1st Blogiversary!

Today is the first birthday of my blog! How cool is that?

I was thinking about this day for a few days now, what I will write about it and how to celebrate it. I thought about a special design, but when I tried to do something yesterday, inspiration left me, only to come back today, so you will see my celebration design later!

Now, I just want to sum up the last year and my little journey. Robin from Roaringnails also had her anniversary shortly and I really liked her post about it, so this inspired mine heavily.

But first, a pic of my Halloween manicure (including damaged cuticles - the cold weather is killing them, I tell you) I wore a few days ago. I didn't find the the time to post about it, but you will get one with more pics soon! 

How it began...

If you read my FAQ's you will know how and why I started this blog - I love nail art and painting my nails. I love to get compliments and that I inspire other people. I even convinced my mum to paint her nails again, after she had gels for years.

When I told my fiancé that I want to write a blog about it, he said: "Honey, I know you very well and you do too, you won't do this very long, it's not worth the effort." And before you think, that he is the meanest fiancé on this earth, he is right!

I'm a very enthusiastic person and if I really like something I can spend hours and days with it, but I also quit easily.

That being said, I'm also surprised I kept doing this for so long!

So, when I travel back on year, by then I followed many blogs and Tumblr's and I had collected all the information I thought I need to write my own blog. I choose Blogger as plattform, because I have an Android device and Google+ and they cooperate very well.

My first intention was to write a tutorial blog in German and English, with a rating system, so my readers could easily see how much effort it takes to recreate a manicure.

I quit this system very fast and back in June I decided to write my blog in English only.

Milestones and other things...

You all know, if you get your first child, everything is exciting - the first spoken word, the first steps or the first slept through night. For me, my blog is my baby and when I reviewed it, found some personal milestones. Here are some:

Logo and blog re-design

• It was in February I decided to do a little re-design and I begged my fiancé to help me. You have to know he works as a programmer and he likes to photograph and he is one of the most creative people I know (outside the nail art community :) ). So he took his Canon 60D, some of my polishes and Photoshop to create my beautiful header pic, which I use nearly everywhere. I also wanted to personalize the look of my blog and asked him to do something about it. Normally he programms websites and web applications, so he had to be very patient with me and Blogger (because the options are limited) to give my blog a personal touch. Anyways, he did a great job and I was very thankful.

My first Indie-polish

• In April I bought my first indie-polishes. After seeing some awesome swatches I decided to purchase some Foxy Paws polishes from foxyfingertips. I literally fell in love with indie polishes, because of their unlimited possibilities. You can find every effect, finish, consistency, opacity, yes everything there and there are so many wonderful indie brands out there! By now I own piCture pOlish, A-England, ILNP, Mint, Smitten Polish, Glisten&Glow and Glitter Gal and I intend to purchase more of them and other brands. But I also discovered some mainstream polishes like Butter London or China Glaze without which I couldn't live anymore.

My lightbox and the improvement of my pics

• I'm not a very patient person, everything has to go fast and I hate waiting. But I had to learn that, if you want to draw attention to your work, you have to take good pics of it. Most bloggers use good cameras and editing programs for their pics, but the problem is, that I'm not very good with this technologies. As I said, I'm not a patient person and all this Photoshop stuff is to complicate for me... not to mention SLR cameras... So I take my good oll' smartphone and the Pixlr express app to edit my pics and since Easter 2014 I have my own little lightbox, which improved my pics heavily!

Nailpolis and Instagram

• In April I joined Nailpolis, after Robin mentioned in one of her posts, that she was invited. I was featured twice since then. In June I decided to get an Instagram account too, so I can share my work there.

The most exciting things about blogging...

My most exciting moments were, when other bloggers said yes, when I asked them to do a guest post for me. I love guest posts!! I love to read and write them. It's always a thrilling moment: What will she think about my design? How will she arrange the pics and text? How will her readers react to my design?

or the other way around: Which design does she have for me? How will my followers react to it? How should I arrange it?

It's the same with mani swaps, even if I did this only once by now.

You can find the guest posts on my blog here.

It's also exciting to learn new techniques and here I have to say a big THANK YOU to Robin from Roaringnails, because she convinced me more than once, that you have to cross your own mind borders sometimes, to grow! She showed me how nice leopard prints can be and she inspires me a lot.

Robin is also one of those ladies I became friends with because of our common passion. I really hope she never quits blogging, because the community would loose a very sweet and talented artist!

There are so many really nice ladies out there and I think there are many more I haven't yet discovered. So, do not hesitate to comment or contact me, because I want to get to know YOU!

I could write this post forever, and tell you more about my personal epic journey, but I want to finish it with some statistics:

Most viewed post - I really don't know why this is the most viewed one, but it's ok for me :)

Most liked on Google+ - the guest post from Simply Nailogical, but that's not surprising, the design was stunning!

Most liked Instagram pic - it was a recreation of thenailasaurus waterfall manicure!

Thank you...

I really want to thank you all, that you follow my journey, for all those kind words and comments, that you appreciate my work, that you maybe have been inspired by me and that you come back from time to time.

There have been times, when I thought about quitting this thing, where I asked myself, what I want to achieve with all this and if I really want to spend all this time and money on such a "silly" thing...

But then... I got a mail, saying someone commented on my blog, telling me, how lovely or cool my mani looked and the little voice in my head said "no! you can't stop!"
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I won't quit, no, I even have great plans for the future, I don't want to write about right now, but I think you will like it.
Thanks for reading and your awesomeness!

xo
Frankie