Today marks four years since I took my first step into the blogosphere. Last year I took a look back at how things had changed on my blog and in my life. This year I felt I needed to honour the polish that started it all for me.
Back in late 2009, I had just finished using up the last of my favourite polish. It was a brand I hadn't heard of before that I had picked up at Priceline. The brand was Jessica and the polish name was Palladium.
At the time I had a nice little collection of about 30-40 polishes which I had been very slowing adding to since the mid 1990's. There were no fancy brands, no OPI or Chanel, but lots of Revlons (especially Street Wear's), Ulta3s and even some early Ozotics (circa 2001). I'd only ever purchased my polishes in bricks and mortar stores around town, which really limited what I was able to get.
I was rather devastated that I had used up the last of my beloved Jessica Palladium. This was following on from losing my previous favourite polish, 'Burn' from the Aussie brand Stuf. I had purchased that Stuf. brand polish at priceline, and had also gone through several backup bottles that I got from the Stuf. store at Southland in Melbourne. I think Stuf. went belly up taking my favourite polish with them. Although I'm sure I still have a few other Stuf. polishes that I might pull out for some vintage blog action.
So, where was I, ah yes, sad, because I had run out of Jessica Pallidum. The first stop was the same Priceline store to see if they had more. Nope not a single bottle of Jessica polish. Next I scoured every other Priceline store in Canberra. Nothing. Next I went online and started googling.
This is the point at which my mind exploded. BAM! The google search for my illustrious gold polish took me to a nail blog - The poilsh addict to be precise. That blog linked me to Scrangie's - BAM there goes my mind again. There is only one other blog that I started reading that day in late 2009, and have continued to read every day - Nihrida.
On those blogs (which I went back through all the previous posts) I started seeing amazing polishes with finishes I had never seen in my life. It was a time when the China Glaze OMG collection was still easily available (yes, I grabbed the whole collection at a nice cheap price - no I wasn't smart enough to buy eleventy billion sets to make me a squillionaire now).
The discovery of all these new polishes meant my search for Palladium was placed on the back burner. It was a few year later when I spotted a full sized bottle on a blog sale that I was finally able to replace the precious. Of course by that time, I had about 50 other gold polishes that were half a whisker different to it, but of course I still needed my original love!
The last four years have been lots of fun. I remember when I got my very first blog follower that wasn't my mum. I was blown away that someone found my blog and then decided to stay for a read!
I've particularly loved my experimentation with making true franken polishes. Back then we mixed existing polishes and adding amazing products like spectraflair and the colour shifting powders. This was back in a time before suspension base and when there was only a handful on indie brands worldwide.
It's incredible to see how the Australian indie scene has exploded and how Aussie indies have become some of the most popular and sort after brands in the world. Good on you girls! I feel a special connection to all of those brands, because I know it was because of this blog that I was able to make first contact with the most amazing supplier of nail polishes making supplies in the country - the same single supplier that all the hand made Aussie indies now source though!
Another achievement for me on this blog was my continued series of daily blogging. There was a period during 2012 and 2013 where I posted every single day for more than a year. I think it was about 15 months where I went non stop and posted every single day.
Having just looked at how much I have written tonight, I'm going to leave it there and say thank you so much for coming along with me on this journey. I love reading all your comments and emails, and whilst keeping this blog going is something I enjoy doing for myself, it's so rewarding to know that so many awesome people join me everyday.
Now it's time to show you how I chose to wear Jessica Palladium today.
I did three nails with Jessica Palladium and then two accent nails where I painted a fish tail braid design using two other gold shades - Urban Decay Twisted and Zoya Ziv. To make it truly a 'me' mani, I just couldn't leave it alone (although I probably should have) I placed gold caviar beads along the fish tail lines. For some reason this actually looks way better in real life than these photos show. Damn macros are no ones friend.
Once again, thanks for looking!
Happy blogversary!! :) keep up the amazing work!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Naomi!
Deletethank you for sharing the story of how it all started! I love such stories (for me, Chanel Peridot started it all...)
ReplyDeleteand happy blogiversary!
Thanks Viktoria - I can see why Chanel Peridot got your started, it was my first Chanel polish and it's so gorgeous!
DeleteCongrats! 4 years is a major achievement! Love your blog, happy blogversary <3
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Sam - your comments mean so much to me because your blog is constant inspiration to me!
DeleteHappy blogiversary, and to many more! <3
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, I know you have been reading along for such a long time and thank you for all your comments along the way!
DeleteHappy Blogoversary and thank you for so many amazing manis!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your lovely comment!
DeleteThank you for all the effort. Please continue for a very long time. I discovered your blog almost at the start of it because I was looking for more duochrome polishes. I had an old one from Hema and it's quality was hmmm and hard to remove and I hoped there would be more of this. And yes....... I fell in love with your swatches of Ozotic. Your blog is still in my favourites with '(duochrome)' added to the name.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I was memorized the first time I really discovered a duochrome and it means so much that you think of me when looking at duochromes!
DeleteHappy blogoversary!! Ur blogs is amongst my favs!! Though I may not comment regularly I read every post to the last line! Totally love ur hardwork that u put in for ur blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you Kejal and thank you for your patience in reading me blog, bad grammar and poor spelling to boot!
DeleteLoved reading this :)
ReplyDeleteI started a year ago in the same way, looked up a polish (Revlon Moon Candy Orbit). Don't ask how many I have amassed in a year... :O
This blog is a huge accomplishment! Happy blogiversary, and congrats :)
Thank you so much. Oh yes, it staggering how quickly you polish stash grows, especially in those first few months after really 'discovering' nail polish. I don't dare think of the costs that have added up over the years!!
DeleteCongratulation on your 4th blog anniversary! Since I found your blog, I went back to read all of your posts way back to the first one. Truly love your blog - cheers from a fellow Aussie blogger (I've been posting comments here under the name Yuri)
ReplyDeleteOh yes Yuri, I know you have been following along for quite some time now! Thank you so much (oh and why was I not following your blog already!! - I am now)
DeleteHappy Blogiversary and I love your blog. I love hearing how you got started. Although I am not a blogger the three blogs that got me involved in nail stuff were Polish addict, Scrangie, and Edge of Sanity-- what ever happened to Gabrielle?
ReplyDeleteThank you Alison. It's a shame when our favorite blogs close up or just stop posting. I understand that life moves on for them, but I miss some of my favorites, like Chloes nails and Steffels. No idea what happened to Gabrielle either.
DeleteLoved reading this post and love your blog! It was fun to see you look back and hear how you got started with blogging. I too started reading Scrangie in 2009 and was hooked! And I got hooked on your blog in 2011 when word traveled round the online nail community that a nice lady in Australia had found the long sought-after color-shifting pigments and was selling them in small amounts. So thank you so much for those pigments, and all your creativity and beautiful manis since them.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, those colour change pigments were awesome.Tit was so great to be able to share them with so many people in small and affordable amounts that meant we could all have a play at making something beautiful- and then all the indie brands got an board and we barely need to mix anything these days. Thanks so much for reading and staying around after all this time Amy!
DeleteHappy 4 years! I remember discovering your blog when I heard about Spectra-Flair and decided I HAD to have some right that instant. Ordered from you when I lived in the US and had no idea at that time that I'd end up in Australia not terribly far from you :D been a loyal follower since and you're even listed on my own blog. Rock on--here's to many more years!
ReplyDelete(Also, Palladium is gorgeous... I can see why you pursued it so vigilantly. I like what you did with the beads, although it makes the fishtail hard to see, I wish there had been one photo before. But it's still a lovely manicure!)
Thanks Amanda. Wow another blog that I didn't know about! Following yours now too! Where are you living? And re the mani, yes I really wish I had taken before photos too!!!
DeleteHappy Blogiversary! Was Stuf in really round bottles? Like a mid sized Christmas ornament with a polish brush in it?? I think I remember them..
ReplyDeleteYes yes, really round bottle like a christmas ornament is the perfect way to describe them. Great memory from another long lasting polish addict Jas!!
DeleteCongratulations on your blogaversary! I don't actually know how to calculate mine, since I started it waaay back in 2010 as a jewelry blog, but then after three posts I abandoned it. I dusted it off again in 2012 when I started getting into nail polish, but I'm not sure which one to count as my birthday!
ReplyDeleteHere's to many more years blogging :D you're one of my first regular reads and definitely one of my favorites!
Thank you so much. Yeah, I had a 6 month break in my blogging whilst I was pregnant, but I still count the starting date as the day I did my first post. I reckon you should count from 2010, regardless of what you were blogging about, you were blogging!
DeleteYeah, I'm glad you get your achievement.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteCongratulations on 4 amazing years! And YAY to finding another Jessica fan :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. Yes, I love Jessica, but I find it so hard to get here. I reckon that first bottle of Palladium was a total freak find!
DeleteCongrats, and thanks for sharing your journey with this blog. I smiled so much when I read how, through Googling. you found this community. I did also. I had no idea nail polish had become such a 'thing'. And no idea of the range of colors and textures and finishes. And those wonderful nail bloggers!!! I was amazed at it all, and immediately fell in!
ReplyDeleteHeheh, five months ago, I owned three polishes. Since then, I am sure my postal carrier is very unhappy with the sometimes daily delivery of polish packages I get. I had/have a LOT of catching up to do! And, good gawd, the gorgeous spring collections that I have been seeing... Wow!
Thank you so much for your hard work and perseverance in bringing to our attention these polishes. I look forward to your blog so much! (Isn't it wonderful you were able to find your special nail polish. It really looks like a lovely polish.)
Thanks Lara - I love your comment about discovering nail polish and not realizing it had become such a 'thing'. I talk about polish to people at work and they are amazing when I tell them there are so many women out there like us. Here's to our ever expanding stashes and all the new awesome polishes we are yet to discover!
DeleteCongratulations on 4 years of blogging and thank you for this wonderful post. Reading the excitement you felt when you found your first blogs was the same feeling I got when I came here. A year ago I didn't know nail blogs existed! YOU, have given me a fabulous new hobby apart from blog reading, making polishes. A youtube video for Spectraflair sent me here, and boy, there was no sleeping that night, that I found out there was a Candy Man out there, willing to take my first tiny experimental order. Availability of ingredients happened, because you made it happen and I sincerely thank you for that. Reading your blog is a daily pleasure and I often feel a tinge of guilt because it is pure relaxation and indulgence for me and I think of all the hard work it takes for you, you work, you keep house, have 2 little ones and still manage to blog everyday and that is no mean feat, so I truly appreciate it. Thank you Kitties xoxo
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, what a lovely and thoughtful comment that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
DeleteLovely blog post! I enjoyed reading about how it all started for you :)
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteSo nice to read about how your blog started! I remember the days when I got hysterically happy for finding a forest green polish since otherwise there were just a lot of reds and pinks everywhere. It's amazing how much has happened during the last years!
ReplyDeleteI really like your mani, and I think the caviar beads are a really nice touch!
Happy anniversary!
Thank you. Yes I remember that excitement at finding unusual colors, and I think that's why I'm much more into polish now that I ever was before. Before it was so many reds and pinks and they really aren't my colours.
DeleteCongrats to four years! That's a long time :)
ReplyDeleteI still have most of the spectraflair I got from you way back when. It's one of my treasures!
Thanks. I still have a few little pots that I kept for my own purposes and every now and them I mix up something. But there isn't much these days that I can think of that hasn't already been done.
DeleteCongrats on FOUR years! That's a big accomplishment in my eyes. Especially at the rate you post! It truly amazes me as I come back to your blog day after day that you always have something new! I wish I could post that often but unfortunately I have issues with time management. I have two little ones too, but obviously if you get it done that can't be my excuse ;)! Something else that I find fascinating- All of your photos taken in the sunshine, do you never have a cloudy day?! I really appreciate your dedication to your blog. You have introduced me to so many great polishes and your nail art is always amazing. You really inspire me. Keep up all the great work! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. I try to keep my motivation going every day. People at work cant believe I do many nails every day, they wonder how I have the time with my two littlies. But I always do them after the kids go to bed at night time, and then usually photograph them in the morning before work. I usually get an hour or two on the weekend to do some swatching. And yes, we gets lots of sunshine here. In fact Canberra has the most daylight hours of any capital in Australia, and we are lucky that our winters are cold, but not rainy or snowy, just clear skys. Although, you might have cursed me cause it's rained non stop for the last week ;)
DeleteCongratulations on 4 amazing years! You and your blog are such an inspiration :) xx
ReplyDeleteThank you Michelle!
DeleteCongrats! For me it wasn't a particular polish that started it - I saw a picture of water marbled nails and had to try it. Since then I've had to try everything and gone from about 20 to 200 nail polishes in the process :) (not to mention the hundreds more I wish I could have!)
ReplyDelete