Thursday, 3 November 2016

Blogger Cocktail Masterclass - Warwick Street Social

A couple of weeks ago now I attended a blogger cocktail masterclass at Warwick Street Social in Norwich. Having never been to Warwick Street Social I was curious as to what it would be like, but looked forward to it all the same. The Norwich Bloggers who planned this event offered some spaces on a ticketed basis, I decided to buy a ticket and go along to have a fun night of socialising with likeminded people. 


I arrived at 7pm and met up with other bloggers Courteney, Kate, Amy, Amy, Lindsay, Sammi, Laura, Laura, and Shelley. The aim of the evening was to choose a cocktail that we could have at the Christmas Meal so we got to have a go at making 6 different drinks with the help of Scott. The first drink was a classic Mojito which was probably the simplest cocktail we made. This was ruled out early on as it just didn’t have that festive feel to it, although it did taste lovely. We then made a ‘bramble’ which is something I have never heard of before but it was lovely. The main part of this drink was gin, added with freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar syrup and a fruit cordial, this was really nice. Me and Kate had a go at making this one and we both thought it was lovely, but again this did not have a Christmas feel to it.

Thirdly we made Pina Coladas, I love a creamy Pina Colada but this didn’t go down too well with the rest of the group. I think Pina Coladas are best served on the beach in a hot country, perhaps not alongside your turkey dinner. We then made a Smashing Pumpkin Fizz. This had pumpkin pureĆ© and Prosecco in so I couldn’t wait to try this. This would have been the perfect Halloween/autumn drink I think, it tasted great but just didn’t have that festive feel to it.


The final 2 cocktails were the most festive of the lot. Firstly the spiced gingerbread one, complete with gingerbread man. This just tasted of Christmas, it was delicious and perfectly spiced. The final cocktail was called Candy Cane, this had peppermint syrup, cranberry juice and strawberry vodka. It was so refreshing and will be served with a crushed candy cane sugar rimmed glass!

If you’d like to keep up to date with future Norwich Blogging events, follow the twitter page and keep an eye out for future events.


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Monday, 20 June 2016

Discover Arbonne Event

I recently attended an event in Norwich where I was able to discover a new brand I had never heard of before called Arbonne which sells a variety of health and beauty products. 


When I arrived I was greeted by Sarah and Kate who had set the event up. There was a table full of goodies and I couldn’t wait to try everything. Sarah and Kate were both lovely and very knowledgeable about the brand and ready to answer any questions we had. They made me feel very welcome and I love how the room was set out.

 
 We learned a bit about Arbonne. They have over 500 products in total ranging from skincare to nutrition, make-up to baby products. All of the products are vegan, gluten free and kosher. Kim was impressed as she is gluten intolerant so it was good to know she could use all of these products without getting a reaction.


We got to try out a lot of the products. It was a bit like a Body Shop Party where items were passed around and talked about whilst we tried them out. One of my favourite items was the primer. I always got told to put primer in the crease between your thumb and forefinger and if you can notice a difference in the wrinkles then you know the primer is going to be good. This one smoothed out all of the fine lines and left my skin feeling so smooth. 


We also tried out some of the foundations. The liquid foundation has an SPF of 15, is matte and has a buildable coverage. There was also a mineral powder which I would be intrigued to try. The setting powder was weightless and stops any oily shine. Initially I thought this had a bit too much shimmer in it but once it was on the skin it blended out like a dream. I loved the bronzer too. There is only one shade but this can be blended out or layered up to suit all skin tones. The bronzer contains lavender extracts to hydrate the skin, chamomile to smooth and liquorice to moisturise. I also adored the Arbonne brush set which was so nice to use. I would love to be fully made over in Arbonne products to see how they fair to my current ones.


I was very kindly given some products to take away and try. These were labelled depending on your skin type. I was given FC5 for my dry skin. In the pack there was a cleanser, day cream, night cream and eye cream. I have been using these for just over a week now and I love that they feel lightweight on my skin and have really improved the texture. I no longer have dry patches on my skin when putting my makeup on. I also received an ultra hydrating hand cream which is exactly as it says on the tube. I love it. I am actually going to save this for when the weather starts getting colder and my hands are dryer.  


I met four lovely bloggers whilst I was there, I also attended the event with my best blogger friend Kim. I have posted all of their links below so please check them out if you are looking for some lovely new bloggers to follow.

Shelley – The Shelley Diaries 
Laura – Laura Loves 
Claire – My Scribble Spot 


Have you ever heard of Arbonne? Is this something you would like to try out. If you’re from Norwich, follow Kate on twitter for news of future events.


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Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Suffolk Blogger Meet

On Saturday I attended my second blogger meet in Suffolk hosted and organised by the lovely Daisy. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Daisy for putting on such an amazing event, I had a great time and was really made to feel welcome the whole time I was there. I took most of these photos on my iPhone so I apologise for the quality or lack thereof!

Suffolk Blogger Meet

I arrived in Bury St. Edmunds at around 12:15, with the event due to start at 1. I was surprised at how quick I drove there, less than an hour from Norwich I wondered why I hadn’t been here before, the shopping centre looked awesome, I'll have to come back for a shopping trip. I had a quick look on twitter under the hashtag #SuffolkBloggerMeet and found out that Hannah from The Life of Pye had also arrived already and was waiting in Costa. I went and met up with her and was so thankful I didn’t have to walk in alone. We arrived at the venue just after 1 and headed upstairs where I met Lucy from Lucy Loves and the three of us drifted around the stalls together.

The first stall I spotted was the gorgeously laid out stall from Ivy-Joan home. I wanted everything, it was so up my street. If it wasn’t so far away from payday I would have splurged! They sell the most amazing unique cards, beautiful framed pictures and great little gifts. If you're looking for Christmas presents that are different from the norm, definitely check them out.

Ivy Joan

Ivy Joan

Ivy Joan

We then went to The Charity Candle Company stall which had some lovely candles. I picked up a little sample in the Spiced Orange scent which was GORGEOUS. I wish I would have bought a full sized candle, this scent is perfect for Christmas and £1 from each sale goes to charity.

The third stall I visited was the Odylique stall, a brand I haven’t heard about before but uses all natural ingredients. I loved sampling the little tester pots and when I was told that the ingredients in the coconut scrub were edible, I couldn’t resist a little taste! I also received a Rose Hydrating Cream in my goody bag which I can’t wait to try.

Odylique

I then headed to the Yoohoo Mail stall which was hosted and created by Daisy’s mum. There was some really gorgeous and unique pieces here, and I’m really tempted to get myself a subscription box being an absolute stationery fiend! We were all given a lovely postcard at the end which is going to take pride of place on my desk when I eventually get one!

Yoohoo Mail

Yoohoo Mail

The final stall was the Lipivir stall, and I was given a sample of their cold sore prevention cream which will come in handy this time of year. It was really interesting hearing about the product and how well it can work.

There were also little tables set up with things that we could take which was really nice. I got a lovely owl shaped cookie cutter from Sass & Belle and a Twig & Dot candle in the scent Deep Calm, which smells gorgeous and makes me feel instantly relaxed. I'm going to be collaborating with Twig & Dot very soon so I will do an in depth review of their scents then. I also got a bottle of Orange Life Tonic drink a marshmallow ghost and a Suffolk Blogger Meet cookie which all tasted awesome. I ate my weight in Hotel Chocolat truffles too.. oops!


I then headed to the selfie station, a great place to relax and take silly photos. Here I met Hannah and Emily who were both absolutely lovely. We were then joined by Gemma and her friend Kirsty who I didn't get to speak to properly but were really friendly, as was everyone I met, sorry if I haven't included you in this post.

Selfie

We were then given our amazing goodie bags by Daisy's little helpers Emma and Karen, filled to the absolute brim with some amazing samples and products. I will have to do blog posts on individual brands or else I’ll be here all day, but you can see the sheer volume of the items in this photo. I can’t believe how lucky we were to get all of these amazing goodies. The bag in itself was a great gift!

Suffolk Blogger Meet

Daisy had sourced some amazing raffle prizes ranging from a Magnitone to chocolate to perfume, there was something for everyone. I managed to win some little bars of IQ Chocolate, I’ve already eaten a couple of them and they’re really good. Thanks again Daisy for organising such a fantastic day, I loved every minute and it was so nice to meet even more lovely bloggers!

Suffolk Blogger Meet

Did you attend the Suffolk Blogger Meet? I’d love to follow your blogs, please leave me a comment below so I can find you!



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Wednesday, 12 August 2015

Norwich Blogger Event - #NRWSummer

A few days ago now I attended my first Blogger event/meet-up! I am so pleased that I went, I am usually very shy and things like this usually make me feel very nervous but after sharing some tweets with a few bloggers who were also going I plucked up the courage to attend alone.

The event was held at The Garden House in Norwich which is a lovely pub with a nice sized garden. The venue had been decorated beautifully with bunting and an area had been sectioned off especially for us bloggers (we did have some gatecrashers at one point though!).


The event started at 1pm. I was greeted by Courteney, 1/3rd of Norwich Bloggers and labeled up with a name badge and I started to feel a lot more at ease. The weather was gorgeous, it couldn't have been a nicer day. I got myself a drink and the Yoga session began. I didn't take part but it looked very relaxing!




As the day went on I got more and more comfortable and of course hungry! I'd been chatting with the lovely Wendy and we decided we had to have burger. I asked to have everything on mine and quite literally it was piled up with bacon, cheese, salad, onions and sauce. It was massive! It also came served with coleslaw and potato salad, I must say I was stuffed.




After lunch I watched an amazing hair tutorial by Lucy. I didn't get many photos during this session but some of the styles she created were lovely and so simple.


I also met this cheeky chap. I think he/she was very stylish if not a little strange. So cute. I unfortunately missed the Social Media talk because I was getting food, and only caught part of the Photography session but both seemed really informative from the snippets that I heard.



My day ended with cake (which had melted a bit by the time I got home, but tasted lovely) and loads of amazing goodies. I will be doing plenty more blog posts on these to show you what I got.



Thank you for a lovely day ladies, it was nice to meet you all, to name a few Wendy, Louise, Alys, Emily, Kelly, Charley, Amii, Abigail, and the ladies from Just Essentials.

A special thank you to the Norwich Bloggers who organised the event Courteney, Hannah and Justine. I hope to meet you all again soon.



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