Did you guys know that today marks two years since I launched my blog; Grandermarnier? Yep, that’s right, 730 days of blogging – and counting! I have loved the past two years, writing this blog has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. This blog was my way of writing about my two passions in like; veganism and fashion, and since 2017, I’ve done just that! Since launching Grandermarnier I have written blogs on vegan fashion trends, new brands, industry news, interviews and sustainability, and this blog here makes my 70th one so far!

Sharing information about vegan fashion is something I feel really strongly about and being able to help people move away from animal products is why I started this blog in the first place. So far I’ve been able to reach 4256 people with my website, that really makes me so happy – this is more than I could have hoped for when I came up with the idea of this blog!

To celebrate today, here is a look back at some of my highlights of the past two years…

My most popular blog post

“The search for the perfect winter coat” - You guys must have really found this one useful, as it’s been the most popular blog post that I’ve written so far according to my analytics! Maybe I should do another one for summer?

2 Fashion Revolution Weeks

I’ve taken part in two Fashion Revolution Week campaigns and shared my journey with you each step of the way. In 2017 I also took part in the 6 Items Challenge, where I only wore 6 items of clothing for 6 weeks to raise money and awareness for Labour Behind the Label.

Animal Rights March

Marching in the official animal rights march 2018 in London is definitely one of the best things I have ever done – and having my vegan friend The Golden Grenadine marching next to me made it even more special! Get you a friend who will go on protests with you – trust me, in the days I foresee ahead, we’re all gonna need one! Are you going to the march this year?

Brand reviews

8 dedicated brand reviews so far! Grandermarnier brand reviews are my way of showcasing the work of vegan fashion designers from across the world and helping them get the credit they deserve for creating amazing cruelty-free fashion! Each one has given me a better understanding of the market and helping me become more of an expert on the subject of vegan fashion – and I love passing that information on to you guys to help you make more informed purchases. As a new feature for 2019, I started writing my Brand of the Month blog posts and I’ll be adding these to my brand list as I go.

GM interviews

This has been one of my favourite types of blog posts that I’ve done, and I only started doing these in 2019! Interviews with people from the vegan fashion community, including influencers, designers and bloggers, has been such a great opportunity to network with these fabulous women (and hopefully soon some men too!) and strengthen the image of vegan fashion. If you work in vegan fashion and would like to be interviewed for the blog, give me a shout! Check out my latest one with Helen Farr-Leander, founder of Watson & Wolfe.

What I’ve learnt along the way:

· My favourite part of blogging is definitely the research stage. I love discovering new brands, innovative materials and industry development in vegan fashion.

· I wish I was better at content creating for social media – I’m working on it.

· Meeting new people through vegan fashion has been the unexpected bonus of blogging. I’ve loved going to Bare Fashion, being part of great engagement groups, talking to people on Instagram and, most recently, meeting up with some amazing girls at Unity Diner in London.

· I’ve realised that most people still don’t know what counts as vegan fashion so I think more education is needed and that’s what I’m excited for…

· I spend way too much time on my blogs perfecting them until I’ve checked them through 27 times.

· Writing this blog has helped me develop as a human and spread my little voice in a big world. Would recommend blogging to everyone!

What’s next for Grandermarnier?

I’ll be looking more into material choices for vegan fashion, and the environmental impacts of our clothing, I think this will help people get a better idea about how vegan fashion can help them reduce their carbon footprint. I also want to help you to pick out vegan clothes easier, so I’ll be doing more fashion/styling-focussed posts to help you veganize your outfits. I’m so excited to get stuck into my third year of blogging!

Finally, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading (whoever you are) and for coming on this journey with me – it’s great to have you here :)

Oh, and since you’re here I might as well ask a cheeky favour of you, Viva are asking people to nominate their favourite vegan blogger and it would be so cool to just be nominated for this! If you have 2 minutes, please could you vote for me on this link here: Viva Awards – you’ll just need to put your email in the top box and then write ‘Grandermarnier’ in the vegan blogger box. Thank you!

Here’s to the last two years – and all the years to come :) - Grandermarnier x