After what felt like weeks of build up – getting ourselves all excited on twitter – yesterday I jumped on a train to Birmingham to the FABB Birmingham event! I had seen some write up about the events which had already taken place in Liverpool and Manchester so I was very excited to head off to Birmingham! Even more exciting I arranged to meet up with the lovely Sarah [Link] and Naomi [link] who I met at the event I went to in May in Birmingham!

To be honest once I got there I was very glad that I had arranged to meet up with the girls. Especially since Naomi knew exactly where she was going! My sense of direction if I have not been somewhere is awful (thank god for google maps and smart phones).

The event was held in the Custard Factory which isn’t somewhere I had seen or heard of before but was an awesome area just south of the hustle and bustle of the Bull Ring.

The building itself that we were in was a very cool café come bar called Alfie Birds. Hosting 4 floors we made our way upstairs to where the event was being held – of course after we had picked up our awesome free goodie bag.

How fantastic is this goodie bag! Inside there was a mini Benefit they are real mascara, a full sized batiste dry shampoo, some fake tan and a little travel mitt, some N spa perfect blur primer, hello breath spray, dermalogica exfoliator as well as lots of other little goodies!

There were lots of different brands at the event. Some beauty, some fashion. It was lovely to chat to some of the brands that were there – there was a mixture of brands that I had heard of like Me Me Me and other ones that I was new to but that sounded amazing! It was lovely to get the opportunity to chat to the owners of the smaller brands and listen to their background and ethos! Often as beauty bloggers we try out so many different products but you don’t get the opportunity to sit and chat with the makers of those products!

I particularly loved chatting with the owners of the brands – Bee Good, Bodhi and Birch and Anovia who all have an ethos of using natural products.

We also got the opportunity to chat to Tom Pellereau who was on the apprentice a couple of years ago with his product the Style File. What was really lovely is not only did he take the time to explain the products he had to us, he also was interested in hearing what products we would love to see in the future and took a genuine interest in hearing our ideas!

Look at all the fantastic products I came away with! Lots of amazing freebies! Me me me certainly gave a good haul of stuff away! Keep your peepers peeled over the next month or so as you know I shall be testing these out to the max!!! Overall I had a fab day - it was lovely to meet some new bloggers and catch up with some Id met before! I shall definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for future FABB events!!!

You may remember back in February when I hot footed off on the train to Nottingham for my first ever blogger meet up organised by the lovely Kelly and Emma - You can read all about it here. 

When I found out the girls had decided to organise another event, this time in Birmingham I was straight there putting my name on the list.

The girls chose the fantastic venue of Cherry Reds tucked away just around the corner from both the New Street Station and the Mail Box. This time we took up one of the venues function rooms on the first floor which was fab as I felt like you could really sit and chat to people without the worry of other people noseying in (what is it about a group of people getting together that makes people do that?? Although hands up I am the same!) The venue itself was lovely. Not the sort of place you would normally stumble on, on a trip to Birmingham because its tucked away from the main shopping are but still close enough to go to.

We had 2 talks lined up for us. Jo from Weleda came and spoke to use about the company, their products and we got to have a play, smell and try of their products. There were defiantly a couple of products which caught my attention. What I liked about Weleda is the brand focuses on the green aspect of beauty and is one of the largest companies to focus on all things natural, organic, eco-friendly and fair trade. We were given a goody bag including a couple of samples of their products to try.

After we had all had a drink, chat and food, the lovely Suzie from Xenca told us all about her brand. Now I will hold my hands up and admit that before the event Xenca is not a brand I have heard of. I will admit that I am one of these beauty people who knows what they like and likes to use brands that have been around forever. I think I would like to start being more adventurous and start using new brands. Suzie told us in comparison to Weleda which is similar in its ethics, Xenca has only been around for a few years. As we listened to Suzie’s talk it was certainly a brand which caught my attention. Xenca has a wide range of products available including skincare, beauty and also their range of “healthcare” products. Suzie again let us play with all of the products and let us try some of the health products including the cologen powders designed to replenish the cologen your body naturally loses as you get older and the 5 day + powder which contains the equivalent of your 5 fruit and veg a day. At the end of her talk offered us the chance to have either a free lipstick or eye shadow. After swatching all like mad I chose the eye shadow in the shade cappuccino which I thought would be perfect for work! (You can see it in the below picture in the top left) 

Overall the event was a fantastic well organised (again) day! It was so lovely to meet some of the bloggers who had been at the last event as well as some new bloggers! I really can't tell you how nice it is to sit and talk to like minded people! We couldn't resist a cheeky snap of us all at the end of the day (minus leah who had to go to get her train) - I'll leave links for all the girls below so make sure you go and check them all out!!! 

Left to right: 

Emma: Frugally Peachy

Caroline: Putting your life in order 

Sarah: Seriously Shallow

Kerry: Kerry Just Beauty

Kelly: To Become Mum

Laura: Life and Lipstick

Naomi: Style Face Beauty

The lovely Suzie is on the end from Xenca and heres a link to Leah (Peaches and Smoke)who isn't in the picture. 

Hopefully it won't be too long before the girls decide they will organise another one :)