Frequently Asked Questions

You’ve got questions, and I’ve got answers. But perhaps your question has already been asked–or perhaps you’re still wondering exactly what it is you wanted to ask. So feel free to peruse through my frequently asked questions – and hit me up if you don’t find your answer here! xoxo

What kind of camera/lenses do you use?

When the site first began I used a Canon EOS XSi, but as my preferences and need for better consistency and an even more powerful camera grew with my site, I upgraded in February 2011 to a Canon EOS 7D. As far as lenses go, I have quite a few: Canon EFS 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 18-55 IS, Canon EF 70-200 f/4 L, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8. I probably use my 70-200 lens the most. Canon L lenses are unbeatable in terms of optical quality, minimal distortion, and the creamiest bokeh I’ve ever seen! I used to be a professional photographer and photoblogger (back before blogging was a household word) so I consider lenses to be an investment and treat them as such!

What do you use to create your collages of beauty products & fashion?

I’ve been a long time user of Photoshop, and that’s what I use for everything: collages, editing photos, site design elements…everything! I agree it’s not the easiest to pick up (it has a steep learning curve to go along with its hefty price tag) but once you get it, you know. It’s quite simply, the best.

What program do you use to edit your videos?

I use iMovie to download and edit all of my movies. I’m sure I could get much fancier with other more powerful programs, but iMovie is easy to use, pretty robust for my needs, and I’m familiar with it.

Can I interview you on my site/blog?

Absolutely! Just email me to get in touch & introduce yourself, and I’d love to answer your questions! I have limited time and a pretty tight schedule, so I sincerely apologize if questions can’t be answered right away.

What do you do for a living?

I’m a full-time medical student, less than a year shy of getting my MD.

How do you have time to be a medical student full-time AND run this blog?

When you find out the answer to that question, please help this girl out and let me know. I have no earthly idea. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because both things make me happy, and we always find time to do the things that make us the happiest, don’t we? If not, why are we doing it?

As another fashion blogger, I was wondering if you have any advice on how to get followers, page hits, etc. I’m looking for any maybe not-so-obvious tips.

Hmm, that’s a toughie. What was I doing when I was where you are? I was networking! I was commenting on other blogs like mine, that I liked and truly enjoyed reading, and I engaged them in discussion in comments, tweets, emails, etc, with genuine interest and enthusiasm. I really liked them and they really liked me! With networking came more traffic, and I entered fashion contests, submitted my blog to various blog directories, and did a LOT of social networking. In the end, network network NETWORK. make GENUINE connections and you cannot go wrong. Karma is big in blog world – don’t be pushy or needy ever (and you definitely weren’t to me!). Help others and promote others – I know it sounds counter-intuitive but it really pays you back in the end.

I am thinking of moving to Houston – any tips on good neighborhoods to live in? Love your blog, btw!

Houston is fabulous, just depends on your preference. Family life: Memorial, Spring Branch, River Oaks, West U etc. Hip urban: Museum district, Heights, Montrose :) I’m sure other Houstonians can chime in if they want!

What are your favorite tv shows?

I love to watch House, Glee, and a guilty pleasure is America’s Funniest Home Videos. The host is so corny (they always have been) but darn if I don’t giggle my butt off! It’s great for your abs.

Hi ! I absolutely love your blog, content and layout! I am trying to give my blog a new look and was wondering who designed yours? I would appreciate any help.

Thanks! I actually do everything, from the design to the coding. I use Thesis theme from DIYthemes and modified it pretty much until it was unrecognizable. :) I highly recommend Thesis, it’s powerful but user-friendly and appropriate for all levels.

Who is your blog host?

I LOVE my host Rackspace. I use their Cloud Servers. They’re incredibly speedy and great for high traffic websites. Fanatically great customer service, too.As far as blogging platforms go, I love WordPress (I use the wordpress.org self-hosted version but if you’re just interested in the wordpress-hosted one, go to wordpress.com — it’s also free). really great options as far as customizability (is that a word?) and free reign to do pretty much whatever you want! THe only thing is on wordpress.com you may not have sponsored ads or ads of any kind. Just keep that in mind if it’s something you’re planning on doing! Hope this helps! You can find more information about blogging on my Secrets to Fashion Blogging guide.

Where do you find inspiration for your outfit pictures?

Erm….I have no idea! Most of the time they’re spontaneous, last-minute, as in “honey can we please do an outfit post today with this outfit?”. other times I will catalogue locations in my head that I really like, for future reference the next time I want to do an outfit post shoot. it’s gotten to the point that when we’re driving, HB will point and say “that’d be a good outfit post”. Gotta love him!
I do like contrast, though, if you want specifics: for example, I dress really girly on most days/occasions. So I really like a grungy, warehouse-type feel to my background for a nice offset to my feminine outfits.
Repeating elements are also good for aesthetics – lampposts or trees lined up, an interesting fence, etc!

I’m 5’10″. My proportions are good for length. Neither my legs nor torso are really long. But, I have a large chest balanced against a serious lack of rear. My clothes all look either like they are maternity or (the extreme opposite) for a hooker. Help!

Try balancing out your assets with colors & patterns. Meaning: wear solids on top (black and navy will be especially slimming) and wear a patterned A-line full skirt (tuck in your blouse) to define the waist–the fullness of the skirt will create the illusion of an hourglass figure!

How do you get so much traffic and so many comments?

I am fortunate enough to have some people who have followed me from the beginning (you know who you are!) as well as some lovely newcomers who are loyal commenters. I like to comment on the blogs of commenters, as well. It takes time to build up a readership, however. Encourage interaction. I like to ask a question to my readers — because I care what they think! The most important thing is to be yourself, be authentic, be true to your readers and yourself, and network network network. I may not always be the best blog reader/commenter lately since things have gotten pretty crazy with the blog, but I believe you should thank those who help you out, and the people who help you out most on your blog are your readers.

How long did it take you to make your blog as popular as it is today? And what did you do to achieve it?

Hi! Let me start off by saying that popularity is relative: I still somewhat believe that my blog is a nobody…because…well, I still feel like the new kid on the block. But thank YOU for thinking so! It has come a long way from its rank of 9 million among all websites (Alexa) to its current ranking. I’m a stats whore, if you didn’t know. Anyway, PSS is a baby in terms of blog-years. I only started it in November 2009!I think the key is to write great content (not saying I do, but I’m working on it). People also need to relate to you. So if you say you hate skinny bitches and they should all rot in hell, you can bet your sweet buns that skinny bitches all over the world will NOT be reading your blog.Be yourself, but don’t be too…much.Let’s face it: every one who cares about their site’s success knows the importance of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and link building. You can write great stuff but it all goes to the birds if nobody is reading it. So I joined groups, participated regularly in discussions on like-minded blogs (and still do), added my blog to various categorical directories, read up on SEO & pagerank (still in the dark on that one…), and…yeah. The rest just kind of happened. But PSS is not one of those miracle overnight success stories – I poured a lot of blood sweat and tears into promoting it once it got started. Then I just dropped all of that and focused on the content & design. Things just sort of fell into place. Find your niche. Connect with others. Be genuine, and sincere (nobody likes link spam). Your colleagues (online, that is) will rally around you, and if your content is up to par, they’ll ideally share it with others, and they will with others, and so on…Hope this helps! :)

How often do you post on your blog? And do you feel like you have to post every so often? (eg. every day)

I used to believe in posting very infrequently. Then I read that the more content you post, the more successful your blog will be in terms of reach. I debated this for a long time, but I have found it is a win-win situation: The more I post, the more I get to meet of you out there. The more I meet of you, the more I feel like you guys are my friends. So then I want to share more with you all. So then I post more. Vicious, beautiful cycle.But in actuality, it really makes sense: how often will YOU visit a blog if you notice s/he posts once a month? Now how about every day? Would YOU want to *gasp* get behind? No dear friend, you do not. Especially when it comes to Pretty Shiny Sparkly. But: I may be biased on that last statement.The reality is I really enjoy it. Sometimes I have to hold myself back (or schedule posts for later dates) because I don’t want to overwhelm everyone!That being said, if I haven’t posted in like a day or two because I’ve been busy with something else, I do get the itch. That nagging feeling that you guys will forget about me. Or that you’ll look somewhere else for food if I don’t feed you. But I’m not comparing you to Tamagotchis…or anything

What/who inspired you to start a blog?

My 20-year-old brother died on October 6, 2009 and was the main reason I started PSS (but more on that later). This is a great question. I’ve always been a blogger of sorts. I had a photoblog called Eightyfour a few years back and won some lovely awards for my photography (I should get back into that but…no time). I enjoy connecting with people, I think it’s so important, and it always baffles me to learn that some people are (gasp) *private* and don’t think one’s flaws and toils should be shared with others.I’m not that type. I think sharing common experiences and showing we are all human and have the same thoughts makes us all more connected. We’re all in this together. Why not go through life with a feeling of comradeship and unity?Anyway, back to your question: what inspired me to start Pretty Shiny Sparkly. I branched this off of my personal blog because I wanted to create a place where I could be unabashedly girlie. I find lots of great things online (can that be a talent? please say yes) and the only way before PSS to share them with others was to buy it. My wallet didn’t like that. So instead of buying things I like, I save my budget and instead share it with you guys. I get to live vicariously through your shopping experiences. In reality, I have very little money (med student + no time for job + student loans = negative balance) to spend on the things I like. But that doesn’t mean I stop finding said things. Anyhoo, that’s why I share what I share on PSS. Interestingly, family tragedy was the catalyst. My 20-year-old brother died on October 6, 2009. I started PSS on November 1st. I guess I needed an outlet to escape to and PSS has been very therapeutic in that area. Now, I just can’t get enough of you guys! I love you all so much!

Are we going to see you dance in a video blog??

Only if iJustine is in it with me, or if I am embarrassingly drunk.

When it comes to fashion, would you consider yourself more on the trendy or the conservative side?

This may make me less cool in the eyes of all the fashion-frenetic readers that (I love who) read my blog, but I’m actually very conservative. I’ll pick a warm saddle brown tumbled-leather satchel over a crazy patterned print anyday. I think it all comes from a crippling sense of practicality. Like, I really don’t buy too many things in my life that I haven’t been able to rationalize.That being said, there are areas of my fiscal/logical responsibility that go to the birds:
1. I’m a sucker for men’s watches. Currently sporting a white Toywatch Plasteramic. I also regularly wear my (men’s) Tag Heuer Link bracelet with black face & diamond markers (b-day present a few years ago)
2. Sunglasses – currently carrying around black Ray-Ban wayfarers, but I also gravitate toward Marc Jacobs, Juicy, Lacoste, and Coach shades
3. Anything makeup. Sephora is the death of me.
4. FRAGRANCE. Oh my god when it comes to perfume I am absolutely bonkers. I just don’t know when to stop. Case in point: Christmas, bought myself the new Parisienne by Yves Saint Laurent (loves it!). Last week: purchased Flowerbomb by Viktor+Rolf online (limited edition: pink sparkle!). Yum.

Ask me anything you want!