Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2013, and 3 Honourable Mentions

Now that it's almost the end of 2013, I thought it might be good to do a recap of some of the most popular posts from the year. Some of the results are expected, some were unexpected, meaning that when I wrote them, I didn't think too much about it - it was just a post I threw together that surprisingly did well among my readers.

I've chosen the top 10 by raw number of blogpost views, because it's the simplest way to go about doing things, but I feel like this method invariably leaves out posts that are popular but were written at the end of the year, or posts (like posts on classic topics like skincare, foundation, etc) that may not garner as many initial views, but tend to do very well over a longer period of time. I tend to think of these as "evergreen" versus "trend" posts, e.g. a post on sunscreen, versus, say, a post on MAC's latest collection. But regardless, every method has its flaws or is just too much work, so I'm just going to roll with the raw views. (As an aside, I briefly thought of roughly pro-rating the number of views to length of time post was up, but that seemed quite problematic because the pro-rating wouldn't be linear for all posts, and assigning linear vs non-linear pro-rating would be an on arbitrary basis, and even with pro-rating, it's impossible to predict posts with long viewership tails anyway.)

Alright, without further ado, let's do a quick recap of what you guys read in 2013!

Halloween Manicure: Neon Orange, Glitter, and Stripes (aka I recycled an older nail look)

Remember my previous Halloween nails? Well, I decided that they could use a little more something - glitter! So I decided to glitterify them to my heart's delight!

Halloween Manicure: Neon, glitter and stripes!

I happened to buy a bottle of China Glaze Glitz Bitz 'n Pieces from Beauty Asia 2013 earlier this year, so I thought that would do it perfectly for glittering up my existing manicure.


Halloween nails: Neon orange, glitter and stripe designs.
The thing is, I'm not sure if I love the result more than the original. I have mixed feelings about it.

Halloween Nail Art: Neon Orange, Purple and White Stripes

Halloween is coming, and part of the festivity means that a Halloween manicure is a must! This year, I happened to buy a neon orange nail polish, Illamasqua Gamma (which was also featured in a chalkboard manicure tutorial), and as you might expect, I couldn't wait to use it!

Halloween nail art - a very Halloween-y colour scheme!

I combined this with a purple, Illamasqua Baptist, and a white (a random LA Colors white striper, which was last seen in my Easter manicure), and I got this! I've been seeing this stripey design around lately, so I thought, why not try this out with some Halloween colours?


Halloween nail art: orange, purple, and white colours.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month Manicure: Pink Gradient Glitter Nails

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I thought I'd do a BCA-themed manicure because breast cancer is actually the 5th top cause of deaths. If you're in the at-risk age group (50 to 74), the best way to detect breast cancer is to get a mammogram once every 2 years. And as with all illnesses, early detection helps!

My BCA manicure that's pink, shimmery, and IMHO, awesome!

DIY Wearable Version of the Super-Embellished Libertine Fall 2013 Nails

So after I went all out and blinged out my nails for my DIY version of the Libertine Fall 2013 look, I decided to try and come up with a more everyday-wear-friendly version of it. Basically, it didn't seem realistic to carry that much rhinestones on my nails, so I thought - what if I replaced them with glitter? And so, I proceeded to see how I could flatten out all the awesome 3D bling into a 2D version, while hopefully keeping the original look! And I eventually came up with this:

NYFW-inspired nail art - a much more wearable version of Libertine's Fall nails!

First, I had to choose the appropriate glitter. I thought of mixing various bits of glitter, but then I got lazy and settled on Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday, which I've previously featured in this post, and as a jelly sandwich! Anyway, I settled on Lippmann Happy Birthday because it had the same multi-coloured, jewel-y effect that the original gemstones had.


A 2D version of Libertine's NYFW 3D nail art, embellished with colourful jewels: here, sequins are used instead.