The Bloggers Ball & My First Vlog!

Last Saturday I headed down to London to attend the much anticipated Bloggers Ball, held by Scarlett London Events. After a bit of a panic tweet that I didn't know anyone going, I ended up arranging to meet the lovely Emily from Emily Loula, and after a cheeky TGI Fridays stop (you need to try the Bubblegum Daiquiri), we headed to DSTRKT where the event was being held. We were one of the first to arrive and were greeted by Scarlett, the event organiser. It was so lovely that she took the time to speak to each of us!

As we walked in, we picked up refreshments via Luscombe Drinks. I had never seen the brand before, but as I prefer to drink soft drinks rather than alcohol at home (when I'm out is another story, love me a mojito), this is right up my street! I had a lovely Raspberry Lemonade, which was zingy and fruity, and nicely refined in comparison to a lot of fizzy drinks.

After getting our bearings, we started making our way round the room, chatting to brands and bumping into fellow bloggers. It was so lovely to see Jamie from Tanned Beauty Addict again, and I was really happy to finally get to meet Caz from Style Lingua after speaking to her for the best part of 2 years! I can confirm that she is just as lovely in person as she is online!

Among skincare, fashion and food, there were quite a few jewellery brands at the event. The two that really stood out to me were Boho Betty and Jewellery Box. Boho Betty is a really cool brand who design their pieces here in the UK. They take inspiration from other cultures to create their unique layering/stacking bracelets. They kindly gifted me a beautiful khaki leather wrap bracelet*, which I'm really looking forward to wearing! They have some stunning designs on the website, and they're great if you're a fan of the relaxed look.

On the other end of the spectrum is Jewellery Box. They are a brand that I have worked with before (read the post here) so it was great to see them at the Bloggers Ball. Jewellery Box are great if you love minimalist designs and are really great quality for an affordable price, plus you can't not mention the packaging, so cute! I was also lucky enough to take home two more beautiful pieces to add to my collection, a Silver Infinity Loop Bracelet* and the Silver Adjustable Midi Ring*.

Unfortunately my photos don't quite do the beautiful venue and brand displays justice! There was such a diverse range of brands from lifestyle (Toad Diaries), to food (Seed & Bean, Roam & Relish) to fashion (Bon Prix) to beauty and skincare (Face Matters, Bravura London, Vatika Naturals). I loved how varied everything was, and it means no one gets left out. When I went to the Bloggers Hangout event in February (read the post here), I didn't realise it was going to be mainly foodie brands, so it wasn't overly relevant to my blog, and I was a bit disappointed.

This time, disappointed I was not, especially when I heard that Monin also had drinks available. Despite lusting after the Espresso Martini, I decided on a tasty Yuzu and Lemongrass Lemonade to try. I actually never knew that yuzu was a like a tiny lemon, but its syrup sure made a lovely lemonade! We were generously given a bottle of the Monin Chocolate Cookie Syrup* to take home. It smells exactly like Maryland Cookies so I'm really excited to try it in a hot chocolate or latte!

As a bit of a perfume nerd, it was great to see So...? Fragrances at the event. The stand was packed so it's a shame I didn't really get the chance to chat perfume with the girls, but I did come away with a couple of goodie bags (they had a few extra left over at the end!). I used to use So...? when I was about 12 or 13, and there are a few of the scents that really stood out to me back then, so I am really excited to try them again and see if they are just as lovely. I think it is great to have affordable options for fragrance for the times when cash is a bit thin on the ground. I will properly review the full range that I took home in a later post, or even a video!

Me and the gorgeous Emily getting into the holiday spirit with the On The Beach props

We had a really lovely time at the Bloggers Ball, and Scarlett did such a brilliant job. Everything seemed so well organised! The only downside was that I think there were too many people for the space, especially when it came to talking with brands. It seemed like everyone was sandwiched into one room when the networking spaces were pretty empty! I'm not overly affected by crowds like some people are, but I did find it frustrating. We did a few laps of the brands area, and we still managed to miss some. I came home and realised we had no idea where the Blogosphere stand was! I was also a little disappointed to miss out on the samples from Exuviance as they didn't have any foundations left in ghost shades by the end. I guess that was probably our fault for leaving that area until last! Rookie mistake eh?

I did however come home with some amazing products. I have already touched on the highlights, but if you want to see a full haul of what I got in my Bloggers Ball goodie bag, you can check it out in the video below. As the title suggests, I actually vlogged the day for my YouTube debut. It was my first time vlogging, and even talking to the camera, so you can only imagine how much footage there was of me dithering about looking like a twat vlogging in Central London. Thankfully that got binned in the editing process!

I'm planning to start regularly uploading videos, mainly chatty beauty and lifestyle ones, as well as the odd vlog if I have a rare exciting day. It would mean the world to me if you could subscribe to my channel, I promise you won't regret it! You'll get to see me demoing the Chin Up Mask*, so if you fancy a giggle at me with that strapped to my chin, you know what to do...

Did you go to the Bloggers Ball?

*Post contains samples kindly gifted by brands at the Bloggers Ball