Beauty and lifestyle blogger and vlogger Lily Pebbles is part of a wave of digital savvy girls in their twenties, who have gained a gobsmackingly large following from their zippy YouTube tutorials. Like fellow YouTube phenomenoms Zoella and The Beauty Crush, Lily's videos - covering anything from her shoes, to her boyfriend, to her washbag - are friendly and smartly edited, often set to catchy music that more than ensures you'll lose hours of your life down a YouTube rabbit hole.
Whilst Lily covers all kinds of subject on her vlog, her new touching and sweet video, featuring 5 of her best friends, is a departure. We caught up with Lily, to ask her some questions about why she made the video.
The Debrief: You mention that a lot of your fans are teenagers and that's why you felt compelled to make the video. Do you feel responsible for the young girls who enjoy your videos?
Lily Pebbles: I think a lot of the girls who watch my videos are slightly older, but there's no denying that a huge chunk of the YouTube audience are younger teens. When it comes to my videos, I just try to always be honest, informative and helpful. If I can be of good guidance as well then that's a bonus! I think it's nice to have some big sisters you can watch on YouTube to chat about all things beauty but nobody's perfect and it's important to remember that when watching.
DB: You interview your friends - who all have great jobs, now - about how they felt a decade earlier. Were you keen to show that you can be plagued with insecurities and still become a successful woman when you grow up?
LP: Yes. Not plagued as much, but just that every girl even the ones who have the 'dream' jobs were just like every other teen girl with normal insecurities. None of us really knew what we wanted to do "when we grew up". I for one really struggled to do well in school. But with hard work and some self belief we all managed to end up happy in life and with pretty good jobs.
**DB: You mention at the start of the video, that some fans think your life is perfect. **Do you think one of the dangers of blogging/vlogging is that your life is perceived to be perfect?
LP: I always like to focus on making my videos really enjoyable and good quality because I like the process of filming and editing, but there's so much more to YouTubers than just what you see in a ten minute video. It's been really nice to start vlogging and to show a few snippets of my day to day life so my viewers can get to know me a bit better.
**DB: You're primarily known for beauty, but that was a different kind of video – as you yourself mention. Would you like to expand on this? **
LP: At the moment beauty is my main focus and it's what I enjoy talking about but I really loved filming my friends and speaking more openly about my teenage years. It's definitely something I'd consider doing more of every now again but it took weeks to film and edit so maybe just on special occasions!
**DB: Finally, how did it feel making this video in comparison with the previous? Were you nervous? **
LP: After my friends agreed to help out, I was a little bit nervous for them. I'm used to talking on camera but if you're not it can be a daunting task. They were all great so that was a relief and now I'm just really excited to show them off to all the lovely people who watch my videos!
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.