FIVE CRUELTY FREE FAVOURITES. | Volume 1

Welcome to a new monthly series I hope to keep up here on ShoStyle - Five Cruelty Free Favourites.

LET'S TALK ABOUT CHARLES & KEITH.

Let me introduce you to a brand that I had the pleasure of recently discovering - Charles & Keith. If you already know this brand then I'm sure you will be well aware as to the reason I fell in love with them and if you haven't already heard of Charles & Keith  then you're welcome..

WHAT I WANT TO BE AT 23.

It's my birthdaaaay! (well it was yesterday).. and if you can't tell from the title of this post, I am now 23 years old. Something I am finding very difficult to comprehend lately is how fast time is going by, so to think that I'm now 23 years on this planet is pretty bizzare to me. It honestly scares me quite a bit but it is also completely inevitable so I'm just going to have to suck it up, right?

WHAT TO WEAR? - OCCASION WEAR (ALL UNDER €100)

Have an Occasion coming up? Be it a wedding, graduation, the races or something else, I've found some of my current online favourites that should help you out on your occasion wear hunt. Everything listed is under €100 to help you look stylish without breaking the bank too much. Let me know your favourites or even better let me know if you end up purchasing any of my suggestions!

LISBON: THE LOWDOWN.

So I decided to put together a post to share the Lowdown on Lisbon with you. I want to share where we stayed, a bit about the food, sights and just general information that may help you if you're planning a trip to Lisboa!

A DAY IN SINTRA, PORTUGAL.

I recently came back from a getaway to Lisbon, Portugal which you may have known if you follow me on social media. While looking up things to do once we got there, I kept seeing Sintra being mentioned but didn't look too much into it. My boyfriend has this mindset before we go places in which he doesn't like to look into the destination too much as he likes the element of surprise and I kind of adopted that attitude as I like the idea behind it. Having said that,  I did follow a Lisbon orientated Instagram account and was pretty much stalking it as the excitement built before our trip, with the stunning Sintra making quite a few appearances.

5 THINGS I'D TELL MY TEENAGE SELF.

Our teenage years are definitely some of our most testing years, well that's what I found anyways. At 22 years of age, I do have a whole lotta more learning to do but I also feel like I have learnt a whole lot too. I can certainly say I am now at the most happy place I've ever been in my life and to be able to say that, feels pretty amazing.

MAKE IT YOURS, MAKE IT THEIRS WITH TUNETOO.

Buying gifts can be a very difficult task and something some of us dread, what do you get someone that seems to have everything? what do they even like? how do I show I put thought in this? But I bought them this before, how do I get them something original? 

COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY.

We hear this time and time again..'Comparison is the thief of joy' and we agree, yet we regularly find ourselves comparing ourselves to others. I, myself actually became quite good for not using comparison as a scale against myself but lately I find myself reversing back to comparing myself to others more and more.

Comparing ourselves to others is pretty much all down to our own insecurities and we all go through phases of feeling our insecurities more than we normally would and I guess I'm going through one of those phases and for a few reasons..

FEBRUARY WISHLIST.

STYLE POST | CHECK MATE.

If you read My 2018 Plans blogpost you may know that one of those plans was to shop smarter and I'm actually proud I've stuck to it so far (yes, I know January isn't even over yet). I used to not think and just buy clothing but again I think this outfit contains elements that can be worn time and time again through multiple outfits so what I'm gunna do in this post is talk through this outfit.

MY FIRST TIME TO GET LIP FILLERS @ THERAPIE CLINIC.

If you follow me over on Instagram you may have seen that I got lip fillers a month ago now. So I guess I'll start this post off with why I decided to get them. It's been something I have thought about for a long time now and I always said I would eventually get them just as I feel I have quite a large face and I felt it wasn't filled out enough..if that makes sense?!

DARE TO FLARE.

Ok so I have a new obsession.. please don't tell me I'm alone in the fact that I obsess over certain items of clothing? 

My new obsession is flared pants, after seeing these pants on Amy Spencer - The Little Magpie, I just had to have them! They looked so so flattering on her and she had said they're super lengthening on the legs so that was them sold to me. So here's a few reasons why these pants may just be the best ever..

1. They make me look taller

2. They make my bum look pretty good

3. They feel like pyjamas so are crazy comfy

4. I've never gotten as much compliments on an item of clothing as I have these

I think they're pretty good reasons if your'e looking for reasons to add flared pants to your wardrobe.

So the question is am I going to wear these pants way too much and fill my winter wardrobe with flared pants? Absolutely.

GET THE LOOK

The pants above are currently sold out so in case they don't come back into stock here are some other flared options..

Are you a fan of flares? Let me know!

Love Shona xo

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NIGHT AT NOX.

I was kindly invited along for a night in Nox Hotel Galway and some of you may remember I spent a night there before and was more than pleased with my stay so I was only delighted to be asked back. I brought my cousin Eimear as my guest as it was her birthday a couple of days previous to our stay so a night away together was just what we needed for a much needed catch up.

  THE ROOM

We were given a room with a double and single bed and were so kindly greeted with some yummy treats. First impressions were that the staff were as friendly as always, check-in was a breeze and the room was clean and fresh for us. A massive bonus for me was that the temperature of the room could be controlled manually and as someone that over heats very easily, the heat was immediately turned off much to my delight although Eimear wasn't all too pleased about this as she's the type of person that loves to be in unbearable heat, whereas I can't stand being too warm! Another thing I noticed and really appreciated was the hair dryer provided in the room, it wasn't one of those crappy hotel room hair dryers which take about 10 hours to dry your hair. Massive thumbs up from two gals that have large manes of hair! The beds were super comfy and both of us struggled massively to leave them the following morning.

DINNER AT FORK

Fork is Nox's restaurant located just off the lobby area. We had a delicious three course dinner here and were left with some serious food babies after. I would probably say my favourite dish was the Goat's Cheese Bruschetta which I had to start and Eimear highly rated her steak sandwich which she had as her main course. Check out what we had below..

Starter

Main Course

Dessert

THE DECOR

The Decor is so fab in Nox, it's modern with the main colour themes being navy and gold which are both very rich and bold. I could sit in the lobby for hours and well, we did just that! Sipping on Autumnal Spiced Latte's in comfort while looking out at the rain.. Yep it was as ideal as it sounds.

So if your'e thinking of taking a trip to Galway, make sure to check out Nox Hotel!

Love Shona xo

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BACK TO COLLEGE CASUALS.

SUMMER IN THE CITY WITH TOPSHOP.

This summer has seen me add quite a bit of colour into my wardrobe, I'm going throw a fashion phase of not necessarily caring whether colours or patterns typically 'go' together when outfit planning. A favourite trend of mine is clashing pink and red, I really don't know how this was seen before as a huge fashion crime, I think they look sooo good together! What do you think? Do you think it should remain a crime? Or are you all for it too? Let me know!

P.S get this tee while you can if you want it, it's always selling out!

OUTFIT DETAILS

TEE - SHOP HERE

SKIRT - SHOP HERE

SHOES - PENNEYS

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*Topshop did provide a gift card for this post, however, all items were picked out and styled by me

BRIGHTEN UP YOUR LIFE WITH PAULS BOUTIQUE.

While I have been quite good at brightening up my wardrobe lately I will always steer towards black clothing and I think most of you can relate to the fact that a black outfit is always going to be a safe yet chic option. Having said that black certainly doesn't have to mean boring. I love adding a pop of colour to black outfits through bags as they are generally the only accessory I ever wear and because I tend to wear black so often I do veer towards coloured bags more often when shopping. 

This Pauls Boutique neon orange cross body certainly adds that pop of colour! I was instantly drawn to it as it's so bright and I'm having a moment for the colour orange lately so it had to be mine. I got so many compliments while wearing it simply because it catches the eye instantly. I will always love items on the way they look alone so I'm pretty easy to sell to, however, when I discover little features that make items practical then I fall that bit more in love. The practical features that this bag has is that it has an adjustable strap which is a big bonus for me as I'm only 5ft 3" so I do find a lot of cross bodies are too long for my physique and just don't look right so I have this adjusted to the second shortest length and it sits just right. It's also a lot roomier than it appears due to the very soft PU leather material used to make it so it is not a completely structured bag - I managed to fit my camera, 2 lenses, my purse (which is unnecessarily big) and some makeup bits in there so I was happy out! 

OUTFIT DETAILS

BODYSUIT - SHOP HERE

BAG - SHOP HERE
SHOES - PENNEYS(old stock)

Love Shóna xo

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*Pauls Boutique gifted this bag to me, however, I chose the bag myself and all my opinions are my own

*some links are affiliated

AFTERNOON TEA AT THE HOUSE HOTEL | GALWAY.

Yesterday evening, myself, Aimee (floralesque.com), Ciara (ciaraswalsh.com), Kerrie (bellaandvogue.blogspot.ie) and Kieran (@galwayplayer) met for some afternoon tea in The House Hotel here in Galway. It was certainly an evening of firsts for me as I had never been in The House Hotel before nor had I ever had Afternoon Tea, which is a practically seen as a sin if you're a blogger as it's guaranteed to be an Instagramable experience.

The House Hotel is located in the heart of Galway's Latin Quarter and is renowned for being Galway's unique city centre boutique hotel. I had always heard great things about the interiors of the hotel so that was certainly something I was excited to see for myself and I can tell you now that I  was not disappointed in the least. It's vibrant, modern and is oozing with quirkiness which is something I adore in interiors. The afternoon tea was hosted in the lobby which has a main colour scheme of pink and is full of comfy couches and chairs to nestle into while you indulge in all of the scrumptious treats.

There are 4 types of Afternoon Tea in which you can choose from, the first being 'The House Traditional Afternoon Tea' and that costs €19pp, then there is 'Afternoon Tea with Bubbly' and that is €25pp, there is also 'A most unusual Afternoon Tea with Hendricks Gin' and costs €28pp and finally 'Afternoon Tea with Champagne' which is €30pp. Just a little note... all Afternoon Teas must be pre-booked in case it is something you are thinking of trying out! :)

We decided to book the first option which is 'The House Traditional Afternoon Tea' and we were required to put a deposit of one person so that was €19. We booked it for 6pm so it would suit everyone that was working etc. so it's good to know it doesn't necessarily have to be in the afternoon, it can also be a lovely way to spend an evening.

So you are firstly offered your teas/coffees and if you drink neither you can opt for a hot chocolate like Aimee did so everyone is catered for! Then comes the food and my god, were our mouths watering as it approached the table. Our first thoughts were - we are never going to get through all that food, there was loads so even though we chose the least expensive option, there certainly was no shortage of food given!

The first tier consisted of savoury food so it was sandwich type food I guess you would say. My favourite from that tier would have to be the brown bread with spinach and goats cheese as that is pretty much 3 of my favourite foods all piled on top of each other. The other choices were yum also, I literally can't fault them, there was nothing I didn't enjoy. 

Next, there was a layer of scones and to my delight, there was not only fruit scones but plain ones also as I strongly agree with James Kavanagh on his comparison of raisins to the devil's droppings. Everyone else nibbled on the fruit ones but I stuck to the plain and they were delish, I just find something so comforting about a scone accompanied with a hot drink.

Lastly, but certainly not least were the sweet treats, there were mini eclairs, salted caramel squares which by the way literally just melted in my mouth, oh my god, like I couldn't believe the yuminess! There were also brownies which had the most perfect hard layer/soft centre ratio and lemony cake bits which I also enjoyed immensely as anything lemon flavoured is guaranteed to be a hit with me. Can you tell which tier was my fave?

We finished off the evening with a cocktail each and firstly I couldn't get over the massive selection of cocktails The House Hotel have available, it is by far the largest cocktail menu I have ever seen. I chose 'Summer Garden' (the clear/green one in the pic) which contained Beefeater Gin, St.Germain elderflower liquer, apple juice, fresh lime and house infused rosemary. It was definitely right up my street as it was refreshing and didn't have any nasty kick to it. Feel like I need to make a few more trips to The House Hotel and make my way through their cocktail menu! 

I have sat back and tried to think about a downfall from the evening as I always want my reviews to be as real as possible but I honestly can't fault the evening, I really enjoyed it! It was a nice relaxed environment with good food and great people, what more could a gal want.

Love Shóna xo

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AFFORDABLE OCCASION WEAR DRESSES.

1 - SHOP HERE (available in 10 colours) 

2 - SHOP HERE (available in 4 colours)

3 - SHOP HERE

4 - SHOP HERE

5 - SHOP HERE

6 - SHOP HERE (available in 6 colours)

7 - SHOP HERE (available in 4 colours)

8 - SHOP HERE

9 - SHOP HERE

10 - SHOP HERE

11 - SHOP HERE

12 - SHOP HERE

13 - SHOP HERE

 14 - SHOP HERE

15 - SHOP HERE

Love Shóna xo

FOLLOW SHOSTYLE..

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*links are affiliated