The Beauty Post | Lush's 'Enchanted' Eye Cream Review

Daaaamn Adele, back at it again with the Lush reviews. 

From quite a young age I have been plagued with dark circles under my eyes. Something that has only become worse over time and has slowly picked away at my confidence. With no real 'cure' to this pesky problem, the only hope I have is to find an eye cream that alleviates the issue. 

Having read some positive reviews on Lush's Enchanted eye cream, I decided to give it a go for myself, and I was not disappointed.

With all natural ingredients including Lavender honey water and jojoba oil, this eye cream is a treat for your under eyes. The weightless texture of the cream is what initially drew me to it. Unlike many other heavy eye creams, Enchanted can be used day or night, which is ideal for giving your under eyes a little boost whenever needed. 

Popping a tiny dot of the cream onto my eye area and rubbing it in gives my eyes the lift they need. Of course the cream does not work wonders and it does not entirely erase my dark circles, but it does absorb well into my skin, leaving my under eyes plumper and brighter than they were before. 

If like me, you are searching for an eye cream to tackle dark under eye circles, I would recommend giving this one a go. 

This has quickly become a staple product in my skincare routine and most definitely is something that I will be repurchasing once I have ran out. 

Have you tried this before? What are your thoughts on it?

Adele x

The Fashion Post | A Festive Mick Jagger

It would appear that flares are becoming a common theme in my outfit posts, and I ain't complainin'. The 70s is having it's moment in fashion right now and all I want to do is bathe myself in a sea of florals and flares. Harry Styles, let me be you. 

I call the jacket, the marmite jacket, because you either love it, or hate it. In real life it is a lot more sparkly than it appears in these pictures. It has a sort of Mick Jagger at Christmas-esque vibe to it, and clearly I am a fan of a festive Jagger. 

Crop Top: Romwe | Trousers: Shein | Coat: Shein | Boots: Office (similar)

I'll keep this post short and sweet. Because let's be honest, no one ever really reads the writing on an outfit post anyway.  

Until the next post. 

Adele x

The Life Post | If We Were Honest About Our Instagram Captions

With social media as popular today as it has ever been, it is no secret that we only present the very best version of ourselves when using it. I'll save you the whole 'we're all different people offline, no one is perfect' speech and skip right to the point of this post. 

I wanted to share with you a few of my holiday snaps from over the Summer accompanied by both an instagram appropriate caption. One that creates the illusion that I am the perfect person, with the perfect life and I most definitely have my shit together. The other caption would be the one I would post if I were to be completely honest about my pictures and the events that took place surrounding them. This one shatters the illusion that I am the perfect person, with the perfect life and I most definitely do not have my shit together. 

Instagram Caption: 'Drinking wine while watching the sun set, perfecto.'

Real Life Caption: 'Feeling a little tipsy before dinner drinking the wine we were given for free from the hotel because the pool turned us green.'

Instagram Caption: 'Bikinis, sun and ice cream, i'm never coming home' 

Real Life Caption: 'I paid 3 euro for this Cornetto and it melted down my arm because it was so hot' 

Instagram Caption: 'The best pizza in the world'

Real life Caption: 'I completely made the wrong choice when ordering my Pizza. Actually ended up eating most of my boyfriends and if the truth be known we would both had rather been eating a Domino's from back home.' 

Instagram Caption: 'Spent the day exploring the Island of Capri and all of it's hidden grottoes.' 

Real Life Caption: 'Took a boat trip with 10 strangers to Capri, my nose got sun burnt and it's grottoes were completely anticlimactic.'

Instagram Caption: 'Spending my day lounging by the pool.'

Real Life Caption: 'Spent the day sweating by the pool, the chlorine turned these white bikini bottoms green and I got into an argument with the hotel staff about it.' 

Instagram Caption: 'Waking up to this view everyday is perfect.'

Real Life Caption: 'Arriving to our hotel room and realising that instead of a balcony we have this tiny window was disappointing to say the least.' 

Instagram Caption: 'Wearing my favourite bikini!'

Real Life Caption: 'I wore this bikini purely for the picture, I changed into something much more comfortable straight after.' 

So there you have it. The illusion of my perfect life has now been entirely ruined. But that's okay. Because that is real life, and if everyone were more honest on social media maybe it would eliminate a lot of the pressure and competition that surrounds it. So if it takes me talking about my green hair and shit pizza's to get the ball rolling, then so be it.

Adele x

The Fashion Post | The Fashion Tag

What do you do when you are stuck on what to post, feeling a little bit lazy, but would feel far too guilty to not post anything at all?

You write up a tag post of course. 0 imagination, little effort, but I am going to justify it by saying that maybe you will learn a little more about myself and my fashion.

And no I was not actually tagged in this, I just tagged myself like the absolute loser that I am.

Favourite Fragrance
Anything sweet! I have yet to find my 'perfect' fragrance, but anything that smells like strawberries and sweets is a winner to me. However, I do think I have now found my 'adult' fragrance, and that is 'SI' by Giorgio Armani. The smell can only be described as giving me the feeling of being mature and put together whenever I wear it. 

How would you describe your style?

Ah yes, I love answering this cliche question with an even more cliche answer, 'my style is so unique lol'. I would probably describe it as ever changing but always colourful. As is the case with everybody, naturally my style tends to change over time but the one thing that seems to always remain is colour. At the minute I am going through a little 70s faze , I am loving all things flared and groovy (Think the shoot Harry Styles did with Another Man magazine). You can expect some outfit posts sporting this style in the very near future.

What are you favourite places to shop?

Majority of the clothes shopping I do is online. There is something about a packed and sweaty Dublin City Centre that I just cannot hack anymore. So I generally look at websites like Asos, Boohoo, Topshop and Mango.

How much do you spend on clothes? 

The answer to this question generally changes from month to month. A lot of the time I will find old clothes in my mam's wardrobe that I love, other times I may be sent a number of clothes from a company and so you can imagine at these times I won't bother buying any new bits for myself. But sometimes I will have a little splurge and spend anything up to 100 euro on some new pieces for my wardrobe. There really is no set amount.  

What are your wardrobe staples?

I think almost every man, woman, boy and girl in the world will agree that a good pair of denim jeans are a staple in any wardrobe. Mine are my trusty levis that fit like an absolute glove. I am not a skinny jean kind of gal so my go to's are a straight leg, mom jean fit.

Most expensive item in your wardrobe?

I don't think I can give an answer to that. Everything I own in my wardrobe cost me under 100 euro, so really nothing I own is very expensive. Generally I don't see the sense in spending hundreds on a material item, other things in life are far more important. 

Most wanted item? 

At the minute I have been eyeing up lots of bold printed trousers from Mango, this pair in particular are my favourite. 

Favourite designer?

As I said above I generally don't care for any kind of designer brand. Moschino will always catch my attention during fashion week, but that's about as far as that goes.

What's your favourite way to do your hair?

Often I find myself throwing my hair into a middle parting and slicking it back into a low bun. It is the quickest way to get out the door when i'm in a rush and is easy to maintain throughout the day. 

What is your go to outfit when you have no idea what to wear? 
I will always reach for a pair of printed, wide leg trousers when I am not sure what to wear. Paired with a plain cami and boots, I will always feel like I have made an effort when I put this kind of outfit together, even if I haven't, the boots will always pull together an outfit.

Anyone reading this who would like to give the tag a go themselves, please do and send me a link, I would love to see your version!

Hopefully you didn't get too bored reading through this. Sorry guys I promise I will be back with a more engaging post next week!

Adele x

The Fashion Post | The 'I'm on me 'olidays' Dress

Scrolling through instagram, it is easy to become inundated with the same picture. You know the one i'm talking about, the one of a girl, on her holidays in an exotic country, posing in the street wearing a flowy summer dress, usually captioned 'feel like the dancing emoji lol'. No hate girls, because clearly I am one of you. 

The original title of this post was 'The Perfect Summer Dress' however, before hitting the publish button I thought, how fucking cliche am I?? Those second thoughts drove me to rewrite the post, and furthermore second guess my entire blog. Do I really want to carry on creating posts that are mildly interesting, but not that much really, because there are millions of others who have been there and done that before me, and done it better.  

The answer is no, I don't want to. But I did spend sixty quid on this dress, so I am definitely sharing this one. Let's scrap the whole 'Oh I love this dress, it is just so perfect for Summer!!' and get to the point. 

I bought this dress because I was going on a weeks holiday and I wanted to look decent at least one out of the seven nights. I opted for a wrap dress because A: it is stylish, and B: because it allows for maximum carb consumption, without running the risk of exploding from your outfit. Aaand I went with red because I envisioned exactly how these outfit pictures would look, and I knew the colour red against an old Italian door would look superb. Job done. 

Someone please tell me, why does every girl feel the need to spend fifty or so euro, on a dress that we know will only wear once, because the weather at home would rarely allow for us to don something as pretty. Only to repeat the same process the following year, nearing the time of our next holiday. 

Eventually we accumulate a shit load of summer dresses, that are worthless in the baltic conditions that we spend all of our time in. Sense. Please?

Dress: Topshop | Sandals: Forever21 (Similar) | Bag: Vintage 

So there you have it, the dress and post that will become just another drop in the blogger's 'summer dress' ocean, that I will probably never wear again. Don't judge me, I was on me 'olidays. 

Adele x

The Life Post | The Sorrento Photo Diary

Hello, and welcome to a depressing post about a sunny country that you are not in, not just you, me also. I was there, but right now I am not and this makes me just as sad as you are reading this on a rainy Monday. 

We arrived in Sorrento (that's in Southern Italy, just in case you didn't know) early on Saturday the 5th of August, and spent a week exploring this beautiful town. Well, less exploring more sitting by the pool eating pringles, but you catch my drift.

Without going into too much mundane information, we arrived in Naples Airport at around 11am and took a shuttle bus from Naples to Sorrento, which took about an hour. And if you are familiar with the Italian landscape, was absolutely terrifying as I was certain we were about to plummet to our death, recklessly whipping around Amalfi mountains. 

Having survived the journey from Naples we soon found our hotel in the blistering heat and quickly checked in. We stayed in Hotel Dania which I was particularly excited about having seen pictures of it, however I would NOT recommend staying there.  Although our time spent in Sorrento was wonderful, our choice of hotel put a real dampener on the trip. Much of the staff were rude, our room was basic, the website lied about a 'complimentary shuttle bus' and the chlorine from the swimming pool turned our swimsuits, hair and skin green. So yeah, not exactly the best. 

However, following putting in a complaint to the hotel staff and determined not to allow any of the above to ruin our stay, we booked a boat trip to the Island of Capri. This quirky little island seemed like a hidden gem, somewhere that is almost never spoken about. With the perfect pebble beach and colourful buildings, we were sad to say goodbye to it after just a few short hours.  

The remainder of our days were spent relaxing by the pool (and turning green) during the day and exploring the beautiful town of Sorrento and everything it has to offer, by night. While in the town we also did what any true Irishman does, and found the nearest Irish bar to drink our money. 

The town of Sorrento is charming with it's rustic architecture, and is full with the hustle and bustle of tourists from all parts of the world. We visited a number of restaurants in the town over the week and being totally honest, I was disappointed by the food Italy had to offer. Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe the food from home is so good that I am now spoiled, but I failed to find a restaurant that did not serve oven chips and frozen bolognese, no matter the price.

But the tan I got on the trip was so worth the soggy chips, just sayin'. 

Coming near to the end of our trip, both myself and my boyfriend were sad to say goodbye to this scenic town, but simultaneously we were looking forward to eating some Irish potatoes. 

Arriverderci! 

Adele x

The Beauty Post | Lush's Brazened Honey Face Mak Review

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you may or may not know that I am a sucker for a good face mask. I have pretty much tried and tested every mask available under the sun. And so it is only fair that Lush's 'Brazened Honey' now gets it's 15 minutes of fame. 

I picked up the product while on the hunt for a mask that would be both gentle on my skin, while giving me a moisturising glow. My skin has been going through a phase where it has been oily and congested one day, and dry and flaky the next (absolute first world problems, I know). So I took to Lush to try and find a solution to this. Advised by the slightly overly friendly workers that this was the one for me, I took their word and made my way to the counter. 

The exfoliating formula, is a blend of fresh fruits, warming spices and moisturisng honey. With a very distinct smell and texture, the mask is easily spreadable and does not have to be left on your face for long for it to work it's magic. Claiming to lightly exfoliate and moisturise your skin while simultaneously leaving you with a fresh glow, the mask appears to be perfect for both dry, oily and combination skin. 

  

So, on to the good stuff. Does it work? Yes. it leaves my skin feeling softer, while brightening it up just a tiny bit. Of course, as with most Lush products, I find that it does not work miracles. But hey, maybe sometimes I expect just a little too much from skincare products. The whole it's good, but not that good seems to be a regular ending to most of my Lush review posts. 

Overall Brazened Honey gives my face just that little bit of a boost it needs during this dull Irish Summer. I can most definitely see this product becoming a go to of mine as we approach the cooler months also, giving me a little pick me up whenever I need it. 

Have you tried this mask before? What are your thoughts on it?

Adele x 

The Fashion Post | Ruffled Mini Skirt and Flared Sleeves

Ruffle Skirt  | Stripe Top  | Denim Jacket | Gold Block Heels (Similar)  

On a scale of one to a bazillion how much of a blogger dick do I look in these pictures? I think I far surpass the bazillion tbh. But I just could not resist throwing this denim jacket over my shoulders instead of wearing it like a normal human. I can't help but be reminded of that 'don't touch me i'm famous' girl from Drake and Josh every time I look at these pictures. I swear i'm not that much of an arse in real life. 

But may I just point out this skirt?! I have a little hang up about my legs so I rarely get them out, but this skirt makes me actually not despise my pins. The jacket I picked up in the men's section in Forever21 and I am so glad I did. I am hoping that it will see me through the winter months and add a little pop to any outfit I wear. As you can see I have been on a little splurge as of late, and there is even more to come in future outfit posts.     

Have you been on any shopping sprees lately? 

Adele x