Hello reader! Now that 2016 is behind us, I wanted to look back on some of my blog highlights and share my favorite nail art looks, and maybe share some of my 2017 blogging goals with you. I guess I could have waited to do this on my blog-versary in March, but it feels more appropriate to do it now.
You’ll notice these photos are tiny. Why? Because in March, The Great wacie.com Server Crash of 2016 happened! My webhost had a hardware failure, and for whatever reason, several months of posts were lost and had to be pieced back together with images and text cached by Google. It was an extremely frustrating and embarrassing time for me.
I miss these long nails.
This is probably my favorite look of the year.
I mentioned earlier that my blog’s anniversary is in March. For last year’s anniversary, I recreated the first-ever mani I posted on my blog. I don’t know yet what I’ll do for my fourth year, but it’ll probably be awesome.
I went to Hawaii in May. As a result, this is my least active month on the blog for the year.
My first Empties Roundup post was also in June.
October: Stripey Blue Frosting
This was a look I did to celebrate my birthday.
December: White Snow Blue Lava
So there’s my year! This was probably the busiest year for the blog, since I broadened my sujects quite a lot. I did tons of swatches and nail art, but I also ventured into product reviews and makeup talk. I don’t think this will ever become a full lifestyle or beauty blog, but I’m definitely having fun with it in this format. I’m kind of excited to see what it’ll evolve into in 2017. Here are a few beauty goals I have in mind, though.
1. Write more
I wrote 175 posts in 2016, averaging about 14 per month. It doesn’t sound like much to me, like I did way more work than that, especially when it started to feel stressful. That said, I’d like to do at least one more post every week.
1b. Write on my other blog more
I have a second blog that I want to start posting to more. It’s been so long since I’ve bothered with it that I don’t even remember the login credentials. I still want a place to talk about myself and my life, a place to seem like I have a life away from my nails.
2. Build a real skincare routine
I still feel insecure about my skin. I’m frustrated that I’m 31 and I still get acne. I want to take every preventative measure I can against wrinkles and anti-aging. I also want to try a 10-step Asian beauty routine. If you’re over 30 with oily skin and hormonal acne, I want your recommendations.
3. Stop competing
I know one of the big rules of blogging is not to compare your success with others’, but I feel so competitive about it. At the risk of sounding whiny, I always look at other bloggers who’ve been working on their blogs for about as long as I have, and watching their blogs grow faster than mine is kind of frustrating. I don’t want to feel like that anymore.
4. Do more real nail art
I love glitter toppers and I think I use at least one every week, but sometimes it feels lazy. I want to go back to the basics: watermarbling, gradients, dotting. I love my glitters, but it’s starting to feel like a cop-out.
I think that’s it! Anyway, I think 2017 is going to be an exciting year, and I’m looking forward to the good times, the challenges, and the time we spend together. Thanks for reading!
great round up i especially like the hibiscus mani!
It’s my favorite one!
I remember every one of these! Your goals sound completely reasonable.
What a fun way to remember the previous year! We all have issues from time to time with the blogs so please don’t feel embarrassed about the crash! You didn’t quit, and that matters so much more!
I love your favorites you selected & I feel you on some of the resolutions. I would love to see more nail art – your dusty water marble is one of my favorite water marbles of all times! The colors are so complimentary. There are a few nail art FB groups if you are interested….one is 1 theme a week. Let me know if you are interested.
Oh and we all link each other’s blogs too. 🙂
Yes please!!
I love the look back year in review posts! It is such an accomplishment looking back. I love your dusty marble look. I don’t know how you juggle two blogs, but that is amazing! It seems like you have really high standards for yourself which is great for future progress. Excited to see more!
I love love love this post. I love looking back and seeing all the gorgeous manis. Your goals are amazing- trust me girl you will find the perfect skincare routine. It took me literally YEARS to figure out the perfect routine, every once in a while I have to tweak it a bit but overall- I am good. You got this! 2017 will be a great year!
Beautiful roundup and I think you have some fantastic goals set for yourself as well!
I liked the Mani that you’ve done in September. I can so relate to the feeling for “competing” i notice bloggers that have started the same time as me or younger and they have much more a bigger reader audience and then i feel like what are they doing to achieve this! I know it shouldn’t be like this, but i can’t help the way i feel some times. Some times it’s hard for me to feel passionate about my blog when i feel depressed some days are better than others. One of my goals this year are to blog on a regular basis and i want to use all my nail polish that i purchase that are standing there and haven’t even met my fingertips.
I’ve got too many untried polishes too, that’s something I also need to work on! I must have hundreds I haven’t used. Last year’s difficult challenge was to stop buying polish entirely, and that’s helped some.
I love this post – so many fabulous manicures from the year. I also really enjoy seeing your blogging goals for 2017. I need to work on #3 as well…. <3
I love your recap and plans for 2017! I feel my blog is a constant work-in-progress but I try to take it a post at a time
This is a really good way to think of it. I’ll keep this in mind. 🙂
I love all of the manis! It’s really hard not to compete and compare your blog to others. I constantly catch myself doing it, because I’ve been blogging for so long and I watch newer bloggers blow up around me and it gets discouraging. This is one of my goals as well. Good luck!