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Saturday 31 December 2016

2016.


What a bloody year mind! I feel I say this at the end of every year, but 2016 in particular just seemed to be an absolute shit storm didn't it?! Im always one to constantly reflect and look back on the bad things that have happened over the year, but today I'm going to list the good things that have happened this year. Hopefully I'll look back on this at the end of 2017 and realise things aren't always as bad as they seem!


I became more confident with my blog - this time last year id completely fallen out of love with blogging, but this year in particular I've watched it grow, fallen in love with taking photos and sharing them, it's very satisfying when you publish something you've worked so hard on.


My Granddad passed away - trying not to focus on this too much, as obviously this can never be a positive. However, it's brought our family much closer together, we're doing things together more, having family gatherings more, and that can only be a good thing. I love them a lot. 


I moved house - something I found really super difficult this year, but did it and feel much better for it. We live in a lovely place now, and it's made a big difference. 


I opened up more - a weird one, but I say how I feel a lot more, if I don't like how I'm being treated, I say it. I guess you could say I've got a back bone now, and there are a few people surprised by this, mainly the people who treated me like shit. But once i'd stop caring, I felt much better. I need to keep going with this one, it's made me much more relaxed and less anxious. 


I went to bloody Mexico! - I actually did it, little old me that only goes to Spain or at most a 4 hour plane journey, hopped on a plane with just her boyfriend and did a 9 hour journey, it was the best holiday of my life. 


I was more independent - a silly one, but I was never able to go anywhere on my own. Even to Tesco, i'd have to take someone with me because I was so anxious. This year id travelled to so many different places to go shopping on my own, I even went to get my nails done on my own, and this was a huuuuuge deal to me! 


Exciting future - and finally, something that I've got to keep hush hush for a good while until it happens, but there are so many exciting things happening in 2017, that Ive been planning for and organising in 2016, so watch this space, I can't say much, but it's mental!!


xox


Thursday 29 December 2016

3 Of My Favourite Lush Products





Lush Cosmetics has always been my all time favourite brand for bath products. Id always been a bath bomb kind of person, however this year I've started branching out to the body conditioners and lip scrubs, both of which were new to me this year. 

The christmas collection especially didn't let me down this year, I think I own basically everything Lush came out with this year, beside the soaps. I'm still praying that one day I'll get to go to the Lush factory, that would literally be a dream haha!

Ive loved 3 products in particular this month, the Snow Fairy body conditioner, the Sugar Plum Fairy lip scrub, and the Butter Bear bath bomb. 



Ive tried one of the original Sugar Scrubs before, the bubblegum one I think, and I absolutely hated it! I think it was because it tastes like artificial bubblegum? Im not sure, but I really wasn't a fan. So ever since I've never even considered trying another flavour, that was until I smelled this one. It smells, insane. It has the exact same scent as the comforter, which is a favourite of mine. & it tastes even better, kinda like blackcurrant. It's not become one of my favourite Lush products, but unfortunately only comes out at Christmas time, so it's a good job I've stocked up on this little beaut!




Again, weirdly, Snow Fairy has never been a scent I've particularly liked. I find it way too sickly, and just can't really stomach much of it. Id heard a lot about Lush's body conditioner, but never tried them because I don't like doing anything that takes extra effort, how lazy haha. But id never realised that you use this whilst in the bath/shower, you rub it into your skin, rinse it off and your skin will literally feel amazing. I hate getting out of the shower and popping a moisturiser on, having to wait ages for it to sink in. You don't have to do any of that with this, I absolutely love it and I'm so glad I tried it out! It is Snow Fairy scented, but it isn't as strong as the shower gel, which I much prefer!




& Finally, my beloved Butter Bear, throughout the year known as Butterball. Although it's smaller than your average bath bomb, and not as colourful, it's packed full of coco butter, which makes your skin so bloody soft. You can only imagine how my skin feels after using Butter Bear & the Body Butter together, it's incredible. 


I don't think i'll ever get enough of Lush, it's my absolute favourite!

Lotsa love,
Sophxo



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Monday 26 December 2016

My HUGE Lush Cosmetics gift set


If you're a Lush Cosmetics obsessive like me then you have arrived at the perfect place. For Christmas this year I didn't actually ask for anything - but my family know I am obsessed with Lush products, so I received lots of individual bath bombs, and this HUGE gift set from the boyf (Matt) which is full of Lush products, 18 to be exact. 18?!

He quite clearly knows me very very well as I don't really have the words to express how massive this gift is haha. He bought me the Pretty Woman gift set, I would link it for you- however as I write this theres a humungous que on the Lush website, and because of that I'm clueless as to how much this cost, or if it's in the sale today, sorry about that! 

Where to even start..


Snow Angel bath melt, Candy Mountain bubble bar



Mistletoe bath bomb, Salt and Peppermint Bark body scrub



So White bath bomb, Yog Log Roulade shower smoothie



Reindeer Rock soap



Twilight shower gel, Mr Sandman dusting powder



Snow Fairy body conditioner, Snow Fairy shower gel, Santa Baby lip scrub



Pink Flamingo reusable bubble bar, Shooting Stars soap (this smells insane!!)



Sex Bomb bath bomb, Honey Trap lip balm



Godiva shampoo bar, King of Skin body butter

Oh and finally, this is my collection after opening all of my presents this christmas.. 


How insane is this gift set?! I love absolutely everything in it, and I'm so grateful to Matt for getting me something he knew I would love, he knows me better than I know myself it would seem!

I hope you've all had the most amazing Christmas, 
Lotsa Love,
Sophxo

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Tuesday 20 December 2016

MAC Mariah Carey | Mcizzle








HUGE heart eyes over this, how bloody beautiful is the Mac & Mariah combination?! So, so glad I ordered this because if I hadn't, I would've been gutted!

Id spotted around social media that Mac was coming out with a special limited edition collection - from Mariah. I had a little browse on their website and I absolutely fell in love with what I saw. Now I won't lie, the packaging is what enticed me in haha, but how could you not be really? It's covered in glitter sparkles with a gold accents. Even the box the lipstick came in is beautiful in itself?! 

It took me a while to choose the colour I wanted, at the time not many people had posted about the collection so all I had to go by were the photos on the website. I was toying between Dahhlinggg, described as a pinky peach, and Mcizzle, described as a cool peach. 

I went with Mcizzle in the end, and I have to say the description of it couldn't be any more wrong, but that might be because it looks different when it's applied - I've not yet brought myself to the point where I ruin the pretty little butterfly on the lipstick itself haha. But in the tube it really reminds me of creme cup, I don't know about you. 

Im genuinely struggling to find anything I don't like about this lipstick, I love the colour, and the packaging is gorgeous. It will definitely be one to stand on display on my dressing table!

What do you think?
Have you tried anything from the Mariah collection?

Lotsa love,
Sophxo




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Monday 21 November 2016

My 3 Favourite Berry Lipsticks



Winter is my absolute, all time favourite season purely because It's a good excuse to get my dark berry lipsticks back out!


Weirdly, I've never really liked paler lip shades on me. Especially pinks, I just find they really don't suit me, I mainly try to stick to brights in summer, such as Mac Morange, that ones a beauty! But as soon as Autumn kicks in, out comes Mac Diva, Rimmels 107, and shades similar, literally anything dark and vampy, you can't go wrong. 

For this post I've chosen 3 of my favourite berry lipsticks that I've been wearing non stop throughout the colder months, I've chosen a pricey brand, a more affordable brand, and a cheaper alternative. 



The first one on the list is my absolute fave; Charlotte Tilbury's Hel's Bells. I really don't need to go into detail about how much I adore my CT lipsticks, the quality is amazing and the packaging, oh me oh my need I say more. Hel's Bells is a deep berry shade, and is a matte revolution lipstick. I much prefer a matte finish! This one in particular costs £23.00, definitely on the pricey side, however I think if you're going to splurge on one high end lipstick, this is the one to get. Especially for this time of year! What I love most about Charlotte Tilbury is the fact on the website you can see the lipstick on your skin tone, this is such a fab idea as the amount of times I've bought a lipstick thinking it'll look amazing on when it really didn't, is ridiculous haha! 





Next up is Mac's Diva, an old favourite of mine. Ive bought this shade time and time again, I don't think you can really go wrong with a Mac lipstick. It's slightly more reddy than the CT one, but only slightly. Diva is a matte finish (of course) and comes in at £15.50, again, bloody expensive in my opinion! Clueless as to why lipsticks are becoming so expensive but heyho. if I'm completely honest, I've recently found myself stepping away from Mac, just because I've found drug store alternatives that do the exact same thing, or are often even better, for half the price. Don't get me wrong, theres something really special about buying a new Mac lipstick, and I especially love the matte finish ones, but for me my love for the brand as a whole is slowly fading! 





Ahh, my trusty old Rimmel! Rimmel as a brand in general, was the first brand of makeup I ever tired, and I've been buying little bits from them ever since. Their lipsticks are amazing quality for the price, this one is in the shade 30, anyone else a little disappointed they're numbered not named?! and costs £5.49 (from superdrug). They are so much more affordable than CT or Mac. The only down side of this shade is the fact it is a gloss finish, & you know how much I love my mattes! It's definitely my least favourite of the 3, but I can't doubt it's quality for the price. 



What are your go to lipstick shades for winter?!



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Saturday 19 November 2016

Full Of Regret



This past week has been an absolute whirlwind of emotions. 

My blog has always been a place full of happy memories I want to look back on in years to come, it's never been a place of sadness because really- I've never experienced such sadness. Something I've always found though is writing my feelings down really helps me, hence this post today. It won't be a happy one but happiness isn't always part of life, theres sadness too and unfortunately I've experienced a great amount of sadness this week. 

Ive spent the last 5 days in hospital visiting my granddad. The man who essentially, brought me up along with my dad & nan. He was a very shy man, didn't like new people, and was actually quite anxious in new situations. He'd been poorly for a while, we didn't know this at the time though, he never showed it, I'm guessing because he knew it meant he would have to see a doctor. 

This is the man who never went to the doctors, or the dentist. He was petrified. I don't blame him really, I hate sitting in front of a stranger telling them my woes. That's how we got the stage we're at now. I got a call Sunday evening from my dad telling me granddad wasn't too well, he was in bed, general sickness. I told him i'd go round on the Monday evening after work, but I never got the chance to as he went into hospital Monday morning. 

Last week was a blur. I was in that hospital, every minute of every day, sometimes from 8am till 10pm, in the ICU. (Intensive Care Unit) It felt like no time at all though, days seem to merge into one and it was full of highs and lows, the highs being although granddad couldn't speak, move, or open his eyes, he was able to respond by slightly moving his eyebrows, something that was so comforting to me, as I couldn't see him before he was unconscious. Id tell him Nan was running late as dad took her to Mc'donalds late last night without him, & his eyebrows would go. The lows being he was actually getting worse, even though some parts of him were getting better. 

On Saturday the 12th of November my kind, caring, granddad passed away. We were all there, the whole family surrounding his bedside, I held his hand throughout the whole thing, something I never thought id be able to do. Surprisingly, it's made me not scared of death anymore. He's free of pain, didn't suffer, and didn't react when the machines stopped. It was like he just nodded off. 

Death is a weird thing isn't it? Im lucky to say I haven't really experienced it before now. What I have learned though, is things can change so quickly. so unexpectedly, so quickly. Within a blink of an eye someone you care so much about is gone, for no reason at all. So cruelly snatched away from you. Im struggling to come to terms with it if I'm honest, how my granddad can be here one minute absolutely fine walking around Warminster with me, buying new jumpers, to lying in the ICU completely not there- slowly drifting away. It's mental, and I hate it. 

He leaves behind my Nan, the woman who has never been on her own, who now has to come to term with being without her soulmate. She told me, "life changes so quickly, theres no telling what'll happen next. I miss him so so much, but we did everything we wanted to do, that's what you have to do, anything you want or wherever you want to go, just go. Things happen when you're least expecting it, do it while you can" & I couldn't agree more. 

Never, ever take family for granted. I always expected granddad to be there. Theres so many things I wish I could've done, or maybe even said to him when he was better, I could always be full of regret, but instead I'll cherish the happy memories and that way, he'll live on forever.

Lotsa Love,
Sophxo



Wednesday 16 November 2016

My Christmassy Bedroom!





I cannot explain how excited I am that Ive transformed my bedroom into the christmassy goodness it now is. Ive had the shittest week ever, my granddad, my bestest friend and kindest man in the whole world passed away 4 days ago, and to take my mind off it for even a second I decided to put my little tree up and transform my room. 

How cute does it look?! 

I started by popping my christmas bedding on, it's got tiny little trees houses and people skiing on it, I bought this last year from Asda, Asda literally do the BEST bedding so make sure you check it out! 

My mind is basically mush still after what happened to Granddad so I'm struggling to write and get my words out haha, so I will leave this here. Everything you see in the above pictures (apart from the yankee candle) is from Asda. Make sure you have a mooch around and check out their christmas bits, Ive bought the best things there!

Lotsa Love,
Sophxo


Monday 7 November 2016

Im Taking A Break From Blogging


Hi Guys. 

Im just stopping by to let you know that blogging is taking a back seat for a week or two, or possibly longer. My granddads been really poorly recently and has now taken a turn for the worse so ill be spending time with him. Im also away the weekend coming for a much deserved break, ill be blogging about that but you won't be hearing from me for a little while. I hope thats ok.

Lotsa Love,
Sophxo



Sunday 6 November 2016

The Truth Behind My Tropical Holiday Photos.



Back in September which honestly feels like yesterday, how is this year going so quickly Im hating it?! My boyfriend and me went on a 2 week holiday to Mexico and it was the most incredible experience. 

I briefly shared a few pictures when I got back but didn't really go into detail, if I'm truly honest I'm suddenly feeling really sad I'm not there anymore so this post might either make me feel a bit better, or even worse. We'll see haha! I wanted to go into the story behind each one, as by looks they give off a certain impression, however when I actually go into each one, it's quite the opposite. 


We visited what I can only describe as a tropical jungle full of activities such as swimming with dolphins, stingrays, and you could also go on a speed boat (I didn't, I would've cried) that dips into the water when it turns corners, nope. deffo not a fan of that but I'm sure it would've been good for Matt to try haha. Look how pretty the parrots are? Look how close I got. I didn't, I was stood so far back with a killer zoom, this photo tells you I was super brave and right next to a beautiful animal, when really I was too scared, and just zoomed. 




 This was the day id realised id severely burnt my back. To the point it had blistered, it looked like I had tiny raindrops all over my back. Vom. This is also a fab example of Matt being a fab boyfriend as he kept taking random pictures of me, handy for the blog! Our hotel was bloody huge, this was the walk down to the pool. This picture looks like I'm having a fabulous time casually walking to the pool, when really I was in absolute AGONY, I couldn't wear a top because the straps hurt me too much, but for a photo opportunity? Nah ill take the pain and put a top on. 





Oh yes, look at me, being all tropical dipping my feet into the sea. We'd been in the sea a lot at the beginning of the first week, it was like being a hot bath. But that was until we realised that there were fish that nibble at your feet surrounding us. we never went back in unless on the lilo, yup, judge me, i was judging myself. Such an idiot! This photo looks like I'm having a fabulous time paddling in the sea, nah. I was looking for the fish that Id discovered live by the shore and attack your feet. Didn't go in the sea again.





 The hotel was full, and I mean full, to the brim with animals. The friends we made said they'd seen monkeys which was pretty cool, we didn't unfortunately. What we did see was humungous lizards. They were pretty terrifying if you got too close, lots of sharp jolts happened here. This is an amazing photo isn't it? What you don't see is me behind Matt who took the photo, telling him when it was safe to take the picture because these things are bloody vicious. "Wait.. ok.. slowly, slowly.. get a bit closer, OK QUICK GO!!" it was then, this beast went out for the attack and I shat myself. 






 Another prime example of 'act natural' photos. Matt doesn't quite get it though haha, you can see it's raining out in the distance behind him, we managed to get back before it absolutely pissed down. We saw so many little turtle nests walking down this way. You can quite clearly see Matt is saying something here, if you weren't there, you wouldn't think anything of it. However, he was actually telling me that we were about to walk right into a tropical storm and the rain was coming down hard in the distance, we basically ran back to the hotel.




Imagine yourself in a boiling hot jungle riddled with mosquitos, you have to walk miles to get to either side of the jungle. It pisses down. The worst storm you've ever seen in your life, and you have no other option than to run through it because theres no shelter. This was just before that happened. We're pulling faces here because we were full of energy as we'd just arrived, this is the before, prepare for the after picture. Just after this was taken, Id realised we were in a tropical jungle and id forgotten my mosquito spray. Fab.





I wish I could remember what these were called, but they were the cutest little things. This was taken in the outdoor snack bar, they would literally surround your table, jump up and steal your food. Im talking hundreds of them. While this may look like a cute picture of a sweet little animal, these things were little shits and as Matt took this picture, I was being attacked by this little dudes family. They jumped onto my chair, and stole my chips. I kid you not. one had hold of my plate with its paws, I had hold of the plate too, literal tug of war. I gave up after their pals joined in and the whole snack bar was staring at me. 





Here I am in the sea, before we knew about the sodding fish, with a massive bloody pelican. The whole time I was like, oh, why am I casually swimming with a pelican? This is weird.. it was then I realised it was catching fish, and at that moment I looked down to see SO MANY FISH AROUND MY FEET! I was horrified, I hate the sea at the best of times let along sharing it with huge fish. So while I may look like I'm admiring this amazing animal, in actual fact I was saying "shit, how the hell am I gunna get past it I am TERRIFIED" 





This beautiful photo was taken just after the storm stopped. At this point I was ready to leave, my clothes were see-through, I was freezing, soaked and miserable. To get back to the entrance there were 2 ways, through the bird enclosure - bearable. Or though the butterfly enclosure - my worst nightmare. Id said to Matt "you know I have a phobia of butterflies, please make sure we don't go through". He obviously didn't listen and we 'accidentally' walked through the butterfly house. I am petrified of them, once id realised, id turned around, and saw a butterfly the size of a fucking bird heading right for me, I cried my eyes out like the little girl I am. It was at this very moment Matt insisted we had our photo taken, this was the end result. Looking back now I absolutely wet myself at this picture, but at the time I was mid cry and done with life. Hahaha!



I hope you enjoyed hearing the truth behind my holiday photos. I think it's so important to reiterate the point that no matter what I or anyone posts online, It just isn't real. Whilst these pictures look like the perfect photo, they just aren't, theres a story behind each one and often they aren't fab haha. People only post what they want you to see, my holiday to Mexico certainly isn't my life, although my pictures make it seem like I had a brilliant, stress free time every second the day. Same with my Instagram, my life isn't actually pink and pretty, my rooms a state and taking pictures doesn't happen in a snap shot and well would you look at that I have the perfect one? All isn't always as it seems! 

Lotsa Love,
Sophxo



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Ted Baker Mauve Nails




For my 21st Birthday, my mum very kindly bought me Ted Baker nail varnish, she got it from boots & they were actually part of a lipstick and nail varnish set.

Ive already been lectured about it by my family, but yes, more nail varnish, if it isn't lipstick, its nail varnish. I don't know what it is but they both just seem to make me really happy?! Is that weird, probably, theres more to life than lipstick and nail varnish haha..

Anyway, super annoyingly the nail varnish I used in the above picture, doesn't actually have a name which is really bloody handy. However you can pick up the whole set here.
Im usually a Barry M lover but I've found that recently I've been reaching for my Ted Baker nail varnish a lot more, I've been loving this shade in particular as I find it really compliments my skin tone. 

This morning I popped to Tesco with the intention of buying milk but ended up buying fake nails, and bubble bath. of course. The nails I used to create this look are by Elegant Touch, they're clear but slightly frosted, perfect for nail art. Ive never actually used stick on nails before as for some reason it didn't actually click that you could glue them on, I always had visions of the crappy ones I used to buy when I was younger, oh how times have changed! 

It was relatively easy, I chose the ones I needed, measured them against my real nails, cut them to the length I wanted & stuck them on. The Ted Baker nail varnish looks so pretty on them, it's very opaque and only needed 2 coats to achieve the finished look.

I love how my nails turned out, Ill definitely be looking into trying more products from the Ted Baker beauty range!

Lotsa Love,
Sophxo

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*all items in this post have been purchased by myself or a family member and all opinions are my own*

Saturday 5 November 2016

Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips | Liv It Up








Charlotte Tilbury has quickly become my absolute favourite makeup brand, I love everything about it. Especially the lipsticks. 

The packaging alone is just beautiful, Im a sucker for anything gold or rose gold so putting this lipstick on my dressing table was just so satisfying haha!

Liv It Up is part of Charlotte Tilbury's Hot Lips collection, which are 12 lipsticks that have been named after famous women. Liv It Up was named after Liv Tyler! Which I thought was such a lovely idea, imagine having a lipstick named after you?!
I don't need to go on about how brilliant these lipsticks are, because I would honestly be here all day and I think you might get a little bored, what I will say, is the formula is incredibly creamy and long lasting, which I think is the most important thing.

If you didn't know, I didn't until recently, for every Hot Lips lipstick that is purchased, £1 of the overall price will go towards the Women For Women international charity, how amazing is that? An expensive purchase without the guilt haha. 

Liv It Up is the most beautiful colour that Im sure would look fab on all skin tones, Ive found now my tan from my holiday is wearing off, this looks amazing on paler skin tones. I am so excited to start wearing this, it was painful swatching it on my arm as it just looked so perfect, does anyone else ever have this problem?! 

Have you ever tried Charlotte Tilbury Lipsticks before? I really want to branch out and try the pressed powder but I'm trying to bring myself to feeling ok about spending so much money hehe! 

ps, how pretty is the lips imprint on the lipstick?!

Lotsa Love, 
Sophxo


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*all items in this post have been purchased by myself or a family member and all opinions are my own*
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