Monday 5 January 2015

2014 Favourites

image credit goes to Shanghai Tango on tumblr
So 2014 has come to an end and 2015 is here, as a wrap up to the year that was and looking forwards to the year ahead here are some of my favourite things of 2014 as well as some goals for the blog in 2015.

Makeup:

  1. ELF Lock and Seal (buy here). Magic in a bottle, I use it for eyeliner
  2. Barry M Aquarium Collection, Mediterranean was my favourite (see my post here). High street duochromes, and pretty ones at that!
  3. NYX Taupe (buy here). My go to contour now.
  4. Darling Girl Glitter Glue (buy here). This is my replacement for Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy and I've found it so much easier to work with personally.
  5. Common Brimstone Vampire Hunter (see my post here). Sadly not around (maybe it'll be back next Halloween!) but this is the only indie perfume so far I own a full size of, it just smells delicious. House of Gloi's Tobac gets an honourable mention here as well.


TV:

  1. Constantine. I am praying it gets saved, please #SaveConstantine
  2. Musketeers. Hopefully this year or next we shall see a season 2, it was a great show.
  3. Ru Paul's Drag Race. Okay not new this year but a brand new discovery for this year. I love drag queens.
  4. Girl Code. Again, not new but a new discovery for me. I found this channel hopping in the gym in America and it's a good funny (albeit totally on point, seriously) watch when you don't want to pay attention to something properly.
  5. Honourable Mentions: Some shows I already loved before 2014 but had a new season which was just as brilliant as the last - Hannibal season 2, Orange is the New Black season 2


Books:

  1. Raising Steam – Terry Pratchett. (Amazon) Pratchett is a fantastically hillarious and deep writer and I do love the combination of fantasy and real historical events in his books. This was a smashing read, and the relationship between Moist and Adora is one of my favourites on the disk, second only to Sam and Sybil.
  2. Pandemic – Scott Sigler. (Amazon) The third and final part in the Infected Trilogy. I listened to the audio versions of the first two (Infected and Contagion) two years ago, read by Sigler himself and have been waiting eagerly for the final part. I finally got hold of the book in New Orleans this year and have been reading it every free moment I had since then. As a casual scientist and general lover of creepy diseases I can tell Sigler did research to back up his writing, while still keeping the sci-fi horror there. I love it.
  3. A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness. (Amazon) This is the first in the All Souls Trilogy (a colleague let me borrow all three books) and was my favourite of the three. It's a great read, considering how busy I can be and the size of the book I got through it pretty quick, because I couldn't put it down.
  4. The Shock of the Fall – Nathan Filer. (Amazon) A great albeit somewhat harrowing read about a mans spiral into mental illness, it's a wonderfully written book, but because of the realisim and the quality of writing it can be a hard read. In a good way!
  5. I also re-read Good Omens this year, and that is a fantastic book! I recommend it to everyone, now I just need to get my hands on the radio play!


Film 

(I didn't see many new releases this year, but these are the ones that stood out to me)
  1. The Fault in our Stars. Really good adaptation of a great book, I sobbed almost the whole way through. I even paid to see this in the cinema, which considering cinema prices being a total rip off (£8!) is saying a lot.
  2. Captain America: Winter Soldier. I loved this film. Captain America is possibly my least favourite avenger (I'm holding out for Black Widow and Hawkeye films okay) but this was a fantastic film, full of action and launched a massive meme among nerds (Hail Hydra!). Also I'm a little in love with Bucky as Winter.
  3. Guardians of the Galaxy. Sadly just missed this in the cinema and watched it on the plane, but I loved every second of it. Bought the DVD as soon as we got home. It's fun, it's full of feelings and has a rocking soundtrack (I embarassed my sister by dancing in the plane seat), if you like a fun superhero, action or sci fi movie then you'll enjoy this. Give it a shot.
  4. How to Train Your Dragon 2. I watched this on the plane after loving the first film and it was just as fun and feel good a film as the first, maybe more so. Is now a bad time to admit Hiccup is pretty good looking for an animated character?
  5. Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. Just coming in at the end of the year, despite its flaws this was a fantastic ending to a great film series. The battles were epic, the dangers felt real and while the ending had its problems for me I did really love it. When a film that long feels that short you know it was good.


Other

  1. Conventions, especially stewarding at A12! Upgrade for A13 was amazing too. Meeting new friends. Meeting my favourite SPN actor.
  2. Conference in Dubrovnik and winning 2nd Place Young Researcher poster at PhD
  3. New Orleans and Universal Orlando!
  4. Enjoying being single.
  5. IndieMakeupAndMore I discovered so many new and awesome brands through them, they're terrible enablers.


And finally a couple of goals moving forward into 2015:

  1. Try to keep to a consistent thrice weekly posting schedule
  2. Try to post makeup looks at least once a week. I started this blog because of looks and it's kind of fallen off the radar since then, I'd really like to get back into the actual makeup rather than just swatches and such.
  3. No buy. I'm going to aim for 100 days (with exceptions for limited editions and a couple of orders from indie stores which have been closed over the holiday period)
  4. Trying to be more active on twitter and in the chats (I'm @ohtofeelpretty on there). It's hard with work and gym and things, but I'll do my best!


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