It's Summer In The City

I am beyond frustrated right now after losing most of the pictures I took in London yesterday with stylesocoy leaving me with very little to share with you and her with no OOTD shots. Today is not going to be my day. Long story short I was filming, I was exporting and things were deleted never to be retrieved.. ugh! Anyway I thought I'd share the snaps I did salvage from the Dorothy Perkins/Herbal Essences Event in the afternoon and then hopefully I'll be able to cobble something together from my instagram pics *sob*

The Dorothy Perkins range was part of the summer collection so the event was a refresher I guess.. it's nice to see season appropriate clothing on the hottest day of the year! What we saw will be available in stores soon and some pieces are already online from what I've seen here

You can get a little peek of Kat's outfit in the background here.. she was wearing a really lovely coral shirt dress and white blazer, very summery compared to my black, grey and navy ensemble! I was excited to see the tousle me softly range from Herbal Essences being promoted as it was one of my favourites last summer and you never know what might be discontinued but it looks like this is sticking around - good news!

That's all for now.. I'm off to scream in to a pillow!

Miss BB

The Importance Of Being Out There

It seems these days the blogs I read are all covering these huge PR events the writers attend and I find myself wondering how important it is to be "out there". Are the bloggers invited because they are successful or are they successful because they go to every single event they're invited to? Being that I'm a Northern girl with a family and not able to zoom off to London at a moments notice I never go to anything I'm invited to and I think it has really slowed down the progress I'm making in the "beauty community". I know of MANY bloggers with a smaller fanbase that blog purely about launch parties and freebies so I can only assume that the social aspect of this industry has a huge impact on your potential for growth. If you're not putting yourself out there how will people every know about you? You're hoping new readers will stumble upon your blog or your site in cyber space but what if they don't? Sure there's twitter to connect with people and companies but is that enough? For those of us who put our heart and soul into our online persona but don't attend these exclusive events .. what will become of us? Are we destined to meander along doing as we do while to social butterflies soar past us?

We don't do it for the recognition, we do it for the thrill of publishing our word and knowing they'll be read but its still disappointing to know it could be so much more. Do you have to sellout to be successful as a blogger? And what is success anyway? Are we measuring it in popularity or how much free stuff we can pump out of cosmetic companies? How much money we can make for sponsorship? What's it all about?

If you don't blog because you love it then why do you blog? And for those that do.. will we ever reach the dizzy heights of those that live in the centre of it all?

Just something I've been thinking about recently. Do any of you bloggers like me feel the same or do you think there's a place for our anti-social lot along-side the YouTube socialites?

Opi Texas Collection

The Opi collection has a Southern Theme for S/S 2011.

Named Texas there is a shade for everyone...

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Here are the colour swatches.. gorgeous or what?

I'm lovin' San Tan-Tonio/Big Hair, Big Nails/It's totally Fortworth it

see me peeking in the mirror? I was sooo dressed down (:/)

Loved the cute themes that ran throughout.. each colour has it's own little story.. that's a lot of legwork for a polish, no?

This silver was really cute, reminded me of the Barry M, swatched very sheer but I imagine it would be very buildable.. could potentially be a real metallic shade. The nail swatches provided I'm not convinced were that true to life.. I will definitely be looking out for reviews in the Spring..

These shades won't be available until February which seems like a while to wait but with Christmas just 60 sleeps away... it'll be here before you know it ;)

xoxo

miss bb

Superdrug Event

I was a terrible blogger at this event and took few photos but in truth there was little to photograph that you can't see in your local store. The event was basically introducing us to the new products and the Christmas gift launch.

Firstly I couldn't get enough of the Andrew Fullerton range because at this point we didn't have this at my local store... it's such a great concept. Lots of different products in the range but the most interesting is the trio selection.. (pictured below) You get two colours which can be used seperately or can be layered to create another shade entirely.. In theory you could then buy several sets and experiment to create your own unique nail colour. I just love that idea.. I've never seen anything like it before (that's just me) I've found a little colour chart ... check that out below the product pictures.

As soon as I have some to test I will swatch some and do a full review for you guys.. personally I can't wait.. this was by far the product that held my interest longest!

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Next up we were introduced to the new GOSH virtual makeover machine..

Put aside anything you think you already know about virtual makeovers.. this thing is AWESOME!

I've tried those online ones in the past where you have to adjust your features etc. I don't know how but this machine takes your photo and recognises the differences in everyones face.. It knows exactly where your eyeliner/shadow/lip products and blush should go.. how does it do that??

Our willing volunteer on the day was Catherine (from perfectlypolishednails) but I've had a go at my local store since then and am beyond impressed. The shades may not be perfect matches for the products you're looking at but it's a huge step in the right direction.. maybe just needs a little tweak in that regard.

There were a few new GOSH products I had my eye one too so watch this space for hauls/reviews, I'm a total convert now and can't wait to try their foundation primer.

Lastly they were offering eyebrow threading.. I was a wimp, looked pretty painful and Catherine (again our volunteer - trooper!) said it was like knives.. she thought this was selling it to me, said it didn't hurt but the word "knives" didn't really instill confidence.. I think I'll stick to plucking and waxing! Her brows did look fab afterwards though.. very neat and almost looked filled in.

Overall it was a fun morning and I'm thankful I could make it down. Catherine took pity on me as I was gonna be trapsing around London alone all day once the event was over.. she let me follow her around for which I am very grateful :) I'll admit before then I hadn't heard of her blog but since then have read a lot of her posts.. It's a good read and she's running a great Mulberry giveaway right now so check it out

http://www.perfectly-polished-nails.com/

Beauty Events

Has anyone been to a beauty event?
I never have!
I follow LOTS of people on twitter.. mostly youtubers and I love that they have their own little community!
I love the idea of being invited to launch parties and pr events but doubt I'd make any youtube friends :(
I don't mesh well with cliques.. there are so many vlogger and bloggers put ther that already know each other. I'm not so popular now but if I become more popular in the future and AM invited to this stuff is there a hierarchy? I dont know!
So... I've been invited to a superdrug christmas pr event.. exciting? yes! But I dont want to go all the way to london on my own (2.5hours thanks  you very much)
so I can take someone along they tell me.. my boyfriend would of course oblige but I'd hate for him to feelall odd one outy with all the girls... my ONLY friend can't get off work and so I invited my go to youtube "friend" kelly (allthingsarty) who is from blackpool...
she said she's love to accompany me, of course... we've never met :s

What are these events like? are the girls the same mean bitchy girls I remember from school (the reason I eventually LEFT school) I don't do well with girls.. they dont tend to like me, I dont know what it is about me.. maybe I'm just REALLY annoying?! I dunno.
Anyway! I thought I'd voice my concerns on my blog.. so you all know that i the future if I DO get invited to this stuff I will be anxious and scared!
Have any of YOU been invited to this event?

let me know!

any tips for my nerves at meeting new blogger girls for the first time??
I dont do well in new social situations :(

xoxo

miss bb