I Lost My Style on Instagram

This year I am all about pairing back and trying to be a tad more minimal. I would not dare to claim that I'm a minimalist in any sense of the word, I like things too much, but I have tried to downsize as much as possible, whether that be with clothes or my bedroom, which has undergone a bit of a makeover.

I've been going through a strange phase with my wardrobe over the past two years, my style has changed dramatically and I seem to have grown out of the majority of my clothes. I don't know if it's down to getting older, finishing college or starting my first "real" job, but my style has gone from very artsy and colourful to quite grungy and I am now at the stage where I'm dressing very minimally, well minimal by my standards. I could also put this down to the weather, it's so much easier to throw on a big jumper and jeans than try to create a nice layered look out of a tshirt without freezing.

I was never really one to stick to a certain style, the way I dressed would change from day to day depending on how I felt and I liked it that way. More recently I've found myself sticking to the same patterns, and I'm not sure I like it. I want to get back to wearing whatever I feel like without feeling the pressure of having my own "style". I've been trying so hard to fit in with an already existing style that I've lost my own unique one in the process. My style is what I like, what I feel comfortable in and how I want to express myself on that particular day.

 I think that maybe since starting my Youtube channel and trying to focus on fashion I have felt more of a pressure, more from myself than anyone else, to stick to one look. The whole self branding aspect of youtube is a strange concept, but the pressure to find my niche has kind of had the opposite affect. In trying to be individual in order to stand out I think I've ended up just fitting in with everyone else, trying to be something I'm not. I end up looking for inspiration from others on what to wear on a daily basis instead of putting outfits together myself in order to fit in with that style.

So I've come to the conclusion that I've become a bit of a copycat and I want that to change. A bit late for a New Year's resolution, but this year I'm going to wear whatever I want. I like culottes, but I can wear whatever I want with them. I don't have to find a blogger I like who also likes culottes and see what they wear with them and wear basically the same thing. I want to get back to building outfits myself, from pieces I love, that make me feel good.

Coat Boohoo | Hat Forever 21 | Jumper H&M | Culottes H&M (I cut up Palezzo pants) 

Boots Primark | Bag Boohoo

Well there you go, I haven't written a blog post in about a year and a half and my first one back has been a bit of an epiphany. I'm hoping that getting back into blogging will help me rediscover my own style and love for putting outfits together because it is something I really miss doing. Hopefully this is the start of something new and exciting and I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store for this little blog.

Thanks for reading x

A Little Room Tour

Up until last September I had never had a room of my own, and as I waved goodbye to my little sister as she headed off to Dublin for college I said hello to finally having my own space. I had so many ideas as to how I would decorate my room and almost a year later I can just about say it's done. That being said I've had to do some reshuffling to fit Grace back in for the summer, so this isn't a very comprehensive room tour, just some of my favourite details. I hope you enjoy! 

Barcelona

I was recently lucky enough to visit the beautiful city of Barcelona with my sister. I've wanted to visit the city for years and it did not disappoint. I was blown away by the architecture, the relaxed atmosphere and the shops of course! 

We got off to a bit of a rocky start, missing our train stop by a long shot. Still we persevered, chocking it down to a bit of an adventure. Being lost in such a beautiful place wasn't really that bad.

We stayed in the Generator Hostel and were upgraded to a hotel room which was absolutely amazing. We had our own terrace with a gorgeous view, below, and our own lemon tree!

    

Above are two oufits I wore on the trip. I love this first outfit, giraffes are my favourite animal so I had to buy these pants from New Look. My tshirt is from H&M and my necklace from Claire's. The second outfit is a dress I picked up in River Island last year. It's so comfortable and really nice for just wondering around the city.

We met my cousin Emma who is living in Barcelona at the moment on work placement for college, I'm super jealous. You can check out her blog here. 

The architecture in Barcelona is so amazing, not only in fabulous buildings like the Sagrada Familia but all over the city.

This was too cute a picture of Grace not to add it in. Her jumpsuit is from Lefties, necklace from River Island and her shoes are Toms.

We visited the food market on Les Ramblas and spent too much money on chocolate. 

I still dream about these churos. Such sweet goodness.

These are another two outfits, quite colour coordinated now that I look at them. The tshirt and shorts in the first outfit is from Zara, the cardigans in both are from Lefties, the black tshirt is from H&M as well as my necklace and the daisy skirt is from Forever 21. My flower bun topper is from Penneys!

One piece of advice I would give to anybody visiting Barcelona is to bring comfortable shoes, I made the mistake of just bringing new sandals and my feet were broken. I had an amazing time and I really hope to go back some day.

Instagram OOTD's

I haven't done an outfit post in a while so I thought I'd post some of my instagram OOTD's. I usually don't have time to take out my tripod before I rush off in the mornings so I just snap some photos in my mirror and put them on instagram, you can follow me here. I'll probably upload more of these on this blog in the future. Hope you enjoy :)

I've just realised most of this outfit is from H&M. The jumper, pants and necklace are anyway. I usually wear these pants very casually as they're so comfy but I loved how these shoes from River Island looked with them so I added the necklace too to make it a bit more put-together. Definitely going to wear this again I loved it!

I've gotten into layering dresses over shirts or tshirts recently and I love how it looks. I got this vintage shirt from The Edge in Limerick, the dress is from H&M, the cardigan was my granny's and the necklace is from Claire's. I also wore some frilly socks from Penney's.

Ah yes the infamous day where I was told numerous times that I looked like a three year old. I had just received a delivery of stickers from Natali Koromoto and took one of her drawings as inspiration. I put my hair in two little side buns which I love. My dungarees are from Urban Outfitters and I bought the shirt online but it is unfortunately sold out.

Spring Wishlist

1. Satchel - Asos
2. Dress -  Cath Kidston
3. Necklace - Esty
4. Grayson Perry Book
5. Toms - Schuh
6. The Granny Alphabet by Tim Walker
7. Dress - Harry Draws Pictures
8. Moomin Book
9. Daisy Earrings - River Island
10. Sewing Basket - Kath Kidston

I'm on a tight budget for the next few weeks as I'm saving for my holiday to Barcelona in April. This has not stopped me from perusing the internet for pretty things and as I cannot buy any of them due to lack of funds I thought I'd share them with you. Some of these items are super expensive and I wouldn't be able to buy them anyway but it's nice to look. The asos bag and the feminism necklace are both sadly sold out but I've linked to some similar items that are just as lovely.

So here is my spring wishlist, I hope you enjoy!

Lovely Art from Mel Stringer

For the past few weeks I have been eagerly awaiting a parcel. I started following Mel Stringer on Tumblr a few months back and fell in love with her work. It's so unique and colourful and the women she portrays in her art are all so unique and cute! I've wanted to buy some of her art for so long and when she announced she was having a print sale I jumped at the chance. I love getting post and when it's post as lovely as this it makes the wait all the more unbearable. I arrived home yesterday to finally find this lovely envelope waiting for me!

Can we all take a minute here and just appreciate how beautiful these are? I'm so excited, I just love looking at them! I ordered a sticker sheet, the bedroom mini-print series and a birthday card. The sale she was having at the time entitled me to two free prints because I spent over $25 which was just amazing. The prints were a surprise which was so nice and I love the ones I got!

This set of 4 A6 prints are just amazing. I'm planning on framing them but I have to paint the frame I have first, and also find the glass that goes in it, how did I manage to loose a sheet of glass? They're so cute, this post is basically going to just be me talking about how cute everything is.

Look at this!!! I had to buy this because it reminded me of myself, so no I will not be giving it away as a birthday card. It can be a very very early birthday card to myself.

This is a sticker sheet but I don't think I can bring myself to cut it up into stickers so I'll probably just frame it. I love that it looks like a page from a sketch book.

This is the first of the free prints I got (the lighting is a bit crap in the picture on the left sorry). I love it so much, look at the little dog! Ooooh I can't get over these.

 This is the second free print. I can't believe I got these for free it was such a good offer. All of her art is very reasonably priced and such good quality. I love this print, she's so sassy!

These are the little things that came in the package, well not the phone obviously. I also got a lollipop but I may have eaten it, oops. It was a heart shaped lollipop and it tasted lovely. I'm happy I got a little sticker for my phone without having to cut up the sticker sheet, now I can take some of Mel's art with me wherever I go. I can't wait to put all of these up in my room, I'll be on the hunt for frames worthy enough of these masterpieces! <3

Spreading Cheer One Sock at a Time

Strawberries - €2.50
Set of 4 - €6.99
Floral - €2.50

After a long day of college I needed a bit of cheering up and what better way to cheer yourself up than to snuggle up in bed and find the cutest socks on the internet? I can't pinpoint when my obsession with cute socks began, I could blame my Irish teacher Ms. Ryan who used to get so excited whenever anyone asked her what socks she was wearing that day. She taught me more than Irish, she taught me that socks can really brighten your day. Very philosophical for a post about socks. I think I've said the word sock too much so I'm just going to show you some more lovely... socks!

Giraffe and Cat both €2.50 

I love New look socks. They always have an offer of buy three pairs for €5 which is great. I've put links in to all the socks if you want to check them out.

Purple Lace - €5
Cat Print - €5
Cat with ears - €4

As you can see there is a bit of a cat trend becoming apparent. I love lacy socks with boots, Juju's or ankle docs, they add a lovely feminine touch. All these patterned socks are great with Juju's in the winter and they look super cute.

Giraffes - €6
Pink Faces - €3
Pugs - €6

I discovered Monki today and it was really the inspiration for this post. I want to own everything on the site. It's also a super pretty website. Can we just take a moment to appreciate the beauty that is these giraffe socks? Giraffes and cats, my two loves.

Rabbits - €3
Sock Thief - €3
Paintbrushes - €3

I love the prints of these so much and they are so reasonably priced. The only down side is that shipping is €9 but they have such lovely stuff that your not just limited to socks!

This is a very random post so I'm just going to keep it up and add this little outfit post at the end. I ordered this shirt just after Christmas and it finally arrived today. I love it so much, it's really great quality and so unique. Unfortunately it's now sold out but who knows, it might become available again. I can't wait to wear it, the collar will look so cute under jumpers too. I also cut my own fringe last week and I love it loads. I posted this on instagram earlier if you want to follow me you can do so here!

Well that is my random sock filled post for the day. I leave you with a joyful Charlie Bird cuddling with seals! Have a lovely day x