Sweet Monday 022

01. I pretty much told you all about my weekend in yesterday's post. But to expand a little here are some photos of the girls and I on another night out! This one starting with no ambulance and ending in very funny times! Probably the best bit of the night was the long drive home in the morning singing at the top of our voices to Rihanna S&M, with our heads hanging out of the windows trying to stop ourselves feeling sick! Haha.

02. Speaking of Rihanna. Has anyone heard the radio edit of her new song S&M (or should I say 'Come On') what a jooooke. It sounds awful with every other word bleeped out and changed about. Such a good song though,  not sure how I feel about the video however!

03. Chris and I went to watch 'No Strings Attached' at the weekend. Have any of you seen it? It got off to a faulty start, I was thinking it was going to be a fail of a film but then it soon picked up! It was full of laughs and I think, although it's a typical rom-com, it did show a more real side to relationships. It wasn't all romance and perfection. 

04. After the cinema we stopped for food at Prezzo. They have a deal on at the moment where you can get a starter or dessert, a main course and a drink all for just £10. Chris went for a starter and I went for a dessert and we shared both! Yum! The offers on for a few more days and you can print off the menu through Voucher Codes.

A few to follow this week: Emma, Sara and Sarah

Dress: Motel

& remember ladies you can get 20% off Motel by entering 'sweetmonday' at the check out.

Sunday School

Dress: Fancy Treehouse

Cardigan: Dixi

Boots: F&F

Bag: eBay

Nail Polish: Rimmel 'Blue my mind' & Models Own 'Juicy Jules'

I just had to post this outfit today! I wore it to town earlier with my boyfriend and how school girl does it look?! Haha. I had to laugh! I bought it from Fancy Treehouse, and Coury pulls it off so much better, mainly because she's beautiful! But any who, I'm not sure that red's my colour.

My nails were a bit of a rush job from Friday night. Myself and the girls went out in Hereford again for a random one, and you'll all be pleased to know there was not one ambulance called! We all had a very funny night :)

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend, not sure what I'm going to post about tomorrow now in my weekly update, think I've said all there is to say about my rather boring life at the moment. 

Just a few quick links, please could you click and vote for me to be the next cover girl of Style Diaries! 

And if you haven't already, check out Dixi's store update and use SWEETDIXI2702156 to get 10% off any order!

On My Own

Dress: Laura Ashley from Yayer

Cardigan: Miss Selfridge

Scarf: Topshop

Shoes: F&F

Bag: Urban Outfitters

Nail Polish: 'Purple Ash' by Models Own

This outfit is inspired by my cardigan. I know I've blogged about it before but I love it, I literally haven't taken it off recently! I've also realised since that it matches my nail polish quite well. The dress is also a favourite of mine. Bought from Yayer, it's a Laura Ashley vintage piece. If you haven't checked Yayer out be sure too :) It's full of modern and vintage gems!

Hope everyone's having a nice week. Mines been rather stressful at work so I'm off out with the girls again tonight. I could do with a stiff drink or two! But no ambulances this weekend ;) And then I'm spending the rest of it with the boy, we're hopefully going to go to the cinema on Sunday and see 'No Strings Attached'. Has anyone seen it?!

Also just a little heads up, you may have seen my friend Lyzi post about an exciting new creative called Total Jerk. It's been formed by four lovely guys I went to University with, and I'm so proud that they've got the website off the ground and it's all starting to move well for them now :) There's currently only two tshirt designs up but I'm sure there's plenty more to come, so keep checking back!

And another little treat Dixi are offering my blog readers 10% off any order valid from Sunday 27th for 2 weeks! They're having a huge store update on Sunday too, so what a perfect time, on a lazy Sunday to grab a vintage bargain :) Enter SWEETDIXI2702156 at the check out!

Birthday Gal Cupcakes!

These are the birthday cakes I made for my best friend, who's birthday we celebrated at the weekend. This was my first attempt at two tone icing. I was pretty impressed with how well it worked. I literally just did one spoonful of pink then blue and so on, in the icing bag. I wanted to drizzle melted chocolate over them like I have before, as she has a very sweet tooth! But it didn't work so well so I stuck with these cute butterflies which I painted bright blue.

I also was meant to make some cupcakes for a baby shower but I couldn't go in the end, but here's some extra yummy goodies anyway! 

Hope you're all having a lovely week! I feel I've been a bit mia. I've been rather boring, just vegging out and not keeping on top of my favourite blogs, so I do apologise!

Today I received the cutest dress from Fancy Treehouse. If you haven't already taken a look at Coury's blog, be sure too now. She is absolutely stunning, with a wardrobe I'm sure we'd all kill for! x

Sweet Monday 021

01. If you follow me on twitter you may know that my weekend was pretty eventful! Saturday night the girls and I went out to celebrate my best friends birthday. She surprised us with a limo to take us to town. Sadly one friend got a little worse for wear and by time we got to the first pub she was already on the floor and ended up in ambulance to the hospital! Never has that happened before, we're not raging drunks honest! The bouncers called it as a safety precausion but it was still pretty scary. Thankfully once we knew she was ok, the rest of us  had a really good night :) I thought I'd put up some photos of the night.

02. I didn't do a lot else last week/this weekend. How boring of me! I did make some lush cupcakes for the birthday girl which I will post one day this week. And if you haven't seen yet, yesterday I posted about my nail creations for the big night! 

03. A few to follow this week: Hannah, Jenna and Style Frost

Leopard Peacock

17: Catwalk Couture

Last night I went out with the girls for my best friends birthday and as I haven't been able to do anything funky with my nails for ages whilst working, I decided to mix it up! I was wearing a cream dress so I really wanted to go for something bright and contrasting! I bought this nail polish from boots a few weeks ago but hadn't tried it out. I bought it ready for spring/summer. It's such a lovely bright blue, and in some lights very turquoise! 

I went with the leopard effect, similar to what I did last time with Models Own's Champagne. 

Two of my friends got ready at mine before hand and they've loved my leopard designs so much that they wanted me to do theirs as well. 

Accessorize: Fudge

Models Own: Silver Fox

Rimmel: Lemon Drop

17: Catwalk Couture

The top set are my friend Millie's nails which she painted with Accessorize's 'Fudge' and then I put drops of Models Own's 'Silver Fox' on top. 

The yellow nails are by friend Lucy's. She was wearing a Topshop leopard dress so we matched the colour to the dress. I used Rimmel's 'Lemon Drop' (which smells of lemons).

w7 Nail Polish Review

A few weeks a go I discovered a gem of a make up store. Whilst browsing in Gloucester Quays, which is usually pretty rubbish as there's barely any shops and they're all ridiculously expensive, I wouldn't recommend a visit, well not until now anyway! Whilst passing shop windows I spotted a wall of nail polish that caught my eye inside a shop called 'All Wellan Good'. So I just had to have a closer look. There was just about every colour imaginable and they were on offer for £2 each. After a lot of debate and my boyfriend getting seriously fed up, I chose these three colours.

I've never heard of w7 before, and just from the shape of the bottle I was really hoping they'd be a lot like OPI. No such luck. They're not bad, but they're not great. Seriously, ever since trying and falling for Models Own, no other nail polish lives up to my expectations. I tried the purple first, which is what put me off. It's really wish washy and two coats still wasn't enough. But things changed, I was chuffed with the silver colour and it reminds me of Models Own's Gun Metal Grey colour. I will definitely be using this one, the consistency was so much better than the purple. 

I had reservations about the purple glitter. A lot of glitter polishes have little to no consistency but I was pleasantly surprised by w7's coverage. Two coats was plenty.

So I suppose it wasn't all bad, but I'm definitely going to be sticking to Models Own from now on, it's just the price tag that sometimes pulls me towards other brands. Rimmel and Barry M are two other faves of mine that are cheaper.

It wasn't all so bad though, the shop was also full of Benefit goodies and I picked up two lipsticks that were half price and a steal of only £6! And on my way out, I noticed tons of Calvin Klein foundations and Maybelline mascara! It was all so cheap, I'm going to have to go back for a closer look.

So if you are ever in the area, I wouldn't recommend Gloucester Quays, but for this shop I would! x

Do It Like a Dude

Vest: Topshop

Cardigan: Dixi

Leggings: Topshop

Boots: Clothing at Tesco

Ring: Florence market

Did we all watch the Brits last night?! What a good show! I think the atmosphere was so much better in the O2. It was my friends birthday yesterday so we all got together to watch it. Our highlights were the sexy Rihanna! WOW. And the Take That opener. We're all going to see Take That in June, so they're always one of our favourites :) Who were your faves from the night?

I'm so glad Jessie J won an award, her speech was so heart felt. Bless her. I enjoyed reading Sara's tweets all night. Well done Sara :) hope you had a lot of fun!

Just a quick note about this outfit too, these boots were part of prize that I won from Jen. I got to spend £50 online at Clothing at Tesco. I wasn't sure on them at first but they're so comfy, I do think I look a little horsey in them though!

I know it's a little late but I hope everyone had a lovely Valentines! Chris got me a great book on Interior Design, it's been something I would love to get in to ever since I did a course on it. So I thought that was a really thoughtful present from him and a complete surprise. And I got yet more cupcake making goodies :) and of course roses! Spoilt <3

Sweet Monday 020

01. Happy Valentines Day everyone! I hope all of you have a good day, whether you're spending it with loved ones or not. I just had to include the photo above in this weeks post. The Note Book is my all time favourite romantic film and I think it sums Valentines up entirely. If only Rachel and Ryan had gone the distance! I made some Valentines inspired cupcakes on thursday and now after seeing Effie's nail creations, I wish I'd tried some lovey dovey nails too!

02. This weekend my boy and I celebrated Valentines by going for a spot of shopping in Cheltenham on Saturday followed by our favourite place to eat, Nando's and then we headed to the cinema to see Just Go With It. It's had some mixed reviews but we both found it very funny, as did most people in the cinema with us...lots of laughs! I love Jennifer Aniston and she is looking her best yet in this film. If I look that good when I'm 42 I'd be a very happy woman. 

03. Whilst in Cheltenham shopping we stumbled across a new shop that has opened called Olive. On first looks I was under the impression it was going to be rather expensive, with it's one off pieces hanging delicately in colour order. But once inside, I immediately went for the first price tag I saw and couldn't believe my luck. The shop is full of one off pieces including delicate blouses, pretty peter pan collar dresses and some Motel style body con dresses. All of which are far cheaper than Topshop and you know you're getting a one off :) They have a website that's meant to launch today, so take a look!

04. A few to follow this week: Jessica, Megan and Suzin

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

4oz butter

4oz caster sugar

4oz self raising flour

2 eggs

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp red dye

Frosting:

200g cream cheese

1oz butter

200g icing sugar

For Valentines I wanted to make some lovey dovey inspired cupcakes! The first idea that sprang to mind was Red Velvet cupcakes. I've seen them online before but had never thought to make them. It took me forever to find a recipe in grams or ounces. All american recipes are in cups (how do you measure butter in cups?!) But anyway, after finally finding an english recipe I got to work. The cakes themselves were easy to make, although I made a little boo boo. In haste I pulled what I thought was red dye from the cupboard only to find my cake mixture when bright yellow! Doh! But a few drops of red later and here we are, phew! 

The topping I was a little apprehensive about. It's cream cheese frosting, which I've never tried or made before. I've seen a few photo's where it has been piped but it was far too runny for that, so as you can see a few have slopped off the top of the cakes. Never mind, it's all trial and error and I think on the whole they've come out ok. 

Then just a sprinkling of hearts made them perfect for Valentines. I'll be taking some to boyfriends tomorrow for him and his family, and the rest are currently being tried by my parents...they've gotten a big thumbs up :)

I hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever you're up to! I'm looking forward to seeing what surprise my boyfriend has gotten me, I've splurged a bit on him! Oops. We both think that Valentines is just a time of over priced everything, but I felt generous and wanted to get him something special :) We're not swapping presents until the day, so you'll have to wait until next week to see what he got me! As will I, and I'm so impatient! x

Country Bumpkin

Tee: Topshop

Cardigan: Miss Selfridge

Trousers: ASOS

Shoes: New Look

Bag: Urban Outfitters

This outfit I actually wore at the weekend but photographed ready for this week. I go to work in the dark and come back in the dark so nowadays there's no light for me to be able to take outfit posts in the week! :( 

But anyway I love the colour palette of this outfit. I've been buying so many garments in these tones recently, they've been great through Autumn/Winter and will now transition perfectly through Spring/Summer. I also particularly like this outfit for it's comfyness! Everything about it is so comfy to wear around the house or out, it's casual but dressy. 

I bought the cardigan on my recent trip to Manchester, it was £32 which I would never normally spend on a cardigan...especially one that doesn't actually do up! But I fell in love with the burgundy colour, I've been looking for a cardigan of that colour for a while now.

Hope you're all having a good week. Hasn't it been soooo windy! My poor bird table crashed on to our patio from our garden the other day. And now it's gone so flipping cold again. When will Spring hurry up and get here?!! x

Sweet Monday 019

01. This weekend my boyfriend and I went to see Black Swan with some cineworld vouchers we had for Christmas. He'd been wanting to see the film for ages, but I wasn't so fussed. Now that I've seen it, I'm so glad I did. It was far more than I was expecting, such an intense, deeply emotional film. One of if not the best performance Natalie Portman has done. Have any of you seen it? What did you think? A lot of the film freaked me out however... I was worried I was going to have nightmares!

Her next film 'No Strings Attached' with Ashton Kutcher, looks a lot more light hearted, I think we'll be seeing it next. Are there any films coming out you're looking forward to seeing?

02. Also this weekend I did a lot of baking. If you haven't already seen my previous posts, you can check out my zesty almond crunchies and blueberry cupcakes. :) I mentioned yesterday that I want to do some special cupcakes for valentines and I think I'm going to try my hand at some Red Velvet ones! They look so good. 

03. Sorry I've been a little mia recently with blogger. I'm seeing more and more girls giving up on their blogs or taking some time out, it's really sad. I hope it won't ever happen to myself, but for whatever reason these lovely ladies have chosen to do this, I hope they're ok! We'll miss you.

04. A few to follow this week Becca, Rach and Salla

Blueberry Cupcakes

75g butter

100g caster sugar

1 large egg

2 tbsp milk

100g self raising flour

75g frozen blueberries.

(makes 14)

Yesterday I blogged about my zesty almond crunchies and mentioned that I was baking blueberry cupcakes...and here they are :) They came out really good! A few stuck to the bottom of the silicone cases as the blueberries were at the bottom. But it's made them lovely and moist, and when they were warm they tasted so good! I'm currently enjoying one now with some vanilla ice cream! Mmm.

For valentines, I want to make some special cupcakes so watch this space and it's my best friend's birthday on the 15th so I'll be baking some more cupcake delights. I'm thinking of doing chocolate sponge with bright pink and blue icing swirled together. I think I might need some practice first to make sure the icing comes out how I want.

I'm really getting into this baking malarkey. I find myself craving cupcakes now when I haven't made any haha. x

Zesty Almond Crunchies

225g plain chocolate

15g unsalted butter

150g flaked almonds

Grated zest of 1 medium orange

This week I've attempted to make a couple of baking delights. I'm currently writing this waiting for some blueberry cupcakes to bake, so watch this space! But these chocolate crunchies are something I made yesterday. Sadly they're dark chocolate, which I don't personally like (all the more for my boyfriend) but I did try one and they seem pretty good. Next time I'll try them with milk chocolate.

They're so easy to make, I found the recipe in the sweet book my friend Millie gave me to look at. All you do is melt the chocolate, add some orange zest and mix in the almonds. Spoonful the mixture out in to even amounts on a baking tray and leave to cool in the fridge. Then store them in an air tight container :) They're basically like chocolate cornflake cakes you used to make when you were younger (or still do like me) but with almonds instead! 

Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend! Sorry for the lack of blogging this week. My parents have been away, so every night when I'm from work my routine has been cook food, wash up, shower, make lunch for the next day, catch up with jersey shore. I've been so tired I haven't actually done anything worth blogging about. :( x

Champagne Daaahling

Models Own 'Champagne'

Last weekend I finally had some time off work, so for my trip to Manchester I decided to do my nails. I hate the fact I have no time anymore to do things like this. Last Summer I was constantly doing either leopard print or something a bit different to my nails. But now I'm working full time I can't do it, I can have my nails painted, although I don't think we're meant to. I stick to subtle colours just in case. 

Back on track, this colour by Models Own is one of my faves! I love the richness to it...I think Champagne sums it up perfectly. 

I still haven't invested in a Models Own Wah nail art pen. That really has to be next on my list! Instead I'm sticking to my trusty eyeliner. 

Hope everyone's having a good week :) x