London in Outfits & Building Self-Confidence

Hi guys! So if you didn't know I was in London a little while ago for a quick visit with my boyfriend. If you want to read more about all the fun we got up to then you can check out my Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 posts.

Today I thought I'd share with you a couple of the outfits I wore out to dinner while we were in London. Now if you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know that I'm no fashion blogger. I'm never 100% put together with the perfect hair, make-up and a cute outfit. I hardly wear make-up as is! But I thought London would be the perfect place to do a bit of dressing up and show some self-confidence.

Self-confidence: Feeling Good In Your Own Skin

Hello everyone :)


As you may know, just like any other normal person, I struggle on a day-to-day basis with body positivity and self-confidence. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and the world is my oyster and I'm feeling great. But then other days, sometimes more often than I'd like, I wake up and suddenly I feel like my clothes don't fit as well, my skin is too red and puffy and I'm in desperate need of a duvet day.

Now we'd all love to be able to stay in bed and watch Netflix and drink tea all day when we're feeling rough but with life, college and work we all don't have that luxury. I've struggled a lot with these kinds of days, especially after nights when I've binged or overeaten but I'm slowly starting to come up with a few strategies to make me feel good on the outside so I can shine on the inside.

Obviously we all know self-love and body acceptance are the best ways to have good body image days all the time and that when we truly love our bodies we can reach levels of self-confidence we've never had before. However even for people without body image problems or disordered eating habits self-love and body acceptance is a hell of a lot to ask.

That's why I'm here to give you some tips on how to make yourself feel a bit better on the outside whilst you're doing the work to love yourself on the inside too.

A little bit of make-up can do a lot of good

I used to think wearing make-up was a bit like lying to yourself or covering up your insecurities. I felt that if I wore make-up I was somehow self-obsessed and superficial. But now I couldn't feel any more different. Now I'm by no means a 'beauty' professional, you won't find me sporting a perfect cat eye fleek or a smouldering smokey eye any time soon. I started off just wearing a tinted SPF with some mascara just to balance out my redness but now I've moved into dabbing on some concealer and highlighter to give my skin a glowy complexion. I know it may seem like a trivial but these little changes have helped a lot whenever I catch myself in a mirror. 

I went to get my make-up done for the Trinity Ball a week ago and picked up the Estée Lauder Double-wear concealer and their lip liner in which happens to match my lip colour perfectly so it's great for a causal look. 

Fab hair don't care

There's something about a freshly blown out mane that can give you a bit of sass in your step. Again, not really my strong area but I'm working on it. So far fishtail plaits are my forté and my blow drying technique is slowly but surely improving. Next on my to-buy list is a good curling iron so I can add to my naturally waving hair. 

Spritz it up

While I love a waft of perfume throughout the day I always, I mean always, forget to put on perfume before I leave the house. However in special circumstances like these kinds of days I make an extra effort to spray my favourite scent. A few of my personal favs are Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck and La Prairie Midnight. 

Energise your inside

Rather than trying to cheer myself up with food I like to give myself a boost with a nice refreshing drink. Iced water with lots of lemon works wonders for me and gives my skin, energy levels and digestive system a well needed reboot. Cute glass jar is optional ;)

Wear clothes you both look and FEEL good in

All of us girls know how uncomfortable ultra skinny jeans can feel especially while we're PMSing or feeling bloated. Whenever I've had a bad night and my stomach is uncomfortable I don't particularly love the idea of a tight waistband digging into my stomach so I like to have a back up outfit on hand that I know I'll look and feel good in, even when I'm having a bad body image day. A usual go-to for me are some boyfriend fit jeans, a soft cosy jumper and a pair of comfy trainers. Nothing too fancy, an outfit that will boost my self-confidence and won't leave me pulling at my clothes all day.

So yeah those are a few things I've been doing to help me with my confidence levels and I'm sure I'll be able to add to the list as time goes on. Let me know if they are of some help and I'd love to know what some of your go-to feel happy tips are. Let me know in the comments!

Trinity Ball 2016

Hey guys,

So last night I went to the 2016 Trinity Ball and it was so much fun. I'm not the biggest festival or concert person so I was a little bit hesitant about going until I found out the Kooks were playing. They ended up being amazing live which made the night worth it!

 For my outfit I wore a dress from Lipsy that I got on ASOS and some New Look shoes. Also since I'm not the best at hair and make-up I got my make-up done at Estée Lauder and my hair blow dried so safe to say I was feeling nicely glammed up.

I thought I'd share a few snaps we managed to take during the night.

Some tips if you are going to go to Trinity Ball:

1) Bring flats! Cobble stones, alcohol, and mud do not make for a great heel situation. 

2) Wear a short dress or make sure you can tie up your long skirt. I brought a bobbin to bunch up my dress and make it midi length. 

3) Wear a coat. The last act for Trinity Ball goes on around 4am so during the night it will get really cold and you don't want to be freezing. 

4) No one cares what you look like once you're in. Get a nice photo with your heels on before you go in but after that pretty much anything goes. Wear flats, a scarf, a coat, anything!

5) If possible opt for a dress with no sleeves or thin straps just so you can dance freely without your arms being restricted. 

So yeah I just wanted to do a quick post about my night. Over all I had a great time at Trinity Ball and it was loads of fun. We were so lucky it didn't rain!

College Ball Outfit

Hello everyone,

Another quick post of the outfit I wore to my college ball a few months ago. I just want proof on the internet that from time to time I actually dress up, wear make-up and do my hair.

I went to Inglot to get my make-up done and they did an unreal job. I told her to that I don't exactly wear really heavy make-up so she kept it relatively light and it managed to hold up after a few hours of dancing and a bit of rain.

Dress: Missguided (Similar)

Living Consciously

Today I'm going to talk about something that's been on my mind the last few months and something I'm particualrly inspired by. Ethical living, ethical consumption and primarily ethical fashion.

In a time so advanced and educated as the twenty first century it's mind boggling how much inequity, injustice and mistreatment that is excepted, ignored and allowed to continue in society.

Unfortunately we live in a society that loves things, that loves shopping, that loves newness and most importantly that loves low prices. We walk a shop pick up a product and make a judgement on its quality and worth based on price. With no consideration for the human investment, ethics or circumstances in which this product has came to be.

Price is king in the common shopper's mind. We, and I say 'we' because I'm guilty of this too, have become accustomed to paying bargain bag prices without thinking of the individuals behind the scenes in dangerous, crippling circumstances who are paying the consequences.

And thing thing that gets me is that many of us, in fact the majority of us, are completely unaware of the consequences of our shopping habits. You walk into a popular high street clothing store and pick up one of the millions of 'new season' cotton-polyester blend 'must have', 'perfect addition to you Fall closet' festive jumpers on sale for the bargain price of €20. You think 'Oh wow, what a great deal! I already bought last season's must have jumper but sure it's only €20 I might as well.' But what you aren't aware of is the crippling conditions that person (often a young women) who made that jumper is working under. Or the brand that sells you the 'perfect', 'bum friendly' jeans may be contributing to a flowing denim blue dyed river, its ecosystem completely destroyed.

A while ago I read a book called 'To Die For' by journalist Lucy Siegle about the inhuman, unethical nature of the fashion industry. It was eye opening and sparked an interest. I was more aware of the consequences of my shopping and was no longer fooled by  I'd recommend anyone who considers themselves a 'shopaholic' to give it a read.

I recently watched 'The True Cost', a brilliant documentary on Netflix directed by Andrew Morgan featuring interviews with Executive Producers Lucy Siegle herself and Livia Firth Creative Director of Eco-Age and founder of People Tree, Safia Minney. It touched on the same topics as 'To Die For' and followed the lives of garment workers. 

These pieces of work have inspired me to begin doing a bit of research on a few clothing companies and organisations who have ethics and true value at the heart of their operations. I'm far from educated on these topics and want to learn more and hopefully make a difference. I want to be part of the movement that challenges the current high street business model and raises awareness so that the general public sees the error of their ways.

This way of producing and consuming 'things' has to stop. We have to collectively close the cycle. We have to work harder to free the makers of our clothes, of our things, the producers of our food from the price cutting trap. I want to make a difference by living consciously. 

A few other sources I've been using are: Re-dress, Eco-Age, Clean Clothes Campaign  and Ethical Fashion Forum. 

And three clothing brands I've found: People Tree, Braintree and Reformation.

Quick Christening Outfit!

One evening I was coming home from town on the bus with my boyfriend when he casually let me know I was invited to his niece's christening. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to be invited but the fact that he only gave me 4 days notice wasn't the best!


It took my mom and I two days until we finally found a dress that didn't make me look like either a granny or a stuffed sausage. I wanted a simple, timeless dress that wasn't too showy for church but then again wasn't completely nun-like and I finally happened upon one in Karen Millen. I'd never shopped there before but they actually had two dresses that I liked which was certainly saying something because we'd looked in about 15 places plus two department stores without finding a single thing!

Since I usually don't wear any make-up and left what little I had back at uni I also had to borrow some from my friend. (No joke I now have a little Tupperware container of foundation) 

But I think I managed to scrub up well in the end.

Dress: Karen Millen

Bag and Shoes- River Island

Bracelets- Alex and Ani

Sorry for the terrible photo quality, these were quickly snapped by my mom on her phone and also the only photos taken.

Anyways I'd better get back to packing since I'm leaving to go back to uni this evening.

Thanks for reading,

Ciara xx

Read With Me

Hello lovelies!

When I was younger I was a serious book worm, I'd read through a book in a day and excitedly start onto another. I remember getting 14 books for Christmas one year! However in the past couple of years I find I just haven't been reading as much, either I'm too tired, busy with work or would rather relax and watch a movie. But that stops here. A late New Years resolution to read more.

My aim is to get through one book a month which I think is pretty achievable especially since I have my Kindle so I can pretty much read on the go without having to trek a book around with me. 

To start myself off I thought I'd get myself back into in books by looking through some of my favourite books and a few interesting 'fashiony' ones I love to flick through with lots of photographs.

Jane Austen's Persuasion is one of my all time favourite Austen books. It's about a woman named Anne Elliot who was once persuaded not to marry the love of her life Captain Wentworth. Her love for him is again rekindled when she meets him again through his sister and there are loads of events that happen through out the book that make you want to root for team Elliot-Wentworth. If you love this book then try out Emma. 

I'm currently reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and am so engrossed by it. I started it on my journey back home to Ireland from uni and the way the story line is mysteriously unfolding makes me so curious I can't stop reading.

If you want a heavy duty highly detailed account of fashion's life cycle Fashion since 1900 by Valerie Mendes is the one for you. I must admit it did take me a while to get through it but I found it highly interesting and if you really want to get into the knitty gritty of things give it a try.

Vogue: The Covers is a collection of all the beautiful magazine covers over 120 years and a great coffee table book to flick through.

If you want an easy read Alexa Ching's IT is short but a tells some funny/awkward story's of the 'it; girl's growing up. 

Another light but interesting read is Fashion That Changed The World by Jennifer Croll and gives a general overview of the evolution of the world of fashion through the ages accompanied by some great photos.

My 'to read' list if forever growing but I'm so excited to get my brain working again and embrace my inner book worm :) If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for reading,

Ciara xx

All Saints Sale Shopping

Hello lovelies!


For the longest time I've longed for and lusted after All Saints pieces but being the student that I am could never afford anything. That was until I was walking past the All Saints in Dublin and they were having a 20% off promotion on all stock, including the sale! 


I wanted to find something I could get a lot of wear out of and that wouldn't date so when I spotted this jumper on the rails it was only a matter of time before I was walking out the doors shopping bag in tow. How could I resist when I got it for nearly 50% off?

Jumper-All Saints (similar)

Jeans- River Island (similar)

Bracelets- Alex and Ani

Necklace- Bianca Jones

Hope your 2015 is getting off to a great start!

Thanks for reading,

Ciara xx

Fooding it Up in San Francisco

Hello lovelies

So as promised I'm coming back with an ultra foodie post for yous all so make sure you've had a snack because after reading this you're bound to have the nibbles.

When my sister and I found out we were going to be heading across the pond to the USA there was only one clear though in our minds and that was, IHOP. Not the Golden Gate Bridge, not The SF Ballet, nothing fancy or cultured at all but just pancakes. We even looked up the menu and had decided what we were having before we left.... So it was of the utmost importance that we went to IHOP to satisfy our need for classic chain restaurant American food.

But we weren't disappointed let me tell you that. I had strawberry and she had chocolate. We went half and half and it was a match made in heaven.

The next stop on our foodie agenda was an ice cream place in Berkeley where my older sister went on her J1 last year. We were going to head up that direction anyways to see where she was living last summer so why not fit in a few snack stops too? :)

Cream is the name of this cookie/ice cream emporium where you can have an ice cream of your choice snadwiched between two delicious soft and thick cookies. Eimear went for mint chocolate chip ice cream with a double chocolate chip cookie and then a chocolate chip and caramel cookie.

After walking about Berkeley for a bit and taking in the sights, the dollar store, people talking to themselves and a good vegetarian restaurant, it was time to visit the University of California, Berkeley which is rated one of the top 10 universities in the US. 

It just so happened that we passed by Sheng Kee's, a really nice Asian bakery on the way that Claire liked to visit last year so I mean how could we not stop by and pick up something?

Then is was finally time for a walk about Berkeley Uni and I can see why college is so expensive in America. This place is huge! Speckled in green areas and huge trees the campus was crawling in people milling about on the grass enjoying the sun. 

 Top- Topshop

Shorts- River Island

Shoes- Toms

Sunglasses- Burberry

Jumper- Topshop

A real T-Rex skeleton just chillin outside the library. No big deal ;)

And is if we hadn't eaten enough food already we had to make one more stop. A stop I was particularly excited about as it included frozen yogurt. Frozen yogurt from Yogurt Park.

Look so good right? Tastes even better!

If you're not hungry by now I give you props. If you are hungry I give you permission to go get a snack :)

Thanks for reading,

Ciara xx