If there were an award for bloggers who purchased the most blog design, I would be the winner. Hands down. I’m the most indecisive blogger ever and I will show you later in the post so grab a cuppa, sit back and relax. This is going to be one chatty post!
If you’re an avid reader of my blog, you would notice that I had a little bit of makeover going on overnight. If you’re new here – hi there! My name is Erin and I had a different design 3 days ago. And 3 weeks ago. And a month ago. That’s how indecisive I am. Yup.
I’m officially relaunching my blog with a design that I’m highly satisfied with after the Pipdig scandal. If you were and still are a Pipdig theme user, you would know how hard it is to find a clean theme that is highly customisable like Pipdig’s. That’s my one issue with every design I purchased – they were not as customisable as I would like. I am always fixing something on my blog so I need my blog design to have many options that I could play with. It’s too bad that I could only get it with Pipdig themes; customisable-wise and design-wise. I searched high and low for an affordable theme that could give me what I wanted in a blog design and I think (after months and a few wrong purchases), I have finally found the one.
Therefore, welcome to a brand new erinazmir.com!
- When you get to my homepage, you can see 3 polaroid-like featured posts to substitute the usual slider you see in other designs. However, I can enable slider if I wanted to but for now, the polaroid-like feature stole my heart.
- I have also sticky menu bar and sidebar social icons that will follow your browser as you scroll.
- I have an email subscription if you would like to subscribe and be notified every time I published a new post. Just gotta figure out how to do that on my end..
- An alternating left/right latest posts. I love the detailing!
- 3 featured boxes showing you post categories on my blog.
- Numbered pages to make finding posts easier.
- 4 popular posts this month on my blog.
- Instagram bar showing you the latest posts from my Instagram. I rarely post photos anyway so you would see the same photos for months. Whoops.
- An about me section on the left and links and social icons on the right.
- A back to top button so you won’t have to scroll manually to the top.
I’ve had my notebook beside me with all the list of blog designs I’ve purchased on Etsy and from various designers. Let’s go down the memory lane and facepalm myself for spending that much money on blog designs. We are going to start with the year 2016.
In 2016 I purchased…
April 9th – Violin template by Vefio Themes
This was my first ever paid template and I figured out how to use the whole shebang of international banking/Paypal after many desperate attempts to make a purchase and failed. Now when I looked at it again, it wasn’t really that nice of a template but back then we didn’t have that many choices. I used it for about 4 months and it was great at that time.
Would I recommend: No. The seller hasn’t updated any themes in years and you can find cuter templates elsewhere.
August 5th – Gigi template by Fearne Creative Design
I wanted a masonry layout after seeing a blogger used it on her blog. I loved this theme so much! Fearne Creative Design (FCD) is the place if you’re on the look for beautiful blogger templates with affordable prices. Eve, the owner, is so helpful when you have questions and in need of a help with your blog templates.
September 18th – Gadot template by Fearne Creative Design
Ok – I have a perfectly logical reason for why I purchased a new theme in less than 2 months – I’ve been trying to get the post title to show on top of the post thumbnails like in this template but I just couldn’t figure out how to do that. The next best choice was actually purchasing the template and be done with it and that was exactly what I did.
Would I recommend: Yes. FCD’s latest templates for blogger are da bomb!
September 22nd – Majestic template by Design By A Shop
Aaaaand 4 days later, I purchased a new template. I just liked this one a lot better than my current one. However, it was very hard to edit and I didn’t like how slow it loaded my blog. It felt not right for my blog although it was a very pretty template. Sad that it didn’t work for my blog.
Would I recommend: The seller has retired.
September 26th – Marigold template by Underline Designs
Amazing, amazing template. 4 days after I purchased Majestic, I came across a blog that used Marigold template and I thought it was so pretty and website/magazine-like so I purchased it. I liked this one a lot! If you want a Blogger template that feels and looks premium, please take a look at Marigold.
Would I recommend: ABSOLUTELY.
November 25th – Marseille theme by Kotryna Bass Design
I did not buy this without a purpose – I migrated my blog to WordPress and obviously I had to purchase a WordPress theme. I can always use the free ones but the free ones were as good as nothing because with WordPress, you want customisation ability and it’s a lil bit restricted with free ones so a paid theme was the way to go for me. Honestly, there was nothing special with Kotryna Bass Design’s themes. It’s a bit pricey and thank god at that time I bought it with 50% off. I wasn’t satisfied with how it looked and I had to play with some codings and even asked Kotryna to fix something on my blog that took around 3 days to be settled. She was a great help but I’m not buying her themes anymore..
Would I recommend: If you liked exactly how it looked on the demo and didn’t have anything else to change, then go ahead..
In 2017 I purchased…
March 29th – Opulence theme by Pipdig
Can we take a moment for our fallen Pipdig brother? Sad. I’ve been wanting a Pipdig theme for so long but forking out 300 ringgit for a theme? Not a chance. However, my friend kindly gifted this for my birthday and I was ecstatic to say the least! It was the perfect theme for me for a good year and a half. It was very customisable and I can always change up the layout according to my mood. I loved this theme so much and if only Pipdig didn’t do what they have done..
In 2018 I purchased…
September 11th – Etoile theme by Pipdig
I figured I need a blog revamp after 18 months of using Opulence so I purchased the newly-released Etoile. It was beautiful and chic! I loved the header and the two featured images for post layout. Amazing theme. I get so many compliments with my Pipdig themes. They were absolutely gorgeous. They still are..
In 2019 I purchased…
March 11th – Lavoie theme by Pipdig
OMG! When Pipdig released Lavoie I was head over heels! I purchased this on my first day of internship at school, I went home all bored and thought “This is it. I am buying Lavoie!” after weeks of ogling at the theme. Out of all Pipdig themes and every templates I have purchased, this has got to be the prettiest, the bang for your buck, and the nicest theme ever. Ever. And as you can see I bought a lot of themes so that’s saying something. 3 weeks after that, the scandal about Pipdig started and boy I was disappointed. I had just bought Lavoie for god’s sake, I need to get my money’s worth but my conscience got the better of me. It’s time to move on.
Would I recommend: If the scandal about them didn’t arise, well absolutely. Their themes are no doubt gorgeous.
April 11th – Lookbook theme by Underline Designs
I was contemplating between this theme and another one of their old theme but I went with this one because it was the latest release. BIG MISTAKE. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice theme but just not right up my alley. I should have bought the other theme that I liked but it was also the most popular theme and I saw many blogs were using it which was why I didn’t want to go with it the first place. Anyway girls, buy themes that you like, NOT the latest release ones. I used it for a few weeks before going back to my Pipdig Lavoie theme. Yikes!
July 29th – Moonrise theme by Luxi Bee Design
To celebrate the end of my internship and also the submission of my thesis (hence the end of my degree), I bought a new theme! It’s minimal and beautiful. I love it so much. It does remind me of Holly & Weave theme by Pipdig, though. I had no problem installing this theme. The seller is helpful and they always have a sale going on on their Etsy shop.
Would I recommend: Yes, but I like Underline Designs better.
September 4th – Parker theme by Station Seven
My most expensive and most regretful theme purchase. I don’t know what got into my head when I purchased this theme. It’s very minimal and beautiful, however, I do not think it worth 300 ringgit. Yup. I paid 300 ringgit for a theme that I only used for 3 weeks. Shoot me now. I was inspired by this one blogger and I liked the vibe of her theme (she wasn’t using this theme) and I wanted one that gave me the same vibe as hers did. Good god. It’s not customisable at all and you would think for 300 ringgit the installation process would be a breeze but it wasn’t. I was expecting an edit-everything-on-Customizer but nope. The homepage alone is actually a Page that you create and assemble everything like you see on the demo. The slider, 3 featured boxes, and the call to action wordings below it.
Would I recommend: Yes if you like what you see and are willing to spend that much money.
September 26th – Memento theme by Underline Designs
FINALLY. A blog design that I’m satisfied with, that gives me the same tingling sensation Pipdig themes did. Although it’s not exactly up to par with Pipdig themes in terms of customisation but it’s definitely up there, it’s not bad. The installation was super easy and the seller is very helpful. I like this theme a lot and I can see myself using it for a very long time. I really like Underline Designs, having purchased 3 of their themes already. I love everything about my theme and it’s so chic!
Let me know what you think about my new theme!
