I am so excited to be writing this blog post! After the resounding success of our #TheCityGirls launch event in April, both Holly and I were really looking forward to bringing what we do to another city. This time, the city we'd chosen was Leeds. Two Yorkshire cities in a row, I know - but give us some time to find our feet and to really get the ball rolling on this thing and I know we have places to venture a bit further afield next, keep your eyes peeled for updates on that!
Ooh I'm a tease, I know.
Anyway, after a mere three hours sleep from the night before - it was time for Holly and I to descend on our venue. Driven into Leeds by my Dad and accompanied by my sister (and in an INCREDIBLY FULL Mitsubishi Outlander) we were really excited to get everything set up. We'd chosen The Liquorist on Greek Street as the setting for our event. We visited last month and knew it had to be our Leeds venue! The interior decor is second to none, and we couldn't have asked for a better backdrop for the event. It meant our bloggers could get a bit snap happy with their beautiful surroundings, as well as the brands and things we'd put on for them.
It was a case of all hands on deck when we'd arrived, and there were countless trips up and down the stairs with boxes upon boxes full of goodies for our bloggers - not forgetting the goodie bags! We had just one hour before the bloggers would be arriving to set everything up, and I'm not sure how many times I walked up and down those stairs, but what I am sure of is that my legs are aching today! #feeltheburn
HA. And I fell over on the stairs and really hurt my knee. Not to worry. I just kept saying that it really is proof that blood, sweat and (happy) tears go into these events!
Once everything was inside it was time for our brands to get set up. We choose a variety of companies to come along to the events to represent themselves, this time we were lucky enough to have The Body Shop, Benefit, Manuka Doctor, Kendelle and Nails by Ivy. As well as our brands, we also had representatives from two PR companies (Exposure Ninja and Good Relations PR) ready and on hand to give advice to our bloggers - and we were lucky enough to be affiliated with Leeds Women's Aid. They were our chosen charity to raise money for with our raffle.
When everything was ready to go; the brands were poised and ready for action, I had my trusty clipboard in hand, we'd had a drink poured (oh, and we'd got changed!) we were ready to let our bloggers up and into the madness we'd laid on for them.
As always, we do a little bit of a welcoming speech. We talk about what got both of us into blogging, and what inspired us to create #TheCityGirls. I always have so much to say in this bit, and could easily wax lyrical about my passion for blogging, and getting bloggers and brands together for hours on end. Luckily for our bloggers I kept it short and sweet, and just thought I'd let them get on with the day instead of me banging on at them!
Image courtesy of Sinead from Dainty Dolly Mix's Instagram
Following on from our welcoming speech, we introduced Suzie from Leeds Women's Aid. With #TheCityGirls, we want to do everything we can to promote charities that are centred around women. At our last event we worked with City Hearts, a fabulous charity focused on integrating trafficking victims back into society. Leeds Women's Aid is a charity with a very similar focus - it's all about helping women and children. Victims of domestic abuse, victims of trafficking, victims of crime, basically women who need help getting themselves back to their "normal" lives.
The speech Suzie gave was so rousing and thought-provoking, it certainly hit home a message for our bloggers, and brought out our feminist attitudes (YES TO THIS). We really want to raise awareness for charities such as Leeds Women's Aid, and really help them to make a difference in the world. We highlighted the importance of raising money, and talked about some of the fabulous raffle prizes we had to offer the bloggers (a little more on that later!)
Lizi has published this blog post about the incredible work that Leeds Women's Aid do and what it entails. I urge you to read this and to find out a little bit more background on the importance of this charity. It's so important that we educate ourselves about the issues this charity and many like it are faced with on a day-to-day basis.
When we'd done with all of the formalities of the day, it was time for our bloggers to explore the brands we'd put on for them! This is always a fantastic experience; just sitting back and watching the bloggers interact with various brands and finding out about new products is always so much fun. And I also got to talk to all of the bloggers I'd been so looking forward to meeting!
How amazing is our banner by the way? Courtesy of StressFreePrint.co.uk
Running around on the day, was my sister Kirst. After the last event both Holly and I realised we didn't get many photos of the day (due to being, as always, a part of the day) so this time I enlisted the help of my seester. I draped both mine and Holly's cameras around her neck and sent her off taking snaps. I want to take a very quick moment to thank her from the bottom of my heart. She took some fabulous photos (most of which are included in this post!) and I'm glad she was an honorary City Girl for the day with me!
Also, to everybody asking her if she had Twitter, or Instagram, or even a blog of her own... Nope she doesn't I'm afraid! She should do though, she'd really be excellent at it! I've tried to get her to do her own vlog for ages, she would be so bloody good!
It was then time for me to grab one of the cocktails from The Liquorist's fairly extensive cocktail list. On my last visit I was driving so familiarised myself with their non-alcoholic options. This time, however, I could sample their delicacies! I opted for a Passion Fruit Mojito and Kirst chose an Apple Vodka Mojito. Both were pretty delicious - and mine was so strong! ...But beautifully so. Love me a good mojito!
The drinks at The Liquorist are so good. If you're a Leeds local and you haven't yet been down then I urge you to do so. They also have a fabulous food menu which Holly and I sampled on our previous visit. I honestly cannot recommend them enough.
Time to begin exploring the brands! We had the very lovely Mel from Benefit (you may remember her from our Sheffield event) on hand to jazz up some of our bloggers' make-up, by showing off the new They're Real colour range! Seeing some of the bloggers coming away from their little MUA treatment with beautifully styled (and coloured) lashes was amazing, I'd have never thought of using a coloured mascara before, but some of the looks really were beautiful.
Here's the lovely Lizi taking a look at her new look lashes...
As well as the They're Real mascara range, Mel had also brought along some samples of the Porefessional: License to Blot sticks for the bloggers to take away with them. I always love seeing the bloggers having such a laugh with the brands... And love this photo of Kat having a giggle with Mel! Which also reminds me, I must ask Kat where that dress was from - looks like such a summer staple! *note to self*
Having Benefit at our event is always such a pleasure. Their make-up items are consistently good, with beautiful packaging, and I am a forever loyal customer. I love how knowledgeable Mel is about her brand, and I loved having a group of bloggers around us on the day so passionate about their beauty bits and bobs. Benefit was a definite hit!
We also had the very lovely Nails by Ivy on hand to jazz up our bloggers' hands with some gorgeous nail designs. This was a bit of a different brand for us to have on board with us, and I loved having a nails expert around to glam everything up for the bloggers! I unfortunately didn't get mine seen to, but as I am still growing them I figured I would wait for mine to grow a little more before getting them dolled up.
We were even lucky enough to have some specially designed nail art options for the bloggers on the day. How cute is this?!? All fitting in with our purple branding and I love that some of our bloggers will be going around with #TheCityGirls nails for a few days now! Reppin' the brand ladies, we love you for it!
These beauties belong to Lauren from By Lauren Jane, how gorgeous?!
Photo stolen from Lauren's Twitter
It was so great to see the bloggers flashing their new looks around the venue, and I was so amazed by how many of them managed to get their nails done! Super fast manicures, and all looking rather swish too. It was lovely having a teeny, tiny little salon in our venue, and something I definitely want to look into doing again.
So once our bloggers had their make-up topped up by Benefit, and their nails seen to by Nails by Ivy - they could also go and chat to Ben from Manuka Doctor about their amazing products. We featured some Manuka Doctor sample products in the goodie bags from the last event, and they had such a good response that we really wanted to have them on board a second time!
On the day, Ben had a full size Lip Enhancer product to distribute to the bloggers, as well as information packs about their other product lines and offers. The amazing thing about Manuka Doctor products is that they're all made with such natural ingredients, and the variety of the ranges is huge! I'm going to review the Lip Enhancer in full on my blog in the coming weeks, so you'll get to know all about it then.
We also had the very lovely Chloe from Kendelle present. We wanted a Leeds based clothing boutique to come along and show off their wares, and when we found Kendelle online we knew that's who we wanted! Chloe brought along a rail of their gorgeous clothes, and also some 20% off vouchers for our bloggers to keep in their goodie bags.
I definitely fell a little bit in love with their white palazzo trousers! I've got such a thing for floaty wide leg trousers recently, I think it's because they look so summery yet still manage to cover you up! Perfect for a summer evening night out. After scrolling through their website I have fallen in love with these stripy palazzo pants! Maybe a treat for me when I get down to my target weight! Not sure I could fit my big bum in them at the minute, ha!
On top of all of this, we had The Body Shop with us for the afternoon. They brought a load of their new product ranges along with them, and some samples for our bloggers to try out as well.
Having representatives from The Body Shop on hand to talk about their products was such a big thing for us. I always love nipping into The Body Shop when I'm out and about shopping and picking up old favourites and I cannot resist trying out their new bits and pieces. Many of my go-to skincare products are from The Body Shop, and I especially love their teatree range. We had lots of bloggers wandering around sniffing their hands when they were finished at that particular table, all of their products are just so good!
Once everybody had had a nosy and had a chat with all of the brands, it was great to see Twitter and Instagram exploding with #thecitygirls hashtag. Not even halfway into the event I'd checked Twitter not only to find hundreds of notifications on both my personal and #TheCityGirls account - but also to find we were trending! Again! I couldn't believe it, and I think I made it very obvious when I let out a huge scream - much to the surprise of those around me - to see we were trending up alongside the likes of Wimbledon! FABULOUS.
This is how you can tell it was a party of bloggers:
Technology, technology everywhere...
I promise, we did actually socialise and talk to each other, it wasn't just a tweeting and Instagramming fest! In fact, I was so happy with the guestlist we'd put together and the bloggers that came all got along so well. That's what's so special about the blogging community, it's so friendly - you get along with everybody, and there's always a conversation to strike up! I met some truly beautiful people yesterday, inside and out, and I love that we have built up this little platform for people to meet up with each other and network. It give me the warm fuzzies. Truly.
As well as the brands we had there on the day, we also had plenty of treats around the room for our bloggers to collect. We put little signs out and the bloggers could pick up one of each bit - and here we had really spoilt them rotten!
Matching with our Sheffield event once more, we had Voss Water on board with us again. Voss are a truly fabulous company, and their social media game is solid. It's so impressive.
Not only did we have one bottle of Voss per blogger, but they'd also sent us out some adorably cute USB sticks and some recipe cards for their infused waters. I'll show them fully when I do my goodie bag post - watch this space! Voss water just looks so bloody impressive when it's all lined up like that. How beautiful are those bottles?!
Lots of other bits and pieces were dotted around the room for the bloggers to "collect" throughout the course of the day. These included:
Some goodie boxes from DermaV10, one box per blogger - filled with lots of goodies which will be detailed in my goodie bag blog post!
As well as some "just for us" Angelica Nail polishes in the most gorgeous bright red colour - perfect for summer, and they'd even given us a little #TheCityGirls sticker - talk about pushing the brand for us!
We also had a selection of The Can't Sleep Colouring Books from Michael O'Mara Books. We do love us an adult colouring book, they're the perfect stress reliever and I cannot wait to get my pencils out and crack on with this one!!
We had a couple of different flavours of Virtue Ice Tea dotted around for the bloggers. This tea is so good and I am really glad I got to pick some up this time as I forgot at our last event and didn't get to try some! I've had mine today whilst I've been writing this blog post, perfectly refreshing - perfect for summer!
Ohhhh and we also had cakes! We allllll love a good cake! Did we make these ourselves this time? ...urm, sorry, nope. I think my sister was telling everybody she'd made them. Urm once again, nope. Yes alright we bought them in - but they were so good, and had so much scrummy icing on top. Way better than ones I could have made!
I think Siobhan and I enjoyed them anyway. Oops... Shh don't tell anybody...
On top of all of this we also had a table full of little bits and pieces - including some of the Together Health vitamins - a whole selection of different ones to choose from. We put these out on the tables as we thought the bloggers could decide what kind of supplements they'd like, and then they'd choose one most suited for them! Also on that table we had some little pouches of Urban Fruit, and even more treats from DermaV10!
And last but by no means least, we had the beautifully smelling (and presented!) Twig & Dot candles. I do love a good candle - and these smell gorgeous! Twig & Dot also contributed three larger candles towards our raffle as well - which I'm just about to move on to!
It was so lovely seeing the bloggers speaking to Suzie throughout the day and signing themselves up for the raffle. Hearing Suzie's passion for the charity made everybody realise how much this charity needs awareness, and I am so glad we now get the opportunity to promote their charity both through the event, and also from the blog posts and tweets of all of our bloggers. The power of the Internet, hey?
Just before we drew the tickets, Suzie announced that we had raised a whopping £240! This is being matched by Aviva meaning that we're donating together the sum of £480 to Leeds Women's Aid. A HUGE thank you is due to our beautiful bloggers for their donations, and we know that the money is going to a wonderful cause. So thank you!!
Time to see what prizes were on offer...
We had a handbag from Little Moose, a hair accessory from Beauxoxo, some candles from Twig & Dot, a selection of hair masks from Manuka Doctor, some gorgeous little paper cuts from Very Vanderberry, a large hamper of teeth whitening goodies from Blanx, some de-tangling brush sets from Tangle Angel, a hamper of Urban Fruit, free entry and queue jump passes for Lightwater Valley, Afternoon Tea for two at the Doubletree Hilton in Leeds, a large bucket full of beauty items from MooGoo and Dusty Girls, a body butter and some samples from The Body Shop, a £50 voucher to spend with Kendelle, a bottle of Chai syrup from Henny & Joe's, an amazing prize of a lingerie and swimwear set from Panache, some Mason jars, perfumes and make-up palette sourced by Holly, and a huge make-up bag full of beauty goodies from Benefit!
...and breathe! Apologies for the huge list there, just wanted to make sure everybody got a mention! Our most successful raffler (if that's even a word) was the very lovely Jess! Proving of course that you do need to be "in it to win it" as I do believe she had bought five strips - contributing £25 to Leeds Women's Aid in the process. You go girl, I hope you really enjoy all of those prizes!
Following the raffle there was time for some last minute mingling and talking to the brands, I made sure everybody had picked up one of everything they needed (everybody was a bit laden down with goodies at this point!) Definite note for next time - give everybody some carrier bags otherwise they cannot carry everything we give them! Duh!
When the event was wrapping up, and we were in the middle of handing out our goodie bags to the lovely bloggers - it was time to enjoy a drink (bought for me by the beautiful Bee!) and there was a rather special delivery!
What's better than a blog event full of beautiful bloggers, successful brands, and treats galore? Well, a blog event full of beautiful bloggers, successful brands, treats galore AND BROWNIES.
We had a very special delivery from my favourite brownie spot in all the land; it's Brown & Blond of course! This company, I have followed and loved for years. Properly, years! I love their brownies, and whenever I see them at a food festival or at Kilnsey Show, I make sure to stock up and dig in... And our bloggers did the same!
A genuine quote from Kellie (pictured above): "If you have ever wanted to marry a brownie or have sexual relations with one, the Brown & Blond ones are sex in a box."
I mean really. Need I say more?
As the event was wrapping up, it was time to give out our much coveted goodie bags. The bags themselves are courtesy of Awesome Merchandise, whom I have ordered from several times in the past, and every single time they have been, well, awesome! This time the contents of the bags are all a bit varied, and have a mixture of products in them. Last time they were all identical and we figured we'd stick some different bits in them this time around.
We loved giving out the bags to all of the bloggers there yesterday, and it was so lovely to see everybody so happy with what they found in them! I cannot wait to see some of the blog posts coming through now, and to really get a feel for everybody's favourites.
Last thing to do was to award our "most social" blogger with their prize! We told the bloggers that on the run up to, and during the event we would be keeping an eye on our #thecitygirls hashtag and that there would be a prize awarded to the most present and memorable blogger. This was so hard to choose, but in the end went to Bee from QueenBeady, whose blog I have been reading for ages now - and I've been chatting to her for SO long online and I am so glad we finally got to meet. Oh, and I made her my wife. Think of that what you will.
As we said goodbye to our beautiful bloggers and thanked them all for coming, I once again got that overwhelmed feeling I experienced at the Sheffield event. It's so satisfying seeing all of mine and Holly's hard work paying off and seeing people really enjoying themselves because of the work we have put into something. It's such a lovely feeling!
I have absolutely loved sitting and watching the Twitter and Instagram updates come rolling in, and seeing our bloggers interacting not only with each other online but with our brands as well! The hashtag was such a lovely community last night, and made for some big time "feels" going on in my heart! I had a wonderful happy feeling in me last night that still hasn't been extinguished and it's all down to our lovely little blogging community we make for ourselves!
I promise this blog post is very nearly over. The last thing I need to do is to say some little thank yous to everybody who has helped to make the event what it was yesterday.
Thank you to our beautiful venue; The Liquorist was amazing - the staff were so attentive and so helpful before, during and after the event and I will never be able to thank them enough! Thank you to our amazing brands who came along on the day and spoke to our bloggers. Thank you to every single company who has contributed to the event in some way - our gorgeous decorations from Eden Celebrations, our banner from StressFreePrint.co.uk, and to Awesome Merchandise for supplying the bags!
Thank you to my poor Dad who had to drive us all to Leeds with a car filled to the roof with stuff. Thank you to my beautiful sister Kirst who not only took most of these gorgeous photos, but also mingled with the bloggers and really did herself proud on the day. She was also made to feel like a minor celeb by our bloggers who all recognise her from my blog - ha! And last but not least; thank you to Holly because without our crazy brainstorming late night phone calls, FaceTimes, tweets, iMessages and long confusing emails we wouldn't have been able to do all that we did!
For news of future events, keep an eye on #TheCityGirls on Twitter. To see snaps and updates of past events, and some sneak previews of what we might have planned next, follow us on Instagram too. We may have given a few hints away yesterday about our next event, and I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to cracking on for the third time, and taking #TheCityGirls somewhere else. Just keep watching this space.