#FABBBirmingham: The Lowdown

This weekend saw FABB Events hit Birmingham and I was like a kid the night before Christmas.

I knew it was going to be pretty spectacular, and a lot bigger than blogging events I’d been to before- with about 100 bloggers all converging on Alfie Birds in the Custard Factory

 I was also looking forward to catching up with some of my blogging friends and also making some new ones, so off I set down the M6 full of excitement. I’m in Birmingham so much these days its beginning to feel like a second home!

Parked in the Bullring and met up with the lovely Vicki from Silk and Boots by the Chanel counter in Selfridges to have a browse. I love Vicki’s blog and we’d been chatting on Twitter so it was really nice to meet her in person. 

We then went to The Green Room café to meet Naomi from Style Face Beauty and Laura from Unloved Button, two of my favourite beauty girls. Due to my dodgy sense of direction and Vicki’s sat nav sending her the wrong way, we were running a bit late, so we had to leave pretty quickly to get to the event on time.

The event was held at The Custard Factory, which is a complex of old factory buildings that have been turned into a warren of vintage shops, cafes and little stores.

 I was so looking forward to exploring there, but unfortunately all the shops were shut! 

There was one called Cocktail Cosmetics that sells lots of hard to get hold of brands like Lime Crime, Sugarpill, Sigma and Ardell lashes – how gutted was I that wasn’t open! They would have made a killing with all those beauty bloggers. I suppose I’ll just have to go back next time I’m down that way.

Straight away we ran into a dapper looking gent in a suit who asked us if we were there for the event and showed us where to go – it turned to be Tom Pellereau who won The Apprentice. He was there demonstrating his Stylfile invention, and he was very lovely. No sign of Lord Alan Sugar though!

Inside Alfie Birds, there was a long queue of fashionable looking girls stretching up the stairs, so it was impossible to mistake that it was FABB time. 

I ran into Becky from BBYB.co.uk and Katie from katielouisaox.com, as well as lovely Emma from emmavictoriastokes.com, who I missed the chance to talk to at the last meet. I also snatched a few minutes with Sally from RainyDayFaces and got to meet Mel from JustMelKate. It was really nice to see some of my favourite faces from the blogging world! 

I also met Charley from Beauty Robot, who was such a lovely girl and who ended up introducing me to the world of Vom Fass – more on them later!

Once up the stairs and inside, we were in for a treat. There were lots of brands to explore and they gifted us like crazy, I’ve never been so spoilt in my life.

Here’s who I met:

• Mallzee were there promoting their brilliant App which allows you to build outfits and shop with a single click. Dangerous! It reminds me of how Cher from Clueless had her computerised closet – do any of you 90’s kids remember that?
• MeMeMe Cosmetics were showing off their new products. I’m a massive fan of some of their stuff, especially the Light Me Up lipgloss and the Goddess Rocks – and they so kindly gave us a massive bag full of their latest stuff, so I was in heaven
• StyleEdit were there with a beautiful display of shoes and bags that turned our heads!
• StageLine Cosmetics were there showing their amazing theatrical make-up and special effects stuff
• Toni & Guy were restyling hair and giving us mini makeovers
  
• The really lovely girls from StyleSkin were showing off their amazing range of faux fur accessories which are launching next month
  
• Stylfile inventor Tom Pellereau was there showing their manicure and pedicure tools, and it sounds like he’s got plans for a whole bunch of other exciting tools
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• Elijah Choo from Bodhi and Birch was demonstrating their luxury organic range – literally amazing stuff. My new addiction!
• Anovia were there with a range of exciting new products for us to try, including their Head Candy haircare range which contains keratin
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• Bee Good showed us their beautiful range of skin care which is all made by British honey bees

A DJ was spinning great hip-hop tunes, you could get a microdermabrasion facial and there was a lot to see and do.

It was a brilliant event and we came out weighed down with five or six bags choc full of goodies, which is amazing, totally generous.

The only thing I felt slightly was that the social side was a little bit missing - and that’s quite different from the smaller events I’ve been too. It was very busy indeed and I would have liked more of a chance to meet and chat with people – but it would have been hard to get round everything if you did.

I was really tired by the end of the day, and looking forward to getting into my pyjamas with a pot of tea. 

Made a final stop in Selfridges on the way back to the car, but this time it was the food hall!

Charley is really into her cocktail making, and she introduced me to this great concession in there called Vom Fass, who basically sell an assortment of glass bottles that you can fill with different spirits, liqueurs and stuff to give as gifts or to stock up the cupboards. 

Once you have the containers purchased you can return for a refill at a cheaper price. They also had a big selection of oils and of different balsamic vinegars. I picked up a bottle of their Star Date Balsamic Vinegar, which is so yummy, as a stocking filler for Seb.

With so many gifted products, I avoided a shopping raid in Selfridges this time, but I did pick up the Urban Decay Super Saturated Ultra Intense Cream liner which I’ve been crushing on for a while – review post coming soon!

It was a day jam packed with good things and very enjoyable, so thank you to FABB Events for a great day out. Count me in for the next one!