3 Year Blogging Anniversary - A Look Back at Lacquered Lover! (and a Deborah Lippmann Nail Art Manicure!)

Good afternoon my fellow Lacquered Lovers!  Happy Tuesday to you all!  First, let me show you my fun manicure today to celebrate:

Above:  Simple Nail Art with Deborah Lippmann Spring Reveries collection

Today, I have something a bit different.  On May 20th, 2011, I decided, mostly on a whim, to start a blog.  You see, I have a degree in Journalism but was having trouble finding a job writing and was working at an architecture firm at the time.  I missed being a writer and wanted to get back into the habit.  I read a few nail polish blogs since I had stopped biting my nails a few years prior and become obsessed with nails.  I probably had about 25 nail polishes that I kept in a cosmetics bag in my apartment that usually I would bring to a salon to get a manicure or sometimes would just change my nail polish at home.  Every once in awhile, I would do something fun like put a glitter on top or do my nails different colors.  So, I decided that I too could write about nail polish and combine my wanting to write with my love of nail polish.  This was the first picture I ever posted to Lacquered Lover:

Let's all soak that in for a second.  It was blurry, cut off, not cropped, and taken with my BLACKBERRY.  I didn't have an Instagram account for another 6 months, and once I did, this was my first pic:

I never could have guessed the amazing things and opportunities that would be in store for me over the next three years.  I've gotten to meet some of my nail polish idols like Essie Weingarten, Deborah Lippmann, Suzi from OPI and Zoya herself!

 Above:  Me with the gorgeous Deborah Lippmann

 Above:  Essie loved my mani!

Above:  Suzi was the sweetest!

Above:  Zoya is amazing!

I had the opportunity to name a ManGlaze nail polish due to a funny Facebook conversation and create a polish with the amazing Pretty and Polished:

 Above:  ManGlaze Lesbihonest by yours truly

Above:  Pretty & Polished collaboration with me New York City Lights

I've gotten the incredible opportunity to attend 5 seasons of New York Fashion Week and had some awesome opportunities from it:

Above:  Just hanging out on the runway at NYFW

I've gone to an event in Vegas, countless in NYC, met fellow bloggers, and basically had an incredible 3 years.  I invented my Carly manicure and style of pictures, learned (sort of) how to do nail art and started to blog about makeup:

 Above:  The first ever "Carly" manicure

 Above:  my favorite gradient

 Above:  An early dot manicure

 Above:  A tape manicure to be proud of

 Above:  my first attempt at free hand nail art

Above:  My first ever makeup post!

All in all, it's been an amazing 3 years.  That little collection of 25 nail polishes is now in the thousands with a bunch of makeup as well that I've gotten to share with you guys.  I've been able to work with some unbelievable brands reviewing their products and it's been incredible.  And the reason it really has been amazing is from the support of my incredible family, my amazing friends, fabulous fellow bloggers and my loyal readers who have been on this crazy journey with me for the last 1,097 days and almost 1 million page views.  So thank you to all of you, you are all amazing for looking at my little corner of the Internet, saying hi on Facebook, liking a picture on Instagram and tweeting back to my ramblings.  I love you all and am looking forward to what's next!

Happy Thanksgiving with Turkey Nail Art featuring Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra In New York!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Thursday and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you celebrating today!  I will be starting my festivities in a bit but first, I wanted to come on here and sincerely thank you all.  In the 18 months I've been blogging, all of you, my readers, have really made it such a great experience.  I absolutely love interacting with you all on here and across my social media pages and without fail, every day being able to share my love of nail polish with you all has put a smile on my face so on this thanksgiving, I'm thankful for all of you!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!

Gobble Gobble!  I did a goofy little freehand turkey nail art for Thanksgiving!  On the rest of my nails is Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York which is a black jelly base full of multi sized gold hexagonal glitters!  It builds up very quickly to become opaque which is great!  Then the base of the turkey is Deborah Lippmann Sugar Daddy and I used a bunch of different colors for the turkey itself (which is based off of the amazing tutorial by Adventures in Acetone!)

I like how it came out!  Sure, he's a little goofy but I certainly like this turkey better than the one my mom made me learn how to clean, de-feather and butter up today!  (Hi Mom!)  So, a very happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your loved ones and thanks again for being so great!


What did you think of this manicure?  What are on your nails for Thanksgiving?

Hurricane Sandy

Good evening my fellow Lacquered Lover! Happy Friday! Just a quick note of thanks tonight. Many of my amazing readers, knowing I live in New York City, have reached out to me in the last few days to see if I was ok in the aftermath of the storm. My apartment lost power Monday night as did much of Manhattan and by Wednesday we no longer had heat or water left. I'm very fortunate that I was able to leave the city by Thursday afternoon. So many people are in far worse situations and my hearts go out to them.

So, I just wanted to say thanks! The outpouring of love I received from you, the amazing readers on my blog really warmed my heart. Fellow New Yorkers have offered help, even ones I've never met, people I've never even interacted with emailed or contacted me through social media and it truly humbles and amazes me. You guys are truly incredible and its an honor to be able to share my love of nail polish with you all and the support you guys give me in return is something I never imagined but appreciate more than I can say. I hope you are all safe and I will be back to regular posting as soon as I can!