Couture Avenue

France Photo Diary Part 1

As you may or may not know, I've been on holiday in France for the last few days and I've still got another week here, but I've taken a lot of pictures already so I thought I would do a part 1 of my photo diary. Part 2 will probably be up towards the end of next week.

For the first 2 days of the holiday we stayed in a hotel in Paris. The first day we just chilled by the pool and went out for dinner, and the second day we went to a theme park in Paris called Parc Asterix which was so much fun! We then travelled to the South of France, which I'm in now! Since I took so many pictures those first couple of days, I will feature just those photos on this post, and my photos from the South of France will be in part 2.

The pool at the hotel was nice, and we had it to ourselves the whole time because the weather wasn't amazing. As we arrived at the hotel at about 4pm the first day, we had a couple of hours to relax by the pool and go swimming before we went out for dinner.

We went to a pizza pasta restaurant and I had carbonara pizza (weird I know) and THE most amazing profiteroles EVER! French profiteroles are 100 times better than English profiteroles! In fact all of the desserts in France are delicious..creme brûlée is one of my favourites!

We also went to Buffallo grill for dinner one night which is a chain of restaurants in France! I had this salad for dinner which was delicious! If you are looking for a restaurant in France that serves pretty much everything, this is the place to go!

These are some of the photos from Parc Asterix! I didn't really get any pictures of the rides but they had so many good rides, and the themes in the park were really realistic! We also went to see a dolphin show which was funny! If you are thinking of visiting this park, I would definitely recommend it! It's not quite disneyland Paris, but for the price of the tickets, the rides and entertainment in the park are great!

That's all for my Paris photos! Look out for part 2 which will feature my photos from the south of France and should be up some time next week!

Sophia x

10:18
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Weekend Wishlist

style

So today I went shopping to get some last minute summer clothing items for out holiday, but I ended up trying on all of the new in autumn/winter collection at Rive island! Even though we're only half way through August, I've compiled a small clothing wishlist from the new collections as Autumn is my favourite season for clothes and I'm way too excited!!!

1. Black Colour Block Sweater - I love this jumper and I think it would look good with jeans for the autumn/winter and ankle boots! I really like the colour block and I've seen a lot of colour block styles for the new season so I think it will be a trend for Autumn/winter 2015!

2. Dark Grey Check Shirt - I actually tried this on in River Island the other day as all of the new season clothes had been brought in, and I loved it! I probably wouldn't have picked it if I was shopping online but I liked it on the hanger and I loved it when I tried it on! I think it would look so nice with white jeans especially and you could dress it up or down!

3. Ankle Grazer Amelie Jeans - I feel like jeans are an essential for the colder months and I live in them during Autumn and Winter! I had Topshop Joni jeans last year but I prefer the low waisted style now and I love the colour of these jeans! I think I'll get a lot of wear out of them and River Island jeans are definitely good quality!

4.Grey Sleeveless Duster Coat - I've seen loads of sleeveless coats in the new collections this year, and grey is on trend for Autumn/Winter 2015 so this coat would be perfect! I also think it would be great for the transitioning season as you can still wear it in warmer weather as a fashion statement!

5. Beige Colour Block Dress - My favourite thing about this dress are the colours, which I think go so well together! You could dress it up or down and it would be perfect, again, for the transition between Summer and Autumn! I almost wish that they did this as a shirt as well as I think it would look amazing as a shirt with jeans!

6. Beige Fringe and Chain Plimsolls - These shoes are probably my favourite thing from this whole wishlist! They suit my style so well and I think they could go with any outfit and could be worn all year round! I've actually already ordered these as they'd been reduced by £10 so I thought they were meant to be! Haha!

13:34
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My favourite photo editing apps

life

I have always had a big passion for photography, and I love to edit photos to make them exactly how I wan them to be, before I put them on instagram or my blog! These are my favourite apps for editing photos...

1. Afterlight

In my opinion, Afterlight is the best app around for editing photos and I use it to edit the majority of my photos for my blog. It has the option to add filters to your photos, but I usually just water the photo settings such as contrast, saturation and sharpness. I can make a photo taken with my iPad look like a photo taken by an expensive camera! You can also crop your pictures, which is great for instagram when you need square photos, and you can add borders of different thickness which many people use for their instagram theme!

2. Layout by Instagram

If you want a photo collage of any kind, layout is he best app to use. I used to use pic collage to create photo collages, but I now use layout as the overall picture comes out as a square which is better for instagram. You can create collages of all different compositions and you could even create a really cool instagram theme with them!

3. Photo Editor

Photo editor is a multi purpose photo editing app. Not only can you add effects and alter photo settings like Afterlight, but you can also add stickers, text and drawings to your photos! Photo editor also has a blemish tool to remove any blemishes if you're trying to get the perfect selfie, as well as a red eye remover! Photo editor can also be used to crop photos, so it basically has everything you need in one app!

4. Instagram editor

Although it isn't talked about as much, I recently edited a photo with the instagram editor and it turned out great! I think that Instagram's built in editor is so underrated and many think that you can only use it to add effects! However, there are several tools to use to enhance your photo, and the sharpen tool in particular really makes a difference if you've taken a slightly blurry photo!

I hope this helped if you're looking for some photo editing apps, and I would love to hear from you guys to see what you recommend I use to edit photos, as I haven't found any apps to top these ones so far!

Sophia x

05:11
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My favourite Instagram accounts!

life

Since I've been loving instagram so much lately, I thought I'd show you my favourite instagram accounts, which is take inspiration from for both my blog and my instagram! I've been following some of these accounts for ages, and I would definitely recommend that you guys follow them too!

1. @emshelx

Em's account is one of my favourites, along with her blog (Em Talks) which inspired me to create my own blog! She is constantly travelling, and I am always adding countries to visit to my bucket list as everywhere she visits looks amazing! I also love her style, and am always adding clothes to my wishlist from her hauls and instagram OOTD's!

2. @hellooctoberxo

Susie's instagram is so lovely! She recently got back from LA, and her photos of it made me want to go there even more than I already did! Her blog is also one of my favourites (Hello October) and I took a lot of my inspiration from it! I particularly like her London posts!

3. @gh0stparties

Kate's theme is to die for, and she also features a lot of travel photos which I love! Her blog is another one of my favourites and I love her foodie pictures, even though they always make me hungry! Haha!

4. @kayleighjcouture

Kayleigh's blog (Couture Girl) was one of the first blogs I ever read, and I definitely was inspired by the design of her blog! Her instagram is one of my favourites, and her lifestyle-esque photos always give me new inspiration, whether that be new outfits I want to buy, or restaurants I want to go to!

5. @inthefrow

Victoria is another blogger, and she also has an amazing YouTube channel with a big following! Her summer theme at the moment is so colourful and really gets me in the mood for summer! She travels a lot, and she always documents it on her instagram and blog - I'm get so jealous when I see some of the beautiful places she's been and I am always looking at her instagram for inspiration!

6. @annawithlove

Anna's account is gorgeous! Her travel photos make me want to visit everywhere she goes, and I just want her account basically! Haha! Her theme is Instagram goals, and I would definitely recommend that you all go and follow her right now!

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this post and that it encourages you to follow all of these Instagram accounts as if you're like me, you can spend hours scrolling down accounts like this, and maybe adding things to your never ending bucket list!

Sophia x

04:17
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A day at Disneyland

life

As promised in my Austria Photo Diary, I thought I would share some pictures from my trip to Disneyland Paris last year! It's one of my favourite places ever and I went there several times when I was younger, so it was amazing to go back!

The first place you come to is the Disney Village, where there are loads of Disney themed shops selling all kinds of things! There's also a massive Planet Hollywood restaurant. The World of Disney is the main shop, and it basically sells everything Disney related!

Although it was a cloudy day when we went, the castle still looked amazing, and you can see it the second you walk through the park gates! Once you go through the castle, you reach Fantasy Land which has loads of rides, mostly for younger children. The other lands in the park are Adventure land, Discovery land and Frontier Land.

Discovery land is the home of the infamous Space Mountain ride, my second favourite ride after Rock n Rollercoaster! It also has the Buzz lightyear right which I loved when I was younger!

Adventure land and Frontier land also have some amazing rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones ride (pictured above) and Thunder Mountain. They also have some amazing themed restaurants!

Another great memory of the day was the parade. I've watched the parade every time I've gone to disneyland and it's always my favourite part! Some of the floats haven't changed since I last visited in 2009, but the main song has changed, and some new films have been added such as Frozen!

In the afternoon, we went to the Walt Disney Studios park, which has some amazing rides such as Rock n Rollercoaster (which I went on about 15 times), Tower of terror and the Toy Story rides! Although Walt Disney Studios has a lot less rides, it is a lot less hectic than the main park area, and this park of the park is buzzing at night!

At the end of the day (it was literally about 11pm) we watched the fireworks show. I'd never seen it before and I thought it would just be a short firework display, but it lasted about 40 minutes and it was amazing! They had projections of characters so that they looked 3D and they played multiple songs from different Disney films to go with the fireworks! Unfortunately my camera went a bit weird when I was trying to take the photos, but the show was the perfect end to an amazing day!

Sophia x

14:15
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Lush Mask of Magnaminty Review

life

I've been on the lookout for the perfect face mask for a while now, and I recently picked up the Mask of Magnaminty face mask made from one of my favourite ever brands, LUSH! I've heard such good reviews about LUSH's face masks, and this one seemed to be the most popular! After using it twice, I now know why it's been rated so highly!

For starters, the smell of the face mask is AMAZING! The peppermint hits you straight away, but the smell isn't too overwhelming, which I know is a problem for many of LUSH's products. It is made with all natural ingredients including honey, aduki beans and evening primrose seeds, which means the product is very good for your skin and doesn't contain any nasty articial products that could damage sensitive skin! The mint is also a vegetable, so it does wonders when absorbed by the skin

Unlike most other drugstore face masks, the product is very thick in consistency, so you don't have to use much product to cover your face! This means that you can get a lot of use out of one tub, and you don't have to worry too often about repurchasing. The texture is also quite lumpy due to the ground aduki beans, so this works as an exfoliant when it's scrubbed off the skin! After washing mine off, my skin felt refreshed and smooth, and my skin was also a lot clearer the morning after!

LUSh recommend leaving the mask on for about 5-10 minutes. I left mine on for about 15 minutes, but I wouldn't recommend leaving it on any longer as my skin became very tight. As the product is so thick, you will need to use a flannel to remove all of it, but this ensures that the skin is exfoliated well which is a bonus!

The product comes in two sizes - 125g and 315g. As LUSH have 'use by' dates on all of their products to ensure that all of the products work to their fullest, I would recommend using the 125g, as you can get several masks out of one pot. You only need to use the mask 1-2 times a week maximum, so getting the 315g may mean throwing away excess product once it's surpassed it's use by date. Despite this, I've used LUSH products after the 'use by' date before and they've worked just as well, so it's your decision!

Overall I would definitely recommend this mask, and I would love to review more LUSH products and maybe even more LUSH masks in the future, as I am always trying out new products from new collections there! I hope this review helped, and if you are thinking of buying this product, you can buy it from this link:

https://www.lush.co.uk/products/masks/mask-magnaminty

Sophia x