Saturday, December 31, 2016

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

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