What Advice I Would Give To My 16-Year-Old Self

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Welcome back to another blog post! Today I am going to be answering two questions posed by Soap and Glory to people wanting to become Glambassadors. The questions really made me think, and I think I've come up with answers that are very authentic to my personal experiences. Let me know down in the comments if you agree or disagree with any of my answers!


What does confidence means to you?

Confidence, as a basic definition, is having the ability to go out and tackle your greatest fears. Whether that involves public speaking, heights (my personal weakness) or even for some just getting out of their bed in the morning, everyone has things that they struggle with. Confidence is what motivates someone to overcome that fear, even if only temporarily.

Confidence isn't something you have to conjure up alone though. Confidence can be built up through preparation and hard work.

For instance, if I prepare before my seminar presentation, that gives me the confidence to stand up in front of complete strangers and try to teach them something that I myself only learnt a week before. If I go running everyday for several months, that would give me the confidence to sign up for a marathon. And, in the same vein, if I put on makeup before going out, that fills me with the confidence I want to mingle with people and have a great time.


This is why makeup and beauty products in general are so important to me, and why I enjoy blogging about them - you don't need makeup to feel confident, but you can use it as a tool to boost the confidence you already have within you. Makeup is fun, it's expressive, and it's essentially a form of art. You need confidence to try different makeup looks, but when you finally take the plunge the results can be so worth it.


To me, confidence isn't something that everyone can have all the time. Confidence is about finding the tools you need to build confidence up within yourself.

What advice you would give to your 16-year-old self?


16-year-old Emma is someone I look back on and admire very much. This was around the age she started to Vlog for the first time, and although she didn't know exactly what she was doing at the time, I am very proud of her for having the confidence to put content out on YouTube. She even knew at the time that people at school would laugh at her, yet she still posted those videos.

Because of that brave decision, I am able to sit here today and say that I have made 14 videos of varying content, and that I have a beauty blog which I adore writing for. Without 16 year-old Emma, I would not be the Vice President of BlogSoc, and I would not be EmmaBeautyBella.

However, there are some things I have learned in these last 4 years that I would tell 16-year-old Emma if I could:


  • Do Creative Writing at A2: you did it at AS and loved it, and I know you were already taking on so much other work with your three essay based A-Levels, your Gold DofE, your acting in LAMDA and applying for universities, but creative writing is one of the things you are most passionate about, and it was a shame not to take full advantage of the opportunities A2 Creative Writing would have provided you.


  • Your appearance is completely up to you: I have been dying my hair since I started uni, from full on bleached blonde, to dark brunette, to vibrant red, and several things in between. And I don't regret a single second of it. The only thing I do slightly regret is sometimes letting other people's opinions of what colour and style my hair should be hold me back from doing what I truly want to do with it. Your appearance is yours and yours alone, own it, and enjoy changing it up once in a while.


  • Get into blogging sooner: seriously, it is so much fun. I know you don't know how to set up a blog right now, and you probably don't even realise that it is something that you would ever do, but trust me when I say that it is the best hobby you will ever discover for yourself.
  • Stick at the gym: I got into the gym around the age of 17 and got to the stage where I would be burning around 2,000 calories per session, and I LOVED it. It filled me with such confidences, especially since I'd never been a particularly active child. I lost it when I went to university, so my advice would be stick at it, because now I'm starting all over again and it hurts a lot more!


  • Budget your money when it comes to makeup: you really don't need 20 different eyeliners, and multiple eyeshadow palettes with the same shades in. At least budget your money so that you know how much you have to spend on makeup. (Ok ok so maybe this is advice I still desperately need to hear... But honestly, I'm sure there's always new makeup that I'm missing from my collection, it's not my fault, I swear...)

As you can hopefully see, I've learnt a lot about myself and what makes me happy since I was 16-years-old, and I have found that with the right tools and preparation I am able to find the confidence to face almost any situation. What fills you up with confidence? And what would you tell a younger version of yourself? Let me know down in the comments, and I'll see you soon for another post.

EBB x



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