Bonzai, brunch and lots of bubbles

You know the drill by now - weekly date night, mini makeup tutorial, outfit of the day and some serious food porn photos. However, last week's date night saw a slight shuffle around, as we did it on the Friday instead of the Saturday night and given that I'm still working full time, I had a bit less time to get ready. Which made it the perfect opportunity to try out the fox eye makeup trend I keep seeing. Well, I didn't do it exactly like that (as it's generally smudgier and more eyeshadowy) but I took inspiration from it and did a really striking eyeliner look. I started by blending a little mid-brown eyeshadow through my crease and then added a matte cream on my lid, before doing a large eyeliner flick with added little wings in the inner corners too. I used my Lorac 1 palette for the shadows but I won't consider this as its moment in the spotlight. I added fluttery feline lashes (important) and then really struggled on what lip colour to choose. Anything too bright or dark made me look a big draggish whereas anything too light didn't carry the eye look properly. After trying 3 or 4, I eventually went with my MAC Impulsive lipstick.

I was clearly having a very indecisive night as I took ages to choose an outfit too - everything was either not going or not matching the vibes I was after. Eventually, I went with this leopard print playsuit from shein. It's a gorgeous satin fabric and I always love a 3/4 length sleeve (whether that be on tops, dresses or jackets). I added a little black bandeau underneath as it's a bit too plunging for my liking, and then finished with nude court heels (which, as per usual, were taken off shortly after the photo).

As always, we had some really incredible food and it was high time that I introduced Ollie to Japanese food. It's always a tense moment when you introduce a friend, family member or partner to a new cuisine because it sets out whether or not you can go for it with that person again. For example, I can't go out with my friends for Japanese/Korean/Thai food because if chips aren't on the menu in some shape in form then it's basically a no-go. And I can't go out for most things with my family because my dad, grandma and grandad are all fussy eaters. I generally rely on Laura for when I want to go out for something remotely exotic (she's the one who introduced me to most cuisines I now eat to be fair). So I had my fingers crossed that mine and Ollie's future would hold some sushi-based date nights and thankfully, he loved the food. We ordered from Bonzai (I've eaten in the restaurant before but never had their takeaway) and we got a mixture of stuff seeing as variety is the spice of life. We got a mixed appetiser platter (spring rolls, samosas, gyozas, chicken satay and tempura prawns), their house noodle dish and then some dragon rolls and everything was incredible. And for once, we got just the right amount - we weren't horrendously stuffed full by the end of it! Another 5 weeks of lockdown date nights and we may actually get the hang of portion control.

So the reason for moving date night from Saturday to Friday was because I had a fun day of virtual drinking with the girls to attend on Saturday. Kudos to Staci for a fabulous idea - bottomless brunch over group video call, complete with music, games and a summer theme!

You can't get much more summery than yellow so I was a ray of f*cking sunshine in this yellow bodysuit. It's made of that really appealing slinky fabric and I paired it with a little scarf print bandeau underneath (which was a great match). I wasn't sure on the bottom half and ummed and ahhed over it for ages (a theme of my weekend) before going with washed boyfriend jeans. I'm still not entirely convinced they went very well but I liked my outfit for the most part and completed the look with celestial earrings.

I do love a good brunch and I have to say that it's something I've definitely been missing during lockdown. So when Staci said for us all to be ready by 3pm with a bottle of prosecco and a brunch dish of our choice, I got my thinking cap on as to what to make. I've been out for some amazing brunches in my time and wanted to try recreating one of them, eventually settling on the beef hash I've had at Revolution. So I roasted some chunked potatoes in paprika, cooked some medium-rare steak, made a spicy nacho cheese sauce (cream, flour, spicy cheese and a dash of hot sauce) and then topped it with a fried egg! I was very happy with the results and would highly recommend. What I wouldn't recommend is how horrendously drunk I managed to get on our bottomless brunch. After catch ups, music games, a guess-the-blog-post-title quiz and a lot of prosecco, I was passed out by 8pm and the drunkest I've been in a long long time. Turns out you can take the girl out of the bottomless brunch but you can't take the bottomless brunch out of the girl!