Online Shopping Aussie Style

Since arriving in Australia almost 18 months ago, I've really embraced online shopping. Perhaps it's my loyalty to the Dundrum Town Centre that keeps me out of the Westfield Malls, but I think it has more to do with not wanting to miss the glorious sunshine at the weekends, and the fact that there's only one evening of late night shopping a week in Sydney. I've been a fan of SaboSkirt since before I made the move to the other side of the world; but I've discovered a few more gems over the past year. Here are my picks for fantastic online shopping in Oz - with casual & night out outfits covered.

www.saboskirt.com

Bright colours, gorgeous prints, cute dresses & shorts, as well as nice tailored blazers, SaboSkirt is the perfect place to update your Summer wardrobe. They deliver internationally too.

www.shilla.com.au

Cool seperates in great fabrics, minimalistic shift dresses & a brilliant sale every few months, the majority of dresses in my wardrobe are from Shilla. I'll more than likely be wearing one out in Dublin town this weekend! They also ship internationally.

www.mintymeetsmunt.com

Minty Meets Munt is a like a combination of the above two online stores. I love their prints & simple shapes; with jackets & playsuits being their forté. My favourite shoes are also from MMM - their footwear selection is funky yet glam. They only ship within Australia at present.

www.zeitgeistsydney.com

Lovely seperates that can be combined as suits, and statement items such as jackets & smart trousers, Zeitgeist provides stand out wardrobe staples with a twist. Love their selection of skirts too. They deliver worldwide.

Of course, there will always be a huge place in my heart (and bank account) for ASOS, but I'm a big fan of unique, boutique buys, as I'm sure you will be too.

Enjoy the online shops, ladies!

Rachel x

Making my Room my Own

When moving to a new city, country, or even house, it can feel a bit lonely and strange for the first while. One of the things that I've focussed on doing since I've moved into a (wonderful) new house is picking up a few bits and pieces to make my room feel more cosy and more like my own. Some items were purchased from a market and some from different shops in Sydney. The best part is that none of them were above $25, and even a few simple additions such as some candles or a unique notebook can make you feel very much at home or make your room feel more like you. Take a look at some of the things I've put in my room recently and let me know if you'd like to find out where to get them (or something similar).

 

 

Rachel x

The Cup of Truth

I bought a few things in the coolest stationary/gift shop called Typo yesterday, and as I'd spent over $25, I got a free cup! So of course... I had to pick this one :)

Check out Typo's website to see the cute and funky items that they have: http://shop.cottonon.com/shop/typo/

Rachel x

YSL Got It In One...

Rachel xxx

Terrific Tokyo!

I'm just back from a conference in Kyoto, which was excellent. Japan is a beautiful country, we were lucky enough to visit both Kyoto & Tokyo, with Kyoto being brilliant for culture & sight seeing, and Tokyo amazing for shopping & just buzzing with activity. Every single woman in Japan was so stylish, whether we saw them on the subway, in Starbucks or just walking down the street, they had the most beautiful, trendy outfits, and gave me a lot of inspiration!

On our first day in Tokyo, we ventured down to Harajuku in the Shinjuku district (the entrance to one of the streets is shown above - so cool!). It was a shopaholics dream! So many shops with gorgeous things, my favourite was a tiny place called Culture Medium which stocked mostly dresses & tops that can be worn both for work & nights out. Some items were really cheap, others worked out at a little less than what you'd pay for them on the Irish High Street, but they were worth it; brilliant quality & super flattering shapes. Now if only I could find a stockist for them in Dublin!

Where's the most exotic place that you've bought clothes?

Rachel xxx

Clash of the Titans...

I've gone a little crazy for print clashing recently - I'm not brave enough to go for a whole outfit though, so at the moment it's just little touches like belts & accessories. I've attached some pictures of the most recent clashes, it's surprising what ends up going together when you try it all on! This summer it seems anything goes, long/short, bright/neutral, flats/sky scrapers... so there's plenty of opportunities to try something a bit different!

Hope everyone is enjoying the sporadic sunshine we've been having & that you're taking the opportunity to wear something fabulous in the beer garden when the sun comes out :)

Rachel xxx

Summer Conferences, an excuse for a Whole New Wardrobe?!

I recently attended a conference in the South of Italy, which is such a beautiful place & obviously has a warmer climate than dreary old Dublin! And I'm going to Japan soon, which is going to be significantly warmer than Ireland too. So this posed a bit of a wardrobe problem for me...all of my conference type clothes are wintery & dark, as I can get away with them all year round in Ireland. But for a warm climate, these heavy, lined trousers & long sleeve black/grey caridgans I have just won't cut it. So I decided to invest in some key pieces that will translate from conference to night out, and also to recycle some of the clothes I already have in my wardrobe, that I once would never have considered to be suitable to wear to work or work based events!

Zara have the most amazing work wear tops & skirts that can also be worn out at the weekend. Similarly, Topshop, ASOS and FCUK all have minimal pieces that aren't too revealing or eye catching, and so can double up as dressy/casual Sunday best, or office/meeting attire. Just change smart, skinny leg trousers for skinny jeans, or a blouse/shirt for a sheer loose vest, and you have a recycled work outfit that is suitable for many occasions! Rachel Bilson looks gorgeous in a white shirt & navy trousers that can be worn both at meetings, and also while shopping (right).

Now if only my feet didn't hurt so much, I'd so wear my 5 inch Aldo heels in the lab... ;)

Rachel xxx

Time To Say Goodbye...

Science is one of those areas in which you constantly learn, and also try to teach others about what you're doing & how to do it. This is one of the best parts of the job, as it keeps things fresh, it also keeps your mind active, plus it makes sure every day is different, and a challenge.

I've been so lucky to make some wonderful friends in the lab over the past few years - and recently I supervised a masters student, who turned out to be one of the sweetest girls I know! Not only is it great to meet someone in the lab that you can work with, but we also had so much in common when it came to fashion, hair & makeup, and of course the Kardashians!

Today is her last day & she brought me in this gorgeous surprise, I love it! I've never tried any Inglot makeup before, so I'm super excited to wear both the nail varnish & lipstick out tonight.

Thanks so much Zee! Xxx

Full Length & Fabulous!

So many beautiful full length dresses were adorning the stars this week, my favourites are Gisele's Oscar de la Renta, Rosie's Stella McCartney & Kate's Jenny Packham, all stunning! If only we all had red carpet events to go to, sigh...



Let me know which one is your favourite!

Rachel xxx

Write it all down...

When it comes to writing up your PhD thesis (or any other thesis for that matter) it can seem a very overwhelming & daunting task. "Where do I start", "how do I start" & "how do I put off actually starting" are common threads that enter your mind.

I have a simple piece of advice for all PhD students, write up your results as if you're writing a paper BEFORE you start writing your thesis (i.e. within the first 2-3 years of your PhD). Take a few hours every couple of weeks to put together your results, be they positive or negative, into the same format you would use for submission to a journal. Not only does this save time when it comes to putting your thesis together, it makes sense of your results, can help you to see where you need to go next experiment-wise, and is great practise for paper writing. I mentioned this to a few of the girls in the lab, who are currently about half way through their studentships & they looked at me like I'd told an offensive joke. "Why would we put ourselves through the torture of writing now, when we don't have to start for another year?" they asked. All I can draw from is my own experience; and I found the pages I had put together as a potential review invaluable for my introduction section. Not only was all of the information I needed right there (including the time consuming references) but it was in the correct format, suitable for a dissertation. I had also attempted to write a paper based on some of my results, this ended up turning into chapter 6 of my thesis. Of course more work was needed, I had to change a few things around & add more to it, but the bones of it were there, and I had a few nice paragraphs that I could literally copy & paste in.

Take it from me, writing up a research thesis is one of the toughest & most draining things you have to do in science, especially at the start of your career. Anything that makes it a little easier can only be a good thing! Let me know if you've had a similar experience when you were writing up or going through your PhD.

Rachel xxx