Happy New Years Eve Everybody! It's hard to believe that TOMORROW it will be 2019 - where the hell has the past year gone? After the tremendously slow January, the rest of the year seem to fly by, and I swear we skipped over a few months there at some point. It's actually scary how quickly time seems to be rushing by, and I'm sure it won't be long before I'm sitting down and writing this same post in a years time. BUT anyway, today, as it's the last day of 2018, I thought I'd go back and share my favourite favourites for the year. Let's do this! So, I went back over all my favourites for the year and chose my all-time favourite items for each category, which was difficult because there's been so many things I've been loving this year. But I managed to narrow it down, and maybe cheating my category system to make it work. So without further ado, here's my fave favourites of 2018! ...hair... Straight off the bat I'm cheating the system with naming my favourite favourites, but it's my system, so I can do what I want! The first hair favourite is my new colour of the Schwarzkopf Live Salon Permanent dye in 'Dark Brown'. In case you don't know, my natural hair colour is a mousey-brown, and for my 21st my friend convinced me to finally dye my hair for the first time. We chose 'Hazelnut', which wasn't far off my natural colour. This year, when I was re-dying, I decided to go a little darker. I admit, this was a little darker than I was expecting, but I actually love it so much! Dark hair seems to really suit me, and so many people have agreed when they've seen me sporting my darker locks. This is definitely a shade I'm sticking with - thanks for forcing me to dye my hair in the first place Shonti! The other hair product I've been loving this year is the John Frieda Brilliant Brunette range, of which I've been using the Colour Protecting and Visibly Deeper shampoo & conditioners. My hair looks, feels and smells amazing after washing, and the Visibly Deeper products have definitely helped keep my hair looking fresh, especially when my regrowth starts popping through. Such a great formula and brand that I highly recommend - my hair has definitely been loving it! ...skin... A more recent addition to my skincare routine has been the Sukin Facial Masques. I've been alternating between the Sensitive Pink Clay, Detoxifying Super Greens, and Anti-Pollution Oil Balancing Charcoal, using one at least once a week. I don't know how drastically different all three are, but my skin has certainly been enjoying the weekly treatment. This is the first time I've actually used a Sukin product, but I had always heard really positive things about the brand in general, and it certainly lives up to the hype. Plus, it's an Australian natural skincare brand, so that makes it even better! ...makeup... I've broken makeup down into three sub-categories - eyes, face and lips. I've absolutely loved all the products I've mentioned in my favourites throughout the year, but these three items just come out on top and are ones that I still use and reach for. In the eyes department, I had to go with ColourPop's Double Entendre palette. I love all my ColourPop shadow palettes, and I'm sure you know by now just how much I love them - the formula is fantastic, they are really pigmented and blend beautifully. The Double Entendre palette is my ultimate brown palette (and I have many brown palettes - it's like my entire collection almost), with a suburb mix of matte and shimmer shades that can create a really simple, everyday look, or be vamped up for something a little more fancy and bold. If you've not tried a ColourPop shadow palette before, this is fabulous place to start! Get in here. For my face, it's the Maybelline Master Bronze Palette. I feel like this was one of my earliest favourites for the year, and it's remained in my everyday makeup routine since the moment I started using it. The palette gives such a beautiful bronze look, especially when swiping the brush over the entire palette. Or, it's great to go in with specific shades to create a different colouring. I've been using this all year and have yet to make any real dint in the pans, so it's certainly going to last. It's become a must in my makeup routine, especially since I rarely go in with blusher (not that really feel the need to) - honestly a fantastic drug store product! Final makeup, and beauty, favourite is for the lips and that's Tarte's Tartiest Lip Paint, specifically in the shade 'Beste'. I received this in my September Bellabox and it's been the lipstick I've reached for the most since (and that's saying a lot since I love ColourPop's Matte Liquid Lipstick). It's a beautiful brown nude, which is perfect for any occasion, but particularly a simple, everyday look. It's the one shade I was missing from my collection, which is why it's quickly become a favourite. Plus, the formula is really nice, it wears reasonably well, and for a matte lip, it doesn't dry out the lips. I've said this before, but I don't talk about books a lot on this blog. That's because I've got a whole book blog dedicated to such talk - My Books Are Me. However, a bookish favourite that rightly deserved to be included on this list is author Emma Hart. Over the past fourteen months I've been making my way through Emma's catalogue of work, and it's been so bloody enjoyable. Emma is a contemporary romance author, and her books are right up my alley - honestly, she's like the queen of rom-coms and romance! All the books I've read so far have been 4-5 Stars, and I'm so excited to continue through all her work, and for the new releases she has coming up. Definitely an author to check out if you're a romance fan! There's been quiet a few TV favourites this year, so I've broken this down into to categories. The first is 2018 releases, and that hands-down is Love Island Australia. I didn't think I'd love the show as much as I did, but I absolutely loved the first seasons and totally lived for the drama (still do, to be honest - have you seen the drama that's unfolded since the show finished?). I'm not the biggest fan of 'finding love' reality shows, but Love Island has the essence of Big Brother, which I really miss (please Channel 9, bring it back!), so I think that's why is quickly became an obsession. Very excited to see how the second season stacks up next year! An old-school favourite from this year is definitely Time Team. I generally end up binge-watching several seasons at least once a year, and when a uni exercise called on watching an episode, I naturally jumped at the task and continued on a binge that spanned several seasons. Time Team is one of my favourite doco programs, and it's always so interesting to watch, even if I've seen the episode multiple times. As a history nerd, I love the history, and as a Tony Robinson fan, I love him as a presenter. I'm sure it won't be long before I'm heading back to episode one to start rewatching again... There actually hasn't been that many food favourites from the year, or at least favourites I've mentioned in blog posts. And to be honest, the two I have talked about are still big favourites of mine, so it was definitely hard to pick just one. But I did, and it's Terry's Chocolate Orange. This year was the first time I'd not only seen it in Australian stores (thank you Woolies!), but also the first time I actually bought one and finally tried it. I already really enjoy orange flavoured chocolate, so it's not like I was going to hate it, but I was surprised at just how delicious the chocolate actually was, and just how real the orange flavour is (thank you Terry's for using real orange essence!). Plus, I just love how the chocolate is packed and presented, taking on the form of an orange and divided up into segments. There have been a few game and app favourites throughout the year, and while it's been a while since I've played a few, others are still boredom busters. It was hard to narrow it down to just one, but a game that I was probably the most obsessed with this year was Love Island: The Game. Coming off the back of the show, I dove right into this game and loved playing my way through the episodes when they became available, making connections and causing drama in the villa. It was recently announced that they were working on a reunion special for the game, to tied the fans over until the second season next year when the show returns in Australia and the UK. If you're a fan of the show, you definitely need to play the game! ...album... There's been so many music favourites over the year that I just had to break it down a little in order to share all my favourites. And if you know me, I'm sure you'll already know what my favourite album for the year has been... If you answered Pray For The Wicked by Panic! At The Disco, then I've clearly been taking about this obsession way too much! I've listened to this album front to back, back to front, top to bottom and upside down, and I honestly love every single song. That's not usually how I feel about albums - I'll either never listen to the whole thing, or just not connect with some of the songs. Not PFTW. It's a fantastic album that I'm still listening to now. If you've been living under a rock and haven't basked in the amazingness that is Pray For The Wicked, drop everything and go listen to it right now! ...artist... OF COURSE Panic! At The Disco is my favourite artist for the year - they were my most-listened to artist on Spotify, raking up 22 hours. But, given my favourite album is from PATD, that was a given, so there is another artist I need to add to this list - Jesse McCartney. Jesse released two new singles this year - 'Better With You' and 'Wasted' - as well as acoustic versions of both (so I guess he dropped four songs this year...) and I've been loving every minute of it! I used to be a big fan of Jesse back in the day, and kind of lost touch with new music he's released since about 2008. I instantly loved both of his releases this year, and I can't wait to see what singles he releases next and whatever album he has planned for the future. ...song... Songs by Panic! At The Disco and Jesse McCartney aside, because otherwise this entire section would just be repeating myself, there's two songs that are my favourites for the year. The first is Honestly/Honestly (Encore) by Gabbie Hanna. Talk about an amazing song with powerful lyrics and music and an equally powerful video! Gabbie totally smashed out a hit with this song, and I'm still loving it all these months later. The other is Youngblood by 5 Seconds of Summer, which is another song with great lyrics and music. I admit, this is a more recent favourite, so it's probably why it's made the list, but it's honestly such a great song, so I'm sure had I been jamming to it earlier in the year, it'd still make the list! ...music video... I just had include a music video favourite because it's the music video that got me loving the song, and that's I'm Upset by Drake. The song is still a favourite of mine, but it took a while to get there. It's the music video that had me interested in the song, and that's because it's a Degrassi: The Next Generation class of 2007 reunion! As I'm sure you know, Drake was an OG star of DTNG, and the music video features many of the cast he worked with and grew up alongside of, coming back to film at the school where they actually shot DTNG. My little Degrassi heart couldn't take how awesome the video was, and I loved seeing all the cast back together, even if it was just for a music video. ...aussie... An Aussie YouTube favourite this year has been Luke Towan of Boulder Creek Railroad, who builds realistic model scenery and dioramas. I don't really have any interest in creating my own model scenery, but the videos are so interesting, watching Luke go from just a bunch of foam to a totally realistic scene. The techniques used are so interesting to see, and it's amazing how everything comes together to create such a fantastic diorama. His videos are also super relaxing to watch, and I'll sometimes just binge his model-building videos to wind-down. Definitely a channel to check out, even if you've never even thought about model scenery! ...'merica... My American YouTube favourite is only a recent one, but she's shot to being one of my favourite creators, and that's Safiya Nygaard. Her videos have been so great to watch and I'm always excited to see what's next - whether it be mixing makeup to create a Frankenstein product, wearing some crazy piece of clothing, or dressing from a particular era. Her content is fresh and fun and you can see how much work she puts into what she creates and that she has fun with it. ...brits... It's Vlogmas time, so of course my YouTube favourite from the UK is Vlogmas! I was rewatching old Vlogmas videos back in November - Zoella, PointlessBlog and ThatcherJoe - and it tided me over until this year's Vlogmas started. This month, I enjoyed the festive content of Zoe, Alfie, Joe, Mark Ferris, Sean O'Connor and The Youngs, plus tuning in occasionally to a few other creators. Vlogmas is probably one of my favourite times on the YouTube calendar, and even though it's now over (sob), I know I'll be binge-watching them all again in a few months time, because why not! And that's it!
That's my favourite favourites for the year, but I am still loving most of the favourites I've previously talked about here on the blog, so do go back and check out some previous posts if you want to see what else I've been loving this year. It's crazy that we're at the end of 2018, and that 2019 is literally tomorrow (actually, twelve hours away from when this post goes live). Hope you've had a fantabulous 2018 and that 2019 is filled with love, laughter and happiness! See You in 2019! Victoria :) |
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