Websites of the week
I tend not to write about other blogs a lot, because while I am proud, for the most part, of Cheryl Shops, when I look at other blogs, I often see things that I could or should be doing on Cheryl Shops, and then I start to get all low-self-esteemy. But after reading today's Times article on fashion blogs (in which Cheryl Shops is, by the way, not mentioned--it's okay, I'm dealing with it), I decided to check out the competition. (Okay, sorry, I guess they're not really competition per se, because everyone approaches fashion blogging in her own, unique way, but I have an inner Type A girl, and sometimes she comes out and gets all OCD on me.) Here are my (brief) takes on the blogs mentioned in the article.

I am Fashion, written jointly by a 19-year-old Londoner and an 18-year-old Chicagoan, is the first blog mentioned and scores a photo of one of its writers. I like that they tend to post longer entries, and the design is simple but nice. You can tell, however, that the writers are young, but they both have fresh, very conversational voices.

Blogdorf Goodman has a very clever name and lots of gorgeous photographs, but not much in the way of text. Kind of like Flaunt.

Fashionologie is one of my favorites of the bunch--it's extremely well-written (I'm guessing the writer is actually a writer by profession) and definitely has a strong point-of-view.

Kiss Me, Stace has an adorably girly design, ads (money for the blogger!), and a heavy focus on shoes.

Shoewawa is a far more comprehensive and well-reported shoe site, friendly to both U.S. and U.K. readers. And it's somehow related to The Bag Lady, which is a former Cheryl Shops website of the week. Small world, eh?

The hilariously named Now Smell This is one of several beauty blogs mentioned in the article; as you can guess, it focuses on fragrance. Obsessively. Check out their list of new and upcoming fragrance launches and exhaustive database of perfume reviews.

Beauty Dish is an amusing blog written by an Avon lady. It's also sponsored by Salon.com, so of course it has good exposure. There are kind of a lot of irrelevant posts, but some are pretty funny.

Fashion Addict Diary is the most celebrity-focused of the sites mentioned. It kind of reminds me of Go Fug Yourself, but it's not as funny. Which is probably the point.

The article also mentions Splendora and Flypaper, Bluefly's blog, but I don't think either of these are really worth looking at--both have very short, snappy entries that are obviously edited for consistency, and both are owned by corporate entities (presumably to drum up business). So, yeah, ehh.

Closet Therapy is my other favorite; it's written by a 24-year-old Angeleno in a very conversational yet authoritative tone...and, yeah, okay, it kind of reminds me of Cheryl Shops...if I had photos and a pretty design.

i am pretty nyc, another beauty blog, is also a bit on the bare-bones side, which makes me feel better about Cheryl Shops's design (or lack thereof). It's written by a makeup artist/writer, and contains many useful beauty tips. Which we all can use.

Okay, so after reading all of these blogs, I've decided Cheryl Shops needs a trip to the ol' dermatologist, so to speak--not for a full-on facelift, but maybe for some Botox or a bit of collagen, figuratively speaking, of course. (Hey, I don't need that stuff yet--I got carded two weeks ago!) So sometime in the following weeks, expect a Cheryl Shops makeover. Or as the Fab Five would say, a "make better."