Well I thought to reminisce on the fabulous blog year that was 2014. Although my personal life had a rather rocky year, the blog is what really kept me focused on what I wanted to do with myself.
Beyoncé dropped her mind-blowingly amazing fourth album, BEYONCÉ, with zero promotion at the very end of 2013. This then influenced me to have a Beyoncé month in January. So every day for two weeks I created Beyoncé-inspired outfits that I felt reflected the songs, attitude and emotions of each song on the album.
In the first few months of 2014, I also posted three of my biggest men’s style pieces on the blog – Steal His Style: Jay Z, Bruno Mars & Macklemore. The Macklemore post ended up being my most popular men’s post this year, and in fact, my most popular fashion post of the year too. Hurray for the guys!
I took part in two blog challenges, the first was the Best of Beauty Blog Challenge by Samantha O’Flanagan of All The Buzz – which was really a fun challenge that created quite a storm on Twitter; and then the Let’s Talk Blog Challenge by Sarah of At the Beauty Desk – which was a really insightful challenge to other bloggers, and of course to myself for all y’all to read.
In April, Killer Fashion was honoured to have been a Finalist for Best Fashion Read in the Littlewoods Ireland & PR Slides BOPS Awards, competing against Angela Scanlon, Evoke.ie, Frillseeker.ie, Image Daily, Help My Style, Her.ie, So Sue Me, Thunder & Threads and Town Mouse Country Mouse. I was just chuffed to be nominated alongside those blogs! I also met my Irish idol on the night, Holly Carpenter (who was a contestant in Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model), which really was a huge highlight for the me.
This year also introduced me to my now favourite Irish online boutique for all things shiny & sparkling, Glitz N Pieces. I was first introduced to the brand by model & blogger Pippa O’Connor on Instagram, and have been ever so hooked since! I also had the pleasure of meeting the girls earlier this winter.
In August & September I became an official blogger for the Dublin Fashion Festival with the Dublin Fashion & Dublin Town teams. This was my first year getting to attend a lot of the fashion events, mingle with designers and make new friends too. I was more than ecstatic to cover events and write ups, I was even featured in The Irish Independent newspaper! I’m still writing for Dublin Fashion as an official blogger, and am really looking forward to the 2015 adventures.
Killer Fashion and I also attended two more blogger meetups this year, the first was by Anita James of Anita’s Beauty Spot in September – which was a fun meetup where I got to make new friends; and the second was #Hallowbloggers by Lainey of Ruby Laine Make-Up – which really had me in a Halloween vibe all week and had me really dressing up! Then in November, I hosted #XmasBlogParty my first meetup with Aoibhe Devlin of The Secret Obsession & Filomena of Enhance What’s Yours. We hosted it in one of my favourite bars, Opium of Wexford Street, and it was a huge success.
In October, I aimed to spread Breast Cancer Awareness for the Irish Cancer Society here in Ireland, but also for awareness worldwide. The Irish Cancer Society is very dear to my heart, as I like to think that with their research my Mam lived for five more years after she was diagnosed, which allowed me to get to spend more time with her and create more memories. That month I posted 31 individual #PinkOfTheDay #POTD products, from fashion to beauty that were all, of course, pink! The stats for Pink October were unbelievable. If you want to donate right now, text PINK to 50300 to donate €4 to the Irish Cancer Society (some network charges may apply additionally).
October also had me attending the Blog Awards Ireland 2014, for which Killer Fashion was a nominee in three categories. And although I didn’t make it to Finalists, I headed to the awards because I had good friends who were finalists…and the biggest surprise of all was my friend Timi Ogunyemi of Picture This winning on the night, and I accepted his award for him! I really loved this part of the night most, because I had continuously told Timi that he will win, and to believe it himself, and then he did!
And then later that month I attended two of the Guinness Amplify gigs, PicStash’s EVOLVE marketing event and Marion Cuddy’s Fashion & Fizz event – where I also met Irish top model Sarah Kennedy, who was a contestant in Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model Cycle 9.
November was a busy month indeed. I first attended Suzanne Jackson’s second book launch event, for So Sue Me “What Happened Next…” This was a great fun event, that seemed very much like a party than an event, and again Suzanne gave me great advice & encouragement. I then attended the OPSH Presents Sex & The City Exposed chat event, which discussed women in today’s society in terms of careers, fashion, men and dating and interlinked with the famous show’s fabulous four. And I also attended the first Irish Bloggers Conference, which was such a great event. Networking, speeches and many words of wisdom, as well as making more friends and lovely goodies to bring home, this was one event I truly enjoyed too and I look forward to the next one.
One of my biggest highlights this year came when I gave my first talk, Killer Fashion For Men for The Attractive Man group. This was one of my most exciting happenings for the blog, especially because it was my first time being a guest speaker and getting to talk about men’s fashion for over 1.5 hours!
Friends can come and they can go. But this year, through events I have come to know which are my besties that’ll stick to me through thick & thin. Along with really great blogger friends, I have also gotten to know a great amount of fabulous new people which really happies me. There are so many of you, so apologies if I don’t list you all!
Alex & Becky – Pink Elephant Blogging
Aoibhe Devlin – The Secret Obsession
Emma Sheehan – Mastering Your Makeup
Filomena Kaguako – Enhance What’s Yours
Lainey Moore – Ruby Laine Make Up
Lisa McLaughlin – Lisa Lists
Lorna Duffy – Fashion Boss
Megan Daly – Blondes Love Cupcakes
Mei Ling – Darling Buds of Mei
Nadine Stephens – The Parma Violet
Timi Ogunyemi – Picture This
Zita Kelly – Zeerailed
And lastly, the top Killer Fashion picks this year include:
- ALDO Shoes – Ciambave Wedge Trainers
- Benefit Cosmetics – Bling Brow & Benefit Boutique Brow Bar
- Glitz N Pieces – Chanel Perfume clutch bag, Shorouk-inspired statement necklace & Exquisite earrings
- Korky’s – black wedges
- Marc Jacobs – Eau So Fresh Daisy
- Michael Kors – Jet Set Travel Wallet
- River Island – faux snakeskin slip ons
- Soho Market NYC – Leather & lace jacket
- Tropical Popical – pink leopard manicure
- Yves Saint Laurent – Fusion Ink Foundation & Rouge Volupté Lipsticks
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 44,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 16 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
The blog itself has had a great turn out this year, as my WordPress report above states. So, I just want to say a massive thank you to all of my visitors from the 138 countries who have stopped by Killer Fashion. I hope you all have a very Happy New Year!
Nirina xx
Killer Fashion 
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Happy new year. Have a fab 2015.
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