Hey dolls! I cannot thank all of you enough for keeping up with R&P this year. 2013 has been pretty amazing for this blog and it’s continuing to grow. I’ll take a few moments in this post to show some of my favorite nail art looks while talking about some of this year’s milestones. For those of you into stats, here a few for 2013. At the time of typing this post, R&P has received 71,329 page views this year and 46% of that comes from return visitors. Most traffic came directly typing in the website, google, bloglovin’ and facebook.
R&P has received some awesome recognition and I’ll be working with some amazing brands next year as one of their core bloggers including Rescue Beauty Lounge, Cult Nails, and Serum No. 5. Of course you’ll continue to see reviews from other brands you’re used to such as Mentality, Zoya, Barielle and more. R&P was also featured on Bloom‘s homepage as well as in one of their trend newsletters!
I’ve met and collaborated with some great bloggers this year! Social media is such a great avenue for getting to know these lovely dolls more. One of my favorite collaborations was the Pink and Teal Polished Obsession contest with my girl Marisa of Polish Obsession. We’ve become even closer since I joined the Twinsie Tuesday group. I’m pretty sure the photo below has to be my most popular one. I even had my non-nail fanatic friends alerting me that they saw it on pinterest. By now you know dots and stripes are my absolute favorite forms of nail art, so this mani was epic in my book!
This year was my time to try new nail art techniques and move a little out of my stripes and dots comfort zone. I never thought I would sit long enough to do a galaxy or water marble mani. These didn’t turn out half bad.
Zoya Pixie Dust was one of the most searched phrases on the blog. Interesting huh. Looking at this picture makes me realize just how far my photography skills have come. Improving my lighting set up and hubby’s new camera have been a huge part of that.
One of the most exciting features that started on the blog was Fashion Refined. It’s been amazing working with Popsugar Select/ShopStyle and Adorned Boutique. I’ll never claim to be a model or the best dressed person you know, but I like to have fun and experiment with clothing. I also love to take pictures. I’m just as addicted to clothing and accessories as I am to polish, so I hope you dolls like those posts as well as the fashion inspiration boards that accompany some polishes.
I reviewed for countless indie and mainstream brands this year and I’m extremely grateful for those opportunities. I won’t dare try to name them all, but to each brand I say thanks for entrusting me with your creations!
Words cannot express my thanks enough to all of you who keep up with R&P! This blog started as just a hobby during my doctoral program and it’s grown beyond my imagination over the last two years. I appreciate the comments here on the blog and on all of my social media pages. You all make this blogging adventure worthwhile! I’m looking forward to 2014 being a year full of prosperity, health, and success and I pray the same for all of you. Cheers to a fabulous 2013!
