About Me: 2nd Year University Room!

Hey everyone,

I haven't done a personal post in a while, so I thought i'd post a few pictures of where I will be spending the majority of my days for the next 9 months. Although I loved living in halls (As dirty and loud as they may be!) I much prefer living in an actual house. It's nice to actually have a living room where everyone can all sit comfortably, a spacious kitchen and equally spacious rooms with double beds. The house i'm living in is technically a 9-bedroom house, but it's split into two floors so all the boys live upstairs and the girls and I get the bigger flat downstairs! So here's a few pictures of my room:

I thought i'd give you a sneak-peek into how much wardrobe space I have, which isn't a whole lot sadly :( But as you can see, I have plenty of space for my makeup, skin and haircare (I also have a small plastic crate under my bed where all my shampoos and conditioners are!). I only moved in yesterday so everything is a work in progress, but my favourite thing has to be my patchwork duvet from the vintage collection in BHS (That and the corner pillow my sister insisted I buy from Ikea, which is literally the most amazingly comfortable thing ever.).

The only negative I have on my new bedroom is that it's really dark due to the two windows I have being on the side of the house out of the sunlight, resulting in me having to have the light on the majority of the day. As well as it being really cold (I'm glad I have my onesie, cable-knit blanket and slippers) I love it - and it being so spacious means a lot more space to take photographs and a lot more space for more products to post onto here! 

So there you have it! Normal posts will resume over the weekend after I finish my induction in John Lewis (I am now working in the Audio & TV department!), and i'm going to get to grips with my university schedule and schedule in blog posts so I can have some more consistency. 

Have a great Friday! x

No7 Stay Perfect Foundation in 'Calico' and Foundation Match Made Experience!

Finding the right shade of a new foundation can be a daunting task. As we are all aware, no skin colour is the same, making it sometimes extremely difficult just to simply point at a shade and say: "That's me!". Sometimes you can be surprised at how your foundation matches up - it can seem too light, dark or even have pink or yellow undertones that you hadn't noticed before. Like I said, it can be a challenge (A bit like venturing out to find the right pair of jeans!), so No7 have taken it upon themselves to do the job for you.

I'd wanted to try this service out for sometime, purely because I was fascinated by the little gadget they use to match your skin up with one of their 17 newly developed shades. I didn't manage to get a picture, but it is essentially a small machine that's held up to your skin and with one click takes 27 photographs of your skintone. It then matches you up to one of their foundations - simple! The whole process took less than a minute, and within 5 I had walked away with one of their 8 liquid foundations.

I was matched to Calico, which in the bottle looks quite dark, but when swatched both online and on my hand is pretty much EXACTLY my skin tone. I don't think i've ever had a closer match. I ended up with the Stay Perfect foundation, as I wanted to achieve long-lasting oil-free coverage with minimal shine, and that's definitely what I got with this product. I've always thought of No7 as a drug-store brand, but I now choose this foundation over my designer foundations such as D&G and MAC. I've found that you can build up coverage quite well (I use a pump and a half if I want serious coverage, otherwise one pump is quite enough!) and after 12 hours the foundation hasn't budged. With such a close match i'm no longer worried about it not blending into my neck, the foundation simply looks like a layer of skin - it's so precisely matched. It also has added SPF 15 in it, which is always a bonus for skin protection. I also love the glass bottle, it gives a designer feel so a more inexpensive product (This beauty is just £14 - an absolute BARGAIN!)

It's advised to just be dotted onto the most neccessary areas with either your fingers or a sponge as it could just balance out your blemished areas, so really I use it as a concealer and foundation in one. Such a brilliant, unique service achieving excellent results. I now know my colour, so I can explore their other foundations and if they're anything like this one, my make-up bag's about to get a whole lot bigger.

You can purchase the Stay Perfect Foundation in your local Boots for £14, and be sure to check here whether or not your local Boots has a Match Made Service!

Guest Post: Peter Pan Collar Nails by Charlotte Daisy Lewis!

Nail art can be a fun and original way to join in with the latest trends - Peter pan collars have been very popular this summer and I have seen them every where, on the most stylish celebs, and now, on my nails! I am really pleased with the overall effect and think it looks pretty cute. So here's hows to do it:

 

 Paint your nails with a good base coat to protect them (I use China Glaze). Allow to dry.
Then, with white varnish (Natural Collection), paint the top part of your nails leaving a sort-of semi-circle clear at the cuticle. Repeat on all nails, or on just one hand if you want to re-create the black/white contrasting look I have. Allow to dry.
Using black nail varnish (Rimmel) and a very small paint brush create a line down the middle of the nail (excluding the semi-circle) and a sort-of 'm' shape on top of the white and paint the rest of the nail, this should leave a little white collar under the plain semi-circle (this is going to look like skin, so the neck above the collar). Repeat. Allow to dry.

For the little buttons I used a gold polish (OPI) and a dotting tool (the head of a pin will do) and carefully placed three very small dots under each 'collar'. Repeat and allow to dry. Cover all nails with a decent top coat (China Glaze). If you want to create the contrasting look just use these same instructions but with black for the collar instead of white etc.

And you're done!  

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 There you have it, a super-easy design that you can recreate in any colour combination - although the classic white and black is a must-do for trying it out first time. I've never really thought of doing guest posts, but seeing Charlotte's (We call her Chaz!) amazing nail art designs, I knew I just had to get her to do something for Sophie Says! Hopefully she'll be back to do some more guest posts, but if you want to keep track of her latest designs, you can follow her Facebook page - trust me, you need to see what this girl can come up with!

Follow Charlotte Daisy Lewis Nail Art on Facebook HERE!