I’ve known Erica since my days in Japan and can’t explain how ecstatic I became once I heard she and her childhood friend Cora had a blog! While I’ve met a lot of lovely bloggers from blogging myself, Erica is one of the few bloggers that I’ve actually met and know in real life. AtThe Bazinga Girls, the duo blogs about their lives abroad, fashion, and fantastic makeup tips as well! It doesn’t hurt that the name of their blog harkens to a show that I’m quite fond of either…

Aren’t they the sweetest friends? 

Tell us a bit about yourselves! 

Erica: I’m Erica, the shorter one of The Bazinga Girls (believe it or not there is a whole-head-difference in our height haha). We love doing things together: shopping, doing masks, exploring new restaurants, giggling, imagining life stories of strangers etc.

Cora: I graduated in England two years ago with an accounting degree, now I’m back in Hong Kong working as an accountant. I love Hong Kong, but I do love England more: I think it was those years in England that inspired my passion about makeups and fashion (also got that from my sister), popping into Boots and Topshop (and looking at pretty girls in London) makes my day!! I love music, movies, yummy food; it takes so much pressure off doing something enjoyable after a hectic day at work.

What inspired you ladies to start blogging? 

Erica: We started writing in our “exchange diaries” since we were kids – maybe when we were around 13/14? We just can’t get enough of each other despite the fact that we used to see each other every single day at school. We wrote about our celebrity crush, kept records of the gossips from school, drew weird pictures of everything, and many more fun stuff happening in our lives. Then I left HK and went to the States for college so we switched to a digital diary instead (a private blog only read by the two of us). So we have been kinda blogging for a long time, but it was really just a random conversation on whatsapp about a month ago that fueled this sudden decision to start The Bazinga Girls.

Cora: Sometimes I have this passion to share things going on with me: wonderful places I have been to, gorgeous makeups I have tried on, lovely music I get addicted to…. but I used to just share that with some close friends. So one of my friends suggests: “Why don’t you try on writing a blog? some people might be interested in reading that.” So I started a blog of my own last year, about makeups and stuff, but I always got so tied up with work and I stopped. I’m so glad Erica invited me to do this with her, we share ideas and take turns to write – it’s more fun and easier this way rather than on my own.

You girls are such great friends, so I have to ask – how did you meet? 

Erica: We met at primary school when we were tiny kiddos! When we were around 11 I guess. We got closer and closer and became best buddies all through high school and college. (A fun fact about us: we used to be the same height in grade 7, then after the summer and we got back to school the first day, Cora was sent to the back of the line because she grew like 30cm in two months!)

Cora: Wow.. that dated back more than a decade ago! We were actually elementary schoolmates but we never really talked to each other back then. It was only until middle school we became classmates, and we kind of hangout in the same gang. Then we got so much closer few years later when we started sharing books, music, random jokes and writing exchange diaries. And we became best best friends these years, especially we both left Hong Kong for studies. I love talking to Erica because we are like-minded and we share similar value and interests.

Has your view on blogging changed since you’ve started? 

Erica: Blogging everyday turned out to be much harder than I thought! There is always something coming up last minute that needs to be done, or I am simply too lazy to get out of my bed sometimes haha. So it was the right decision to blog with Cora – to spread the workload 😛 But blogging has also turned out to be even more exciting and fun than I imagined. There is a great blogging society out there and I’m thrilled to be one of them now!

Cora: Yes! When I first started, I had ideas of writing things about myself, myself and myself. But then I realized blogging shouldn’t be just about the blogger, the readers are usually interested in things they could relate to. That is how I feel when I read blogs of other people, and how I decide if the blogs go to my bookmark page. I think it would get easier when more people are reading and leaving comments, that will help us understand what people are interested in knowing about us!

Erica, you’re living in Oxford right now and Cora in Hong Kong; what has brought you to your respective cities? 

Erica: I first came here for my masters, which I completed a couple months ago. Now I am working here, and will probably be here for awhile cause I love it so much!

Cora: Well I was born in Hong Kong, I spent almost my whole life here except the few wonderful years I went to university in England. And most of my family and friends are here in Hong Kong, which is the biggest reason I stay.

Your favorite thing about Oxford/Hong Kong? 

Erica: My favorite thing about Oxford is my little home here, and the history embedded in the city, and that it’s more laid back than a big city. But nonetheless I’m a city girl. I love HK for its vibrancy and food and shopping and all the lights and night view. But mostly it’s the people, my family and friends that I grew up with.

Cora: What I love about Hong Kong… I think food probably? Haha.. secondly might be the internationality. You can meet all kinds of people here, of different nationality and background. And it’s also because of that, we have everything here… easily accessible, without taxes. And oh yes, the habour – amazing night view, that’s the most beautiful thing in Hong Kong which is simply irreplaceable.

Any tips for nurturing a long-distance friendship? 

Erica: Hmmmm that’s a hard question. I guess just try to talk to each other as often as you can. Like we usually talk to each other every day, on skype or whatsapp. If we miss each other because of the time difference, then we usually send each other messages on facebook about random things, like new discoveries on make-up tools, or a pretty coat. But the one thing about being BFF is that even if you don’t talk for awhile and then you meet again, the spark is still there! It’s that feeling that warms your heart a little when everything still feels the same <3

Cora: With the technology these days, it’s just so easy to contact and update each other: facebook, skype, whatsapp. But even we get busy sometimes and are elusive for a while, we both know that we’ll always be there for each other and we have someone to count on. I remember back then we always try to find ways to spend time together, e.g. we pick a fun movie and watch simultaneously on our own screen (with the help of skype!), so we could still comment and laugh together about how crappy the movie was, lol.

What’s one beauty item you can’t live without? 

Erica: Hair treatment! After multiple times of dyeing my hair (one time from black to blonde), my hair is very fragile now and is constantly splitting ☹ I usually give my hair a treatment (VO5 hot oil treatment) two or three times ago and although it’s not in its best condition, at least it still looks decent and straight.

Cora: Definitely the eyeliner!! For me, eye-makeup is always the key. When I look at people the first thing I see is their eyes, so eyeliner does make a huge difference. I do wear a thin stroke of eyeliner when I go job interviews because it gives a better impression.

What’s your go-to karaoke song? 

Erica: Arashi’s One Love! Yes I am a total sucker for Japanese dramas and movies and Hana yori dango is one of my all time favorite. And any Lady Gaga songs that let me yell and scream at the top of my lung.

Cora: Haha… I know my own strengths and singing is definitely not one of them. But if I have to pick one, maybe Bad Romance? Since I can totally mess it up in a fun way!! Hahahaha

If you had to read only one book over and over for the rest of your life, which would you choose? 

Erica: Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Although it is not a ‘happy’ story, it’s bittersweet in the way that you can relate to it. And because it is so well written, and I simply love the title! (The Roald Dahl Treasury is also top on my list. I know I am greedy… :P)

Cora: I admit I am not really a book person. I do read, but mainly novels about silly love stories. So if I am to choose only one, it might be a book more informative than just a story, say, a book I own about makeup. There are just so many informations and techniques that I have yet to get my hands on and master the skills. So this could probably be a book that I will read over and over again.

I know you both love The Big Bang Theory 😀 – do you have a favorite episode? 

Erica: I don’t know! I refuse to choose. I love them all.

Cora: It’s hard to pick one! Few favourites are: the one Sheldon got sick (penny singing “soft kitty”), the gang went on a quest to bust the guy who hacked into Sheldon’s World of Warcraft account and the halloween special: the gang finally gets a chance to play pranks on Sheldon!
(we love taking weird pictures!)
Thanks for sharing, ladies!