In Sunday's post I had originally planned to write up a list of my favourite cruelty-free products of this year but it ended up being a reflection on what cruelty-free blogging had become over the past twelve months. I did however make a YouTube video for anyone interested in my favourite beauty brands of the year. However this post isn't going slip that far away from it's original idea where I round-up my other favourites from 2014 in the world of blogs, tv, fashion, food and music.
Fashion wise, I've been making a more conscious effort to buy from independent designers however my graduate budget does mean that I buy only independent if I really adore it and know I couldn't find similar on the high street. My favourite fashion purchases were my cat bag in this outfit photo (which made it's way round blog land) and my dinosaur dress in this post which was the highest quality piece I've bought off Etsy. Then there was also my Marvel skirt (seen above and in this post). I also really liked the Eco-Chic Boutique in Merchant City but I visited recently and it's had a re-brand (and really doesn't feel like the same shop).
Musically I've been to more gigs this year than all previous years combined. I don't have the time to list them all and then put them in some kind of order but if you're a fan (even a semi one) of any of these bands you really should get yourself a long to one of their shows: Limp Bizkit, Jurassic 5, Arliss Nancy, Backstreet Boys, Fall Out Boy and Red City Radio. Remember to check out my music tag for quick gig reviews and my monthly playlists. I also said earlier that I wouldn't be doing a December playlist, but I have put together a 2014 one on Spotify (contains the bands above as well as some Eurovision because why no?).
As with every year that passes I was ate as much food as I could. The stand out new food find for me in 2014 was definitely Foodstory Café in my home city of Aberdeen and the only place I know of in the Granite City which marks out its vegan offerings. And whilst I don't get to eat out in Aberdeen very often every place I did this year is worth a recommendation and makes the 2014 cut. The place my parents took me to in the Aberdeenshire countryside for my birthday, Tiger Lily, was a great little place worth the trip to Oldmeldrum. As was Cup Cafe on Little Belmont Street and Terrior Deli in Cults (mainly for the shop part, the sit-in menu is small), Back in Glasgow Akbar's where I went with my friends for my 24th is definitely worth a shout. I also got to check out the West End version of one of my Glasgow favourites, Bar Soba, and it was still as perfect as the city centre version. And whilst I wouldn't rate the restaurant on a whole highly the best naans I've had this year were at Masala Twist on Byres Road.
Notice how long the food paragraph is compared to the others? And mucho apologies to Dundee as none of the places I ate in your fine city made the cut - better luck next year!
I made a resolution to watch more television this year which I know might sound like a unproductive goal but you can read my resolution post to understand my reasoning. I started the new year still working my way through the Buffy and Angel because even though I knew the bulk of the story there were episodes and storylines I had missed. I also revisited Sex and the City and Sabrina the Teenage Witch for similar reasons. Whereas some currently still-on-air shows I started watching were Orange is the New Black (which I'm up-to-date on) and American Horror Story (which I'm still playing a bit of catch-up on). All these shows were/are fantastic and I'd recommend any one of them and they've all made the cut this year.
And obviously I couldn't round-up 2014 without mentioning which blogs I've been loving this year. For this I'm going to give a shout-out to my friend Charlotte of Colours and Carousels who's blog has went from strength to strength this year and I'm so unbelievably proud of her! I became 'IRL' friends with Charlotte back in 2013 but even if we weren't friends and I was some random reader who she never spoke to I'd still come back post after post. You may also know that London-based blogger Zoe made the decision this year to discontinue her beauty blog The London Lipgloss and launch a new lifestyle blog Zoe London, which has now become one of my daily reads. I'm as always, still a massive fan of A Rosie Outlook which is a natural-sounding personal blog by a girl with her feet firmly on the ground. Some brand new finds for me this year have been Last Year's Girl, Wardrobe Conversations and Pretty Confused. And as always Sugar Puff Fish and Logical Harmony are still the top reads for cruelty-free, natural and indie beauty.
And as for YouTube (2014 was the year of YouTube, let's be real) out of all the vloggers reaching one million subscribers I can't think of anyone who deserves it more than Laci Green.
Because feminism has made great gains these past two years there are now several non-patronising online women's magazines - combining fashion, beauty, sex and topics stereotypically covered by women's magazines but with a whole bunch of sassy thrown in. The Indie Chicks, Hello Giggles and Bustle were where I went to get my fix without being patronised. And non-mainstream news sources that I regularly found myself clicking on were Wings Over Scotland, A Thousand Flowers and National Collective.
And my favourite Facebook pages? Well that's Far Left Buffy and Patronising BT Lady for sure!
Let me know your favourites from 2014!
Morag x
