A new era (and time for a reintroduction)

My name is Mòrag, and for the longest time ever I was a blogger. You might remember me, but given that I took a three-year break from blogging and most public social media, you’d be forgiven if you couldn’t quite place me.

The big social media break was good for the soul. Even though I generally love the internet, I would argue that human behaviour is the issue, not social media, too much time online is not good, and I discovered that one the hard way.

If you do remember me, I was largely known for cruelty-free beauty. But because I am me, you could find me going off on tangents about anything. And by anything, I’ll spare you the details, I do mean anything. Turns out that oversharing isn’t good for you, and eventually the negative side effects would catch up with me.

Despite all of this, the content creation bug would find me again. When you took out the negative aspects, I still missed pulling together shopping guides and helping people out, having community, being sociable, building a network of like-minded people, and - while I’m firm on not being a saviour - the rise of right-wing content creators has played a role in my decision to come back in an attempt to not let the regressive voices dominate the algorithm.

More than ever, we need (level-headed) left-wing people to be publicly left-wing (but not in some weird chronically online way either, which also played a factor in me stepping back three years ago).

My three main topics will be cruelty-free beauty, plant-based eating and travel. Not saying other topics won’t say hello from time to time, or that I won’t share anything from my personal life - but I don’t want to end up on tangents again or not have a personal life that doesn’t emphasise the word personal.

Social media has changed a lot in the time I’ve been gone. TikTok exploded, Elon bought Twitter and it’s now X and I don’t use it, Instagram became the friend and family social media account and trying to create content on it felt very off when a good chunk of my followers were family just looking for holiday pictures, Pinterest made a comeback, and so many of the old blogs I used to follow are now gone.

My old blog is still alive and well, and I have no plans to wipe it from the internet. I’ve tidied up the archives (sensible) and I’m happy for people to still have a look through them. I also have an active (and public) TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube, which will be geared towards content. I also have a public LinkedIn and I’ll decide in time what I want to do with Instagram (my account is currently private).

Stating the obvious, mo’adore 2.0 will exist on Substack. There were several pros and cons to starting a Substack vs reigniting the old blog but the main argument that won out is that I’d like a fresh start. I can delete old posts I regret publishing for sure, but I started the original mo’adore in early 2011 when I was 20 and even though 34 (!!) year old me and 20 year old me are still friends, we’re separate people who are like the university friend you still really like but don’t have much in common with anymore.

Of course! My name is Mòrag, I’m 34 and live in Glasgow (though I grew up in Aberdeenshire). My full-time gig is in Performance Marketing within the travel industry, and outside of work I like to walk, run, go to the gym, read, bake cakes and make tasty food even if it’s just Tuesday night dinner by myself.

My favourite TV show of all time is a toss up between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sex and the City, my favourite book series is The Hunger Games, my favourite artist is Taylor Swift but since I’m only a year younger than her, my all time favourite music act is Savage Garden (yes, the 90s duo with only two albums). My favourite city is Paris, and my favourite non-city place is Glencoe.

I hope you join me as I make a return to something I once loved x