Life: #LeicesterBlogs Meet-up

Last Friday saw the bloggers of Leicester heading out for evening of catching up, food and a cheeky drink or two. Or so we thought...

We'd been planning the meet up for a good few weeks, so on the day my phone was constantly buzzing with excited tweets. A few days before, we had been warned that Laura had a sneaky surprise for us. I'd seen Laura chatting with the lovely Sammy from ZigZag Photography earlier on in the week, and had actually been talking to her myself about shooting some outfit shots. I thought I'd guessed the surprise, that Sammy was going to be the official #LeicesterBlogs photographer for the night. But that was only the half of it...

Come 6.30pm, we gathered outside Cosy Club and Laura finally revealed the plans for the evening. We first headed a few doors down the road to Danique Hairdressing (Facebook | Twitter) for a Fashion Fix Masterclass with label.m.

Super-bubbly stylist Keri, who recently won the Label.m Product Expert 2015 award, gave us the warmest welcome with some delicious peach bellinis, and introduced the Fashion Fixes concept. Launched at London Fashion Week (label.m is the official LFW sponsor), Fashion Fixes are designed as a range of accessible styles that can be achieved at home with minimal products. There is an emphasis on the effortless look, which is a style that I will always pioneer; I hate looking too over-done, especially when it comes to my hair. My zero-heat, low-maintenance hair routine includes a spritz of dry shampoo in the roots and a bit of Oribe through the lengths and I'm good to go.

For £25, Danique Hairdressing offers a complete styling service, which is fab before a special event, or if you prefer, there is also a set with all the products you need to create the styles at home. Keri transformed the model, who was already sporting the Textured Rope Braid, into having the Nouveau Knot within minutes. I was surprised at how easy it was, and looked a lot more put-together than the messy bun I usually sport.

Next up was the lovely Hollie, who volunteered for the next style. Keri chose the Reto Americana style, which involved glamorous curls with the lengths tucked under for an almost buzz-cut style. This looked beautiful, and suited Hollie's alternative style perfectly. There was also a how-to on how to curl your hair with straighteners, which was pretty interesting as I always use a hair wand.

The end result; Keri's model and Hollie

The team at Danique were kind enough to gift us some lovely label.m products; the dry shampoo which I'm particularly excited to try out, and a hairspray which smelt incredibe. Even sat at the back of the salon, I could still smell it! One of the staff informed us that the scents in all the label.m products are created by the team behind Guerlain, which pleased my inner fragrance-nerd. They'd also popped a voucher in the goodie bag for a cut and finish, which I was happy to see as I'd been looking for a new hairdressers for a while.

Some of the staff having a cheeky selfie

We then popped over to Cosy Club, as originally planned, which was well needed as we were all ravenous! When we took our seats, we found the lovely gift bags that Laura had so graciously put together, with bits from the ever generous Zig Zag Photography, Blue Sun Tree, a lustworthy furniture brand based in nearby Birstall, and a perfume sample from Hollie, who has newly become an Avon representative. This was all housed in a fabric bag, made by Laura herself! I'd highly recommend giving her craft posts a read. She's got everything from clutch bags to Christmas crackers!

The lovely Laura!

I'd never been to Cosy Club before, but judging by the menu it seems that it is similar to the Loungers cafe/bar Mercado Lounge, in my hometown of Market Harborough. To my surprise, Cosy Club is much more of a restaurant, offset with the most beautiful ambient lighting, captured so perfectly by Sammy's photography. The staff at Cosy Club were so welcoming and friendly, even going so far as to providing our table with a complimentary bottle of prosecco. We decided on some bread and olives for the table, while we chose our mains. The olives were lovely, being dressed in a tasty chilli tapenade.

For my main course, I chose the Pan Fried Garlic Tiger Prawns (£11.95). These were beautifully seasoned and particularly tasty, paired with lobster bisque linguine and lemon oil. The portion wasn't huge, which suited my small appetite (I hate leaving food!) and only thing I'd change is to have more prawns, and a little more flavour in the linguine. The rest of the dishes also looked particularly lust-worthy, with Laura's Po Boy Chicken Burger (which I was close to having), and Lianne's Pork Belly.

It was then on to Meatcure, who Laura had teamed up with for our final treat. I chose a "hard shake", which was a milkshake blended with alcohol. I chose Beige, which was a mix of vanilla, Bourbon and maple. I was stressing a little bit as I couldn't stay long at Meatcure, but the staff were so lovely, an even put mine in a takeaway cup so I could enjoy it whilst running to catch the last train. I would highly recommend trying Meatcure's hard shakes, and I'm predicting a repeat visit to get my fix.

Laughs with Charlotte

Cameras at the ready with Steph

It was so lovely to see some of my favourite bloggers again; Steph from Priceless Life of Mine and Hollie from Hollie Rose Blog. I also finally met Charlotte from Discovering Charlotte, Radhika from Radhika Recommends and Lianne from The Brunette Says.... Once again I'd like to say a huge thank you to Laura for arranging such a lovely evening. I'd also like to thank the brands involved; Danique Hairdressing, Cosy Club, Meatcure, ZigZag Photography and Blue Sun Tree.

What's your favourite thing about blogger events?

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Disclaimer ~ All photos in this post are the property of Sammy @ Zig Zag Photography, unless stated otherwise.