Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Year in Manicures: 2018

Happy New Year to everyone!

The fact that I'm writing this year-end post in March is kind of a testament to just how busy I've been this past year. Even though I've been busy with school and work, I still managed to paint quite a few designs in 2018 and I wanted to take a look back at some of my favourites from the past year!




These designs are going to be listed in order of when they were posted, not in order of how much I liked them; you can click the date listed under the title of the design to see the original post.


I Come in Peace




I don't know what it is about this little alien that I find so cute. It's inspired by a print originally made by Danivalenti on Redbubble (birdsons on Tumblr), and I've been enamored with it since I first came across it. I'm glad it turned out so well on my nails even though it's not exactly my typical aesthetic!


Rose Marble




I don't do marble nails enough. They look so pretty and in this design I think I finally solidified my favourite way to realistically recreate the stone without gel polish. After various attempts I think that acetone marbling paired with a subtle rubbing alcohol/sharpie mix for depth is the way to go.
I also love this design because it incorporates my all-time favourite glitter polish (Rosie Lee from Butter London) and I think the blocking with that navy polish really elevates the whole design!


Finger Hearts




I always struggle with nails inspired by holidays, but this year I actually came up with an idea that I LOVE. I'd been thinking about making a finger hearts design for a while, and Valentine's Day was the perfect opportunity to try it out. I loved this design so much that I ended up doing a second version of it for Pride Month later in the year!


DDU-DU DDU-DU




Skipping all the way down to June, this is the first set of kpop nails on my list for this year! In all honesty, I wasn't the biggest fan of DDU-DU DDU-DU when I first heard it. The bridge wasn't really my thing and I thought some of their past songs were stronger overall. With that being said, the song really grew on me and I'm actually going to be going to their concert next month!
I liked this design because the colour scheme was simple and fit well with the group name. I also liked the balance of simple and intricate within the design - the easy glitter nails evened out the time commitment required for the chess piece and album cover.
Viewers on Youtube seemed to agree with this design being a favourite, as it quickly became my most popular tutorial of the year (and of all time!).



Our Page




SHINee's Story of Light trilogy was one of my favourite projects of the year. While I loved Good Evening and I Want You, Our Page was the title track that stood out to me on an emotional level. Before the music video was even released I knew that this is what I wanted the design to look like from the teaser photos alone. Pearl Aqua lights, a mic stand for Jonghyun, and 5 stars around it because SHINee is and will forever be five.


Chuseok 2018




Since I personally don't celebrate Chuseok, it's not a holiday that I generally paint designs for. This year was different, however, because while I was putting together a design inspired by BTS' IDOL music video my friend suggested that I save the bunny in the moon nail (the ring finger here) and use it to make an entire set of Chuseok nails. I'm glad she did because I love how this set turned out with the matte black and red contrasted with the glossy moon and flowers!


Just Tri It




This is probably the absolute simplest design I did this year (and probably ever). I've been really into simple negative space designs for the past little while and this chic triangle design just fits right into that category. I think this is a design that's really wearable for everyone, even if you aren't into super over-the-top nail designs.


Gone Rogue




Speaking of over-the-top nail designs, I think this set that I did for Amber's Gone Rogue tour takes the cake for the most intricate set of concert nails I've ever done. The design itself is about 90% inspired by the album cover for her dual release of White Noise and Lost at Sea. The other 10% is inspired by the font used for "Gone Rogue" on her concert posters. This design was suuuper intricate but it was totally worth it!


Love Shot




That brings us to the last design in the list! SM made us wait so long for an EXO comeback and repackage this year, but the songs were all amazing so I can only complain so much. My design for their repackage, Love Shot, won out over Tempo for me because I'm still really proud that I was able to recreate the point choreo on the middle nail. I'm also happy with how balanced this design is, even though it's back in the typical red-white-black colour scheme that so many of my EXO designs end up with.

And that brings us to the end of my favourite designs from 2018!

Was your favourite design on the list? Or was it maybe one of my 2018bestnine on Instagram?



Thank you all again for the endless support you give to me and my art! I really can't thank you enough and I can't wait to see what (the rest of) 2019 brings!

xo,
Becca.

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