Sunday 29 March 2015

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW

Last night I went to my first ever blogging event! How exciting! :D
The Bloggers Hub organised a Bloggers Love Fashion Week in London so I decided to go along :)

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Cupcakes Cakes Macaroons Macarons





At first I was a bit skeptical.. the event was near Shoreditch and when I got off the train the area looked rough (no offence XD) The event was a short walk away so it was fine :) There were two rooms, one where the fashion catwalk took place and the other room was the gifting lounge.
I met some lovely girls and spoke to loads of brands, all who were very nice! Some had such beautiful designs and were very talented ladies :)

In the first room, there were reserved front row seats in the middle for the fashion catwalk. To the left was the DJ and a few brands showcasing their SS15 collection. 

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Niki P Silk

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Niki P silk

Niki P had some lovely silk items including scarves and bags. The designs were so pretty and elegant and the silk was lovely and soft :) She designs it all by hand and combines it with technology to make everything which is quite cool :) 

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Iris Sandals Jewellery Shoes

Anastasia from IRIS had some really pretty pieces of jewellery and sandals which she hand embellishes. Everything was so cute and girly and looked like it could fit right in with Accessorize :)

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Just Trade Fair Jewellery

I spoke to Sophie from Just Trade and they had some amazing pieces of jewellery! The good thing as well is that they train women in poverty stricken areas to make this lovely jewellery, providing them with a job and providing us the goods and it's all Fair Trade. My favourite thing about them was that they were simple and elegant designs, yet could still be statement pieces! Often I think it's better not to over complicate things :)

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Amelia Jane London Hats Scarves

Amelia Jane London had some cute wintery items, such as knitted pastel hats with big fluffy pompoms as well as floral crowns.

There were also table doing nails and makeup :)

In the gifting lounge there were loads of brands and everyone was so friendly and some brands were so generous which is so kind of them! :) I managed to get photos of most things, but some pictures came out too dark :(


The first thing that took my fancy was a table full of cakes and macaroons! They looked soo good and tasted really good too! I think these were courtesy of BB Afternoon Tea, if so, they did a good job and the presentation was lovely! :)

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Jewellery Rings Clips Flowers Rose

My favourite jewellery in this room was from a lovely lady from Norenzo :) I loved the detailing in the little roses and flowers and the rings were my favourite! I fell in love straightaway XD

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Umberto Gianni Hair Spray

I also spoke to the lovely ladies from Umberto Gianni. They had a few hair products on show, one for curly hair, a serum for dry hair or as a finish after styling and then a texturising spray. They kindly gifted me with the texturising spray for a bit of volume, thank you! It smells nice and it's quite light. It held my hair when I back-combed it but not without back-combing, I'm not surprised as I have the stubbornest hair and am yet to find something that will hold :')

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Joe Browns Clothes

My favourite clothes collection was from Joe Browns, I'd never heard of them before but their clothes pieces are really nice. I prefer the more girly look and floral patterns made from floaty materials etc so these were right up my street :)

A really nice man from Comb told me a bit more about their app. It's a free app where you can take a photo of an item of clothing, or a pattern or anything and it searches the data base for similar items. He took a picture of Haribo hearts and the app came back with loads of dresses etc with a similar pattern on which I thought was quite cool :) They also gave us some yummy sweets which was a bonus! XD

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Gossimar Wings Jewellery Bath Tub

Glossimar Wings had statement pieces of jewellery that they showcased in a bath tub, wouldn't have been my first choice but it was very original haha :') 

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Detox Tea Slenter Tox Tea Cleanse

I got a few samples from SlenderToxTea which I'm interested in trying. I'm curious to see how they taste as I can't imagine detox products tasting nice and I can't say I'm too into these things :)

I spoke to Gina who was so nice and friendly! She told us all a bit about Magnitone which I hadn't heard from before. It's basically a little handheld machine that cleanses, tones and exfoliates your skin. I was worried it would be quite harsh but it has a setting for sensitive skin and some of the brushes were really soft they tickled XD She kindly gifted us with a £25 gift voucher, thank you! :)

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Peter Simone Creams Skin Care Pink

I spoke to Pietro from Peter-Simone who has his own skincare range. I really liked the design of the products, he went for a pastelly pink and some products has silver detailing which looked like bracelets which I really liked :) He was very passionate about his products and they're all free from harsh chemicals which is really good. He gave me a few little sachets to try so I'll be giving them a try :) To make me look eternally youthful haha :') Personally though, they're a little out of my price range :)

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Lanolin LipGlam #LipGlam

LipGlam was there and they kindly gifted me one of their multipurpose moisturisers. I like the idea of this as it's annoying to have 10 different creams for everything and apparently it can be used as a lip balm, for cuticles, for dry skin and even as a mascara primer! It smells a bit like.. beeswax? So I guess sort of natural smelling but I'm personally not too keen. This is probably because it has lanolin which I've heard is good. The consistency is quite thick so it's not super watery so that it soaks into your skin right away. A little bit does go a long way which is good and I liked it as a lip balm as it wasn't sticky. I tried it on my eczema and it wasn't too bad. However because it's thicker it seems to sit on top of my skin in  a bit of a shiny layer, so I guess it's one to use at night if that kind of stuff bothers you (is it just me? XD). I'm a bit of a fusspot when it comes to creams I've tried so many XD It is nice and made my skin soft but I don't think it would replace my current Propolis cream for my problem skin areas :)

Finally, I spoke to a lady from Roots and Rituals who had some hair care products for deep conditioning. The products contained Argan Oil which I've heard is so good for your hair, I need to get myself some :) Basically you massage it into your hair and you have a wireless towel which heats up helps to deep condition your hair. The concept sounds nice and like it would be a good addition to Sunday Pamper Nights :)

Bloggers Love Fashion Week #BLFW Hub Goodies Gifts Gifted

So that was everyone I spoke to! Sorry It's a very long post XD I had a really good night and I'm so glad I went. It was a good experience and it was nice to chat to so many nice people :) Hopefully there will be more events to come! :) Thanks again to The Bloggers Hub and to all the brands that gifted :) Have you tried any of these products before? What did you think? :)



*Disclaimer- Even though a few items were gifted to me all opinions are my own :)*

Sunday 15 March 2015

Mother's Day Card DIY

DIY Quilled Handmade Mother's Day Card Birthday Flowers Pink

Happy Mother's Day everyone and to all of your lovely mums! :) 

Today's post will be a little DIY for a card I made yesterday (last minute whoops) for mum today. It could be tweaked and changed for other occassions but I thought it worked well as a Mother's Day card as I chose quite gentle and pastelly colours as mums are cute and lovely XD 

The technique I used for this card is called quilling. It's basically rolling strips of paper into different shapes to make your design :) You can either use ready made strips or I made my own by cutting strips of paper 0.5cm wide.

DIY Quilled Handmade Mother's Day Card Birthday Flowers Pink

 Materials: 


White square card and envelope
White and pink paper or quilling strips
Pink mulberry paper
Quilling pen
Pencil
Ruler
Glue
Paintbrush and water
Heart gems

DIY Quilled Handmade Mother's Day Card Birthday Flowers Pink

DIY Quilled Handmade Mother's Day Card Birthday Flowers Pink

1. To start off with, choose your colours and cards etc. I think this is the hardest part and it usually takes me forever as I'm sooo indecisive! I went for a white square card, pink and white paper for the flowers and pink mulberry paper, or you can use any patterned paper. 

2. Using the ready made strips, or the ones you made, quill the strips into roughly even sized circles and glue the edge. I used a board that has premade shapes so I used it as a rough guide for my circles. Pinch the circle to make a teardrop shape. This will make a petal. Do this for all of them. I made 4 flowers, so 20 petals, 10 in white and 10 in pink.

DIY Quilled Handmade Mother's Day Card Birthday Flowers Pink

3. Measure how big you want your square windows. For this card I chose 4.5cm squares. If you're using mulberry paper, I'd recommend drawing drawing your shapes in pencil then instead of cutting with scissors, drawing along the outline with a wet paintbrush and gently ripping the paper, then leave to dry for a few minutes. 

DIY Quilled Handmade Mother's Day Card Birthday Flowers Pink

4. Glue to square windows to your card and glue the petals onto each window. 

DIY Quilled Handmade Mother's Day Card Birthday Flowers Pink

5. Finish it off by adding two little gem hearts to the bottom right corner. 

DIY Quilled Handmade Mother's Day Card Birthday Flowers Pink

DIY Quilled Handmade Mother's Day Card Birthday Flowers Pink

6. I like to fold a piece of white paper and glue it along the crease to the inside of the card so you can write on the paper and it gives it a nicer finish. 

Tadaa you've finished! Mum really liked the card so I'm really glad! I hope you've all had a lovely day! Let me know what you all got up to :)

Tuesday 10 March 2015

Warm Molten-Centred Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes Melt in Middle Valentines Treat Dessert Heart Love Anniversary

Hey everyone! 

I thought I would share with you a little recipe post today :) I personally would have preferred them sweeter as I have a sweet tooth so I would recommend an extra tablespoon or two of sugar XD (Catherine thought they were fine)

Chocolate Cupcakes Melt in Middle Valentines Treat Dessert Heart Love Anniversary



Ingredients: Makes 6 (We doubled the recipe)

  • 55g softened butter
  • 55g caster sugar (I'd add more)
  • 1 large egg
  • 85g self raising flour
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 55g plain chocolate
  • Icing sugar, for dusting
Chocolate Cupcakes Melt in Middle Recipe Valentines Treat Dessert Heart Love Anniversary
Mix all the ingredients together
Chocolate Cupcakes Melt in Middle Recipe Valentines Treat Dessert Heart Love Anniversary
Chocolate Cupcakes Melt in Middle Recipe Valentines Treat Dessert Heart Love Anniversary
Spoon half the mixture into the cases, and add the chocolate pieces
Chocolate Cupcakes Melt in Middle Recipe Valentines Treat Dessert Heart Love Anniversary
Cover with the rest of the mixture
Chocolate Cupcakes Melt in Middle Recipe Valentines Treat Dessert Heart Love Anniversary
Bake for 20 minutes at 190C



Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas mark 5.
  2. Put 6 cupcake cases in the cupcake tin.
  3. Mix together the butter, sugar, egg, flour and cocoa powder in a bowl until smooth.
  4. Spoon half the mixture into the cases and make an indentation with your spoon.
  5. Break the chocolate into 6 even pieces and place in the indentation.
  6. Spoon the rest of the mixture on top.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes or until well risen and spriny to touch.
  8. Leave the cupcakes in the tin for a few minutes to cool down.
  9. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve warm.
Chocolate Cupcakes Melt in Middle Recipe Valentines Treat Dessert Heart Love Anniversary

Chocolate Cupcakes Melt in Middle Recipe Valentines Treat Dessert Heart Love Anniversary

Chocolate Cupcakes Melt in Middle Recipe Valentines Treat Dessert Heart Love Anniversary

And there you go! You've made some easy chocolate cupcakes and they're more special due to the melted chocolate in the middle :) I love recipes where you can just mix it altogether and you don't have to make everything dirty! :)

Let me know if you try these! Theyre super quick and I reckon they'd be really nice with some ice-cream :)