We’ve hit the very tail end of 2017 everyone! And with that I wanted to do a mini retrospective and giveaway to get everyone (hopefully) excited for 2018!

For a personal perspective on 2017… what a wild and crazy year this has been.

• Went to New York City with two amazing friends and have plans to travel together again! (I see you LA – we’re coming for you!)
• Bought our first condo in downtown Toronto!
• Went on an amazing vacation to Indonesia and Australia!
• Ran two half marathons, two 5K and two 10K races. Of which two races were in New York City, USA and the other in Sydney, Australia!

In terms of the blog and YouTube, 2017 has been equally amazing. I love looking at numbers, so here’s a quick snapshot. In 2017, I created:

• 136 videos
• 140 blog posts
• Which equals a grand total of 276 unique content items throughout the year. This equates to brand new viewable content (excluding social) every 1.3 days.

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I don’t have a ton of social data as I don’t really track it, but the 2017bestnine.com web site tells me that I posted 325 photos and received 28, 116 likes on Instagram!

All in all, I’d say that’s pretty impressive considering I work a full time job in the financial industry, exercise near daily and somehow still maintain a social life! As a word of encouragement for those who feel they never have enough time to do what they want to do… you absolutely do! You just have to find a way to make the time. Anything is possible if your drive and passion are strong enough!

Of course, the thing I love most about blogging and YouTube is reading your messages to me. Whether you’re leaving me a comment on YouTube, on my blog or on social media, I can’t even begin to tell me how much that means to me. Interacting with my readers and viewers is my absolute favourite part of this “job” and it’s the thing I look forward to the most whenever I upload new content.

Giveaway Time!

In celebration of the new year, I wanted to do a bit of a declutter and completely empty out the remainder of my “giveaway drawer”. These are all completely unused items that I just don’t have the capacity to review or try out, and, as a result, want to pass them on to one of you. For me it’s a great way to clear out some clutter (and make room for whatever 2018 may bring) as well as give back to my audience and for you guys it’s a great way to win a whole pile of products to try out!

One winner will receive all of the products featured above (except my Pusheen slippers – you definitely cannot have those!). To make it easier, here’s a big long list of what’s in this giveaway:

• Philosophy – The Microdelivery Overnight Anti-Aging Peel
• Estee Lauder – The Pink Lip Set
• it cosmetics – You Sculpted!
• Soap & Glory – Wait On Hand & Foot set
• Pixi – Glow Tonic To-Go
• MAKE UP FOR EVER – Ultra HD Microfinishing Loose Powder
• tarte – Park Ave Princess Amazonian Clay Bronzer
• tarte – Tarteist Pro Glow To Go
• it cosmetics – Bye Bye Pores Pressed in Translucent
• tarte – Rainforest of the Sea Filtered Light Setting Powder
• Wet n Wild – Mega Cushion in Lavender
• Wet n Wild – Mega Cushion in Green
• Wet n Wild – Mega Cushion in Cafe Au Slay!
• Wet n Wild – Mega Cushion in Peach
• tarte – Pearly Girl Vegan Teeth Whitening Pen
• Duo – Brush on Striplash Adhesive in Black
• essence the metal eyeshadow in silver twinkle
• essence the metal eyeshadow in chocolate frosting
• essence the metal eyeshadow in vanilla brilliance
• essence the metal eyeshadow in patina glow
• essence the metal eyeshadow in ballerina glam
• The Body Shop mini body butter in Mango
• The Body Shop mini body butter in British Rose
• Make-Up Designory Lip Gloss in Shine
• tarte – Tarteist Pro Glow Liquid Highlighter in Exposed
• Mally – Perfect Prep Poreless Primer
• Stila – One Step Prime
• Hard Candy eyeshadow palette in Birthday Suit
• Hard Candy eyeshadow palette (type unmarked)
• Hard Candy baked blush trio (mini)
• Too Faced mini Unicorn Tears lipstick
• essence shine shine shine wet look lipgloss in friends of glamour
• Sephora Collection Cream Lip Stain in the shade 01
• tarte – Tarteist Pro Lash Adhesive
• Hard Candy pencil sharpener
• Hard Candy Stroke of Gorgeous Eyeliner in Black (mini)
• Wet n Wild Gel Lip Liner in I Got The Juice
• Wet n Wild Gel Lip Liner in Sand Nudes
• tarte the lip architect lipstick and liner in Muse
• tarte the lip architect lipstick and liner in Sweet Pea
• tarte the lip architect lipstick and liner in Daisy
• tarte the lip architect lipstick and liner in Romantic
• tarte the lip architect lipstick and liner in Cutie Pie
• Hard Candy Sheer Envy Setting Spray
• essence Instant Matt Setting Spray
• essence say no to dull skin colour correcting stick
• essence say no to dark spots colour correcting stick
• Hard Candy Ginormous mascara
• essence Cover Stick in 20 matt sand
• Sephora Collection Fingertip Eyeliner
• Hard Candy Baked Bronzer in Tiki (mini)
• The Body Shop Shea Lip Butter
• Real Techniques Expert Face Brush (travel size)
• Eve Pearl 106 Definer brush
• Eve Pearl 120 Contour/Highlighter Blender brush x2
• Revlon Blending brush
• it cosmetics 8 Wand Ball Powder brush
• it cosmetics 704 Skin-Smoothing Complexion brush
• it cosmetics 7 Complexion Perfection brush
• it cosmetics 5 No-Tug Dual Eyeshadow brush
• Joe Fresh silver bracelet

Phew! That’s a ton of stuff!

Giveaway Rules

• This giveaway is open internationally!
• This giveaway starts on December 29, 2017 and runs for two weeks.
• One winner will receive the prize pack pictured and described above.
• Please be aware that all entries will be double checked to ensure fairness.
• Once the winner has been contacted, they will have 48 hours to provide me with their mailing address. If the winner fails to respond within that time frame, I will pick another winner. (And so on.)
• “Giveaway accounts” will not be considered for this prize. (If you want to know what I mean by that, please click here.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday season and getting to spend it however you want! <3 I’m currently out in Wisconsin with my husband and his side of the family. It snowed all of yesterday and we ended up with a white Christmas after all! (Which was good news because we had left Toronto in a snowstorm, and yet as soon as we crossed the border there was no snow to be seen!)

Best wishes to you and yours!