Clinique Chubby Stick - over before it began...

I read about the Chubby Stick about 2 months ago in a review on a blog. "It must be mine!" I declared.
And, as of last Sunday, it was mine. Woppin' Watermelon was my colour of choice. A beautiful girly, rose pink.

I'd heard enough about it to know that it was moisturising and infused with mango and shea butter - my favourites of all the butters. I also knew that the colour was just a hint and the helpful Clinique girl behind the counter in Brown Thomas also told me that the colours were buildable, "handy" I thought.
The above details were correct. It is lusciously moisturising without being sticky or slippy, you know the ones I mean. I found myself topping up every few minutes, not because my lips were drying out, but because I wanted to just keep lashing it on because it felt so gooood.

But, as with most things in life (ooh, woe is me!), with every good, there's usually a bad. And the bad, or letdown, was that there was no smell. The smell is obviously not the most important part of a lipbalm, but it helps. I tend to do a thing where I scrunch my top lip up under my nose to get a whiff of the good stuff when i'm wearing nicely scented lipbalm.

Here, I'll demonstrate!

Ahem.

Unfortunately the smell, or lack thereof, wasn't the only thing to disappoint. Not even 24hrs after purchase, and bare in mind I was asleep for 7(ish) of them, the balm broke. 

The stick features a twist-cap, so it is handy that you don't have to sharpen it like a normal pencil, however I didn't even get around to twisting it once before the balm broke right off, as soft as butter. That'd be the shay then!

I have since tried my best to warm it and make it stick back on, which it has...to an extent, but it's just not as easy to apply and i'm worried about breaking it further. At €19 a pop, that's just not really good enough, is it?

So, whilst the pro's are pretty good pro's - the colour is lovely and sheen, like a not-too-glossy gloss, it's not too sticky, perfectly moisturising and makes your lips look and feel great. 

I do like the packaging, the idea of a Chubby Stick...whatever that may be, minds out of the gutters now! It's fun and looks like a giant crayon FOR YOUR FACE. The twisty-cap is useful, however if it contributes to the product breaking then perhaps it's time to rethink that a little bit. It's the perfect design to throw into your handbag ready to use, in which case it shouldn't really be so delicate. 

Has anyone else tried it? Verdicts? 

J Brand Colour Pop

Now available at BT2 on Dublin's Grafton St.

Any denim-lover worth their salt will know J Brand are one of the hottest denim labels around. Remember the Houlihan? Yeah, pretty much every high street store has brought own their own version.

Check out the colour pop jeans, now available in BT2 in red, blue, pink and orange.

Which colour will you be vying for? For me, it's blue all the way!

Newsround #6

via weheartit

Just some links to some of my favourite and interesting blogposts over the last short while. 

CoCo Celine - Chloe Sevigny for Twin Magazine
The Vogue Diaries - Rachel Bilson at Cannes
Blaubushka - The Unicorn Whisperer
A Blog From Blackpool - Swirl Nail Art using water - a tutorial
Glamrocks - Rose Byrne - Style Inspiration
Fash Boulevard - Cm Creole Creations
I Blog Fashion - London College of Fashion @ New Look
Buckets and Spades - Topman Swim Collection
Accoutrements - Give Me Liberty
Red Lemonade - Along came a spider...
The Licentiate - What's your time period?
CoCo Celine - Opening Ceremony's Kate Foley and Inside Jen Brill's house
Fashion Editor  at Large - The Kate Bush files
A Little Bird Told Me - Guide to vintage shopping in Paris
and finally....for this one, forgive me..
Sprinkle Bakes - Gateau au chocolat with seasalt and olive oil..

Topshop, mais non?

Further in my pursuit to find great outfits for Paris, I went into Dublin's flagship Topshop store for the first time in ages on Friday. And I found a lot that I want.
My main reason for not going in too regularly is the price. I feel pretty hard done by when I see the price of something in Euro compared to Sterling. It's actually cheaper to buy online in Sterling and wait patiently for it to be delivered. Woe is me!

I could definately post a lot more than I'm going to, but here's my top picks.

White Sleeveless Scallop Shirt

Orange Contrast Colour Shirt

Pink Two Layer Colour Vest

Black Feather Print Kimono

Rust Broderie Lace Trim Vest

Purple Ruched Waist Pleat SKirt

Blue Split Side Maxi Skirt

Black Sheer Stripe Maxi Skirt

Black Bodycon Skirt - an old reliable!

Camel Tube Skirt by David Coma

Draped Skirt by Love

Walberg Black Ankle Strap Wedge

Lemon Midi SKirted Dress

Red Spray Print Midi Side Split Dress

I'll have them all now please. 

The Kate Effect OR One woman's ability to clone an army without quite meaning to...

Ok, so I'm sure you all are sick of hearing about The Duchess of Cambridge (no? just me then?) & what she's been wearing/eating/reading recently. I know I am. Whilst I can appreciate that she is a gorgeous and somewhat stylish young laydee, I just don't quite get what all the fuss is about in terms of what she's wearing RIGHT NOW.
Are we still caught up in Royal Wedding fever? Or is this old-school royal hysteria of yore? Is it just isolated to Kate Middleton? (the answer to that is 'No'. See also: Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, Alexa Chung, Olivia Palermo)
Of course, my main motivation for writing, or even thinking, about this is the last few days of hysteria surrounding the now-infamous Reiss Shola dress that the Duchess wore to meet the Obama's.

Shola (Ama) 

(ha)

Now, just look at it. It's perfectly nice. A pleasant dress. But not necessarily for everyone. I don't know, I haven't tried one. A versatile colour, can be worn with a number of coloured accesories, though I fear many will copy the outfit like for like, poring over photos of Kate and rushing out for identical accesories (minus the royal husband).

However, it's certainly not worthy of websites crashing, devotion of a million blogposts (yes, yes, I understand the irony of that statement) and the apparant cashing in on eBay by some fortune-hunters. Or is it? Is there something that I'm just not getting? Would YOU want to own this just because Kate did?

I wonder if the people that rushed out and online to buy it did so because it was reported on Twitter within a few minutes of her being photographed in it that it was from a high-street store that most people could afford? OR, is it because Kate has always been a media favourite and her style has been somewhat hailed as stand-out or special - quite why there's always been a fuss about what she's wearing is beyond me.

That's not to say she's in any way unstylish, but her style is what I would consider 'safe', even as a Royal and with all that that commands. Not that we all have to go out like Gaga to be different - but she's someone that I would consider to dress within a very specific style. Not even classic in a Jackie O kind of way. 

So, are we, as a fashion consuming public, obsessed with her because we feel her look is more achievable, because a lot of her items are from the high street and a lot more affordable to us mere mortals, or because she's the newly crowned Duchess of Cambridge?

I'm not sure i'm even making my point well. Or at all. 

I was excited when she wore McQueen for her wedding. I was excited because there was a buildup to it, a secrecy, i'm a fan of McQueen anyway and her wedding was not your ordinary trip down the aisle. On that day I questioned whether i'd been wrong about her style all along, but looking back on pictures, no I wasn't. 

But when I saw the immediate tweets announcing her wearing of a Reiss dress, followed shortly by the dress selling out and the website crashing it really got me wondering how much of an influence Kate is going to continue to have on the fashion buying public. 

Do we now look up to Kate, as we do many celebrities, as our style guru? Do we see what she's wearing and want that exactly? 

With many other fashion icons, Alexa Chung, for example, they have such an individual style that it's possible to take an item that they champion and work it into your own wardrobe. A satchel for example. 'Oh, that's very Alexa'. 

Or Sienna Miller and her own take on (apologies for using this work, ick) 'Boho' - wear a floaty top in the summer with messed up hair and you're sure to be compared to her by at least one person. 

So, with the huge amount of people buying the exact dress that Kate wore, will we some day look at someone in a camel coloured dress or low wedged shoes and say 'That's very Duchess of Cambridge'? I just can't see her style as being so indvidual or obvious. 

And maybe that's where the attraction lies. And there's nothing quite wrong with that.

I applaud Kate, Catherine, The Duchess, for her ability to crash a website and create an army of clones. I doubt she planned on things going quite so far and i'd imagine she's rather humbled by the furore.

I just wonder if this means there's a large number amongst us that couldn't be bothered with individuality or finding our own style and just want a whole look on demand. I hope not. 

Blogger RAGE

ARGH!! So there appears to be a Blogger problem with login and commenting. I've been unable to do this since 24th May and there has been no update or fix since then.

HOWEVER, I recently figured out that logging in via Firefox appears to be working, whilst logging in via Chrome does not.

Anyway, once I can get through the mountain of blogs I have to read I hope to get some new posts going. And HI to my new followers! Good to have you here guys.

Please fix this soon Blogger, I miss Chrome already :(

Shopping for Paris : Handbags

WARNING!! For the next 3 weeks there is a distinct possibility that I will wreck everyone's heads by talking non-stop about Paris. I've never been before and i'm beyond excited.

Between now & then I'm going to be looking for key pieces to make my birthday trip as stylish as can be. Well, it is Paris after all...
I'm also looking for some shopping tips - especially vintage - so if you have any, please share in the comments!

Today i'm looking for the perfect bag to bring with me. I have a gorgeous brown leather vintage satchel which i'll be bringing, but it's quite small so I need something a bit more multifunctional that will fit camera, bottle of water, possible picnics, raincoat etc.
If I bring too big a bag I will find a way to fill it with unnecessary crap so i'm  not looking at anything too big and it must have an inside zip as otherwise i'll definitely lost stuff, i'm stupid like that.

ANYWAY, here's a few of my faves from what i've seen online so far.

ASOS Washed canvas pocket detail webbing strap bag (phew!)

River Island yellow satchel bag

Topshop taupe suede slouch satchel

Modalu leather Kensington satchel bag

Zara double handle city bag

Topshop top handle leather bag

At the moment I think the ASOS canvas bag is winning, for it's simplicity and functionality, but I love the colour of the above Topshop bag. Hmmm....decisions, decisions...

Paris

THREE WEEKS!!

Clashing Patterns

I was feeling adventurous on Friday and decided to clash stripes and spots, having seen others try & succeed. I left the house feeling fairly confident about it, but slowly began to doubt my choice....this was further compacted when a work colleague told me I looked like Minnie Mouse!
Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Here's a sample of my clashing attempt.

Today, however, things drastically improved when I intercepted my birthday present being delivered to my boyfriend. My birthday isn't for another few weeks, but he's obviously been paying attention to my wishlist on here and got me the following...

Ahhhh!! YES! The Kurt Geiger Vanika boots - SUCCESS!!

Now, to get to work on the rest of my wishlist. 

An Island to themselves..

Killing some time after work and trying to avoid the swarm of Gardaí due to the Queen's visit, I found myself wandering around River Island's flagship Dublin store on Grafton St. 

Now, i'll be honest, i've gone through phases with River Island; when I was younger I loved it, then late teens I found it to be a bit too expensive for my student income, early 20's found me feeling that the clothes were a little bit...shall we say cheap, in terms of quality and style, but not price. However recent years have found me loving it again. 

In between them collaborating with fresh-out-of-college designers and heading up innovative and fresh designs and re-releasing capsule collections like the 70's throwback Chelsea Girl, there's pretty much something for everyone. 

They always have a staple collection of jeans, tshirts and not too blingy jewellery, but what caught my eye yesterday, in between the gorgeous dresses and colour block tops & trousers, were the amazing accessories. 

Clutch bags, slouchy hobo's, amazing heels, summery wedges and must-have satchels. I want them all! 

I'd urge anyone with a penchant for accessories to go in and have a look. If you're disappointed i'll give you a fiver*. 

In the meantime, here's my picks! 

*might be a lie, a high-five possibly!