Once viewed largely as amateur competition, fashion and beauty bloggers are being embraced by mainstream media. Women’s magazines increasingly use bloggers as freelance writers and stylists, and Lucky magazine has taken that symbiotic relationship one step further with their Fashion and Beauty Blogger Conference, held for the first time on the west coast this past April.

But as LA Weekly pop culture critic Gendy Alimrung learned from attendees, style blogging success can come with the pressures of a career, minus the paycheck.  Lauren Wickman of L.A. in the bay described the 25 hours a week she spends blogging as an unpaid third job. Stephanie Liu, who runs the popular blog Honey & Silk, devotes not just time to her blog but emotional energy:

She doesn’t depend on it for income (traffic at that rate earns her a monthly $50-$100 or, as she says, “a dinner”), but the blog is always on her mind.

“I’m not gonna lie,” she says. “There is pressure.”

From pink pants to Prada purse, she planned today’s outfit with the precision of a NATO air strike.

“Now I have never worn bottoms, let alone slouchy pants, this bright before,” she writes in her blog. “So it was quite a risk for me wearing these to the conference where everyone will be in their most fashionable.” Her tone is serious.

“Invasion of the Beauty Bloggers” is the LA Weekly‘s current cover story, and can be read online.