friends Archives - SAHARASPLASH

Last week was my final week at my job. I have now left the office for the life of a full-time blogger, and I simply cannot wait to get started! I am hugely excited about this, and so I wanted to throw a little get together with the ladies to celebrate my new beginning. This blog post is all about how to do a ‘girl’s night in’ with style and I have some amazing companies that are a definite must for anyone planning on throwing the perfect party.

First up, you need to think about a theme. A theme is a great way to get everyone excited and will also help your guests to decide on a dress code too. My theme was carnival, so lots of bright colours, frozen cocktails and pineapples! I found an amazing company who helped me with the event, and they are Talking Tables. Talking Tables are an online retailer who specialize in party accessories and decorations. They have so many ranges for any occasion- birthdays, weddings, tea parties and of course an array of excellent goodies for a girl’s night in. I decorated the flat with fiesta fan garlands around the doors and sofa in wonderful bright colours, and we had a few parrots adorning the tables and chairs!

For the main table, we had the most amazing pineapple accessories, from pineapple picks for the giant cocktail glasses to pineapple sunglasses! We also had some flamingo ones too for some epic selfies. You can’t go wrong with some silly props to get everyone having some fun!

Talking Tables really do have such great quality items, even the patterned plates and wooden spoons helped to tie the whole carnival theme together.

For food, I went for something really easy and simple that you can’t go wrong with- chilli. I made a meat as well as a veggie chilli for everyone in less than 30 mins. You don’t want to keep your guests waiting ages for food, and getting a takeaway for large groups is pretty expensive. The ingredients for the chilli (mince, tomatoes, kidney and baked beans) plus rice will have you and your guests covered for under £15 which is a great budget, especially if drinks are happening!

Onto the drinks, I went for frozen cocktails. You can get these at all the major superstores and they are the perfect thing for a carnival theme! Fruity drinks are always going to be popular in the summer months, and it’s a great way to keep everyone happy without spending a fortune on spirits and taking up your time by making cocktails on the night. I want to thank Talking Tables for providing such a fantastic array of party accessories which made the night, the giant cocktail glasses were just perfect for our cocktails to share!

When planning how to do a ‘girl’s night in’ the right way, I wanted to organise something fun for us to enjoy as well as the selfies, drinks and food. This is where my second guest comes in- My Showcase.

Founded by 2 great women, My Showcase is an online store for luxury beauty products, but they also host parties so you can have a My Showcase expert come in with their products to talk you through them. This was such a nice surprise for my guests who didn’t know what to expect, and we had a wonderful time trying on makeup and spraying ourselves with wonderful scents! A few stand out brands of the night were Connock London, New CID and Aurelia.

To get more info and to host your own My Showcase party, click here. A massive thanks to our Stylist Katie for bringing her My Showcase selection for us! Plus a huge thanks to all my ladies who helped to make the party so great!

So there you have it, my how to do a ‘girl’s night in’. I would say to sum up, a mixture of the right theme, good home-cooked food plus a surprise for your girls will make your perfect night in!

Saharasplash x

For more lifestyle, check out what’s on my wach list right now!

PR Samples included

Oh my oh my. What can I say other than what a fantastic day I had at the Bloggers Love Fashion Week!

Organised by the bloggers hangout, the day featured 2 sessions (afternoon and evening) of networking and fashion shows.

I started by meeting my good friend Lissa of Girl at the Rock Show at the venue, The Oxo Tower. I had been there before for a Cosmopolitan event and love the place. It’s just perfect for pop up events with different stalls.

We started by saying hello to Paul & Joe who had the most gorgeous eyeshadow kitty strips, or as Lissa likes to call them, eye-pads! They are so unique, I’ve never seen anything like them before. Perfect for clutches if you don’t want to take out a bulky eyeshadow palette! These strips peel back and reseal so you never have messy powder in the lining of your bags!

Next, we went to say hi to Motel Rocks. This year Motel Rocks is fast becoming one of my favourite brands. I will be posting a Motel Rocks haul soon of things I’ve collected at two of their sample sales recently. I always get complimented when I’m wearing motel and so was delighted to see them at the bloggers love event with some pieces from their new collection. I’d recommend joining the motel family, it’s a way to hear about things first and have access to exclusive news and competitions.

I really could go on to write about all of the companies that were at the bloggers love event, but instead I’m going to pick my top 5. I will then be doing smaller features on the others over the coming months, as it will take a while to see results from some of the beauty products I want to try out.

1. Miglio

Miglio were by far my favourite jewellery company at the event. The striking rose gold and silver bracelets caught my eye instantly and as I spoke to the reps I fell more in love. Miglio is a South African company and prides itself on empowering women around the world by offering them commission based jobs to sell the jewellery. The necklaces are similar to pandora, where you can buy separate pendants, clip them on, and you can wear the chain in many ways to match your look of the day/night in a matter of seconds. I am hoping to to on to use some of the pieces in a petite model Photoshoot later on this month!

2. Boadicea

Boadicea are a perfume company originating from Great Britain. As soon as I walked up to the table I could smell the oud, one of my favourite scents! Oud comes from the wood of the tropical Agar (Aquilaria) tree, believed to have originated in the Assam region of India. I picked out my favourite scent “Glorious” and was more than happy to take a sample away with me!

3. With Love Lilly

With Love Lilly were one of a few lingerie brands at the bloggers love event. Truth be told, I had never heard of them before but I am always glad to come across brilliant new designers. Each bralette was like a work of art, they used incredible colours and patterns to create the sets. My absolute favourite was the EVE set, picture below!

4. Tru Brit/ Little Ondine

Now I feel I have to write about both of these nail polish companies, as they are both up and coming and different in their own way. True Brit London is great for flashy colours, and I had my nails done at their bar. 4 days on now and not one chip on my two coats. The colour was called ‘Heirloom’ and is a lovely warm metallic colour. In some lights it just looks silver, but in others almost rose gold. Pic below!

The Little Ondine stall is also one to mention. They have twin packs which come like this. I really liked the look of these, as they are a way of taking more options with you when you travel without having to worry about space in your makeup bag or having the weight of 4 different bottles. They also have an easy peel off function, so no chips either! My favourite colour on the day was Copper Spark.

5- Magnitone

I think I’ve saved the best till last here. I had never heard of the magnitone before the bloggers love event, but I am so glad they were in the lounge with their amazing product. The magnitone is a sonic exfoliator which you use in circular motions on your face with your cleanser each morning and night. There are different options for different skin types, and the brush head needs changing every 3 months or so (much like your toothbrush) depending on usage. I loved the colour options and design of the magnitone. Although I have yet to use it I have spoken to other bloggers who have started using theirs from the event and all are crazy about it. I got mine in a wonderful pastel orange, and will be trying it out at the weekend, so I will do an update on how this goes next week!

I would highly recommend following the Bloggers Hangout for the latest news on future events, and also I would love to know your thoughts if you went to this event or have tried any of these products- get in touch! For now, have some more pics including catwalks! My pineapple bag was such a shout 🙂

You May Also Enjoy

You May Also Enjoy