The Instagram Diaries: July Special

July has been quite a busy little month for me so far. Between the Volvo Ocean Race and my incredible trip to Belfast to work on the Game Of Thrones set, it has been pretty good. Obviously while working on set and in the studios, I was under strict instructions not to take any photographs. Still though, it was an absolutely unreal experience and one that I won't soon forget. While there I also got to visit the Titanic museum that was opened in March and that was actually very cool too. If you are ever up in Belfast,  it is definitely worth a good look. 

So without further adieu, here - in full Instagram glory - is my July. 

Festivities in Eyre Square during the VOR

The boats

The newest additions to the Quigley household - Carrot (right) and Parsnip (left)

In preparation for my trip to Belfast, I bought some new stuff

The view from my hotel room

On my way to the studios

The Titanic Museum

In the Titanic museum

Cheers for reading, 

Jane

A Little Update

Just a little update on my recent Studenty articles. I had been on a little hiatus from writing and blogging due to college work (not that it's over yet but I needed a bit of a break from studying).
A Buyer’s Guide: Marni at H&M on eBay
Raf Simons Takes Fashion’s Most Covetable Position
Spoil Sport
What Cheryl Cole Did For Us
Five Things You Need In Your Wardrobe

You may have noticed I now have a now tab up above labelled The Click List. This is a little list of blogs, websites and YouTube channels that get me through the day. Make sure you have a look because if you are looking for a little bit of procrastination then you are in the right place!

Finally here is picture from 9gag of a fantastic teapot that is getting me through my studies.

image via http://9gag.com/gag/3935685

Cheers for reading,

Jane

today

I treated myself to a little bit of retail therapy today. No major financial damage was done (thank god) but if you don't mind me saying so, I am quite delighted with them.

So that stripy cutie was picked up in the "last chance to buy" section of New Look and it's definitely something I'll get a lot of wear out of since it's quite light but still quite snug. The lemon yellow tunic top/dress thing is from Penneys and cost a measly €9 which I was extremely chuffed with. I am looking forward to wearing it because I currently have not a hint of yellow in my wardrobe.

Now to the jewellery. I am currently following a particularly great YouTube beauty blogger called Viviannadoesmakeup and in a few of her videos she wore a torc style necklace from River Island so walking past River Island today I thought I'd pop in and see if there was anything similar. There is also currently a mid-season sale going on so I can't say I wasn't hoping it would be on the sale rack. Luckily for me this one below was the last on the stand tucked behind some hideous feathered chokers. Unfortunately it was not on sale but at €9 I couldn't have left it behind.

There was a half-price thing going on in the jewellery section of Topshop also and although I spent quite some time trying on rings, I settled for this spiky gold ear cuff. I was getting a little bored of my simple silver one so this will suit quite nicely.

Along with the aforementioned yellow top from Penneys, I also picked up this very stylish gold and blue necklace. They also had it in a peachy pinky colour and gold but I think the blue version is definitely a keeper as it looks a little Egyptian which I like very much.

Well I must say I quite enjoyed putting that little post together. I will have a night of my head in the books this evening though to make up for it!

Also did you spot my new header? Am trying out a new thing, not sure if I like it or not.

Cheers for reading, 

Jane

the instagram diaries

My sister Harriet and my gorgeous nephew getting their photo taken today in Suzy McCanny's studio in Sligo

After much determination, Francis Boulle of Made In Chelsea finally retweeted my friend Linda

my attempt at Goddess - in the style of Botticelli's The Birth of Venus - on the Draw Something app

the recent gorgeous weather in Galway brought out a lot of loveliness including these cute little chalk drawings that cheered me up immensely on my way to college (shame it's all gone now)

a friend of mine brought a box of Twister ice creams into the library, very yummy but we got a lot of stares

Cheers,

Jane

make up and diet coke

So this past Saturday, I popped into the Get Glam event in Debenhams hosted by Benefit and Diet Coke. I recently won some Benefit make up through the Diet Coke promotion that they are running at the moment so I was only too happy to see some of these products in action because I am still waiting for mine to arrive. While there I had a lovely chat with Ciara from WildChildStories who was presenting the event for DietCokeTV. 

Once I was finished having a gawk at every single Benefit product available, and as you can see from the pictures above there are quite a number a number of them, I ventured over the MAC counter in Brown Thomas to see some lipsticks because none of the Benefit ones took my fancy. While there I picked up this lovely one (that I so "expertly" photographed below) in Hot Gossip. 

Cheers for reading,

Jane

Ten Things That Are So Hot Right Now

1. Wordfeud

It's official. I am addicted. My parents play scrabble a lot but I never play with them because I always end up putting words like "dog" or "cat" down after they've put down words like "magnanimous" or "idiosyncrasy". With the Wordfued iPhone app though, I actually have a chance of winning. Particularly because I am only playing against my best friend and her boyfriend so victories come on a semi-regular basis. And the best part? It's free! Which, if you're anything like me, is the dealbreaker when it comes to the purchase of apps.

2. Innocent Orange Juice

Taken with instagram

I hate pulp or bits in any kind of drink. Absolutely hate it. I do however love a good glass of orange juice, as long as it is pulp-free. My particular favourite at the moment is Innocent smooth orange juice. It comes it a great handbag friendly bottle and it has become quite the faithful study buddy too.

3. Body Shop Honey Bronze Gel

I posted about this stuff before HERE shortly after I first bought it, and it is proving to be a great addition to my makeup bag.

4. Ryan Gosling
It is getting ridiculous at this stage and frankly I think it has just gone too far. Ryan Gosling, you are simply too fantastic and it is unfair that you should just be allowed to parade your fantastic self about with no regard for the feelings of us poor girls around the world. It's even too much for Bradley Cooper to bear!! So stop being so goddamn sexy already. Either that, or come to Galway.

image via google.images.com

5.  Emoji for iPhone
If you like using smilies, then you will love Emoji. Every emotion emojized!

6. NUIG Memes FB page
If you are not familiar with memes, then you should not be here, you should be on 9gag. Go have a browse and then come back here.

So now that you're familiar with the memes and all that, go have a look at the NUI Galway Meme page. If you go to NUIG then you will undoubtedly recognize, and have a chuckle at, some of the fantastic wee jokes they have going on.

image via fb.me/NUIGMemesbyConorStitt

7. Original Source Vanilla milk and Raspberry shower cream
As I mentioned before in a Studenty.me article that you can read HERE, this stuff smells like you're showering under a rainbow with a unicorn made of marshmallows.

8. Studded slippers
I have been madly in love with studded slippers since first seeing Christian Louboutin's pair (check out these ones too. And yes I'm aware that they are for men). Now Topshop are offering some looovely studded slippers too. Asos also have some studded loafers and slippers. Click HERE for a somewhat cheaper version of the Louboutins link above.

image via tumblr.com

9. Lindsay Lohan on SNL
Now I am a massive fan of Saturday Night Live and I was intrigued to see how Lindsay Lohan would fare on last night's episode. This was Lohan's fourth time on SNL and so at this stage, she is well versed in the ways of the show: if you have something you're ashamed off, they will make fun of it. And for Lindsay, it was a night of jail related gags and delinquent girl gangs. Even her opening monologue wasn't free from Kirsten Wiig and Kenan Thompson patting her down and examining her pupils. For the skits however, her lines were few and far between and when she was speaking, it was more like reading because she was very clearly reading from a teleprompter or cue cards. She wasn't so much hosting but more like a guest star or something just there for a sketch or two. Jon Hamm, who was jokingly introduced as the back-up host in case something went wrong, was on screen almost as much as her (okay that may be a slight exaggeration but only slight). To be honest it wasn't really that good an episode of SNL and it was kind of disappointing. Then again though she was following Maya Rudolph and Sleigh Bells which was probably my favourite episode ever!

10. Shazam
As I began this post with an iPhone App, I figured I might as well close it with one too. Shazam is simply fantastic. Hear a song playing in a shop, a bar or pretty much anywhere at all? Desperately want to know what it is? Shazam it! (This app is also free. Whippee for cheapos like me!)

Cheers for reading,

Jane

Backcombing Brush

So the other day I was casually walking around Penneys (Primark), minding my own business, when this little brush caught my eye. I am not really that bothered about styling my hair - I dye it a lot and occasionally curl but most of the time my hair is either just tied up or left straight down, I also wear an unhealthy amount of hairbands - but I am not immune to the odd bit of backcombing. At €1.50, I wasn't going to leave this little gem behind.

So there it is (above) still in its packaging. As you can see my hair is a little flat so this is an ideal product for me. Y'know the way you can have combination skin? Well I have combination hair. Because of the blonde dye, the ends are quite dry and a little frizzy (I know this probably isn't a good thing but I actually rub moisturizer into my hands and then pat it through the ends of my hair which helps an awful lot), yet my roots get greasy quite quickly. This isn't helped by the fact that I have quite fine hair, it's healthy hair despite all the dye - no snappy ends or anything - but fine all the same. 

So here is the wee brush in all its glory. The end of it looks vaguely like something you'd polish your shoes with but as a backcombing brush it's quite fantastic. At the opposite end of the brush there is a little pointy thing for lifting hair up which will also I'm sure prove quite handy for parting (not that I experiment much with my parting).

I wasn't going for an all out backcombed look but as you can see from the picture below and the picture  at the top, it does create quite a bit of extra volume particularly in the little quiff thing that I have going on. Finish it off with a bit of hairspray and you're ready to go. I use Toni and Guy's stuff because it holds really well as you can see in my Halloween costume post.

So there you go. Pop into Penneys for your very own backcombing brush because it really is very good. I did not go all out for a mad backcombing look but if I do attempt a bouffant in the coming weeks then I may post a quick picture of it so you'll be able to see how well this wee brush works. 

Also, dear reader, if you do happen to be a follower/regular reader of my blog, you'll probably have noticed that I'm not really a posed picture kind of gal. I don't take pictures of myself for the purpose of this blog - I once did a makeup post but I took it down because I couldn't bear the Photobooth-style pictures of myself but I'm quite happy with how there photos turned out so I'll leave them up, and maybe I'll even do a few more.

Plus, for anyone who is interested I'm wearing MAC's Vintage Vamp on my nails. I just bought it last week and I so love the colour!

On an unrelated topic, Diet Coke and Benefit have recently joined forces with their Get Glam makeup kit competition and guess who just won a set!?! Just got the email this evening and I am so thrilled! It is the perfect start to my 21st birthday month! Cannot wait for it to arrive. Hopefully it will be here in time for my birthday. I kind of doubt it though because it said in the email that it would arrive within six weeks. Still super excited for it though. Yay!! 

Cheers for reading,

Jane

the instagram diaries

- ship necklace -

- pretty window -

- one of the perks of being a reformed nail-biter -

- Midterms themed all-nighter -

- Pink Lady iPhone - 

- wearing RI gold blazer and Oasis blue scarf -

- flowers -

Just as an extra little note I have also had a few more articles published with Studenty.me, one of which that you can read HERE. This one was definitely the most fun article that I've written so far and a lot of people of complimented me on it even though it's just a little jokey thing. It was even featured in Studenty's Top Ten Stories of the week post. I know that this isn't like a massive deal but I'll take little victories as they come!

Cheers for reading,

Jane

team building

(Taken with instagram)

So this weekend, my Habitat For Humanity team journeyed off into the abyss. 

Well not so much into the abyss but in search of Esker Monastery which actually proved extremely difficult to find on Friday. We were about to start our Team Building Weekend and the first team building exercise of the day was actually finding the place. And we did. Eventually.

Overall it was a really great weekend. There was a lot of playing games, alternative song-writing (pictured above), bonding, sharing and then the whole thing was rounded off with a legendary game of Kings. If you happen to be Kings-inclined, then I have something amazing to share. The "With My Pants Down" rule. When you draw whichever card you have assigned to be the New Rule card then embrace the "With My Pants Down" rule. Fear not. It is more innocent than it sounds. Kind of. At the end of every sentence the phrase "with my pants down" must be said. It sounds juvenile but it is fairly hilarious. Image the innuendo! Actually it's not so much innuendo but just blatant statements. Literally no sentence is safe... with my pants down.

Cheers for reading,

Jane 

today

- birthday present shopping for mum and Harriet -

- more Topshop pants -

- fringed cardigan from Asos -

Today I am heading back to Sligo for the weekend. It was my sister's birthday last week and this weekend we are having a family birthday dinner for her and it is also my mum's birthday on Sunday so today I spent some time present shopping. For Harriet I got a black Juicy Couture maxi dress in BT's (I am not normally a patron of JC but this dress was very cute and Harriet is quite a fan of maxi dresses when the weather is nice). For my mother I spend considerable more time browsing. I spent some time in Topshop musing over a grey and black Chanel-style jacket and another age debating between make up and perfume on the ground floor of BT's. In the end though I settled on a houndstooth pencil skirt from River Island and a bottle of Hendricks gin (last year I got a bottle of Bombay Sapphire for her so I guess that the gift of gin is becoming a bit of a tradition).

Cheers for reading, 

Jane