In a swift departure from yesterday's style I bring you one one of my latest bargain finds which I'm so in love with. This vintage dress was waiting to be rescued from a local charity shop labelled up at somewhere between £1-3 (my memory fails me), but you can see why I've had a couple of large chazza hauls lately – how can I say no with prices from £1 for things I can't resist?

On this occasion I arrived home to try on everything (I never try on behind weirdy curtains) and loved the fit but discovered a small stain that although wasn't that obvious, was a deal breaker. Being loathed to take it back (and dreading seeing someone else walking around in it) we tried soaking it in stain remover which worked and it's pristine again, hurrah! It's good stuff that Vanish Gold.

Not sponsored to say that – I'm just well chuffed!

The dress is delightfully modest: capped sleeves, high neckline, midi length, loose fit with a nipped in at the waist with a matching belt. The white polka dots make it perfect for wearing with my white faux Litas which although perhaps have been long forgotten by the fashion world are still a style I'll reach for time and time again. A stinking great heeled boot is always a winner for me.

I'm thinking wedged trainers next time?

Much more of a ladylike outfit today, but who knows what tomorrow brings?

Sophie

It's not often I wear a tee as my taste tends to favour blouses and shirts generally but as a long time fan of Percy Cute Clothing by following them on Twitter I've been lusting after several pieces for a good while; I'm such a fan of the cool designs they come up with, really creative and unique.

I was thrilled when they offered to send me one of my favourites; the angels with dirty minds tee which is a delightfully fun design for me to style up. How often do I wear something my Nan would scold me for wearing? (not often enough I've decided).

In something of a dark mood first thing that morning I decided to paint my nails black and do my eyes a bit bolder, what do you think? Personally, I'm thinking this is my thing for winter, then maybe a coloured liner for added variety, like a green to go with my eyes or a blue just for the hell of it? Purple lips are a new thing to me this year, Chris calls them hypothermic but they definitely work for me.

The outfit is dead simple; standard ankle boots, New Look pretty scalloped denim shorts*, Percy Cute tee*, floral crown, Aluna J bag and stacks of jewellery. I have a couple of alternative outfit ideas in my head which are also rather fun; there are so many ways to wear a tee and one as cool as this deserves to be worn. Loving the idea of a pencil skirt and blazer with just a wing of the angel showing (office appropriate so long as you keep the blazer buttoned, how amusing).

Do you wear tees? Favourite way to wear yours?

Sophie

You've probably noticed by now just how obsessed I am with my Daisy necklace as I seem to wear it more than half the time at the moment. To be honest I'm slightly swept away by the whole collection of jewellery at Iced Rainbow, especially the autumn/winter new pieces.

I was brazen enough to take part in a late summer photo shoot of some really unique pieces, with cool local photographer Joshua Patrick who I've known on Twitter for a good while now. So many crazy opportunities have presented themselves to me since I started blogging in earnest and I couldn't be more excited or grateful. So I manned up; donned my favourite floral crown and went out with an open mind for a shoot.


The British summer let us down slightly; it was blowing a gale from the North (or somewhere else extraordinarily cold) and the cloud rolled in to cause a right nuisance but we made the best of the conditions (props to Josh, he knows how to get the best from each picture) and ended up with some great shots.


If you're looking for a photographer in Norfolk then Joshua Patrick Photography gets a thumbs up from me. As well as being a talented photographer Josh also happens to be great company; a happy chap and a proper gent (he lent me his jumper when I was freezing cold, a fashion blogger approved design of course, hehe). Josh is Norwich based and covers weddings, fine art landscape and family shoots, you should check out his work!

There are so many great pieces that I'd love to own; the feather charm necklace, personalised forever charmed necklace and the cupcake necklace have really caught my eye.
*** You can now grab yourself a 10% discount at www.icedrainbow.com with my code SITSB10 so let me know what you get! ***


I'm over the moon to be giving away one of these gorgeous butterfly necklaces as well as a set of oils I reviewed to one of you so go ahead with the rafflecopter form (of which there are no mandatory entries). Please note the 'leave a comment' option is specific read, visit Icedrainbow.com and tell me your favourite piece and why! The giveaway is open for one week and UK addresses only.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck everyone!

Sophie

I always consider that there are hardly any little tops in my wardrobe, obviously there are more than I think because that's always the way isn't it but it feels like there aren't many there. It probably has a lot to do with my fussiness about them; low cut is a no-no, they have to be a nice material, not too embellished and a colour I like. This one caught my attention while browsing the charity shops recently because it was delightfully different; detail to the neckline, a floaty boho feel and plenty of colour (although I was in two minds about the colour). It certainly has a bright and cheerful summer feel and hopefully will look ok layered up for autumn too. The best and worst feature has to be that it will cover any size of food baby but on the flipside it does look like a maternity top with the shapelessness, definitely on the eating out approved list!

I didn't realise that my shorts were almost covered by the top; oops. Too short? Nah. Summer was in full swing on Sunday and I made the most of getting the sun on my skin. Plenty of time for wrapping up in the coming months.

A summer round up will be here by the end of the month!

Sophie

You lifestyle bloggers all decided to hit me all at once yesterday, didn't you? I should have seen it coming but I've been keeping the blinkers firmly in place to enjoy every last ounce of summertime and haven't let my mind wander. The amount of posts on Bloglovin' I saw along the lines of 'hurrah it's autumn... lets get out the chunky knits, sit by the fire and drink spiced coffee'.

Oh, it rather upset me.

As far as I'm concerned it's officially summer until the equinox and it continues as long as the weather holds up. The idea of autumn starting now is too alarming to comprehend; as long time sufferer of SAD there is nothing I dread more than summer vanishing without a trace. I can do without my frozen extremities, wrecked skin, windswept barnet and runny nose for another month or so if you please. Let's not all get swept away in the weird romance that autumn is somehow a fairytale for everyone.

I still have so many sights to share with you (I've been putting off looking through some of the pictures as there are just so many shots that it'll take forever to whittle it down to a handful.) but they will be appearing soon. Would you be interested to see a summer round up? I think it would be a nice idea.

Sophie

Ah the perfect summer's dress. I've avoided wearing this one for too long just because I like it so much that I wanted to wear it on the 'right' occasion. There never is the right occasion; the best thing you can do with favourite pieces is wear them often so that you get squeeze the most enjoyment out of them. That lesson only seems to get half learnt before I squirrel away another find which gets gazed at and stroked but never worn. Perhaps from now on I can learn to take my own advice?


This pretty vintage dress is one I bought on eBay a year or so ago for precious little. It's a lovely thick cotton with lace trim and wide satin straps; the length is modest without being frumpy and it's high cut neckline is just how I like it. As with pretty much every outfit I wore a floral crown, this one being the most simple and subtle which is a lovely quality indeed if you ask me. Leather ankle boots as standard. They were my best buy ever at £1 from a garage sale!

There are such a lot of posts that are coming your way soon; a whole variety of outfit posts, days out, some exciting discoveries and of course plenty of food and fitness updates. Stick around!

Sophie