The City Girls Leeds Blogger Event

On Saturday 11th July i had the honour of attending the event that every blogger & their dog is talking about. Shortly after making a return to the blogosphere i read about TheCityGirlsUk, the brainchild of two rather gorgeous bloggers named Lorna & Holly. Invented by bloggers for bloggers their twitter trending premier event held in Sheffield sounded totes amazeballs & i knew i had to get myself on the guest list for the next one. Imagine how stoked i was to get an email inviting me to their 2nd event to be held in Leeds! Step inside & read all about it.......

The run up to the event was so exciting. The girls had made a handy dandy list of the 30 bloggers that would be in attendance at the event & i wasted no time in getting aquatinted & joining in with the tweeting frenzy. Travelling to the event became somewhat of a challenge as i had to be home no later than 7pm & i live 90 minutes away by car. None of the trains or buses were suitable so my lovely daughter Jade who lives in Leeds instructed me to park at the White Rose Shopping Centre & she would chauffeur me in to the event. How very posh! As you can see from the selfie above, we were very excited when we pulled into Greek Street, the home of the Liquorist. 

We were slightly early so Jade snapped a pic of me as i NEVER wear dresses but was feeling a little daring having lost around 3 stone since 2014. I loved the outside of the venue as it is painted in the same colour as my bedroom. I also noticed that The Liquorist have a happy hour every night from 4pm - 9pm offering all Mojito & Cocktails at £5 each which i hear under good authority are totally amazing.

 Being the first inside i introduced myself to as many fellow bloggers as i could as they came through the door. It was great to put faces to names & chat about peoples blogs. The interior was so quirky with hints of copper, bare brick & geometric shapes, it really was a feast for the eyes for an interior junkie like myself.

Once upstairs with drink in hand Lorna & Holly took to the floor telling us a little bit about them & why they came to develop "The City Girls UK" brand. At each event they choose a charity to raise money for & todays was Leeds Womans Aid, which was represented by the lovely Suzie. Leeds Womans Aid help victims of domestic abuse & trafficking. Suzie shared some of the harrowing real life stories of women such as herself who experienced domestic abuse & how Leeds Womans Aid can help those women. A really worthwhile cause which struck a real chord with me, being one of the 1 in 4 woman who have suffered this.

After all the speeches were done we were told to go wild by Lorna & Holly & explore all the brands that had come along for todays event. I made my way to the far end of the room to the Benefit stand & a rather tasty looking display of "The City Girls" cupcakes. How cute! 

I waited patiently in the queue & watched as Aimee had her brows perfected by Mel our resident Benefit gal. After taking a seat & inspecting by brows Mel told me i have the perfect brows! I was amazed as she measured them with a ruler to ensure all the important points of the brow where positioned as they should be & mine are!! So we opted for winged liner instead using the new They're Real Push Up Liner in Purple. The innovative soft AccuFlex tip made for a super easy glide on application that even i should be able to master. When Mel saw how the Purple made my Green eyes pop she insisted on applying the Blue version of They're Real Mascara to the tips of my lashes. I already had They're Real in Black on my lashes but the Blue on the tips was something different. In the bright light of the window i wasn't sure but i double checked it in a dimmer part of the room & i really liked it. I think for a night out this would add a little Je ne sais quoi. 

After mingling & meeting a few more bloggers i went over to see Ben on the Manuka Doctor table. He was a wealth of knowledge about the products and we discussed at depth which products would benefit my ageing skin the most. Having received some samples of the api nourish range containing purified bee venom, i can't wait to report back to Ben with my thoughts. 

Right next door to Manuka Doctor was the perfectly turned out Chloe from Kendelle, a Leeds based clothing boutique. I immediately caught sight of a gorgeous top on her display rail & began chatting with her about how i am replacing my clothing on a monthly basis due to weight loss. Although the range currently stops at size 14, Chloe is looking into some pieces in bigger sizes & as a size 16 i'm not too far away from being able to procure a piece from her current collection. 

Having only had an apple in the car for breakfast(It takes me far too long to get ready!) i could feel my blood sugar dropping so i had a wee sit down with a packet of baked mango kindly provided by Urban Fruit. These little slivers of goodness are so tasty & i will definitely be seeking them out when i visit a bigger town than where i live. Whilst nibbling i had a lovely chat with Lorna & then sat with Suzie from Leeds Womans Aid for a chin wag too. There was an array of fab raffle prizes on her table so i bought my raffle tickets while i was there to help raise money for the charity. 

Opposite Suzies table i spotted The Body Shop ladies who i'd not yet seen so i popped over to see what delights they had on their table. The most exciting item i tried was the not yet released Italian Summer Fig range. This is Italian Summer in a bottle. Just close your eyes & you are surrounded by fig trees. I just loved this scent & found it quite a departure from the young sweet & fruity fragrances that The Body Shop are renowned for. I found it to be a more mature scent & something i could definitely see myself wearing. I love that you can layer the different products in the range to get that all over long lasting smell. Watch out for this one, i reckon it'll be a huge success. 

 Before we knew it it was time to draw the raffle & make a quick visit to any of the tables we'd missed out. I had only missed nails by Ivy but she was still busy so i started to collect all the generous gifts from the companies that couldn't attend the event in person which were displayed on tables around the room.

The brands featured were Voss Water, Twig & Dot, Derma V10, Urban Fruit, Virtue Drinks, Michael O'Mara Books & Angelica. They provided an array of goodies for us bloggers to try out & i look forward to reporting back to the brands what i think.

Finally as things were winding down i got to speak to the resident PR's that had come along to the event to answer any questions we had about working with brands & i had a lengthy chat with the rather dashing Zack from Exposure Ninja who gave me some really good advice & tips about social media.  It was then time to leave with goody bag in hand rammed with even more products to take home.  

The day went so quickly & i met so many lovely people both brands & bloggers it's a shame it had to end. Lorna & Holly quite obviously put a shed load of effort into organising this event & had thought about every little detail. The whole day ran so smoothly & being only my second blogger event i felt so at ease which was testament to their hard work. If you ever get the chance to go along to one of "The City Girls" events then i would highly recommend them.

Keep your eyes peeled on Twitter & here on my blog for thoughts & reviews on the products i received on the day. Have you tried any of the products pictured above? What did you think? Do you love blogger events too? Link me up with your blogger event posts. I love to read about them.