Friday 24 July 2015

My Mac Lipstick Collection


Hello everyone! Apologies for the hiatus in posting, my life has been extremely busy between studying for the driver theory test (I passed!), working (yes that happened too!), babysitting my niece and visiting my dad in hospital and honestly, I've drawn blank for ideas for the blog. But I'm back and (hopefully) better than ever!

Every makeup lover has a piece of makeup they're partial to, whether they like it or not. Mine is a good lipstick. My weakness in particular is Mac's range of lipsticks! My love affair with Mac is so prominent in my life that I did a project on the company for my French lectures this year (86% holla!!!!) I have been obsessed ever since I got my first Mac lipstick a couple of years ago and now I make it a mission to buy a new one if I'm ever near a store that sells them. Unlike bigger makeup lovers, my collection is small in comparison but I love them all equally.

Sunday 5 July 2015

June Favourites



Hello everyone! Can you believe we're already halfway through the year? Feels like only yesterday we were stuck in the cold dark month of January and now here we are in July. To mark a new month I've decided to hop on the bandwagon of every other blogger out there, with a list of my June favourites. Who knows, maybe I'll do more of these in the future too!


GARNIER PURE ACTIVE BB CREAM
This month I've really gotten into wearing BB cream instead of a full face of foundation/concealer/powder due to the warm weather. I had heard so much about Garnier's BB creams so I decided to buy it and try it out. Needless to say, I was impressed. There's a lovely fruity smell off it and the coverage is good when you're not bothered about throwing on a pile of makeup! It includes SPF15 which is always necessary during the summer months. According to the packaging, the BB cream hydrates, evens skin tone, mattifies, covers redness and is anti-blackheads. Although I think this BB cream is great, it doesn't seem that good for mattifying as my face always feels quite shiny after using it. On the other hand, it covers my very red cheeks very well so I can forgive the shine. I will definitely be purchasing this BB cream again!

MAC MEHR LIPSTICK
I've already raved about this lipstick in my last post here but I feel like I should mention it in here, it deserves a place in my favourites! I find myself reaching for this colour now whenever I want to throw on a bit of colour on my lips and why not? If I'm completely honest, it makes me feel a bit like a Kardashian whenever I wear it, and really, who doesn't want to feel as fabulous as a Kardashian sometimes? This lipstick is the matte formula, which is my favourite formula because of the staying power of it. It's a gorgeous dark, dirty pink (as I described in the last post) and it's so versatile, I feel like it could be worn with a casual every day outfit or an outfit for a night on the town. I would recommend this lipstick to any avid Mac fan.

YES PLEASE BY AMY POEHLER
I used to be an avid reader back before technology took my life a few years ago. Now, not so much. Hell, it takes a lot of effort for me to even read a few pages of one book due to my short attention span. I'm lucky if I even read one book a year now. Sad, but sometimes the truth hurts. Amy Poehler's book however, is a breath of fresh air to my collection of unread books. You may know Amy Poehler from Parks and Recreation (if not, you must give that show a try. Perfect comedy.) or as Regina's "Cool Mom" in Mean Girls. If you like her, no doubt you'll like Yes Please! I purchased the book in my local book shop at Christmas and unfortunately I hadn't had the time at all to read it until now. But I am loving it! It's an autobiography that offers life tips too, on basically every topic you could imagine. It also features lots of little stories from Amy's days at Saturday Night Live with every comedian you could think of, and a lot of backstage pictures. I haven't finished it yet but I'm sure once I do, I'll be wanting a sequel. (Already do!)

ARGAN OIL HYDRATING HAIR MASK INTENSIVE CONDITIONING TREATMENT
It's no secret that I get my hair highlighted, and with highlighted hair comes great responsibility. (My Marvel fangirling is coming through.. Oops!) My hair gets very dry at the ends due to the highlights and this Argan Oil product has been a life saver! I picked it up in a pound shop in Enniskillen for not even £3, what an absolute steal! The idea of this product is to apply it to all of your hair after shampooing and towel drying and leaving it in for 7-10 minutes, then to wash it out and condition as usual. Because it takes so long I usually do it once a week and my hair feels and looks healthy and fabulous! And at £3 you can't go wrong.

UNBREAKABLE SMILE BY TORI KELLY
Tori Kelly's debut album has been on constant repeat on my phone since it was released. Haven't heard of Tori Kelly? Think of a more relaxed version of an Ariana Grande album and that's Tori down to a tee. Since her album isn't out in Ireland on iTunes or Spotify I have to make do with listening to her songs on Youtube! My favourites on the album are Nobody Love, Expensive, and I Was Made For Loving You which is a duet with Ed Sheeran. Have I sold this album for you yet? I'm expecting big things from this girl in the future, she's got more talent in her pinky than some of the singers on the charts lately! Unbreakable Smile is a wonderful pop album, perfect for the summer and I will definitely be purchasing this album when it comes out!

AUSSIE 3 MINUTE MIRACLE COLOUR DEEP TREATMENT
Like I mentioned before with the Argan Oil, my hair gets very dry with my highlights. I bought the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Colour Deep Treatment as a recommendation from my hairdresser to help my dry ends and boy, was it an investment! As a student on a budget, I would rarely splurge on expensive products for my hair but this was really worth it! I purchased this along with the Aussie Colour Mate shampoo and conditioner as there was a 3 for 2 offer in Boots and I couldn't resist. It really smells like peach and there are times when I nearly want to taste it just to see if it tastes like peach too. Haha, just kidding, I'm not that bad! The information on the bottle recommends you apply it to shampooed hair for three minutes. I like to use it after the Colour Mate shampoo and usually I don't use conditioner after I've used the 3 minute miracle treatment. I'm obsessed with this, it makes my hair feel so soft and light!

HONOURABLE MENTION: BIG BROTHER
I don't think anyone would have expected Big Brother to feature on a monthly favourites list, but here we go! Big Brother has been a part of my summers for as long as I can remember, I grew up with it with my sisters being obsessed with it too. And this year is no exception. It's on tv every night and I don't know what I'm going to do when it ends in two weeks! (dreading July 16th so much) Chloe to win!

That's the end of my June favourites, let me know if you enjoyed reading and if I should do another monthly favourites too!

What have you been loving in June?

Thanks for reading!

-Sinead

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Monday 29 June 2015

Sinead and Rachel Take Dublin: The Script Edition


Last weekend I got the chance to see one of my favourite bands ever, The Script, live in Croke Park in Dublin. Of course I jumped at the chance to go when my sisters handed me the two tickets on Christmas morning! Now, I'm slightly less experienced than the average person my age when it comes to concerts, with my last concerts having been Taylor Swift in 2011 and Glee Live in 2011 too - that really describes my persona down to a tee - so having the chance to finally go to another concert was something I was dying for. I brought my best friend, Rachel as her birthday present (I know, regifting gifts is a SIN but I'm sure God will forgive me). As I'm a country girl through and through, it's always a big deal when I get a chance to go visit Dublin, otherwise known as "The Big Smoke" in culchie terms, so to spend the weekend in Dublin was a dream!


I travelled up to the city the morning of the concert so we could have a few hours to gather ourselves and prepare for what would be an unforgettable night. Rachel is living in Dublin for the summer for work so we were very kindly welcomed in her aunt and uncle's house for the night. Unfortunately for me my hayfever decided to come full force that day so every ten minutes was marked with a sneeze from me and a "bless you" from Rachel! We managed to kill a few hours in the Ilac Shopping Centre and getting lunch in O'Briens (in which I got charged nearly €12 for a toasted sandwich and soup because I asked for lettuce in my sandwich! We learn from these mistakes, so anyways..) and we headed for the house to get ready.

When it came closer to the time of the concert, we made our way to Drumcondra and got a takeaway from a fabulous little Italian restaurant called Independent Pizza Company - their sweet chilli garlic bread was TO DIE FOR. As soon as we ate our food, we left for the concert, reeking of garlic.

(I forced Rachel to take a Croke Park selfie with me. I don't have a problem, I swear.)

Being at Croke Park was a huge deal for me as I'd never set foot in the place before (I'm not a sports person at all.) and even passing by it on the train was overwhelming so imagine how exciting it was to be there! Our tickets got checked about 7 different times going into the stadium and there was a point where the scanner didn't work on my ticket. As the anxiety ridden girl that I am, there was a moment where I started mentally freaking out, thinking that I wasn't going to get in and Rachel would abandon me to see The Script without me! Of course it worked in the end and we got in. Panic averted!



The first support act were a reggae group called The Wailers. I'm not a fan of reggae but I knew a couple of their songs so we enjoyed it anyways. Luckily for us, we were early enough to be right at the front of the barrier before the VIP section so we had a great view! Two girls we knew from back home were there so the four of us stayed together for the night and we enjoyed every moment.


The second support act was Pharrell Williams. This was where things got real. He put on a real show with his group of female dancers that he called "The Baes". I didn't know some of the songs he performed but the atmosphere was crazy! Pharrell sang covers of Hot In Here by Nelly, Drop It Like It's Hot by Snoop Dogg and Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. It took everything in me to not dance my ass off - also there was barely room to breathe, let alone dance! Once he started to sing Get Lucky, the crowd went WILD. At this point my voice was starting to go and the main act wasn't even on yet! Pharrell brought on a group of children to dance on stage for Happy and it was the most adorable thing I had ever seen.


FINALLY. The Script were absolutely incredible. They opened with Paint The Town Green and the crowd went mental! The concert was being livestreamed all around the world, so that was a big deal. They sang all their hit songs and they put on an amazing show. Some of the highlights of the concert involved Danny (lead singer) prank calling a lad from the VIP audience's ex and singing all of the song Nothing (a song about being better off without your ex) to her and getting the audience to scream "GOODBYE ASSHOLE!" to her on the phone before hanging up, the audience constantly singing the Olé chant in between songs and the band walking RIGHT by me. They were a metre away from me. I cried.



Excuse my awful photography at that moment. I was shaking harder than Taylor Swift during Shake It Off.


They performed my favourite song of their's, The Man Who Can't Be Moved, and I was emotionally unstable all the way through it since it's very close to me for personal reasons.

As the concert was coming to an end, everyone around the stadium put their camera flashlights on and it simply looked magical, like a constellation.


(The Script's official Instagram liked my picture of this moment the day after the concert. I'm slowly climbing up the fame ladder.)

It was the most amazing experience of my life.

Next day was a day dedicated to shopping! The only places I really wanted to visit in the city however, was Penneys (or Primark to you non-Irish folks) and Brown Thomas. The Penneys we went to was the Mary Street Penneys, aka the first ever Primark/Penneys, and is HUGE. Three floors. Don't mind me, just drooling. I bought some clothes but I can't share a picture since some of the items I bought are currently in the wash.

Of course I had to go to Brown Thomas! Brown Thomas is a department store that's only in cities in Ireland. Like I said before, I'm a country girl through and through so I never go to cities so I had to make it a mission to get to Brown Thomas. They're also the only stores in Ireland that stock Mac and I just HAD TO. As soon as we walked in I dragged Rachel over to the lipsticks. She was shocked by how many shades existed for lipstick. Oh, my simple Rachel.


I ended up purchasing the matte shade Mehr and I'm IN LOVE with it. The shade is a darkish, dirty pink (I'm awful at describing colours, bare with me) and it's just wonderful. I got a free sample of the False Lashes Extreme Black mascara with my purchase, which was a delight as I have a talent of making samples last forever.

At this point, it was getting closer to the train so our last stop was to a little burrito restaurant that I don't remember the name of because I had never tried a burrito before. Needless to say it was a very messy experience. I also didn't eat for the rest of the day as it was so filling.

(How cute is Rachel. Seriously. Cutest best friend ever.)

Finally, we went to the train station. We were really early - I like to be early, early bird catches the worm and all that - so we had our last hurrah in a truly Irish fashion over a cup of tea. Finally I caught my train home and nearly fell asleep a few times on the train but that was okay. A weekend I'll never forget. Ever.

Thanks for reading!

- Sinead

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Saturday 27 June 2015

Introducing Me



Hello World!

Chances are if you're reading this, you're one of my friends that I've forced to click on this post. Hell, you might not even be reading this, if so, you're a FAKE FRIEND. No I'm joking, really.
But if you happen to stumble upon this page, welcome. I'm really bad at introductions, so I'll keep this short and sweet.

About Me
My name is Sinead. I'm 20 years old with the mentality of a 12 year old. I'm Irish and live in a small town in the West of Ireland. I'm currently studying marketing in college. I love Taylor Swift, tea and lipstick.

Why I Made This Blog
I have a lot of things going on in my life right now, and it's good to have an outlet to talk about my feelings and everything going on. Since it's the summer, I like having something small to focus on, considering I am currently jobless. My good friends Katy and Tilly (follow them if you haven't already. Seriously.) inspired me to make my own blog too, so you know, why not!

What This Blog Is About
Beauty posts, lifestyle posts, stories about my own life and anything that takes my fancy really!