Wedding Outfit

Morning all!!

I'm up ridiculously early on Saturday morning, so I thought I'd do something constructive and think about my outfit for my friend's weeding in September. The British weather being as it is, I've decided that black is probably the way to go (I am the queen of the LBD!), so thought I'd have a little play on Polyvore to see what I could come up with.

I started thinking down the lines of Holly Golightly/Charlotte York/Blair Waldorf and the first set I came up with was a pretty simple ladylike look:

Wedding Set by BrionyLou

I think this is probably the direction I'll go in, I just need my very own Chuck Bass now!!

What do you think ladies??

xxx

Collection 2000 1 - Willpower 0

I promised myself no purchases until payday but unfortunately I crumbled again! As soon as I walked into Superdrug these little beauties started calling my name, as all Collection 2000 was on 3 for 2 I decided that it would be rude not to investigate further.

I was instantly drawn to BMX Bandit having read some rave reviews on other blogs, so that was the first one I went for. I also picked up Wham, which is a really pretty grey colour (who'd have ever thought that I'd think grey was pretty?!) and Button Moon, which is a light minty green. I originally intended to give Button Moon to one of my besties as her bunnies are called Button and Moon but after getting it home I changed my mind (I will pick her another one up though, promise!!).

When I've had a little play with them I'll update you on first impressions!

xxx

Picamatures...

Just a quick post to say sorry for the lack of/crap quality of pictures on here recently - I've dropped some pretty heavy hints that I need a new digital camera for my birthday next week (after my last one met its maker in an unfortunate incident involving tequila and a boat trip) so hopefully I'll be back in the game shortly!

Until then I'm afraid we'll all have to make do with the slightly rubbish camera on my Blackberry!

xxx

REVIEW - Revlon Matte Lipstick - Nude Attitude (photos to follow)

I first spotted this in a magazine advert and instantly thought 'I have to have it!
After eyeing it up in Boots for a while, I decided I couldn't resist any longer and took the plunge.

First impressions were that it was VERY matte (funny that, considering its a matte lipstick!) and the first time I tried it out I was less than impressed. It has a really drying formula, and made me look like I had awful foundation lips. Not to be disheartened, I gve it another whirl for my BBQ on Saturday night. This time I applied an intensive lip treatment first and then used the lippy over the top. It was fine for about half an hour but then began to crack and look awful again. I dont mind reapplying lipstick at all, but I don't want to spend all night doing it!

The colour is quite similar to MAC Myth, though in the tube it looks a slightly scary orangey tinged nude.

All in all I'm not massively impressed by this lipstick - having read a few reviews on MUA it seems that I'm not alone in my disappointment. Think I'll be sticking mith my MAC lippies for a while yet!!

ETA: I've had a little scout around for some (non-MAC) alternatives and have found one that looks fab on the Elf website (Natural Nymph) but the particular colour is only available in the US - booo!!

xxx

Liner Loopy

Snooker loopy, nuts are we, me and him and and them and me...

So went the classic ditty by those Cockney scamps Chas n Dave. If you replace snooker with liner then you've pretty much got me.

I'm a firm believer in that if you find something that works for you is perfectly acceptable to repurchase said item in every colour possible. Whether its Topshop long line skinny rib vests or Accessorise bow hair clips I can't help myself.

The item that I'm most guilty of this with make up wise is Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners. I fapping love them. I just can't get enough! Admittedly I'm a bit of a latecomer when it comes to these babies, but I think I've just about made up for my tardiness by investing in almost every colour on offer.



L to R: Stash, Lucky, Zero, Covet, Yeyo, Electric, Lust, 1999 and Bourbon

Most of these are from the VIP and Velvet Rope sets which were out around Christmas time (I'm pretty sure you can still buy these but my local Boots doesn't seem to stock them anymore).

The reasons why these are so wonderful are well documented - They glide on sooooo smoothly with no pulling at all, are blendable (immediately after application), and have fantastic staying power. Before I read about these babies I was forever reapplying eyeliner as it seemed to disappear without a trace by lunchtime. Since then I'd had perfect liner from application until bedtime!

As you can see, Zero, Bourbon and Stash have recieved the most love which is mainly because these are the only colours I can get away with during the day at work. The only one which I'm not entirely sold on is 1999 which is a plummy colour with gold glitter. I'm lusting after the new colours that were brought out a few months ago, with Flipside and Deviant being top of my list (I'm loving the blue eyeliner at the moment) but given my desperate attemt to clear my mountainous student debt I'm trying really hard to resist (and drop some heavy hints that they would be most appreciated as birthday gifts).

Anyone got any other wonder-products they wish to share??

xxx

Teeny tiny haul...

As I'm on a bit of a spending diet at the moment I've been trying super hard not to buy anything that I don't need (though there are about a million things that I want - nothing new there then!).

Today I had a mini splurge as a result of a crap week and realising I had 40 quid on my advantage card. Unfortunately my purchases aren't super exciting, but I thought I'd write a little post about them anyway.

The lovely Marie did a fab post about Superdrug Colour Effects Toner a while back, and as its another couple of weeks until I get my hair done I thought this little beauty was just the thing to give my (slightly brassy) locks a kick. I was very chuffed to find that my local titchy Superdrug actually stocked this, and almost bouncing off the walls when I found that it the price had dropped from a bargainous 99p to a dirt cheap 97p (god bless the VAT cut)! I haven't given it a whirl yet, but will be sure to report back once I have done.

Also from Superdrug, I bought GOSH Velvet Touch eyeliner in Purple Stain. I'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to coloured eyeliners and purple is currently one of my faves so I couldn't resist!

Next on my list was Too Faced Shadow Insurance, this was a repurchase as I'm about to run out so not really much to shout about.

The final purchase was a Nude Attitude matte lipstick from Revlon. I'm a big fan of nude lipsticks so I was drawn to this. I've been umming and ahhing about this for a while, but today decided to take the plunge. Expect a little review soon!

xxx

Forgotten Faves # 3

On to another forgotton treasure (and another offering from Benefit). This time its Big Beautiful Eyes, a mini pallete containing 3 eyeshadows and a pan of Boi-ing concealer, which is coincidentally one of my faves. The reason that i dug this out was because I'm running really low on concealer and a little voice popped into my head reminding me of the emergency stash in this pallette.

As you can see I could really do with another one of these as its had some serious love in the past!!

All three shadows are very pigmented and really easy to blend. This was the pallete that taught me a lot about contouring and blending (you get a really handy little step-by-step instruction leaflet in the pallete which was great back when I was a rookie). The base colour is a really pretty pinky-beige colour with a bit of shimmer, the contour colour also is a little shimmery and is a mid-brown, taupey colour. The final colour is a matte brown which is to be used as a liner. As you can see I havent used a great deal of the liner colour as I prefer to use a gel liner, but if you're going for a more subtle look the shadow works fine. I used to use this pallete on an almost daily basis as in my job neutral eye make up is the way to go, and having had another play with it, I think I will definately repurchase.

The pallete also came with a mini concealer brush and a double-ended liner/contour brush (god knows where they've gone!). As far as mini brushes go, these were pretty good *note to self: track down mini brushes* and would be fine to carry around in your on the go makeup bag.

I used this little beauty today before lunch with the in laws I attempted to take some pics but unfortunately my camera is knackered and I'm currently relying on my phone for snaps, but as soon as I get a new one (hopefully after my bday) I'll get some pics up :)

What forgotton favourites are lurking in the bottom of your make up bag??

xxx

Moi....... [TAG]

I pinched this from the lovely Kass. I haven't been tagged either but seem to have my blogging hat firmly on tonight so here goes......

Me: Briony
Nicknames: Bri, Pink, Sheep (don't ask)
Birthday: 25 August
Place of Birth: Scarborough (the seaside!)
Zodiac Sign: Virgo
Male or Female: Female
Occupation: Trainee solicitor (employment law atm)
Residence: Sheffield
Screen Name: BrionyLou/Pinksheep
Appearance: er?
Hair Colour: Blonde
Hair Length: Bob, just above shoulders
Eye colour: Green/blue
Best Feature: Eyes
Height: 5ft 5.5
Braces?: Nope
Glasses?: Contacts
Piercing: Ears x 2, tragus
Tattoos: Too scared
Righty or Lefty: Righty

Your 'Firsts':
First best friend: Rachel
First Award: Creativity Cup at primary school (I'm sure it had a better name than that)
First Sport You Joined: Netball
First Real Vacation: Italy - too young to remember though
First Concert: Take That (with Robbie!)
First Love: The less said about that the better!

Favourites:
Movie: Breakfast at Tiffanys
TV Show: Criminal Minds/Gossip Girl
Colours: Fuschia pink / Teal
Song: Everlong - Foo Fighters
Candy: Tangfastics
Restaurant: Gauchos
Store: Oasis
School: Does Uni count? Boing boing Sheffield Hallam!
Book: To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Magazine: In Style / Look
Shoes: Stupidly high heels - I love my latest Carvela ones

Currently:
Feeling: Tired/bored
Single or Taken: taken
Eating: a Crunchie
Typing: This
Online: Yep
Listening To: The BF playing some boxing game on xbox
Thinking About: bed!
Wanting: sleep
Watching: nothing
Wearing: PJs and BF's hoody - cosy!

Future:
Want Children?: not right now
Want to be Married: not too bothered
Careers in Mind: After all the money I've spent it has to be a solicitor doesn't it?! I'd quite like to own a flower shop though
Where do you want to live?: I'm pretty happy where I am

Have you ever:
Kissed a Stranger: Yep
Had Alcohol: Probably far too much!!
Smoked: Yes - once. YUCK.
Ran Away From Home: Nope
Broken a bone: No
Got an X-ray: Yep
Broken Someone's Heart: I don't think so.....
Broke Up With Someone: Yes
Cried When Someone Died: Yes
Cried At School: Yes

Do You Believe In:
God: Errrrrr
Miracles: Yep
Love At First sight: No
Ghosts: No
Aliens: It would be arrogant not to!
Soul Mates: Yes
Heaven: No
Hell: No
Kissing on The First Date: Yes
Yourself: I've just about learnt to!!

I tag anyone who's reading this and has enough time on their hands to answer all these questions!!

xxx

What's in my bag.........

As I'm incredibly nosy I love the 'What's in my bag.....' posts (basically because I'm nosy) so I thought I'd try my hand at it.



Today's bag is (a rather battered) cross body Radley bag. I'm hoping that my mum will take the hint and buy me the beautiful Matthew Williamson bag that I've been lusting after in Debenhams. Until that happens, however, I'm carting around this one.



I was amazed at the amount of crap I have managed to squeeze into it, but here goes:

• Umbrella


• Prada sunglasses (pressie from my boyfriend)


• Purse (very little in it, but whats new?!)


• Contact lens comfort drops


• Car/house keys


• Work pass card


• Gym card


• Mini hairbrush


• MAC Wonderstruck lustreglass


• Benefit lipgloss


• Rose sorbet Juicy Tube


• Pen


• Ipod


• Blackberry


• Random card given to me when I went to see Take That in Manchester

Notably absent is my makeup bag but I just couldnt squeeze it in - Its now taken up resident in the glovebox in my car, but thats a whole other post!!

Whats lurking in your handbag?!

xxx

Forgotten Faves #2

Back in the dark days, before I discovered the Mac counter or the wonders of GOSH's Darling this little beauty from Benefit was my staple nude lip colour. Didn't Hear It From Me is (IMO) a fab light pink/nude gloss which was never out of my bag both during the day and at night. It can be a teensy bit drying at times but aside from that its nigh on perfect - its not sticky at all which is usually the reason I fall out with lip glosses.



I'm not really sure why it ended up festering at the bottom of my box of tricks - all I can think of is that it got pushed off its podium by Darling and/or Underage, but its definately high time for a revival, especially since I have a couple of back-ups from when Glamour were giving away free glosses a few months ago!



xxx

Tweet tweet

Ok so I think I broke ubertwitter, or maybe my blackberry. Either way I feel like I've lost an appendage!



xxx

To buy or not to buy.......

Recently I've become increasingly bored with my short hair and have been desperately trying to grow it out. The only thing is with the incessant bleaching and straightening its taking forever (patience never was my strong point).

The last time I went to the hairdressers, she suggested clip in extensions for a temporary fix. I've done a bit of research into this and have found a site called Headkandy (see what they've done there) which seems to be pretty good. They even do a matching service where you send a photo of your hair and they tell you which exensions are the best match for your hair. I really REALLY want to invest in some but am trying desperately not to make a rash decision for the sake of my bank balance!! I'm also a little bit worried that i might end up looking a little bit too WAG!

I wondered firstly if any of you lovely ladies have used clip ins and secondly whether they can recommend the best place to buy them from?? I desperately need steering in the right direction!

xxx

Forgotten Faves #1

This little beauty is probably my favourite blush in my collection. I'd swatched it a couple of times in my local Mac concession but had managed to resist until I read a few glowing reviews on MUA.



The blush is a plummy/raspberry colour that looks like it has tiny flecks of gold glitter in the pan but when applied has just the teeniest bit of sheen. It has a really fine texture (being a beauty powder blush) and is VERY pigmented - I applied it one morning after a rather heavy night out and looked like coco the clown - attractive!!

I've since learned the error of my ways and tend to apply it with a 187 to get a nice sheer flush of colour.



Fingers crossed that the lovely people at Mac will decide in their wisdom to make it permanent!!



xxx

Forgotten Favourites....

Since the evil bank manager has decided to take my overdraft away I've been on a beauty spending amnesty (apart from the absolute essentials obviously). This had meant that I've rediscovered products that I once couldn't live without which had been lost somewhere in my storage 'system'.



Since I've also been neglecting my blog due to some heavy duty gym going and general summer busy-ness, I figured it might be a good idea to do a post (or a series) on these little treasures.



At this rate I'm going to be late so must dash but will try and get involved in some lunchtime blogging action :)



xxx