Manchester Meet Up 17.02.14

Image from http://www.fairygobmother.com/

On Monday 17th of February, apologies for the lateness of this post, I attended a blogger meet up which was hosted by a gorgeous Georgie. The event was held at Font Bar Fallowfield, Manchester. (Little did we know – there were two Font Bars in Manchester. Guess what – we ended up at the wrong one!)

Before the meet up, I had arranged to meet up with Rachael, Fran and Kelsey to get something to eat. We all agreed on Wagamama as the other girls have never eaten there and I had only been once before. I chose Chicken and Prawn Cha Han which is delicious. We all had a lovely meal and it was great to catch up as we hadn't seen each other for a few months.

After the meal, we met up with Cat and headed to Font. I only knew of one Font Bar so we headed to the one near Oxford Road train station. We arrived just before the event was due to start but there wasn't a blogger in sight! It took us a few minutes before we checked the email as we thought we may have the wrong date. We soon realised it said Fallowfield and we definitely wasn't in Fallowfield. We quickly phoned a taxi to take us to the right one and arrived fashionably late! We went upstairs to meet Georgie and the other bloggers before heading to the bar to get a cocktail (mocktail in my case). Cocktails are £2 in Font which is dangerously cheap but super delicious!

Image from http://www.kelseydawnblogs.com/

Image from http://www.fromrachaelclaire.blogspot.co.uk/

Image from http://www.kelseydawnblogs.com/

To break the ice, Georgie had arranged to play higher or lower with giant playing cards. This was fantastic and totally unique for blogger meet up. There was also a raffle which was £2 for a strip. The money raised was for a local animal shelter which is a great cause. I was lucky enough to win a mini facial at The 8th Day along with Kelsey. Hopefully we can go together and have a pamper day.

Image from http://www.fairygobmother.com/

Georgie had also arranged for Ron to come along who is a magician, specialising in up close and personal card tricks. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the TGI Friday's event last November. His card tricks are amazing and they blow my mind. I would love to have him perform at our wedding but I'm not sure we can afford it.

Image from http://www.fairygobmother.com/

Image from http://www.fairygobmother.com/

Image from http://www.kelseydawnblogs.com/

We were very lucky to leave with a goody bag filled with goodies from Lush, Diptyque, Schwarzkopf and The 8th Day. Thank you to the bands who were involved, thank you to Font for allowing us to have the meet up and thank you to Georgie for hosting a great meet up.

Rachel x

Lost In Lipstick

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Gap 'Back to Blue' Style Challenge

On Thursday 3rd October, I was invited to the Gap store in St Ann's Square, Manchester. It was a small blogger event organised by the store manager, Steve. We were invited in to style an outfit for Gap's campaign, Back to Blue. It's all about Gap going back to their roots of blue, denim and greys with a splash of colour as a nod to the high street trends.

I must admit, I very rarely pop into Gap when I am shopping but after seeing all the beautiful, high quality clothes, I will be adding Gap onto the list of shops to try when I'm looking for a new outfit. I am in the market for a new pair of jeans and I will head to Gap as a first port of call. They have a variety of styles and colours and the prices are very reasonable.

We could choose which department we wanted to style from; ladies, mens or children. I chose to style two female outfits and the Gap girls were on hand to help fit our chosen outfit onto the mannequins. I decided to style two outfits that I would actually wear myself and created a casual outfit and a smart casual outfit. 

Photo by Sally

Photo by Sally

Photo by Sally

My first styled outfit

My second styled outfit

I absolutely love the printed trousers and although I don't currently own any patterned trousers, I decided to step slightly out of my comfort zone and I love the finished look. I will definitely be getting some printed trousers for my wardrobe.

I had a lovely evening and I really enjoyed styling the outfits. I would love to have the opportunity to do it again. Gap have some lovely clothes in stock and quite a few items have made it onto my wish list including those trousers and the beautiful cobalt blue jumper. 

What do you think of my styled outfits? Have you shopped in Gap lately?

Rachel x

Lost In Lipstick

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#MidSummerMeet with LookFantastic, MyBag and AllSole

(Apologies for this post being up so late! I actually attended this event a whole month ago but it was two days before I went to Ireland and I wasn't able to blog about it then. I still haven't gotten back into a blogging routine since returning from Ireland.)

On Thursday 15th August, I attended a fabulous event hosted by LookFantastic, MyBag and AllSole. I met up with some lovely bloggers and we made our way over to the event, which was held at Walrus Canteen and Lounge in the Northern Quarter, Manchester. As we arrived, we were greeted and given a token for a free drink. I chose a pineapple juice and it was delicious. We were also told to help ourselves to a cupcake, which were also delicious.

Photo by Frances

There were lots of great brands there including Benefit, Burts Bee, Nails Inc, Moroccanoil and EVO Haircare. We were given the opportunity to chat to brand and try the products. I particularly enjoyed a mini makeover at Benefit and trying some haircare products from Moroccanoil.

Photo by Frances

Photo by Frances

Photo by Kelsey

Photo by Frances

Photo by Kelsey

Photo by Frances

There were also some fabulous demonstrations from various brands. My favourite was definitely the contouring one from Benefit. Each demonstration was about 10 minutes long and showcased the products beautifully. Other demonstrations included; L'Oreal Steam Pod, Show haircare products and Moroccanoil.

We were extremely lucky to receive the amazing goodie bag pictured below. It included many products that I have been dying to try and I'm sure you will see a lot of them again on here as I review them.

On the night, we had the opportunity to buy raffle tickets. I decided to buy two and a week after the event, I received a tweet to tell me that I was the lucky winner of the 3rd Prize. I won an amazing EVO haircare gift set, a Moroccanoil haircare gift set, a Macadamia tangle brush and an Orly nail polish. When I arrived home from Ireland, my neighbour greeted me with my prize and I couldn't wait to open it!

I just want to say thank you to LookFantastic, MyBag and AllSole for a fantastic event. It was a great opportunity to chat to brands and other bloggers. Some I had met before but also a great chance to meet new bloggers.

Rachel x

Lost In Lipstick

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#ManchesterMeetUp

On Saturday 27th July, I attended the Manchester Blogger Meet up at The Font in Manchester organised by Amy. It was a lovely day and a great opportunity to catch up with Amy, Fi, Cat and Fran, while meeting some lovely new bloggers including Lucy, who very kindly offered to meet me at Manchester Victoria and get a taxi together to Font.

image

image

Once we arrived, we headed downstairs to meet the other bloggers that were already there. Amy had organised a goodie bag for us all, which was lovely as I wasn't expecting one. I thought we were just having a casual meet up. We waited for the other bloggers to arrive while sipping on cocktails. I ordered a Calypso which was a non alcoholic cocktail and it was delicious. All cocktails are only £2, which can get extremely dangerous! When everyone had arrived, we ordered our food. I ordered a Cajun Chicken and 3 Cheese Wrap, which was amazing! Unfortunately, those are the only pictures I took all day and obviously I edited them with the Beautiful Mess app!

We all stayed in Font for a while and had a good gossip and then it was time to shop! First, we headed to Space NK as I was skint, I was only window shopping but I spied quite a few products I want to try! We also headed to Lush and Boots. I only purchased Liz Earle Shampoo and Conditioner, which were actually repurchases as I was running low. We also stopped in the new stationery shop, Blott and I picked up a couple of things in the sale. I couldn't resist, everything was so cute!

Our goodie bag (I ate the Popchips already, sorry!)

Molly Louise goodies

Henryka Necklace

I had a lovely day and want to say thank you again to Amy for organising the day and the amazing goodie bags. Thank you as well to all the brands who generously donated items for the goodie bags.

Rachel x
Lost In Lipstick

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Couture Crush Press Launch

On Thursday 11th July, I was invited to the press launch of a new brand, Couture Crush. Couture Crush have a motto - Seek Sell Switch. You can seek, sell or switch new or pre loved designer and vintage accessories including bags, sunglasses and shoes. You can seek or switch items completely free and they work with authenticate4u to ensure that all items are genuine as they operate a strict no fake goods policy. Couture Crush's philosophy is 'pass the love on and get your next fix!'

http://www.couturecrush.com/

The press launch was held at The Circle Club in Manchester. I knew a couple of people that were going but I arrived alone. Late I may add as The Circle Club is that exclusive, they decided to hide it! I was only about half an hour late. Once I was there, I presented my VIP invitation and was given a voucher for a free drink. I went downstairs to the club and headed straight for the bar. I got my cocktail and luckily spotted people that I recognised and sat with them in the 'bloggers corner'. 

Fran, Callie Rose, Fi, Amy and Me

Joanna, Fran, Callie Rose, Nic, Me and Sindy

I met some lovely girls at the event including Joanna who I had previously met at FABB Manchester. Everybody else I met for the very first time, most I have spoken to online via twitter and read their blogs so it was lovely to finally meet them. I spent most of the night sat with Amy, Fi, Callie Rose and Fran but I also met Chyaz and her sister, Steph, Nic and Sindy. 

There were lots of time for us to drink cocktails, eat cupcakes and chat to each other. Canapes were brought around and afterwards we all got asked to head towards the dance floor. When we arrived Kaley, the founder or Couture Crush, gave a speech. She told us all about Couture Crush and the reasons behind why she started it. Then there was some entertainment in the form of a girl dance act. They were very good and danced to a medley of Beyonce songs. There was a lot of booty shaking and I'm sure the boys enjoyed it a lot more! 

Afterwards we headed back to 'bloggers corner' and carried on chatting. We had a fantastic evening getting to know each other and it was a really fun evening with lots of giggles. Kaley came around to give us some goodie bags. They contained a few different samples of beauty products and I received some round sunglasses with flowers on and a butterfly bookmark (it could be a hairclip but it's quite heavy!)

I had a lovely night and I wish Kaley all the best with Couture Crush. Make sure you go check out the website www.couturecrush.com/.

Rachel x

Lost In Lipstick

#NorthMeetUp

On Sunday 7th April, I attended the highly anticipated #NorthMeetUp organised by Emma from EmTalks. As soon as I heard about the event, I contacted Em and I was very lucky to get a place as there were only space for 50 bloggers. The event was held at Revolution Deansgate in Manchester. It was great to see a big blogger event being organised up North. I've only been blogging since September last year but I know most events are held in London.

Image from Katie at Gold Dust

Image from Em at EmTalks

I met lots of lovely bloggers there including Katie from Gold Dust, who I had previously met briefly at the Harvey Nichols Beauty Bloggers event back in November. I also met Kelsey from Kelsey Dawn, Emma from Glossy Boutique, Bobbi from Beauty By Bobbi, Nafisah from Bamblings of Naffy, Nikki from Beauty Shaker (who gave out the fabulous Anne Semonin goodie bags and actually works where I go on holiday nearly every year! Small world!) and obviously Em as she organised it!

A lot of hard work and organisation had gone into the event. I want to say a massive thank you to Em as I had a truly fantastic day and met some amazing bloggers. We had our own private room upstairs and we all felt like VIPs. Em had arranged for eyebrow technicians, fake tanners, nail artists and make up artists to be there. There were giveaways throughout the day and I won a Neom Hand Lotion! Some amazing brands sponsored the meet up. There were talks from Xen-Tan, Glam Glow and Arbonne. I think a few more were arranged but it was very noisy and there wasn't a microphone so it was very difficult to hear.

Em had arranged with Revolution for us to have 2 for 1 cocktails and cupcakes and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts were supplied all day! We were well and truly spoilt! Seeing all the bloggers with their fancy cameras, only made me want one even more! But I have no money. I'll have to pop one on my Christmas list this year and hope Santa brings me one. I even had 'business cards' made to hand out but completely forgot to give any out! Ha!

We walked away with so many goodies. I actually struggled on the train. Luckily, it was only a short journey. It's amazing to see how many brands wanted to sponsor a North event. Em did an amazing job at organising and putting on this amazing event. Hopefully, I can attend another event she organises in the future. She definitely has a talent!

I am planning to review a lot of the products that we received in our goodie bags. Unfortunately, the weather up North doesn't allow for good photos! I think I need to invest in some daylight bulbs (I know nothing about this, please help!)

Rachel x

Lost In Lipstick