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
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!
Oooh, Shinies!
The Crumpet
Manicurity
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!
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!
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