Friday, January 02, 2015

Year in Manicures: 2014

How has another year gone by already?! So much happened for the blog in 2014 that I'm almost sad to see it go. As I mentioned in my 2 year anniversary post, in the past year I've gotten N.Y.A.N. onto different social networks, started doing product reviews, and met some awesome people along the way! I won't go into detail about all that since I'd just be repeating myself, but I did want to take this opportunity to look back at some of my favourite designs from the past year!






Love Letters
(February 13, 2014)

This design was a recreation of a design I had done for Valentine's Day in 2013. I loved it the first time and it was even better the second time around. It was a pretty simple design to do, with newsprint for the background and some lettering over top. My favourite part of the design though was the lipstick mark on the thumb which also ended up inspiring my Pop Art kick throughout the year (x,x,x).






Octopolooza
(February 26, 2014)

I'm pretty sure this was one of my most popular designs of the year (and I loved reading all of the comments on them in the tags over on my main blog; they were all so funny and sweet!). The driving force behind this was my roommate who made it very clear that she wanted me to do an octopus design. I finally got the inspiration that I needed to make her wish a reality when I came across this sweater and transformed it into a nail design!






Overdose
(May 7, 2014)

If you've been following me for a while (or even if you haven't), you may know that I have an ongoing series of kpop designs (more formally known as my Comeback Series). Overdose was by far my favourite addition to that series from 2014 because the design turned out well and was well received! Sadly, Overdose was Exo's last comeback as OT12, but hopefully their upcoming comeback as 10 will be great as well, (and hopefully they come back with an easier logo this time - those hexagon mazes were a such a pain to paint!).




She Sells Sea Shells
(May 19, 2014)

I did these nails while I was on vacation in Hawaii and I absolutely adored them! I love pastel colours, gradients, and glitter and this design combined them all! It was also a little more gaudy than what I usually do because of all the shells (which I found on the beach) and studs (which I was reviewing) and it was a lot of fun to try something so different.










Hot Mess
(June 17, 2014)

This design was so cute and one of the many that I have done based off of pajamas that I own. I work at an ice cream shop in the summer so this was also a really appropriate design for work haha!














Make Lemonade
(July 6, 2014)

I loved, loved, loved this design. It was super bright and perfect for summer and I was really pleased with how the lemons turned out. I did a lot of fruit designs this past summer and I think this one was probably my favourite of the bunch. As a favour to my best friend I also did her little neighbour's nails like this as well!











Girl With a Pearl Earring
(July 16, 2014)

Honestly, why wouldn't I recreate a painting by an old master on my nail for a product review? I wrote an extended essay on Vermeer and art forgery back in high school so when I got those pearl beads to review literally the only thing I could think of was the painting Girl With a Pearl Earring. Since the idea wouldn't leave my head I just went with it and after a lot of frustration produced this mini replica of Vermeer's famous painting.









L(ove)
(August 6, 2014)

The second Exo design to make the favourites list this year, I did this galaxy design in honour of Exo fans finally getting an official name and the opening of their official fanclub, Exo-L(ove).  I love galaxy designs in generally and I was really happy with how this one turned out!











Molang
(September 8, 2014)

Out of all the designs I did in 2014, Molang is in a two-way tie for first place as favourite manicure of the year. The design is so simple yet so cute; I can't think of anything I don't like about it. You probably guessed how much I  liked it though, since it's now my display picture for all of N.Y.A.N.'s social media, haha! This design is also very dear to me because of Robin's awesome recreation of it for my birthday!









Boo-tiful
(October 28, 2014)

More gradients and more glitter; it's probably not a surprise to anyone that I really liked this design. If I remember correctly, I had this design on my nails for a very long time. This was mostly because I was busy with school and didn't have the time redo them, but also because I loved the black to purple gradient and the super adorable little ghosts!











Not Everyone's Cup of Tea
(November 30, 2014)

Even though this wasn't an original design I still loved it! The original design was done by Ladycrappo and my recreation was part of a mini-series that I did throughout November where I recreated designs from some of my favourite artists.This was my first attempt at roses in probably over a year and I was so happy with how they turned out!











Warm Wishes
(December 11, 2014)

The last design on my list of favourites from 2014 is Warm Wishes, which just happens to be the design tied with Molang for first place. I was so happy with how this design turned out and was very pleased with how well it was received! The polar bears were difficult to paint but turned out so cute and were definitely worth the effort!









And that wraps up my favourite manicures of 2014!
Do you agree with the ones I picked? Are there any that I left off the list that you would have included? Which one was your favourite of the year? I'd love to know!

One other thing that I'd like to mention since I haven't had the opportunity to yet is that just before Christmas N.Y.A.N. was featured as a trending blog on Tumblr! I was so excited and flattered to have the blog promoted like that and am so thankful to all the lovely people who have followed me as a result!



It really has been an awesome year for the blog; I hope it was a good year for all of you as well! Thank you so much for sticking with me through another year and I hope 2015 will be just as good!


xo,
Becca.

2 comments:

  1. AAH so cool that your blog was trending on Tumblr!! It's no surprise really because you're awesome :D How great to see a big round up post of you, I'm just in awe of every design you showed here! The designs you picked here are really my favourite designs of you as well, especially the cuuuute Molang one, the Hot Mess, Ocopolooza (sooo much detail, I cannot even comprehend!), and Warm Wishes :)

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    1. Ahhh Robin, you're always so sweet to me <3
      So glad you like the designs I picked and I can't wait to see all the designs you do this year! ^^

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