being cool...

These were taken last week but only now do I have time to put them up... My life is too busy and not in the good way. Anyway! So I threw this outfit on one morning while rushing to get ready for the day, probably too casual for most places of work but perfectly suitable for the production section where I work. Didn't think I looked all that fresh but I was inundated with compliments (for my hat in particular), my boss told me I had seriously raised the style stakes in the office and one colleague even told me I looked cool... So cool that she sang about it (while in the kitchen-it was kind of epic). Just goes to show the littlest details grab peoples attention. Would I have gotten a single comment if I was sans hat? Who knows? I did feel pretty cool though. And I think it showed. I may have had a bit of a swagger, a wee bit of a strut. Can't be helped really...

Hat: Shutterbug

Jacket: Dunnes

Badge: Etsy

Top: Threadless

Jeans: New Look

Heels: Topshop

Sunglasses: Raybans

cold days & cold nights...

We may not have snow but it is certainly nippy out there! This morning while filling up the car with petrol my hands nearly cracked under the pressure. The sheer coldness. They actually hurt for awhile after... I find when there is no frost or snow you are lulled into a false sense of security that you won't need to cover up completely. Don't fall for the trap like my poor hands did this morning!

I find it is a struggle at times to dress well and dress warm. Layering isn't the best look for me (not good to add bulk to these bosoms) and I don't want to sacrifice either warmth or style. This is merely one of my many attempts. Vests under a lace top, long maxi skirt (like a blanket that you wear) and socks over tights with ankle boots. And then of course the chunkiest coat and scarf I could get my hands on! I do love this coat. Got it back in spring at the Shutterbug Kilo Sale and it is simply the bees knees! It's a lovely casual fit, has beautiful simple details, in great condition and 100% wool. Not too shabby for €30.

How are you guys keeping toasty this winter? Layers? Thermal long johns? Hot whiskeys? Do tell..

Top/Boots: Dunnes

Skirt: Warehouse

Necklace/Coat: Shutterbug

Scarf: River Island

Watch: Citizen

details of an outfit...

Today I am off to Dublin for my boyfriend's Graduation and I am quite excited about it. More excited than I was about my own actually. Mainly because at my graduation I had to wear uncomfortable robes and worry about falling on my ass a lot. For his graduation all I have to do is stand there and look pretty in pictures. Oh, and eat and drink and generally be merry... simple!

Hopefully I'll be able to snag a semi decent picture of the two of us to show off my outfit to you guys, but for now I thought I'd give you all a sneak preview.

Fur: H&M

Coat: My mum's

Dress: Hobbs

Shoes: Ebay

Purse: Shutterbug

bash...

My friend Christina and I went for a ramble down to Kilkenny to have a gawk and wander around The Silver Factory's First Birthday Bash... There was Diet Coke (in metal bottles?) and cake and gift vouchers and tattoos and bindis and black balloons galore! Packed with people even into the later hours when we arrived and filled with stunning Silver Factory pieces! There was such a buzz about the place, people talking and laughing, brilliant music being played and of course there was the continuous and uncontrollable browsing of the fantastic collection. My favourite pieces and still the loose-necked tshirts, which by the way are made of the most super soft fabric imaginable! It goes without saying that I cannot wait to see the A/W 2012 collection. Hopefully it'll be coming out really soon

Also going to the birthday bash was a great excuse to visit Shutterbug, probably my favourite vintage shop in Ireland. I always get a kick out of it when I go in there, filled with sequined EVERYTHING, turquoise rings, silk scarves, Silver Factory tees, beautiful wooly knits, the softest of leather pieces and now the Bonzie collection which is even more beautiful in real life!

Fair play to Cameron for putting the whole thing together and to Blanaid and her gang for helping out. It's always lovely to have something like that to go to on a cold Saturday.

winning...

See! So happy I'm even smiling

Well you'll never guess what happened this week... I've only just gone and won a SILVER FACTORY tshirt!!! Can you smell the excitement? I think so. I could be possibly too excited, is it possible to be too excited?

Anyway, I entered a competition awhile back on a brilliant blog known as the Licentiate and by random, marvelous luck this beautiful skull tshirt suddenly belonged to me. Sarah from the Licentiate confessed she was a little more than tempted to say it got lost in the post. I am so happy she did not.

Cheers for not keeping it to yourself though I can honestly understand why you would.

The great thing about this top (apart from the amazing print) is the sheer size of it. It's HUGE! Now I know you could get smaller ones but why would you. This tshirt demands excess. It demands to be draped over you not stuck to you. It demands to billow in the wind along with your curls (which happened to me already today). It demands to hang elegantly off your shoulders like the work of art that it is.

Plus it's dead comfy when it's big and baggy.

Thank you to the Licentiate for holding the competition, thank you Shutterbug for stocking such beautiful tshirts and thank you Silver Factory for creating them.

Top: Silver Factory (via Shutterbug)

Treggings: Dorothy Perkins

Converse: Littlewoods

Turqouise ring: Shutterbug

spots and bows...

Week two in college and things are going fairly well. I haven't crashed and burned... yet.

But enough about that look at my new BOOTS! Needless to say I love them. From Dunnes would you believe. Again, I am in love. Without sounding very cheesy (ahem!) they go with EVERYTHING! Well not everything but quite a lot, could be because I wear a lot of dark colours but that shouldn't take away from the fact that I find them extremely versatile.

Other recent purchases include my dotey little anchor brooch from Shutterbug, ain't it cute!? It is seriously becoming one of my favourite shops. If only I lived closer... And one final note, this is one of the most comfortable dresses I have ever owned. Love it when things are both practical and pretty.

Jacket: Vintage

Pin: Etsy

Brooch/Turqouise ring: Shutterbug

Dress: River Island

Boots: Dunnes

smooth dizziness...

I said I wanted a massive wooly jumper and I succeeded in getting one. I love it! It is indeed massive on me and I worry at times that I look too shapeless in it. But isn't that the point... Bagginess that hides all lumps and bumps for that comfy/lazy/hip look. It is also nice and warm, not too warm that I can't wear it in August but warm enough that a vest underneath in winter will keep me nice and toasty. Plus aren't the little stitched on pearls so cute! I didn't want an overly fussy jumper but I didn't want a plain one either, a perfect balance.

I also become slightly obsessed with giant rings (as you may have noticed). Have bought two alone in the past week! Am really creating quite a collection. I really think they add an edge to any outfit, even the most basic/average one. So I think they are gonna become something of a staple for me, especially in college. If I can't look awesome at least my fingers will!

Jumper/Two large rings: Shutterbug

Tights: Dunnes

Boots/Shorts: Penneys

a night at shutterbug...

Took a little trip down to Kilkenny last night to visit the newly revamped shop that is Shutterbug. Since the shop opening little over a year ago when it simply dealt with photography and styling it has gone from strength to strength. Christmas time last year it opened it's doors as a vintage shop as well and has become what I can only describe as a cult favourite! 

They do have an online shop but if you ever get a chance to visit the shop I strongly suggest that you do... It has such a relaxed vibe to it, you feel like you can simply try on the clothes (for hours) if you wish and waltz around the shop dressed to the nines! I have a cunning feeling that the owner (Blanaid Hennessey) will dress up with you and pose exquisitely beside you...

Their stock is not only vintage, but quirky, rebellious and at times extravagant... I felt like I was wandering through the wardrobes of adolescent outcasts that created their own world of sequins, silk and faded denim. I can imagine them holding their own heart wrenching plays in the back room and then going out on the town in their costumes to blind and dazzle the locals while sipping on expensive champagne and vodka. 

Truly the wild ones of Kilkenny.

Shutterbug at Christmas...

So Blanaid Hennessy of Blanaid.com is up to it again... Next Saturday she is turning her studio into a festive shop filled with second hand wonders, jewellery by K Kajoux (gorgeous), furniture, portrait vouchers and loads more!

And she asked me to make the poster for it... Feeling very privileged I jumped right on it! And there it is, Aren't I amazing (I kid, I kid). Both her and I wanted it to reflect the studio and I do think it captured it quite well. Thanks Blanaid for letting me create the poster and giving me some exposure...

So if you can pop down to her studio in Kilkenny next Saturday...

Photo shoot...

So here are most of the photos from my photo shoot at the amazing Shutterbug studio with the brilliant brother sister duo of Blanaid (blanaid.com) and Eoin Hennessy. I am delighted with the photos! They came out so well with very little help from me... These two seriously know what they are doing... If you need a photo shoot done give them a shout.

Isn't that tulle skirt just fantastic! Its by the Irish independent fashion label Bonzie. I loved it! It is so beautiful and I felt so extravagant in it... *sigh longingly* Most of the rest of the clothes were my own. I brought up a load of clothes to Blanaid and she went to town with them. Created two great outfits!

Outfit One

Gold Top/ Heels: Blanaid's own

Skirt: Bonzie

Gloves: Vintage, Ebay

Second Outfit

Beret: Haddens, Carlow

Vest/ Leather gloves: Penneys

Feather Collar: Gold

Leather Skirt: Vintage, Wild Child

Heels: Dune, my sisters (sssh!)

If you want to see the rest of that shoot and more of Shutterbug's work then why no click here.

Hope I get to do another one some day...

Me? A model!?

The wonderful Blanaid Hennessy of Blanaid was inspired by an image of Crystal Renn and has hell bent on creating a sexy, vintage style, curvy photo shoot... And I was the lucky girl who was asked to do it. You could say I was excited but that would be an understatement! So in her new (and so cool) photography studio, Shutterbug, I was pampered and plucked and backcombed and put in the most amazing skirt by Blanaid (cannot stress how nice she was and how welcomed she made me feel).

So after she dolled me up like Brigitte Bardot and made me all sexy (at this point I was telling her I can't do sexy) her brother Eoin started shooting me, I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. It was so fun trying to act sexy with Blanaid moving me to get the perfect shot and giving me directions and letting me know about every trick in the book about modeling. Parts were so hard: I don't think I was meant to bend like that! But they were very nice to me and understood that it hurt...

The two looks I was put in was a sexy 1960's style hollywood starlet and then a sexy russian spy! I was told think Brigitte Bardot for my first look and Angelina Jolie for the second. Now, in my head I can only do one sexy look so I have no idea how I looked and if I did a good job at all (though Blanaid told me I was great- to which I told her she was a great liar).

Dying to see the images! And would totally do it again, even though I am no model!