Friday, 20 July 2012

Friday Friends - Kirsten from The Geeky Owl

Hi Goddesses



Today's Friday Friend has become a genuine friend in my life - the lovely Kirsten from Geeky Owl (who I also did a Guest Post for today). 


She also provided me with one of my swapping highlights of the year - there we were, her in Arizona and me in England, emailing each other as she browsed the polish racks in various stores.  Lol, it was really exciting!


If you don't already follow her blog, you really should - it's just the right combination of normal and slightly offbeat :) xx


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What is your name and what is your blog
Kirsten Bly
From Casa Grande, Arizona, USA



What can we expect to see on your blog / How would you describe your style / your blog’s style
Right now it would be mainly polish swatches and hauls, some nail art all with a dash of geekery. I have recently added a feature called TGIF: Thank Goodness, Indie Friday where I spotlight an Indie polish! Also on Wednesdays I do Wednesday’s Reads and review a book I have read. I wanted something to switch things up a bit! :)


Why did you decide to start the blog –
I started my blog to share my obsession…err, hobby with others! :)


How many followers do you have / how many visitors do you get a day / if you have an established blog, how have you “built” your following
I currently have 393 followers and get around 50-100 page views a day maybe? It changes each day.


What do you do in the real world, and how do you fit blogging in with your lifestyle ?
I work in retail at Old Navy and am going to school for my second degree. On my days off from work I try to get two to three manis done so that I work on the posts that night, but that doesn’t always happen! :)


What is the favourite post you have done 
This one is hard! It’s a tie I think! I really liked doing the LOSTathon that I did with a bunch of wonderful women: http://geekyowl.blogspot.com/2012/04/lostathon-round-up.html


But I also loved my Inspired by a movie post in which I did the movie/TV show Serenity/Firefly!
http://geekyowl.blogspot.com/2012/01/31-day-challenge-day-23-inspired-by.html


What is your most popular ever post 
Adventures in Stamping Week 7: 3 Colors

This one was a surprise. I really didn’t think it would be such a hit! But I am the most proud of this one. It’s the first time to multi-colored stamping and it worked the first time!

Which blogger do you most admire / who do you follow / who are your go to bloggers
Oh wow, this is hard! There are so many wonderful bloggers our there! I follow a lot of amazing blogs that I read every day (even if I don’t always comment! Oops! Because I see them as big stars and am afraid to comment!) I want to list all of them because they are all amazing! But just a few and not the only ones that read every day  and am inspired by are:
Scrangie
Chalkboard Nails
Nailside
Chloe’s Nails
Oooh, Shinies!
The Crumpet
Manicurity
The Nailasaurus
A Girl and Her Polish
Gnarly Gnails

And my favourite non nail art blog is: Epbot (http://www.epbot.com/) such amazing geekery goodness that will blow your mind! :)


When blog posts go wrong – pls share a photo and link of a blog post of your own that you are ashamed of / wish you could redo / didn’t turn out how you wanted it to.  
Personally I think a lot of mine can be done better because I don’t have a light box so my photos are top quality and my nail art isn’t the best (hence why I swatch more often!) but don’t we all hate certain things about our blogs? But the one post/mani that failed that I can think of off the top of my head is:

Adventures in Stamping Week 3: Stars
The mani was a fail with all it’s layers that didn’t dry and then I tried to stamp over it and smudged it. And all the photos I took none of them were all that in focus. So I used this perspective shot which showed less of my mani too! :)


Pick a further 3 manis of your choice from your blog 
Inspired by a Fashion: Steampunk
This one I would love to redo as well, but I still love it because I love steampunk and it was fun using those items!  
http://geekyowl.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/31-day-challenge-day-25-inspired-by.html



My Galaxy Nails: I was really impressed with myself for having something turn out so awesome on my first try!


And finally my last one that I really like is my Monkey See Monkey Do that I did which was inspired by Chloe’s Nails and the mani that started the passion of polish and nail art for me:


Finally your stash – talk about your favourite brands, colours, must have tools, your “number” etc
My favourite brands are: China Glaze, Orly, OPI, Essence, Catrice, and NerdLacquer.
Colors: I’m pretty well rounded and have most all colors but I tend to gravitate towards greens, bright pinks, greys, and browns. And as I am making swatchsicles I am noticing how many of those I have!
Must have tools: Oh my word! I have fallen in love with use ELF concealer brush with acetone for clean-up around my cuticle! My manis almost look professional now! I also use toothpicks a lot! And my dotting tools when I do nail art free hand and not stamping!
My total number? Well, on my google doc it is: 490 but that does not include all of my polishes. I am in the process of entering them all in. But I would say between 500-600? Maybe? Not sure I really want to know! Hahaha!


Oh and one last thing – what tip would you share with someone who is thinking about starting a blog ?
Do it! It’s fun, it’s stressful, it’s exciting, it’s aggravating! Hahaha! But most of all you get to meet some of the most wonderful people from all over the world! And when you look at your stats and see that people really do read from all over you get all warm and fuzzy inside and think: They like me! They really like me! :)


Let’s Get Personal
What’s your earliest polish memory: Playing with my mom’s polishes when I was little. She would always paint her nails on Saturdays.

Fave film: Serenity

Fave type of music: Not mainstream! Favorite bands are Meg & Dia and The Cranberries (alright so they are sort of mainstream)

How old are you lol: 31

Are you a cat or dog person: Cats all the way, except that they don’t love me in return and make me all itchy! :(

Fave book: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and then any books by Lynn Kurland (Time Travel Romances!)

If you won £5million on the lottery, what would you do: First I would convert it to figure out how much that is in dollars (according to the internet: $9.9355 million). I would pay off school loans. I would give my immediate family money to help with their loans and house payments (depending on the price I might just pay them all off!). Then I would buy myself a house (with a nail room!). I would travel, travel, and travel! Oh and my more polish to fill polish room!

What inspires you: My family. They mean everything to me.

Share a quote that means a lot to you:
This is hard because I love quotes and collect them! But my top two, for today, are:
“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us” –Joseph Campbell
“Come what may and love it” –Joseph B. Worthlin

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