#TheCityGirls Leeds Event

Bloggers love to mingle, I swear it's a proven fact. And when your in a room full of people who are  just like you and understand having to rearrange items to get the most Instagram worthy shot, then you know you must be at a blogger event. So when I was invited to #TheCityGirls Leeds event, hosted by the lovely Lorna from Life by LDE and Holly of Tea&Blush, I just knew I had to attend. I mean we're talking a room full of fashion, beauty, lifestyle, crafting and fitness obsessed bloggers all with delicious cocktails in hands and lots amazing ooo worthy products and brands... How could I ever say no?

After being invited to the event, the prevent rituals start. This included everything from outfit planning to following my fellow bloggers on every form of social media imaginable. I actually didn't know any of the other bloggers attending prior to the event so making myself some what familiar with them and doing a little homework seemed like the best way to start. The outfit planning was a little more up in the air and the weather in Leeds can be pretty unpredictable. In the end I ended opting for this little 70's inspired outfit. I'm totally obsessed with flares at the moment so thought what better place to wear them. Unfortunately I was running late so outfit photos had to take a backseat, though luckily one of the ones I did get actually showed off my funky flares pretty well I think.

FLARES | CROP TOP | HEEL SANDALS | SUNGLASSES | BELT | JEWELLERY

The The Liquorist, bar and restaurant in the centre of Leeds played host to us. I actually haven't before, well since it was previously The Living Room so I was excited to see what it would now look like. The restaurant downstairs was open as usual, but upstairs you could find forty loud, giggling bloggers all excited and raring to start the event. I made a B-line for the bar and once with a drink in my hand, I started to make the rounds and mingle with my fellow lovely Leeds ladies. Lorna and Holly welcome us all to the event and gave us a quick insight into the amazing brands and products which we'd later encounter. We also we're introduced to Suzie, a representative from Leeds Women's Aid, a wonderful charity that helps women and children from the damages and dangers of domestic violence and abuse. Suzie gave us a wonderful talk about all the hard work that the charity does to help make a difference in the lives of women and how our evolvement could help empower and aid women within our community. The charity was holding the raffle at the event meaning we could all help give back while enjoying our day and make a little difference to the world. 

Then it was time to interact with the amazing brands and pick up some product goodies. Everything I picked up will be featured more in detail on my upcoming swag bag post, so keep an eye out. I made sure I quickly got my hands on a bottle of VOSS water, I mean now my detox waters are going to look totally Instagram worthy. Plus the little VOSS water memory sticks are just the cutest things I've ever seen and will come in so handy at university. I then headed over to the Manuka Doctor stand and had a chat with them about their amazing products. The use Manuka honey, you know the one you've seen for like £18 per jar in Waitrose that's amazing for your body, Manuka Oil and even Bee Venom for natural fillers. I grabbed the Lip Enhancer enriched with Bee Vemon to get them Kylie Jenner lips we all so desperately want. You can get your own too for just 99p (plus p+p) if you click here! Then I headed to a stall I knew I was going to love. If you follow me on Instagram you know I'm a little obsessed with Kendelle clothing, I own each item I buy in about four different patterns and colours. Clearly my love hasn't gone unnoticed since Chloe, the Kendelle rep recognised me instantly. Fair to sway I swooned over the new collection on the rail for a good half hour, I'm obsessed with the new Bloom co-ord which you can find here and here. 

Then it was time for some more goodies. I grabbed myself a Twig and Dot candle in Bahama Bay, which smells divine I must add. A can of Virtue Ice Tea in lemon, an Angelica Nail polish in Pillabox Red which is such a vibrant shade. A Tangle Angel De-tangling Pet brush for my little manimals at home, a Bubbleology free tea chip, some Together Health Vitamin Packs. A Derma V10 box, a  Michael O' Mara Books Can't Sleep colouring book which is going to be so therapeutic to use. A hand wrapped gift from Oats and Co, which I later found to be this amazing smelling grapefruit and lavender hand wash. The list just goes on and on. I felt so spoilt by all these amazing brands, it was like Christmas morning carrying all my goodies around. As I said before there's just so many things to fit in this post so I will included more details on all these products in my swag bag post later on. 

I then headed to the Benefit counter, grabbed a delicious #TheCityGirls cupcake while I waited and watched the little demonstrations of the new colour range of the They're Real collection. I've seen other girls with amazing blue mascara and was desperate to try it on. The lady from Benefit was so sweet and clearly we connected on a beauty love because we spoke for ages about all things bblogger related. I said I was desperate to try the blue mascara, she agreed but urged me to try the green eyeliner too. That colour combo I thought might be a little mad, but if you can't experiment with beauty looks at a blogger even then where can you? She applied the green line over mine from that morning, this created an amazing, almost ombre effect as it blended out from green to black. I literally need this stuff in my life. She then did the blue mascara and I literally felt like I was throwing it back to my early beauty days back in the Millennium when colour mascara was all the rage. Just goes to show make-up trends come back around every so often. I absolutely loved the new colour range of the They're Real line and definitely want to get my hands all over this now. I also picked up a Benefit License to Blot sample, which I've been desperate to get my hands on so can't wait to try it. 

I needed so much refreshment, all this blogging excitement was really getting to me. I thought I'd try a different delicious cocktail from bar staff at The Liquorist, I opted for a Lemon Mergiune Pie which consisted of Lemoncello, Absolut citron, vanilla syrup, lemon juice and then all topped with egg white and vanilla foam, toasted with the blow torch. It was so yummy and had a nice literally kick to it. Drinking this meant a gossip with my some of fellow bloggers about all thing current, everything from Kardashians to Netflix to pizza. These are my people. While we sat I admired Lauren from bylaurenjane nail's which she'd had done by the girls from Nails by Ivy. I was wearing falsies plus the queue was massive so I sadly didn't get my nails done. But look how cute Laurens are, they say blog and everything, awww. During my little blogging break I also tried a of the delicious brownies from Brown & Blond, I tried the white chocolate raspberry and oh my, it was soon good. Bye bye diet.

It was then time to have a little chat with the lovely Body Shop team. I really love BodyShop products so I was excited to see what new items they're coming out with. I sampled a few products I've never used before and raved to my fellow bloggers about the Drops Of Youth Sleeping Mask, which is just the most fascinating texture and feels so good on the skin. But the product that blew me away was their new Italian Summer Fig Eau De Toilette. This perfume was created when BodyShops perfumist was in Italy and the smell of the figs growing in the countryside filled the air, they decided it would be the perfect inspiration for a summer fragrance. It smells so lovely, its very light but settles into a more musky fragrance which I love. Plus the new bottle style makes this perfume look so highend you'd never guess it would only cost you £18. The fragrance comes as a full fig collection to help you layer the scent which I will be doing. It was even available to the public when we got to sample it, and I'm going to be rushing to the stores to get my hands on my own bottle. You can too here.

I bought my raffle tickets, two strips for £10 and eagerly awaited the results. I was praying to win the Kendelle £50 voucher as I knew I could spend that in a heart beat. Now being a girl who never wins anything, like anything, I swear I'm so unlucky, I wasn't holding out much hope but it was all for a good cause so if I didn't win I wouldn't be too sour. But to my utmost surprise, I won and not only once... a whopping three times. There were some very lucky ladies in that room who won numerous times and all of us said we usually very unlucky, guess the tables have turned in our favour now. My first prize was the ApiRevive Restorative Hair Mask from Manuka Doctor, a unique mask made from Manuka honey, Manuka oil and Abyssinian oil to replenish hair. My second prize was a hand cut, paper cut out from Very Vanderberry which is just too cute, I think I'm going to frame it and hang it on my wall. The third prize I won was Two Tickets and queue jumps for Lightwater Valley, however with being at university in Newcastle I wouldn't really have got chance to use these... luckily the lovely Jess from Glitterbat had won the Kendelle voucher and was happy to swap with me in the end meaning I got the prize I wanted so badly. Time to use that voucher now and buy as much as humanly possible. In total the raffle raised a huge £240 for Leeds Women's Aid, which would then be matched by Aviva Uk meaning we raised a total of £480 for such an amazing cause. Knowing we'd done a lot of good while being able to enjoy ourselves that much was the icing on the cake.

For me the best thing about the entire day was getting to interact with some amazing brands and lots of gorgeous bloggers. We were treated to some amazing swag-bags full of so many products, make sure to keep an eye out for a detailed Swag Bag post soon! I just want to take a second to say a big thank you all the brands, the venue and of course Lorna and Holly for creating such a great day for us all. I know I'm a little biased saying Leeds is such a wonderful city with such a great selection of blogging talent but it really is... whether biased or not.

Do you want to attend the next #TheCityGirls event? Do you want to be a #CityGirl? Have you tried any of these amazing products? 

Let me know in the comments below.

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