Recent Events – The Body Shop, Stella & Dot, Zomato and an Evening with Nick Munier

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MY BLOGGING STREAK!

It’s over! Rats. I felt so disciplined churning out regular posts. Its been nearly a week since I wrote anything…but I do have a reason, I’ve felt ill and generally quite gross. Since I work from home, taking time off would seem a little unorthodox; so I’ve made sure to make each evening my recovery/downtime. No laptop screen after 5pm every night this week. Until now, of course. Anyway, as you’ve probably noticed in your environment as well as I have that whatever this is, it’s going around. I’ll get over it!
Over the last week a few things happened, so I’m just writing up a quick post to share the news. As you will have gathered from the leading image of this post, one of those things involved The Body Shop.

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Last Thursday morning I attended the opening of the new store on Liffey Street. If you’re not familiar with Liffey Street, from where I took this photo Arnotts side entrance is behind me (where JOE’s coffee is) and the Ilac Centre is on my right.

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The opening was quite early, which meant breakfast! Piles of gorgeous pastries were just waiting to be drooled on. I had the heaviest chocolate filled macaroon type sandwich thing, and plenty of orange juice to keep me going during product perusing and the day ahead. I went with my friend Laura, another blogger and stylist…met some lovely new people and bumped into a very old friend who’s working at Stellar magazine.

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Christmas gifts for everyone – men, women and children!

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The amazing Caitriona from Revolve PR and my good friend Laura Mullett, stylist and creator of Lipstick Gossip.

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I bought two of the body shimmers at the event, one for myself and one for a Christmas gift. The product isn’t over the top – the shimmer is very subtle and lightly scented. I love anything with an atomiser for my dressing table and at €22.50 each, I had to pick a couple up. What can I say? I just can’t help myself.

Laura and I then hopped in a taxi and made our way over to The Dylan Hotel, to attend a Stella & Dot preview. The pieces were beautiful, and some of what’s set to come for Spring/Summer 2015 are timeless designs, inspired by Grace Kelly. Stella & Dot also have a beautiful line of scarves and handbags, which I’ll admit I didn’t know before I attended the preview as Laura’s date. I just ordered this necklace for my Mam for Christmas, which can be worn three different ways. That’s a great thing about Stella & Dot jewellery; it’s very versatile.

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On Monday evening I did my best to sedate my cold (with alcohol) and attended The Taste event, An Evening with Nick Munier at Dublin Wine Rooms. Nick Munier has been a judge on Masterchef Ireland, spent 10 years of his career working with Marco Pierre White and currently owns the French restaurant Pichet on Trinity Lane.

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The venue was great! I had never been before and always wanted to try it. The walls are really just shelves full of wine, and I was handed a glass of prosecco on my way in. There were candles and fairy lights everywhere. A cosy spot to settle into while it lashed rain outside.

Nick chatted away telling us stories about growing up and highlights of his career while we dined on cod croquettes, lamb sweetbreads and pork rillette for our first course.

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I brought my Dad as my date and we shared the most delicious Rioja. Apparently the most ordered wine at Dublin Wine Rooms. I was delighted to hear so many people love Spanish wine.

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Nick Munier and Keith Mahon of The Taste.

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For the main course we had a choice of Ratatouille, confit of duck or venison, followed by espresso and petit fours. Thank you to The Taste for having me as their guest for the evening!

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One last thing – Zomato Ireland went live on Wednesday November 26th. I met the very nice Zomato team previous to the launch to talk about the website and get involved…the idea sounded great and the team are really passionate about the brand. Zomato is a search and discovery restaurant service (currently serving in 21 countries) which currently covers over 3,000 restaurants in Dublin. Zomato splits different food spots into categories to cater to what you’re craving! It’s different to other sites in that it’s deeply integrated in social sharing, and key restaurant information is checked regularly to ensure things like menus, business hours and pricing are all up to date.
Some of my reviews are up there at the moment and if you’d like to follow me, here is the link to my profile! The Zomato app is also available for your smartphone.

www.zomato.com/travelstylefood

That’s it for now. Enjoy the weekend! X

♥ ♥ ♥