My Year in Nails

Last year was my first full year as a nail polish fanatic.  Sure, I've loved polish since I was in preschool, but I didn't really go crazy for it until June of '12.  Last year nails really defined my life, so I think it's fitting that I remember the year with a long (absurdly long...like....make yourself a sandwich) look back at the good, the bad, and the memorable in both nail photos and moments of my life.  I got the idea while doing my Top Picks Of 2013.  So many of my photos bring back memories, but let's start at the end with my final mani of 2013...

Milani Creme Brulee and L.A. Colors Deluxe

I'd never have gotten away with my NYE stamping at work, so I had to tone it down while still trying to be festive.  A bit ho-hum, but I like it.  That was the biggest change for me last year, learning to adjust to nudes and neutrals.  I went in grudgingly, but I eventually found plenty to love.

....and now let's look back...

Sinful Colors Bali Mist over Inkwell

My first post of last year was one of my most memorable and among our most popular.  I finally got around to wearing this multichrome beauty after *gasp* months!  There are so many untried treasures in my collection now...but I'll try to fix that this year...

Sinful Colors Kiss & Tell

The first of many shocks and surprises the year would hold.  I still love Kiss & Tell and I have to thank it for helping me start to expand my horizons.  This is also from around the time I started to prefer natural light.  Made a huge difference in the quality of my photos, I think.

Claire's Flirty/Shy

I think I said I'd never let them get this long again.  Haha.  Still, this was a huge deal for me.  My nails were long for the first time in my life, longer than I ever thought I could get them.

Sinful Colors Unicorn

The horror!  Pastels are so endlessly bad on me.  I swatched that whole collection just to prove to myself that I could get past my own likes and dislikes.  I used to actually howl and mumble when I wore pink polish.  I still don't like pink, but at least I can wear it silently now.

Sinful Colors Sweet Nothing and Love & Beauty Crystal/Black

Nothing special, just a combo I really liked.

Sinful Colors Exotic Green

Nothing momentous here either, but I love this polish and how it looks on me!

Sinful Colors Innocent

I'd wrinkled my nose at ugly greens before this, but Innocent was a breakthrough.  Nichole will probably never forgive it.

FingerPaints Late Night Rendezvous

Worn to celebrate two years with the best man I've ever known.  It'll be three in a few months!

Revlon Trade Winds

Hallelujah!  I really never thought I'd find my ideal nude, my "mannequin hands", but suddenly there it was and it's core!  I'm still not over it.

L'Oreal Berry Nice jelly topper

Everyone made a HUGE fuss over the Miss Candy jellies.  They deserved every bit of that fuss.  Not the best jellies ever, but damn good!

Sally Hansen Shoot The Moon, mattified

Just an outstanding polish from one of the best lines out there.

Orly It's Not Rocket Science

I used to hate this polish.  I felt kinda nuts when I bought it, but then I wore it and gloried in being wrong.

Sally Hansen Butterscotch

I liked a yellow.  That's even weirder.  Blew my mind.  Really!

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Still depressing.  This is as short as my nails get without bleeding.  I wore Blackened Bleu to try to cheer myself up.  It only kinda helped.

Sephora by OPI If You've Got It, Haunt It

Here's where the year got difficult and I had to pull back from blogging a bit.  I wore this one on one of many trips to visit Zeus in the psychiatric hospital.  It's not simple or conservative, but I wore it to work for a few nights.  I was too tired to take it off.  The glitter was also a welcome distraction.

NYC Shimmer Blast over OPI Glints Of Glinda

I think this is what I was wearing on Mother's Day.  It was a poignant day, since we've developed a mother/son relationship and his hospitalizations (as difficult as they were) really strengthened it.  Shimmer Blast never got its own post because of everything that was going on, but its sparkle really picked me up at a time when I desperately needed it.  Polish can really help in tough times, but a lot of you know that.

Sinful Colors Let's Meet

....I like two yellows?  Really??

Claire's Splatter Paint

I can't even begin to tell you how happy this polish made me.  A bunch of mainstream brands have this kind of thing now, but this was my first and I was delighted!

Sally Hansen Silver Elements

The one that started it all!  There would be no Pretty Girl Science if not for this polish.  Plus I was ecstatic that my nails were long enough to shape again.

Sinful Colors Open Seas

Simply gorgeous.  I might need to track down OPI Mermaid's Tears someday because of this one.  Dupes always make me want the OPI version more.

Sinful Colors Daredevil

Proof beyond any doubt that I just can't do pink.  Shame, since it's beautiful, but Daredevil has a good home with Nichole now.

Sally Hansen Razzleberry with stamping

Victory was mine!  I stamped!  It felt soooooo good and suddenly I can do it without any real difficulty.  I'm like that with new skills, struggling until a sudden breakthrough.  Always been like that.

Maybelline Clearly Spotted over Sinful colors Anchors Away

A black and white glitter is now core in drugstores.  About time!  Also...I liked another yellow.  Too damn weird!

fireworks stamping

Zeus was back in the hospital, but we still had an ok holiday and he loved this mani when we visited him the next day.

Funky Fingers Aurora Borealis with sunspots

Happiest accident of the whole year!  Magic happens when you get sunscreen spray on solar polish.

Sally Hansen Angel Bite

A breath of crisp air in a muggy summer.  Loved wearing something so vampy out of season!

Milani Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee is one of a bunch of SFW polishes that have never been on the blog, but absolutely should have been.  I can't wear it when my nails are longer and stained, but when they're short it's perfection.

SpaRitual Muse

Everything about Muse reminds me of the second time Zeus was in the hospital.  I bought it after a visit and wore it to the next one.  I stress shopped furiously when he was in there.  It took me a few months to want to wear it again, but he's doing a lot better now.

manly ManGlaze man art....manly!

The day that the whole ManGlaze thing started was the worst day of my whole year.  It was the day Zeus went back into the hospital and a lying social worker made the situation even more stressful than it should have been.  In my moments away from the ER, I was on Twitter for distraction.  The ManGlaze representative didn't know it, but he provided a great laugh to me, Zeus, and Player 4 on an unbelievably difficult day.

Sinful Colors Skylark

Ugh.  No.  Pastels....they hate me.

Sinful Colors Coffee with western stamping

Yeeeeehaw!  But...I loved it!

Sinful Colors Clementine

...another time when I had to shake my head in wonder at loving a color I shouldn't even like.

Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl

I love how Sinful Colors repromotes shades and gives me a great reason to finally wear things that have been sitting idle.  I think Daddy's Girl was among my first Sinful Colors purchases, but I didn't wear it until August.

OPI Pamplona Purple

Perfection!  Exactly the right purple cream for me.  I'm 99% sure I'll never like another purple more than this.

China Glaze Masai Red

...and probably as close to my ideal red as I'll ever get.  Someone on Nail Board suggested it and it's damn good.

Dance Legend Robots vs Humans

The one that kicked off my Dance Legend addiction!  I hope my xmas gift gets here eventually...

KleanColor Bright/Moody

I loved these three so much that I went back for the other three.  Look for them on the blog...eventually.

Picture Polish Majesty

Part of a mindblowing bunch of nail mail from waterqueen on MUA.  Wearing it was my reward for getting my weight under 200lbs...and I'm not allowed to wear it again until I'm back below that goal!

Wet n Wild Listening To Blue Reed

Not an amazing color or anything, but a good way to remember the loss of Lou Reed.

Chelsea Kaleidoscope over Zoya Hunter, sponged

Easily the best dollar I spent all year!  I'm gonna have to give the Chelseas a good, long look next time I go to the nail supply.

Zoya Flynn and Maria-Luisa

Just....gorgeous!  I need to wear this combo again soon.

Zoya Pepper and Maria-Luisa

Maria-Luisa was an instant favorite!

Sally Hansen Private I

*deep, happy sigh*

Sally Hansen Logan Green

Zeus' third stay in the hospital was the most hopeful.  I wore this mani on one of the last visits before he came home and he adored it!

Nicole by OPI That's What I Mint

If I had to pick a favorite textured polish, I guess this might be it....with top coat.  I'm so sick of this trend!  :P

Zoya Neve with stamping

Simple, but one of my favorite stamped combos.  I love the clashy contrast!

Sally Hansen Confetti Cake over SinfulShine Go Glossy

These glitters were outstanding!  Some are being added to the Xtreme Wear core line, but it's a shame they won't all be.

Revlon Spice It Up and OPI Prague-ative brush gradient

Not the best my nails have ever looked, but high up the list.  I love how this turned out!  My nails were also getting to the length that I stop feeling comfortable with them...but I had my reasons.

OPI Movin' Out over Every Month Is Oktoberfest

Happy birthday to me!  Perfect way to celebrate!

Be A Lifesaver nail art

Zeus and I took part in the Philadelphia Out Of The Darkness Walk in early October.  It was a real challenge for him, between the walking and the crowd, but he did it and I'm so proud of him!  I'd have worn this nail art for the the walk itself, but A) I'd be considered out of uniform at work and B) I'd done this...

FingerPaints Black Expressionism

I miss my claws!  I seriously might have to do this again...and without the "safety sides" in case I lost a tip.  They were surprisingly durable!

Wet n Wild Poison Ivy

I was so happy that they rereleased Poison Ivy.  Much easier to find this time too!

L.A. Girl Crowd Surfing over OPI Vant

This might be my favorite layering combo EVER.

horf sandwich

Barfy and awesome!

Color Club Sunrise Canyon and KleanColor black glitter

I'd be wearing Sunrise Canyon a lot if I could begin to get away with it at work.

KleanColor Forest Fairy over Essie Miss Fancy Pants

*sigh* I remember these feeling short.  It was nice being able to eat a sandwich comfortably again though.

Color Club Sugar Rays

Sugar Rays was a great reminder to try polishes in different ways and with different techniques if it doesn't look great right out of the bottle.  Sugar Rays is kinda bleh on its own, but it was part of....

Thanksgiving stamping

I never wanted to take this off!  I think I wore it for six days.  One of my favorite manis I've ever done!

OPI Rent over You Don't Know Jacques

Still stunned that I managed to catch Rent's shift in the act!

SpaRitual Intuition

Sometimes it's worth four coats.  Rarely...but sometimes.


So that was the year that was.  I don't know how I'd have gotten through parts of it without polish, this blog, and the people they've both brought into my life.  Thank you all for your time and support and here's to a better, brighter, and even more polished 2014!