Jetsettin’ to Dublin and Paris: Part 1

Ah!!! Holiday time! I’m such a lucky girl! My boyfriend decided it was time we took a little break, so we packed our bags and headed off to Dublin. It’s a city I had never visited before, but my man goes there all the time for work. So he was keen to show me all his favourite places. After a few days in Dublin, we went to Paris… Oh la la!

I packed up my jewels, shoes, dresses and camera and headed out the door. It was my first opportunity to use my Aspinal of London passport holder. I had been wanting one of these for ages, so I was super excited to be using it! It was also a great excuse to wear as much Chanel as possible, when in Paris…

When I travel, I always take different skincare products to what I have been using at home, it’s a nice opportunity to try new things. This trip I have been loving Gazelli’s Triple Youth skin polish exfoliator and face mask, Bioderma’s moisturiser, Balance Me Cleanser and eye cream, Essence 27 Serum, Jo Malone London Wild Fig & Cassis cologne and Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray. I always pack a face mask as travelling really cripples my skin and Gazelli’s face mask did just the trick for me, it left my skin radiant and healthy even with all the travel.

Dublin was fabulous! We stayed at The Clarence Hotel, it might be owned by U2’s Bono, but I tried not to let that bother me. It’s really pretty, located by the river just by Temple bar. While it’s a great location for bars and restaurants, it’s not too noisy at night. We ate at a number of places, we liked the Elephant & Castle so much we went there twice! The chicken wings in a basket were ammmmazing, as was the club sandwich. We could have easily shared one main main and one side between two as the portions were so huge, but we didn’t know so we just stuffed ourselves instead! Breakfast was good, but lunch was great!

I think the best meal in Dublin had to be the fillet steak at FX Buckley. Wowzer! I had heard good things about this place, but it was so much better! The steak was perfect, one of the best I have ever had. That was one good cut of meat I love steak restaurants! The staff were lovely and the sides were amazing, the decor was cool, I can see why my boyfriend goes every time he’s in Dublin! I swear, he reserves a table at FX Buckley before he books his hotel room, I can see why! Good steak always costs a lot, but I did think FX Buckley was great value for money, it probably cost about £100 per head, but it was worth every penny!

We took a walk to the Hugh Lane art gallery. We were told it was worth a visit as it has a great collection as well as being the home of Francis Bacon’s studio. I love Francis Bacon and while he lived and worked most of his life in London, he grew up in Dublin. When he died, his studio was donated to the gallery and piece by piece, they transported it to the gallery. It was amazing to see, words can’t really describe it and they had a strict no photos policy in the gallery. For a studio it was dark, but also chaotic and quite frankly a massive mess. Piled high with paint, boxes, paint pots, litter, newspapers, champagne bottles and even an empty box for a magi-mix. It was pretty incredible to see. If you are in Dublin, you must stop by to see it, as well as the selection of work by him in the gallery. It was amazing and probably my favourite thing to do in Dublin!

We of course took a wander around Brown Thomas and and I spotted an amazing bag, which I am still thinking about. If I am still thinking about it in a week, I might blog about it and if everyone tells me to buy it, I might just have to purchase it!

One shop I knew I had to visit in Dublin was Dubarry of Ireland as it was their first ever shop and I am obsessed with their clothing and boots. I have my eyes on their tweed coats for winter, I want their deck shoes for summer and I want their classic Gorway boots for Autumn! I love what they do! The shop was a dream and the girls in the shop were delightful, they gave us an amazing recommendation for lunch too, which was super helpful of them!

Dublin is so much fun, everyone is so friendly and helpful. Temple bar may have been full of tourists, but were tourists too and it was super fun, even the Starbucks at Temple Bar had a party atmosphere (shout out to Katie and David who work there!)

Hope you enjoy my photos!