I bet you the rumors are wrong..

Here are all the answers to your questions that are asked frequently. So please do not be offended when I direct you here if you ask the same question in an e-mail. Just saying.

How old are you?

Currently, I am 23 years old. My birthday is on February 27th and lucky me for being a Pisces!

Where are you from if you are not from Colorado?
I was born and raised in High Point, North Carolina, which is only an hour or so from Charlotte, North Carolina.

How many siblings do you have?
I have two sisters: one younger biological sister by the name of Meghan and a best friend since the age of three who is looks like Datoka Fanning and is two years younger than me by the name of Stephanie Mildred-Marie Poole.

What is your cultural background?
I am German, Irish, Italian, Polish and French.

What kind of music do you like?
Let's just put it this way in the music I do not like. I am not a big fan of country music (some and only some songs are okay), opera or bluegrass. Anything else goes unless the artist really sucks and you will know so if that happens!

What kind of camera do you take your pictures with?

All digital photos as of December 2012 are taken with a FujiFilm FinePix S2940.

How long have you and David been together?

We first started talking on December 3rd, posted our status up as a couple on Facebook on December 9th (his birthday, one of the things I did not know about until he told me! I just wanted it up on Facebook because I wanted my ex-boyfriend to know that I moved on from him) and became a physical couple on March 3rd (the day I arrived in Colorado from our move).

When will your outfit pictures on Beaute Sombre?

Honestly, I will do so once I get myself a tripod or will overcome my fear of having David photograph me. I'm not that confident in front of a camera to do so!

Where are your favorite places to shop?
I am a big fan of shopping at thrift stores, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, Karmaloop, ModCloth, Mermaid Killer, Dolls Kill, Fred Flare, and Urban Outfitters when I can afford to. I have to make sure that it fits within my DJ Kittie or Beaute Sombre persona before I buy it, otherwise I will pass it up no matter how cheap it is.

How would you describe your style?
More like how do I describe my styles. I have two styles for two unique lifestyles. For my Beaute Sombre look, I prefer dark colors, lace, Victorian fashion, anything flirty and fun, dresses, ruffles and anything romantic to the look. As for my other lifestyle, DJ Kittie prefers anything and everything worn by cyber-goths and bubble goths, as well as neon colors, club wear and dreadfalls. Let's just key the term Kerli if you want to know exactly what that means. 

Just know that with both lifestyles, I do not put myself in a categorized box nor do I settle on a “particular look”. I go for what can suite my needs for both lifestyles and what kind of persona I want to make with anything and everything I find in a very eclectic, experimental way (which tends to get saved into my folder offline of an ever-growing collection of over 24,000 files). 

You said that you own Wicked Minx Dreadfalls. Will we ever see you wear any dreadfalls?
I do plan with this blog to take tons of photos of myself as much as what I normally take during the day. Although I do work a lot, I will make sure that my dreadfalls will be introduced within the blog one day.

What are your dreadfalls made out of?
All dreadfalls made by me are made with 100% Kanekalon hair.

Why does your skin look so perfect?
While my skin is far from perfect, I do however maintain my skin to be as radiant as it possibly can be through moisturizer, hot steamy showers, detoxifying my body through healthy eating ad drinking lots of water, and not touching my face as much. Other than my routine, I was pretty much born with an extremely clear complexion.

If you have your entire body covered in tattoos one day, do you ever worry about career limitations?
You know, I used to have that fear until after I quit Ross in September 2012. As much as I loved working retail, I just knew it was bad timing to really work anywhere at the time. Since then, I never planned on trying to find another job once the timing was right, thus the reason why I started working at home and being my own boss. 

Hiding my true personality because of corporate wigs really bug me and if I want my ultimate career goal to come true, I have to work at home to fully experience what it is like to start my own company than to work my way up by having a second job. Besides, this is my life and if I want to have a dozen tattoos while having my own jobs, then I'll make it happen without the fear of never being able to “network” again.

What are you studying in college and why?

Currently, I am a senior at University of Phoenix and will be graduating in 2014 (I've needed some much needed time off for a while) with a Bachelor Degree in Retail Management. I have always had a thing for management, even when I was a little kid. I found it fascinating in middle school when we were given the option to go to the high school of our choice and once I heard about the art and business program at Southwest Guilford High School, I quickly signed up. Most of my electives were art and business related, and I even signed up to participate in the DECA club (preparation for emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, retail and basic management) for three years before dropping out early in my senior year due to a court-related/harassment issue I had with two girls from the school. Don't worry though, I graduated from another school called Brittain Academy!

After I graduate University of Phoenix with my Bachelor Degree in Retail Management, I plan on attending at Intellitec for the 15 month Cosmetology program before heading on to an on-line fashion school of the like to receive a Bachelor Degree in Fashion Design while building my salon as a hair-stylist. Thank you Maw-Maw for introducing me to the Haute Couture world and everything eleganza through the beauty of hair, makeup and fashion!

What are your after college plans as far as a career is concerned?
My ultimate goal out of the whole experience is to open up my own Haute Couture line with its own store, to DJ and to open up my own chain of retail stores (non-related to the Haute Couture line). Until that can happen, I plan on being self-employed through Hatchet Threads, Paws With C.L.A.W.S. (merchandise and cupcakes!), Wicked Minx Dreadfalls, and Graphic and Web Design.

I am new to this whole blog world. Do you have any suggestions or advice on how to blog successfully?
I couldn't have said it more honestly than Kaelah at Little Chief Honeybee. Here is a link to her Blogging Dos and DON'Ts tips in which should be helpful through this link. If you ever need more advice, Kaelah has recently laughed her first e-book, PR + Marketing for Bloggers (& Small Business Owners) in which you can check out. It has 44 pages of first hand experience and advice in all realms of life and style blogging, as well as maintaining a small business. 

Elycia (Love Elycia) and Chantilly (My Girl Thursday) have also addressed the same topic through this link and follow up topics through this link, and even Elizabeth of Delightfully Tacky partnered up with Selective Potential to put together an e-course with a ton of practical information on how to make your blog the best it can most possibly be.

Never forget to network, network, network, something of which I cannot stress enough for new readers to do. This means getting to know your fellow bloggers as your reader-list grows, to join relevant communities and to utilize social networking platforms (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc). Your concentration on a new blog should also include consistent, easy-to-read content and eye-please aesthetics, as well as an appropriate amount of photographs (just make sure they are of the same size or close!) in posts that you are truly passionate about!

How long have you been blogging?
I first started blogging back in middle school through Livejournal and have never looked back since.

What made you want to start this blog?
I've always seen other girls dress up and felt that if they were motivated enough to dress up for their fans while being dedicated to their main passions, then I could too. Hopefully with this blog, I can share my many passions with others, to dress up, to gain more motivation as a person to dwelve in the self-employed world as well as to be able to network successfully. Besides, what is a better way of documenting your life than blogging and networking with people who have the same interests as you do?

What does bien aime and beaute sombre mean, and why did it come about?
When David and I first started talking through Yahoo! Messenger before I moved to Colorado, we had several serious discussions about my health and the fact that I needed motivitation to overcome depression, being suicidal and my pill-popping addiction. While at the time we did not know we were destined to be together in early March of 2011, I had a feeling of hope and wanted some pet names that clearly told a story about our relationship through another language. At the time, I told him I would never tattoo his name on me, but would tattoo a name in another language through the meaning of his name and that I would adore it if he did the same through my name in another language through its meaning.

With that being said, David's name means beloved and in French, my beloved means bien aime. My name means dark beauty and translates to beaute sombre in French.

What is the deal behind the death cat in your banner since your blog is mostly whimsical and bright?
I have two personas through two unique lifestyles, which consist of Beaute Sombre and DJ Kittie. While Beaute Sombre is dark and beautiful, DJ Kittie is happy, neon and joyous. I wanted to combine my two lifestyles through my blog along with my current interests of felines, vampires, and neon colors, thus the reason why the Death Cat was introduced in my banner.

What do you use to edit your photos? What about your videos?
Editing for me is done easy through GIMP and Pixlr, along with various fonts, brushes and other tidbits needed to create the photographs or other designs you see on my blog. As for videos, I use both Windows Movie Maker and Stupefilx Video Maker.

How much do you charge for your services?
My current rates for both graphic and wed design are placed on several pages through this link. Just follow the link for the service that you need and you will be able to find the specific rate for the project you have in mind. If you are interested, you can email me at beautesombredesigns@gmail.com.

How can I become a sponsor?
All detail about sponsoring can be found here.

Can I feature you on my site, get an interview or host a giveaway on your blog?
Absolutely! Just make sure that all used photos or content include the proper credit or links. Please contact me at djkittiex@email.phoenix.edu for interviews or hosting a giveaway on Beaute Sombre.

If you have a question that was unanswered through this page, feel free to contact me through djkittiex [at] email [dot] phoenix [dot] edu.