Beauty Lover

How do you identify brands to partner with?

I receive DMs and emails daily from smaller beauty brands, and the first impression is everything. If I receive a one-liner asking, “Can I send you some products?,” I don’t respond. The most interesting collaboration proposal I received was in the form of Instagram Stories, which the brand used to introduce themselves and why they wanted to work with me. It astounds me that a brand wouldn’t feel the need to introduce who they are and what they’re about. Assuming the first impression is good, I then check out their website to make sure they’re in line with my message and pop over to their Instagram to see if they have some kind of social media strategy in place. If I like the look and sound of the product and feel it will be interesting for my followers, I’m happy to partner up.

What do you wish brands knew when it comes to working with influencers?

Influencers receive requests daily, and they need to approach them in a way other than asking to send product for review. If you know you don’t have any social media marketing budget or vice versa — that you do have one — it’s best to be upfront about this from the first contact. I always appreciate it when a brand does this, it’s like a breath of fresh air. Another thing is we’re often inundated with requests both by email and DM, not to mention distractions from our real lives and jobs, so if we don’t respond please don’t be afraid to contact us again because we might have just missed your message.

What are different ways you work with brands, and what do you charge for the varying projects?

I’ve conducted a variety of projects: Instagram feed takeovers, Snapchat takeovers, ongoing monthly posts over the course of a year, one-time review posts and affiliate programs. Affiliate programs are commission-based, but, for the other projects, it ranges from $25 to $250. What I would love to do one day is collaborate on creating a skincare product with a company.

Organic Beauty Lover

What have been your most successful partnerships with brands, and why?

My most successful partnerships have been with the brands who want a long-term, ongoing collaboration with me rather than a one-and-done type [of partnership]. These are the ones where I have a strong passion for the products that the brand creates and they, in turn, believe in and appreciate my potential to grow as a blogger. For example, I love it when a brand gives me a discount code to offer to my followers until a specific date, but it’s much more mutually beneficial if I have an ongoing discount code that people can use whenever and is affiliated to me so I’m able to earn a small reward for providing business. My beauty habit can get expensive.

Do you think the Organic Beauty Lover audience would be upset by a sponsored post?

I worried about this and debated for months whether I should start charging a rate before I decided to start sending my media kit to brands. At the time, I was working on developing the marketplace on my site with an IT freelancer and needed to be able to cover the costs. I knew I had to be honest about it especially being an advocate for transparency and, with Instagram Stories added as a feature, I was able to let those watching know that I would be starting to post sponsored content. My audience has been graciously accepting of it.

Who is the Organic Beauty Lover audience?

My audience is roughly 75% American and 25% European [or from the] rest of the world. The majority are females between 25- and 45-years-old, and they are rather health-conscious.

Organic Beauty Lover

Which Organic Beauty Lover posts get the most attention?

My travel posts get the most attention. I like to incorporate beauty and travel in the same post when I can. Otherwise, newly launched products and giveaways get a lot of attention on Instagram. My makeup swatch blog posts also get a ton of attention. So, when I work with makeup brands, I try to ask for samples of multiple shades. As for my Instagram Stories, it’s the ones where I talk about deeply personal topics that get the most reaction.

What changes do you see in the beauty industry because of the indie beauty movement?

I actually just saw that indie beauty sales are up 42% while traditional makeup brand sales are down. This is major and means more competition to innovate, not just among the burgeoning number of indie brands, but also the multinational corporations who are making similar moves. I also believe the indie beauty movement resonates strongly with gen Y and gen Z, and I am a clear example of that. The younger generations care deeply about the issues that the indie beauty movement tends to cater to: cruelty-free, sustainability, fair trade, etc. It will be more important than ever to be able to connect with them through the influencers they look to. We don’t just want products to make us feel beautiful, but products that also make a difference in the world.

Where do you see the influencer community heading in the next few years?

It’s hard to predict, but I feel YouTube is dying. People don’t really have time to watch lengthy videos, which is why I think podcasts are so popular. You can listen while you multitask. Maybe I should create a podcast.

Organic Beauty Lover

What are your goals for Organic Beauty Lover going forward?

For now, I think I should just focus on what I’ve created already which is my blog, marketplace and product testing club. I feel like I don’t put in nearly as much work as I’m should since I’m apparently now an influencer. But, whatever is happening, it’s working.