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!

Vegan Food Heaven in Barcelona

Hey guys,

I've been so excited to share this post with you because it's all about one of my favourite things, food. And delicious vegan food too!

Now my family and I had been in France for 3 days before my sister and I went to Barcelona for a night. Let me tell you, from my times in Paris and general experience of eating in France, being vegan there is pretty tough. They love their cheese, their meats and you'll find a bit of something animal-based in nearly everything you pick up in a shop or look at on a menu. While I try be plant-based like 99% of the time because that's what I find makes me feel good I don't mind if there's maybe a little bit of milk hidden somewhere in my cereal or bread. France however was another story because save for bread and super oily deep fried chips there wasn't anything nice and nutritious for me to eat. That's why I was super excited to go to Barcelona because after a quick Google search I found loads of cool looking vegetarian and vegan restaurants to go to.

So without further adieu lets get the ball rolling.

Gopal Vegan Deli Shop

This place was seriously the best! They mainly serve 'beef', 'chorizo', 'chicken' sandwiches and burgers with sides like chips, salads or patatas bravas. My sister went for their house 'Gopal Buger' and I went for the 'Chorizo' Sandwich with a side of fries that came with a tasty dipping sauce.

But the best part about this place were hands down the donuts! I wish I had a few more days to try them all because they were seriously good. The first night I had a chocolate and coconut combo which was tasty but the next day, our last day, I went for the Oreo donut which stole 1st prize. They legit taste like regular donuts if not better because they're not as heavy.

CatBar

We went to CatBar for dinner to try out their burgers I had read so much about. So good guys, so good. My sister isn't vegan and she loved them too. 

Boqueria Market

You can find so much good food here so it suits vegans, vegetarians and standard diets alike! We went to one of the many awesome fruit vendors to pick up breakfast. All this gorgeous food for €5!

So yeah Barcelona was great all-round: food, weather, amazing beach, sites and shopping. I'm definitely going to have to go back for longer next time.

Driving Around France

Last week my parents, sister and I went on a trip to the south of France to do a bit of exploring. We rambled around towns around the Mediterranean coast of France right along the coast of Spain. While we didn't get any rain (thankfully!) it was quite windy and chilly so a heavier coat was definitely needed. 

I thought I'd share a few of the photos I took along the way.

First Stop: Collioure

I really liked Collioure with its old town, colourful buildings and blue beach. 

Following any one of the many side streets and archways leads you to stumble upon pretty colourful houses. 

Next Up: Béziers

Béziers turned out to be a quite a nice city with lots of old churches, museums, French history and a gorgeous view.

Canet-en-Roussillon

I think I liked Canet in particular because it was the first warm, sunny day we had had all week. That being said, it was still a lovely seaside town that I'd say is lively during the summer.

I'll cut this post short here for now because it's getting a little lengthly, but more to come!

Let me know where you've been travelling to recently?

Thanks for reading,

Ciara xx

Stressed Out? Go on a Stress Walk

Hey guys!

I've been noticing that I'm getting stressed out or sort of feeling compressed recently what with college work, the daily commute and trying to stay balanced.

One thing that I've been doing to get out of the house, out of my room and away from zoning out to Netflix or YouTube is going out for a walk, or as I've been saying, a stress walk.

The weather now is not majorly cold or rainy so getting out in the fresh air really is great therapy. I prefer going out during the night after my day is over and the evening joggers, dog walkers and playing kids have retired into their homes for the night. There's something so calming about being the only one walking down a street-lamped path breathing in the cold night's air.

Sometimes I listen to music and sometimes I'll take out my earphones and listen to what's happening around me. But more often than not I'll have a podcast on the go to keep me company for an hour or so while I have some me time. As I've said before I'm obsessed with Katie Dalebout and the Wellness Wonderland podcast and I dip into You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes or Food Psych with Christy Harrison. All of these podcasts are so interesting, insightful and entertaining so it's like you're having a nice long conversation with someone while you walk. Or if you want sometimes calling up a friend to go with you can be an awesome way to catch up and put the phones away for a bit.

So yeah going on nice long walks has been my go-to tool for dealing with stress and anxiety at the moment, let me know how some of your own go-to tips and tricks for when you start feeling overwhelmed or like the world is going to come down on you full force!

Becoming A Yoga Warrior

Hey guys,

So as part of my Vision Board goals for March and efforts to make exercise less about punishing my body and more about connecting with my body I've decided to try take up yoga.

I've heard only brilliant things about the benefits of yoga for both body and mind and it seems to help a lot of people I know personally.

I did a quick Google search for a yoga studio in Dublin near enough to where I study at university and came across YogaHub right near Grafton Street. What really drew me to this place was the fact that they described themselves as friendly and welcoming and when I went there today they really were. 

I tried out the beginners 'Flow' class with Katie as the instructor and it was great. Because I come from a history of dancing I really liked the fluidity of the movements however weight training has really tightened up my hips! 

A big thing for me was that I felt comfortable and the class was really non-judgemental and Katie even took note of the newbies and asked us our names. 

They also have a cute cafe called HappyFood which is vegan and filled with delicious meals and treats. I'm definitely going to have to head back and drag my boyfriend to get some yummy brunch.

Over all I had a great experience and I think I'll be trying to get yoga into my week more often.