#NorthMeetUp Blogger Event

On Sunday 7th April, I attended the #northmeetup at Revolution, Deansgate, Manchester.

Em Sheldon from Em Talks organised the event, well done girl, you did an amazing job!

The event was so popular, there was a waiting list, as the venue was filled to capacity after us eager bloggers emailed Em immediately after finding out about the event!

As I didn't know anyone, a few of us bloggers arranged to meet up before the event. We got in touch via Twitter and arranged to meet at Victoria Station.

Photo: Capital FM

 I'm very grateful to the girls for waiting a little longer for me to get there. Like the White Rabbit, I'm always running late...

Manchester is over 1 hour and 40 minutes drive for me, but it's the closest event that I think will ever exist. There's not much blogging going on in Shropshire. I don't know of any bloggers that live here!

Walking down the stairs in to Victoria Station, nervous but excited, it was easy to spot the bloggers, the group of glamorous girlies! We all got on instantly, which was great :)

There were 7 of us, myself and Rachael Claire of From Rachael Claire, Francesca of The Mummy Diaries, Cat Dickinson of cllrs, Joanna of Minty Essence, Sabina of Fashernably Late and last but not least, Megan of Life and Lipsticks

All the girls have fantastic blogs and most have blogged about the event, so check them out :)

We caught the free(!) bus to the venue, Revolution in Deansgate Locks, then headed upstairs to the event. We could barely get up there, it was SO packed.

There were lots of talks throughout the afternoon, from various brands, goodies, Krispy Kreme and cupcakes with #bbloggers on them - so cool!

The girls all enjoyed 2-4-1 cocktails, which looked so tasty but unfortunately, I was on the Diet Coke's, as I drove to Manchester. The Strawberry Daiquiri's looked so good. But it's OK, I'll have one when the girls and I meet for cocktails very soon :)

I was particularly intrigued by Glam Glow and Xen-Tan, after the interesting talk by Natalie Roche, Founder of Skin Solutions UK. Natalie ran through the products and I must say, as a fake tanning virgin, it did raise some interest from me!

It was a great event for bloggers to meet, share interests and have a fun girly afternoon.

I was very surprised when I heard people calling out "Zoe?", then realised that Em had picked my name out of a glass to win a prize. Rachael won almost straight after me too, so we headed to the bar to pick our prizes. We both chose the John Frieda boxes, which were filled with amazing goodies!

Along with all the other goodies, at the end we were given the main goodie bag, a HUGE bag of goodies. I was so happy when I opened it once I got home! Like a child at Christmas. There are lots of products I can't wait to try and some I've wanted to try for a while now, so no doubt I'll be blogging about some of these!

Thank you to Em for organising and hosting a fab event, to all the brands and to the lovely bloggers that I met. I can't wait to meet all the girls for cocktails very soon :) and hopefully there will be another event in the near future!

OOTD:

Blouse (over plain black vest): Primark (yes, Primark!)

Faux leather pleated skirt: Primark

Tights: Asda

Pumps: Take a guess... Primark! £6 on sale.

Bag: Juicy Couture (I finally used it, after storing it under my bed for 1 year and almost 4 months!)

Nails: Accessorize 'Fudge'

(Excuse the missing apostrophe, oops. Having so much fun, I forgot my punctuation! Plus the button that I pulled off my blouse in the rush to leave for Manchester is hanging off, I stitched it back on securely, clearly!)

xXx

FREE Benefit Product With £2 Glamour Magazine

The July edition of Glamour Magazine came out today, with Benefit FREEBIES.

Yes yes, free Benefit!

Glamour run a Benefit freebie every year and this year is yet another great offer.

On offer are miniature sizes of The Porefessional, That Gal and Bad Gal mascara.

The magazine costs just £2.

Cover Girls: Fearne Cotton (looking stunning!), Eva Longoria and Kylie Minogue.

I got The Porefessional (7.5ml), as I have been wanting to try this for SO long, so was very happy to hear this was on offer! and how cute the mini box is!

I heard about this on Martin's Money Tips email when I got in to work this morning, so at lunch I was straight to Asda to grab a copy!

If you plan to get this, be very quick! These will fly out the shops like hot cakes!

I couldn't wait to try The Porefessional and as I decided to go last minute late-night shopping after work, I put it to use :) From just one use, I can tell you that I WILL most definitely be going out to purchase a full size The Porefessional! I love it.

Here's a FOTN with Benefit's The Porefessional as a primer under my makeup:

(Please excuse wet hair, I was in such a rush! My makeup was rushed too! After a 15 mile drive we only had 45 minutes before the shopping centre closed, so I had to go with wet hair! We only had time for Primark and I got 4 items, one of which is VERY exciting and I will post tomorrow, yay!)

 

and here is what my FOTN was made of:

Yes, I am wearing Topshop's Lip Stick in Powder Room!

- I was asked about this by a few girlies on a recent post, so now you can see what it looks like.

I love the shade but find it very drying/horrible feeling on and I personally would not recommend this.

I apply a lip balm before applying but even then it is still dry.

I do regret buying it, to be honest, at £7 it was a lot for something that I am not happy with. I will use it, as I refuse to waste. Maybe mixing some in a pot with Vaseline to make a tinted balm would be better??

^Quick review there, for those who requested^

Have you picked up Glamour Magazine?

Will you be going to buy this, if so, which will you be looking for?

xXx

London: The Haul

My final London post is here :)

I was going to do this last night, following the other 2 posts, but before I knew it was 12:30am and I needed to shut down, finish watching The Big Bang Theory and get some sleep!

So, here we have what I brought home from my day out in London.

To quote Adele 'Girl Did Good', haha!

Topshop:

Tote (which was on my recent Wishlist post), £10
Adorable and so cool :)
Plus it saved me, as I put everything in there!

I found them!!!

Meadham Kirchhoff Nail Rock, £7.

and yes, I have used one of the rude ones, I'll do a post tomorrow :)

Spitalfields Market:

Oversized (the size of a single bed!!) scarf, £7.

It's pink, it's covered in zebras...it's so Me :)

Benefit:

Finally got Hervana (without my mum being with me, telling me it is too expensive!), £23.50.

I was then told that if I bought a second product I would get a free umbrella...

So, I cracked and got I'm glam...therefore I am :)

Well, I did want it at Christmas and it was reduced from £28.50 to £19.50!

 Here's the gorgeous free umbrella, which broke after 2 mins use :-(

The damage :-(

Sad Zo.

Bourjois Boutique:

Freebies and goodies :) 

 

Purchases, 4 for £14, bargain!

The goody bag and contents, great selection :)

Candy Cakes, Covent Garden:

Muffin £3.50(!)

Lolly 80p (I also bought my sister one, how nice am I?)

Absolute BEAST of a cake!

 45 minutes to spare during my train change in Birmingham, I was drawn to Selfridges and the MAC counter :) 

 

MAC Naughty Saute Lipstick, £13.50

From the new Shop MAC Cook MAC Collection

I will be doing some posts, swatches, reviews on these products very soon :)

Happy Pancake Day!!

Shrove Tuesday.

It's 10:30pm and I STILL haven't had a pancake...

xXx

Selfridges Christmas Beauty Event: The Goody Bag

Hey girlies :)

Firstly I want to just say a big THANK YOU to all my lovely followers! I can't believe I now have 72 :) and thank you for all your comments, I love reading them and I like to reply to all.

So, last week I shared with you all my experience of Selfridges Christmas Beauty Event.

I mentioned that as part of the £10 per ticket event, we were given a goody bag each.

Well...here is what was in my bag:

  

- Bare Minerals Canvas Tote

- Muslin Cloth (?) or Handkerchief (?), which has an embroidered VR on it...Viktor Rolf maybe??

- Fekkai Advanced Essential Shea Shampoo (9ml sachet)

- Biotherm Biopur Pore Reducer (5ml tube)

- Dior Capture R60/80 XP Ultimate Wrinkle Correction Serum (2ml tube)

- Thierry Mugler Womanity Perfumed Shower Gel (10ml sachet)

- Thierry Mugler Angel Perfuming Body Cream (10ml sachet)

- Balenciaga Paris 10, Avenue George v Eau De Parfum (1.2ml vial)

- NARS Firming Foundation in shade Barcelona (2ml tube)

- Clinque High Impact Lipstick in shade 19 Extreme Pink (full size)

A closer look at the products:

  

and the 2 additional perfume samples, which did not come in the goody bag, but I got from spotting and asking for them at the Illamasqua counter in Selfridges, and the Fragrance section in Debenhams :) I also got another sample vial of Illamasqua Freak the following day, win!

- Illamasqua Freak Eau De Parfum (1.5ml vial)

- Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb Eau De Parfum (1.5ml vial)

(These both smell AMAZING!! and I plan to buy both, when I have money)

My friend Aimee's bag was slightly different to mine.  In place of the Ralph Lauren speakers was a unbranded makeup bag, along with lots of anti-ageing products. She tried to swap, but was not allowed!

My final post on the event, my purchases will follow, hopefully tomorrow!

I hope you are all having a good weekend :)

xXx