Aila Wang is not just the niece of Alexander Wang, but also one of the worlds youngest style icon’s. How cute is she!! I would happily wear any of the outfits she has on below, she’s stylish but still looks super cute and not dressed too adult.. Cant believe I’m jealous of a 3 year olds wardrobe! Future style star!
Mucho Love,
Aoife X
I know it has been so long since I have posted, I have been so so busy the last 2 weeks and I literally have loads blog about over the next week, including shoots, fashion shows and some great fashion hauls, but I promised in my last post I would talk more about my time interning with Xpose and I have had so many people ask me about it and request another post, so here’s some more behind the scenes info for all you Xpose fans!
I have snaps from 2 more VT’s I shot on location with Xpose, the first was a wedding shoot about English designer Suzanne Neville. Although she is well known for designing gowns for many celebrities (I personally knew her from designing a lot of Tess Dalys gowns for Strictly come dancing) Suzanne also designs stunning bridal collections. Her 2013 collection is called the ‘Diamond Collection’ and features something for all brides. From lace to silk to streamline to princesses she really does cover all the angels while still maintaining a certain continuity throughout. Sarah Morissey looked effortlessly glamorous modelling the collection. The VT featured cut aways of Sarah modelling the dresses while presenter Lisa Cannon interviewed Suzanne about her new collection. Lisa was great fun to work with and was happy to answer any questions I had as well as give me advice on my presenting work.
Next up was another dress shoot but this time it was shot in Lara Boutique and featured Celebrity inspired dresses from the latest range they’re stocking Lust. These dresses are really sexy figure hugging high quality pieces. What’s great about them is the fact that they are so versatile, they’re dressy enough for a special occasion but not so dressy that they will be left hanging in a wardrobe until another formal event come’s up. They could easily be worn to a wedding or special event, but just as easily worn for a regular Saturday night on the town and not look out of place. To me that makes them a good investment! This VT was presented by Glenda Gilson who is so professional, she’s a great presenter and has a really friendly bubbly personality which really comes across great on camera. Glenda was interviewing one of Irelands top stylists Courtney Smith (Who also comes across great on camera and really knows her stuff when it comes to styling!). They chatted about the different looks while models Sarah Morissey and Lynn Kelly modelled the collection.
I really enjoyed my time at Xpose, everyone was so nice and I learned so much. The camera man Ronan took me under his wing and even though I have been presenting and studying media for 3 and a half years now my time in Xpose was an invaluable experience. I look forward to my next trip to TV3 (which is actually quite soon, but I’m not giving anything away yet!) and cant wait to learn more.
Mucho Love,
Aoife X
Last week I was lucky enough to be interning at Xpose. I was so lucky because due to the large amount of requests they constantly receive Xpose don’t take people for work experience/internships as a rule. However some of my presenting work was brought to the attention of one of TV3’s staff and they very kindly bent the rules for me a little and offered me the chance to see how Xpose works, as they thought of all the TV3 shows it would be the one that would best suit my personality.
I was put with one of TV3’s camera men Ronan out on the road and we went from place to place filming different packages for the show. Xpose usually features 7 packages in each show meaning there is lots of filming to be done every day! Ronan was really great and I learnt so much from him on all the different pieces we filmed. The first package we worked on was one for YSL in The Style Club on South William Street. We filmed this piece with Karen Koster (who I think I should mention was a really lovely girl and brilliant at what she does!). YSL’s head make up artist was flown in from London and he created 2 stunning looks on the models using all products from YSL’s new Spring/Summer collection.
The new YSL Spring/Summer collection is really gorgeous with lots of fresh pastel colours that are great for subtle but colourful summer looks and a fab cream blush (in 3 different shades) which is a must have for everyone this spring/summer to create that light dewy glow we see so often re-appearing every spring/summer. I really love the packaging of this collection and and as a whole it looks like an on trend summery well rounded collection that includes eye shadows, lip colours, blush, nail varnish and lots of lovely special additions!
YSL very kindly gave me the new Y Facettes Palette to review as a little sneak peek of the collection. I’ve been meaning to try a new highlighter for awhile as mines been running low so I was excited to try it. YSL have a great reputation when it comes to their illuminating products (of course I’m referring to the famous Touch Eclat!) so the Y Facettes Illuminating Palette had a lot to live up to, and as far as I’m concerned it didn’t disappoint! its a nude colour powder product with a slight shimmer and some very subtle glitter. I applied it along the top of my cheek bones and lightly to the bridge of my nose, the centre of my forehead and top of my brow bone for a little extra definition. It was easy to apply and looked great. The packaging is YSL’s signature gold, very classy, and as an added bonus it comes with a fab little storage pouch to protect it.
Overall I really like the product and the packaging of the Y Facettes Illuminating Palette and think its a great all round highlighter that can be used multi-purpose for contouring, eyes, or even just to add some extra sparkle to any look!
I’ll have more posts about my time in Xpose over the coming days. You can check out the video from one of the two looks created (An Anne Hathaway inspired look) here.
Mucho Love,
Aoife X
After last weeks post including some of my favourite models I’ve had a lot of requests to do a piece on some of my favourite photographers. There are so many photographers that I love its hard to choose just a few so that post will take some time and research.In the mean time I wanted to do a post on my favourite photographer of all time Karl Ferris.
Vedra Meditation (Ibiza 1970, used in 2011 Pacha flower power add campaign)
Karl Ferris’ work first caught my eye in Ibiza in 2011 when some of his work from 1970 was used as part of the flower power poster campaign. I fell in love with the pictures but no matter how hard I looked and researched I could not find out where they where from. It was only one day when reading model and designers Willy Van Rooy’s blog that I saw an article about her time in Ibiza in the 1970’s, in the article she mentioned Karl Ferris and included some of his pictures, almost instantly I recognised his work and knew I had found my mystery photographer!
A lot of Karls most Iconic work was done in the 60’s and 70’s (before the times of photoshop and digital editing!) he has been credited by many to be one of the main innovators of ‘psychedelic’ photography and was a big trend setter during the time. He worked all over the world but spent a lot of his time based in London, Canada Ibiza and the US, he photographed all the big models and musicians of the era including Jimmy Hendrix, Paul McCartney and John Lennon to name a few.
It’s really difficult to find good quality images of Karl’s work online but here’s a link to the online version of his book ‘The Karl Ferris Psychedelic Experience’. Below is a little collage I made with some of his work.
Mucho Love,
Aoife X
I have one more post to do about Miss Tourism World but I wanted to take a little break from that now and get back to what this blog started as, a style blog! Here’s some of my favourite shots of some of my favourite models to brighten up everyone’s Thursday morning, only one more day to the weekend!
Mucho Love,
Aoife X
One of my biggest stresses for Miss Tourism World was trying to sort out a national costume. A national costume needs to be something that represents your country but also something that really stands out on stage. When I thought about an elaborate stage costume the first company I thought of was Love Jewles x.
Love Jewels is a fairly recent business venture set up by one of Ireland’s leading make up artists Julie Caufield. I first met Julie when we worked on a shoot together a few years back, she’s really creative so I wasn’t surprised at all when I saw she had expanded her creativity into costume design. Love Jewel’s is really unique and is filling a gap for high end costumes and customised pieces in the Irish market. Whether it be for a dancer costume, a stage show, a fancy dress costume, or something a bit different for a photo shoot love jewels will have you covered with their extensive range.
One of Love Jewels more elaborate costumes, perfect for a shoot!
This one would look great as a dancer costume.
Stunning Julie models some of her custom studded bras (these can be made to order)
I called over to Jules house for a fitting and we tried on a few costumes. In the end we decided to go with a sparkly emerald green dress and the theme of my costume could be the emerald Isle.
I themed it with a black cloak, green necklace and a green shamrock embellished headband, I really loved the quality of this dress and I thought it really stood out and sparkled on stage, especially against the black.
On stage
In Bangkok Scene Magazine.
My shoes for the pageant where provided by my favourite online store NoPolka.com, if your a regular reader of my blog you will have seen me blog about nopolka before, I use them alot and find their online service to always be quick and very reliable. The shoes they provided me with for the pageant where great because they where super high with a 6.5inch heel (meaning they gave me that extra bit of height on stage) but still comfortable to walk in so that I didn’t have to worry about tripping or having sore feet during the show.
I love the suede effect and the red sole, I think it gives these shoes a really classic designer look. Nopolka are my go to brand for shoes and these stunning heels are currently reduced to a bargain €39.19, unbeatable value! Unfortunately they don’t have many sizes left, but don’t worry there are plenty of other similar amazing bargain heels on the Nopolka website.
I really loved my national costume and thought it was a cool twist on the Irish theme, using two great Irish costume/clothing company’s. You can check it out in the video of the Miss Tourism World final below.
Until next time,
Aoife X
Before I start my review of the eyelash extensions I have to say that having them whilst on my trip really did make all the difference! There was so many early starts for press calls and photo ops, some mornings I was up at 6 but we had to go with light make up because we’d be getting our makeup and hair done a few hours later however there was a constant group of photographers and press following us around so obviously we where all still concious about how we looked, and it is hard to feel you look good at 6am make up free ! Having extensions on my eyelashes really made me feel much more confident on these days as they just made my eyes look so much more awake and made it easier to go make up free.
My eyelashes where done by La Prima Rosa in Celbridge and they really did such a great job, the eyelashes looked so natural and they felt so soft. They where so well done that I was stopped by about 10 different in the airport on the way to thailand (Including the girls in the MAC shop who couldn’t believe they weren’t my own). The lashes they use in La Prima Rosa are mink meaning they are very fine and soft and I think this is why they blend so seamlessly with your own lashes, they then spend roughly an hour applying them until you get your desired effect (I went for a very full look).
Heres a pic of the lashes after 3 weeks.
I would definitely recommend eyelash extensions from La Prima Rosa, they did such a brilliant job on mine and they lasted for 4 weeks. I was surprised with how long I got out of them considering I was having my make up done then removed later and redone again most days throughout my trip to thailand so they where put under alot of strain but they lasted! 5 stars from me!
You can check out more from La Prima Rosa on their facebook page, or call them on 01 6279812 for an appointment.
Until next time,
Aoife X
I got my nails for Miss Tourism World done by Grace from Cherry on Top. I first noticed Cherry on Top nails on facebook when I saw some pictures on my news feed that really stood out to me. Grace isn’t just a nail technician but also an amazing artist, some of the nails she does have so much detail they really are brilliant and I love her unique funky style.
I would have loved to have gone for one of these crazy styles myself but considering what my nails where for I decided to go for something a bit more simple. I wanted something elegant but still something that would pop, grace suggested instead of the regular french polish look that I go for a classy nude colour with some type of design on my ring finger. We decided to use my Jovani Dress from Glitterati Boutique (which I would be wearing for the final of the pageant) as inspiration and go with a nude base and a little bit of sparkle.
I’m so happy with the results, I have really thin nail beds and grace did such a good job at making sure to keep the nails the perfect size so even though they’re long they don’t look overly fake. Two weeks on they still look great, I’m so happy with them and will defiantly be back to Cherry on top to get my nails done in the future.
Cherry on top is a mobile service and operates throughout Dublin and Kildare, super handy and you can get pampered in the comfort of your own home! Grace is a lovely girl, shes is so creative and really great at what she does. Check out Cherry on tops facebook page for more of her brilliant designs.
Until next time,
Aoife X
Last week I took part in what was a very different shoot for me. Most of my shoots to date have been digital, but this one was done solely using polarograph and film cameras. I had to adapt my style of modelling for this because its a lot slower and more set up (also film is more expensive to run so there’s no room for error or the photographer/client will incur unnecessary cost!).
The photographer for this shoot was Peter McCabe. Peter was great to work with, he has a real passion about using the older/original mediums of photography, its really refreshing and a little bit different which I loved!
Styling wise we went for a ballerina style. Rather then dance shots we took more of a fashion angle, like the ballerina in her dressing room before and after a show. We also played a little bit with a ‘Black Swan’ idea with the black and white outfits. The use of film and polaroid also adds a nice retro twist.
Heres a few sneak peeks and bts shots from the day and once I have the finished shots I’ll stick them up, I’m so looking forward to seeing them! If you’d like to see more of peters work here’s a link to his flicker.
Untill Next time,
Aoife X
So I spent my aurthur’s day interviewing the lovely Charlotte from georide shore. It was a great night and I have to say she was a lovely girl.
For the interview I wore a cute stripped backless tank dress (€48 euro from american apparel), light cream stiletto’s (€40 from catch dublin or nopolka.com) and a light cream fold over clutch (last season from River Island). I accessorized the look with a red stone ring, moustache ear rings (both from primark/pennys) and some Barry M red nail polish (roughly €4). My tan (as always) was a calafornia spray tan done by the lovely girls in Sandy’s Secrets Maynooth (had to make sure I was bronzed standing next to Charlotte!).
Before the interview Charlotte got a gift from Irish designer Fionnuala Bourke, it was a fab little phone cover. She loved it, and you can order your own personal phone cover from fionnuala’s facebook page ( I love them, there so cute!)
You can check out the Interview below.
Untill next time,
Aoife X
coolpeoplenicethangs 