Rounding up the Festive Fast Five of 2018 on the last day of year. This one starts with a random crossing of paths that lead me to following one of my favourite accounts of the year. I love how life, chance meetings and fate works out sometimes.
I was out celebrating one of my dear friend’s 40th birthdays last year when my bestie and I randomly sparked a hilarious long conversation with a girl in toilets … as you do. She was on her last night out in Edinburgh before moving to a new job in London the next day. Fast forward some great chat, laughter and us trying to pretend we were wait staff before being told off by the real wait staff, we said goodbye to our new friend like an old friend and wished her all the luck in the world for her new journey.
We suspected she wouldn’t need our luck and we were right. By chance the next day, as I nursed a monumental hangover, I was flicking through Instagram and came across a post from someone leaving Edinburgh to start her new job and life in London …. this was the same awesome person from last night. This was the gorgeous freelance travel writer Caoilfhionn Maguire (Instagram: @CaoilfhionnRose).
This year Caoilfhionn returned to Edinburgh and remains to be one of my accounts of the year. Today I am delighted to have her closing the Festive Fast Five for 2018.
What is your top well-being tip from 2018 and what is your top beauty tip to keep that glow this festive season?? Listen to your body. Last year I burnt out – I thought this was a myth made up by people who couldn’t keep up the pace! So this year I really listened to what my body was telling me, whether it was tiredness or anxiety sickness, and I feel more accomplished and stronger for doing it! I have become obsessed with the Body Shop’s Oils of Life face oil – a new product from their premium range – and it keeps my skin glowing even after a heavy night of red wine 😉
What/who has been your favourite social media account to follow this year? My favourite account has to be LiChi Pan. I started following her at the start of the year and I am just so inspired by her creativity. She really takes Instagramming to the next level by incorporating her design experience into her images. I interviewed her for House of Coco as she was our cover star of the Food Issue – she is 26, has a full-time job at a creative agency in Sydney and just finished her architecture degree last year. She also has over 550K followers on Instagram – side hustle personified!
Five products that I could not live without or Five handbag must haves …. It’s not as much products as things for me. So if I can twist the question; my camera, Glossier Boy Brow, my passport (how would I travel?), Skyscanner and House of Coco!
What is your best bit of 2018 and what are you looking forward to most in 2019? It’s so hard to choose just one thing, but what’s definitely up there is being one of the first people in the world to experience Bawah Island. It’s a private Island in the Anambas, Indonesia and I travelled there in August with my girlfriend for a press trip. I have never been anywhere quite like it. Luxury was at the core of the entire experience, however they were more forward thinking than any hospitality brand I’ve ever experienced. There was no plastic, the coral was protected for miles around thanks to the owners, they managed to incite behavioural change among some Indonesian dynamite fishers by training them to becoming coral farmers and offering them university education in marine biology and coral protection. There can only be 75 residents on the island at any one time and the owners say that it will remain that way so that all guests feel like they have their own little slice of paradise. It was truly breathtaking. My new year’s resolution for 2019 is to see my family more often!
This year I have tried to live a little greener by ….. Researching hotels that I’m going to stay in to ensure that they’re actively trying to be greener by reducing single-use plastic in their properties, not churning out mounds of laundry on a daily basis and using sustainable energy systems.
Thank You Caoilfhionn!
