This morning WordPress emailed me with my stats for the year. Turned out I had written 199 posts on 2013. Well we can’t have that! Here is number 200, a semi thought out media based favourites list. The usual disclaimer applies, these are my personal favourites of the year (that I can remember). There is a whole tonne that I haven’t seen – The Selfish Giant, Gravity, Breaking Bad etc etc. Sorry. Hangs head in shame. In no particular order:
Films 
Magic Magic (Sebastian Silva) | Young, naive girl travels to South America and quickly unravels, possibly due to Micheal Cera’s creepy knitwear. Juno Temple is captivating even as an unstable, hysterical tourist.
Good Vibrations (Lisa Barros D’Sa & Glenn Leyburn) | A feel-good film set against the backdrop of the Troubles? That’s punk for you.
Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite) | I love a good, biased, cause documentary to get all het up about. Even better when it’s about my major hate – SeaWorld *boo hiss* Free Tilly!
Filth (Jon S. Baird) | This one is a film that grew on me the more I thought about it. James McAvoy is surprising perfect as the twisted Bruce Robertson.
Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach) | Definitely my favourite of the year. In the same vein as Girls but Frances is a more relatable, likeable character. I love the scene where she spontaneously dances through the streets. Pitch perfect.
TV 
Catfish: The TV Show | I love Catfish! So addictive even though it is ridiculously set up. Spoiler alert – they’re aalll catfish!
Orange is the New Black | Totally binge watched this on Netflix one weekend. The end was so shocking! Can’t wait til it comes back next year.
Trophy Wife | I’ve just started watching this but I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s similar to Modern Family and Suburgatory, the other two sitcoms I’ve been loving this year so thought it was an appropriate choice for this list, it being new and all. I love Bert, he’s so funny.
Girls | Show me a 20-something woman who doesn’t love Girls and I’ll show you someone who hasn’t seen it. I joke, I realise it is quite a Marmite show but on this occasion I’m all for it. And yes, I bought the Patrick Wilson storyline, I’m all for any storyline that involves a naked Patrick Wilson.
Penguins: Spy in the Huddle | EEEE! Penguins! Filmmaking technology! Baby penguins! No one does wildlife documentaries like the BBC. This one was beyond comparison. When Dolphins: Spy in the Pod starts on January 2nd I may spontaneously combust. Just a warning for you there.
What were your favourite films and TV shows of 2013? Tell me all the ones I missed.
Boom! Look at these lovelies.
*Not even a bit sorry for my stupid face in the mirror* No prizes for guessing my favourite colour palette for 2013. Rooossseee Goooolllldd foreverrrrr! Did a little dance of joy when I got my hands on the Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette. Also loving the Maybelline Colour Tattoo range, the cream eyeshadows and the loose pigments. Left to right: Eternal Gold; Pink Gold; On & On Bronze; Breaking Bronze; Downtown Brown.
Miracles happened in summer when I found a bronzer that I liked and could actually wear – lightly of course. The Body Shop’s Honey Bronze Bronzer in shade 01 is my favourite (and only) bronzer.
Fave lip colours were without a doubt the Bourjois Color Boost Lip Crayons. Top to bottom: Peach on the Beach; Fuchsia Libre; Plum Russian; Red Island.
I finally invested in some decent makeup brushes – the unbeatable (according to many) Real Techniques. Top to bottom: Expert Face Brush, Blush Brush; Buffing Brush; Stippling Brush; Deluxe Crease Brush; Brow Brush.
And on to nails. Blues and greens have been my favourite this year. I’m really liking Pantone’s Colour of the Year for 2014, Radiant Orchid, so perhaps next year will see more pinky-purply tones sneak in.
Barry M Gellys were by far my favourite nail polish range and the colours went from strength to strength this year. Left to right: Lychee; Guava; Prickly Pear.
And the award for cutest bottle goes to…Topshop! With a great colour range, high shine and easy application these little bottles are a winner. Left to right: AWOL; Spilled Milk; Flamingo Coral.
Bourjois’ 1 Seconde Gel nail polish is something pretty special. Just try the brush, you’ll be hooked! Left to right: Blue No Blues; Green Fizz; Turquoise Block.
Lots of brands did textured nail polish this year but my favourite was Barry M’s due to its range of colours – pastel for spring, sparkles for autumn. Plus it retained its affordability. Perfect. Left to right: Princess; Countess; Atlantic Road.
A new addition but I was so pleasantly surprised by Maybelline’s Brocade range that they shot to the top of my favourites. Left to right: Foil Flash; Knitted Gold; Rosy Rosettes.
The week between Christmas and New Year is always one for reflection. The excitement of looking forward to Christmas is over, but it’s not quite time to start you New Years resolutions yet, so we look back on the year just been. One of the things I wanted to do this year was get back into reading more and I set myself the challenge on Goodreads of reading 20 books. I managed 17, which I’m pleased about, it’s a lot closer than I had expected. Next year I will set 20 again and hopefully this time make it. I also started writing more reviews and even did a couple of posts for Bloggers Bookshelf, a site that I personally love.
