Happy New Year: Best of 2018!

I bet you thought I would forget, didn't you? It's that time of year again--time for my annual Best Of post featuring my favorite nail designs that I did in the year prior. I did this for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, so there was no way I was letting this tradition stop.

I am happy to report that 2018 saw the exact same number of posts as 2017....73 strong. However, there were notably less nail-related posts in 2017. I am going to try to get back to doing at least a few more nail designs on the blog. After all, it is Nikki's Nail Files, after all. Anyway, here are my top 10 favorite manicures from 2018:

Happy New Year: Best Of 2017!

Welcome to 2018 blog friends and visitors! As always, it is time for my Top 10 manicures from the previous year. If you are new to my blog, here are the previous "Best Of" posts from 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011. But enough about those, let's get started with the Best Of 2017! 

2017 saw a notable decrease in nail photos and increase in general life posts but I still managed to rack up over 70 posts. Here are my top 10 favorite manicures:

10.   My One Love Manchester manicure from June completed during the Ariana Grande benefit performance for the victims of the Manchester bombing.

9. My sister's 30th Birthday Nails from October. 

8. My Frankenstein Nails from October.

7. My fierce and ferocious leopard manicure from my girls trip to Gettysburg in November. 

6. My. festive and colorful Summer Nails manicure from August. The colors together just make me smile.

5. My Candy Cane manicure from December. I love how crisp the white background looks with the red candy canes. 

4. My Bachelorette Bash manicure from August. Such a simple and easy-to-do design but it always looks so impressive.

3. My Sweater Weather Manicure from December. I just love the way sweater nails look and this photo came out so crisp and clean.

2. My St. Patrick's Day manicure from March. I really liked how each nail was different yet the look still went together. And how cute is that little three leaf clover?

And my favorite nail design of the year, and as it turns out the LAST post of 2017:

My New Years Eve 2017 manicure. I love champagne and I love how this design turned out. Perfect for sipping some champagne and ringing in the New Year!

Happy New Year: Best of 2016!

Hooray, we're moving into another year and I'm still blogging! It's time for one of my absolute favorite posts since I get to go back through my year here on the blog and select my top 10 favorite designs. This year I had a blog record of over 100 posts so it was very fun picking out the best ones. Previous Best Of posts were posted in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011,   Let's get started!

10. My Black and Yellow Toetally Tuesday mani/pedi combo posted in April. This was such a cheery and easy design. Definitely had to put it as one of my faves! It makes me smile just looking at it!

9. Colored leopard nails from our trip to the pottery painting place in January to complete one of my 101 in 1001 list items!

8. The pink and purple Easter Egg design from March.

7. The simple but oh-so-cute Candy corn manicure from October! These petite candy corn pieces were really simple to do but they looked so festive!

6. Monarch butterfly manicure from July. The gradient base of the accent nail was the best gradient I have ever managed to do. It went from blue to subtle green to yellow to orange to pink seamlessly.

5. The Gradient Peacock nails from January. This year was a great year for gradient nails here on The Files.

4. My holo hombre from February. Seriously. This holo was unbelievably gorgeous in the sunlight! I would just stare at my nails if light would hit them.

3. My Let it Snow manicure from January! Ok so, it might not have snowed a ton this past winter (or maybe it did) but these nails sure made me think of a snow day!

2.  My champagne bubbly manicure to celebrate last New Year's! Ok, these nails were actually posted on December 31, 2015, so maybe they can't be used in my 2016 Best Of but still, I loved this design and I think it deserves a place on this list! Hey, my blog, my rules!

And last but not least, my all time favorite nail design from 2016! These stunningly vibrant and spectacular water marble manicure that I did as part of my OPI Color Paints product review post! How beautiful are the colors?!

Happy New Year: Best of 2015!

I'm so excited for the first post of 2016...It's time for the annual Best Of post! I always have such fun looking back through the year's posts to determine which I liked the best and am most proud of. From this year's over 90 posts, here are my top 10 favorite manicures posted in 2015. Previous Best Of lists were published here on The Files in 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011. Check those out if you like! Now here we go:

Starting us off this year at Number 10 is....

My Holly mancicure from the December Nail Art Challenge. I liked the color combination I used in this design and it worked perfectly for the holiday.

9. The Bachelorette manicure I did for my sister's bachelorette. Need I say more? 

8. My Sweater Nails from the December Nail Art Challenge. I loved the color combination and how the stamping turned out. 

7. My Candy Cane manicure from the December Nail Art Challenge. One of the rare skittlette manicures I tried on the blog. I loved the combination of gold, red, nude, and white.

6. Tahlia's Valentine's Day manicure. This manicure was just the sweetest thing.

5. My Halestrom manicure from 31 Week Nail Art Challenge. I was super impressed with these. I think I even tweeted the band this photo!

4. Snow Flakes manicure for the December Nail Art Challenge. The perfect gradient finally!

3. The Fall foliage inspired nails. I adored the color combination used to represent the changing of the leaves.

2. My plaid manicure from the 31 Week Nail Art Challenge. Love me some plaid. I was a private school girl after all!

And my overall favorite manicure from this year is......*drumroll*: My Veterans Day manicure in honor of my Dad!

Happy New Year: Best of 2014!

HAPPY NEW YEARS TO EVERYONE! I hope 2015 brings your love, passion, fun, and excitement, and I'm thrilled to continue this blog for another year of experiences :) The year 2014 came to a close with a staggering 91 posts, the second highest amount in the 4 years I've been blogging. I was super excited to be able to go back through the year and select my absolute favorite nails of 2014! 

14. My 24th Birthday manicure from May

13. Holy Babies! baby manicure from June

12. This adorable purple polka dotted manicure from April

11. Color Smash manicure from March

10. Evil Eye manicure from March

9. My Juggling Balls manicure from January.

8. Cake Pop holo Valentine's Day mani from February

7. Steph's Wedding: Say Yes to the Dress manicure from August

6. My Peachy Keen Jelly Bean Easter manicure from April

5. Caviar manicure from February

4. Holographic Zebra manicure from February. I just loved the pizazz that the holo added!

3. The YinYang manicure I did in July when Andrew moved to Colorado for 6 months.

2. The gradient tiger manicure I did for Week 2 of the 31 Week Challenge!

And my absolute favorite post from 2014....*drumroll please*

1. My St. Patrick's Day nails from March

Happy New Year: Best 13 of 2013!

So 2013 has come to an end and 80 or so posts later...it's time for the yearly "Best of" post!! Here is the collection of my favorite designs/polishes that I have done/used over the course of 2013.

13. My Veterans Day cracked manicure from November:

12. My caviar manicure from the wayyy beginning of 2013 in January:

11. The An Occasion to Di(amond) For manicure I did for Steph and Matt's Engagement Dinner in May:

10. My hot pink Professionalism Day nails from November:

9. The Here Comes the Bride manicure inspired by Tiffany & Co. to celebrate my older sister getting engaged in April:

8. My Nautical Niceness manicure from November:

7. My I Got the Blues dotted nail design from March:

6. The Tuxedo nails I did in May:

5. My Color Run manicure from July:

4. The interesting Newspaper Nails from November:

3. My Avon Mosaic Effects manicure from May:

2. My Chevron manicure I just recently posted this month.

And finally, my absolute favorite nail design I did this year is....

1. My Layered Clouds manicure from this month. I know it's not the most intricate design but I just really LOVE the base color and I thought it was captured so beautifully in this picture. Also, the design is my favorite because of its versatility. You can do as many layers as you want, use as many or as little colors as you want, and it looks incredible. It's perfect for school, hanging out, going to a fancy dinner, the holidays, a formal, anything. You can wear this design any time.

There you have it! My Best Of 2013! Did I leave any out that you really liked? 

Let me know in the comments below.