A couple of uni OOTD's :)

Hey everyone!

Here's a sneak peek into my wardrobe from last week... I did post this the other night but Blogger deleted it, agh! Obvs slightly belated now but better late than never right :)

1)

• Jeans - Miss Selfridge
• White vest - Dorothy Perkins
• Coral cardigan - Zara
• Floral scarf - F&F at Tesco

2)

• Camel jeans - Next
• Navy vest - Primark
• Denim jacket - H&M
• Tan suede moccasins - New Look

3)

• Khaki jeans - ASOS
• White tank - Dorothy Perkins (as before)
• Denim jacket - H&M (as before)
• Tan suede moccasins - New Look (as before)

4)

• Checked shirt - Topshop
• White tank - Dorothy Perkins (as before)
• Camel jeans - Next (as before)
• Tan suede moccasins - New Look (as before)

My signature style is def jeans, tank, pump, blazer. What's yours?

Love,

Sophia

xo

FOTD & OOTD: Signature style :)

Hey loves!

Here's a quick post on a recent look of mine :)

MAKE-UP:

FACE

No7 Colour Calming Primer

Bourjois 10 Hour Sleep Effect Foundation in 72 Rose Clair

Maybelline Pure Mineral Concealer in Natural

Nars Bronzer in Laguna

Nars Blusher in Orgasm

EYES

Urban Decay Baked e/s in Buck all over lid

Urban Decay Baked e/s in Smog in outer corners

Rimmel Exaggerate Liquid Eye-Liner in Brown

Avon Color Trend Double Ended Kajal Stick in Brown

No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara in Brown

Mac Eye Brows in Lingering

LIPS

ELF Mineral Lipstick in Nicely Nude

OUTFIT:

Camel jeans - Next

Black tank - Dorothy Perkins

Black blazer - New Look

Jacquard pashmina - H&M

Tan suede moccasins - New Look

This was just for another day at uni! Jeans, tank & blazer is my signature style come rain or shine!

What have you been wearing lately?

Love,

Sophia

xo

NOTD: Marks & Spencer - Mint

Hey gals!

This weekend I've been rocking Marks & Spencer's own nail varnish in Mint! I fancied mint nails after spotting Dulce Candy wearing MAC Mischevious Mint in one of her videos! I knew I had a shade like that in my collection, alas I did!

This shade took 3 coats to reach full opacity, ugh, took ages! I used OPI - Nail Envy (Original) as a base coat and Sally Hansen Diamond Shine as a top coat in this pic. One of my nails chipped the next day, but the others have lasted a couple of days! I would definitely recommend M&S nail varnishes if you're looking to try out different colours, they're only £2-3 and have a fab range of on-trend shades! In fact, most of my pastel shades (lilac, lemon yellow, etc) are all from the M&S range, I bought them all in one go! I've got my eye on one of their colours called Chiffon, anyone tried it?

Have you tried M&S nail varnishes before? Would you rock mint green nails?

Love,

Sophia

xo

Gem's blog sale including Nails Inc & GOSH! :)

Hey lovelies!

Did anyone pick up any bargains in Gem's blog sale? I LOVE her blog Flutter and Sparkle and she's one of the loveliest bloggers out there, seriously :) She even gave me one of the items for free, what a sweetie! (or should I say, tweetie!) Sadly her blog sale has now ended but here's what I picked up...

Nails Inc in Baker Street - £3

I've never used Nails Inc before but I've heard great things about the brand and this colour seemed right up my street! It's a lovely creamy tomato red :) Gem reduced the price for me as well which is fantastic as I can try the product without breaking the bank! Looking forward to trying it!

GOSH Velvet Touch Lipstick in Darling - £2

The infamous Gosh Darling lipstick, another one of those products everyone seems to have except me!

I've read it's the perfect nude shade for your lips. Worth a try for £2, right? Considering how much I love GOSH!

Before:

After:

I was taken aback, I've never worn such a nude shade on my lips before!!! I thought Revlon Soft Nude was nude, but no!

The trouble with it, I found, was that it wasn't a matte finish, it was kind of a sheer, almost glossy, finish so it didn't settle properly so I could see the creases in my lips...

I tried topping it with my Bourjois 3D Effect lipgloss in Rose or Epic to tone down the nude slightly as it was a bit scary!
Didn't quite work really! Again it didn't quite settle on my lips enough, help?!

How do you make Gosh Darling work? What are your favourite Darling lip combinations?

GOSH Lipgloss in 0010 - FREE

I know, free, how lucky am I!!!

I got this in shade 0010, which I'd never heard of before, but it was a glossy nude-pink online which seemed good to me!

Before:

After:

I LOVE this lipgloss! I MUCH prefer the texture to that of ELF's Mineral Lipgloss which was really gloopy and sticky. This is so soft and sheer, perfect!

So that's all I picked up this time, cost me £7 inc £2 P+P, bargain!

Have you tried any of these products? Any blog sales I should check out?

Thanks girls!

Sophia

xo

My first ELF haul!

Hey everyone!

I feel like a right loser, I must be the only person in the blogosphere not to have tried ELF before! I guess I always buy my make-up on the high street, whereas I mainly buy my clothes online! But, having read a few blogs, I knew I exactly what I wanted to order and ELF were offering free delivery (it was Easter weekend) and I jumped at the chance to try some new make-up :) I only spent about £20 overall.

Well, I have to say, it's rather mixed reviews! I've sectioned it off into the standard line, Studio line and Mineral line. I won't bore you with what ELF say about the products because you can always look that up on the ELF website :) Here goes...

WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY!

Standard

All Over Color Stick in Pink Lemonade - £1.50

So impressed with this product, amazing value for £1.50! I would honestly compare it to my Nars - Orgasm mini multiple that I bought in my first ever Nars haul. It's literally an exact dupe! It's a lovely glistening raspberry pink, perfect for the apples of the cheeks!

ELF All Over Cover Stick in Pink Lemonade:
Nars Orgasm Mini Multiple:
They're exactly the same weight as well! (4g)
(ELF - left, NARS - right)

Here's Pink Lemonade on my cheeks...
I love it! If you have £1.50 spare (and let's be honest, who doesn't?) you have to get this! You won't be disappointed, and I've heard you can wear it on your lips as well, double whammy!

Duo Eye Shadow Cream in Butter Pecan - £1.50

I picked up this eyeshadow cream after reading Muhsine rave about it on her blog (Bubblegarm). However I was really unimpressed with it as an eyeshadow.

Here's my eyelids before...
and after...
Can you see why I was disappointed? It really did nothing for me, it left a very slight, thin glaze but nothing really, and that was using both shades.

HOWEVER...

It works really well as a highlighter :) I applied it to my cheek bone (below)

So it's not a total waste of £1.50! It is sucky as an eyeshadow, though.

Studio

Stipple Brush - £3.50

I've never used a stipple brush before but I bought this to apply my cream blusher with (namely my GOSH one which I love!) When I applied it without the blush on one cheek, and with the brush on the other cheek, it looked exactly the same to me. That might be because I'm not using it right, tips please bloggers?

Makeup Mist & Set - £3.50

I was definitely expecting a bit more from the Studio line because it's double the price of the standard line. However I'm not entirely sold with this product. Supposedly a dupe of the infamous Max Fix+, this kind of just left my face feeling wet and I had to rub it in and then it didn't really do anything. I will keep trying because I would love a product that helps to keep my make-up on all day, who wouldn't!

Blush in Peachykeen - £3.50

Before you give up entirely on the Studio line, you have to read this! Probably my favourite product of the haul, I have nothing to compare this to because I don't own any peach blushers at the mo, but just check out the picture below...
How much do you love it? It's SO pigmented, it only needed a quick swipe and that's it! Done. It's such a LOVELY golden peach colour, it's worth way more than its £3.50 price tag! YAY! :) I can definitely see this becoming my summer blush staple!

Mineral

Lipstick in Nicely Nude - £3.50

I had my eye on LOADS of the mineral lipsticks but kept changing my mind which one to get (ripe rose/natural nymph/rosy raisin/runway pink, etc) as they looked so different on all the swatch pictures I found online! Nicely Nude was O/S online so I figured it must be popular and gave it a shot.

Here it is without flash...
and with flash...
I would say it looks *more* like the without flash pic, but it looks nothing like that on the lips really!

Here's my lips before...
and after...

It definitely lives up to its reputation in terms of application and moisture, it's so lovely and soft, a dream to apply! ELF describe it as 'A sheer warm pink with a hint of gold shimmer' and I would definitely say it's not the most 'out there' shade but at the end of the day I just wanted a nice, natural shade I could wear during the day and I think Nicely Nude lives up to that :) I prefer nudey pinks on my lips anyway so this is right up my street, but I would say it's more of a tinted lipbalm than a lipstick. I will definitely be trying out more of the Mineral lipsticks in the future though :)

Nicely Nude on the lips...

:)

Lipgloss in Au Naturale - £3.00

Another disappointment unfortunately, I hated the consistency of this :( (almost wrote constituency lol, too much talk of local elections!) This lipgloss is thick and gloopy and just feels uncomfortable on the lips.ELF describe their mineral glosses as 'a soft and silky formula that glides onto lips to create a luscious shine without feeling sticky or tacky' however I would completely disagree with that (based on my experience) as it just leaves your lips feeling completely sticky and tacky!

Here's my lips before...

and after...

It's just a bit 'gold sparkly' for me I'm afraid. I wanted a nice natural lipgloss to wear during the day, hence choosing the lipgloss named 'au naturele' but this just doesn't do it for me...

Au Naturele on the lips...

:(

IN CONCLUSION...

If you buy ONE thing from ELF, make it the All Over Color Stick in Pink Lemonade, I think it would suit any complexion and it's a BARGAIN at £1.50!

If you love peach blush or fancy trying it out, get the Studio Blush in Peachykeen, it'll be perfect for the next couple of months especially!

and definitely try out the Mineral lipsticks if you get a chance, and pick up Nicely Nude if you like a sheer natural coverage :)

but skip the rest!

Next, I want to try their Studio Lip Conditioners (I've got my eye on Mellow Melon!), HD Powder and Eyebrow Kit! What do you think?

Love,

Sophia

xo

Nail varnish storage!

Hey guys!

I thought you might be interested to know how I store my abundance of nail polishes! You may remember they were stored in a Muji box on top of my make-up storage but they outgrew that box!

I've since split my nail varnies into summer shades and winter shades (they were all in the first box, hence the split as I ran out of space!)

Here are the summer shades...

Currently stored in an old The Body Shop storage box (from my cranberry collection I got for Christmas) in rainbow colour order! I dipped a cotton bud in the colours and dotted the lids to make it easier to spot which colour I want :) You can tell I'm a coral/peach/reds lover!

The winter shades...

Same as really, found this box randomly and filled them with winter colours in colour order! There's less shades because the dark reds etc that I would normally wear in winter are blended in with the reds in the summer box, they're kind of all season shades really!

So that's it really, just a couple of boxes :)

How do you store your nail varnishes?

Love,

Sophia

xo

Met Gala 2011 - my faves & fails!

Hey girlies!

The Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute Gala is one of the most fashionable nights in the calendar, and all the Hollywood A-listers were out in their gladrags! Here's my top 10 faves & fails!

FAVES

Ashley Greene

The Twilight actress looks stunning in this cream Donna Karen number. Her darker locks compliment her milky skintone perfectly and her earrings match the sequin embellishment on the dress. Love :)

Diane Kruger

The Inglorious Basterds actress channels old-school Hollywood glamour in this two-toned Jason Wu dress. Love the flash of leg, too... Very risqué!

Emma Roberts

Julia Roberts' niece looks effortlessly chic in this Michael Kors cut-out number. I can't say it's something I'd be able to pull off, but Emma wows in it! Love the Marilyn Monroe inspired locks and crimson nails. It just proves that sometimes, less is more!

Eva Mendes

Does this woman ever put a foot wrong in the style stakes? She looks angelic in this navy blue

Stella McCartney pleated dress. The belt and up-do go perfectly as well!

Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady

Could you find a hotter couple?

Supermodel Gisele looks jaw-dropping in this tomato red Alexander McQueen dress, while her husband looks dashing in

Tom Ford. Just think of the babies!

Ginnifer Goodwin

I love the colour of this Topshop dress on Big Love actress Ginnifer. Another one to rock the cut-out look on the red carpet, she looks wonderfully eccentric!

Lea Michele

The Glee actress opted for this simple blood orange Escada dress for the event. I think she looks beautiful, especially with her dark brown locks and golden tan.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

I literally don't think anyone else in the world could pull off this pink satin Burberry dress... Maybe Megan Fox but that's about it! Recently named Maxim's hottest woman, I think many will agree after seeing this picture, phwoar!

Salma Hayek

Work those curves! The actress looks amazing in this cream Alexander McQueen dress, proving you don't have to be stick thin to look good on the red carpet.

Sofia Vergara

The Modern Family actress looks stunning in this Carolina Herrera dress! It fits her perfectly, and I love the khaki waist detail. Go Gloria! I mean, Sofia...

FAILS

Beyonce

I'm generally not a massive fan of the fish tale bottom dress, and it looks like Beyonce is pouring out of this Emilio Pucci number. Sorry, B...

Christina Hendricks

Love her hair and make-up, but the Mad Men actress just doesn't pull off this Carolina Herrera dress. It looks like an odd scaley material, she could have picked something much nicer...

Christina Ricci

The Adams Family actress looks like she's stepped out as her character Wednesday on Halloween in this Zac Posen dress. Again, what's with the fish tale? Amazing figure though.

Elle Fanning

Dakona's younger sister is clearly trying to prove herself in the style stakes, but the Met Gala isn't the right place to do it. The star looks out of place in this Valentino Haute Couture dress on the red carpet.

Kirsten Dunst

Just not flattering at all really - the length, the shape, the shoulders? The Spiderman actress fails to make this Chanel Haute Couture work on the red carpet and looks more suited to milking cows, gasp!

Kristen Stewart

I know the Twilight actress doesn't have a traditional, classic style but I just don't like the pattern or the shape of this Proenza Schouler dress on her. It just completely washes her out, and she looks uncomfortable in it.

Leighton Meester

If this Louis Vuitton dress went down to her ankles then it might work, but the length is just totally unflattering. The Gossip Girl star has worn much better outfits than this!

Lucy Lui

It's the feathers! I'm not a fan of this black Vionett dress on the Charlie's Angels actress.

Mary-Kate Olsen

I wish the Olsen twins wouldn't wear such ridiculous outfits! We already know you're really "into" fashion, you don't need to prove it to us! This Givenchy couture dress looks more suited to a beach party than the Met Gala.

Rihanna

It's the hair! Who wears a fishtail plait on the red carpet, seriously? It makes this Stella McCartney dress look kind of... trashy!

What did you think of the stars' Met Gala dresses?

Let me know!

Love,

Sophia

xo

nb. all images taken from People.com