Here is a selection of four Dubai-based blogs covering lifestyle-based topics mainly fashion and food related. ArabAd talks to these passionate bloggers about how their blog came to be and the uniqueness of the content.
Straight-up Bananas: Colorful Recipes with a Healthy Twist
Run by Dubai-based blogger and daytime creative copywriter Ahlam Al Taamare, ‘Straight-up Bananas’ features an exquisite selection of healthy recipes guaranteed to satisfy your eyes and appetite.
How would you describe the evolution of your blog?
The one thing I can safely say has evolved is that I’ve become more focused in terms of what I want to blog about. When I first started out, I was a bit lost. With time, the blog has become more focused. Now I know that I want to particularly talk about healthy food.
How did you first decide to launch?
I’ve loved cooking and coming up with recipes for as long as I can remember. But I never realised there was a way I could share my passion with others. My friends and husband really pushed me to come up with the blog.
What makes your content unique in your opinion?
I think the fact that it’s not too refined. It’s just me and my love for food. I mean, I want it to sound like me. I want my readers to feel like they know me even though they’ve never really met me. I’m really on a journey here to make my food as healthy as possible, without starving myself to death. And I think that really shows in the blog.
What motivates you to keep going with your blogging after all this time?
My love for food. As long as I’m cooking and eating (which will be forever and ever), I’ll post about it. Having people actually wanting to read and talk to me about what I’ve eaten/cooked is just a handful of cherries…and sprinkles…and chocolate fudge on top!
Al Taamare is currently planning to give her blog a total makeover including a revamped design and a brand new logo. “My plan is to keep this baby afloat and enjoy the ride!” she told ArabAd.
Aiisha’s Colors: Love, Beauty and the Love of Beauty
‘Aiisha’s Colors’ is an online platform where Aiisha Ramadan, an award-winning Lebanese fashion designer based in Dubai, shares her thoughts about everything beautiful she sees.
How would you describe the evolution of your blog?
As the news and activities in my life increased, my blog's content and status organically went up along the way. I think that the best way for anything to grow is to do it slowly and step by step.
How did you first decide to launch?
As a fashion designer, I was happy with the press and coverage I was receiving but I always felt that there are many more sides to me and to my story that a press interview can't reveal. So I decided to make my own voice heard and started writing about my journey as a designer, shedding light on my new collections, my brand collaborations and the celebrities who wear my clothes. I was focusing primarily on my fashion career and almost never mentioned any other products that I was informed about via press releases. After a while, I began to encourage brands to personalise their requests in order for me to relate to their services and products through my personal experience. This motivated me to become more active and write more. At the end of the day, my blog is about my love for everything beautiful and if you know me well, you'll know that I see beauty everywhere.
What makes your content unique in your opinion?
When I first became a guest blogger on www.AnaZahra.com, the editor-in-chief back then Zoya Sakr told me that my writing style is special and will appeal to people. I think I can be very expressive and personal in a way that inspires people and relates to them. Besides sharing my latest fashion news and collaborations, I write about things I love which means you are unlikely to find a negative review on my blog. I like my blog to focus on products that I have personally tried and admired. It’s not the kind of blog that will review a product to criticise it. If I don't like something, I simply won't write about it.
What motivates you to keep going with your blogging after all this time?
I love sharing my story since my ultimate aim is to inspire people and empower women specifically to follow their dreams and never give up. When you're true to yourself and your intention is pure, nothing can stop you.
Through her blog, Ramadan hopes to inspire millions of people into becoming the best version of themselves. “As a designer, I will continue to endorse the incredible brands I believe in. As a woman and a mother, I'm evolving into the woman I always wanted to be,” she told ArabAd.
Pear Tree Diaries: An Honest Environmentalist with a Sweet Tooth
Launched in 2012 by Jasmine Pereira, an HSE consultant by day and food and hospitality writer by passion born and raised in the UAE, ‘Pear Tree Diaries’ is an independent restaurant review, suggestion and recipe share blog with occasional insights on travel.
How would you describe the evolution of your blog?
Pear Tree Diaries was initially launched as a platform to introduce the amalgamation of cultures in U.A.E, mainly Dubai via the fare of eats stretching from the heart of old Dubai that encompasses historic areas catering unpretentious soul-feeding kitchens fueled by immigrant cultures, towards the glitz and glamorous side, famously labeled as Downtown or New Dubai, all based on my personal experiences. Over the past year and half, the blog has branched out to feature hospitality and frequent travels. The former updated more regularly due to repeated staycations.
How did you first decide to launch?
The blog was launched in June 2012, when I decided that I needed a platform to introduce the various restaurants available, as I was frequent questioned for suggestions on “where to eat out?” In addition, my saccharine induced creations, from paprika brownies to a chocolate lavender cake and more are shared on the website as well as my social media platforms.
What makes your content unique in your opinion?
Being born and raised in Dubai, U.A.E, I can relate to the ever so rapidly changing food scene with the uniqueness and the diversity that follows with it. Nearly all the posts published till date and henceforth are very relatable to expats who have resided in the city for years to come, and serves as an introductory platform to new residents and visitors to Dubai that use the blog as a guide to experience the city, from what I’ve been told, with one of the most post popular posts being my “budget eats” series, wherein I share affordable dine-in options mainly around old Dubai that serves as satisfactory and touristic experience.
What motivates you to keep going with your blogging after all this time?
One word, passion. I have been asked this question numerous times and my response has always been the desire to experience a meal for its ingredients, the effort and thought process by the chef and the team, dedication to the menu at hand, plating of the dish etc., and most importantly, the ability to share all the emotions in a way that entices the readers in a manner that they themselves can picture the experience of tasting a dish along with you. Thankfully, so far, as relayed by Pear Tree Diaries readers and followers, I have been able to execute that well and I will continue to perfect sharing those experiences, be it a humble meal or a fine dining aspect.
Pereira is currently working on adding more content to the travel section and looks forward to many more exciting collaborations in near future. “The website is forever growing, with my own tweaks and suggestions from the blog’s avid readers and well-wishers,” she told ArabAd.
My Small Obsessions: Fashion, Beauty and All Things Sparkl
Through her personal blog ‘My Small Obsessions’, lifestyle blogger Tala Farah covers everything from fashion and beauty to food and travel, with an aim to showcase items and trends that can be easily adopted on a daily basis in the UAE.
How would you describe the evolution of your blog?
My blog is named My Small Obsessions and at first it started out as a lifestyle blog where I wrote about all of the things that I was Obsessed with – namely Fashion, Beauty, Food and Travel. After I had a child, my obsessions naturally changed and started to include all things that involve children. I took an extended maternity leave from my blog and now that I am back, it includes all of the topics I wrote about before but with a new focus on children.
How did you first decide to launch?
Since I was a little kid, I have always loved fashion. I remember when I was 5 years old, I had a small yellow suitcase. I would put all of my new clothes in it and try each and every outfit that was inside in front of any guests that visited. They simply had to see all of my clothes and accessories! This evolved into not only a deep love of fashion, but also an unhealthy shopping habit. I decided to start blogging to write more about a topic that I am obsessed with and to bring to my readers everything new and cool that the fashion world has to offer.
What makes your content unique in your opinion?
After having my son I realised that there were lots of moms out there who are hip and fashionable but don’t have the time to read about fashion or children’s fashion. My blog offers short and quick reads for those moms about all things cool that I think they should know about. As a mom writing for an audience of other moms, I feel I understand their interests and how to write for them. What makes me unique is that I speak their language and relate to them .
What motivates you to keep going with your blogging after all this time?
I have to admit that it has not always been easy to keep going. Blogging is a lot of hard work with barely enough appreciation. When I was pregnant and after I had my son, I simply did not have the time to spend on it. However, I love to write and I missed the feedback and support that I received from my readers. I missed being a part of their daily lives so I returned to where I left off.
In addition to blogging about her ‘small obsessions’, Farah is currently seeking new opportunities to write a weekly or monthly column for a reputed publication.
