Nails - Rose nail art decals

I just had to share these gorgeous pink rose nail art decals. I originally bought some for the lovely Fiona, who then instagrammed them on her nails - when I saw her photo I decided I needed some for myself!




They are so easy to apply. You cut them to size, place in water for around 30 seconds then slip the decal off the paper and apply to the nail. Once dry, apply a top coat.
I only tried it out on my 'ring finger', but if I'd have had more time I would have done the whole lot! I painted the rest of my nails with my new barry m glitter nail polish in Rose Quartz, which I layered over Models Own Utopia [favourite!].

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. Ben and I attempted some Christmas shopping yesterday. I say attempted - we only managed to get a couple of gifts. I got a few bits and bobs from Primark [hello cat onesie, you are amazing] and some goodies from Lush. Hoping to go out today and actually do some proper present shopping! That's if I succeed in dragging Ben out of bed. Happy Sunday :)

Nails - Little owl & spots

Look at that little fella on my 'ring finger' - isn't he sweet?! When I saw this little tutorial via Pinterest, I just had to give it a whirl myself. I'm not totally obsessed with owls, like a lot of people seem to be, but this is cute! The tutorial uses the same sort of method I used with my peter pan collar nails, it's so easy to do.




I used essie bikini so teeny and Models Own Utopia, Lemon Meringue, Peach Sherbet & Black Magic.
For the rest of the nails I applied bikini so teeny and spots using Utopia.



Essie Bikini so Teeny is one of my most recent purchases, and I absolutely love it. To start with, it's a beautiful colour - but also, the brush makes it so easy to apply. I've got a couple of other essie polishes, but they have thinner brushes. I bought bikini so teeny in Boots, whereas my others have been purchased online, so perhaps that has something to do with it. Unfortunately my local Boots don't stock essie [yet!?] so I had to go elsewhere to get this one. Hoping my local will start stocking them soon!

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend. What have you been up to so far? Ben and I had a slow, lazy morning [I watched Glee whilst he dozed - the usual occurance!] then went into town. I had a £5 voucher for h&m, so picked up this gorgeous blouse and a couple of thin knitted jumpers. I think I'm pretty much sorted for the colder months now - I also managed to find a coat I liked the other day!

Enough of the chit chat. I'm going to go make a cup of tea and watch my new Hocus Pocus dvd! Off out for a hen do tonight so need to relax as much as possible beforehand...I sure am getting old.

Recent purchases - vintage, h&m & personalised rose gold

Just a few things I have aquired recently.




The mint green blouse is vintage [1970s], a great ebay find. Been after a shirt this colour for a while, so was pleased to find it!

Lots of love for rose gold with the shoes from h&m [£7 in the sale!] and the personalised necklace from a lovely little shop on etsy. Might do a seperate post on the necklace;I'm so happy with it!



And then I had a bit of a splurge Saturday - bought this burgandy jumper in h&m [couldn't find the coral one on my wishlist, still on the look out!] and the socks are Topshop [obviously].

What have you been buying lately?

Pay day wishlist.

With pay day fast approaching [tomorrow!], I am eagerly awaiting a little shopping spree. I've treated myself a bit more than I said I would this month [oops], so am planning to be better in August and only buy myself a couple of things.

I've been after a coral jumper for what seems like an age now. This h&m one is perfect, and so cheap! The bag is just the sweetest thing ever, however I really don't need another bag so that will be staying firmly on my wishlist I think. The lace trim ankle socks remind me of primary school, but I really want them - although worried I'm a bit too old to pull them off? I love the heart studs, be a nice change from the usual cone shaped ones I use. One thing I definitely want is one of these rings - I absolutely adore rose gold, and these have been in my favourites on etsy for ages. I am undecided over the pink or lilac. If there was a mint one I would snap that up in a heartbeat. And lastly, the new Marc Jacobs fragrance, Dot. I first had a smell of this the other day, and I love it. The bottle is just adorable too.

What's on your wishlist this pay day?

The pursuit of the perfect mint green blazer.

You may or may not know this, but mint green is my favourite colour. Not just recently, as it has been cropping up a lot lately - but for years, probably ever since I painted my room cream with mint green details. I LOVE it.

So I've been after a blazer in this colour for months now. I've scoured shops, online and offline, and ebay. Nothing's really cut the mustard. Well, apart from a Zara one [sold out] I found on ebay for a ridiculous price. I did make an offer [three times may I add] but was rejected. So on I went with my search.
Then I looked on the New Look website, as a kind of last resort. I rarely buy things from New Look, I'm not even sure why... but I'm glad I looked on the website because I came across the mint green lux twill blazer, and for £24.99 I thought, why not? The only thing I'm not sure of is the fact that it's unlined, but I think I can live with that!

I ordered it last night, ticking the 'pick up from local store' option. So I should be getting it this weekend! I really hope I love it. I really like the lilac coloured version of this blazer, so may have to get that next month too.

Bit of a random post, I know. Needed something to take my mind off the horrible day I have had. 10 hour shift followed by parents evening...oh I love my job!

Pay day purchases.

Still trying to be more careful with money, but decided to treat myself to a few things after pay day, and try to curb it the rest of the month.

I finally made my first Lavish Alice purchase, and bought the lilac sequin collar sheer sleeveless blouse. I had been umming and ahhing for ages over this colour or the mint. Mint green is my favourite colour ever, but the lilac was screaming out to me so went for that one in the end! Really glad I did as I don't have much purple in my wardrobe and it is such a pretty colour.



Ben and I went shopping on Saturday, to get a few bits for our holiday. I always get a lot of my Summer holiday bits from Primark as it's so cheap - doesn't matter if it gets ruined on the beach as it only cost me a couple of quid!


I picked up these pretty floral shorts for just £4.


These lovely pastel blouses were also £4 each. I should have got them in an 8 as they're pretty big, but I still really like them! They'll be great to chuck over a bikini to go down to the pool in as they're lovely and long.


The cutest little sandles. £6!


I got these for a DIY but really like them as they are so I'm tempted to go back for another pair. They were £8.


Also got this gorgeous collar necklace from h&m after seeing Rosie had bought one and deciding I needed it!

Since then I have made TWO h&m orders, but I had some discount codes to use so it could have been worse! As far as I know 1304 [£5 off] and 9800 [25% off] still work, I think the latter expires next Sunday. H&M have a big sale on at the moment, so it's worth checking out and also using the codes! :)

What have you been buying lately?

Instagram #8

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. I have just got back from a lovely afternoon at Sanderson London. We went there for part two of my [very - eeee!] soon to be sister-in-law's hen celebrations. We had their Mad Hatter themed afternoon tea and it was so lovely! Fair to say that I am carrying a big food baby now, though!

[01] I was very lucky to win the first prize in Dayner's giveaway. Here is the beautiful satchel I won, which was full of wonderful goodies.
[02] Pizza Express for lunch last Sunday. Yum!
[03] Topshop saved my Monday with this beaut.
[04] Cherry bakewell cupcake. Recipe here.
[05] Love my red velvet shorts which I bought from Kim's wonderful shop.
[06] My new rose gold watch matches my new mint green jumper perfectly. LOVE.
[7, 8 & 9] Mad Hatter's tea.

Follow me on instagram @sophie_soph

Recent buys.

Wednesday was Ben's birthday and we spent the day in London. We went for lunch at The Diner in Soho then headed to Oxford St for a spot of shopping. The plan was that I bought Ben a few bits as, although I had given him a few presents, I didn't get him much as there wasn't anything he could think of. Well, that plan was soon scrapped as the fussy bugger couldn't find anything he liked! I did shop for myself, though [I have a very patient boyfriend].







♥ White leopard heart embellished tank from River Island. It was Ben who enabled me to get this, said it was 'very me'.
♥ I caved and bought the RI aztec skirt I featured in my wishlist a couple of posts back. BIG LOVE.
♥ Topshop nail polishes in Green Room and Celestial.
♥ I wanted a lovely pink lipstick, this Topshop one ticks all the boxes. The shade is 'innocent'.
♥ Couldn't go to Soho without popping into the Lomography Gallery Store. I got a Splitzer for my Diana F+.

What have you been spending your cashmere on lately? I'm finding it hard to resist buying more 'stuff', but I really should stop as we have to pay off our holiday next month!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. My plan for this afternoon/evening is to go to the gym and then come home and watch take me out! I started couch to 5k this week and will be doing my third run of week 1 later. Has anyone else done it? How did you find it? I'm not much of a runner at all but it's something I've wanted to be able to do for a while.

Recent buys.

Hello, and a belated happy new year! I hope everyone's 2012 has started well? How are everyone's resolutions going? I rarely make them, but have decided this year I need to SAVE. Lots. That doesn't mean to say I haven't been spending, oh no. A girl is allowed to treat herself.

I attempted the sales, but I soon remembered why I dislike them so much. People turn all rude and ignorant, and there's just no need. So after traipsing around the shops jumble sale for a good couple of hours, I decided the best thing to do was go online.







♥ The first two items are from forever21, I got them in their buy one get one free sale. Both items were a tenner, so that's what I got them for! I'd never ordered from forever21 before, but I was pleasantly surprised. The skirt looks better on, and the top is gorgeous and super comfy.
♥ Wedges from h&m, I used a voucher I got for Christmas to buy these. They have them in leopard print too, ever so tempting but the black is more practical!
♥ Leopard print pussy bow blouse from new look.
♥ Oh, and, what's that? Yes, it's a white iphone 4! After being a blackberry user for over a year I have finally seen the light. My iphone will be with me tomorrow. Any app recommendations appreciated!

I also have this skirt and these wedges in black on order, thanks to Charlene ;)

And that's it...no more spending the rest of January though...bring on February! Although that's the month of my boyfriend's birthday so chances are I'll be spending all my money on him. What have you been spending your hard earned cash on lately?

Nails - snowflakes.

My first Christmassy nails of the year!


Barry M Racing Green with a coat of Nubar 2010 over the top. I painted the snowflakes on my ring finger using my new nail art pen from Topshop.


Hope everyone has had a good weekend? I spent this morning recovering from last night - it was my work christmas do, had such a good time! We went to a lovely Italian. I had a starter as a main because all the main meals were full of fish/meat - they gave me sooo much pasta, I could not eat it all! I somehow managed some tiramisu for pudding though, which was heavenly. Karaoke after, followed by lots of shots and drinking games...we will have lots to talk about at work tomorrow, that's for sure.
Had a yummy Harvester for lunch with my boyfriend today, and bought a gorgeous dress from h&m which I tweeted a photo of. I might wear it on Christmas Eve, I'll obviously replace the trousers with tights and wear a belt to nip it in a bit at the waist. And after trying my local starbucks for a half price tumbler with no luck, my Mum messaged me to say she'd got me one! Best Mum ever! .

Right I'm off to watch Elf! Hope you all have a lovely evening. Mine will be spent watching X Factor and Misfits. Who does everyone wants to win? I absolutely love Marcus, but have a feeling it'll be Little Mix. Although that could be a good thing, as it's usually the runner-ups who do better isn't it?!

Recent purchases.

I got a tax rebate [woohoo], most of it has been put into savings but I have spent a bit of it...why not..

First I had a splurge on the Topshop website. My order came today.


Sheer stripe shirt, nail polish in Butterscotch Babe and nail art pen in Frozen.

I don't own many sheer things, and have always lusted over these kinda shirts. So when I saw this in the sale I grabbed it. Love the fact it comes with a belt - bonus! Never tried Topshop nail polish before so looking forward to giving this gorgeous shade a go, and after seeing Gem's post on the new Topshop nail art pens, I decided I had to try one out for myself! I've had a go with it and am quite impressed so far.

And I've also bought a couple of lovely chunky rings.



The arty imitation ring is from dixi, I really like the colour of the stone and think it makes the ring a bit different to some of the ones you see around. The leopard ring was an ebay find, I won it for about £2!

Now I must try to save my money..well, on clothes etc, that is. I still need to buy a present for my boyfriend's parents, and I have a couple of Christmas events coming up - starting with my work's do tomorrow night. Looking forward to it! Have a lovely weekend everyone. x

[edit] Just a reminder that the 20% discount code for my shop ends midnight tonight [Saturday 10th]. Just enter MISTLETOE at check out. All my jewellery comes wrapped up like a gift, so it's perfect if you're getting a present for someone! Free shipping still going :) [/edit]

Weekend highlights.

The past few days have been really lovely. I had such a great long weekend, it was quite relaxed but I also managed to get quite a lot done. Here are some snippets...




♥ Went teacup shopping in my local charity shop, where I got 5 teacups and 5 saucers for £3.50! I got a couple of candle orders from work last week, so I made a start on those and also made some for the stall I'm doing on Sunday. I've been quite busy sorting out all my stock for that.

♥ Had a nice day to myself in London on Monday. I walked through Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park, took some photos on my diana mini, then walked across to Oxford Street. I avoided Topshop, and just headed to primark instead where I got this lovely Christmassy cardigan from the mens section! I also got a thermal onesie, some lovely thick tights and a velvet headband. It was a really nice day, apart from the fact I really hurt one of my toes and at one point thought it was broken! Just badly strained though, I think.

♥ Made white chocolate & raspberry cookies, which I found the recipe for on both Lucy's and Lil's blogs. VERY YUMMY.

♥ Got into the Christmassy mood [who am I kidding, I've been feeling it for weeks] and put up my little tree! It's barbie pink, it's a bit tacky...I love it.

♥ My faux fur coat which I won off ebay finally arrived. It took three weeks! I love it though, so cosy! Not bad for £6 eh?

♥ Ben and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. He took me out to our favourite Indian on Saturday, it was delicious! Our actual anniversary was yesterday, we stayed in and ate dominos. So classy!

So now I'm back at work, and giving myself a slapped wrist for not going to the gym for a week...I have enjoyed my time off far too much!

What have you all been up to?

Me & Zena.

On halloween, Me & Zena did a 'witching hour' flashsale between the hours of 11pm and 12am. 50% off everything! Having previously lusted over various things on their website, and not being able to afford them, I managed to keep my eyes open long enough to nab a couple of bits!

When I received my order, I instantly fell in love with the envelope it came in! BRIGHT PINK.



I also loved the bags my pieces came in...as I said in my last post, I love cute packaging.


I ordered the broken heart ring and the hexagon eye ring. Both together came to just over £18!





I love my rings. I love the chunkiness of them, and they're not at all uncomfortable which I find is sometimes the case with chunky rings! I'll probably be more inclined to wear them on my index fingers as they're a little bit big to go on any others, particularly the hexagon ring. But still, LOVE. Love love love.

Nails - lilac leopard

Definitely one of my favourite nail colour combos to date - Models Own Utopia for the base colour and Mystic Mauve for the leopard spots.




I originally painted just my ring finger with the leopard, as I didn't have much time before going out last night. But I woke up early [to a cider induced headache] this morning, the boyfriend was still fast asleep, so I occupied myself by painting the rest!

Had a good night out last night, a friend from work left last week so we went out for her leaving do. One of the guys from work brought a pack of cards with him and we were using them for drinking games in 'spoons! So I'm totally blaming him for my headache this morning, he will be in trouble on Monday morning. Ha.

Had a lovely chilled out day today :) I managed to get some more sleep after painting my nails, then my boyfriend brought me tea in bed. We then headed into town for a mooch around, had nando's [yet again] and I got a red cup [gingerbread latte] from starbucks :D I also bought these boots - have been after a pair like these for ages, I'm not keen on uggs - I think they're horribly bulky and ugly! - but these look better somehow, plus they are sooo comfy!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend. I'm going to make a cuppa and watch Vampire Diaries. The rest of the evening will be spent watching X Factor [much to the boyfriend's distaste] and The Walking Dead [something which he does like!] xx

Lomography Gallery Store

Yesterday the boyfriend and I paid the Lomography Gallery Store a visit. Not Ben's cup of tea if I'm honest, but I really wanted to go, and he's nice so he came with me!

Images taken from the lomography gallery store website

The shop is really cool - it's got a huuuge lomowall - the biggest in the UK, apparently - and you can buy the full range of lomographic products.

One thing I did find annoying is that there wasn't any price tags on anything. When I asked a sales assistant, she told me it was a way to entice people to talk to them. I think it's just a ploy to make people spend more money than they should! I was quite restrained though. I came away with the Lady Grey film and fotoclips. I also got a freebie pack of buttons as I checked in on foursqaure!

After all that excitement, we headed to Nando's for lunch, then a spot of shopping in Covent Garden. I bought one of h&m's £3.99 bodycon skirts in a lovely rusty orange colour and this tee in green from Zara, which I'm in love with! Stopped off at Candy Cakes where Ben treated us to a double chocolate cupcake each, before heading home.

Delish!

The rest of my weekend has been spent watching X Factor [anyone else think Frankie Cocozza is really crap and just looks a mess?], laying in bed and drinking lots of tea, taking photos on my Diana F+ using the instant back and generally slobbing about. That's what Sundays are all about :)