Event: #Bhmbloggermeet

It had been a while since I last attended a meet up in Birmingham. We used to have them quite regularly and I've even organised two myself which you can read about here and here. So as you can imagine, I was quite excited to attend the one that Abbi had organised last week.

The meet up was held in the Slug and Lettuce at Brindleyplace, which is such a great venue. We were all given a fantastic goody bag each and then we all introduced ourselves to the group. There were a couple of games for us which Abbi had organised with some fantastic prizes and then of course there was the buffet. 

I had a great day with Paige, Rachel and our new buddy Sophie. It's so good spending time with other people who have the same interests as you and don't give you funny looks when you're instagramming your food again. The highlight of the goody bags were some fantastic organisers that Abbi had created herself to help us to keep our blogging lives in check -  this is such an amazing idea and I think she needs to go on Dragon's Den and get these made for real. 

Event: Birmingham blogger meet, June 2014

The good thing about living in Birmingham is that there's a lot of other bloggers around however, the bad thing is that there's not that many events compared to London. Luckily, every so often a couple of bloggers will organise a meet up and I get to spend the day socialising with like minded people and spending a fortune on food, soap and lipstick. Sounds perfect doesn't it?

Last Sunday, the lovely Jess and Paige organised a meet up starting in Ming Moon which is the best Chinese buffet ever. I don't have any photos of this as nobody wants to see me stuffing my face with egg fried rice and crispy shredded beef, it was bad enough for the people who were there.. While we were there, we also had a talk on Motives cosmetics from Kirsty Lo and we were given our lovely goody bags. 

After I was rolled out of Ming Moon (I ate so much, I love that place!) we all split up and went shopping. I stuck with two of my favourites, Sophie and Rachel and surprisingly didn't spend a penny apart from on a Starbucks. I was very pleased with myself for sticking to my spending ban but I soon spoilt that when we then went on to Lush for an after hours event..

The staff at Lush were kind enough to stay behind for a couple of hours to give us a tour of the shop and to talk us through the products. There were various things going on, like hand massages and Emotional Brilliance consultations and we were also treated to prosecco and fruit. We were given some really generous goody bags after the event and I also purchased a few old favourites myself.  

Thank you so much to Jess and Paige for organising the meet up, it was so great to finally meet you!

Event: #NottsBloggerMeet

Last Saturday I headed east to Nottingham for the #NottsBloggerMeet which was organised by Becka and Sophie. I was quite nervous as I'd only met the organisers and a couple of other people before and I don't really know any bloggers in the East Midlands area. However, there was no need for me to worry as Sophie had saved me a seat next to her in Zizzis and I had a great time.

First of all, we had a talk from a cosmetics company, Harlequin Cosmetics. They're a family run business started by Becky when she was 14, who specialise in luxury skincare and cosmetics, including body butters, shower gels and soaps. Some of the products were passed around for us to have a sniff (and a try when it came to the body butters) and I think we all agreed that they smell delicious. I was especially taken by the yellow shower gel, Citrus Burst which is packed full of lemon and grapefruit and would be great for a morning shower. When I've worked my way through the shower gels I've got at the minute, I'll definitely be placing an order for a bottle of Citrus Burst.

Next up was the food. We'd all pre-ordered so the food came out quickly and without any problems. For my first course, I had the Italian Bread Bucket which might as well have been served in a bucket, the amount there was and I was so hungry that I ate it all. For my main, I had a  Diavola pizza (pepperoni, roquito chillis and green chillis) which I struggled to eat after all the bread, I managed to eat more than half though. It was delicious and not too hot, I love a good spicy pizza. My dessert was gelato and after eating so much for the other two courses, I only ate the chocolate scoop which was amazing. If the other two had been chocolate, I'm sure I would have eaten them both as well.

After the meal, we left the restaurants with our massive goody bags and we all split up to go shopping. I ended up spending the rest of the day with Sophie and both of us don't really know Nottingham at all so we basically went round in circles for about four hours, oops. We hit up MAC, Space NK and Boots which meant I spent quite a bit of money.

It was a fantastic day and I can't wait until the next meet up which is this Saturday in Birmingham with a different bunch of girls. Blogger meet ups are always so much fun!

Benefit's The Rich Is Back makeup kit

The Rich Is Back - £26.50, available here

Last Friday a few of us Birmingham bloggers were invited to attend a 'Benefit VIP event' at Debenhams in the Bullring to celebrate the launch of the 'The Rich Is Back' makeup kit which is an exclusive collaboration with designer Matthew Williamson and is only available exclusively at Debenhams.

"This Limited Edition Matthew Williamson The Rich is Back Makeup Kit from Benefit is only available Exclusively at Debenhams. It's modern decadance! Benefit and Matthew Williamson flash you back to the glamorous days of disco with rich, seductive shades inspired by his vibrant prints. This high-octane glam kit dresses up your look with flashy eyes, a foxy flush and ruby lips."

The set boasts four impressively pigmented shimmer eyeshadows, each of which would look great on any skin tone and can either be used seperately or together to create a number of different looks. These eyeshadows are exclusive to the set and are called Solid Gold, Get Down Brown, Disco Dust and Feel So Real. The dark teal shade is not one that I would usually go for, however after seeing it applied on Gemma, Sara and Carmen and seeing the different ways in which it can be used, I could definitely see myself using it! There's also a beautiful shimmery pink blusher named 'Gimme Fever' which is another one of those suit all shades. The set also comes with two minis, a lipgloss in the shade 'Inferno' which looks great either on it's own or over a lipstick and the famous 'They're Real' mascara which I know is a firm favourite among a lot of us bloggers!

As well as teaching us all about 'The Rich Is Back' which Amy was lucky enough to win, Wendy from Benefit also told us all about the new 'Stay Flawless' primer which will be launching very soon. This new primer is being marketed as a 'makeup magnet' and claims to keep your make up in place for 15 hours. We were each given a sample of this along with some other minis in a goody bag so I'm excited to try it out!

Thank you Wendy for giving us Birmingham bloggers a chance at having some Benefit fun and hopefully the guys at Benetowers will see how much we appreciated it so we can have other Benefit events in the future.

Birmingham Blognix

Last Saturday, I headed over to the Custard Factory in Birmingham with my partner in crime, Sara for a blogging event with a bit of a difference. Blognix was organised by Elizabeth who wanted to host an informal blogging conference with an indoor picnic. Tickets cost £20 (£10 if you were quick enough to catch the early bird sale!) and I must say that the price of the ticket was definitely justified.

Blognix was hosted in Birmingham's Custard Factory in the heart of Digbeth. Digbeth is an area I don't usually go to unless it's for the cheap parking and I'd only ever been to the Custard Factory once before so I didn't realise just how much there was going on there. On the Saturday we were there, there was also a vintage and antiques fair (where I found the most gorgeous opal ring and also an amazing fox) and a charity abseil going on. The whole place was buzzing which made for a great atmosphere.

When we arrived in the room which was filled with gorgeous bunting and picnic blankets, we were given our name badges and told to help ourselves to tea, coffee and pastries. I did as I was told and had a croissant (or three!) and then we sat down amongst all of the other bloggers and waited for the talks to start.

The first talk by Jen of A Little Bird Says was on the topic of working with brands and PRs. As well as being a blogger, Jen also works on the PR side of things and so works with bloggers on a daily basis which means that she really knows what she's talking about. She explained that brands don't just want to work with the more well known, established bloggers but also the newer bloggers. She also gave us a handy list of Dos and Don'ts when working with PRs.

The second talk was given by Emma who told us all about social media tools and techniques. I didn't realise exactly how many different types of social media there is out there apart from the obvious Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Since the talk I've been tempted to join Facebook again just for my blog and I've even joined Pinterest!

After a wander around the Custard Factory and then a picnic lunch with a cake competition, it was time for the workshops we'd signed up to at the beginning of the day. The first one we went to was all about web design and was led by Kim. We then headed over to Colleen who taught us a bit about monetising our blogs.

The talks and workshops were all really insightful and they opened my eyes up to things that I haven't considered before. Elizabeth really did a great job of organising the day, it was just as good as I thought it would be and I'm so glad it all went to plan.

#BrumBloggerMeet April 20th 2013

Last Saturday was the finally the day me, Sara and Chloe had been planning for months - the #BrumBloggerMeet.

We started off in Starbucks in the Pallasades where we met up with all of the bloggers for a coffee and to get to know each other while everyone turned up. We then headed to Selfridges for what was supposed to be a fashion show but turned out to be two women leading us around the womenswear department and talking about the current collections. At least that's what I think it was, I couldn't hear a word they were saying and I didn't even notice when they'd stopped and disappeared. It was very badly planned. So sorry everyone who had to put up with that, we were honestly expecting something better!

After Selfridges, we all split up into our own groups to do our own thing for a couple of hours. I ended up spending money in the MAC store on Cannon St and taking Chloe's bubble tea virginity at Moocha. It was great to be able to get to know some new bloggers that I'd never met before including Alev, Leigh and Alice.

We then headed to Bar Room Bar in the Mailbox where we gave out the amazing goody bags that we'd sorted out and had talks from John Lewis, Benefit and Bodhi. The talks were really interesting, especially the one from Bodhi founder Elijah. I'm so grateful that these people came out of their way to talk to us all, I think it made the event a bit different from all of the rest that I've been to. We were also surprised with extra Benefit goody bags containing full sized They're Real mascaras and full sized Fake Up concealers. Both of these are products that I'd been wanting to try so I was really happy! We also did a raffle with great prizes from Enrapture, Beauxoxo, Bohemian Collective and Benefit!

After Bar Room Bar, when most of the other bloggers had headed home, a few of us (me, Elizabeth, Sara, Chloe, Alice and Laura) walked along the canal to Brindley Place and had a few cocktails and a lot of laughs in Pitcher and Piano. It was a brilliant end to the day and I can't wait until the next meet up. Thank you to everyone who came and a massive thank you to those of you that put money towards all of the Lush goodies for us organisers. I was so surprised, I almost cried!

Here's a video I put together with snippets from the day, I completely forgot I had a camera most of the time!

#BrumBloggerMeet - Who's Attending?

The #BrumBloggerMeet is three weeks tomorrow! Myself, Chloe and Sara have been working our arses off to organise it for you and we're so excited. We've got a lot of great brands working with us and we think you're going to have a great day. Unfortunately, we can only have 30 people attending so we had to make a list based on first come, first served. I sent messages out on twitter asking people to confirm they were attending and this is the list of everyone who replied. There is a reserve list (I won't be posting that) so if/when people drop out, I'll be contacting the next person on the list to offer them a place. We were overwhelmed by how many people actually wanted to attend. These Birmingham meet ups are becoming quite legendary. Here's the list so you can all get to know each other before the meet, I've linked blogs and twitters.

Carmen - @CarmsBabes
Heidi - @Heidi_likes
Sophie - @sophie_mellish
Feyi - @UtUBlog
Laura - @Lauraxamyx
Sophie - @pocockins
Amy - @amylovesdaniel
Dani - @dani_johanna
Terri - @helloterrilowe
Char - @dinoprincesschar
Victoria - @victoriajane6
Amy - @teacupcocktails
Elizabeth - @rosalilium_
Tereza - @Cityscapebliss
Clare - @abotat90
Laura - @lolaandbehold
Allie - @rushandteal
Alice - @teaandlead
Leigh - @obviousleigh

Rebecca - @rebecca4makeup
Beca - @becaboosmakeup
Sarah - @sarah22xoxo
Mish - @MishMreow
Robyn - @Robyn_Akerman
Shay - @shayymason

Gemma - @gemmabutton

Zoe - @x_zoelianne_x
Charlotte - @lilmisschickas
Seraphina - @LilMisLifestyle


We will be sending emails out soon with further details. If you find out that you can't make it, please contact one of us on twitter or via email so we can give someone else a place.

Westfields Merry Hill Spring/Summer 2013 Preview Event

On Monday, I was invited along to Westfield Merry Hill for their Spring/Summer 2013 preview. We were treated to Krispy Kremes and yummy pizzas from Pizza Express and we got to see the latest trends from the high street shops being modelled for us. This weekend (today and Saturday), Merry Hill  have a great shopping event on where a lot of the shops are offering up to 25% off! For more details on the event, click here.





We were also given goody bags at the event which included a £30 Westfields gift card. I wasted no time and headed off to Topshop with Carmen and Heidi and treated myself to the Joni jeans - something I wouldn't have bought myself as I don't like spending a lot of money on clothes but with the gift card, they were only £6 - complete bargain! It was a great evening and I really enjoyed seeing the new trends and spending time with some of my favourite local bloggers. Big thanks to Westfield Merry Hill for inviting me!

Umberto Giannini Bloggers Event

Last week I was invited along to a bloggers event at the Umberto Giannini salon in Selfridges. We were all welcomed by the lovely team who made sure we were well fed with tasty nibbles and never had empty glasses! While we snacked on pretzels, maltesers and personalised cupcakes and sipped on champagne, we were given a presentation by Mark Caswell, the creative director for the salon on all of the hair trends for the current season. I loved the intricate plaited hairstyles and the big, voluminous curls!
After the presentation, the stylists spoke to each of us and asked us what we would like to know regarding our hair and then they let us choose how we wanted our hair to be styled. This was fanastic for me as I'm absolutely useless at anything to do with my hair! I was given some great tips on how to care for my long, dry hair and prevent split ends. I wasn't sure how I wanted to have my hair styled, so I told the stylist Dan to do whatever he wanted to it. He took pieces of hair in different sizes and curled them in all directions before brushing the curls out and pinning my fringe to the side. We were then given goody bags which contained some of the products that had been used on our hair so we can recreate the styles at home, a bag of sweets and a voucher for a cut and blow dry. It was such a brilliant evening and I can't wait to go back!