Dinner at Taste Restaurant

Hi!

Last night I went out for dinner with my boyfriend. We decided to just give each other a present under €10 for Valentine's, & go out together instead. Obviously most people who read this won't be near this restaurant, as it's in Wexford. But if you're around the area - I definitely recommend it.

We went to Taste, which serves 'Modern Irish Cuisine'. I'm a fan of foreign foods, but my boyfriend refuses to try anything more exotic than Chinese or Italian, so it was perfect. It's also quite inexpensive - A three course meal, or two courses and a glass of house wine, for €25. During February, they also provide a complimentary bottle of wine on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday nights. While menus are subject to change, we were faced with a choice of the following:

I chose the crisp roll of chicken with brie & thyme, cracked pepper aioli & chilli oil as my starter, followed by penne pasta tossed with spinach, roasted vegetables and black olives in tomato & ginger sauce, parmesan & herb oil, and for dessert, I had the chocolate brownie, chocolate caramel & vanilla ice-cream. The house wine was a Spanish Pinot Grigio, which neither of us had.

My starter wasn't what I was expecting. It was basically chicken with a mixture of sauces, etc, in pastry. For whatever reasons, I was thinking of something like chicken nuggets (never say I'm not cultured!). But, it was lovely. I'm not the biggest fan of cheese, so as I came to the end of it, I scraped some off, but the chicken was melt-in-my-mouth and the pastry was nice and crispy.

My starter

(Once again, using Blackberry in low lighting.)

I'm a big fan of pasta, so had a little mental argument about whether to opt for the pasta without meat, or another main course, with meat. But it was definitely a brilliant choice. The roasted vegetables were so juicy, and the sauce was a little bit spicy. Although, like I said, I'm not a cheese fan, the melting cheese in this was much nicer than I expected. There's no way I could finish it, my dress was too tight to risk any explosions of my stomach!

My main course.

I'm a major chocolate lover, so I didn't really even look at the other desserts. The brownie had almonds and actually wasn't too heavy and chocolately, which was nice after a heavy meal. What more can I say? It was a nice end to the night!

Dessert.

Overall, I definitely recommend it. I'm pretty sure my boyfriend would too - He said the soup (potato & leek) was amazing, and his lamb (cooked to medium) was some of the nicest he's ever had. I didn't get pictures, because he thought I was an absolute freak for taking photos of my own food. Also, service was impeccable - discreet, but constantly helpful. Fair play!

Since it was a special night out, I dressed up (hence the tight dress & fear of bursting). I wore this Asos dress (on sale for €15.09) with the shoe boots from this post. I pretty much did usual make up:

The dreaded mirror pose.

Primer - Catrice Prime & Fine Smoothing Refiner

Foundation - Estee Lauder Double Wear in Shell

Concealer - Collection 200 Lasting Perfection Concealer

Powder - ELF Studio HD Powder

Blusher - Benefit Coralista

Highlighter - Benefit High Beam

Bronzer - NYC Sun 2 Sun Bronzing Powder

Eyeshadow - Benefit Silky Powder Eyeshadow in Bossy

Eyeliner - Mac Liquid Eyeliner

Mascara - Lancome Hypnose in Black

Lips - Yes to Carrots Lipbutter & DuWop lipstick in Private Red

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Chloe x

V-Day Nails!

Hello there :)

Today, I just have a few pictures to show you of my nails today - As always, I'm behind the times, so they're essentially a Valentines' design, inspired by the brilliant CherrySue's post on Beaut.ie. I'm sure you've all seen her amazing tutorial on how to achieve this look, but if not, you can check it out here.

Since I'm so unoriginal, I basically copied her nails, but I switched the colours (Mostly due to my laziness - The thought of peeling silver glitter off my nails for a few hours did not appeal.)

So, I used Rimmel London's Lycra Pro nail polish in 325, Hot Gossip. It's a nice red that isn't too in-yo'-face, but one major complaint is that it takes FOREVER to dry. I had applied OPI's Spark de Triomphe, a silver glitter with a hint of gold, on my ring fingers three times by the time the Rimmel had dried. Maybe I just applied it too thickly, but if I hadn't had four hours with nothing to do, I would have ended up pretty impatient. For the cute little silver hearts, I made use of a Kiss Nail Art pen. I bought this is a pack of three (white, black & silver) but I'm not sure if it has a name. It can be found in Dunnes & Sam McCauley's as far as I know. It isn't exactly a pen, just a very thin brush, but it worked for me. If you don't have a nail art pen, CherrySue's paperclip method is really handy, and you can use a lot of stuff in place of a paper clip - I used a cable tie for the read hearts. (I'm not sure why I had one of these lying around, but I did.)

Rimmel 325 Hot Gossip OPI Spark de Triomphe

Kiss Silver Nail Art Pen

The original tutorial contains much more comprehensive instructions & tips than I could give you, so look to that for advice. All that's left is pictures. Sorry for the quality - A camera mishap last Thursday night leaves me with just a Blackberry for the moment. Boo.

My 'pictures', clearly I meant picture.

This one which looks like jam dripping

off a glitter explosion is the best one I took.

Which says a lot.

Did you guys have a good Valentine's? I spent the day in college, met a friend for crepes at Lemon (so, so good), then did the Soup Run around the city centre for SVP. Believe me, getting up at 7AM was a killer this morning!

Chloe x

February Wish-List!

Hi!

This week, I've done quite a bit of window shopping, though managed to restrain myself. Here are a few of the things I've tried on/ sampled/ craved more than Bressie's phone number. (Whatta man.)

1. I tried this top on in River Island & fell in love. I do not know why - I'm not the kind of person who shows my tummy off, but with a high waisted skirt (cough, no 2) I think it's amazing.

2. And with that top, I popped on this skirt. It was a spur of the moment choice, as I originally had a leopard print mullet skirt. However, due to the cheaper price and the way it flattered me, I now want this. Hoping it doesn't look too goth-y on me.

3 & 4. This is a definite purchase, but an either-or. I'm coming to the bottom of my Mac Studio Sculpt, & my Bourjois Healthy Mix has given up the ghost. I need to spend a little to suit my incredibly pale face so hopefully either this or this are woth €28/ €44.

5. My shoulder bags are absolutely killing me, with the weight of my laptop/ So if this solution turned up in Accessorize on Grafton Street, I won't lie - I would be very tempted.

6. I have to dress 'smartly' on a college trip to Berlin in two weeks, so was having a gawk at blouses online. But it was this cute one that caught my eye. I like birds.

Anything you've been lusting after lately?

Chloe x

TCD Law Ball 2012!

Hi guys!

This is just a quick 'catch-up' post, with a bitta make-up, clothes, etc from me & a few friends! Warning: Pic heavy!

Last Wednesday was the Trinity College Law Ball, in the Mansion House on Dawson Street, then Cafe-en-Seine. It's black-tie so we were all dying for the change to get dressed up just to let our hair down (after studying hard, etc, etc). There's not really much I can say - We spent four hours preparing, we drank, we ate, we drank, we danced, we drank.. You get the picture. And speaking of pictures.. Here are the amazing dresses that some of my class turned up in!

Outfits

Awear black dress - Black dress

On sale for €33 from Germany

Knee-length Coast blue dress

black dress

The Laundry Room black My dress - Borrowed

dress - about €30? from my cousin!

And of course, it was lovely to see all the guys in their suits/tuxes - Classy bunch! But they don't deserve pictures, because all suits are the same to me. Sorry.

Make up

Primer - Catrice Prime & Fine Smoothing Refiner

Foundation - Mac Studio Sculpt in NC 15 mixed with Sally Hansen Light

Concealer - Catrice All Round Concealer

Powder - Rimmel Clear Complexion Clarifying Powder

Blusher - Benefit Coralista

Highlighter - Benefit High Beam

Bronzer - NYC Sun 2 Sun Bronzing Powder

Eyeshadow - Benefit Silky Powder Eyeshadow in Bossy

Eyeliner - Mac Liquid Eyeliner

Mascara - Lancome Hypnose in Black + false eyelashes

Lips - Yes to Carrots Lipbutter + Soap and Glory Motherpucker lipgloss

And that is all! (Wow, it sounds like I slapped it on..)

I simply curled my hair & pinned it to one side, it was pretty easy!

The meal

The menu

I forgot to take a picture of the starter,

but it was delicious!

Main course of beef, horseradish,

asparagus, carrot & mashed potato,

with red wine jus. Gorgeous,

but I really wanted more!

Dessert of chocolate profiterole

cheesecake, with berry compote

& orange cream. I couldn't finish

it, but what I had was amazing!

So that was pretty much it! Mansion House is such a gorgeous place, but I can't say I was a big fan on Cafe-en-Seine - It was a little too laid-back for a hyper me, wanting to dance! Though it did look lovely.

Have you any special occasions coming up/ just passed?

Chloe x

NYC Nail Polish in Ink Stain

Hi!

Recently, I won an NYC give-away on ArtDonatella's lovely blog; and as I have never tried out their make-up before (purely because it wasn't in my local chemists, it's much more available in Dublin!), now was a good a time as any.

As part of my fabulous prize, I received two of NYC's Expert Last Nail Polishes. Both colours are amazing, but I went for Shade 115, Ink Stain first. It's a stunning colour, which looks navy at first; with a more vivid royal blue shine. I literally sat on my bed for a few minutes, looking at the bottle at various angles, in the light, just to see all the blue hues running through it!

My hopes were definitely high, and I wasn't disappointed. The polish applies like a dream - perfectly opaque in just one coat, and the brush is so thick that just two strokes covered my nails completely. I didn't exactly time myself, but it dried really quickly, which I was delighted with.

Without flash.

With flash.

Similar to the way it looks in the bottle, at first glance, it appears to be a very shiny navy or dark blue. But under the light, you can see a faint royal blue shimmer. It reminds me a bit of Barry M's Nail Paint in 292 Navy, but for a smaller price. Nothing in the NYC range is more than €3.99, so you can afford to try out a few colours!

Such a gorgeous shine to it!

I'm definitely in love, and can't wait to try out my other shade (235, Fine Red Wine) to make sure it wasn't just a fluke!

What do you think of NYC?

Chloe x