3 Tips to get the most out of Bloggers Love Fashion Week

The first Bloggers Love Fashion Week took place in March this year. Now it's back and I've been asked to attend as a VIB, and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this.

For those of you who don't know, Bloggers Love Fashion Week is a 3 day event which takes place in the heart of London's West End - Leicester Square. Packed full of top brands showcasing their latest collection and bloggers from all over the country, it's certainly not one to be missed.

Bloggers Love Fashion Week was pretty much my first ever large scale blogger event. I'd been blogging for 2 months when I attended, and as a newbie to the blogging world it was both petrifying and exciting at the same time.

Like most things, the most important thing to remember about blogger events is, you get out what you put in and if you plan in advance, you can get so much out of it, so I've decided to write out my top 3 tips to make the most out of this 3 day event.

1. It's cool to get there on time!
If you're shy at blogger events, haven't made a blogger date, or wimp out of talking to other people (like me) then try and get to the event bang on time, or better still...early! You'll likely find that less people are there, and if there's just 3 of you in a massive room, you could find yourselves chatting away and making friends naturally, without the added worries of walking into a room full of people you may not know.

2. Set youself a goal of _____  people to talk to each night.
I've recently set myself a target of 2. When I go to events, I aim to meet and talk to 2 new people - per event. Harder than it sounds, but the past few events I've been to, I've surprised myself, got out of my comfort zone and smashed my target!

3. Lights, Camera, Action!
You don't need a fancy camera to be a blogger as you can take some fantastic photos on camera phones these days, however, if you are taking a DSLR or similar to a blogging event, one thing to take into consideration is that the light may not always be on your side. I have a Toplight that I bought for my Canon 600D and it was probably the best £20 I've ever put towards my blog. If you have a choice between a new outfit or a light for the event... screw the clothes and buy a light. I get so much use out of mine, and my value LED light I find works better than the £100+ Calumet Top light I have for pro use in work. You'll be amazed at how much difference good lighting makes to your photographs.

So there you have it. My top 3 tips to help you at BLFW. I hope they're even remotely useful, and I can't wait for next month to roll around for the pre party!

Are you going to Bloggers Love Fashion Week? Let me know in the comments! 

Em xxx

A Backstage Pass to Graduate Fashion Week 2014 - Part #1

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to Graduate Fashion Week by Bourjois who were the official make up Sponsors. I adore catwalk make up, It always manages to look so effortless and flawless, and when offered the chance to go backstage and see the artists prepping the models and designing the looks, like any Beauty Blogger I jumped at the chance. 

As well as being given that sought after backstage pass, I also managed to catch the 'University of East London' Catwalk Show. There were so many beautiful looks on the catwalk, here are two that caught my eye.

Leanne Bell

What I loved about this outfit from Leanne Bell, were the colours and how It spurred me into thinking how I could take inspiration from the outfit and transfer it to an everyday make up look. I'm envisioning Gold foiled eyes, with a hint of pink smoked out and a baby pink lip, I'd pair it with glowing skin and a bright highlight on the cheek.

Krasimira Ivanova-Stoyneva

This coat from Krasimira Ivanova-Stoyneva really stood out to me as a striking use of colour. To transfer this to a make up look, I'd go for a yellow and blue eye teamed with  a bold flick and a bright red lip.

I loved being able to go back stage and watch the make up artists at work. The head make up artist for the show was the amazingly talented Lan Nguyen-Grealis. Her station totally made my jaw drop when I saw all the products she had to play with! 

I arrived at just the right time as I managed to catch Lan demonstrating one of the key looks for a show to one of her team. I adored this gorgeous black smokey eye she created on the models.

The black smokey eye looked gorgeous on the pale skin of the models. I've always been a little fearful of heavy dark eyes with my pale skin but the use of the bronzer to contour and a beautiful highlight stops this look from washing out the skin. Instead of looking sickly, Lan has managed to create something that works perfectly and totally compliments the skin tone. I may just give it a shot and try to recreate it myself!

For the eyes, Lan used:

Bourjois Smokey Effect Eyeliner in Intense - Smokey eyes trio (Gris Party) - Bourjois Little Round Pot: Noir Fusain and Gris.

I absolutely loved my time at Graduate Fashion Week and I managed to pick up a few tips from watching Lan and the other artists work. To top it all off, I also managed to meet two lovely bloggers 

Lorna from Studs and Dreams and  Jade from Fairytalekiss

We had such a giggle at the show and I've a special step by step Get the Look post coming soon that the three of us as a little blogging journo team managed to capture together. So do check back for that soon.

Stay tuned for more exclusive posts from backstage at Graduate Fashion Week. xxx

#BLFW Bloggers Love Fashion Week - My Highlights!

I've been talking about it all week on twitter, but for those of you who don't know...this week I attended Bloggers Fashion Week!

The #BLFW (That's Bloggers Love Fashion Week) took place from the heart of London's West End, at Penthouse, Leicester Square. I couldn't believe so many things were packed into 3 short evenings and I was super excited to attend. Now, i'm not a fashion guru and clothes aren't my forte, so instead of drooling over dresses and shoes, I got excited by some other things I found this week, such as accessories and beauty. Not only did I meet so many great brands, I met so many lovely bloggers too.

Here are my top finds and moments from the past few days! 

Taro Collection Jewellery

Oh my gosh it's so shiny!! Like a little magpie I was totally drawn to this stand. I'm trying to be more adventurous in my jewellery choices and these were really cute! I really like the chunky silver chain necklace.

Rachel Black Millinery

The inner Magpie in me was once again attracted to this gorgeous headpiece. All completely handmade, each hair band can take up to a day to make. I loved this flower hair band, and If I were to attend any races this summer, this would be straight on my head, for sure.

Model It Lashes by Alisha White

I like Alisha, she's a tenacious model who has branched out and started her own lash line. Alisha had some gorgeous lashes in a whole variety of types!

Blog Dates

Can't mention Bloggers Fashion Week without mentioning my Blogger date for Tuesday night! The Lovely Beth from 'The British Girl' I love reading her blog, and thought she seemed like a really cool girl, so I reached out to her and asked her if she'd like to come to Day 2 with me! Glad I did, Beth is lovely and we had non stop bloggy chat all night!

The Parlour

 The Parlour were on hand glitterfying the lovely bloggers in attendance on day 3 of BLFW, I saw so many beautiful eye designs throughout the evening and the two fabulous bloggers below caught my eye!

Headmasters

Headmasters were also in attendance at BLFW. They had set up a mini hair styling bar and you could choose a look from their Blowdry collection before their brilliant stylists Jodie & Ian would get to work on you! I told Ian that I like soft waves and love any hair style with a brushed out curl. I gave him total freedom to style my hair... including the brand new set of Dirty Looks Hair extensions I was wearing (I'll be reviewing these soon!)

I felt like such a Disney Princess with my tumbling blonde curls. I was so impressed with how quickly they styled my hair and gave me a look which was very me! I loved how my hair looks and I know who i'm going to be paying a visit to when I have a special night out to get ready for in the future. 

And of course... a night isn't complete without a selfie in the bathroom!

So those are my top highlights from the 3 nights at #BLFW. I picked up some amazing products which i'm going to be reviewing individually over the next few weeks and feel very lucky to have met some wonderful bloggers including - 

April from Beautiface, Beth from Beauty in Beta, Monica from Moth Loves, Beth from The British Girl, Xeena and the gang from Blogging Gals and many many more. I've an awful memory so I do apologize if i've missed anyone.

 Congratulations to Danielle for all her hard work putting on the event and i'm looking forward to the next!