Winging It West

Once again we have been exploring our little county ! This time Lauren and I plus our fello bloggers Nicola and Donna travelled west to Donegal Town to see Donegal castle. It was a totally spontaneous we just wanted to take advantage of the sunny weather ( its raining here now so thank god we did). It is about 20mins away and is located right in the centre of the town so it was quite easy to get too. It is usually two euro to get into but it was free the day we visited, just luck I guess ? 

We took quite a few photos of our little day so enjoy!

Outside of the castle, kitchen entrance.

Map 

view of the chapel 

Just one of the tapestry's found throughout the castle

high ceilings with beautiful wooden beams  

grand fire place in the main hall

 

Overall it was a really good day, Donegal Town is actually a really nice town to visit on days like this. They have loads of those little nic-nac shops which we love looking around. We each came home with our own little something from the day. It was such an inexpensive day out, we literally just wandered the town, even sitting down by the water for a while. We would definitely recommend for anyone visiting to spend a day, just looking around having an overall really chilled day out. 

L&A

Here is a few more silly photos just for fun !

OOTD | BBQ

Another little outfit of the day for you. Weather has been so good recently (as I have probably mentioned quite a bit) so I have been trying to take complete advantage and wear as much colour and summery clothes as I could for this brief period! 

Trousers - Boohoo.com

Baggy shirt - Primark

I bought these trousers a while back online. I fell in love with them online but when they arrived they were a lot brighter than they had looked on the website, which at the time, I wasn't very happy about. But me being me, I left it too long to return them, however I am so glad I didn't! I really love them now, I felt so summery in this outfit and really loved it.

I wore this outfit to a BBQ and it was perfect because, it was a lot cooler in the evening time so I was still quite summery but managed to keep warm outside! I really love the print of these trousers and the whole bagginess of them. The mixture of colours, leave them really easy to mix and match with different items. I chose to wear these with a bright orange top as that is a colour I am really loving at the minute but they would also be nice with a plain white shirt to sort of tone it down a little bit. 

As the whole outfit was so bright and colour I didn't want to make it too much of an eyesore so I kept my hair and jewellery quite simple. I tied my hair up in just a messy ponytail and wore a simple 3 tiered necklace for Topshop. The blue ring I wore is also from Topshop as well as the spiked ring. The love heart ring, which I mentioned in my OOTD | Summers Here is from River Island. I wore my Maybelline 'Neon Red' lipstick as well, which is more of a deep orange colour and really liked it with the entire outfit.

L&A

A Little Taste of Summer | Update #1

So, as I have wrote about on here before, me Anna and some of our friends are trying our best to make the most of our summer at home. I won't go into too much detail on it again, but for anyone who has no idea what I am talking about, you can read my previous post on here A Little Taste of Summer to get you up to speed.

So this is just a little update on that plan letting you guys know how it is actually going. I have been taking a lot of snaps from any of our days out so this is going to be a very photo-friendly post!

I must say, I have actually been so proud of us which probably sounds a bit odd, but I really am haha! We have actually been doing really well, going on these little day trips and spending next to nothing!

So the first trip was a day out to Glenveagh National Park with my older brother. I haven't been here since I was really young, I barely remembered it so I really wanted to go back. I have been torturing everyone I know since about January so I was so glad to finally get to go! For anyone who doesn't know, it is a really old castle built in the 1800s but it has been modernized quite a bit with different people owning it, most recently was the 1970s. So it is quite recent on the inside, but still really interesting to walk around the gardens themselves are pretty unreal!

We took an actual tour of the castle, tour guide and the works, which I was slightly disappointed with. He showed us the guts of around 5 rooms and the tour took about 25 minutes with the first 10 minutes being an audio visual presentation. We weren't allowed to actually take photos inside the castle, I am not sure why but I did sneak a few to show you. They aren't great quality as I was trying to be as sneaky as I could with the camera!

(From top left) - Screen which was placed in dining room | Amazing wallpaper which was carried through the hallways throughout the entire castle | Painting by AE Russell | Book collection in library which has not been updated since 1930s | Mirror in the dining room | Curtains hanging in the Ensuite of the the master bedroom.

Overall I did really enjoy the day! I loved exploring the gardens and even reading about all the sections and seeing how the castle and gardens has developed over the years and became what it is today from each owner bringing their own ideas to life. Even to walk around the gardens (which is free) and not actually take the castle tour is really interesting in itself.

Just there on Sunday, the weather was pretty unbelievable so we thought it was the perfect day to take advantage and go to the beach. It was a really relaxed day, just sunbathing and walking along the ocean. I absolutely love the beach and love those really chilled days there. I didn't take a lot of photos, so heres just a few that I took.

My friend Nicola, who writes her own blog over on NicNacs

So overall, we have been really enjoying doing these little day trips. It doesn't have to be anything overly exciting or expensive to have a really enjoyable summer. We have been on a few more days out, but we decided to split this in two so Anna's going to write about some of our others days on here so keep an eye out for that ♥

L&A

Over The Years | Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

I have seen this post on a few different blogs, people talking about the careers of some of their favourite models, so I thought I'd add my two pennies worth. I have seen these posts on Cara Delevingne, Kate Moss,etc. so I kind of wanted to do someone different. I don't really have one favourite, I have loads! I love Cara Delevingne, Daisy Lowe, Miranda Kerr, etc,etc,etc....

Out of all the models I love I think it would be Rosie Huntington-Whiteley that I would admire the most.

She was born in Plymouth in 1987 and literally took her career into her own hands. She grew up in a rural area and all she wanted was to have that glamorous, urban lifestyle. She wanted to experience the big city and escape, what she saw as, 'boring' farm life. 

She spent a lot of time in London seeking a contract with any modelling agency she could. It was her persistence that helped her get discovered by Profile Model Management. 

Most models you here about, just happened to be in the right place at the right time and got extremely lucky so I love how Rosie Huntington-Whiteley sought after her own career, knowing what she wanted to do and pursued that until she reached her goal.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley made her first Fashion Week debut in 2004 modelling for British  designer Betty Jackson's Spring/Summer 2005 collection.

It was then in 2005 that she first appeared in international Vogue, Vogue Nippon.

Huntington-Whiteley firstly appeared with Victoria Secret for their PINK collection, in 2006. It was then in 2009, that she officially became a Victoria Secret Angel.

Left - 2006 Victoria Secret 'PINK' collection
Right - 2009 officially a Victoria Secret Angel

After her first appearance on the Victoria Secret catwalk, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's career rocketed. In 2008, she became the face of Burberry after being casted by Christopher Bailey. This has been done by so many substantial models, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Jerry Hall, Agyness Deyn, Jourdan Dunn so I think it is pretty amazing how Whiteley achieved this pretty early on in her career, when she still had that very innocent, fresh-faced look.

It was in 2008, I think Rosie Huntington-Whiteley really became a household name. For anyone, global success is amazing but to be appreciated from home is always going to be a huge, meaningful part of anyones career, especially in the public eye. And for that achievement to be on the cover of British Vogue is pretty amazing.

Pictured alongside Jourdan Dunn and
Eden Clarke as part of a celebration of
British Models.

Alongside being a Victoria Secret Angel, the face of Burberry, on the cover of Vogue, etc. Rosie Huntington Whiteley has been part of various highstreet and beauty brand campaigns, again, internationally. She has appeared in campaigns for Topshop, Abercrombie and Fitch, DKNY, French Connection, Clinique and Ralph Lauren, to name only a few. The fact that she is quite a familiar face on the highstreet, I think, keeps her sort of less alien as maybe some models. She appears as more of a girl-next-door kind of model, with her blonde hair, blue eyed look even though she is insanely gorgeous! I love her full lips and amazing statuesque figure.

She has literally done so much within her career and she is still only 26. I think she really is admirable, coming from a pretty normal lifestyle and working her way to wear she is today.

She's amazing ♥

L&A

OOTD | Summers Here

So glad we are finally getting summery weather and can start wearing shorts,dresses,skirts and all those without having to layer up with tights! This seems to happen every year in Ireland whenever the Leaving Cert starts, so it is unfortunate for those sitting exams, as I very well know (best of luck to everyone!) but it is great for the rest of us who get to take advantage. This is just a post on my outfit for this beautiful day!

Mullet Skirt - Forever 21

White Shirt - Forever 21

Paisley Kimono - Boohoo.com

I love this kimono so much it is definitely one of my favourites from my summer wardrobe! I bought this around August/September last year I think it was, so summer was pretty much over whenever it arrived. It has such lightweight material and sits so loosely, perfect for beach and also for anyone who likes to be slightly more covered up even on days like this as it suits really any shape! I love the bright colours and print of it as well, it really completes the outfit!

Also, some of my accessories for today

Nails - Gosh 'Hot Coral'

Watch - River Island

Bracelets - Pilgrim

Studded Shoes - Primark

Love Heart Ring - River Island (only 2euro)

White Ring - Miss Selfridge

Anyone else taking advantage of the good weather? What's everyones plans, any exciting summer holidays ahead?

L&A

Lipstick Love

I have been shopping around for awhile now for a new lipstick. I love wearing orange shades at the minute and I already have a sort of subtle orange shade which I bought in Topshop 'Ooh La La'

This time I wanted a more vibrant colour. Topshop have so many different oranges, really vibrant colours but I could never bring myself to pick out a favourite in this sort of shade. I recently then picked up this Maybelline lipstick in Boots and I love it!

Although this colour is said to be a red, it really is more of a deep orange. It's just the exact colour I have been looking for. The fact it is a deeper shade of orange than most makes it so suitable to wear even on nights out. I think it is perfect for anyone who loves wearing a red lip but isn't ready to let that ship sail. It is a really fun summer colour, keeping with the bright lip only slightly more subdued and also a warmer shade than bright pinks,etc. 

I am definitely going to be wearing this colour loads throughout summer now. Whats your favourite lip colour to wear this season? Anyone else loving orange lips right now?

L&A