I feel like every year my blog ages, I have so much more to talk about when it comes to progress and growth. I once felt like my blog was so minuscule and my photos would forever be taken on my iPhone 5s but no, it's changed completely. My layout has completely changed as is so much more professional looking and I'm proud to now talk about my blog to others outside the bloggersphere. I'm so much happier focusing my content on beauty and lifestyle when this space was originally here for fashion posts, but I didn't realise at the time how much I loved makeup and try new things out. Here is my round of my favourite posts since February 2016 and what I'm looking forward to after my blog's third birthday.
 

Beauty


I've had some amazing collabs in the past year when it comes to beauty. First in mind is Urban Decay when I started reviewing palettes such as the Full Spectrum Palette, the Blackmail Vice Lipstick Palette and the Naked Ultimate Basics Palette. As time went on I review their Halloween Party Kit, the All Nighter Foundation and the Naked Skin Color Color Correcting Fluids. Urban Decay are a brand that instantly makes you think eccentric and exciting, so it's been a pleasure working with them.

I never thought I would have the chance to work with YSL and although it's still a relatively new thing I've been loving their products such as the Black Opium & Black Opium Nuit Blanche fragrances and the Touche Éclat Le Teint Foundation. They're a brand I've admired since I was young and I'm so thankful for the opportunity. Another high-end brand is Lancôme, where I've reviewed two products of theirs; the Grandiose Liner and the Juicy Shakers, both of which I'm using regularly and are so worth the money.

L'Oréal Paris has been another brand that has been brilliant to work with, who create classic products such as the new False Lash Superstar X Fiber Mascara. In terms of different types of beauty collaborations, my Getting Festival Ready with L'Oréal was a breath of fresh air when it comes to blogging and it was amazing to take the items with me to V Festival. Another brand under the L'Oréal branch is Garnier who have really changed skincare for me. Their Pure Active Range has prevented me breaking out more which gave me a huge boost in confidence.

I 've reviewed amazing makeup and fragrances from Fragrance Direct such as Nars, Mac, Bobbi Brown and Marc Jacobs which was a fabulous way for me to delve into these brands by choosing products I had never used before, especially Bobbi Brown who I had never tried before. I also wrote some feature posts such as Glam Glow Gift Sexy Set, Debenhams Festive Hamper, Autumn Makeup with Boots, Kiehl's x MTVSAF, John Lewis & Charlotte Tilbury, TH Baker Does Pandora, Illamasqua Metamorph Range and Maybelline Brow Drama Pomade Crayons.


Lifestyle


As I've switched from more fashion orientated posts to more lifestyle posts, I've explored a ton of new things. Restaurant reviews started for me after my blog turned two and although it did give me anxiety since I've never been great in such public places, it helped me try out new places such as Yard & Coop, Crust and Jamie's Italian. Wth three restaurants in the bag, I'm hoping to try out some others along with reviewing hotel stays or days out, not only to collaborate with companies but to see if broadening my horizon makes me realise that the same is not always the best choice. 

Another achievement is that I'm nearly celebrating a full year working with Degustabox which has been very different to my previous product reviews. With new items each month, it's changed my food routine and encouraged me to get back into the kitchen more. Subscription boxes can be quite hit and miss, but with Degustabox they give you full sized items to really try out and review the items.



Blogging


Starting off with the biggest milestone in the last year, I surpassed 30,000 followers which was mind-blowing. Followers isn't everything but it did make me smile when I was updating the Work With Me page for brands/prs to look at, or for other bloggers curiosity. Something else that made me happy is that I created my Blogs I'm Loving Right Now series which displays a list each month with twelve blogs that I'm enjoying reading on. Every post in the series has different people featured with links to their blogs to encourage readers to have a look and so far it's gone down really well.

I've created more tips posts for other bloggers such as Pinterest Tips, A Basic Guide To Working With Bloggers, How To Find Blogging Opportunities, How To Promote Your Blog Posts, How To Create A Successful Blog Post, How I Take My Blog Photos and Why Blogging Enhances Your CV which have all taken ages to write but have had mostly positive responses from. In the future, I plan to write SEO posts but I feel this blog still needs to grow before I can give that advice to others. I'd also love to write an Instagram tips style post but feel I need to still learn myself before dishing tips out.

I really feel like my photography has improved, especially in posts such as the Anastasia Beverly Hills Ultimate Glow Kit Review, my Colourpop Haul and my Huge American Makeup Haul. Getting a new camera at the end of 2015 completely switched up my photography game, and although I'm still learning I'm quite confident that I take good photos now. Learning features such as how to alter the aperture, using the touch focus on the screen and making the most out of lighting has made the biggest difference and hopefully in the next year I can upgrade my lens to get even better photos.

And finally, I've really gotten into creating YouTube videos with my boyfriend Andy. We don't do sit down videos as that's 'not our vibe' and we're keen explorers, so we vlog our trips out, such as our UK Travel Vlog and the LA Vlog. Obviously they're completely different in nature as walking around Hollywood isn't the same as walking down Oxford Street but you get the picture. Fingers crossed we have some great content to feature within the next year!


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