Gingham trend: My top picks

Hey Guys! You really don't notice how quick days fly by until you have something like a blog, I literally feel like I posted yesterday and its been nearly a week! I'm so sick of the weather being so grey and so ready for summer, also so ready to get out of Ireland again in 9 days for a trip to Berlin. I have packed and repacked so many times which I use as my excuse as to why my room looks like a bomb has gone off in it! I'm so excited to wear my outfits I've planned for Berlin, does anyone else get really excited by outfit planning? maaaybe its just me...I might do a blog post on how I pack for trips & what I like to bring with me. Anyway enough rambling, on to the actual post.

Maybe I was in my own world but I completely missed the gingham trend creeping up, it was just kind of there all of a sudden and now its EVERYWHERE. I think its the perfect print for summer, and somehow manages to look good when put on any piece of clothing, which you'll see down below.

I think my favourite way to style the print is paired with denim and runners, its also gorgeous when its on top with a skirt and little boots or even a leather jacket and fishnet socks or tights to give it some edge, I also don't think you can go wrong with a red lip when wearing black gingham. I think gingham playsuits and jumpsits are going to be huge for festival season this year!

 Below are 12 of my favourite gingham printed pieces I have spotted

This little red gingham crop top is eeeverything, so perfect for summer & would look super cute with denim

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I love this skirt styled like its pictured but maybe with an off the shoulder white shirt & barely there heels.

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I think these trousers would be so fab with a lacey bralet or an oversized pastel jumper.

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This top just screams festival to me, I think it would look so nice with a flowy maxi skirt for festival season.

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This dress would be so fab with barely there heels or fishnets and runners for everyday wear, obsessed with the sleeves.

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This dress is so glam and perfect for a night out paired with black heels, a leather jacket and a red lip.

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This is definitely one of my favourite gingham pieces, its so simple but so cool and effortless, I would pair this with fishnet tights and a pair of runners (P.S. Penneys have a similar one in atm with white embroidery on the front)

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I actually have this dress and it is so gorgeous, I can't wait to wear it paired with a corset and also wear it in the summer time.

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This purple gingham dress is so unique and cute, I think it would be adorable with a denim jacket

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This cold shoulder jumpsuit is so gorgeous and is definitely something I would wear to a festival, definitely to be worn with a red lip.

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I love everything about this shirt, I think it would be best styled as part of a smart outfit with trousers and a nice pair of boots.

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Thank you so much for reading, I hope you all have a really great  and a productive week and I'll chat to you all soon

lots of love,

Charleen x

Silcone makeup sponge review

Hi Guys!  I hope you're all good and Monday hasn't been treating you too badly. I've spent the day doing absolutely nothing (my favourite kind of days). The only semi-productive thing I done was a bit of outfit planning for Berlin which I'm so excited for, especially because I'll be seeing Drake and seeing everyone's snapchats and videos of him in Dublin has me looking forward to it so much.

I'm going to be talking about the silicone makeup sponges I picked up from Penneys a couple of weeks ago and how they worked for me. I seen loads of beauty guru's using these before Penneys got them in I was so curious to try them out.

Using the sponge with my Inglot HD foundation I definitely found that I used less product than what I would usually use when using a beauty blender, that is their main selling point, the silicone doesn't soak up product as a beauty blender would and also cleans easier as the product just wipes off.

One thing I noticed is that for some reason it made my foundation more matte looking which isn't something I would personally really go for but I do think this would be a benefit for someone who has more of an oily skin type.

The shape of the silicone sponge makes it hard to get in certain areas that a beauty blender would easily fit into like the sides of the nose and around the eye area which I found frustrating and had to use my beauty blender for.

It also made my foundation look a little bit streaky so I went over it with a beauty blender to fix it which wasted time and meant my foundation application took longer than it normally would take and lets be honest who wants that?

Pros:

- Doesn't soak up as much product as a regular beauty blender/blending sponge. so it saves product.

- Easy to clean.

- Gives your foundation more of a matte finish (may be a con to some people including me).

Cons:

- Made my foundation a bit streaky.

- It's hard to get into all the smaller areas of your face for example your eye area.

- Makes putting on your foundation take longer.

I think the fact that I ended up using my beauty blender as well as the silicone sponge says a lot and means I won't be using it as part of my everyday makeup routine. I think overall it is just more hassle than its worth for me but I do think its a fun idea and its a bit of a novelty to use and for €2 they won't break the bank if you want to try them out and see if they're for you, personally I just wouldn't use them again!

Hope you enjoyed my review and let me know if you try them or have tried them and what your thoughts on them were.

Thanks so much for reading I hope you all have a really good week,

lots of love,

Charleen x

Corset Trend: my top picks

Hi guys, happy Wednesday! Hopefully you're all having a good week, I for one am wide awake and will be for the next hours since I slept until 6pm today because of working nights, I'm going to attempt to be productive and plan my next few blog posts and try to get back into a normal sleeping routine.

You're probably all well aware of the current corset trend that everyones wearing, probably thanks to Kylie Jenner since that girl could probably wear crocs and they would somehow become popular. I'm a huge fan of this trend, I think that corsets are so pretty for casual wear over a big shirt with jeans and going out over a t-shirt or a bodycon dress, its such a versatile look and definitely a wardrobe staple, not to mention they are quite a flattering piece of clothing

 Its pay day tomorrow and I have my eye on a couple of these, even though I should be saving the devil on my shoulder is telling me to treat myself and I really can't say no can I? 

Here are my top 5 corset picks on the market at the mo'.

First up is this fab denim corset that ties at the back, I've been dying to get this but sadly my size is sold out, as you can see in the pictures it looks gorg dressed both up or down

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This is on my payday shopping list, it can be worn with literally anything, the picture on the left is definitely something I would wear.

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This is actually something I already have and have worn, the t-shirt and corset can both be worn separately and its so comfy! Here I wore it with docs and fishnet socks.

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I think this dress is so pretty and more of a tame take on the corset trend, very Kim K with a diamond choker and a denim jacket.

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This denim tan button up corset mightn't be to everyones taste but I think its so cute for summer and would look so nice with light denim.

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Which one is your favourite?

As always thanks so for reading and if anyone has any blog posts they'd like to see let me know. Also prepare to see me in corsets 24/7. 

Lots of Love,

Charleen x

How I Whiten My Teeth at home

Hi guys! I hope you're all doing good and having a fab week. It's actually scary how quickly this year is going already.  I know that my blog posts seem quite erratic at the moment but I'm still trying to get used to my new routine of not being in college and having my evenings taken up by my evening course and college so hopefully soon I'll get on track with how much content I post and when I post it.

I thought I would talk about something I get asked quite a bit- I always feel like I'm being big headed  saying that saying that but I feel like teeth are just one of those things that comes up in conversation often- which is about what I use to whiten my teeth. I've always had a thing about my teeth and teeth in general, its probably the first thing I'd notice about someone when I meet them (in the least shallow way possible). That being said from a young age I was quite obsessed with my teeth being straight, hence making my mam pay for my braces when I noticed that one tooth was out of place.

Since getting my braces off 3 years ago I have tried so many teeth whitening products. I think by using so many making them whiter and whiter the colour of them finally kind of plateaued and I felt like every time I whitened them it would just maintain the colour but they wouldn't get any whiter, this was before I discovered the product I'm using at the moment.

I recently purchased a product called 'Glam White' off Groupon believe it or not and I've seen such great results using it. Click here is the link to the product : Glam white

 I only used it on my top teeth the first time using it as I couldn't find the tray for my bottom teeth and the difference after 40 minutes between my top and bottom teeth was crazy! Best of all it only cost me €10. I had originally just stumbled across it and bought it to maintain the colour of my teeth as I had ran out of my old one and when I run out I'm never fussy with the one I buy next so I decided to give this one a go.

The great thing about the whitening gel in this kit is that its mint flavour so if a bit gets in your mouth by accident, its not an awful taste like many other brands. The kit comes with 2 mouldable trays for your top and bottom teeth, a syringe with the whitening gel, a mini LED light and a box for your trays, for a tenner you can't go wrong really. 

Oddly enough I've never experienced any sensitivity with my teeth from whitening kits, I think I have strangely insensitive teeth because I could bite straight throw an ice pop and feel nothing. So if you do have sensitive teeth I would recommend to maybe leave it in for the minimum time on the instructions and build up how long you leave it in for. This kit is actually designed for sensitive teeth so it shouldn't cause any added sensitivity.

A trick that you're probably all aware of for making your teeth appear whiter is to wear certain lip shades, for example blue toned reds, peachy nude colours and anything dark really! I find that the penneys PS lip liner in the pinky-nude colour makes my teeth really stand out when applied all over the lips.

Let me know if you decide to purchase one of the Glam White kits. I think its safe to say this is the best whitening kit I've tried.

Thanks so much for reading,

lots of love,

Charleen x

What I wore in Amsterdam

Hi guys! So as I mentioned before I went to Amsterdam on Tuesday for a little trip. Theres a blog post on the way on my whole trip but I thought I'd just talk about what I wore. Having only gone for 2 days I only brought a small suitcase for my hand luggage rather than checking in a bag and surprisingly enough I actually managed to git everything inside, which I was pretty impressed with myself for.

                                  

I always think about comfort when it comes to choosing an outfit to go to the airport in, I really don't understand how some people can walk around the airport in high heels although if I could manage to do that, I probably would. The jumper I wore was super comfy and it wasn't too heavy, being such a nervous flyer I tend to get really warm on planes (really weird, I know) so wearing a light jumper like this one is ideal. I kept it quite casual just teaming it with jeans and a matching choker which I got so many questions about! I've linked both the jumper and choker below:

Jumper- Bershka

Jeans- Zara

Boots- Bershka

Bag- River Island

Suitcase- Penneys/Primark

Choker- Boohoo

As Amsterdam is quite cold this time of year I brought a Denim jacket and scarf to wear when I landed (I later also popped on my hat and gloves because it was absolutely freezing).

Jacket- Penneys/Primark

Scarf- Warehouse in house of Fraser

 For the second day I brought a really comfy outfit that I could wear with runners for exploring the city, theres nothing worse than your shoes hurting you when you're walking literally the whole day. I also made sure to bring a really warm jacket because I knew that it would be cold, although looking back I probably could've done with more layers.

Hat- River Island

Jacket- Bershka

Scarf- Warehouse in House of fraser

I'm in love with this velvet two piece, I feel like I'm wearing pyjamas when I'm in it! (it also matched my camera so bonus points there). Its so comfy and stylish I'd definitely recommend something like this for travelling in.

Tracksuit- Penneys/Primark

Glasses- Asos

Thanks so much for reading, hope you all have a fab week.

Lots of Love,

Charleen x