You're a puzzle to me

(sneaky Maximo Park lyric there) 

Every year around this time, Wollaton Park (a park in Nottingham about 10 minutes away from my house) hold a one day long music festival called Splendour. For city residents under 18 it's only £15! I go every year because I might as well as it's so cheap and so close to my house. This year Jake Bugg headlined the main stage and Maximo Park headlined the Jagermeister stage. Other acts such as KT Tunstall, Nina Nesbitt, Dog is Dead and Squeeze performed. There's also been many other really famous names there for example, Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris and Madness. My favourite by far was Maximo Park, I love them anyway but they were amazing live, it was so energetic and I managed to get right to the front (I had to wait at the stage an hour before they started to get there but it was so worth it). Dog is Dead were also amazing, it was their 5th time playing at Splendour as they are a band from Nottingham and I think I've seen them about 8 times live but they are still great every time! 

I also like how it can introduce you to new music as well. I had heard of Nina Nesbitt before but never actually listened to her and after hearing her at Splendour I might start listening to her properly.

Most of the music was country or indie rock because of the headline act being Jake Bugg so the other acts were in a similar genre to that. Personally I thought that was quite good because I prefer that genre of music but a lot of people complained that the acts weren't as famous as previous years because last year Dizzee Rascal headlined. But I prefer this years line up because I'm not really a fan of Dizzee Rascal and I love Maximo Park loads. 

It's really family friendly too, you don't have to get right into a mosh pit to listen to the music and enjoy yourself, a lot of people just take picnics and just listen.

(that seems a bit rambly) 

So here's the outfit post bit! 

Me and my boyfriend

Top - Hearts & Bows at Ark (shown in my haul from yesterday)

Under top - Bikini from Matalan (my bralet was in the wash and this just looks like a bandeau top)

Shorts - Levi's shorts from Cow

Flower crown - gift from a friend

I feel like this outfit is really cliche-festival-fashion with the flower crown, shorts, crop top combination but cliches aren't always bad!

There isn't a lot of photos because my boyfriend took them and it turned out that there was just a lot of photos of me blowing my nose and awkward laughing faces. ooops. I would have liked to take photos at Splendour but I didn't want to risk my camera getting smashed in a mosh pit or something so I'll give you a link instead!

Riot photography Splendour photos

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

ps hype my look on lookbook if you like

Ark and Topshop haul

This is only a little haul but I wanted to show you the things I bought the other day! I don't think I buy enough things because I end up spending my wages on pizza and Mcdonalds, when really I should spend them on clothes and things that last a bit longer. 

This crop top is from Ark and is by Hearts & Bows. I used to think that Ark was expensive but this lovely top was only £12.99. I love all the detail and how delicate it is. (outfit post with this coming soon)

This skirt is also from Ark and by Hearts & Bows. It was £16.99 which I think is reasonable as it has an underskirt too. I really like how the colours are bright and neon but the pattern is still pretty. Hearts & Bows is only available in Ark and it' such a pretty brand with floral patterns and bows (as it says in the name). 

I've wanted this for ages but I didn't buy it because I didn't want to give into my nail polish addiction, but it's hard to go into Topshop and see all the pretty sparkly nail polishes without buying one, right? It's called Magpie and was £6 (the same price as the other glitter polishes from Topshop) it's quite similar to the other glitter polishes from Topshop such as Razzamatazz but it's more yellow and gold than silvery so it can be paired with nude polishes. I really like it, however it's hard to get the consistency right, I used two coats of this over Bees Knees to get the right amount of glitter.

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

ps. sorry for the lack of blogging recently, I think it's because the weather's been better so I've been out a lot on bikes rides and what not, also I feel like I'm ruining out of outfit post ideas because I don't really have a lot of clothes but from today I will try and post more! 

Blog lovin

Hey! So google reader disappears tomorrow (sad times) so it would be really great if you all followed me on blog lovin (if you have it) so you can be all up to date with my posts! 

click here to follow!

Lots of love

Sophie

xxx

90s Nostalgia

Scrunchies, jelly shoes and dungarees. Is this whole 90s thing really that great? To me, it seems like it's all the things we were forced to wear as children so we'd look 'cute' but they are now considered 'fashion'. That makes it sound like I'm completely against scrunchies, jelly shoes and dungarees but really I think they're quite cute. It's just a strange concept. That's only because I was born in the 90s though, maybe if you're younger or older it's a whole different thing. 

Scrunchies 

At first, I did think they looked terrible and tacky. But I have to admit, they're growing on me. A few weeks ago I was buying a skirt from Cow and on the counter I saw a big glass jar full of scrunchies all in different pretty colours and patterns, so if someone puts loads of pretty coloured things in a glass jar you're going to want to buy them right? When I found out they were £5 each I decided I didn't want one (thinking back that isn't really a lot so I should go back and buy one). Click here for mentioned scrunchies - Cow.

These are scrunchies by American Apparel. They are £7 so I've now realised the Cow ones are cheap. How can anyone ask £7 for a scrunchie though is a bit extreme...

Jelly shoes

Honestly when I think of jelly shoes I just think of feet against plastic, which doesn't seem comfortable or appealing. Despite this I do think they are cute. But they're the type of thing that I would think look nice on other people but wouldn't personally wear because I would rather not look like a child. However, that's not to say they make everyone look younger because some people can pull them off.

The experts in these strange shoes are Juju. 

These are £25 from Office and the ones without the heel are £20. 

I also think they show too much feet and I'm all self conscious about my feet so personally, I wouldn't wear them.

Dungarees

In my opinion dungarees are the worst thing to come out of this whole 90s nostalgia trend. Through the ages of birth to around 5, they are pretty much all my mum dressed me in, so I'd rather not dress how I did when I was 5. I have to admit though, some people do pull them off. 

People such as Alexa Chung

You can find them in literally every high street shop at the moment, River Island, Topshop and of course vintage shops are probably full of them. Doesn't anyone else think they make people look a bit like farmers or painters or something? 

So there's my rant about the 90s coming back to haunt us. I'm not completely against it because I really do want to buy loads of cute scrunchies now. It just reminds me of the bad clothes I wore in my child hood. 

What's your opinion?

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

ps. I don't think I've ever done a post this long wow.

Lush Nottingham Summer Swap Shop for My Sight

Hey! So last Wednesday, I was invited to the Lush Summer Swap Shop in Nottingham. The event was to raise money for My Sight, which is a charity that helps to improve the lives of blind people. The idea of the event was that you bring along 5 pieces of unwanted clothing, pay a £1 donation to enter, then you get 5 tokens (for extra tokens it was an extra £1). Then you look at all the lovely clothes available and pick 5 new clothes, so you end up swapping your unwanted clothes with someone else's unwanted clothes. I think it's a lovely idea and a great way to get rid of old things, whilst getting new things in return - AND it's for charity so it's even better!

Another thing that was great about it was that the clothes you brought home all smelt like Lush! 

I went to the event with Freya (above). She got a really nice body-con green velvet dress, a summer-y floral dress, a lacy peplum-style top and a jumper. I got two tops and two dresses (I did have five tokens but I'm really picky!). Unfortunately, the dresses didn't fit (this made me sad because they were so pretty) and I gave the tops to my mum (I thought they'd suit her more). But despite that, I still had fun and I still think the Swap Shop is a really clever idea. If they do another one I will definitely attend.

Thank you to Lush Nottingham and My Sight for organising the event!

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx 

Summer shoes

Currently looking out of the window and realising that it's not Summer and I still have to wear big cardigans and hoodies when I go out (sometimes both). But I'm hopeful that Summer is just around the corner (fingers crossed) and when the weather decides to get warmer, I'm going to need new shoes! At the moment the most summer-y shoes I have are my converse. I pretty much wear the same shoes all year round. This year I want to take advantage of the heat and wear t-bar shoes or sandals.

These are from Topshop. They have loads similar to this style in all different colours. I was going to buy some similar to this but they're sold out now (wah). Considering buying these because they're the same price and soooo cute (£30)

I have really mixed feelings about jelly shoes. It's probably because I remember them as something you wore as a child without choice so they don't seem that fashionable. On the other hand, I think they're really cute, they look lovely with jeans rolled up or a cute dress. They are nostalgic but I'm not sure if that's in a good or bad way.  £20 - JuJu at Office

I feel the same about these as a do jelly shoes - probably because they're both jelly. I think these are slightly nicer than the original jelly shoe because they can sometimes look a bit bulky whereas these are more fitted with thinner pieces of rubber. If they weren't £45 I would have them. (Melissa at Urban Outfitters)

Jeffrey Campbell Sydney Flat (found on Nasty Gal) £63.12
I love the holographic strap at the front and the way it contrasts with the black at the back. I've decided that I'm in love with these shoes but they're so expensive (why?) :( I know they're expensive because they're Jeffrey Campbell but if anyone knows of any dupes please let me know!

These are the main shoes I can find that I personally would wear. I'm so picky with shoes but let's hope I can find some nice summer shoes for when the weather gets better! 

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

Skegness

Last weekend me and boyfriend went to Skegness. I was going to wait until I'd had my Diana Mini photos developed until I did this post but I thought I should just get on with it because it was a week ago. 

(I'll do a separate post with my Diana Mini photos when I get them developed) 

(slipping in an outfit to make it more fashion related)

Skirt - hm (I got it years ago though)
Converse - second hand from a friend
Denim shirt - boyfriend's, from Cow vintage
Sunglasses - Turkey

I've also got my Diana Mini round my neck, proof that I took photos on it (really should get them developed)

These are a mixture of my photos and my boyfriend's photos (mostly my boyfriend's), to see all of my boyfriend's photos go on his flickr.

The weather wasn't that great but it was still really nice because I love the seaside!! The rides are fun and they have loads of nice food like ice cream and doughnuts, basically loads of unhealthy food. We spent waaaay too much money on the grabby things where you have to pick something up with a claw games (what's the proper name for them?) because they all had Hello Kittys in them (you probably already know about my Hello Kitty weakness).

I'll try and be back with another post soon but I'm back to college tomorrow (wah) 

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

ps. I don't know what happened to the line spacing at the end of this post but I also don't know how to fix it...