Anne-Marie Lodge, the beauty influencer known as Really Ree, has built an online community over the past 15 years through her blog, which covers the latest beauty launches and provides make-up tutorials and advice.
In 2023, the blogger entered the beauty arena with her own make-up and skin care hybrid brand Reeson, which is suitable for a broad range of skin tones.
Here, Lodge details her career journey, covering how she created a leading beauty influencer website and transitioned to became a beauty brand founder.
She also divulges the essential skills a cosmetics industry professional should possess to make it to the top.
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Tell us about your first job in beauty?
I started my blog Really Ree after I had been made redundant from a job in recruitment. I took this time as an opportunity to explore other options.
I undertook two make-up courses and a couple of fashion styling courses at the UK’s London College of Fashion.
The make-up courses there were brilliant, and because I have been obsessed with make-up and skin care my whole life, I started my blog in 2010 and things just grew from there.
What was a lesson you learned early in your career?
To do things quickly as I am quite competitive in terms of getting reviews of new products out fast.
I learned to prioritise going to [brand] events, finding out the crucial information and sharing it as quickly as possible.
This helped drive traffic to my blog because I get loads of hits from people looking for reviews on new launches.
Reeson's full product line-up
Is there someone who has helped you climb the ladder?
In the early days of my blogging, I remember Krista Madden from Handpicked Media Limited telling me to always tag my images.
This helped with my Google search and overall growth, which led to my blog becoming one of the leading beauty websites in the UK.
Also, my management agency River because they were the ones who pushed me to launch my beauty brand Reeson.
They have always been more than an agency, where it is not just about
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