Ask the Editor: Vol. V, No. One

Well, the ball dropped, the calendar flipped, and here we are again for the 17th year of Capitol Hill Style. So to kick things off, let’s do a short mail bag session with questions sourced from Instagram.

What’s your word for 2025?

In past years, I have chosen a word to guide me through the year. For 2025, I didn’t.

This year, I just need to take the fresh start and move forward. No pressure. No resolutions. No goals. No hopes. Just a deep breath.

My husband and I are traveling to Montana in February. Can you recommend some boots, socks, etc. for hiking? Our friends have planned some hikes near Bozeman.

For warm socks, I recommend Real Tree or Smartwool.

For boots, I wear Sorel Karibous. I asked a friend who hikes in winter, and she loves Salewa boots.

Beyond that, I would get a LOT more information from your friends on the type of hike they’re planning. February means deep snow in Montana. If they mean to snowshoe, you’ll need boots that can accommodate shoes. Also, one day in Montana it’s 30-degrees and the next it’s 30-below, so make sure you have the right coats, plural.

How do you feel about not being in Montana for session? What tips do you have for newbies?

My husband always said that Session was my summer camp. Every two years, I went to hang out with my friends and make government happen. I’m pretty sad to not be there this year. It was the right thing for my family, and giving up a job every two years to move to Montana and take temporary work was unsustainable.

If you or someone you know is working a Session, I recommend embracing the whole experience. Be in the building early in the morning, because that’s when most of the work gets done. Eat lunch in the Rotunda. Meet as many people as possible. But most of all, remember that the work that gets done in those 100 days fuels the whole state. It’s a privilege to be there.

Beyond that, it’s important to stay healthy. Capitol Crud is everywhere. Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. Take vitamins. Stay hydrated. Sleep. When possible, crack a window in enclosed spaces, and whatever you do, do not touch the hand railings or ride in the elevators. That is how you stay well.

They discontinued the Ouai Volume Spray, have you found a replacement?

I’ve been testing out the Roz Air Thickening Spray. I like it so far. I’ll have a deeper review in a few weeks.

How are you removing facial hair?

This Flawless Finishing Touch shaver and a pair of pointy tweezers. I’m over 40, staying on top of the hairs in my chin is my primary hobby. I could wax, but I’ve been afraid of self-waxing ever since I spilled a boiling hot container of sugaring solution on my self in 9th grade. Still have the scars.

Is there anything you regret not buying in 2024?

A vacation; does that count? Travel became so expensive that we really couldn’t take the time or find the spare change for a trip. How these folks on Instagram are jetting off to a new destination every couple of months is beyond me. Just a ticket to fly to Seattle was $350. I genuinely wonder how many people are racking up credit card debt to fill an Instagram feed with photos.

Beyond that, I missed out on a few The RealReal items hoping the price would come down. They include this Mulberry tote in candy apple red, this Barbie pink Sachin + Babi gown, and these Gucci aviators. I like to “heart” a lot of things on The RealReal and cruise for deals. The great thing for me is that the brands I really love and wear (Alex Mill, Maje, Veronica Beard, etc.) are expensive to me but not the other people who shop TRR so the prices are usually good.

How are you making money on the blog these days? Are you doing sponsored posts?

The primary vehicle for earning money from this blog is affiliate links. Essentially, if you click a link on this blog and buy a piece of clothing or other product, I likely make a small commission from your purchase. The amounts of these commissions vary from 3% to 20%, but are often 6-7%. If you return the item, I make no commission.

Some retailers intentionally jack up commissions at certain points during the year to try to entice influencers to promote certain products or brands. That’s why you’ll suddenly see Wal-Mart or Macy’s everywhere for a couple of days and then they disappear. I don’t play that game because I want what I like to lead the content not what will make me the most money. Though I would be lying if I said that it’s not disappointing to LOVE something and find out it’s 3% commission.

Recently, I started taking partner posts, which vary slightly from sponsored posts. The reason I never took sponsored posts was because of the requirements. In a sponsored post, the brand chooses the product, the brand approves your photos or videos, the brand tells you what phrases to use and not use, and then the brand approves the content or asks for changes in advance of posting. It’s a lot of work (influencers work hard for those sponsored dollars), setting it up is expensive and time consuming, and (even if I wanted to do that) I do not have time.

Partner posts support a single retailer or brand, and they allow you to speak in your own voice, choose the products you promote, use the images and videos that work for you, and require no pre-approval. However, you pay for that flexibility. A sponsored post would pay $3,000 to $5,000. A partner post pays $300 to $500.

I’ve done three partner posts, each one for either a product I already use or a place I already shop. Because I would patronize these stores and use these products anyway, I don’t see a reason not to take a little extra money to promote them again. I’ve turned down nearly a dozen partner posts, because they were for brands or products that I wouldn’t have supported on my own. And I’m very cautious about requirements because I do not want other people telling me what the content here should look like.

Beyond those posts, I recently started accepting some gifted items, which I had never really done before because I like to choose what I buy and it’s the most ethical approach. But I don’t have the time to shop or browse like I once did, so I’m more out of the know than I’ve ever been and accepting the occasional offering helps me try new things. But I have some strict guidelines for gifted items:

1) I don’t solicit product. ShopMy is a platform that lets brands reach out to influencers. If someone offers me something, I’ll consider it. But just because I want new jeans does not mean I’m going to drop Paige’s brand rep and e-mail and try to get them for free.

2) I won’t take something I couldn’t afford or wouldn’t buy myself. That’s just obvious. I wouldn’t buy a $1,000 bag, so why would I take one for free and pretend? Also, if I don’t think my readers would pay $400 for those pants, why would I take them and promote them since the reason the brand is giving them to me is to sell more pants.

3) I won’t accept anything that requires I write about it. Just because I tried it doesn’t mean it will be right for me or right for the blog. I might hate it. I will not lie because you gave me a $125 face cream. So if it’s no strings attached, let’s give it a whirl and see how it ends up. But if I take it and I love it, I naturally want to tell people about. When I don’t love it, I always send it back (which makes the brand reps nuts, but I have to pay taxes on these things and I don’t need more clutter).

4) I turn down more than 2/3 of what people want to send me. Last week, it was lingerie (V-Day posts are coming), snail mucin, additives for your water, a knife set with block, and a face cream that retails for $395.

5) I always disclosed when someone gave me something for free. Nothing gives me the stabbies quite like seeing every influencer I follow suddenly clad in a certain brand or using a certain serum pretending it was organic when I know those were the gifting items from two weeks prior.

I won’t say any names because that’s not fair to the brands (every single one tells you that you have to disclose in accordance with FTC guidelines), but it’s so disingenuous to take freebies and pretend you bought them (not to mention illegal). Where you put your money matters, and if you’re asking other people to spend theres (especially in tense economic times) you should be honest. It also shows how little you think of your audience’s intelligence, because your viewers/readers know that freebies are part of the culture of influencing, and if you’re not telling them what is and what isn’t, you’re basically calling them stupid.

Whether I keep accepting the occasional gift is up in the air. I think I’m in a better position to do it in year 17, when the path of the blog has already been laid with stacks of my own cash, than I would have been in year three, when I was a broke Hill staffer trying to look cute on a budget. I’m trying to do it in a transparent and ethical way, but sometimes it still feels a little icky. So we’ll see if it lasts.

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