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