DIARY directory recently caught up with fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogger Victoria Magrath from Inthefrow. After stumbling upon beauty blogs and instantly getting hooked, Victoria decided to take the plunge in 2012 and start her own blog. What initially started out as her own little corner of the internet to share her favourite products and outfits, quickly became a full-time career and Victoria is now an established blogger with a devoted following who has had the opportunity to work with a variety of fashion and beauty brands. 

"You’re only as good as who is representing you, so if your manager isn’t working for you in the way you hoped, then it’s better to just go in-house with your own individual manager..."

You have a fashion PhD and were a Fashion Marketing Lecturer at the University of Manchester, how have these experiences helped you grow as a blogger? 

The fashion PhD and the lectures I would write were all based around marketing and retail and especially how brands inspire their customers through their various channels. So that knowledge and my passion for it has helped me leaps and bounds when it came to my own career. 

Give us a breakdown of an average day for you? 

No day is the same, but a great day would be me waking up at 7am, going to yoga or gym session, getting home and working at my desk for a few hours, heading out for a meeting or two, coming home and back to work before chilling out for dinner. And then up until I head to bed, I'm usually finishing off something on my laptop before I hit the pillow. 

What was your ‘big break’ moment when you were starting out? How do you measure your progress and success? 

I don’t know if I’ve had a big break necessarily. I think I just worked and worked and luckily a lot of that hard work was noticed by more people. I feel extremely lucky. I guess I measure my progress by setting out ideas for what I want to do next, and if I reach those milestones or deadlines for myself, then I see myself as making progress professionally and personally. I personally feel success is different for everyone, depending on the life they want to lead. One person's success is not the same for another. But I’m very happy with where I am and what I’m doing and hope to do even more in the future. 

Top tips for someone starting out in the social game?

For social media, I guess it’s about personality and likeability. Having something that someone actually wants to follow. So just be yourself, work out what people like the most about you and continue showing that wonderful side of your personality. Aside from that, on Instagram especially just knowing how to take an aesthetically brilliant photo, that others may like to see, and editing them beautifully is really helpful. I love apps such as VSCO and Lightroom for my images. 

How do you like to work collaboratively with a brand, making sure you balance authenticity with the commercial aspect of the job?

First of all, I only work on projects with brands I adore and that I would genuinely use. If their products are something I could easily fit into my routine or that I’ve fallen in love with, working on a collaborative project to promote that product is a total dream. I just ensure that I can create imagery or video content around that product that fits with my style, my aesthetic and are my own words and judgements. I ensure to keep all of my content completely authentic so that my audience can trust anything I mention. If I wouldn't recommend it to my Mum, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else. 

We know your partner is a photographer and takes all the photos of you, do you have any other professional help with your blog and social platforms?

Me and Alex work on all of the photography and videography for me, and I work on all of the creatives, writing and socials. I have managers who keep me organised too, luckily. 

Some top bloggers seem to be taking their representation in-house over being with an established management team – what do you think is changing?

I’ve seen this happening a lot recently, and I think it’s just a sign of top bloggers wanting to do it on their own. You’re only as good as who is representing you, so if your manager isn’t working for you in the way you hoped, then it’s better to just go in-house with your own individual manager. It all depends on the person’s preference really.

Where do you see social media heading in say 5 years?

I wish I knew myself! I feel that overall interest is decreasing because there are so so many people doing it now, and with so many messages, no-one can keep up. Therefore they’re being selective with who they watch, like or follow. And I think that will only increase over 5 years. I also hope we see a new platform come in and work. 

Biggest lesson you’ve learnt while working in this industry?

Networking is one of the most important things you can do for your career. 

What are some of your biggest irritations with the blogging community?

I feel it’s a shame that a lot of bloggers are still not taken seriously, even though they’re blogging as a full-time career. A lot of people still don’t get what it is or how it works, so there are a lot of questions from people that are somewhat intrusive, and you’d literally never ask anyone else. But it’s only a minor thing that makes me sigh sometimes; not a huge irritation. 

If you had to pick one, what has been your favourite sponsored collaboration to date and why?

Oh, I have so many that's so hard to choose. I have loved working on all of them, but I guess the one I’m most proud of is my 2-year contract with L’Oréal Paris as a Brand Ambassador.

In this trend led social media age, Instagram and other visual apps have increasingly taken centre stage - do you see a day when you’ll move away from traditional blogging completely?

I truly hope not and I’d probably recommend to everyone to never give up their blogs. If YouTube or Instagram shuts down tomorrow, you will have no platform left. Nothing that is just yours. Your blog can never be touched and it may end up being your only platform. 

What creative projects are you involved in at the moment? What do you have coming up?

I have a lot of exciting things coming up really. I just finished my collaboration with Strathberry to launch my own line of collaborative handbags that was an enormous success. And I'm also still signed with L’Oréal as a brand ambassador. But for everything else, you’ll have to wait and see! 

Trends you’re loving?

I love the new kimono trend, everyone will be wearing them over spring I think. Red boots, white boots, ripped jeans, layered necklaces, slogan tees - I’m pretty excited for the weather to get amazing so I can wear them all! 

What other bloggers /influencers do you follow and why?

So so many! 400 over on my Instagram @inthefrow so take a little peek. Most of the girls in the UK blogging scene I love to support, plus a lot of people from the US and Europe too. Anyone who has a feed of imagery that you can really tell they’ve taken time and effort to curate. Or anyone who inspires me, either for body confidence, fashion style, home interiors or just their vibe. 

Listed in DIARY directory in the blogs & vlogs section, Victoria is one of over 1500 categorised influencers that PRs could work with. Subscribers can sort blogs according to social media following across Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, and filter by country and UK region. See our previous DIARY Influencers here! 

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