To blog or not to blog

A lot of my friends and acquaintances still find it odd as well as rather amusing that I have this blog. That I, the girl who looks like she slathers on foundation with an Ikea roller-system and rather spends money on records and books than beauty-products, writes about colors, formulas and brands.
I rarely get what it is they find amusing about it, but then again, I do read a lot of so-called beauty-blogs. Or rather, I read makeup-blogs as well as nailpolish-blogs. The word beauty doesn't seem fitting, it's not beauty-blogs I'm reading.
And by stating that, we're back to the chicken or the egg-dilemma; would there be a makeup-industry if it wasn't for our obsession with beauty? Or did the makeup-industry kickstart our obsession and does it keep us consumers like puppets on a string? Are we all helping them along with our blogs? Who are we supporting, customer or manufacturer? Is there even a distinction any more?

I know this is the type of entry most readers rather skip, but I think it's most definitely something to keep in mind when we read all these blogs. I am starting to think less and less people are thinking about  

• what they just read
• what  impact it had on them  
  
• why it was there for them to read

Do blog-readers question what they read or are they just a little bit naive thinking it's all about love, peace and happiness?
How much material on a blog is based on pure interest and how many posts are influences by companies sending out material, goodies and review-examples? How many entries are written as a way to get listed by the PR-companies, to get noticed? How many readers read the disclosure policies and how many bloggers truly believe what they're stating about their own blogs?

These last few days, I've seen a lot of entries that I have found quite out of place. Where you can't help but ask yourself - Are these entries are paid for? Where's the fine print I am missing?
It's also quite common that you see the same information spread over a wide range of blogs but everybody's pretending like they just made it up. A brand gets massive coverage in blogs just by sending out an email stating that if said blogger give the brand some space on their blog, they can expect a massive goodie-bag and to be on the list.
I've seen it explained by bloggers as "People want to know / We're just giving them the information / It's just news" but is it really? What would be the difference between an ad and news?

What would you like to see in a blog? What do you avoid? Do you read blogs that have paid ads? That have paid posts?