London Fashion Week Blogger Party // Bloggers Hangout

Morning guys :) 

I hope that you're all well?! 

It's pay day weekend for most of you (except me) and I bet y'all are going to do some serious shopping, *weeps into my comfort food*. 

Speaking of shopping, the past week was London Fashion Week, the most prestigious fashion event like... Ever. 

Anyway I was invited to go to the Bloggers Hangout 'London Fashion Week Party' down in Hoxton, London, Monday just gone. 

I love going to these events as you meet so many new bloggers' and brands and they are always so much fun. To be honest with you this is only the second one I had been to because in the past, these events have been on whilst I have been working. 

On the way down I was... And this is SO SAD, on route to go past Harry Styles house... And if you don't know already, I am majorly crushing on him right now, not in a 'fan girl' way but in a my stomach is in my mouth when I see him kinda way. Ha. *Covers eyes*. This girls got it bad. So yeah Papa Hutt pulled over and we just strolled by his house for like a second and then went back into the car. Later that night though... And I was GUTTED. I found out that he was in fact in bloody London that day too, I mean come on!!! The only day I am there he's back from LA and I freaking missed him by god damn seconds. I couldn't believe it. I was so near yet so frickin far. I could of cried. Ha ha. 

I won't put a picture up because it would be rude to, so you can have some of London instead. :)  

Now, I've got that off my chest. After my little detour we arrived in Hoxton to the studio the event was held in. 

The venue this time was pretty small compared to the last event, but it had more of an intimate feel to it. 

I wasn't aware that my little blogger friend Beth Chudley was going to the event too. When I saw on Twitter that she was going I was instantly more excited because I wasn't walking in on my own and I actually got to meet her after talking online for a while.Ha. She is sooooo lovely and dinky and very talented, go check out her blog here... http://littlecapsulewardrobe.com/

If I am completely honest with you I preferred the last event that they hosted as I found that this one was based more for the foodies and there were only a couple of beauty brands. :( 

We missed out on the Bloggers Hangout gift bags too which was a bummer.

Other than that I met some really nice brands and got gifted some lovely little products. I only really went to the stands that I was genuinely interested in because I felt I would get more out of it, rather than going round them all and wasting people's time. 

The first brand I went to see is Ark 'Age Aware Skincare'. This is a brand that I haven't actually heard of before and the lady I spoke to was really friendly and informative. Their brand is designed to "treat your skin through every day life stage with products that are suited to your skin's age-related needs'. 

I was gifted their 'pro remove, pre cleanse' oil. It's a unisex product that is put onto a dry face and massaged in to the skin and then you wet your face and emulsify the oil into a lather and then wash off. Its aim is to " prepare the skin for deeper cleansing for a perfectly flawless complexion.". It claims to remove waterproof makeup and also is effective as a shaving oil. 

The product contains a lot of natural ingredients and essential fatty acids. 

I have left it this long to put the post up because I wanted to test the products out and give you my first impressions. 

The oil has a signature smell and reminds me of petunia oil. It glides on the face nicely, for me it doesn't majorly lather up but it leaves my face feeling really clean and soft afterwards. I really like this product. I have had some breakouts so I am unsure whether that's just happened naturally or that the new products I am using are causing it. The more I use them, I guess I will find out. Ha. 


Next I went to see the Deborah Mitchell stand. I saw this brand at the last Bloggers Hangout event but didn't really get to talk to them as again it was so busy. The lady I spoke to was really nice and really paid attention to my skin needs and she then gifted me two of their full sized products to match those needs, which was really nice of her. 

She firstly gifted me their Heaven 'Cleanse & Foam Wash', which smells amazing. It contains Organic Mandarin (which is the main scent) and orange flower.

I use this after my Ark cleanse now and use it with my Magnitone. This has become my daily skin care routine. This product claims to be good for anti aging, firming, increase collagen levels, removes scars and removes pigmentation. 

I have only been using this for a week so it will be good to eventually see the effects. 

They also gave me the Heaven 'Peppermint Clarifying Hydeogel'. 

This contains, peppermint, spearmint, lavender and coconut. 

It is really soothing and I put this on my face after I have cleansed. You can use this as a primer too under your makeup. That's cool. 

I told the lady that I have been getting breakouts so she gave me this to help calm down my skin after cleansing as this acts as a toner. It closes pores, is great for pale skin and apparently it helps with morning sickness. This obviously won't affect me, but preggo ladies out their, this could a the product for you. 

I am liking these products a lot at the moment especially the gel. I think I like gel formulas as for me they seem to have more substance. 


I then moved on to the food area's as the beauty was basically over. One stand that caught my eye was PopKakery. They are a brand who make products that are gluten free, which is awesome. Their range includes gluten free cake pops, brownies, marshmallows and cookies. 

I was given a cake pop to try which is one of their best sellers. I swear down, it was one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth. It tasted amazing. 

The only thing I wasn't keen on was the fact that palm oil is used in this product. I am against animal cruelty and I know they test palm oil out on animals, so that did put me off a bit. Other than that the product is beautifully presented, the concept is great and they bloody taste amazing. 

Other products I tried was from a brand called Get Buzzing who produce 100% natural nut free flapkjack bars. 

These were really nice, I particularly liked the date and seed one that I was given. 

Other brands I tried was Cocktail Mania. They served alcoholic cocktails and they were amazing!!! It literally tasted like there was no alcohol in it. I tried the passion fruit one. 

I tried out Coconuts natural 'Mint Choc Chip' ice cream that's made out of natural ingredients and raw chocolate. 

And finally I grabbed some samples of the Bluebird Tea Co tea bags. I didn't try any there so thought I would at home. I haven't actually got around to trying them yet but they had a lot of varieties. I picked up 'Ginerbread Chai' and ' Skinny Minny'. I picked up the gingerbread one because who doesn't love that taste. I don't know how it's going to taste within a tea but I am hoping it's going to be great. The second one I picked up because it claims to boost your metabolism (score) and calms you stomach. This sounds like something I need. 

I was there for about an hour and then left as my interests lie in beauty and fashion, but it was nice to try out new things and meet new brands. I had a real nice time and it's great that these events are available, especially for us smaller bloggers' who want to get involved but can't in the bigger events in and around London. 

I'll leave you with some of the pictures I took on the way home out of my car window, driving at 60mph. :) 

Thanks for reading and I will see you in my next post. 

Love

L 

X 

What's In My Primark Handbag? My Daily Essentials.

I have seen a lot of these posts flying about on YouTube and seeing as I haven't got a new camera yet, I thought I would do a written version instead. 

I hope you don't mind? :) 

The above bag is from Primark and this was featured in my Primark haul which you can find here.

I love this bag, it looks a lot more expensive than it was (well I think it does anyway) and it doesn't really look like a Primark creation either. It literally goes with everything I wear. I have a teeny obsession with bags and purses. If I buy a new bag I have to find a purse that goes with it and visa versa. 

Today ladies you will see what I carry around on a daily basis and what I call my 'essentials'. It can get pretty heavy in there, let me tell you. 

So here we goooooooo!!! 

Oooohh!! Sneak peak of what's inside! 

Can you tell I just chuck it in?! Whoops. 

The most important thing in my bag is my purse for obvious reasons. It has everything in there. The whole of the contents in my bag is highly important but where would we be without our purses 'aye? 

I have had this purse sat on my dressing table for like a year now because I had used my last one to death. And I love this one even more so. It's so girly and sparkly and the patent effect really brings out the glitter. It was from Claire's Accessories at around £12-£14. 

I Love how my account number and sort code are showing. I didn't see that!! Ha, feel free to put some money in guys! JOKES. 

The layout of the inside. I rarely carry money on me because I spend it. 

This is my new little notebook & pen that I brought the other week as I go through my notebooks more than I brush my hair. I am constantly writing notes. I love it... Writing notes that is. This picture makes the notebook look more red than it is. It is actually a burgundy colour but Blogger seems to change the colours and exposure quite a bit on upload and I don't know why. Anyway this little book comes everywhere with me so I can write my blogging notes down on ideas for my next posts. 

Ha ha, yes what you see before your eyes is a bunch of snotty tissue!!! (Not really this lot hasn't been used... Yet) 

Due to having reeeeeeeaaaallly bad hay fever I have to carry A LOT of tissue around because I am constantly sneezing and my nose just pours out like Niagara Falls. It is so not attractive, and it really bugs me because I end up wiping half of my make up off. *sobs*

So this is definitely an essential for me to have in my bag, I just never know when I am going to be caught out.

Mother Nature is a pure bitch. Fact. 

  

To coincide with the tissue here are my 'meds', bloody hay fever meds and currently they are doing jack to help me. I used to really rate the tablets as they are like 180mg which are strong and I used to be on 10mg and they used to work. This year, not so much. And they have changed the steroid nasal spray too. The only thing that actually works is the eye drops for my hay fever eyes, but they god damn sting. Anywho, they are locked to my bag I will always need these in the summer. 

 Yup, next we have my sunnies and my car keys. I got a new car (a 10 plate, practically brand new black Corsa Energy) and then I got made redundant. Ha. That will serve me right for getting rid of Rusty (my old car, this one is called Brian after the lead singer of my FAVOURITE BAND EVER Placebo. If you haven't heard of them, go check them out. They are amazing). Nonetheless I love my shiny car and you will find both of these swimming amongst my crap in my handbag. 

Floating around are my 13' Christmas vouchers and some money from my nan, I haven't spent it yet. Well the voucher I did. I brought an awesome pineapple cup (which you can see on my Instagram account: anythingbutordinaryleya) from New Look but it was broken when I inspected it properly at home, and they didn't have another one in store. So it currently has like £6 on the card. 

I carry these around in case I need them. :) 

Here she is... My makeup bag. Again I have written a blog post about this and you can find that here.

I obviously carry this beaut around as I constantly need to touch up my makeup thanks to my hay fever face. I swap and change what I carry around day to day but this is another permanent to my handbag.

I love my Ipod and I love music. This is an essential! Excuse the dirty headphones, my makeup constantly transfers onto them. I have had this Ipod for like 10 years I swear, I had it free with a mobile phone contract I took out. You don't get that these days. But yeah, I need this for journeys, or for blocking people and the world out for a while.

I don't really need to explain these. 

My back-combing combs. The pink one from Primark £1 and the black one is a hairdressing one. Simple, must-haves in my bag.

Yup, I have carex, who doesn't in their handbag? You don't know what you're touching out there guys. Keep clean! I use this stuff to death because I handle my hamsters, then my guinea pig and then my dog. I use it after touching each one so not to spread germs. And before I eat obvz. Then Vaseline for dry lips and my roll on deodorant for those 'hot' times. I don't use sprays any more as my animals inhale it. 

I always carry a mirror. I am not amazingly vain but I do have to check everything is tip top with my face. My mum and dad brought me this from H M Samuel a few Christmases ago and I use this one on special occasions. As I am clumsy and will probably break it. It's super pretty.  

 This is pure jokes. It's a fluffy monster phone protector!!! I love this! When I worked at Claire's Accessories I wanted this so much as it was cute. So my brother got it me as one of my gifts for Christmas last year!!! He has to go in now and then.

And that's it guys. The tour is over. My handbag is completely empty.

If you enjoyed scrolling through this post leave me a cheeky comment or give me a subscribe. I am pretty scarce on both of those. 

What do you carry in your handbag? 

♥