Happy 2018 everyone! I hope you had some fun bring in the new year. Today I have another reflections and resolutions post for you. I did one of these last year (you can that post here) and I quite enjoyed writing it. It really got me thinking about what I had done in the previous year (both things that I liked and things that I didn't like) and most importantly what I would like to do for the new year. You guys seemed to like the post so I thought why not kick the new year off with another post. Like last year, this will probably be quite a wordy post without mani pictures so if that's not your thing then feel free to skip over this post.
2017
Last year I set out with no set goals in terms of how many posts to do each week because I didn't really know exactly what my plans were outside of nails. Well, I ended up pretty much daily blogging for most of the year. I ended up missing a few days in June because I needed time to play catch up with...well everything. And December was sadly a bit of a write off for me due to being unwell. All that being said I did manage to do 363 blog posts last year so I am happy with that.
At the beginning of the year I set myself some goals in which to achieve throughout the year. Things definitely didn't go as I had planned but sometimes these things can't be helped. I was definitely on track but let's break it all down...
One of my initial goals was to try and do some more comparison posts. Well, I managed to do no comparison posts. Oops. I kinda forgot about them and over planned myself that time didn't really allow for such posts. I don't know about other bloggers but I find that comparison posts always take a lot longer than any other posts. Perhaps this year I should set this as another goal?
Another goal was to complete swatching all of the polishes that I purchased in 2016. I can happily report that I achieved this goal. I even managed to swatch all of the stamping plates that I purchased in 2016... well at least I think it was all of the plates. It was definitely the bulk of them.
Probably the biggest goal that I set for myself was to swatch everything I purchased in 2017. If I continued blogging throughout December I would have easily completed this goal. I only have two polish collections to swatch and a few stamping plates. Guess what one of my goals will be for this year?
Aside from my usual swatching and reviewing (which I did a lot of this year) adding in more nail art was another goal I set. I definitely increased the amount of nail art on my blog in 2017. I managed to complete a few different challenges - 26 Great Nail Art Challenge, Nail Crazies Unite, the Digit-al Dozen, 30 Days Of Colour.....and there were a couple of others that only ran for a month. This year I also brought the 31DC2017 nail art challenge to my blog. This is a challenge that I have done on Instagram for two years (or is it three? - it's definitely been a while) but this was the very first time having it on my blog.
Monthly favourites posts were something that I introduced to my blog in 2017 and I really enjoyed doing them. It was quite fun looking back over the month and trying to narrow down my favourites. Some months were definitely easier than others, but they did make doing my end of year favourites a little easier.
Social media....what to say about social media? Previously I kinda ignored (or forgot about) some of my other social media accounts. Last year I focused on keeping my Facebook and Pinterest accounts up to date and overall I did ok with it. There were a few days were I forgot or didn't get a chance to do them but they got done at some point. Instagram was a whole other story. 2017 was a horrible year for Instagram for me. Literally everything went backwards. I lost thousands of followers, likes were hard to get and my insights provided by Instagram were also shocking. I honestly still can't work out if it's best to keep posting on Instagram or give up on it entirely. I really do miss the good old Instagram.
Speaking of Instagram, last year I included my best nine so I thought it would be fun to add them in again. Some of these were manis that made it into my favourite nail art post yesterday and others were ones that I would consider my favourites but cut them out at the last minute.
2018
Like last year I am not going to set myself any number of blog posts per week. I can tell you that I will not be daily blogging for the entire you. In fact, January probably will be a quite blogging month for me. I am scheduled to have an operation on the 5th so I'm guessing that I won't be feeling like doing any nails for quite some time. I might try and find some tags or something that I can prepare so that there are at least some posts going up but no promises there.
I am going to be keeping my goals quite simple and similar to last year:
* Complete swatching all polishes and stamping plates that were purchased in 2017.
* Swatch everything that I purchase in 2018.
* Make smaller monthly favourites - I definitely need to be a little more cut throat with my favourites
* Start swatching more of my untrieds from previous years.
I am sure that as the year goes on I will add some more goals to my list. Depending on how I go for time throughout the year I will try and add in some comparison posts. I know these posts are usually helpful so if there is any polishes (or collections) that you would like me to compare then let me know. Also if there are any other posts or anything you would like me to do then definitely let me know.
Bring on 2018!
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Last year I set out with no set goals in terms of how many posts to do each week because I didn't really know exactly what my plans were outside of nails. Well, I ended up pretty much daily blogging for most of the year. I ended up missing a few days in June because I needed time to play catch up with...well everything. And December was sadly a bit of a write off for me due to being unwell. All that being said I did manage to do 363 blog posts last year so I am happy with that.
At the beginning of the year I set myself some goals in which to achieve throughout the year. Things definitely didn't go as I had planned but sometimes these things can't be helped. I was definitely on track but let's break it all down...
One of my initial goals was to try and do some more comparison posts. Well, I managed to do no comparison posts. Oops. I kinda forgot about them and over planned myself that time didn't really allow for such posts. I don't know about other bloggers but I find that comparison posts always take a lot longer than any other posts. Perhaps this year I should set this as another goal?
Another goal was to complete swatching all of the polishes that I purchased in 2016. I can happily report that I achieved this goal. I even managed to swatch all of the stamping plates that I purchased in 2016... well at least I think it was all of the plates. It was definitely the bulk of them.
Probably the biggest goal that I set for myself was to swatch everything I purchased in 2017. If I continued blogging throughout December I would have easily completed this goal. I only have two polish collections to swatch and a few stamping plates. Guess what one of my goals will be for this year?
Aside from my usual swatching and reviewing (which I did a lot of this year) adding in more nail art was another goal I set. I definitely increased the amount of nail art on my blog in 2017. I managed to complete a few different challenges - 26 Great Nail Art Challenge, Nail Crazies Unite, the Digit-al Dozen, 30 Days Of Colour.....and there were a couple of others that only ran for a month. This year I also brought the 31DC2017 nail art challenge to my blog. This is a challenge that I have done on Instagram for two years (or is it three? - it's definitely been a while) but this was the very first time having it on my blog.
Monthly favourites posts were something that I introduced to my blog in 2017 and I really enjoyed doing them. It was quite fun looking back over the month and trying to narrow down my favourites. Some months were definitely easier than others, but they did make doing my end of year favourites a little easier.
Social media....what to say about social media? Previously I kinda ignored (or forgot about) some of my other social media accounts. Last year I focused on keeping my Facebook and Pinterest accounts up to date and overall I did ok with it. There were a few days were I forgot or didn't get a chance to do them but they got done at some point. Instagram was a whole other story. 2017 was a horrible year for Instagram for me. Literally everything went backwards. I lost thousands of followers, likes were hard to get and my insights provided by Instagram were also shocking. I honestly still can't work out if it's best to keep posting on Instagram or give up on it entirely. I really do miss the good old Instagram.
Speaking of Instagram, last year I included my best nine so I thought it would be fun to add them in again. Some of these were manis that made it into my favourite nail art post yesterday and others were ones that I would consider my favourites but cut them out at the last minute.
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Like last year I am not going to set myself any number of blog posts per week. I can tell you that I will not be daily blogging for the entire you. In fact, January probably will be a quite blogging month for me. I am scheduled to have an operation on the 5th so I'm guessing that I won't be feeling like doing any nails for quite some time. I might try and find some tags or something that I can prepare so that there are at least some posts going up but no promises there.
I am going to be keeping my goals quite simple and similar to last year:
* Complete swatching all polishes and stamping plates that were purchased in 2017.
* Swatch everything that I purchase in 2018.
* Make smaller monthly favourites - I definitely need to be a little more cut throat with my favourites
* Start swatching more of my untrieds from previous years.
I am sure that as the year goes on I will add some more goals to my list. Depending on how I go for time throughout the year I will try and add in some comparison posts. I know these posts are usually helpful so if there is any polishes (or collections) that you would like me to compare then let me know. Also if there are any other posts or anything you would like me to do then definitely let me know.
Bring on 2018!
Please do NOT quit posting to IG. That's where I save my favorites for inspiration and I have saved many of yours. Yours is one of my first and favorite blogs that I try to keep up with. It's not cluttered and easy to find what I am looking for. Your stamping plate reviews are my favorites because of how you show the plates. I would love to see your nail area and photo set up. I hope and pray your surgery goes well.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I really do appreciate all your love and support you give me. I promise I won't be quitting IG completely. It will probably be like last year where I only post sometimes and it definitely won't be as much as what I post on my blog. <3
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