Making YouTube videos a couple years ago was not a job. It was a passion, something to fill up your time as a teenager, an escape, etc. It took all your free time away from your actual job or school. Now? Not so much. It’s become everyone’s dream job (ok, maybe not everyone--fuck all that hard work), but it’s definitely made it onto a career path list somewhere, I’m sure. There are very few channels that treat it as a job though (note: I didn’t say no channels, just very few, so fuck off if you think I’m making a blanket statement). The beauty community in general has made it a thing to show off your fancy closet or your unattainable makeup collection. I, myself, love to watch those videos and dream about having all that makeup or that closet, but still, it’s unattainable. So now, although YouTube has become a career, for some, it still remains the same. Random posting of videos. No thought put into the content. No research on the products. Just doing the same old, same old.
Someone who makes it look like she’s on a career path, though: Kelly Strack. And she does this so effortlessly that she may not even look at it like a job. But to me, at least, she honestly does treat YouTube as a job.
Random thought: Like have you seen how gorgeous her husband is? And how gorgeous she is? Do they want to have kids, because honestly, if they do, those kids are going to be totes adorbs! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming:
Take, for example, her recent dupes video. I’ve seen my fair share of these kinds of videos, and the thing they all have in common is the cheap vs. expensive makeup on each side of the face. Let’s face it, I watch these because I’m fucking broke, and I like to look like I’m not. Sue me. But here’s the thing that sets Kelly’s video apart. She puts effort into not only into doing a face of makeup and uploading a video. No, she does her research. You can just tell that she put the time in. Hell, she even said she looked these things up and spent time finding great dupes.
A lot of the time, your big-shot YouTuber will do this video, tell you what makeup they are using, and showing a half-assed face of dupe makeup. They include all these disclaimers like the formula is a bit different, the shade is a bit off, and honestly, each side of their face looks completely different than the other, but like hey, these are dupes. They just fed you bullshit because they needed content. But Kelly, no, that’s not what you’re going to get on her channel. She put the time in because her face looked absolutely the same on both sides. She had one tiny disclaimer, but hell, she even tried to fix the one shade of eye shadow that was a little off with the same pallet.
Another thing you’ll see, well hear, is the typical lazy YouTubers saying about prices, etc, “I’ll post that somewhere on the screen” or won’t even bother looking these things up. Not Kelly. She came prepared to do her job. She not only looked up all the prices of the makeup, but she also explained why she picked these two products as dupes. There were no post-filming edits that threw numbers on the screen. She flat out told you the prices as she was using the product.
A big thing that I notice with Kelly’s videos is that there are no frills necessary. She makes a video that she has put time and thought into, and posts it without all the bullshit title cards and blah, blah, blah. She somehow always manages to look professional, but also like, I could totally see myself being friends with her. She has a way of doing that, because she doesn’t present herself as some YouTuber, she instead presents herself as someone who wants to teach and explore makeup and help you progress on your own makeup journey. In the end, she’s relatable, which many of the beauty YouTubers have tried their very hardest now to make themselves not relatable.
This brings me to the whole point of this review: you can tell Kelly is professional, consistent, prepared, and just genuinely wants to do a good job with her channel. Some of the big YouTubers can take a page out of her book. All the bullshit is unnecessary if you come to work to do a good job. It shows in her videos and her content. She cares about her job. Would I go as far to say that this is only a job for her? Maybe--I honestly couldn’t see this girl going out tomorrow and getting a Ferrari and Louboutins and telling us how much she makes in a month--like ever. I don’t think she would ever be on YouTube just to show off her fancy life. I feel like with Kelly, this will remain a job, and I absolutely can respect that. I appreciate it, even. Because at the end of the day, I get what I want out of her doing her job. I learn about makeup, I learn how to do makeup, and I learn which makeup I can/should buy.
If you’re not subscribed, I obviously absolutely recommend checking out her channel. If you really want to learn how to do makeup, she’s your go to channel. I rated her channel a 4.5 out of 5 because I honestly can’t wait for the day when her channel sky rockets and I can come back and give her a 5 out of 5. See you then!
Channel Rating: 4.5/5
Content Rating: Family-friendly
Creator Links/Socials:
Twitter: @kelly_janexx
Instagram: @kellystrackofficial