Carry on Beautiful!

Last Saturday, on the 7th of November i attended my second blogger event! This was only my second event so it was admittedly quite nerve wracking. This was again hosted by the wonderful Jenny Dawson (if you click her name it will take you to her blog!) and it was even better than the first one! It was lovely to see some familiar faces from the last event i attended, especially Cheryl and Anca who i sat at a table with at my first event and Codie who recently guest blogged for me and wrote this lovely post all about self care!

So, I’ll get into what happened on the day! I first met up with three other bloggers who were attending at Central so that we could walk to the venue together since none of us had any idea where it was! The venue was Fruit & Fibres Canteen and Workshop, this venue is a real hidden gem, its not at all far from Liverpool city centre and, despite the building being an old warehouse, it’s super cosy and homey! They haven’t been open long but they offer incredible cake and even craft workshops which i will definitely be popping into when I’m not bogged down with college work (why are Charles Dickens novels so long?!). 

The day started off with a lovely intro from Jenny before we got along to hearing from a few different brands! I always love hearing from different brands and being able to interact with people involved with them, not only is it a great chance to network and get to know people but its also a great chance to learn more about brands that have great ethics (Such as Lush being cruelty free and raising money to help local charities) AND it gives the chance to learn about brands that i’ve never heard of before, like Taking Shape.

The first brand we heard about was ‘MyShowCase‘. MyShowCase was at the last even and i fell in love with them then. They sell beauty products from over 30 different brands and, this is my favourite bit, they’re all about empowering women! I definitely recommend that you take a peek at their website if you haven’t before, the products they sell all look incredible (I got to play around with some moisturisers and lip balms at the event and they were to die for!) and i know personally i’d rather be putting my hard earned money into a company that supports and empowers women.

Next, we got to hear all about ‘Stella & Dot‘, they sell jewellery and accessories that fall in-between costume jewellery and high end jewellery, meaning that their items look glamorous without such a glamorous price tag to go along, which is always a great thing for anyone. They also do ‘Trunk Shows’ that are a bit like an Ann Summers party where the stylist will come out to your house and you can invite some friends over to have a good root through some gorgeous pieces! I can imagine it would be the perfect night in, i’d do it myself if not for the fact that me and my friends often complain about the £2.50 price tag on college chips!

‘Taking Shape’ was the next brand we heard about and i especially enjoyed this part of the day. Taking Shape is an Australian clothes shop that sells fashionable clothes between a size 14 and a size 26, which i think is a really good range of sizes considering that in places like ‘Forever 21’ only go up to a size 24 in their plus size section. Lucky for me theres a store in Liverpool city centre thats right opposite my favourite art shop, i don’t know how i didn’t notice it before but now that i have, i can’t wait to pop in! I signed up for a loyalty card with them on the day and even got 20% off for me and 20% off for a friend, which my mum has already claimed after having a mooch around the website.

‘Motives Cosmetics‘ is another brand that was at the last event however last time i didn’t really get around to having a look at any of their products. This time was a completely different story though and i walked away with a hand full of swatches and an idea of exactly what i want to buy. Their lip sticks, in my opinion, are even better than MAC and a lot cheaper! Its affordable make up that still has a high end quality and its something i just can not get enough of.

Moving on, we had an introduction to Lush from Megan and Jonathan, i happened to run into Jonathan earlier today actually while i was buying a friends birthday present from Lush and he even remembered me, which i wasn’t expecting considering there were a lot of bloggers in attendance. In this introduction they basically told us a little about how they’re a lot more than just bath bombs and told us about the charity work Lush are doing in the local community. They’re currently raising money for ‘The Choir with No Name‘ which helps people who have been pushed to the edge of society, especially those who have been homeless, to raise their confidence and have a bit of fun. I think its great that such a huge business is doing so much to help local people when the money could easily be going into their pocket, which is a large reason of why I’m so supportive of Lush.

After this came on of my favourite parts of the day; the jewellery workshop with ‘Noctua‘. She sells the most beautiful pieces of jewellery made out of various stones and crystals, all ethically. She made each blogger in attendance a little selection of beads that we then used to make beautiful bracelets, mine wraps around my wrist twice and i can even wear it as a choker! You’ll be sure to see more from this shop soon because just days after the event i purchased a few pieces from her shop, which i cant wait to arrive!

This was followed by a fabulous buffet which included the most basic of foods made super fancy, like Yorkshire pudding filled with mash, sausage and gravy and bite sized prawn cocktails on spoons. I loved this because i’m not a big fan of most ‘fancy adult foods’ but they had literally made some of my favourite meals into what looked like the kind of stuff you’d get in a fancy London restaurant! To say i was impressed was an understatement.

A Lush masterclass soon followed this which i really enjoyed, i love Lush ever so much and i always enjoy learning about new products. Sam was the lucky blogger to be chosen to have a bit of a facial from Megan. She had the ‘Don’t Look at Me’ face mask put on her, which i’m super jealous about since i’ve wanted to try it for a while, i’m not sure i would have been so comfortable trying it in front of everyone though! This masterclass also allowed us to look at, sniff and try a few different face masks, massage bars, cleansers and moisturisers, hence my little trip to lush today.

The event ended with a raffle (I actually won something! I won a £10 e-voucher to IcedRainbow!) before a little bit of time to socialise before going home with an amazing goodie bag. It was really lovely to meet new people, see familiar faces and just hang out with other people who also spend too much online.

Blogging events are so fun and such a great way to network, i really would advise anyone who has a blog or is starting a blog to go to at least one because they really are a great way to meet people like you and people who can give you incredible advice, plus you get to make friends! I hope you’ve all enjoyed this post, another will be following shortly all about the incredible items in the goodie bag so keep your eyes peeled!

-Dana