The
Queen Series is a weekly feature happening on Wednesdays. Each week one
of us from The Digit-al Dozen will introduce you to our blog, tell you
about how we got started, and
talk a little about how we ended up being the Queen of something. We
all have unique talents when it comes to nail art, and our Queen titles
reflect that. Check out past posts in this series.
Sorry for the reversed words on my shirt! I hate taking selfies! :)
Hi all! I'm Kirsten, The Queen of Variety. Writer of Geeky Owl. Also on Twitter @GeekyOwlBlog and Instagram @GeekyOwl . You can visit me on Facebook and on Pinterest!
It's my day to introduce myself! I love these kind of posts because you get to know the person behind the nails! Many of you may know that I just got a job! After being unemployed for about 7 months, this is a big change! It was nice not working, my bank account would disagree!
But I work part-time at Ulta! Sa-weet! Discount on nail polish and makeup! What's not to love! I use to work near this Ulta and would visit it quite frequently and have talked with the manager a lot about the mall and polish. So when the manager called me for an interview I told her she would probably recognize me. As I walked into the store for my interview, the manager just started laughing and said "I had a feeling it was you! I hoped it was you!" That made me feel so awesome! Everyone knows me there as the polish obsessed lady (if only they really knew how obsessed!) with awesome shirts! Hahaha! Things could be worse!
This is my first ever photo on my blog! Eeks! Look at that pinkie doing whatever the heck it wants! Hahaha! This was December 31, 2011. I've had two other blogs before this: one for just life in general, and one that was written when I went through my big anxiety/depression episode. I wrote it to let my friends and family members know what I was going through. Some said it was too intense, so I kind of stopped. Oh, and true story: in the 90's I tried to learn HTML so I could make a Spice Girl's fan blog! It took me so long just to figure out text and colors! Hahaha!
My blog: Geeky Owl was started as a whim. I had been posting my manis in Facebook groups for a while andstalked read a lot of blogs; but then decided that I wanted to try out a nail blog. I wasn't new to polish, but I didn't know everything that I do now. My blog is a way for me to express myself creatively without much judgement (other than my own!).
(This was my first real intense/time consuming mani!)
As I was setting up my blog I had to choose a name. Ugh! It's harder than you think. Someone might have the name you really want, so you have to go to a second choice and so forth. I knew I had to include owls somehow in the name. I tried so many different things and finally settled on Geeky Owl because I love geeky/fandom things and owls (YOLO = You Obviously Love Owls!)! This allowed me to have a name that was just committed to polish if that fell through and allowed for my blog to include other things *gasp!* there are other things besides polish? But now, sometimes, I laugh and/or groan because my blog name also looks like Geek Yowl. Hahaha! Reminds me of Dead Poets Society: "I sound my barbaric yawp!". But I love me name, it really is, so me!
(That time some of us in The Digit-al Dozen, before it was The Digit-al Dozen did a LOST challenge!)
You know what? I'm really surprised at the amount of followers I have (and I love each and every one of my Owlets!). I would really love to know why they follow me as I know I'm not the best writer (my voice sometimes gets lost in the technical jargon of colors or brands). Maybe I provide comic relief or the ability to make one feel better about one's self because hey, it can't get any worse than Geeky Owl! I'm kidding! I really think it's the variety that I supply on my blog. I'm not a one trick pony, far from it! And I'm really open and honest about my life and my struggles with anxiety and depression, so maybe people connect with me that way. Oh, and my nail art isn't perfect! So that could be it too! :)
(Agent Lavender in Disguise!)
My blog is where I really feel comfortable writing and sharing. I still haven't gotten all those #hashtags# things figured out for Twitter or Instagram (love the #hashtag videos on Jimmy Fallon!)! I like my Facebook page as it gives instant interaction, but I fail at posting often on mine! My bad! I'm making it a goal to be more chatty on my FB page. My blog and FB also give anonymity. A lot of my friends and family don't know of my blog and myaddiction obsession hobby of polish. Not that I'm ashamed I just really worry what others think. Yep, I'm one of those! :)
(The One about A Mad Man with a Blue Box)
So my polish set up is weird. I live with my sister and her family so I have one room for all my stuff. I have a bookshelf that I do all my nail art on while sitting on my bed! My polishes are in Melmers in my closet, my stamping plates under my bed. Geesh, it's really funny. I'm wanting to make of video of my stash and polish spot, so hopefully that'll happen soon! :)
(That moment in which I stunned even myself!)
This peacock mani is my most pinned mani ever and therefore most viewed post. And you know what? It was a fluke! It was the first time multi colored stamping had ever worked! And this was just in February 2012, not that long into my blog! Get this, my next most viewed post is a book review about The Little Prince. Go figure.
Eeks! Sorry about the photos and the pink glare, phone photos! But this is how I like to plan my blogging. An awesome composition book from Target! I start out with a full month overview with all things that need to be done (Digit-al Dozen posts, challenges, guest posts, etc). Then I set up my weeks. I write in one color what's to post that day and then another color for what I need to work on for next week. The small calendar in the corner shows the current week and the upcoming week so I know what's needed to get done. I really like this system. I haven't always done this but since I have I feel less stressed out about my blog. It allows for me to get it all out of my head! And plan ahead.......post, not the actual designs! :)
(That time I did my first gradient and it worked!)
Do you know what I love about the polish community? That we are all supportive of each other! We cheer each other on through personal issues and nail problems! Even if we think: oh I wish I was better at my clean-up, application, nail art, photos, writing (yep, I wish these all too!), there is always someone who loves what you are doing and comments and gives you that extra bit of confidence! Aren't we all our own worst enemies?
(Ampersand love)
Polish has always been in my life. For as long as I can remember, my mother always painted her nails some sort of rose pink each Saturday. Though she was sick my entire life (she's now passed away), she always did her nails. I would love to know what she thinks of this blog! Oh, I also have a memory of painting my nails in my car while driving to work in high school! Yikes! Don't do that! That's bad! I had to commute about 40 mins on a two lane highway. Oh, they were a bright sienna/orange color, by Avon. :)
(That time I drew a Liger and my lips hurt real bad!)
You know you have a problem when you realize you've run out of room for more polish! Oh and you are known at Ulta and Sallys as the crazy polish lady! My last polish count was, ugh, do I really have to put this? It was around 780 but I've had blog sales and bought more. So who knows where the number stands now, not sure I want too!
(That time when I visited the 80s!)
So, I have this fear of fire, I really do! I have all my important documents and pills in one drawer so I can pull it and run. But thinking about this I realize I don't have my favorite polishes in there! Uh-oh! But how to choose? I love Catrice polish (hard to get here in the US), fabulous formula, colors, and names! And then I love OPI for the same reasons! I love me some cremes, shimmers, and any type of mattes. But my most favorite? How do you pick your favorite baby? OPI Skull & Glossbones and Essence Romeo get a lot of use on my blog. But I love Orly Nite Owl! I love them all! They are mine.......my precious!
(The time I let the Pigeon drive the bus!)
So something that I've tried to teach myself is slow and steady wins the race. Or in this case, makes for a better mani! I tend to rush things either because I need to get it done now or because I'm so excited about my design that my hands go faster than my brain and it turns out a wreck! I'm trying to get into the habit of planing out my nail designs on paper first. Yep, I don't do that!
(The time when I was dumbfounded at my own mani!)
So a lot of the ladies of The Digit-al Dozen don't like me; I tend to choose the weeks that they hate! But they turn out so amazing because it makes everyone work and think harder! For example: Art Week (Debbie told me she hated me for this!). Of course I loved Geek Week, especially because on the final day the ladies all did owl manis for my birthday! Aren't they awesome! I also loved Animal Week, Book Week, and Monochromatic Week, oh and Brand Week!
(The time when stamping went awesome!)
Speaking of favorites, there are some wonderful ladies that have influenced my blog and my life and I follow them religiously. Sometimes I hate saying these because I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings! So in no particular order and these aren't all of my favorites! Sugar Nails, Manicurity (we go way back! Doing the 31 Day Challenge 3 years in a row together!), Gnarly Gnails, The Crumpet, Bee Polished, Chloe's Nails (she's one of the reasons I got obsessed with polish!), SpaceLife Thoughts, Fixin to Faff, The Nailasaurus, A Girl and Her Polish, PishPosh and Polish, and all the other Digit-al Dozen Ladies (you all make me strive to do and be better!). And of course my main non-polish religious read: Epbot (for all your geeky needs!)
(The time I thought way outside the box with a nail mani!)
One of the toughest things for me is creating totally original nail art. It's hard! I take my inspiration from other nail bloggers (give credit, of course!), Pinterest (what did we do before it?), my life, and then honestly just slapping things together and hoping it turns out! I love using fugly colors, a lot! It's always more unique that way! :) And speaking of inspiration, I am so totally flabbergasted when I see someone re-create my manis. I never think mine are good enough to need a second version, so when I see someone do it I am shocked! It's so flattering to think someone liked your mani so much that they took the time to do it! I also love getting repinned. It makes me feel good! Gives me the extra drive knowing people really do care!
(That time I did the Zombie Song)
So, the other day I was trolling my name on Pinterest and guess what I saw, OPI had pinned this Zombie mani to their Halloween Board! What!? I was so surprised! I didn't realize big name brands paid any attention to me! I was also shocked when Barielle approached me to be one of their blogger reviewers. It's good to see brands pay attention to us nubbin-ladies who may not always paint perfectly!
(That time when I rocked the straight lines!)
So you can see from the photos that I have posted that I really do a variety of different things on my blog! I don't excel at just one technique, honestly I don't know if I excel at any technique because a lot of times I don't do it again! I'm game to try different techniques, if it turns out horrid I still post it but never speak of it again (looking at you marbled nails!)! If it rocks, then I'll try it later on.....if I remember! I try out different designs and if I hate them (my nemesis is Tribals!) I try to never do it again. But the thing is I try, I give it a shot and post no matter what it looks like! Because hey, I still completed it! I also have many different themed posts on my blog: Wednesday Reads (book review), TGIF (Thank Goodness,Indy Indie Friday), Teal Tuesday (haven't done that in a while!), Technique Tuesday, GOT (Golden Oldie Thursday), and a ton of other things. I like to switch it up. Keeps me interested and I hope it keeps you the reader, my Owlets interested. And that is why I am the Queen of Variety! (and long posts, ok, just this one!)
Thank you for making it all the way to the end.......if anyone did! :)
Hi all! I'm Kirsten, The Queen of Variety. Writer of Geeky Owl. Also on Twitter @GeekyOwlBlog and Instagram @GeekyOwl . You can visit me on Facebook and on Pinterest!
It's my day to introduce myself! I love these kind of posts because you get to know the person behind the nails! Many of you may know that I just got a job! After being unemployed for about 7 months, this is a big change! It was nice not working, my bank account would disagree!
But I work part-time at Ulta! Sa-weet! Discount on nail polish and makeup! What's not to love! I use to work near this Ulta and would visit it quite frequently and have talked with the manager a lot about the mall and polish. So when the manager called me for an interview I told her she would probably recognize me. As I walked into the store for my interview, the manager just started laughing and said "I had a feeling it was you! I hoped it was you!" That made me feel so awesome! Everyone knows me there as the polish obsessed lady (if only they really knew how obsessed!) with awesome shirts! Hahaha! Things could be worse!
This is my first ever photo on my blog! Eeks! Look at that pinkie doing whatever the heck it wants! Hahaha! This was December 31, 2011. I've had two other blogs before this: one for just life in general, and one that was written when I went through my big anxiety/depression episode. I wrote it to let my friends and family members know what I was going through. Some said it was too intense, so I kind of stopped. Oh, and true story: in the 90's I tried to learn HTML so I could make a Spice Girl's fan blog! It took me so long just to figure out text and colors! Hahaha!
My blog: Geeky Owl was started as a whim. I had been posting my manis in Facebook groups for a while and
As I was setting up my blog I had to choose a name. Ugh! It's harder than you think. Someone might have the name you really want, so you have to go to a second choice and so forth. I knew I had to include owls somehow in the name. I tried so many different things and finally settled on Geeky Owl because I love geeky/fandom things and owls (YOLO = You Obviously Love Owls!)! This allowed me to have a name that was just committed to polish if that fell through and allowed for my blog to include other things *gasp!* there are other things besides polish? But now, sometimes, I laugh and/or groan because my blog name also looks like Geek Yowl. Hahaha! Reminds me of Dead Poets Society: "I sound my barbaric yawp!". But I love me name, it really is, so me!
You know what? I'm really surprised at the amount of followers I have (and I love each and every one of my Owlets!). I would really love to know why they follow me as I know I'm not the best writer (my voice sometimes gets lost in the technical jargon of colors or brands). Maybe I provide comic relief or the ability to make one feel better about one's self because hey, it can't get any worse than Geeky Owl! I'm kidding! I really think it's the variety that I supply on my blog. I'm not a one trick pony, far from it! And I'm really open and honest about my life and my struggles with anxiety and depression, so maybe people connect with me that way. Oh, and my nail art isn't perfect! So that could be it too! :)
My blog is where I really feel comfortable writing and sharing. I still haven't gotten all those #hashtags# things figured out for Twitter or Instagram (love the #hashtag videos on Jimmy Fallon!)! I like my Facebook page as it gives instant interaction, but I fail at posting often on mine! My bad! I'm making it a goal to be more chatty on my FB page. My blog and FB also give anonymity. A lot of my friends and family don't know of my blog and my
So my polish set up is weird. I live with my sister and her family so I have one room for all my stuff. I have a bookshelf that I do all my nail art on while sitting on my bed! My polishes are in Melmers in my closet, my stamping plates under my bed. Geesh, it's really funny. I'm wanting to make of video of my stash and polish spot, so hopefully that'll happen soon! :)
This peacock mani is my most pinned mani ever and therefore most viewed post. And you know what? It was a fluke! It was the first time multi colored stamping had ever worked! And this was just in February 2012, not that long into my blog! Get this, my next most viewed post is a book review about The Little Prince. Go figure.
Eeks! Sorry about the photos and the pink glare, phone photos! But this is how I like to plan my blogging. An awesome composition book from Target! I start out with a full month overview with all things that need to be done (Digit-al Dozen posts, challenges, guest posts, etc). Then I set up my weeks. I write in one color what's to post that day and then another color for what I need to work on for next week. The small calendar in the corner shows the current week and the upcoming week so I know what's needed to get done. I really like this system. I haven't always done this but since I have I feel less stressed out about my blog. It allows for me to get it all out of my head! And plan ahead.......post, not the actual designs! :)
Do you know what I love about the polish community? That we are all supportive of each other! We cheer each other on through personal issues and nail problems! Even if we think: oh I wish I was better at my clean-up, application, nail art, photos, writing (yep, I wish these all too!), there is always someone who loves what you are doing and comments and gives you that extra bit of confidence! Aren't we all our own worst enemies?
Polish has always been in my life. For as long as I can remember, my mother always painted her nails some sort of rose pink each Saturday. Though she was sick my entire life (she's now passed away), she always did her nails. I would love to know what she thinks of this blog! Oh, I also have a memory of painting my nails in my car while driving to work in high school! Yikes! Don't do that! That's bad! I had to commute about 40 mins on a two lane highway. Oh, they were a bright sienna/orange color, by Avon. :)
You know you have a problem when you realize you've run out of room for more polish! Oh and you are known at Ulta and Sallys as the crazy polish lady! My last polish count was, ugh, do I really have to put this? It was around 780 but I've had blog sales and bought more. So who knows where the number stands now, not sure I want too!
So, I have this fear of fire, I really do! I have all my important documents and pills in one drawer so I can pull it and run. But thinking about this I realize I don't have my favorite polishes in there! Uh-oh! But how to choose? I love Catrice polish (hard to get here in the US), fabulous formula, colors, and names! And then I love OPI for the same reasons! I love me some cremes, shimmers, and any type of mattes. But my most favorite? How do you pick your favorite baby? OPI Skull & Glossbones and Essence Romeo get a lot of use on my blog. But I love Orly Nite Owl! I love them all! They are mine.......my precious!
So something that I've tried to teach myself is slow and steady wins the race. Or in this case, makes for a better mani! I tend to rush things either because I need to get it done now or because I'm so excited about my design that my hands go faster than my brain and it turns out a wreck! I'm trying to get into the habit of planing out my nail designs on paper first. Yep, I don't do that!
So a lot of the ladies of The Digit-al Dozen don't like me; I tend to choose the weeks that they hate! But they turn out so amazing because it makes everyone work and think harder! For example: Art Week (Debbie told me she hated me for this!). Of course I loved Geek Week, especially because on the final day the ladies all did owl manis for my birthday! Aren't they awesome! I also loved Animal Week, Book Week, and Monochromatic Week, oh and Brand Week!
Speaking of favorites, there are some wonderful ladies that have influenced my blog and my life and I follow them religiously. Sometimes I hate saying these because I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings! So in no particular order and these aren't all of my favorites! Sugar Nails, Manicurity (we go way back! Doing the 31 Day Challenge 3 years in a row together!), Gnarly Gnails, The Crumpet, Bee Polished, Chloe's Nails (she's one of the reasons I got obsessed with polish!), SpaceLife Thoughts, Fixin to Faff, The Nailasaurus, A Girl and Her Polish, PishPosh and Polish, and all the other Digit-al Dozen Ladies (you all make me strive to do and be better!). And of course my main non-polish religious read: Epbot (for all your geeky needs!)
One of the toughest things for me is creating totally original nail art. It's hard! I take my inspiration from other nail bloggers (give credit, of course!), Pinterest (what did we do before it?), my life, and then honestly just slapping things together and hoping it turns out! I love using fugly colors, a lot! It's always more unique that way! :) And speaking of inspiration, I am so totally flabbergasted when I see someone re-create my manis. I never think mine are good enough to need a second version, so when I see someone do it I am shocked! It's so flattering to think someone liked your mani so much that they took the time to do it! I also love getting repinned. It makes me feel good! Gives me the extra drive knowing people really do care!
So, the other day I was trolling my name on Pinterest and guess what I saw, OPI had pinned this Zombie mani to their Halloween Board! What!? I was so surprised! I didn't realize big name brands paid any attention to me! I was also shocked when Barielle approached me to be one of their blogger reviewers. It's good to see brands pay attention to us nubbin-ladies who may not always paint perfectly!
So you can see from the photos that I have posted that I really do a variety of different things on my blog! I don't excel at just one technique, honestly I don't know if I excel at any technique because a lot of times I don't do it again! I'm game to try different techniques, if it turns out horrid I still post it but never speak of it again (looking at you marbled nails!)! If it rocks, then I'll try it later on.....if I remember! I try out different designs and if I hate them (my nemesis is Tribals!) I try to never do it again. But the thing is I try, I give it a shot and post no matter what it looks like! Because hey, I still completed it! I also have many different themed posts on my blog: Wednesday Reads (book review), TGIF (Thank Goodness,
Thank you for making it all the way to the end.......if anyone did! :)
