Bloggers Secret Santa Event: The Lowdown

Hi lovelies!

This weekend, I was lucky enough to get to go to the Bloggers Secret Santa event being run by the very sweet Hannah from Hannerking and Emma from Dinos Beauty Diary.

I've been to a few meets in Birmingham lately, and although it's been great to have the opportunity to explore a bit (and go to Selfridges!) it was so nice to do something closer to home and get to meet some local bloggers.

I meant to do an outfit post, but on the morning it was torrential rain and really dark all day, so it was too hard to get decent pictures. Boo. Blogger problems!

So I went along with my friend Kerry from Kerry Cooks, who was bravely battling a cold to be there. We turned up at the Ned Ludd and were ushered upstairs into a festive wonderland! Emma and Hannah had worked so hard and the place looked really Christmassy and welcoming. We had a welcome glass of fizz and did a bit of mingling.

I met some lovely new faces, including Claudia from SunJunkieX -  whose outfit and insanely long lashes I loved - Megan from Seek My Scribbles, who is a writer, my dream job!

Ellie from UniqueLoveStyle who had amazing hair, lovely Lora from Moon Face Blogs, Billie from I Am Billie who showed us some pictures of her super cute pug we were all cooing over!

I also met Maya from Vogue by Maya. Gemma from Buttons Blog, and the very lovely Leah from Peaches and Smoke who was my train companion up to a meet in Birmingham, it was great to see her again.

Once, we'd settled down, we were introduced to Ian from Beauty Narcotix. He told us all about a two products, first the Hello range of fresh breath sprays and mouthwashes that have come to the UK.

He very kindly gave us all one to try - this was the Hello Pink Grapefruit and Mint variant. I was lucky enough to get one of these in my Fabb Events goody bag, but I hadn't opened it yet, so I tried this one straight away. I would normally just have gum, but sometimes chewing it isn't the most elegant thing!

I've never thought about using a breath spray, but this one tastes yummy and comes in a really cute little container. It would be perfect to pop into your clutch bag on a night out. No one wins friends with sewer breath! I approve.

He also told us about The Ultimate Fix, which is a product from his own company.You spray it on when you're painting your nails and it dries the polish and fixes it in place. For impatient people like me who actively avoid painting their nails because they hate the drying time, it seems the ideal thing. We also got some of that to try, so I'm looking forward to a quick manicure.

Then we met Lekha from skincare brand Merumaya. They very kindly invited me to an event a few weeks ago, but I couldn't make it, so I was really interested to hear about them this time around.

I was seriously impressed by their products. They are all formulated to be natural but also effective, are priced very well for the amount of actives and skin goodies they contain and smell heavenly.

We had a chance to get a close up look at their stuff, and I loved the look of their serums in particular, which left my skin feeling like satin.

Another product that really intrigued me was their Bi-Phase Plus Eye Makeup Remover. This stuff is designed as a combination of a gel and an oil based cleanser. When you shake the bottle up, it looks all glittery. It seemed like a great idea as I think oils are best at removing every last stubborn scrap of mascara!

Next up was Suzie from Xenca. I have met Suzie before and she's such a lovely lady and obviously so completely committed to the company - she is the best advert for their products! Last time I met her, I bought some collagen capsules from her that I think have been helping with my skin a lot. This time, she told us a lot about the Five A Day Plus product, which I'm really interested in.

Its a powdered blend of green superfoods that can really turbo-charge your health. A small scoop, mixed with water or juice can have big benefits, by boosting energy, helping you detox and packing in vital portions of nutrients. It sounds like such a brilliant idea, because none of us really get enough -  you should really be eating over 5 portions of fruit or veg a day. Five A Day Plus makes that really easy. Of course, Suzie also brought her best salesman, her little son who is very cute and loves his green juice!

Then it was time for some food! I ordered the Smoked Salmon Salad, which was really delicious. The burgers also looked incredible, but I was trying to stick to my Little Black Dress Challenge diet desperately. My salad was super tasty though, so I didn't feel too deprived.

Look at all those pressies! As part of the event, Emma and Hannah had arranged a Secret Santa, so we'd all brought gifts. It really did put me in the festive mood.

Then along came Ivy, Charlie and Holly from Lush (all those festive names...we thought Charlie should have changed his to Noel for the day!). We could smell the gorgeous products as soon as they arrived, which was super exciting.

They told us all about the origins of the brand, and then I was treated to a very relaxing hand and arm massage with one of their massage bars, which was just heavenly.

Super excitingly, we were then told we'd get to make our own bath bombs, so we were buzzing.

They produced huge bags of the salts, which smelt incredible and started to show us how to mix a bath bomb.....only I didn't get to see the rest because I had to dash off to an appointment.

Really gutted, I would have loved to stick around and finish it off, plus I felt really rude leaving quickly. I would have loved to stay longer.

Hannah and Emma did such an amazing job of making us all feel welcome and putting on a really fantastic event, I'm so pleased I got to go. Big well dones to them for pulling it all off!

They very kindly made sure I had my goody bag and Secret Santa present to leave with. Exciting!

We got this lovely tote jam packed with very kind gifts, so it definitely felt like Christmas! What was in there I hear you say?

We got the Vita Liberata NKD SKN Matte Wash Off Instant Tan and a tan applicator mitt. I'm slowly getting into tanning after years of being a bit afraid of turning myself orange, but I'll still only use a wash off formulation, so this will be perfect for party season.

We got this amazing Tiny Tea 14 Day Teatox kit from Natural Tea Blends. Really excited about this. I'm going to use this for the last two weeks of my Little Black Dress Challenge and see if it can ramp up my efforts in time for Christmas. I've wanted to try something like this for a while, so I was very excited. 

Makeup Revolution goodies, yay! One of my favourite ever brands, so I was very pleased with this. I received the Redemption Matte Brights palette (which, luckily, is one of the few I don't own) and the Focus & Fix Eye Primer, which I've been wanting to try.

We also got treated to the Faith in Nature Coconut Shower Gel and Foam Bath, a pack of Dream Dots, which you use on blemishes and a Manuka Honey Peel Off Mask, which I'm so popping on during my next bubble bath!

Then there were Perfectil Skin Hair and Nails supplements, and a big pack of Hairburst Vitamins, which I'm hoping will help me get lovely long locks. I've gotten really interested in supplements lately and how they can help me look better from the inside out.

Make-up, whoop whoop! A W7 Liquid Eyeliner (super handy as I actually just ran out), a Leighton Denny nail polish in 'So La'- love the colour! Some Gel FX Posh Polish from BeautyUK in the shade 'Midnight Iris', a gorgeous purplish navy blue shade, a Nanshy angled eyeliner brush, which is super useful, and this very sparkly Flashmob Liquid Voltage Lip Gloss. Perfect for party season.

We got treated to a lipstick from Playboy. I didn't know they did cosmetics! This is the Perfect Kiss Intense Lipstick in the shade 'Pin Up Pink', which actually looks like more of a coral.

Pleasantly surprised by this because it feels incredible on the lips, super moisturising and lightweight. The colour is really pretty too, perfect for work.

A very festive cracker turned out to contain some Crabtree and Evelyn Frosted Fruits hand cream. This smells gorgeous, perfect for the festive season. I'm going through hand cream at a furious pace at the moment, so this is very useful indeed.

Really excited to get to try some of the Xenca Five A Day Plus as well. I'm going to be using this over the next few weeks along with my detox tea and I'll be reporting back on how it goes. Thank you Suzie!

Merumaya gave us deluxe samples of some of their best sellers including the Cleansing Balm, Skin Brightening Exfoliating Peel and Iconic Youth Serum. Everything they showed us at the meet seemed amazing, so I can't wait to give it a proper trial.

We also had a massive pouch full of deluxe samples of skincare from Face the Future, stuff from Environ, Mesoestetic. Endocare, SkinCeuticals and HelioCare that I'm looking forward to sampling - my skin has never been treated so well!

Yum yum, vanilla honeycomb fudge from The Treat Kitchen. I can't work out why I don't know about this shop as it sounds right up my alley... and a generous voucher from Personal Planner, so I am totally getting myself one!

And I also got a really lovely Secret Santa gift as well. A Cityproof Lip Crayon from NYC in a gorgeous coral red shade called 'Ballroom Blush', a Miss Sporty Kohl Pencil in a lovely dark brown shade and a Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Nail Paint in 'Cardamom'.

I love these nail polishes and I own a few but luckily not this colour, so its a very welcome addition.

Thank you to my very kind and thoughtful Secret Santa, I loved my present!

An absolutely brilliant day and I had so much fun. Thanks to everyone I met and to Emma and Hannah for making such a great event for us all.