Fashion* Hair* Travel* Fitness

Sunday 9 December 2018

Christmas Time in New York




Hi Everyone,

I'm back with a new travel post on New York. I will share all the places we visited when there. I got lots of recommendations before going but didn't have long enough to make it to everywhere on my list. If you want to check out the full list I have it saved to the New York highlights on my page.

I had a couple of Dm's with some frequently asked questions so thought I would answer those here first. I got asked how long is the right amount of time to go for, would I recommend purely going for shopping, did I buy much, did I spend a lot of money?

We went over for one week as Damien had got the trip for me as my Christmas present last year. He initially booked it for 10 days and we changed it to 7 days as it was quite close to Christmas. I think you could get most of the sites and what you want to do in about 5 days but it was nice to have the 7 to relax and do them at our leisure. To be honest I definitely wouldn't recommend it for shopping. We went to Woodbury Common and I found it quite disappointing. In general I didn't buy that much and I'm sure you all know I am an avid shopaholic and I think the shopping is much better here. Its ok for workout gear etc and toys but not much else. The shops are amazing though and so christmassy, I loved Macys. New York was the most expensive place I've ever been to and I have lived in a lot of different places in Australia. We went to a broadway show one night and it was 60 dollars for 2 drinks and for a nice meal you would pay upwards of 250 dollars for 2 people and then have your 20% tip to add in too. In saying that you wouldn't have to eat in fancy restaurants every night and theres loads of pizza shops and cheap eats too if you were doing it on a tighter budget.

Where to stay... 
We stayed at Life hotel and I absolutely loved it. He pre booked a hotel last year but we were able to change our minds if needed. Most of my friends have been and recommended staying in time square which is where the hotel he originally booked was. After looking up pictures of the original and different ones we decided to change to Life hotel. They were similar in price but Life hotel looked amazing inside and I absolutely loved the decor. It was located on 31stW and just off fifth avenue. Im so glad we stayed here instead of at Times Square and we were just around the corner from lots of shops. I feel like where you stay is crucial. They have so many nice hotels but location is key in this city. You are going to walk so much so definitely bring comfortable runners. We racked up an excess of 25,000 steps a day according to his Fitbit!!

The cocktails in the hotel bar are to die for so try them if you stay here or if you are visiting, The restaurant and bar was packed every night of the week so I think its a really popular place to go as well as stay at.

For this hotel you are looking at paying about 2,500 dollars including tax for a week. We booked through booking.com and the tax is only added on when you make the final payment on arrival. I don't think there are any cheap hotels in NY so think you would be looking at these type of prices or upwards for most places.

Where to visit...

There is just so many sites to see and things to do in New York that you could spend forever there and still find new things to do. I will leave a list below of my favourite things we did.

Cycle Central Park...This was definitely a highlight for me and so many of you told me to do this. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be but it was so fun. We rented our bikes just outside the park for 2 hours so we could cycle it at our leisure and get off for a look at different areas around the park. The cycle track around the park is about 10km but its so much quicker to cycle rather than walk it. Theres a really cute boathouse restaurant located in the park too and an area where you can take little rower boats out on a lake. We went back to rent a little boat on our last day and it had been locked up until April so must only open April to November because it was open a few days previously when we were cycling by. I was raging we didn't get to do it.

Go to a Knicks game... The Knicks basketball game was the best thing we done while there. I wasn't pushed on doing this one because I have no interest in basketball so it was his pick but so glad we went. The whole experience was amazing and its like a basketball game and show all in one. They have entertainment in between each quarter and play games to interact with the crowd. Damien caught a t shirt that they shoot out and throw up to the crowds every so often, the excitement of catching one was real! Even if you are on a girls trip and have no interest I think you should definitely go to one of these games. Tip: don't forget your i.d. They are super strict and won't sell to you if you look under 40.

The Brooklyn bridge... I loved it here. We walked the bridge on two different days because one wasn't enough. I got some cool pictures here!

9/11 memorial... We visited the memorial and also did the tour of the museum. It tells the story of the people who lost their lives that day but also the many brave men and women who took part in the rescue efforts. The memorials twin pools are the largest man made waterfalls in Northern America and they lay where the twin towers once stood. The names of every person who lost their lives in the attack in 2001 and also in 1993 are engraved on the panels on the rim of the pools as "a powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history".  This is a place you definitely have to make time to visit if you are a first time visitor to Ny.

The Empire State building... The views from the top of the building were amazing. You can see so many iconic photos of the construction of the building inside and read all about it and the early years of the tower. We chose to do the Empire State building instead of the top of the Rock as we were only going to do one and thought this was a better choice for us.

The flatiron building.. is one of Nyc's most iconic landmarks and you have to go and see it. Its triangular shape makes it so different from any other skyscraper and makes for some cool photos too.

A broadway show.. We went to see phantom of the Opera. In truth I'm not that into shows and found the basketball game better than the broadway show. In saying that it was really good and the actors were amazing and it was a really good New York experience. I always wanted to see this one and he wanted to see the Lion king so we compromised and saw phantom of the opera (joking!!) I put a poll on my instagram and almost everyone voted for the Lion King but when we went to get tickets it was completely sold out so went with the phantom instead.

The Rockefeller tree.. this is the thing I was most looking forward to doing. I have seen this tree and ice rink in so many movies that its the most New York thing I could think of. He purposely booked our trip for this time so he knew we would get the lighting of the tree ceremony in. He said when he got the trip last year he was saving for my engagement ring and had planned to purpose at this ceremony until randomly one day months and months ago we were on the subject and I brought up how I'd hate it to be in public if he was ever going to do it. So Kerry it was and I'm so glad he did it in Ireland because I'd say he would have been so stressed carrying a ring around New York waiting for the time to do it and having to put it through every metal detector into each site without me noticing.

Times Square...is brighter than my future. I was in awe when I came here, I have never seen anything like it. Brightly coloured billboard advertisements adorn every crevice of this area. Its so bright, busy and noisy but definitely take a stroll through here. I was really glad that we swopped our hotel from here though and I can't imagine being able to get asleep anywhere around here. In the city that never sleeps this place is on another Level.

Where to eat/drink..

Beauty and Essex... Book this place now if you are going. You can book restaurants through an app called open table up to a month before. From the outside it is an old pawn shop with old record players, jewellery and guitars and through the door at the back of the shop it leads into the most amazing bar and restaurant. I absolutely loved this place and the food was gorgeous too. This was the coolest place, its a must.

Del Frisco's grill... there is a couple of these steak houses located around New York and this was without a doubt the nicest meal we had there. Our waiter was so nice which always makes the dining experience nicer and it was packed too. Another one you would have to book in advance.

Try Joes pizza.. just off Times Square it is a small pizza shop with delicious pizza slices. Celebrities pictures that have visited cover the walls of the small shop and you can expect to wait in a long queue to nab one of these slices. We got lucky the day we went and there was only about five people in the queue.

Rolfs restaurant.. if you are heading at Christmas time its another MUST VISIT!! Have a look at the picture of it from my instagram and you will be able top see how extra the Christmas decorations are, its like a grotto! we just went here for a drink rather than eating here as I just wanted to see the place. Expect to queue outside here. It opens at midday every day so get there early to get in for a drink.

Ellens Stardust diner.. I loved this place. Eat your breakfast while listening to some amazing singing wait staff. All of the wait staff are aspiring future stars of stage and film. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner but we went for breakfast here. Its another place you can expect to queue for but its worth the wait.

I am going to wrap this up here because I feel like its the longest blog post ever and if you have gotten this far thanks for reading and hopefully you liked my tips and have a great trip to New York.

Dominique
xoxo


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Tuesday 20 November 2018

Black Friday, lets shop!!



If you are an avid online shopper like me than this is the Christmas of shopping in my books.

I'm gonna leave some of my favourite pieces from some of my favourite online stores below with some links that you can shop through.

Get them quick before they are sold out!!

Im obsessed with sequin at the moment so you will see a lot of it in the links below. I think its so nice for Christmas time.

BOOHOO - Shop Boohoo
50% off the site



I have to say I am fond of a nice suit and this is the perfect one.





Leopard skirt So many ways to style this one










Some of the links used in this post are affiliate links which means I can earn a small percentage when you buy an item but it doesn't cost you any extra to use these links, the prices of the items remain the same.
I will update this post as the week goes on with more links and codes. Hope you like the pieces I chose.

I will leave a list below with all the retailers and their discounts for Black Friday.

Luxury Fashion & Accessories
Selfridges
Up to 20% off site-wide, using the code SELFCCE
T&C: 21st - 26th November
Net-A-Porter
Up to 25% off in private sale
T&C: started 20th November, create an account for discount to be applied at checkout

Fashion

Mango
30% off everything early access with code BLACK18
T&C: started 21st November
Topshop
Up to 50% off selected items
T&C: started 20th November
H&M
Up to 50% off tops
T&C: started 21st November, promotions changing every 48 hours
Public Desire
25% off outerwear & boots with code NEEDIT25
T&C: 21st November only
Shopbop
Up to 25% off full price items, up to 75% off sale items with code: MORE18
T&C: started 20th November

I Saw it First
50% off everything with code JACKFRIDAY
T&C: started 20th November
Missy Empire
25% off everything with code TEASE
T&C: started 21st November
50% off sitewide. New promotions daily
T&C: 19th November onwards
20% sitewide Code: OFFICIAL
Or 
40% off selected styles
GHD
Up to 30% off selected lines
T&C: started 20th November
20% off sitewide  
T&C: 22nd - 26th November
20% off £75 and above (UK)
20% off €100 and above (IE)
T&C: 22nd November onwards

Dominique 
xoxo

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Thursday 15 November 2018

My new Huawei mate 20 pro




Hi Everyone,

If you have been following my instagram you may have noticed I swapped phones recently to the new hauwei mate 20 pro. I was lucky enough to get to go to the Huawei tech conference in London a few weeks ago where we learnt about all the new features and were gifted the phone.

I have always been an iphone gal but once I saw the camera and new features on the Huawei I knew I was gonna make the swap. If you are thinking of getting a new phone for Christmas and you are into photography then I think this phone could be the one for you.

I am gonna leave a little list of my favourite features on the phone below. Bear in mind I am 100% no tech expert and this post is not being sponsored but I got so many messages about the phone since I swapped over that I thought it would be good to just write a post and have it all here for anyone interested in reading. I'm going to keep this short and sweet because for any real details on the phone you can google some in depth reviews by tech experts.

So the phone has an in display fingerprint scanning system, 3d facial recognition, three cameras and it can charge other phones wirelessly. You can charge someone else's phone by turning on the reverse charge feature and laying a phone on the back of the Huawei mate 20 pro. It is seriously cool and I'm sure in years to come this will be standard on every phone, its the future!! It also has the longest battery life as it has a 4,200mAh battery. Battery is a huge thing for me and I haven't had to reach for my charger during the day at all since I start using the phone over a month ago and believe me when I say my phone is literally never out of my hand. The phone comes with a 40w super charger which will charge the phone up to 70 per cent in just 30 minutes. Its amazing!

The internal storage is 128gb and you will shortly be able to buy a nano memory card for the mate which will get you and extra 256gb of storage also.

The phone is made from glass and is available online in multiple colours. Unfortunately the black is the only colour being released in Ireland first and then they might introduce others after. I have the dark forest green colour and its so nice. The screen on the phone curves around the sides of the phone and is unbelievably clear.

Now for the main feature, the camera. As I said the phone houses 3 cameras. Set out in a square on the back of the phone with the flash ( its all about the symmetry), the mate has a 40 mega pixel main camera, a 8 mega pixel telephoto for zooming and a 20 mega pixel ultra-wide angle camera. The ultra wide angle lens makes for the coolest shots. I met with one of the Huawei trainers Ros and he thought me how to use all the features on the camera. I'm so excited to get artsy with my shots in New York. The night mode on the mate is insane too and it captures the best night shots!

The camera has a master AI setting which basically means it can identify whats its shooting and choose the best mode for you itself. So if you don't know much about photography the camera will capture the best shots for you and make you look like a pro photographer. If you are taking a picture of a blue sky the phone will recognise this and enable the blue skies scene and hike up the colour saturation making the photo as a whole a lot more vibrant. With my last phone I noticed if I focused on the sky to get the vibrancy of colour it would in turn make the person in the shot lose colour. I could only focus on the person in my shot or the sky and with the mate camera it doesn't compromise on either.

Another cool feature is that you can add filters to your video whilst filming. One of the filming features is the camera will detect the skin tone of a person in the frame and will keep the person including their clothes in full colour whilst making the background black and white. Its amazing!

The mate 20 is also water resistant up to 2m for 30 minutes and has a new underwater camera mode. I have yet to try this out but I can't wait for the summer so I can use it.

As you can see the phone is jam packed with cool new features and you could actually read pages on it. Before I go and just leave some shots below I can't forget to mention that the AI in the camera will allow you to scan food and will bring up calories and grams in the food, it can translate full menus into different languages, it can take a picture of say a watch and it will bring up where you can buy said watch. It so futuristic and I was honestly in awe when I say these features at work. The food scanner can be a bit temperamental but the more you use it the quicker it will get at recognising what you are scanning because of the AI. 

There is only one or two things I don't like about the phone. One being it has software on it that has an inbuilt beauty filter in the front facing camera so it softens and smoothens the skin and at the moment you can lower this down but you can't completely turn it off. Most people will probably like this feature but I would like to have the option to be able to turn it off. And the last thing is when shooting on the camera it takes a couple of seconds to take the shot as its trying to get the clearest possible one so if I was trying to take pictures of my niece its hard and I have to just use burst photos because you need to stay still for the normal camera to get the shot.

I hope my basic review helped if you are thinking of getting a new phone. I will leave some photos I shot on the camera below.

Thanks for reading.

Dominique Xx

Photo cred for the first four photos goes to Ros_huawei. Follow him on instagram to take a look at his shots, he is the Huawei trainer I met last week and his shots are unreal!!



















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Saturday 3 November 2018

Galway Girl






Hi everyone,

I recently took a little trip to Galway city and I honestly loved it so thought I would leave a little travel guide for anybody thinking of going for a few days or a weekend away.

Stay at... 

The Forster court hotel

We spent two days here mid-week and it was so nice. Its bang in the centre so literally just around the corner from Eyre square so everything is within walking distance. The hotel was renovated last year and the interiors are fab. We stayed in Galway a few years ago and the hotel was a little bit outside the centre. In saying that it was probably not even 10 minutes by car but we didn't venture in to the city for a night out. The hotel was lovely too (the G hotel) so we just stayed and enjoyed that in the evenings and had our meals and drinks there, but I preferred it so much being in walking distance to bars and restaurants this time around.

The Forster is also attached to the most beautiful hyde bar which houses the biggest gin bar in Ireland. The interiors in Hyde are amazing as you can see in some of my photos. We had dinner and drinks there our first night and the bar was so nice we went back the second evening just for one aswell.
Breakfast is also served in hyde when you stay in the hotel, the portions are massive and exactly what you need after a few too many drinks the night before.

Where to eat...

Hyde bar- steak was divine here! 

The front door pub - I got the nicest caesar salad here.

Dough bro's - So many people recommended here but we actually didn't go. I am a major chips lover and they didn't do chips! Silly I know but you don't wanna see me when I get hangry.

Cupan tae - If you are going to Galway with the girls or just a couple this is a place that is not to be missed. I went here about 3 years ago and honestly its the first place I think of when I think of Galway. It is a little cafe that does so many different types of teas,coffees, cakes & treats and the decor is just adorable. It has the cutest china tea pots and 1920's music playing in the background. I just loved it!

Jungle cafe - We just stopped by for coffee. Its jungle themed hence the name and perfect for those insta shots.

Last but not least 
 Caprice cafe - We went here for breakfast before heading back to Dublin and I was raging that we hadn't got dinner here during our stay, its such a cute spot.



Where to grab a drink...



I feel like a bit of a gin connoisseur since being down in Galway. Every drink I had was a different gin and do you think I can remember any of them now a week later 😢 Would it be weird to take notes in a bar of what drinks you like? probably! Anyway I liked them all and learnt that I like a fruity gin. 
Galway is known for great night out and it didn't disappoint. So much so that as soon as we were on the road home I was talking about organizing my work Christmas party down there.We were there a Tuesday and Wednesday and the place was still lively and buzzing, there was no empty bars but just a nice atmosphere in all of them. I will leave a list below of some of the ones we ventured to.




Hyde bar - you simply cant go to Galway and not go to this bar!

An pucan- the live music was brill here.

The front door pub & Tigh Nora - we got talking to a really nice bar tender here who really knows his drinks. His name was Fiachra, so if you are heading grab a drink upon his recommendations.

The kings head

The quays bar - this bar is really touristy and was actually jammer's the Tuesday we went. Its another branch of the quays bar in temple bar where myself and Damien met so we went in for a couple. Great for a trad session.

Tig Choili- the tiniest pub but one to experience.


Hope you enjoyed this post and have a great time if you are heading to Galway.

Dominique 
XOXO




















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Tuesday 11 September 2018

AW 18 is upon us!!


Autumn Winter 18 is upon us and I have your knitwear sorted!!


Hi everyone,

It has been so long since I sat down to write a blogpost. I have been off work the past few weeks with my injury so I thought what better time to do some online shopping and share some of my favourite pieces for winter.

I actually haven't picked up anything at all for AW and obviously still cannot hit the shops so I will be doing the majority of my shopping online over the next few weeks and should have a nice wardrobe built up in time for when the cast comes off. I am going to break my blogposts into separate categories to make them easier for people to search. I can already feel the cold starting to creep in so I have put together a nice selection of pieces to keep you warm yet stylish for the coming season.

First up, Knitwear!!

If you have been following me since last year you might remember I got a bit of an obsession with knitwear. I had so many jumpers at one stage that I couldn't open the wardrobe without being attacked by falling knitwear and I fear that this year is going to be no different. So here is a couple of my favourite knits that I will be living in soon enough.


Tip: I always tend to buy my knitwear at least 2 sizes too big as I like to wear them oversized and cozy.



zara knit


 Polka Knit














As you can see AW for me doesn't mean I swop all my colourful summer outfits for all black. I love to have colour and prints in my wardrobe especially on the gloomy winter mornings. Thats all I have for now but I will be adding pieces to this blogpost over the coming weeks as I find them online so be sure to check back.

Some of the links I have added are affiliate links. This means I can earn a small commission for anybody who uses these links when purchasing but it doesn't change the item of the piece for you at all.

Hope you liked this post. I will have my next one up in a couple of days.

Dominique 
xoxo
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Wednesday 7 March 2018

Spring time look







Hey Girls,

Looking forward to the arrival of Spring I decided to shoot some spring time looks for the blog. Spring/ Summer is my favourite time of the year and I love adding some colourful pieces to my wardrobe.

I picked this full outfit from River island and think all the pieces work well together but I know they will also work as individual statement pieces too. I actually fell in love with the shoes, the colour will give a pop to the plainest of outfits. I'm also all about these new cropped jeans, the fit is really flattering and I feel like they will work if you are short or tall. 

This is a look that can work well for lots of occasions I'm thinking Communions, Confirmations or afternoon tea or drinks with the girls.

The blazer and jeans trend is something that I really like as its not as formal as a full suit that you might feel like you need a wedding or proper engagement to wear it to.

I will include some links for outfit below.

Blazer Shop here
T shirt shop here
Jeans shop here
Shoes shop here
Bag shop here

Dominique
xoxo

P.S If you like these type of posts please let me know and I can do more.

(this post includes affiliate links which just mean I will earn a small commission if you use them but they wont affect the price of the item)

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