2016 Year in Review

Accomplishments! During 2016, I:
-Continued to improve my application game, specifically creating an even line by the cuticle
-Started using a light box and got significantly greater results for pictures, especially during the winter
-Started being way more selective in polishes I keep in my stash

My five best NOTD pictures from 2016 (click for higher res):

5. Picture Polish - Winter - Using the light box, of course. My finger placement here is a little odd, but the lines are so clean that it makes up for it.

4. Revlon - Mystic - It took me forever to get a good shot of this one. I could never quite capture its beauty. This one was taken outside before I had the light box, so my skin looks blotchy, but I was finally able to take a good picture of Mystic!

3. Girly Bits - Food Fight! - Not perfect line work, and my skin is a little blotchy, but somehow the overall effect just works.

2. Essie - Strut Your Stuff - Again, not the greatest line work, but wow, this color! What a glowy, neon blue! It's hard to take a bad picture of this.

1. Rainbow Polish - Shooting Star over E.L.F. - Sea Escape - My NYE mani made it to the top spot this year! I've got a couple sloppy lines going on, especially on that ring finger, but the sparkle of this holo glitter completely distracts from it. Thank you, again, light box!

Takeaways from NOTD countdown?
-Man, that light box is totally working for me. I was skeptical at first, especially with how much I love the natural light in my pictures, but you can't fight these results.
-Clean line work is good, but not as essential as I expected, apparently?
-I need to wear that Rainbow Polish glitter more often, even when it's not a holiday!
-Keep watching that hand placement.

~*~

My favorite manis of 2016:

Honorable Mention: Revlon - Beguile - Surprise! A vampy creme! I started wearing these more in 2016, and Beguile gets the honorable mention this year for really selling them on me.

10. Silly Bee's Chickadees - Azucar over Model City - Wrapped in Wool - Ugh, I love Azucar so much! >_< This would have been way better over Feeling Gloomy (I did decide to purge Wrapped in Wool because I didn't like it as much as Feeling Gloomy), but that didn't keep me from enjoying it.

9. Milani - HD over Nail Fantasies - Celestial - A rich creme, what? I still haven't decided whether to keep Celestial or not, but I DID quite enjoy wearing it under HD, at least!

8. Ellagee - Trenzalore with Orly - Mirrorball accent - Wearing all of these richer cremes, however, doesn't mean I didn't enjoy my fair share of light shimmeries, either, especially earlier in the year. Mirrorball was a general go-to, and Trenzalore is still a favorite.

7. Zoya - Merida - Bought on a whim during the 70% off sale, I was super pleased with this polish. It looks fantastic with my skin color, and I never wanted to take it off.

6. Zoya - Olivera - This was almost magical to put on. Even though it mostly just appeared black in regular lighting, I knew it was there with its delicious green shimmer over that gorgeous navy blue. And only one coat, too!

5. Mentality Polish - Altruism - I had to keep myself from just wearing Altruism over and over again this year. Again, I don't care about the drama that brought about the demise of this polish. What matters more is that this is a beautiful silver-lavender shade with a gentle holo that makes me keep reaching for it.

4. Lilypad Lacquer - Moon Glow - This was a new one I've still only worn once, but I just ADORED that ethereal glow. I wanted to keep it on forever!

3. Rainbow Polish - Shooting Star over E.L.F. - Sea Escape - Thank you to SO for helping me pick out this mani! I literally squeed when I put it on, and I spent the three days of wear I got with it just admiring my nails constantly. <3

2. Fancy Gloss - Feeling Gloomy - Aaaah, my ultimate grey. So delicately subtle and quietly gorgeous. <3 I need to wear it again so I can get better pictures!

1. Revlon - Mystic - Still pure magic on the nail. I kept reaching for this because I knew I could count on it for being amazing with each and every wear. <3

Takeaways from favorites?
-I can now rock both the worlds of vampy cremes and the light shimmeries pretty well!
-I still have my favorite colors, though, and I don't venture out into warm colors much.
-Even when a color has a subtle quality that others don't notice, like a barely-there shimmer, it still makes a difference to me.

~*~

Looking forward to 2017, do I have any goals? I want to:
-Keep trying new things from the swap group
-Keep purging and get my stash to a smaller selection that I can be proud of

Pearl Storm

The Polish
BC: Nailtiques - Formula 2
Undies: Sinful Colors - Rain Storm, one coat
Topper: Maybelline - Precious Pearl, one and a half coats
TC: Seche Vite

I always forget how much I love Rain Storm. It's such a lovely, dusty blue shade, and it goes on in one, easy coat. I don't think I mixed Precious Pearl enough before opening it because I had to do a little fishing to get enough of the glitter and dabbing to get enough of it on the nail. Love the result, though. Snowy nails! <3

Wear: Removed on Day 6 with some chips

Shooting Stars in the Sea

The Polish
BC: Nailtiques - Formula 2
Undies: E.L.F. - Sea Escape, two coats
Topper: Rainbow Polish - Shooting Star, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

New Years nails!! I know they won't last until NYE, but I just got too excited about the idea of this mani to put on anything else. I wanted something like last year's NYE mani, and when I talked to SO about it, he suggested the same topper over black. Worked out perfectly, and I love it! <3

Wear: Removed on Day 3 with some lifting exacerbated by anxiety picking

Merida

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Zoya - Merida, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Oh my goodness! Christmas polish this year is another one from the Zoya 70% off sale that I picked up simply because others were raving about it, and surprise! I LOVE it on me!

I suppose the scattered holo can kind of be seen in the sun, but mostly it's just a lovely, sparkly forest green.

And I just adore it in indoor lighting! Eek! <3 I should have gotten the blue one, Dream, too. Next time! :)

Wear: Removed on Day 6 with chipping on Day 5

Alicia

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Zoya - Alicia, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

I was so excited about Alicia when it first came out in the Grunge collection. I kept going back to Zoya at least once a week looking for it until I realized they weren't getting the collection. Luckily, though, Zoya had that 70% off Black Friday sale, and I put it into my cart immediately.

My picture doesn't do it justice, but.. it's not actually as wonderful as I was expecting, anyway. It's not really all that disimilar to my other silver scattered holos, Milani HD and Orly Mirrorball. I was hoping there would be a more prominent gold shimmer or something.. Anyway, it's cute. I probably didn't need three coats, but I wanted to make sure it was opaque for the pictures.

Wear: Removed on Day 7 with minor tip wear and a peelie, ugh

Winter

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Picture Polish - Winter, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Winter is a dark grey with holo microglitter. I've had something similar before.. in fact, I frankened it. (Ugggh, those pictures are really difficult to look at!) When I got this one, I was afraid I'd get something similar. But no, surely people who actually make polish can do it better than me, right? First coat was thin, and I thought maybe it'd be similar after all. But the second coat leveled it out it out beautifully.

After that, I remembered, Oh yeah.. I also got something similar a while ago and destashed it because it wasn't as good as Feeling Gloomy, which I adore. Do I actually need this?

Yes. The answer is yes. This is a lot darker than Feeling Gloomy. It has the same speckled look in regular lighting that I like, but.. this is almost a black. In fact, because this is called Winter, maybe they were going for a snow-falling-against-the-night-sky look? Anyway, super digging it, and it totally gets to stay in my stash.

Wear: Didn't record :/

Olivera

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Zoya - Olivera, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

Oh my goodness, Olivera is SO pretty!! I heard everyone from the nail board, youtube channels, AND blogs raving about how much they loved it, so when Zoya had their amazing 70% Black Friday sale this year, I added it to my cart, too. And I'm really glad I did. She's a dark, navy blue with adorable green shimmer. Sure, it just looks black in most light, but I know what it is.. :3

But the real magic of this girl is that she's a one coater. You can see on my middle finger how it can get a tiny bit thin if you're not careful, but it's not noticeable at all in person. <3

Wear: Removed on Day 6 with some chipping near the base on Days 4 and 5

Food Fight!

The Polish

BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat

Color: Girly Bits - Food Fight!, three coats

TC: Seche Vite

Food Fight! seems to be fading slightly, but despite its ugly bottle syndrome it's got going on, I still love it so much. Just look at those iridescent glitters! So perfectly done. <3

Wear: Removed on Day 6 with a little tip wear, but mostly because the growth was getting to me

Autumn Spice

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Revlon - Autumn Spice (Parfumerie line), two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Autumn Spice is a red-leaning brown with copper sparkle. It's been floating around my local swap group for a couple years, and I've been admiring it. I always said I couldn't do browns, but lately I've been getting more adventurous, especially with stuff I can try for free.

Nope. Turns out it's still not my thing. I thought it made my hands look like old lady hands. Still a fine color for clothes, but not on my nails. Back into the swap pile for you.

Wear: Removed on Day 3 with tip wear

Kismet Bikini

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Main: Essie - Bikini So Teeny, three coats
Accent: Color Club - Kismet, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Apparently I have a thing with this color combination, hah. What can I say? They just seem to pair themselves while I'm choosing! :3 Aaaaand.. I know the picture below is definitely more in focus, but the one above is just better, okay? So it gets to be the first picture, the end. :P

Wear: Removed on Day 4 with a couple of chips

Wrapped in Plastic

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Hare Polish - Wrapped in Plastic, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

Oooh, light box! My mother-in-law, or "back-up mother," as she likes to be called, got me a light box for my birthday, just in time for the winter. Yesterday I waited a little too long to take pictures of my nails, and it was dark by the time I realized, but never fear! Light box to the rescue! It.. kind of highlights flaws in my application, doesn't it? XD Does it also make my hands look weird? Eh, oh well. I'm sure I'll get used to it. :P

Wear: Removed on Day 4 with some chips

Crystalized

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Polish: Sally Hansen - Crystalized, two coats
TC: None

I generally forget how much I enjoy this polish. So soft and pretty!

Wear: Didn't record because vacation

Beguiling Mirrorball

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Main: Revlon - Beguile,  three coats
Accent: Orly - Mirrorball, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

This is my first time uploading an entry entirely from my phone! I'm on vacation for two weeks, so phone will be my only computer for a while. Hopefully it works!

I really only needed two coats of Beguile, but I've just taken to using three coats most of the time. *shrug* But Mirrorball definitely needed three to be opaque enough on its own. I had considered layering it over Beguile, but meh. Accent is fine for now. Maybe next time. :)

Wear: Removed on Day 7 with chips

Ocean Breeze

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Revlon - Ocean Breeze, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

Oh, this color again! It's strange because I don't tend to enjoy metallics much, but this one is so bright and colorful.. it just calls to me. It's almost a green-blue duochrome, but it shows teal most of the time. In the picture below, you can ALMOST see the blue part of the shift.

Wear: Removed on Day 5 with some lifting

London

The Polish
BC: None
Color: Zoya - London, three coats
TC: None

Hey, remember that time that I super loved London? Yeah, that time has already passed. I don't know what happened. I keep finding that I don't enjoy all the things I used to love... :( I was trying to go through my stash and pull out everything I wanted to destash for the winter swap this year, but.. I don't think that's happening. I think I still need to pause because I'm not in the best place mentally for destashing. I'mma just stick with the ones I'm already super enjoying these days. So be prepared for some more swatches of things you've already seen recently! :P

Wear: Removed on Day 4 with some tip wear

Celestial HD

The Polish
BC: Nailtiques - Formula 2
Main: Nail Fantasies - Celestial, two coats
Topper: Milani - HD, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

Anyone remember how I said toppers look dumb? Like you had a perfectly good mani but then covered it with garbage? I think that's how I feel about this, but... I'm not actually sure.

Celestial is an old Nail Fantasies I got from the summer local swap. It's old, but it's still got a great formula. It must have been expertly thinned before it ended up in my hands. It's a navy with stunning blue flash. I really like it... but do I love it? Enough to take it out of purgatory? I.. don't think so just yet. It'll go back until I wear it another time to make sure.

And of course I love HD, but.. as a topper over a dark color? I hadn't tried that before. At first I thought I hated it, but I think it's growing on me. I still prefer it on its own or over lighter colors, but this isn't so bad!

Wear: Started to lift on Day 3, removed on Day 4

Special Snowflake

The Polish
BC: Nailtiques - Formula 2
Color: Maya Cosmetics - Special Snowflake, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

Hmm... I'm not quite sure what it is.. This used to be one of my very favorite polishes. I wonder why I'm not completely feeling it this time around. Perhaps because it needs a little thinning? I dunno.. I'mma put it back in the box and decide on it later.

Wear: Removed on Day 3 after a little stress picking

Mystical

The Polish
BC: Nailtiques - Formula 2
Color: Revlon - Mystical, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Okay, turns out this one DOES need three coats. Meh. I was in a hurry. Still looked lovely inside. :P

Wear: Removed on Day 3 with some lifting

Where Oh Werewolf

The Polish
BC: Nailtiques - Formula 2
Color: Sinful Colors - Where Oh Werewolf, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Where Oh Werewolf, a nice grey creme with silver shimmer, is my pick from the 2016 Halloween collection!

Wear: Removed on Day 3 with slight lifting so that I wouldn't anxiety pick at it