Say hello to @thedailyluxe. Our Aussie-based November influencer of the month shares her editing tips, tells us why she’s against FaceTune and explains how Marie Kondo inspires her feed.
Congrats Rachel! Your Instagram feed is so beautifully organised. What are your best editing tips for creators looking to perfect a curated feed?
Thank you so much! That is so kind of you, and I’m honoured to share my advice. I recommend you:
Keep your grain, de-haze, texture clarity, highlights, shadows and contrast consistent in all of your images to ensure your feed is cohesive. These can be done using the settings on your mobile or through a photo-editing app like Lightroom.
Use presets to ensure your images all have the same aesthetic and colour tones. I have my Lightroom presets saved on both my laptop and phone so I can edit content on the go.
Don’t use FaceTune to edit your appearance. Everyone has lumps and bumps and we should embrace the way we truly are. Your followers will appreciate it and admire you for being raw and honest.
What advice can you give to creators looking to polish the design of their Story Highlights?
I created my cover icons for my Story Highlights on Canva and used similar colours that can be found on my feed to make them all look cohesive. Once you’ve created your cover icons, save them to your camera roll so you can edit all of your highlight covers.
Then for choosing which Stories I will save to my highlights, I go for the Marie Kondo method of organising and will select the ones that bring me joy and best compliment my in-feed content.
What do you look for in a shoot location?
For outdoor locations, I look for places that have a tropical feel and can act as a dreamy backdrop to compliment what I’m wearing. For indoor spots, I like to find locations that are a bit quirky, or have a boho, beachy edge. That way I know it will suit the aesthetic of my feed.
If I find a beautiful location when I’m out and about, I will shoot my content then and there. But other times, I will take note of the spot I find and head back when the lighting (and my outfit) makes for the perfect shot. When I’m travelling, I will usually do a bit of research on Pinterest first to make note of the best locations in the area.
A couple of my all time favourite places to shoot are at The Palm Tree field at Thala Beach Lodge. With palm trees as far as the eye can see, this gem of a location is ridiculously aesthetically pleasing. Then Nandroya Falls takes the cake of most stunning waterfall in Cairns. This giant cascade flows down a wall of green moss and looks straight out of Jurassic Park!
Tell us a little more about your blog. How and why did you start it?
I started my blog in 2014, before I started my Instagram account, when I was still on a Working Holiday Visa in Australia. At the time, I found myself lacking creative motivation but loved fashion. So, I started The Daily Luxe to report on runway and street style trends.
On a whim, I published a personal outfit post and was surprised at how popular it was. So I turned it into a style-based blog and began shooting in stunning, tropical locations in Far North Queensland for it eventually evolved into the brand I currently now have.
You also have a full-time job in social media managing and content writing. How do you stay organised and keep a balanced lifestyle between your busy schedule?
Keeping a balanced lifestyle as a content creator is all about knowing what opportunities to say no to. I only choose to work on campaigns that suit my personal brand or is for a product I am genuinely interested in using.
I also find that having phone free days – or weekends – really help. When you work in social media and content full time, staring at a screen 24-7 isn’t good for your mental health. So don’t be afraid to unplug, stay mindful, get outside in nature and reconnect with the things you love most.
You have a Pinterest audience of nearly 600k monthly viewers. How can other creators be successful on the platform?
I recommend your split your content into the following: re-pin ¾ of your content from others and pin ¼ of your own content. No one will engage with your Pinterest if your content is just a duplicate of your Instagram feed.
Have fun with the platform. I love to browse on Pinterest for hours and pin things that I find inspiring, and what I think my audience will also find inspiring. Pinterest is all about being spontaneous, rather than being too curated.
When creating your own pins, make sure you use keywords in both the title and description, and ensure you feature relevant hashtags.
How do you use Pinterest to cross promote your Instagram and drive blog clicks?
I will pin several posts from my blogs with different images, that way the multiple pins could reach different readers. I also pin these to my own boards, as well as pinning them to group boards to increase link clicks and engagements.
Quick fire round. Right now I am….
Listening: The Spice Girls (taking a trip down Memory Lane)
Watching: The Queen’s Gambit
Eating: A mango. How very Queensland of me!
Wearing: An Arnhem floral print skirt and a Zara tie top
Drinking: Soy milk dirty chai
After working on campaigns for Huawei, Invisible Zinc and Hendricks Gin, what are your three favourite things about Vamp that sets us apart from other platforms?
The Vamp app makes it so easy to communicate with brands to get clear and concise instructions – no need for back and forth emails!
I also love that you know exactly what is expected from you. It ensures you know what you’re committing to, prior to applying.
Lastly, the opportunities! Although I’m a micro influencer, Vamp have provided me with the opportunities to work with huge brands – ones that I could only dream of. Vamp values the quality of content, before the quantity of followers.
