20 Questions with Daily Polish

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Today’s 20 Questions volunteer is Sara from Daily Polish. I admire Sara because (in case the name of her blog didn’t give it away), she posts a different nail varnish every day. I remember when i was doing the same thing last year, and it nearly finished me off, so hats off to Sara. She has the best collection of Rescue Beauty Lounge and features a wide range of brands and prices top. A true polish fanatic – check her out here.

1)      Why did you start your blog?

I started Daily Polish during a long period of unemployment in 2009. I was home all day, every day and I did nothing but read nail blogs and watch tv and I read so many blogs but I began to get annoyed because they weren’t updated every 5 seconds and I was home and bored. I was wishing there was a nail blog that updated every day, rain or shine, weekend/weekday, holiday or no…I toyed with the idea of starting a blog to fill that void for about a month before I actually decided to do it. I knew changing my polish every day would be an incredibly daunting task and I was nervous (and totally not a nail blogger, just a huge fan) but I took the plunge in September. I still feel like one of the best parts about my blog is that I don’t consider myself to be a nail blogger, I’m just a huge fan of nail polish and I think it shows on my blog. I’m just a big, easily excited dork!

2)  How long have you been blogging for?

I’ve been writing in blogs since I was about 13/14 but I started Daily Polish in September 2009

3) What do you enjoy most about blogging?

Well I must say that I still get really stupidly excited that anyone even bothers to read my blog, I mean…I’m just me, why does anyone care what I think!? But people DO and they read and respond and it’s so pleasing. I am an incredibly opinionated person, I’m very outgoing and I love that blogging allows me to tell people exactly what I’m thinking and why I like or dislike certain polishes to an audience. None of my friends are interested in nail polish so if it weren’t for my blog I’d have no one to talk to!!

4)  What frustrates you most about blogging?

Well I only work part-time at the moment so thankfully finding time to swatch isn’t the problem…it’s finding the right LIGHT to swatch in! Living in London is not ideal as a nail blogger, the sun is rarely ever around so I’m trying to swatch under a lamplight and somehow get the polish to look nice, reflect the actual colour and capture any effect at the same time. Also I mean this might just be whiny but sometimes it’s hard to put so much time and effort into your blog and not really feel like anyone is reading or you are gaining an audience. When you are part of the nail blog community and you see some blogs that are incredibly fantastic just shoot off into the stratosphere in terms of popularity, readership and recognition it is hard not to feel a twinge of jealousy because you feel as though you work equally as hard. But maybe that’s just because I have a constant need to prove myself from being the youngest! My big sisters accomplished so much, it was hard to find my niche as an adult and I’m thankful that nail polish has given me this way of expressing myself!

5) How much time a week do you spend on your blog / reading other people’s blogs?

Hmmm, I spend at least 12 hours a week on my blog, I’ve been working with a web designer to launch my own domain and a bespoke blog and then on top of that there is writing the blog posts, swatching (which is still something I’m mastering – thankfully I’ve improved a lot at polishing my nails but my nails still don’t look perfect every time…or maybe even ever!), I am trying to edit photos (including adding watermarks) because there is [sadly] a lot of thievery of images from nail bloggers…and then goodness, I have NO idea how much time I spend reading other blogs. I read nail blogs obsessively! Not only because I want to know what they are wearing but I’m curious about their tastes, nail shape, nail routine…even the style of their blog. I’m up to 48 blogs on my blogroll that I try to read religiously to give you some idea of the time I dedicate.

6) What advice do you have for aspiring beauty bloggers?

I know I probably should say something insightful but really all I would like to say is that if you are really passionate about the idea for your blog and haven’t started yet…START! I mean nail blogging takes up a huge part of my life but it also gives my life purpose at the same time, I genuinely enjoy pursuing nail polish as a part of my life (I don’t know how to phrase exactly what I mean, I feel calling it a ‘hobby’ demeans its importance in my life!), I mean even if I have to stop blogging tomorrow I could never regret its place in my life. I felt like I had something to say and I had a void to fill in the nail blog world and no matter how small my voice may be in the grander scheme of nail blogs it doesn’t diminish its importance! If you are passionate about it…it’s important. You can have 1 reader or 1 million, people will respond to the emotion you put into your work.

7)  What other hobbies/interests do you have?

Oh man. My secret shame is I’m completely addicted to Twilight FanFiction. It’s fiction using the Twilight characters (but telling different stories). It’s completely embarrassing so I probably shouldn’t announce it to the world, but I’ll own my shame! I am also very big into World of Warcraft (true story! I originally began playing to prove to my boyfriend how stupid and un-fun it was and 3 years later I’m completely hooked…I sure showed him!). I’ve been a big book nerd my entire life, I bring a book everywhere. Leaving the house without a book (to me) is like leaving without shoes. You just can’t!! I love music. I have been playing the violin and viola for over 15 years! I love television, I’m completely hooked on American television (which I can justify as a California expat living in London)!! Um, I’m also really into that facebook game called ‘Treasure Isle’ it’s so dumb but I love it!

8  ) How many bottles of nail varnish do you own?

Not as many as I want!!! To me there’s never enough, but I only own about 500+ bottles. Which to me…isn’t very many at all!

9) Do you set yourself a shopping budget, or do you purchase on an as-and-when basis?

I’m horrible with budgeting. I bleed money! I tend to be an ad hoc purchaser, I find it difficult to go out and come home without picking up at least 1 bottle of nail polish on my travels. I must admit for every polish I buy I end up with 2 or 3 more on my ‘to buy’ list! Everytime I try to stick to a budget or a ‘shopping ban’ I fail miserably!

10)     What is your favourite make-up brand, and why?

I don’t actually know that I really have one. I have a lot of MAC products but I don’t know that they are my favourite. They have a lot of variety which I like but if you told me that starting tomorrow I could never buy MAC products again I wouldn’t really mind! I’m pretty open to all brands, I mostly just buy MAC products because they are easily accessible and I can read a million reviews in advance so I know exactly what I’m getting into. I will say that my foundation is Chanel VitaLumiere and I hope to never need to swap! True story: I was at Selfridges with one of my friends and she had her back turned so I put on VitaLumiere as a bit of a joke and when I turned around she immediately could tell something was different and that it was a very good different, I’ve been a fan ever since!

11)    Do you ever leave the house without wearing make-up?

It’s actually rarer for me to leave the house with makeup on than to leave without makeup on! I love makeup, I have shedloads of it but I rarely wear it. The biggest reason is laziness…I’d rather spend an extra 20 minutes snoozing than applying makeup. When I was a teen I had mild acne and I decided I’d rather just be bare for the world instead of bothering to cover it up and the idea that people need to accept me without makeup is just sort of part of my personality. I’m a frilly no-frills kind of gal if that makes any sense?! I love dressing up and wearing makeup I’m just too lazy to do so! But another reason is that I go to the gym every lunch break on my work days so I find it a bit silly to get my face made up only to take it off 3 hours later and then have to put it back on.

12)     What is your favourite beauty product and why?

Does facewash count? If so, then Vaishaly cleanser. It’s an oil based cleanser and it leaves my skin feeling so soft and refreshed. If not, then probably the MAC bronze quartet. I love gold/bronze type colours, they’re very professional and flattering and this group of 4 is all the colours I ever need in one place!

13)     What is your favourite nail varnish of all time? (yep, only one!)

Okay, I can’t say just one for a really important reason. In some ways my favourite nail varnish of all time is OPI ‘Chicago Champange Toast’ because it was the colour of the first professional manicure I ever got (aged 12) and it was the tipping point for me. I have been hooked on polish ever since (even though I don’t actually like this colour as an adult!). But my favourite polish that I actually wear is probably Zoya ‘Blair’. It’s my favourite blackened red and it’s so sultry, powerful, sexy and confident all at the same time. Who needs power panties when I can have power nails!?

14)     Tell us about the best holiday you’ve ever been on.

I haven’t been on holiday in long time actually! Not since 2005 so that is when we’ll go back to! I went to Malaga, Spain in the summer of 2005 and it was one of the first times I travelled anywhere alone and I was a bit nervous that I’d be lonely and have a terrible time (not to mention the fact that I can’t speak Spanish!) and it was wonderful. I stayed at a great hostel and everyone was like a family and it was so great to be in a different country and exploring the sites and just taking in the experience.

15)     What would be your ideal day off?

I’m so lazy!! My ideal day is one where I just get to stay in bed watching tv and reading all day. If it’s nice outside I might consider leaving the flat…but really my ideal day off is just doing nothing and being in bed! I love bed! (I love lamp!)

16)     What is your favourite TV show?

Hmmm…right now it’s probably Criminal Minds. I’m totally hooked on it! It took me ages to catch up as I started watching it from the pilot in February and now that I’m on the 5^th series I keep putting off watching it as I don’t want to get caught up and then have to wait for it to return from summer break! Plus I might have a bit of a celebrity crush on Spencer Reid!

17)     What music do you enjoy listening to?

I pride myself on having a really eclectic taste in music. Growing up I listened to Motown, Mahattan Transfer, Irish Drinking songs, Lynyrd Skynyrd and classical music! My first favourite band was (and will always be) Tool! I’m definitely a big rocker chick, I love hard rock and metal. I also love musicals, I was fortunate to have a mum who took us to the theatre and to musicals on a regular basis instead of going to the cinema or the park…it was definitely an unusual upbringing but I’m thankful to the amount of culture I was exposed to! I also love folk, I’m a huge (HUGE) Joni Mitchell fan (the album ‘Blue’ changed my life)…sometimes I definitely feel I was born in the wrong decade, I would’ve loved to go to Woodstock! I will say that right now I have been listening to Florence & the Machine nonstop, what a fantastic album!!

18)     What is your favourite food?

Man. So many! I love Kraft Mac & Cheese (I can’t help it!), sushi, pizza, pasta, burgers…mmmm. I love food in general! I guess I’ll take the easy way out and say my favourite drink of choice is Dr Pepper!

19)     Where would you most like to visit in the world? (money no object)

SOOOO MANY PLACES!!!! I’d love to go to India (I’m a big yogi), Russia (St Basil’s Cathedral…it looks like it belongs in Candy Land!), Scandinavia (I want to see the Northern Lights!), Italy, Scotland, I’d love to go back to Paris, Portugal…….I’d say a better question is where don’t I want to visit but I want to go everywhere! I would love to travel the world over and over again. My dad was really into travelling and he instilled the bug in me at a young age. I’d love to travel around the world and be able to discuss it with him, I know it would’ve made him really excited.

20)     Tell us a secret…

I have 9 tattoos and I’m desperate for more!!

Thanks Sara! Don’t forget that if you have a blog and would like to answer our 20 Questions, you can send us an email to the usual address!

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