Suffolk Blogger Meet

Where do I start, oh yes, Friday night. I was beyond excited to head to my hometown of Ipswich for the evening, spend some quality time with my mum, sister and Great Dane watching movies and eating chilli. So straight after work I got packing my bags. This plan also included having a nice relaxing morning getting ready to drive to Bury St Edmunds for the Suffolk Blogger Meet organised by Daisy.

So, bags were packed, car keys were found, all that was left to do was put on a little blush and comb through my eyelashes before departing. With two brushes in hand, I go to sweep my cheek, forgetting all about the eyelash brush pointing towards my face… and it goes straight into my right eye. I’ve never felt anything like the pain of it before. It took two hours for my eye to stop weeping, so I found an eye patch and sulked on the sofa for the evening, unable to drive with one working eye.

So, Saturday morning, I was up at 8 to start prepping myself for the longer journey from London to Bury St Edmunds. I managed to leave on time, and also get into Bury just as things were kicking off. After hunting down a parking space, I found the venue and made my way in.

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I was instantly greeted by a group of bloggers who invited me to sit with them, just the bloggers way!

Among them were clashing time, life’s a catwalk, loved by Laura and theemiddlesister. We talked about where we came from, what our blogs were about and of course swapped cards! The venue was situated above a restaurant, and we had the entire top floor to ourselves. There were drinks laid out from Life Tonics along with cute little treats like biscuits and chocolates. There was a huge raffle table which still wasn’t big enough to fit all the prizes on, so they were spilling onto the counter above too. The stalls were situated along the side of the room, giving us the space in the middle to mingle.

As I made my way round the venue, I couldn’t resist nabbing this gorgeous jacket from a Neon Rose/Vero Moda rack. I think that even though it’s sleeveless I can still rock this with a turtleneck jumper and scarf. Keep an eye on my Instagram for this soon!

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I spoke to Ivy and Joan who were there about their nice array of products from personalised framing to pre-loved gift ideas, check their website out here for some perfect Christmas ideas!

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Odylique had a stall there too. Odylique are a natural skincare brand designed for people with sensitive skin or other problems such as eczema. I was given a sample of their ultra rich balm, which is great for dry hands and feet. I’ve already used it on my hands and have recommended it to some friends at work who have now ordered the sample pots for £1.75 off the website!

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The charity candle company were next, an ingenious idea and perfect stocking fillers! The company sells homemade candles in small, medium and large sizes up to £12 and have some amazing scents. My favorite on the day was the spiced orange, and managed to take a sample away with me! It’s really niche because you not only buy the candle, you also donate £1 of the proceeds to a charity of your choice! You can support the Royal British Legion, EACH, Dogs Trust or the Teenage Cancer Trust with your purchase.

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I was really excited when I saw that Yoohoomail were on the guest-list for the Suffolk Blogger Meet. I have seen so many bloggers raving about this stationary subscription company. You can try a one off box for £12 or a 3 month subscription for £36. The founder, Gemma, is one smart lady as there’s not something like this out there but it is proving very popular. I was lucky enough to win a whole set of their products in the raffle which I feature in my YouTube video at the end of this post, so check it out to see what I got in my box!

Here are some snaps of the raffle winners. I also won a fab dress from Jones and Jones too (I was really lucky!) and it’s featured below:

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I want to thank daisy for organising such a great event, if you’re not following her on Twitter get on it now!

Here are the last few shots from the event, plus the YouTube video of me at home opening up all my lovely things! There are some great products in the video from tea samples to royal jelly body butter, so get watching and subscribing for more. Hope you enjoy as much as I did opening them! I have posted links below the video to all the products so you can easily find them if you want to buy them 🙂

Saharasplash x

Wearing House of Celeb Boutique 🙂

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Joe Blogs Network at Go Ape!

Last month I had an absolute blast with a company called the Joe Blogs Network. After hearing about the network through Twitter I decided to sign up and see what they were all about. The network, made up of professional bloggers, aims to bring bloggers and brands together through the web. They put a lot of effort into planning really unexpected events, and this is how I found myself at Trent park one Sunday flying through the trees!
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The Joe Blogs Network teamed up with Bgo.com for the day and took us to the Trent Park Go Ape course for a fun-filled day! You can check out their take on the event here plus a snap of my bootiful behind!

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Photo Credit Bgo.com

 

My brand new Ice Fox (similar to a GoPro) had arrived just for the occasion, and so I decided to test it out as I geared up for a thrill seeking adventure.

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After our safety briefing from George, we headed to the first site and we got climbing! I had been on a similar Go Ape course in Thetford, but this one is much bigger and the swings are longer. It was really fun trying out the zip wires and crawling through tunnels up in the canopy, the day was beautiful and the atmosphere amongst fellow bloggers was fantastic. I really do recommend trying it out for yourself when you get the chance!
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We were up there for about 4 hours in total, I was ready to de- harness as we made it to the final zip wire. I must say I was impressed with my landings, I was glad to meet the leaf covered floor with my feet rather than my back!

We were treated to a lovely cup of tea and sandwiches after touching back down to ground and we then had the chance to play Kong: The 8th Wonder slot game affiliated with bgo.com. This is a free game compatible with smart phones where you bet and play by spinning- check it out here! We all had a timed competition to see who had the most money left at the end.

Last but not least, I’m sure you’d all love to see my footage from the IceFox of us monkeying around on our #BgoApe adventure, so enjoy!

Shout outs to all the bloggers featured in the video- Erin, Jess, Liza, Emma, Mollie, Tee, Chynna, Monica & Becs xxx

Beauty Blogger Awards

So last Sunday was the Beauty Blogger Awards at Kensington Olympia. I had been to the Olympia just last week for the National wedding show but never before for the BBloggerAwards. I set my alarm for 6.30am to allow enough time for a full bath, hair wash, blow dry and makeup routine and managed to leave the house at 8.30am what a miracle! The tube was lovely and quiet, giving me time to think about the day ahead and what to expect. I was mostly excited about Nyx Cosmetics after seeing an IMATS haul YouTube video from Diamonds on Deck

I arrived half an hour before opening and found Style Lingua and Girl at the Rock Show. We got a great goody bag full of treats and made our way to the Nyx stall. We didn’t have to wait long to talk to the PR manager and Emily of @Vanityvenom. They gave us so many tips and advice on their products and I found a few favourites without much looking- the Wonder Contour stick and the Jumbo pencil in milk.
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I’ve uploaded a short video of me trying out the Wonder Stick to YouTube- check it out here! https://youtu.be/N_oPELG8NaU
Below are the Nyx goodies I picked up which I will be trying this week and choosing my top 3 to blog about:
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We also saw beautiful brows who kindly gave us a brow-over. It’s a semi permanent powder which lasts longer than the benefit brow kit I have been using and there are more colours available. The kit comes with stencils too so if you have trouble with a steady hand this will help your precision. I have posted my result on Instagram but here it is again if you missed it:
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Another brow company that had a stand at the blogger awards was lash perfect. They do brow kits as well as lash extensions but their brow kits can last up to 3 weeks. They gave me a sample of their eyelash conditioner to try so we shall see how this goes! We then found Luisa made our way to the much larger trade arena. We were let in with our blogger name badges and proceeded to manoeuvre around the gigantic hall filled to the brim with luxuries and ladies. Here are a few snaps of the things that caught my eye:
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All the brushes from crown!
All in all I had a marvellous day out with my blogger babes, and for a free event it is definitely worth going even if you don’t want to buy anything. I think I did pretty well for £12 on 3 brushes!
Saharasplash x

Autumn wardrobe sorted for under £200!

So I wanted to write a post about getting that awesome autumn wardrobe on a budget. I know a lot of us out there are struggling with big city living costs but still want to look fabulous.
I will show you how I got a whole new autumn wardrobe for under £200 which includes dresses, a skirt, jumper, trousers, a bag and a pair of boots!
First stop- Bond Street. It was a miserable train journey home one afternoon, and after series of cancellations, I decided to go for a wander to let the trains get back to normal. I wasn’t on a mission for a new wardrobe, but I somehow ended up getting off at Bond Street and following the crowd to Primark.
I have found Primark to be hit and miss over the years. Sometimes I find the most amazing things in there, and other times I come out very disappointed. I think that this last venture has outdone itself, I adored the pieces from the AW collection which I found after only being in there for an hour. They have the perfect autumn purples and oranges everyone is looking for. Here are the pieces I bought:
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This is such a staple piece at the moment, I adore it! I personally am loving brown and black right now, so here is how I styled this up!
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These boots I also nabbed from Primark at a great price. These are wide fit chelsea boots so super comfy and make your ankles look slimmer too! The website don’t have them in tan but here is the boot in black:
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Carrying on with the suede madness, I picked up a suede dress too with eyelet detail on the straps. Really retro and looks great for work if you put a blouse underneath it:
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Next up, the bag! This photo really doesn’t do this beauty justice. Its front pannel you see in the photo is monochrome check, but the sides are a beautiful brown so perfect when wanting to mix blacks and browns! Also, a fabulous price no? You can see the brown detail in my photo where I am wearing the suede skirt above!
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Now these 2 dresses I couldn’t find on the website, so I had an excuse to do a photoshoot in my hallway 🙂
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This purple suede dress is £13 from the AW Primark collection, such a steal! I paired it with a leaf necklace and suede boots from Fashion Prescription
Next up, more purple! Again same price and from Primark again, only this one has full sleeves and lace detail on the shoulder
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Now let’s move onto a new fav of mine, Lindex. I went to the opening of their new store in Westfield earlier on in the week and fell in love with so many pieces. Lindex is a Swedish brand but now are opening up several stores across London, I really recommend checking them out as their stuff is killer but the price isn’t! I got myself a beautiful orange jumper, a pair of crop trousers and best for last, a black shirt dress with lace up front for just £20!
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So there you have it, a whole new autumn collection I am loving right now for under£200. You can mix and match virtually all these pieces depending on your own personal style and of course the weather!
Saharasplash x
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