2019 Non Beauty Favourites

Happy Friday! This week I've been sharing with you my make up and skincare favourites from 2019 and today I'm back to share with you all of my non beauty favourites from the last twelve months. I've got a mix of everything from films to albums to style and adventures. There are no books as I'm going to talk about those in a seperate post but there are still loads of favourites to come. Shall we get into it?

Albums: 2019 was an amazing year for new albums and new music. There were five albums that I absolutely adored during the last year. I can't acutally put my finger on which of these are my absolute favourite and if you've listened to them then you'll know why. Thank U, Next from Ariana Grande started the year off strongly and whilst it took a few listens to really love the album as a whole, it became a staple of many playlists of mine this year. The same could be said for both Lover by Taylor Swift and Romance by Camilla Cabello. Each one took a couple of listens to really enjoy them as a whole but now they are staples in my daily listening. Ocean by Lady Antebellum is the heartbreak album of the year. There are so many emotional, powerful numbers that on bad days can make me sob like a baby. Be Patient With My Love and Ocean are two stand out numbers from the album and I'm dying them to announce their tour dates so I can try and get the chance to hear them both live. And then Luke Evans released his much anticipated album and I am in love. I already knew he could sing but damn that man can sing. His renditions of If I Could Turn Back Time and At Last are phenomenal and I can't wait to hear them live when me and mum see him in London in April.

Films: There have been so many good films released throughout the last year and it was hard to narrow it down to my absolute favourites. Yet one film made it onto the list before it was even released and that is Rocketman. I'm a huge fan of both Elton John and Taron Egerton so Egerton playing Elton in this biopic was the perfect pairing. Egerton's voice on the soundtrack was outstanding and his performance as Elton was phenomenal. I personally think it should be one that's considered for an Oscar Nomination. One film that broke my heart into a million pieces was Avengers: Endgame. I still can't find the right words to describe how this made me feel apart from heartbroken. It was an amazing to tie up the first three phases of the MCU and whilst I'm looking forward to what Marvel are going to do next, I'm also apprehensive because so many of my beloved characters are no longer going to be there. A film that I didn't realise I needed to see until the trailer was released was Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil. I adored the first film and didn't understand where they could take a sequel but Disney absolutely smashed it out the park. Angeline Jolie and Elle Fanning were phenomenal in their reprisals of Maleficent and Aurora but it was the addition of Michelle Pfieffer as the villianous queen that really gave this film it's oomph. And you know it's good when mum gives it a five star rating when she can barely stay awake during films. The last film I loved in 2019 was a bit of a latecomer and is considered terrible by many. And that film in 6 Underground. Directed by Micheal Bay and starring an all star cast including Ryan Reynolds, Dave Franco and Ben Hardy, this no barrs hold, explosive, action packed film has that slightly trashy feeling that many an action film has but is also packed full of humour, witty one liners and beautifully choreographed actions sequences that the ex film studies nerd in me loves. If you haven't checked it out on Netflix, I highly recommend watching it.

TV Shows: 2019 wasn't the biggest year for TV for me, most of my favourites are recurrences from previous years and are shows that I've watched for years. Chicago Fire was a show that I had fallen out of love with until 2019 where I binged watched all the seasons I'd missed and I'm now all caught up, waiting for it to return from it's Winter break. Yet during the year I finally caved and got Netflix (I know I'm late) but it introduced it to two amazing shows that I thoroughly adored. The Witcher is a late entry onto this list but definitely worth it. Henry Cavil is absolutely amazing as Geralt Of Rivia, the fight choreography in the first episode had me hooked enough to binge half the season just as I wrapped Christmas presents. And the second show I binged in a day and can't wait for the second season to drop on January 17th is Sex Education. I'd heard everyone raving about it but hadn't gotten around to watching it myself. It's absolutely hilarious and I spent half my time crying with laughter. It's definitely the modern day equivalent to Skins and if the second season is as good as the first, I can see it featuring again in my 2020 Yearly Favourites.

 Adventures: I have been on so many different adventures throughout 2019. The scariest yet the one I'm most proud of is the promotion I took at work. I didn't intend on taking a promotion last year but the opportunity arose and after a lot of debate, I decided to go for it and it was the best decision I made last year. I'm so proud of how far I've come and how hard I worked to prove I was good enough, something I'm definitely going to carry on in 2020. Apart from that me and Jasmin went on many an adventure, inluding seeing Aladdin in the West End, Shawn Mendes at the O2, Nightmare Before Christmas Live at Wembley and getting tattoos for her birthday. Yet the one night of the year that stood out to me was the night we went to see Carrie Underwood at the Wembley Arena. I'd been waiting ten years to see her live and getting to see her Cry Pretty Tour in person was phenomenal. I cried like a baby, literally for a good half the show. It was magical to see my idol live for the first time and couldn't get over how flawless her voice was live.

2019 Beauty Favourites: Skincare

Welcome back to the second of my 2019 Beauty Favourites. On Monday I shared with you all my make up favourites and today I'm going to share with you all the skincare that I discovered and loved this year. Now there are some missing catergories but that's because I haven't discovered anything new that beats previous favourites and I don't want to bore you by repeating everything all over again.

Cleanser: When it comes to cleansers I am by no means loyal to just one. I'm always on the lookout for new cleansers to try, especially if they can be considered dupes or replacements for products that cost the earth or have sadly been discontinued and this year's cleanser favourite is a latecomer but definitely worth the wait. The Sanctuary Melt Away Cleansing Oil is an amazing replacement for my much beloved but now discontinued Loreal Extraordinary Oil Cleanser. It's lightweight but effective and easily breaks down the most long wearing of mascaras and base products. I honestly didn't think I was going to find a product that worked as my well as that particular Loreal Cleanser but this does and it doesn't break the bank. It's something I'd been looking at for a while but I'm so glad I took the plunge and finally brought it.

Toner: Now if you've been around here for a while, you'll know that I am a big fan of the Pixi Toners. I've featured both the Glow Tonic and the Retinol Tonic in previous Yearly Favourites but this year both have been replaced by a toner I didn't even know was a thing until late last year. The REN Ready Steady Glow Daily AHA Tonic. Instead of containing Glyclolic Acid, this contains Lactic Acid which is gentler on skin but just as effective. I've been using this daily for over a year now and my skin has never looked or felt better. There is literally no texure, my redness looks reduced and my skin feels softer to the touch. I'm so impressed with how this changed my skin from the first use, plus the pump style bottle has meant I haven't wasted a drop. The first bottle lasted me a good six months and I've already had my second bottle for around four months and I've still got half of it left. If Glycolic Acid doesn't agree with your skin, I highly recommend giving this a go.


Mask: This year has been the year of chemical exfolitants over physical exfolitants. I've much preferred using AHA based products to exfoliate my skin over using harsh sugar or salt based scrubs which do nothing to irritate or oversensitise my skin. And my favourite this year has been the Revolution 30% AHA + 2% BHA Peeling Solution. It's a sure dupe for the same style product from The Ordinary but works just as well and is a lot more easy to buy. This is red in colour and works to chemically exfoliate any dead skin cells or texture from your skin. It's not for the faint hearted but if you've got skin that loves a good AHA product, this is for you. I love how baby soft my face feels after using this but I only reach for it only once every fortnight so that I don't disrupt the balance in my skin or irritate it in any way.

Serum: If you've been reading my posts for about the last year you'll know that I've been raving about the Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair. This is a weird yet magical hybrid of a product that acts like a serum but contains the benefits of a serum, moisturiser and mask all rolled into one. This is not cheap so I've been sparing with it but it's become my go to when I've got those horrible under the skin blemishes that come to nothing but look horrendous and disrupt how everything sits on your face. A little bit of this mixed into my nightly serum or even applied alone works to reduce any redness, inflammation and the next morning any blemishes that have been hanging around have been severely diminished or disappeared completely. This is definitely going to be my skin saviour going into 2020.

Moisturiser: Moisturisers can be a fickle thing. One minute they work and the next they aren't doing anything for your skin and instead are causing your foundation to ball up in the most unattractive way. I started the year with one of these moisturisers that cost me a pretty penny and I was beyond disappointed that stopped working after a month of use. So I stuck to serums and SPF's until the Autumn brought back my dry, rough to the feel skin. And that's when Liz Earle's Superskin Moisturiser came into my life. Rich in texture but light on the skin, this moisturiser has changed how my skin looks and feels as well as working to help it retain moisture for longer. It doesn't affect any make up applied over top and it's stopped my skin from feeling the rough effects of the colder weather.

Eye Cream: Eye creams and me have been on a journey of sorts but I have finally found my holy grail eye cream and it's all thanks to last year's M&S Beauty Calender. The Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream is a rich feeling eye cream that works to hydrate and reduce the signs of dark circles but isn't that rich in texture that it disrupts anything you apply over top. A little goes a long way and ever since I started using it at the end of last year, I have noticed that my under eye area has looked the best it has since my teens. I don't know how many of these I've gone through this year but I know that I'm going to go through many more in 2020 and I highly recommend checking it out if you're in the market for a new eye cream.

Facial Oil:  And lastly I discovered a new facial oil in 2019. The Botanics Overnight Facial Oil gave me major Garnier Miracle Sleeping Cream vibes when I discovered it, just in oil form. And it works in the exact same manner. It works overnight as you sleep to hydrate skin as well as working on improving the rate of cell turnover in your skin. It's like a good night's sleep in a bottle and whilst it's thick, somewhat greasy texture means you can't put it on and go straight to bed but you can easily let it sink in as you enjoy a chapter or two of your book or a good scroll through Twitter.

2019 Beauty Favourites: Make Up

Happy 2020! It's the start of a new year which can only mean one thing. It's time to look back and round up my favourite make up, skincare and non beauty favourites from 2019. To kick off the first of my 2019 Favourites post, I'm going to share with you my make up favourites from the last twelve months. As you may notice there are some catergories missing and that's purely because I didn't discover a new favourite and didn't want to bore you by repeating it with a product I've already shared with you.

Primer: Let's kick things off with primer. For the longest time I was a big fan of the Maybelline SuperStay Primer. It featured heavily in many a GRWM post and favourites posts but this year I replaced it with a new favourite and I haven't looked back since. The Too Faced HangoverX Primer was one I didn't initally think actually did anything for my skin but after a few uses over the horribly hot Summer we had and I was hooked. It not only hydrates skin, smooths and helps to reduce redness but it keeps make up locked in place for hours without the need for touch ups. I originally brought this as a small travel sized bottle but easily treated myself to a full size bottle when it ran out.

Foundation: Foundation again this year is one where I discovered a new holy grail product and now nothing will ever compete with it. My local Boots started stocking IT Cosmetics this year and when I saw it in there, I just had to try their CC Cream. It's been raved about in the beauty world for years and wearing it for the last six months has proven why. It's lightweight, it's long wearing, it's natural looking and it doesn't break down or fade even in the hottest of temperatures. I started off by again buying a travel sized tube which came in handy for Naomi's wedding in June but I was instantly bowled over by it and couldn't stop wearing it afterwards. I've only just opened my full sized tube because a little bit of this goes a long way, this bottle is sure to last me a good six months but I can gurantee that I'm going to be buying another full sized tube when it runs out. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend you do.

Powder: I didn't discover a new concealer favourite this year so I'm skipping over it and moving it on to powder. I've never really been a big fan of powder but towards the end of Summer I found I needed a little bit of powder to just keep my t-zone from fading quicker. Yet the powders I was using weren't doing anything for me. So I went shopping and discovered quickly that I have a thing for expensive make up and that I'm a sucker for Too Faced products. The Born This Way Powder is lightweight on the skin but sets make up in place and doesn't leave skin looking dry or cakey. I especially love applying this with a damp beauty blender as it just presses the powder in perfectly without disrupting any of the products underneath. And it helps to lock make up down all day. During the build up to Christmas I had a day of errands that left me red in the face and sweating buckets but my make up didn't show any of that, all I had was a slight natural glow and a flawless, semi matte finish. Sure my make up bag has gotten pricier this year but I've certainly learnt that you pay for what you get.

Brows: My brows at the moment are the bane of my existence. I haven't had them waxed in a while as I'm trying to grow them out but I can't stand the slightly sparse looking areas they have. Which is where one of my favourite budget friendly, high street beauty products comes in. The Barry M Brow Wow Pencil in Medium/Dark is a super soft brow pencil that glides seamlessly over the brows, depositing the right amount of product without making them too dark or dense looking. Sure you can easily go over the top with it but a soft hand and you'll have beautifully filled in and defined brows that last all day and don't smudge, not even in the rain.

Lashes: The only other budget friendly product I've loved this year has to be the Loreal Volume Million Lashes So Couture Mascara. It's rubber bristle, barrel shaped brush catches even the tiniest of lashes and gives them a volumised, defined looked without being clumpy or spidery. This is a mascara that can easily be layered and whilst it's not waterproof, it doesn't budge. I wore this to see Carrie Underwood live where I cried a lot and it did not budge. In fact none of my make up budged and most of it is what I'm sharing with you today.

Liquid Lipstick: For most of this year I could not for the life of me find a lipstick, liquid or standard formula that I loved to wear repeatedly or even feature in a favourites. That's until I had a treat yoself moment a couple of months back and brought my first Fenty Liquid Lipstick. In the shade Uncensored, this gorgeous deep blue toned red has not left my lips. Anytime I've worn lipstick, I've pretty much been wearing this. I wore it to the Harry Potter Studio Tour for my Birthday and to see Nightmare Before Christmas Live in December. It has one of the lightest, long wearing and somewhat comfortable formulas I've ever worn and I'm dying to get my hands on more shades. Maybe 2020 will see more shades sneak into my collection.

Setting Spray: And finally for setting spray, I discovered yet another Too Faced product that I absolutely adore. The Too Faced Hangover X Primer and Setting Spray became a steadfast favourite during the Summer when nothing would hold my make up in place and it's been love ever since. This not only locks my make up in place but also hydrates my skin and helps it to not look dry or cakey. Plus it smells divine and for a product that has a noticeable scent to it, I've never broken out or had a spot pop up after using this which says a lot for the way Too Faced have added the scent to this product. I highly recommend picking up a travel sized of this if you've been looking at getting this, it'll not only save you some cash but it'll also last you ages, giving you a chance to save up for a full sized bottle or to try out more products from Too Faced's extensive range.