bloomzy /

Event: Make Your Own Pizza @ Pizza Express

Make Your Own Pizza Blogger Event, at Pizza Express

Last week Pizza Express were very brave and allowed 20-odd bloggers to make their own pizza.
I don’t think any of us had any clue where to begin, even so what we lacked in knowledge we made up for in enthusiasm. 
The special event was to mark the arrival of their new Summer menu, which is released today!
The Summer menu features some amazingly light and healthy options, as well as their classics.
This includes a Leggera pizza for less than 500 calories, and a salad for less than 300 calories!
Whether you’re watching what you eat or not, you have to admit that’s impressive.
We arrived and were seated with a drink from the bar and a menu to peruse.
I chatted with some of the other bloggers and nibbled on some sea salt almonds.
Everyone was very friendly and pretty eager to get down to the pizza making.
So we donned our hats & aprons and were shown step-by-step how to make our own Leggera pizza.
After shaping the dough and adding sauce, we were let lose to choose our toppings.
I choose a veggie friendly cheese, tomato and pesto selection.
About 20mins after being sent to the ovens, it was the moment of truth!
My pizza was delicious, if I do say so myself, and it also managed to fill me up.
Now as for the salad, I’m not a big salad fan, so when the new Leggera salad was put in front of me I was shockingly surprised. As well as lettuce it includes mozzarella, beetroot, butternut squash, cucumber and avocado. This salad isn’t just a few lettuce leaves and some dressing, it’s a masterpiece! Ok ok, so I didn’t eat the leaves but I demolished half a plate of the other stuff. I think Pizza Express has done really well in choosing these for their Summer menu – they’re light, healthy and won’t make you feel guilty. I also loved the addition of gluten-free bases/items to the menu, as it’s something I personally look for.
Will I be visiting Pizza Express this Summer? You bet! 
I’m trying to eat healthier lately so this will be a treat that I won’t feel bad about.
bloomzy /

Event: Ax Paris Circus

AX Circus Event held by Ax Paris
Every now and then an event makes a mark on the blogging community.
Last week’s Ax Paris Circus event was one of these events.
I received my invite just before I went away on holiday to France.
Very clever marketing indeed – it meant I had about 2-3 weeks to get excited.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but the buzz in the blogging community kept everyone talking.
I knew it was held at Covent Garden’s Circus so it would be featuring acts of a similar nature.
I’m not really a fan of circus-y acts so I wasn’t too excited but I have to say that it won me over.
The performances were energetic, and I loved the gorgeous lady who wowed us all with her fire eating.
It was the guy who managed to swing round on a hoop at about 100mph that impressed me the most though.
There was an open bar and the yummy cocktails seemed to be endless.
I only drank 1, but I appreciated the lovely hostesses who kept offering me more.
The canapés are also worth a mention as they were very different and extremely yummy.
I didn’t eat or drink much as I was still a little under the weather, but the quality was not lost on me.
Overall I had an amazing night, but the real highlight was meeting so many lovely bloggers!
It really brought every one together, and it was so nice being able to mingle & chat.
Thank you Etail & Ax Paris!
bloomzy /

Event: Benefit Fake Up

Benefit Event to promote their new concealer ‘Fake Up’

Last week I attended the final stop in the Benefit ‘Fake Up’ tour; London.
A bunch of bloggers joined together to learn all about the latest addition to the Benefit family.
I’m not going to say too much about ‘Fake Up’ as I have a review coming up on the blog this week.
The one thing I will tell you about it though, is that Fake Up is a new hydrated concealer that comes in 3 shades.
The event was held in the adorable Spitalfields store.
In attendance were the lovely PR and social media ladies and their head of make-up.
I thought it was lovely being able to meet the people I had been in contact with via email.
And of course it was wonderful to meet their head make-up, trend artist and brow artist – Lisa, who was amazing.
There were also demonstrations of the product, like how to get the best out of the concealer, and how to use the darker shades for contouring. Finally there was the chance to win various prizes throughout the night, and yours truly won my favourite mascara for answering the first question of the night!
I should also give a cheeky mention to the goodie bag, as I do feel that we were spoilt rotten.
We received a bag filled with one of each shade of Fake Up, so 3 in all, as well as the Hello Flawless compact (to celebrate it’s 1 year anniversary), which we were matched to at the event. I plan to review every product so keep an eye out!

Finally, I met some wonderful bloggers, so a big shout-out too all those lovely ladies!
Fake Up is officially launched in UK stores on 30th March.
bloomzy /

Event: Tie-Dye Workshop @ Boxpark

Tie-dye workshop at Boxpark, held by Monkee Genes, sponsored by Rekorderlig 

Last weekend myself and a friend were invited to a tie-dye workshop sponsored by Rekorderlig.
You all know I’m a big fan of the fruit cider, so I was excited to hear about them sponsoring an ethical clothing brand called Monkee Genes. I knew a little about the brand as their jeans are sold in Topshop, but I was very interested to hear more about a brand that made organic clothing (yes, that is a thing) and cared about the people that make their items.
Tie-dye is popping up all over the place again this season, so of course I wanted to tie-dye some creations of my own. 

My tie-dye creations – a pair of Monkee Genes, and a pair of socks*

The event was in association with an amazing group called Neon Stash.
Our lovely tutor for the afternoon was so energetic and chatty that she really made the event!
Everyone was given a t-shirt to tie-dye, and I was also given some jeans (by Monkee Genes) and some socks.
I was ready to tie-dye! I wanted to go for something subtle that I knew would fit my personal style easily.
I choose pink and purple for my jeans – I used the ye’old crumple tie-dye effect – and dip-dyed some socks yellow.
I didn’t want to post a full-on photo of the jeans as I want to reveal them in an OOTD post.
That is, as soon as I get them altered, as they’re about a foot longer than my legs right now.
I had a brilliant time and so did my friend.
I’d like to thank everyone at Monkee Genes, Neon Stash and Rekorderlig!
You brought me back to the days of my childhood when tie-dye ran supreme.

What do you all think of my tie-dye creations?
bloomzy /

Event: Birchbox Champagne Afternoon Tea

Birchbox – Joliebox Champagne Afternoon Tea event

As soon as my plus-one and I walked through the doors we were giddy. I’d invited her to the Birchbox event as we both share a love for champagne and afternoon tea. It was held at The Soho Hotel, which is fashionably fancy, as is the drawing room which we were directed to. The tables were lined with cakes, sandwiches, biscuits and scones – with jam and cream, of course!

We arrived early and were greeted by the lovely team behind Birchbox and Joliebox. We were shown samples of October’s Joliebox, whilst waiters offered us salmon sandwiches and champagne. I loved the effort that the team went towards to greet and have a proper talk with everyone, not just a 5min chat. I knew quite a bit about Joliebox but I was really interested in finding out more about Birchbox, an American monthly beauty sample box company which are now moving into the European market, hence the event.

We even got to meet Katia Beauchamp, one of Birchbox’s co-founders – an incredibly funny, intelligent and gorgeous lady – definitely a power woman if I did ever meet one. I thought having some of the American team there was a really great edition to the event and showed just how passionate they are about making it here in Europe. Although I won’t lie, the highlight of the event were the ornately decorated (and incredibly yummy) biscuits! I think we can all expect big things from Birchbox once it’s launched in the UK – I can’t wait!

Birchbox UK will be launching in January 2013.
Joliebox will now be merging with Birchbox and becoming Birchbox UK.

bloomzy /

Event: Avène & Klorane Bloggers Breakfast

Avène and Klorane Bloggers Breakfast

When I was invited to the Avène and Klorane Bloggers Breakfast I was so excited. I fell in love with Klorane’s dry shampoo earlier this year, and I am a big fan of pretty much all of Avène’s products. The breakfast was held at the gorgeous Delaunay Grand European Cafe Restaurant, in Aldwych – by Covent Garden. The breakfast itself was delicious and there were plenty of yummy treats to choose between, although the mini-pastries were my favourite – I think Sascha of Beauty Geek UK agreed with me on that too. However, the stars of the show were of course, the array of products by Klorane and Avène.

I was introduced to Klorane’s shampoo and conditioners, as well as being given some advice on which product would be best suited for my hair/needs. For me it was Pomegranate (for coloured hair). Also on show were 3 shampoos that will be released early next year into John Lewis stores – more on that at a later date. If you haven’t come across Klorane’s shampoo & conditioners before, they have them for every kind of hair type, and they all smell gorgeous!

I like to think I know my Avène products, just because I’m such a fan…and because I’ve bought so many. I was wrong though, which was actually a nice surprise as I was introduced to some new products I didn’t know about. In particular the Antirougeurs range caught my eye as it offers a variety of products to help combat skin redness. I hadn’t heard of the range, or seen it in any French pharmacies so I was very interested in finding out more. I’m hoping I can get my hands on some soon to review for you all!

You can find my previous posts on Klorane here, and Avène here.

bloomzy /

Photo Diary: Tatty Devine Sugar Skull Workshop


Tatty Devine Sugar Skull Workshop, Brick Lane
Last weekend a very good friend came down to visit me in my new pad.
We’d already made plans to visit the Rekorderlig event on the Friday, but we also needed to fill up our Saturday.
It so happens that I follow Tatty Devine on Twitter (big fan, as you know) and they mentioned a workshop they were holding to make and design your own Sugar Skull necklace, much like the ones they had on sale this Summer. You probably remember how much I wanted one of their Sugar Skull necklaces, but actually I didn’t end up buying one as I was too busy saving for the big move to London. So this was the perfect opportunity for me to make my very own unique Tatty Devine necklace! After some persuasion from my friend – he wanted to make one too – we decided to go.
The workshop itself is quite small so the event only had around 11 people (2 being TD staff members).
My friend was the only guy there, but the ladies loved him, and we all had a lovely time. Everyone was super chatty and very friendly – I think the atmosphere in Tatty Devine helped, it was very welcoming and laid back. We got to play with spray paints, stencils, crystals and a whole manner of shiny & sparkly objects. Everyone’s design was completely unique and it was fun comparing them along the way. Some went for shockingly pink, Barbie inspired skulls, others went for ALL the bling, while I finally decided on a dark gothic inspired sugar skull – it was that or purple.
My final design is the one on the left and the one on the right is my friend’s.
I had a brilliant time and met some lovely people. The TD staff were wonderful – funny, helpful and kind.
If you get the chance to attend one of their workshops please do! The experience alone is worth the money.
Spaces sell out very quickly though so keep an eye out (here) and book as soon as you can!