Penny Lane

1 - ASOS Swing Dress | 2. Louche Skirt | 3. Topshop Cloud Jumper | 4. eBay Buckle Boots | 

5. Boohoo Jumpsuit 

This is the most exciting time of the year for Fashion; the transition from Spring/Summer to Autumn/ Winter. It's time to get out your coats and boots and decide how your gonna keep warm this season. I have a trusty pair of Dr Martens and a faux fur coat which have both been staples for a few years but this year I really want a 70s style coat like Penny Lane in Almost Famous, wish me luck finding one of them! I love all the fluffy jumpers that are coming out at the moment but no matter how hard I try and find a cheaper version, nothing quite compares to the Topshop cloud, it is so soft and such a good length.

Brown Sugar

1-Topshop Skirt - £45

2-Topshop Trousers - £35 (sold out online!)

3-Topshop Dress - £35 

4-New Look Skirt - £14.99

5-Motel Tinkerbell Dress - £45

As it has been such a long time since i've written a post I thought I would come back with a classic wish list! I feel so guilty about my lack of blogging, i've been really busy with my job and have had hardly any access to the Internet which has been driving me a little bit crazy! Now however I am back, and have several posts lined up for this week :) 

As I mentioned in my last post I was made redundant again so I have been spending quite a bit of time trying to find a new job (which is a horrible process!) Career wise I really want to get into fashion marketing and promotion and basically do what I did in my internship as a paid job, but living outside of London does make this quite difficult. I've spent a lot of time looking for fashion companies based in Bristol and there are very few so I've decided to try and get a job with any kind of PR, marketing or communications company to get experience and a foot in the door! There's quite a lot of marketing companies in Bristol but it's the old problem of you can't get a job without experience but you can't get experience if no one will give you a job. I have thought about doing another 6 month internship so I can make sure I have at least a years part time experience but again positions are limited in Bristol. If anyone has any advice or has been in a similar position feel free to share your experience! 

Anyway enough negativity how nice are all these items! I am loving cobalt blue, denim and tartan at the moment and as always paisley is one of my favourite prints. It's the start of a new season which always means new clothes and I can't wait to start snapping up my summer wardrobe! Remember you can use the code 'sophiepalms' at the Motel online checkout for 20% off! This week i'm having some gel nails done too so make sure you check out my instagram (sophiepalmer) to see them, i'm pretty excited to not have to worry about chipped nail varnish!  Hope everyones had a nice weekend :)

In Love With Fashion

Tomorrow is the day I start my new job so i'm afraid this is a very short post. I have an induction with Topshop and Love before starting properly on Saturday. I'm a little bit nervous as I guess most people are when they start a new job, but feel really lucky that i'm going to be on my feet doing something I enjoy rather than working in an office in something I hate! I'm really excited for all the new clothes i'm going to be able to share with you guys and if it's not a brand you've heard of or know much about then in a way I guess you'll be sharing the new experience with me!

I wanted to show you a few of my favourite pieces already just from browsing the website, and have no doubt i'll be setting a few pieces aside every delivery day as it seems the clothes are really my style! The jumper has a great 60's monochrome feel to it and I love the print of the second dress. I've seen images of my favourite blogger  Olivia wearing the wrap playsuit which feels like a real staple and I can already imagine myself wearing the lace crop with all my high waisted skirts! If you haven't checked out the brand yet here is the website and they also have a great bloggers affiliate program which might be of interest to some of you guys!

As for me i'm off to have a nice bath, wash my hair, do my nails all those sorts of things you do when you have something important on the next day! I haven't decided what to wear yet so no doubt that will take a while! If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to comment, and i'll make sure I do an outfit post of it!

Wish me luck ♥♥

Nervous Romance

Isn't it amazing how a little bit of sun can make you feel so productive and happy? This week so far has been so good and I think it's because the sun has been making an appearance! I'm going to be starting my new job this week so am trying to make the most of my last few days off; I went to the gym this morning and am now going to spend the rest of the day making some food and just relaxing with my boyfriend. Last night I went out for a friends birthday and watched the Sound City documentary, definitely worth a watch if your a music fan! Today i'm wearing this amazing tea dress from Primark! As soon as I saw it I had to have it, teamed with a big 70's floppy hat from Urban Outfitters and some plain gold jewellery. I feel like my outfits have been a bit boring lately, so i'm hoping with Spring on its way I can mix it up a bit, and now I have a new job I can get some new items to team with my old favourites!

Hope everyone is having a nice day  ♥

My Blogger Of The Month: Amy Bell!

This is a bit of a last minute/late idea from me, but I thought it would be a good idea, every month do a little post on my blogger of the month! I read a lot of blogs every day, both fashion and beauty, and wanted to do something to recognise my favourite bloggers and maybe even introduce my followers to the blog. I'm not going to worry about followers, they could have 1 or 10,000 followers, all I want to look for is someone who styles outfits I love and takes nice pictures. I always think it's a really nice thing to do when bloggers write posts on fellow bloggers and how much they love their style, so really this is just a way of spreading blogger love (that sounds so incredibly lame, but I don't care ha!)

My first blogger of the month for January 2013 is... Amy Bell from Little Magpie!

I was first introduced to Amy's blog through working at the Motel Rocks head office, where I was responsible for communicating with bloggers. Amy was a member of the street team and Laura who runs it, put Amy forward as a blogger we might be interested in working with further. Ever since the first time I emailed her, she has always been super nice and friendly and was one of the first people who followed my blog :)

I love her 60's style, she always wears her hair in this perfect beehive and her outfit shots are so good, they genuinely look like part of a magazine shoot. I feel like Amy is quite daring with her fashion but in a way you don't notice at first because she tends to stick with muted colours and classic prints. When you think of daring fashion, it conjures images of mental people who wear shoes on their head; people like Anna Piaggi but Amy is daring in a more subtle way. Like the way she wears a jacket/short sequin suit in the below picture, short suits are a trend thats quickly making it's way onto the high street but Amy was the first person I saw doing it and it's definitely not something for the faint hearted! I think one of the reasons I like her style is that it's quite similar to mine, I like dark colours, feminine shapes and grungy boots, and just love seeing how Amy puts things together, adding neck ties and statement necklaces.

What do you guys think of Amys' style? Do you like the idea of me doing a 'blogger of the month' feature?

Street Teamer

After the unfortunate end to my job at Motel Rocks, I decided I still really love the clothes and the company so it made sense to become a street teamer! I talk about the clothes a lot, and always have one or two items popping up on my wish lists, so what could be better than offering you guys 20% off anything that I mention, or anything you have your eye on! In order to get your 20% off all you need to do is click on the banner below or just go to the Motel Rocks website and at the checkout enter the code 'sophiepalms', it is only valid online at Motel so you can't use it on any other online stores like ASOS or Topshop, but throughout the year I will be able to give you guys extra discounts and promotions so it's a winner for all of us! I also picked the button that had the 'Penny Dress in Black and White Stripe' as the image, a dress which you all know I am besotted with! It's back in stock now too so get it before it's gone!  

I'm still really friendly with the team at Head Office and during my time as an intern become good friends with Lora; who has recently photographed the 'Valentines Collection' imagery. 

I love these images, I love the models hair it fits so perfectly with the styling and graphics, and I love how simple they are. At the moment there is a competition on to win two very different Valentines nights both including a £50 Motel Rocks gift card! I've entered them both, and really want to win the night in because my boyfriend is going to be away for Valentines and I really do love Dominos Pizza! 

Louis XIV

Jumper - H&M

Shirt - Vintage

Skirt - Primark

DM's - Urban Outfitters

I look a bit strange in these photos, I love the outfit but i'm not sure if I look a bit baggy? This is a new skirt from Primark it cost £7, what a bargain! It's a waffle style material and is a midi length which is something I would never usually go for, but I love the look of it with a baggy jumper - it feels quite grungy, especially with my Dr Martens! I decided to team it with this cute vintage shirt to soften it and it's definitely my favourite outfit of the moment. My hair has finally decided to go a bit more silver, I had a bad dye job and the first two inches of my hair was a horrible yellow colour while the rest was the silver I like. I put a toner on it over the weekend and it has lifted so much, I am so much happier with it! 

I had a great weekend, it was a friends birthday on Saturday so me and my friends went out in Bristol for it; I felt suitably horrible on Sunday. I haven't really been out since New Year so it was fun to go out drinking with all my friends and have a good time. Today I applied for 5 jobs! So proud of myself i'm feeling really positive job wise and am just waiting for the next thing to come along. As for the rest of the week i'm just gonna try and relax and carry on filling my day with seeing friends and doing blog posts!

Soap & Glory Gift Set

For Christmas I was so lucky to receive lots of great make up, beauty products and perfumes, but the one I really wanted to share with you guys was this Soap & Glory set named "Showers that Glee". It was a gift from a member of my boyfriends family so I guess it was toiletries, but when I saw the box I was so excited as it was huge!

Soap & Glory are one of my favourite ranges, I love the feel of the products, the smell and of course the beautiful retro packaging style. The packaging is really similar to Benefit in the sense that they both use vintage imagery and play on the names of their products, and even though Soap & Glory is a lot cheaper I still think it can match the quality of higher priced products.

The first thing I loved about this gift set was that all the items are fully sized. Travel sized items are great for holidays and to test out a product but I always seem to have loads of the 'Body Mist' which I never use and none of the shower gel which I love! In fact i've just checked a drawer and I have four unused body mists! My second favourite thing about this set was two of the main products are items I have never tried before - perfect! The set comes with the standard shower puff and a really useful hair towel but the main products are 'Pulp Friction Body Scrum', 'Butter Yourself Body Butter' and 'Foam Call Shower & Bath Wash'.

Pulp Friction Body Scrub

This smelt so summery, as soon as I used it I felt refreshed! It smelt of citrus and mint and when I checked the ingredients it is a blend of peppermint, lemonade tree oil, orange and fig powder. It is a good scrub in that it foams well, meaning it will last a while however it is quite sticky so you will need to make sure it's all washed off after showering! It left my skin feeling really smooth and fresh, albeit a little dry so I was desperate to use the body butter after.

Foam Call Shower & Bath Wash

An everyday item this was the product I will use the most, so I needed it to be good! Squeezing it onto the S&G puff it instantly smelt great and lathered up well, I hate using shower gels that don't lather! It felt really smooth and left my skin smelling great and well moisturised, meaning I can use it quickly without having to worry about moisturising if i'm in a rush. (apologies for the glare on this picture, took about 50 photos of it but they all had glare!).

Butter Yourself Body Butter

I have really dry skin and it gets so much worse throughout the Winter so I need a good body moisturiser which I know is going to last throughout the day, there is nothing worse than having dry legs because wearing tights or leggings becomes SO uncomfortable! This cream is fairly thick, it's probably not wise to use when you're in a rush as it takes a few minutes to soak in, but after a bath/shower at night it is a dream! I've used Soap & Glory butters before but this one has a citrus smell and literally glides on to your skin. The scent lasted which I liked and it didn't leave my skin feeling greasy, but very smooth and soft.

I really liked all of these products but was especially impressed with the 'Foam Call Shower & Bath Wash', they are all reasonably priced at around £10 and you get good sized products which last for around 4-6 weeks (depending on the product). I would definitely recommend all of them especially if you have dry skin like me and want a low priced but good quality shower range.

Stealing Sheep

Hat - New Look

Top - Motel Vintage

Shorts - Vintage

Belt - Vintage

Shoes - Urban Outfitters

This is one of those annoying posts where I can't put a link on any of my clothes because they are all vintage or old season! I bought this t shirt from the Motel Bristol store on the weekend, I was going out for a few drinks and wanted something casual to wear and this was perfect. It's not something I would usually pick but I really like it and love the way it looks tucked in with vintage Levis. It was £28 in the  but my discount made it much more appealing! 

Yesterday was my day off so I was very lazy and stayed in my pjs till 4ish, then decided to pop into town and get some food with my boyfriend. I went into Topshop and bought some things with some vouchers I had for Christmas which I will post about later on this week! 

I'm about to go work and am really excited because we should be getting some brand new items in (I already have my eye on two of them!) so i'm looking forward to having a little rifle through the delivery. Also if any of you live in Bristol and are a fan of the store I have a special promotion for you to receive 20% off just by quoting my blog at the till <3

Velvet Crush

Oh my god it is so cold! I can't believe the temperature drop recently, I am wrapping up in tights, socks, scarves and gloves and i'm still freezing! Last night I had the ultimate Winter night in; cooking some tasty hot food and then lying on my sofa watching the Christmas channel for 4 hours- oh yes there is a Christmas channel and it's the best!

Today i'm working and am waiting for a Missguided delivery which I am very excited about! My favourite thing about Winter (apart from Christmas) is the shopping, I prefer Winter clothes to Summer, they're just so much better; the colours, the styles and the fabric, and my favourite Winter fabric has got to be velvet. I seem to end up buying velvet clothes every year but this year Missguided has so many winners! I went onto their website looking for a velvet skirt and found this gorgeous green which also comes in a burgundy. On an absolute velvet mission, I found the cute burgundy crop and the navy long sleeved dress, both items I can imagine wearing a lot! Navy, burgundy and bottle green are my favourite Winter colours so yesterday I purchased the skirt and dress and can't wait for them to arrive!

New Look Christmas Blogger Competition

Whilst looking at blogs recently i've found a lot of people posting about a competition that New Look is running for bloggers! You need to design a Christmas Party Outfit for your body type and could win £100 worth of New Look vouchers!

My body type is the classic pear, basically no boobs and big hips! I think it might be the most common body shape but I can't imagine it's the most coveted! It's easy to dress because you can wear most things on the top but generally looks best to wear an a line shape on the bottom, although it doesn't stop me wearing leggings or jeans! I decided to go for this gold dress which I thought looked quite 'Kate Moss' and styled it with some opaque tights, wedges boots and a fedora hat. I'm not a very 'glam' person so this is a dressed up as I could probably be! I do like it though and it's now making me want to buy the dress!

If you fancy having a go at creating an outfit click here and make sure you check out New Looks guide to body shapes here :)

Jellicle Cats

Leotard- H&M

Cat Skirt - Champagne Diamond

Belt - Vintage

Creepers - eBay

I can't tell you how excited I was when I got home the other day to see my cat skirt had arrived! I'm not usually the most enthusiastic person in the world but I screamed when this turned up. I bought it from Lucy at Champagne Diamond and have been lusting after it for ages but you know when you want something but you just never seem to get around to buying it? Well Lucy is also so lovely that she gave me a cheeky discount code which was the push I needed! I would definitely recommend checking out the online shop there are loads of cat and dog prints as well as some great Levi's for only £10! I bought a 10 and the sizing is really good, fits perfectly! 

I wore this outfit yesterday for my last day at head office. Quite sad because i've been interning there since June and really felt at home but it's also a good thing because I have been offered a full time job through the internship!! As you guys know i've been working part time at the Bristol shop over the past few weeks but now they have asked me to be the store manager! I was a bit reluctant at first because I don't have any management experience but more than anything they want me to take hold of the social media for the store as well as organise events and promotions- which pretty much sounds like a dream! I'm really excited now and am starting  next week, good news for the blog too because i'll have extra money to spend on clothes which I can show you guys! 

I had loads of really nice emails from the bloggers i've spoken to through Motel who have wished me good luck and thanks so much to those of you who follow me who have sent me a message :) 

Holly and Phil

This weekend was a really good one, had a great Saturday night out for my brothers birthday and generally felt horrible yesterday! I wore the Elsa dress and was surprised by how much I loved it, I don't usually wear body con because i'm really self conscious of being such a pear shape, but I had lots of lovely compliments and in the end didn't think it looked too bad! 

This week i'm back to working Wednesday- Saturday so have today and tomorrow to do some outfit posts. This evening i'm going to Milton Keynes to the indoor ski place. I've never been skiing before and I am a little bit scared, but after booking a skiing holiday in March I need to learn!

This outfit was from yesterday and makes me look about 12 years old, clearly my bra is not fitting well in the picture either haha embarrassing! I love this jumper from Topshop and have just worn it over my vintage denim shirt and teamed with some tights and the standard H&M body con skirt - lifesaver!

Hope everyone is having a nice day, i'm just sat in my pj's watching 'This Morning' and drinking a lot of orange juice!!

Walking In The Sand

Two outfit posts in two days I am on a roll! Today i'm worked at the Motel Bristol store and got a quick outfit post done before I left! I love this waterfall green skirt it was around £4 from eBay which is amazing and you can find it here in various colours! I'm wearing it with a basic ASOS black leotard and my black biker jacket, excuse the no shoes look! I'm not enjoying my photographs at the moment, I look a bit strange in them! I really need to find a good pose and setting for my outfit photographs so if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to leave them below! I think I prefer the white backdrop I was using before maybe I should go back to that!

Tomorrow is my brothers birthday so tonight after work i'll be rushing home to get changed and head out to celebrate, think we're having some people to the family house for drinks then heading into town. I'm planning on wearing the Elsa Dress from Motel I ordered it to the store and have my fingers crossed that I like it or there will be a blind panic when I get home trying to find something else to wear! It's not my usual style as it's a fancy body con but I love the baroque detail and am thinking I can dress it down with my chelsea boots and biker jacket! I still have a photo of the night I went out wearing the Laynie so over the next few days i'll put pictures of the Laynie and Elsa outfits up!

Sister Jane

Today I thought I would do a post on one of my favourite brands; Sister Jane, i'm not quite sure how I discovered this brand, I think it might have been in Topshop Oxford Street, but i'm so glad I did because the clothes are gorgeous and I love the ethos behind the company. Sold as a concession in Topshop and ASOS, Bea Deza is the woman behind the brand who also just happens to be the coolest woman in the world! My favourite thing about their website is the blog which accompanies it, showing intimate and interesting pictures of the life and career of Bea Deza. The clothes are eclectic and bring together two of my favourite styles; 90's grunge and 60's bohemia, I am pretty much in love with the sheer panel dress below! Although technically a Spanish brand, Bea describes it as English as it was 'born in London' and to be honest it just makes me want to start up my own designs because the clothes are just so perfect for me. 

Sister Jane brings out a new collection as often as every 6 weeks and this time you will find 'Death in Glendale', which features monochrome shirts accompanied by printed trousers, velvet dresses, maxi skirts and baroque, sheer panelled blouses. The clothes are dramatic and luckily not ridiculously  expensive, dresses start at £65 and currently both Topshop and ASOS have some items in their sale! 

As I have a slight girl crush on Bea Deza I wanted to show you guys some photos of her style which you can find here on the Sister Jane blog. I love her excessive use of rings, which I can relate to, and the way she wears quite feminine dresses but toughens them up with hats, boots and 'boyish' styling. You can also find some pretty cool images of her apartment in Madrid here which features some fantastic furniture and eclectic interior design.

Up The Junction

These are my new shoes that arrived today from Boohoo. I'm so pleased with them, they looked good on the website but you know when you get shoes sometimes and they're really plastic and stiff? Well these are soft and comfy, and I can tell i'll be able to start wearing them straight away! I'm a bit nervous because they're cream and I know i'll get them dirty straight away, but it's nice to have a change from my standard all black shoes! They were only £10 in the sale and Boohoo kindly gave me a 20% discount voucher so even better! I think loafer style shoes are my favourite type of shoes, they have definitely seen a huge resurgence in recent years because of Alexa Chung, but they are a classic and look great with jeans or tights. They come in so may different styles and colours but I think I will always have a place in my heart for the patent black classics!

Today is a misty, dull day and I am having my standard Monday/Tuesday wearing a big jumper and leggings, whilst baking, dying clothes and looking at blogs! To get us all through these grey days here are some nice inspirational pictures of people wearing loafers and generally looking great!

Florence Welch/Alexa Chung/Kate Moss/Olivia Palmero/Aggy Deyn/Ashley Olsen

All Images From Google.

New Job!

Whilst writing out where I got these items from I realised they are all from Primark! Oh dear that's embarrassing! I didn't shop at Primark for ages because I did a lot of research into ethical fashion for a Uni project and read some pretty nasty things, but they seem to have had a bit of a ethical makeover and their website states they have strong values towards working conditions, the environment and their employees which makes me feel a bit better! If this is something you're interested in you can always have a little read here. Recently I haven't had much money and because it's so cheap i've been able to update my wardrobe a little with little beauties like this pearl collar necklace and the camouflage jacket I have wanted for so long! This is a really nice one because it's quite thin, I tried on loads of vintage jackets but they were so bulky and not very flattering!

Anyway this picture was taken against our amazing inspiration wall at Motel HQ I love it and am so desperate to get a huge pin board for my bedroom. I am a self confessed hoarder and along with having around 250 Vogue and Elle Magazines from the last god knows how long, I also keep lots of pictures and little bits that i'm not sure what to do with, pin board = answer! These pictures were taken on Friday by the lovely Lora English (who is also a freelance photographer) and of course include Selina who I am working with whose amazing blog Flying Saucer i'm sure a lot of you are familiar with! 

This weekend has been a quiet one and for once I am fresh faced and busy on a Sunday! Friday night I stayed in with Tom who cooked a roasted vegetable and pasta dish, which could be one of the best things i've ever eaten! Then Saturday was my first proper day at my new job!!! I'm working in the Motel Bristol store which is the only one of it's kind and it is so much fun! I have always worked in retail and much prefer working in a small independent style shop than in a huge high street store. The clothes are lovely and i've been shopping there since I was 14 so it feels very familiar. Today I made some white chocolate and cherry cookies and i'm am heading out for a roast dinner in an hour so it has definitely been a food focused weekend!