St. Patrick's Day Nail Art

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For today's occasion I did some nail art showing the Irish spirit. So here's lots of green, as well as the Irish flag and shamrocks!

Products used:

China Glaze  - Running In Circles (bright green main colour)

China Glaze - Starboard (green part of the flag)

OPI - Jade Is The New Black (shamrocks)

Manhattan - M&Buffalo Off The Socks (orange)

BornPrettyStore - White Stamping Polish (white)

Essence nail art stylist (to draw the shamrocks)

It's just a very simple and fun design to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Nothing difficult to it! What are you wearing today? Any green?

In case you're interested in a bit of Ireland-related stuff on here, check out my post on the Cliffs of Moher, Kinsale or Irish beaches!

xx, Misch

Kinsale: Ireland's Cutest Village

This is the next stop I would like to share with you from my road trip in the autumn. Kinsale was one of your first stops along the Irish coast line. 

It is located in the south of Ireland, not far off Cork. 

What makes Kinsale particularly special is how colourful the town is. All houses are painted in different, bright colours, and you won't find one boring one. Ones that have less colour on the façade are then decorated with lots of flowers or embellishments. This whole meticulous appearance leaves the impression of a very neat and well-kept town.

Paired with the numerous cobblestone walls, the colours in Kinsale really accentuate the town and make it a joy to walk through these streets.

Kinsale was literally one of the cutest places we visited. It is a small village, but built in a way that you can always turn around one corner and discover something totally new. Still, it is easy to walk everywhere, and it won't take you much time.

We passed so many special and individual stores: cafés, bookshop, a café in a bookshop, art supplies, kids' wear, jewellery, and anything else you can imagine. Looking at the windows of all these local shops made walking through the town centre even more interesting.

For lunch we then frequented one of the nice cafés we saw during our stroll through the centre. The Lemon Leaf Café made for a great experience, and that's why I'd love to point it out especially.

It is such a cute café, decorated nicely and the staff was incredibly friendly and hospitable. We felt really comfortable there, and had a lovely lunch.

Their sandwiches are really a great choice! With both wholegrain and white bread, you can have lots of different kinds of sandwiches. The one I had was wholegrain with avocado, lettuce, cheese, home-made mayo and ham. It was served with a side of sweet potato and beetroot crisps.

In addition to the great sandwiches, the selection of cakes is also worth a try. Me and my friends all opted for different ones, and weren't able to decide which one was the best. In the picture shown is a walnut coffee cake, but I can also really recommend the carrot cake, banoffee pie and cheesecake.

I have to say that I can definitely recommend you go check out Kinsale should you ever find yourselves in the area. It's not big, but it makes for such a pleasant afternoon stay that you can't miss it!

Has anyone of you ever been there?
xx, Misch

Cliffs of Moher: a must-see in Ireland

This stop was one of the most exciting ones we had in Ireland: the Cliffs of Moher.

These cliffs are a super fascinating scenery located directly on the western coast line of Ireland, about halfway between Limerick and Galway. If you follow the Wild Atlantic Way, you will directly drive along them.

When visiting the Cliffs of Moher, you can explore a little exhibition about the cliffs and all kinds of facts in the Exhibition Centre. And then, outside, there's a long way to walk along the cliffs. Starting at the exhibition centre, you can walk quite a couple of kilometres both to the left and the right.
If you prefer to stay safe and a bit away from the actual cliffs, it is better to choose the way to the left, where you have more of an actual path.
To the right, the fixed path ends relatively soon, but you can proceed on a way over some fields. There are no boundaries stopping you from stepping all the way to the edge. This is way more fun, if you like a bit of a risk, but also more dangerous.
We walked in both directions, and they were equally beautiful. The right side was more exciting, though.

You can walk directly along the edge at approximately 200 metres above the sea. The feeling you get up there is indescribable. It's frightening but at the same time very exciting. You're full of adrenaline when you look down, because it really wouldn't take much to fall down.
We sat down at one point, feet dangling in the air, and it was such a strange but good feeling. I was most certainly scared, but I am so glad that I did it and made myself sit down.

The Cliffs of Moher are very popular, not only for their beauty but also because they were a shooting location for Harry Potter. The scene in Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, where Harry and Dumbledore are standing on a cliff in the sea, right before they enter Tom Riddle's cave where he hid the amulet horcrux, was filmed there.
You can see the platform on which they stood in the water, but can also tell that in the movie a lot of CGI and editing was used. It's exciting nonetheless!

Even though it was a rainy and windy day when we were there, we spent hours walking along the cliffs, taking pictures and enjoying it as best as we could. We are deeply impressed by the scenery, and I would most certainly go back.

I highly recommend this experience, and hope that you too will check it out, should you ever find yourselves in that area. But please be safe and don't risk too much by stepping too close to the edge!

xx, Misch

On How Happy Beaches Can Make One

It's almost Christmas, and for that occasion I want to share something that makes me happy. Or rather, made me very happy in the moment I experienced it.

I always get a very good feeling whenever I am at a beach. When travelling Ireland and the UK, I luckily was able to spend lots of time at the beach. There's just something very calming and joyful about beaches and the sea to me!

One moment stands out in particular - though it for sure isn't the only one - when I look back at all the great beaches I saw.
When we arrived in Ireland, landing in Cork with the ferry, we all didn't feel too great. Everyone was getting ill, and the weather wasn't that great. But after a couple of days spent doing nothing much, we began our trip along the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland's famous coastal route. The second we drove along the sea, everybody cheered up. Very fittingly, the sun came out, and we just stopped at some random point along the street.

It was neither a particularly stunning beach, nor special in any way, but we all got out of the car, and felt so good. It's really an indescribable feeling we had; I'd said it definitely consisted of feeling free, joyful and also relieved. Just standing there, wandering on the sand for a couple of meters, looking all around. Green fields all around, light sand, and the dark greyish blue waves. Long shadows caused by the low sun of the late afternoon. It looked so peaceful, and so did the few people who had stopped as randomly as we did, it seemed.
We couldn't help but keep smiling, and continued our drive in a much more relaxed and gleeful manner.

Looking back, we always refer to it as "the first Irish beach we saw", and believe me, we do talk about it quite a lot. There's just something very memorable about the way we felt there.

In case you're interested where exactly this beach is located: It's in the very south of Ireland, a little western of Kinsale, and along the Wild Atlantic Way.

In the spirit of Christmas, as much as my beach topic might not be the best fit, I would like to hear some short stories or thoughts of you guys. Anything that makes or made you feel deeply happy and content with the world and your life. Go ahead and share them with me!

xx, Misch