Good morning. I’m sitting here at my computer desk, sipping coffee and reflexively clicking that lovely little Stumbleupon icon…

Do you use Stumbleupon? I don’t know what I’d do without my SU fix. A day doesn’t goes by that I don’t spend at least a few minutes stumbling new sites.

Stumbleupon is an Internet community that works through a browser toolbar (but don’t let that scare you) where you find and rate websites, photos and videos. By clicking a small button in the toolbar, users vote thumbs up or down on the different sites they find.

It’s kinda like a website slot machine, where you click the Stumble button to see a random new site. Stumbleupon has millions of sites in its databases, all submitted and recommended by other Stumblers. Sites are organized into different channels, or topics, like Beauty, Fashion, Dancing and Art.

I might send an email to the makers thanking them for inventing one of the coolest tools known to womankind!

It’s one of the ways I look for inspiration in the morning or unwind after a tough day, kinda like watching brainless TV (Double Shot at Love, anyone?) or flipping through the pages of a magazine.

Once you’ve registered with the site and have the toolbar installed, you can choose the topics you’d like to stumble. For me, being able to pick topics is the pièce de résistance. It takes Stumbleupon from being a highly efficient waste of time and turns it into an actual resource. Through topics, you can filter out all the stuff you aren’t really interested in, like the sites about bear traps, inter-office politics and beef jerky.

12 Stumbleupon Channels for Beauty Addicts

Here are the 12 topics I have configured in my profile. The sites within these channels have been great sources of inspiration for me, but there are dozens of other channels (maybe hundreds) to choose from. Play around with ‘em until you find the right mix for you.

1. Health>Beauty
2. Health>Health/Fitness
3. Health>Self Improvement
4. Arts/History>Arts
5. Arts/History>Dancing
6. Arts/History>Fashion
7. Arts/History>Fine Arts
8. Arts/History>Photography
9. Home/Living>Relationships
10. Home/Living>Weddings
11. Society>Women’s Issues
12. Society>Bizarre/Oddities (heck yea!)

How do you find inspiration or unwind after a tough day?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. For more on how to use Stumbleupon, check out their Getting Started with Stumbleupon guide.