CNF 2016 Hightlights and 2017 Goals!

I'm a little late with this as around January 1st might have been more appropriate but being late is nothing new for me lol!  But I did want to share a few 2016 highlights and things that I've found helped me out in 2016!

1.  Girly Bits Acetone Additive:  I have pretty dry hands normally and my go to remover is Beauty Secrets Pure Acetone.  When you are doing your nails 4-6 times a week as I try to, my normally dry hands can get even dryer with the use of all that acetone.  (Yes, I've tried the non acetone by Beauty Secrets and have also tried Zoya Remove and sorry, not a fan of either).  I know that several indie makers were making acetone additive and back in March, I had put out an ISO of any Canadian makers in The Maple Lounge; Pam from Girly Bits was kind enough to message me indicating that she was going to start selling it and would send me a sample to try.  Well, the rest is history; I've been a faithful user ever since.  I *think* I have tried most, if not all, the scents now; I don't really have a favourite....well, maybe Lavender Milk as it was my first one...but I haven't tried one that didn't smell awesome and that I didn't like!  I really find it helps keeping my nails and skin moisturized while I do my nails.  The other thing (blogging related), is because my hands are dry, I had always used moisturizer around my nails for pix; this necessitated applying it which made my mani time longer, and then a lot of times, I had shiny skin syndrome, so the use of Girly Bits OMG Becky, Look At Her Acetone (Acetone Additive), has helped with both of these issues!  I only use this on my nails; I do keep a bottle of pure acetone remover at my nail station for plate clean up!

2.  Cuter Cuticles Barrier Butter:  Another new to me product in 2016 and again to address my super dry hands!  I belong to The Maple Lounge on Facebook; every month, there is a different Canadian indie company that is featured on the site and they sometimes offer a discount code for purchases.  Back in April or so, Cuter Cuticles was the featured brand and the discount code was the incentive for me to finally place an order!  I only wish I had ordered months and months earlier!  Another product I've been faithfully using since I started using it and I'm happy to say that I don't think I've had a hang nail since I started using the barrier butters!  (You might have seen a couple pix of cuticle boo-boos around December but that was from over zealous clipper action!)  Another great thing about Cuter Cuticles is that shipping is free with every order; knowing the shipping prices in Canada, I find it hard to believe that Samantha is able to do this, but she does!  

3.  Nail Polish Stands:  This is something only I can appreciate, but during the past year, I have had a few nail polish stands made by a very handy gentlemen which has improved my storage of my polishes greatly!  I know a lot of people use helmers, melmers, etc. but I like to see the polish and pick it out so love these stands!  I hope to have a few more made this year and then keep my polish all neat and tidy in these stands!

4.  Vegas:  The hubs all time number one favourite singer is Garth Brooks.  So when Garth announced his tour, I seen there was shows in Vegas so I bought the hubs tickets to see Garth Brooks in Vegas for Christmas in 2015.  When I bought them, there was no Canadian shows set.....then about three weeks later, they announced a bunch of Canadian tour dates and they actually came and went even before we made it to Vegas to see the show!  I somehow lucked out and got seats pretty close to to the stage; I think we had 9th row floors or so....didn't really matter for a shorty like me as I still had a hard time seeing the stage (note to Garth:  what would have made it better for anyone who had floors was the stage to be raised a little.)  It was actually the hubs very first concert and he had an amazing time!  So glad we were able to go!  To make it nail related, I did have a Garth image made on my CNF with Fig Tree Stamps 002 plate but it didn't arrive in time for me to wear it for the concert.  Next time!  And thanks to my friend, TurtleChick, who let me use her image for the plate from the concert when she seen him in January 2016!



While we were in Vegas, we also did a day trip to the Grand Canyon!  What a thrill....should be on every one's bucket list to see once in their lives!  Here's a pix I took at sunset!

5.  The Indies:  Indies continue to rock!  No shortage of amazing polishes to buy and the makers are coming out with polishes more stunning than ever before...if that is even possible!  There is no way that I could pick a favourite brand or even list my top 10, 30 or even 50 polishes....its like saying which of my kids I love best!  My other issue is I buy polishes at a much great rate than I actually wear them so there's a great likelihood I have something untried that might be a favourite!  Personally myself, I'm loving all the flakies right now; Great Lakes Lacquer and Pretty & Polished both released some flakies that would have been at the top of my list if I made one....and I'm really wanting to place a Polished For Days order of a bunch of flakies that need to make their way to me!!!  The Pretty & Polished Dusty Cremes are also another favourite; the dustiness gives just enough added interest on the base for stamping.  Another fave finish is the piCture pOlish scattered holos; time and time again, I reached for them in any colour to do a quick mani with some stamping on top. They again have just enough interest as a base colour for a pretty cool quick stamped mani!  Another mention has to go to Pahlish; some of the mystery polishes I received this past fall were some of my favourite polishes released all year....I even messaged Shannon and said she must have added some extra magical fairy juice to the polishes, they were so amazing!  Tonic Polish was another new to me brand; I went to Polish Con with the intention of buying one of her polishes and ended up making my largest purchase of the show at their booth! I've also added more Tonic's to my collection with Girly Bits now selling them!

6.  Polish Con:  I was lucky enough to attend Chicago Polish Con; the hubs and I made the 11 drive there (and around 8.5 hours home) on a fall weekend back in September.  Do I even have to say how awesome it is being in a room with a bunch of people who share your mutual love of polishes?  Meeting the makers, meeting your online "friends", seeing the pretties up close and personal, talking polish with a random stranger as as you sit and rummage through your VIP bag while eating the Halloween candies so thoughtfully left on the tables; and reconnecting with friends that you met at past polish events!  I was even lucky enough to be the winner of the convented Darling Diva travel mug...and then had to fight off the rest of the family for it when I got home!  I haven't used many of the polishes I brought home but one thing I did use that I absolutely adored was SassyPants Cuticle Balm in Tin; the scent included in my VIP bag was Northwoods.  Here's to future events in April 2017 and September 2017!  Ohh, I almost forgot; there will be Indie Expo Canada event in June 2017 too!  Woot! Woot!

This was what I brought home from Polish Con Chicago 2016 between purchases and the VIP bag...and winning the Darling Diva travel mug!!!

7.  Stamping Plates:  The creativity on stamping plates has gone through the roof in 2016!  So many plate makers are just on top of the image plate game....a few of my favourites right now are Creative Nail Shop, Lina, Moyra, Delaney and UberChic.  Again, I can't just pick one and by no means are these my only favourites! The clear stampers help us all to stamp and makers are even making layering plates to turn out even more awesome mani's!  Me and clear stampers have a love/hate relationship; sometimes, I can get them to work OK and thank the day they came into my life.....other times, I. CANNOT. GET. ONE. CLEAR. STAMPER. TO. WORK. AT. ALL....and am thankful that I can place images decently using my regular go to FAB semi squishy!

8.  Blog Stats:  My little blog finally reached 1 Million views in July past year....and blog hits have really been crazy since then!  Just yesterday, I had almost 6,500 views to the blog...thank you to you if you happen to be checking my blog out!

9.  Tip from CbL:  I think almost everyone at some point or another has experienced nail staining.  Leah Ann from Colors by llarowe posted a tip on FB on how to remove stains that I've been using:

Crest 3D White Daily Cleansing & Whitening System - I used Step 2 Whitening Finisher - covered nail and let soak for 1 minute then used a toothbrush to brush - then used Zoya Remove to remove - wash hands with soap and water

Blue Cross Cuticle Remover - covered nail and let set for 30 seconds - then used Zoya Remove to remove - wash hands with soap and water

I've used Crest whitening toothpaste with scope with good results....thanks Leah Ann for the tip!

10.  Nail Polish Canada Holiday 2016 Peer Winner:  I haven't entering many nail art contests lately; I did way back when but when I seen them being more of a popularity contest versus an art contest...or with people messaging me on FB or in groups saying vote for me.....versus asking everyone to vote for your favourite being (what I think is) the spirit of a contest.  It turned me off from entering any in a while.  So it was a last minute whim that I entered with NPC holiday contest this year.  And while I didn't win the reader challenge, my peers voted for my entry and low and behold, I was a winner!  I thank those who voted for me!  It was a nice little boost to the end of 2016!!!

2017 Goals:

I don't have too many goals this year:

1.  Shopping my Stash:  One of the things I discovered when I was prepping for my great polish destash in November was I own some great polishes.  Heck, I sold some great polishes!  I recognize that I have a lot of polish.  Like...a lot.  Did I say I own a lot of polish???  I want to get my stash down to a number that is reasonable (doesn't overwhelm me as sometimes happens) and own the polishes I really love and will wear. So I want to continue with my polish destash; buy only the polishes that I absolutely love and want to wear yet keep my polish stash at a reasonable level including taking a real good look at what I own and start wearing them; not keep on buying the newest thing out there.  Unless it is the most amazing polish out there; then I know I will have no control!

2.  Nail Goals:  A few random ones are to stamp with coloured stamping polishes more often as I tend to use mainly black and white.  Work on my clean up and use that macro lens I bought recently for better close ups.  Hopefully get a better lighting set up and maybe a custom back ground mat.  Another thing I want to do a little bit more is mix and match my polishes like I did with Girly Bits and Pahlish here, do more layering combinations, etc.  I started this late in 2016 but haven't really gotten around to sharing yet due to the holidays.

 3.  New to me:  Continue to try new methods; this past year, I did my first water marble, my first dry drip marble,  saran mani, dry brush, dental floss mani and straw splatter mani's....maybe even a few more that I forgot to mention!  I might even master nail vinyls one of these days!  I don't have any goals to change my blogging style or format; I know my blog is probably the most boring blog out there as it is pretty cut and dried and I don't share that much and I'm OK with that.  I do hope with improved pictures, better swatches, etc. I can increase my FB and IG numbers but I'll be happy with whatever happens as I have always done my nails with the intend of sharing the good with the bad and doing what I love to do, which isn't necessarily the most popular thing out there. As much as I'd love to post every day, I know that it's just not in the cards for me with my busy life so I thank you if you have stayed with me all these years and continue to check out my little blog!   It is what it is and I still love the polishes and nail art for what it is; that's not going away!

Ok, that was a few goals lol!

Personally, not only am I destashing my polishes, I'm also destashing/decluttering the house.  It's a work in progress; some day I hope I can see the light!  We recognize that we will be downsizing in the next few years and this is the start of it.  The hubs and I started eating better one year ago; I'm down 12 pounds and the hubs is down 25 pounds...and while it could have been better considering it's been a year, its better than being up 12 and 25!  We will continue with this and see where it takes us!  We hope to travel a bit this year; we did two trips last year and have two planned (so far) for 2017.  We hope to have less stressful lives, not spreading ourselves so thin, spending more time with family and friends and are looking forward to this in 2017!

Here's to a fabulous 2017!!!