Beach Vibes | Outfit

Long time, no outfit post. I've actually bought a decent amount of new clothes recently but I always find outfit posts more hard to plan then a flatlay, as it requires two people normally. I went on a recent beach trip and as the weather was the nicest it had been for a while I thought I utilize it and wear shorts while I can.

   

I bought my shirt from Hollister a few weeks ago as I though it'd be perfect for hot weather and we were having such sunny days here. I'm pretty much obsessed with this shirt right now. The shirt itself is a little bit sheer and I normally wear a crop top underneath it but I thought for the beach that it wasn't really necessary plus it was boiling out. This was the first day this year I've worn shorts also. I wore Converse with this thinking it was a more relaxed outfit but converse are not the best shoes to go hiking in, note to self. I also look very washed out in these pictures, I know I'm pale but I'm actually not that pale.

   

Whats everyone's perfect beach outfit? Have you been to the beach yet this year?

Bimingham Adventure Day Two | City Centre

To finish of my Birmingham blog posts, which have taken me so long to write oops, today I'm going to be posting about day two of our trip. Day one can be read here and Slam Dunk festival day three can be found here for anyone who hasn't already checked them out. As day one was a more chilled and relaxed day we decided that for day two we were going to travel to Birmingham city centre and check out what the city life was like there. It was extremely opposite to how calm it was on the first day and we had a jam packed day of shopping, exploring and just being a general tourist. I really love writing these too.

   

   

We got the bus to the city centre, and thankfully did not get lost on the way by some miracle. We got off at the Bullring shopping centre where we spent most of the day. The place is absolutely huge, like four floors with two separate buildings packed full of shops, as well as endless amounts of roads with interconnecting malls, markets and shops it was crazy trying to find our way around. There were just too many places to visit. There was such a beautiful cathedral right across from the shopping centre and I really liked how the old merged with the new it was nice. I spent way too much time looking around in Superdrug as the Superdrug in the UK is much bigger and better. Plus there were shops such as Victoria Secret and Krispy Kreme that we don't have in Dublin and I was super excited to visit. We picked up four doughnuts to try and they were so delicious and aesthetically pleasing I must say. How pretty and tasty do they look?

After exploring and buying a few bits in the shopping mall we decided to explore the streets. The cute cacti are from Urban Outfitters. The place seemed never ending and we were so tired after visiting almost every shop the place had to offer that we didn't end up going too far. I had wanted to visit some more historic sights but we got slightly lost and ended heading back to shop and took a visit to shops such as Lush, which are always a good choice.

   

   

   

All our shopping had worn us down so we decided to grab Pizza Hut for dinner, We got a Margarita to share with fries and bottomless Pepsi, which came in about five different flavours like cherry and vanilla it was so interesting. Again look how good the food looks. It makes me so hungry looking at it. Pizza Hut do the best thick pizza bases I've ever tried. So good.

   

We just headed back to the hotel after food as it took about an hour on the bus. Who knew shopping could be so tiring? Although we have most of the same shops back in Dublin it's always interesting to see what they're like in other countries. I'd also never been to a shopping centre so big before it was so intimidating but so cool I really wish we had something like it over here it's a lot of fun, but bad for your bank I guess. 

With this post is the end of my little Birmingham travel posts I hope you've enjoyed reading them as I did writing them.

Has anyone ever been in Birmingham city centre before or the Bullring shopping centre before? 

Birmingham Adventure Day One | Nature Trails

In a previous post I've written about my recent journey to Birmingham  for the Slam Dunk festival. As the festival was only a day long and I was over there for three I decided to do a little trip and adventure post to document my trip, as it was super amazing. 

   

Travelling from Dublin to Birmingham takes a little over half an hour which is pretty handy, although travelling still takes it out of you regardless of how far you're travelling. We stayed in a hotel in the Birmingham NEC area which is right next to the airport and also beside the arena where the festival took place which means everything was only about half an hour away which was great. The NEC area is super pretty and we went on plenty of nature walks. 

   

The NEC area has a lot of hotels surrounding so it makes sense that they have a really pretty shopping centre right beside a man made lake, which was just beautiful in the sunset. We decided to grab food in Gormet Burger which is different in the UK than in Ireland. The fries in the UK are so much skinnier and nicer, the whole meal was literally so so good and even thinking about it and looking at the picture makes me want it again so bad. 

There was also a lot of wildlife to be found on our little nature walks and it was so peaceful and calming. There was an abundance of bunnies which made me super happy. I also just really enjoyed being away in new surroundings away from everything.

   

   

Just look how pretty the flowers and the sunset are. Day one was not the most interesting but it was so relaxed and pretty, I hope you enjoyed reading a little travel journal! 

Has anyone ever been here before or go on any nice nature trails? 

Travel Essentials | Carry On Luggage

I recently went on my first trip abroad in over three years and even though it was only a four day trip it was super exciting. As it was such a short trip I only needed to bring carry on luggage which meant that I was limited in what I could bring in terms of the amount of stuff and with liquid restrictions. Before I write my travel diaries I thought I should start by writing my carry on travel essentials, as it's actually more difficult packing for carry on than I originally thought, unless you decide to buy certain things abroad.

I'm not sure what the minimal liquid size for carry on is everywhere but as far as I know it should be 100ml in most places, I was afraid some of my makeup would be over that but nothing was so that was perfect. (I brought the minis of most things I could find to save space though). Other than makeup the most essential thing is makeup wipes or remover. I found that all of my cleansers and toners were over the limit so the best thing for travel is makeup wipes. Even if you don't need to remove makeup, they're so essential to help your skin and face fresh and awake after a long time travelling. I find that the Boots Essentials cleansing wipes are so good for my skin as I am super fussy about makeup wipes, my skin is so sensitive to them but these ones pass with flying colours.
The next product is a mini toothpaste, as it it something I always easily forget but is super important.

The next essentials are shampoos and body washes, although you usually get some in a hotel I find you don't get enough or you just want to take the mini bottles home with you. I picked up the Aussie Miracle Moist shampoo and conditioner from the Boots mini travel section, which is so amazing for travel as they have so much and always have great deals. I'd never tried these before and they smelled so amazing, like bubblegum and so sweet. The last thing to throw in your travel bag is clearly a deodorant or small body spray to help freshen up after long days. Also don't forget to bring a good book for all the waiting around for trains and planes etc. My book of choice was All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven which I am still currently finishing, so far so good though. 

These are my travel essentials and what I brought with me on my most recent travel adventure which I will post about next week. What's everyone else's travel essentials? Is anyone travelling anywhere nice for the summer?