2019 Highlights + Favourites

Saturday, January 04, 2020
Happy New Year! Today's post is going to be my yearly wrap-up of my favourite moments, memorable events and a run down of my monthly lifestyle favourites from 2019. I've already posed my reading review for the year and I will also be posting my beauty favourites post soon, along with my 2020 goals. 2019 has been a bit of a mixed year from reaching blog milestones, having eye surgery, visiting new cities and switching to a fully vegan diet to reading slumps, gaining weight, new tattoos and everything in-between.

January: Fully vegan & ONE MILLION blog views 
The first notable event for 2019 was switching to a fully vegan diet in January 2019. I have taken part in #veganuary each year for the past three or so years now but I decided to switch fully in 2019 and I'm so glad I did. There were some amazing vegan food releases in 2019 such as the rather irresistible Greggs vegan sausage roll, Papa Johns pizza, the M&S Plant Kitchen range and even more coming in 2020.

The second notable moment of January 2019 was that my little blog reached over one million page views. When I started my blog back in 2012, I never thought anything would come of it but I've been so lucky to work with a tonne of amazing brands and PRs, I've been invited to incredible events, I've received gorgeous products and its something I love to do.

January Favourites: Clean Reserve Rain and Blond Rose fragrances, Freshly Hand Treatment, Maybelline Total Temptation Brow Definer and the Nightrunner book series.
February: Visiting London, first class train & lots of sponsored posts 
February had a few milestones too including reaching over 9,000 followers on Twitter and having the most sponsored posts I've ever had in one month! I also visited London in February with my mum, thanks to gifted first class train tickets from Virgin Trains. We visited a couple of sights I've been to before (Harrods, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum) as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum and Kensington Palace which we hadn't visited before.

February Favourites: Grace by Lewis Capaldi, Caudalie Vinosource Sorbet, Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencils, Ink Master TV Show and Pizza Hut vegan pizza.

March: No eczema!
As a freelancer, money can be very inconsistent but thankfully my roll of sponsored posts continued into March. I also started loosing weight again and exercising more (ha, that didn't last). The biggest change that happened in March was that I hadn't had any eczema flareups on my hands or face for weeks. Since becoming fully vegan at the start of the year, after two months, I noticed that I didn't have any flareups (and the only thing I changed was to stop eating dairy) and thankfully I haven't had any eczema on my hands or face all year which is just incredible! I've suffered with eczema for over ten years, especially around my eyes, so to just not have to deal with it all year has been almost unbelievable!

March Favourites: Jenna Marbles Youtube channel, Parks and Recreation TV Show, Brooklyn 99, The Grand Tour TV Show, Holika Holika Moisturising BB Cream and Maybelline Brow Tattoo.
April: Visiting Edinburgh for the first time + best reading month ever
Edinburgh is a city I've wanted to visit for a while and back in April, the train tickets from Manchester to Edinburgh were really cheap so myself and my mum visited Edinburgh for a couple of days! We visited Holyrood Palace (which was amazing), Edinburgh Castle and the National Museum of Scotland (which sadly wasn't so amazing). I definitely want to visit Edinburgh again but maybe during the summer months when it isn't so cold!

I also visited the Manchester Art Gallery to see their Da Vinci exhibit, Tatton Park and Gardens and saw The King and I in the Manchester Palace Theatre in April. April was a quiet blogging month but it was a fantastic reading month as I managed to read 20 books.

April Favourites: Holika Holika BB Cream, Follow Your Heart Vegan Ranch, Cicaplast Baume B5, Operative Live TV Show and Soaper Duper Yuzufruit and Fig Body Butter.

May: Laser eye surgery consultation 
Laser eye surgery is something I've wanted to look into for years but naturally the idea of eye surgery, not to mention the cost, is a little daunting but I had a consultation at the Laser Vision clinic in the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital in May (it's a private clinic in an NHS hospital). Thankfully I was suitable for the surgery but as my eyes were incredible dry, I had to rectify that with antibiotics and drops for a couple of months beforehand. May also included the EU vote (I voted to remain in the EU) which we all know the results of (still not over it and I don't think I will be until we remain in the EU).

May Favourites: Sabrina Netflix Show, Game Of Thrones Season 8, Omorovicza skincare, Rimmel and Hatari (Iceland's Eurovision entry).
June: New tattoos + heatwave
June was another quiet month but I did go to the Summer Fare at my old primary school, visited the beautiful Quarry Bank Mill and had a tattoo consultation. I received two new tattoos in June and I don't know why but it seems to be a habit for me of getting tattoos in pairs. Most of mine were done by the lovely Zu at Flesh Tattoo in Manchester.

Favourites: Amazon Prime, The Grand Tour, Ben and Jerrys Vegan Fudge Brownie Ice Cream.

July: Laser eye surgery + highest paid blog post
After a couple of months of eye drops, I was finally booked to have another laser eye surgery consultation and at the end of July I had the surgery. I've already published an in-depth post about my experiences of the consultation, the surgery itself and the recovery, if you want to read that for more information. The laser eye surgery option I decided on was very expensive (£3,800!) so it was very timely that I was paid the highest amount I've ever received for a single blog post in July!

However, before the surgery I visited the MOSI and the roman ruins in Manchester with a friend and I visited Leeds which is a city I've only been to once before - we went to the Royal Armoury which was well worth a visit. Also July 2019 marked 500 books read since January 2017!

July Favourites: Tour De France, Wimbledon, BareMinerals Good Hydrations Primer, Daisy London Estee Lalonde necklaces and Helmans Vegan Mayonnaise.
August: Laser eye surgery recovery, appointments + my birthday 
August is my birthday month so I caught up with friends and visited the beautiful Tatton Park and Gardens and visited Dunham Massey. I reached my reading goal of 100 books and I was lucky enough to get more sponsored posts in August. However, the main focus of the month was my recovery from laser eye surgery as I had the surgery on the 31st July so August was filled with eye drops, eye appointments and recovery.

August Favourites: Daisy London x Estee Lalonde sunburst shield necklace, Viscotears, Neom x LookFantastic box and Nordgreen watch.

September: Christmas planning, visiting sights around Manchester + new camera 
Following on from August with another eye appointment and more recovery time but I was discharged from the clinic in September which was fantastic! I visited quite a few sites around Manchester in September including watching the final stage of the OVO Energy Tour Of Britain (which was very exciting and the first sporting event I've been to), visiting the Pankhurst Centre (which is right next to the hospital I went to for my eye surgery) and I also visited the Greater Manchester Fire Station Museum before it closed for refurbishment.

I also started planning my Christmas content and bought a new camera in September. I have wanted a new camera for a while and I finally settled on buying the Sony A7iii which I'm very happy with and I cannot recommend it enough. Lastly for September, I made vegan speatzle for the first time and fell in love - it's almost a cross between fresh pasta and dumplings and it's incredible.

September Favourites: Rugby World Cup, Rimmel Super Gel Polish, Lush Soak and Float Shampoo Bar and Lush Cork Pots.
October: visiting Glasgow for the first time, gifted hotel stay, new tattoos, exploring Manchester + hair salon review 
October, for me, usually focuses solely on halloween makeup but I didn't have time to create any halloween looks as October was an incredibly busy and a surprisingly amazing month. I was gifted a free hotel stay in Glasgow so myself and a friend visited the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art and went on a tour the next day including Stirling Castle, Lock Lomond, the Trossachs National Park and the Glengoyne Whisky Distillery - I hadn't been to any of those places before. I cannot recommend the Hallmark Hotel in Glasgow enough or Rabbies tours! Check out my instagram stories highlights for more photos.

As well as visiting a few new cities in Scotland, there were more firsts in October including being tattooed in a private studio by a tattoo artist I never thought I'd be tattooed by (as she lives and works in New York). I couldn't be happier with my two new tattoos by Rachel Hauer, check out her instagram - you'll want to be tattooed by her too. Another first was a free haircut as part of a salon review from Melissa Timperley Salon in Manchester which was amazing and I cannot recommend the salon enough.

I'm not finished with my October highlights, as I said, it was a busy but fantastic month...I published a couple of posts about sites to visit around Greater Manchester in October so I visited Quarry Bank Mill (again), Jodrell Bank and Manchester's China Town. I also started my christmas gift guides in October and loved watching the Rugby World Cup but sadly it wasn't all good news as October was my worst reading month in three years.

October Favourites: Rugby world cup, Barry M Brow Wand, Ark Skincare Age Defend Replenishing Moisturiser, Ink Master TV Show, Benefit Roller Lash Mascara and SportFX Mascara.

November & December: Christmas gift guides, christmas planning + new favourite music  
I'm grouping November and December together as they were both fairly quiet months but I did have a stall at a christmas fare, I visited the Manchester Christmas Markets twice and voted in the general election - this year has been horrendous in terms of politics in the UK. It's not all doom and gloom though as I discovered a few new music favourites in the past two months including BTS (yes, years behind everyone I know) and a few new to me songs from one of my favourite brands, Panic At The Disco. November and December were months of new food discoveries too such as vegan sushi and gochujang, both of which I cannot get enough of.

November & December Favourites: Hustle Butter, BTS, Panic At The Disco, ACDC, Latest In Beauty Boxes, Candy Kittens sweets, vegan sushi and gochujang.


Overall, 2019 was a pretty good year, with a few ups and downs but mostly positives and a lot of firsts, from having surgery for the first time and visiting new cities to blog milestones and becoming vegan. I was also able to work with a few new brands in 2019 including: Wing Yip, Daisy London, Scrivens, Yes To, Mitch's Kitchen, TJ Hughes, Hallmark Hotels, Melissa Timperley Salons, Megabus and many more which I'm very grateful for!

Stay tuned for more 2019 review posts, 2020 goals and my #veganuary content! 

What were your highlights of 2019? 

12 comments

  1. Loved reading this, I think it's a great idea to go over your year and look back on some of the highlights xx

    Tiffany x www.foodandotherloves.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  2. Being vegan is brilliant - we're trying bits here and there this month to see what else we can change xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like 2019 was a really successful year for you x

    Jenny
    http://www.jennyinneverland.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such a great roundup. It sounds like you've achieved so much this year. It's great that a vegan diet managed to help your skin so much! x

    Sophie
    www.glowsteady.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  5. You've had an amazing year and Edinburgh is still on my to visit list!

    Love, Amie ❤
    The Curvaceous Vegan

    ReplyDelete
  6. So interesting becoming fully vegan can help eczema. I wonder if it will help my dermatitis?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I know how bad the struggle is with eczema I have been dealing with it all my life!

    Candice

    natalyaamour.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow well done on the 1 million views that's incredible! Here's to a great 2020 x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oooo I'm excited for your January content that sounds so good! Have an amazing 2020!

    Erin || MakeErinOver

    ReplyDelete
  10. You sound like you have quite the year coming up this year too - can't wait to see x

    ReplyDelete
  11. Looks like a year of experiences and achievements! I really want to go to Edinburgh :)

    Jasmine xx



    Jasmine Talks Beauty

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a year! So many great things in 2019. Here's to a fab 2020!
    Em x

    ReplyDelete

Please don’t leave any spam comments or links - thanks!

I’m no longer accepting any sponsored posts or freelance work at all and for the time being, I’m not accepting products to review so please don’t contact me about any of those, thank you! x