ICE BAR LONDON @ HEDDON ST.

For my lovely best friend's birthday I thought she deserved a lovely treat so months in advance I formed a plan. This plan was unavailable to put into action 30 days prior to the treat itself but when the time came Ice Bar, London was booked.

Ice bar had a great selection of some of my favourite cocktails as well as ones I haven't heard of. I stuck to vodka as tequila has funny effects on me and the mojito's were delicious! In the square cups made of ice they were super cold and, although it is a little gimmicky you are paying for the great experience that we had! As you drink your glass melts away from your mouth which was weird but kind of cool, too. Just don't drop your glass as it's £4 for a replacement... and I guess that isn't including the drink!

Even the walls are made of ice... Yes, other people were licking them and yes, that's kind of gross.

Dinner with a beautiful view by the Thames! St Pauls was just to the right which is my favourite building in London and although the sunset in London is not like that on the beach but it was pretty beautiful. We had dinner at Gormet Pizza Company on South Bank and it was delicious! Would recommend if you want somewhere not too expensive and super quick! We were seated immediately at 7:15pm on a Friday!

In a giant pineapple made of ice and quite happy about it. Thanks to the guy who took this photo after I passed my phone to him out of the little peep hole.

These bottles were absolutely freezing! Thanks to the lovely barman... who gave us free shots.

I'm so glad I booked this for us and honestly Ice Bar had some of the best customer service ever since I originally booked for 4 but had to cancel two of the people as they were sick and couldn't make it. Rather than saying it was too late they offered me either a full refund of the tickets or two refills per person missing. Obviously I opted for refills(!) which meant we had 3 drinks each! Definitely something great to do if you're visiting London or wanting to celebrate something special and the Gormet Pizza Company on South Bank (walk towards St Pauls/TATE) was a great place to have dinner on such a warm evening as it gave us a beautiful view and amazing food at a reasonable price considering it's London. I also thought their service was great. Happy Birthday Jojo!

H&M HOME: Grey, White & Copper

I've fallen for the copper trend. Normally I wouldn't be such a magpie to such a trend since I see no real point in spending a great deal of money on homeware type items since I am 18, living at home and not exactly in the position to spend money on such, honestly, useless items. However, we have been moving house for the past year and while we have waited for the house to be built I have become increasingly more obsessed with planning every single detail of my new bedroom. Also, H&M is super cheap and they are very accommodating to my grey, white and copper needs. And I love their marble trend, too.

Chopping board - £9.99 / Vases, pots, bowls and candles - £4.99 - £13 / Throw - £40 / Basket - £7.99  Jar - £13 / Tray - £15 / Bedding - £30

SPOTTED @ ZARA

I've been spotting things again... and ordering them. I really liked my quick little 'SPOTTED:' post I did about the River Island Cami Bikini Tops (here) and I thought I would post this gem I spotted in the Zara sale... £50ish to £22.99 is my kind of bargain. I love the subtle two-tone and I have been searching for a bag for ages with a zip, a hand and shoulder strap and handy compartments. This ticks all boxes but has proven very difficult to find! Preferably I wanted black but this caught my eye and was too pretty to click away. For the price, practicality and prettiness, I just couldn't leave it alone.

I am travelling a lot in the next two months as well and the size means I will be able to get in lots of travel essentials and although it's not quite big enough to use as a hand luggage bag when you have nothing else, such as a bag in the hold, it will fit inside my suitcase and I can fill it with travel essentials! I'll be posting soon something along the travel essentials line, so stay tuned.

Acrylic Nails / The Low Down

Today I got my acrylics taken off after having them since the end of May. They were great for my birthday and leavers ball and other events I had going on (see my catch up post) but after a couple of them snapping and having them for nearly 2 months they began to annoy me and become inconvenient so I decided to get them taken off before my holiday. I thought I'd tell you how I got on with them and what I think of them as well as my plans to get my nails back on track now that they're a little thin and brittle.

Getting them on and the process // My boyfriend's sister did all of my acrylics for me including the full set, infills and removal and after seeing the care that she did it with I would not go to a nail bar to get them done or let them use a drill on my nails because she managed to keep my nails in the best condition possible (although acrylics will make your nails brittle). The filing on your actual nail does make me cringe a little bit but it's something that just makes the acrylics look as good as possible and why I would not get them re-done every few months. The couple of my nails that snapped off (three snapped in total) are now much thinner and tender than any of my other nails and will definitely take longer to return to their 'normal' state.

snapped acrylics hurt 

when I first got them on

Getting them off and aftercare // As I said, I got my nails done as a treat to myself for things I had going on and they did feel really special and great for a while but after I started working more now that it's summer it became a bit of a hassle and I was catching them on things which was quite painful so I just decided to get them off so that in the sunshine they would grow and breathe. I am actually now using O.P.I's Nail Envy which I applied after getting them off so I will report back in a couple of weeks to let you know how I have got on with it and whether I think it's worth the huge price tag! My nails could be in an awful condition but actually aren't too bad and they have grown to the length that my acrylics were and I'm hoping I can keep them like that!

freshly off and coated with nail envy

freshly off and painting with nail envy

Thoughts // I would not be one to have acrylics all the time or for no reason but I think I would consider them getting them again for a special occasion in the future. I would be even more up for it if this O.P.I Nail Envy works wonders on my nails so I'll let you know!

the day before I got them off

my new best friend

Have you gotten acrylics before? What did you think and would you get them again, or do you have them all the time? And have you ever used Nail Envy and how did it work for you?