Intu Metrocentre Fashion Live Spring / Summer 2017 VIP Event*

As an established blogger I'm lucky to get invited to the occasional blog event, I've worked hard to establish my blog over the years but even now invites and samples aren't something that I take for granted and I really do appreciate how lucky and how privileged I am.

When I first started blogging over 10 years ago, blogger events were few and far between, and up in the wilds of northern England, they were almost non existent. Thankfully over the years things have changed, and brands, companies and even individuals are now recognising the power of the blog and the influence and the power of real people.

Nowhere in the north east has embraced the power of the blogger more than Intu Metrocentre. and this week I was lucky enough to attend a VIP preview of this weekends, Spring / Summer 2017 Fashion Live Event.

All of the previous Fashion Live events have been themed and this one was no different, think tropical beach bar, come kitsch heaven and you're probably thinking along the right line. With contributions from various retailers including Wilko, and Primark, the team had created a truly tropical, and exotic setting, with light up palm trees, ball pools, pineapples, deckchairs, and flamingos! A lot of bloggers I know are slightly obsessed with Flamingos and at this event they were in their element. There were literally flamingos everywhere from the inflatable pool float, to the string lights, to the napkins, and even the pick n mix bags.

This season Intu Metrocentre have made a return to the traditional catwalk styles shows for their Fashion Live events and as much as I've really enjoyed their other events I really do enjoy the buzz that I get from witnessing a proper fashion show. Shooting a proper catwalk show though is hard especially when your camera skills, like me are shall we say, lacking something so we all had the opportunity to give ourselves a pre show energy boost, with some food and drinks. Everything had a slightly exotic feel with fruit kebabs, doughnuts made to look like pineapples, mini cupcakes, and a range of chilli bowls from the fabulous team at Barburrito. Drinks were on hand courtesy of TGI Fridays and we choose from some mini milkshakes, some mocktails and a cocktail or two. I was trying to be good and I only had a couple of fruit kebabs, so I couldn't resist trying one of TGI's signature cocktails, the Apple Passion - a mixture of blue curacao, passion fruit and apple juices, and black vodka, and I also had a mini Birthday Cake Shake which was incredible. Forget about the food I'm going to TGI Fridays to drink cocktails and shakes - they really were that good!

At 7pm at was time to take our place on the FROW and wait for the show to start. We were welcomed by our host for the evening, the lovely @Ladyannafoster from BBC Radio Newcastle, clad in Top Shop and New Look and whose hair had been freshly styled by SHOW Beauty in House Of Fraser, then it was cameras at the ready and the show began.

The fashion show showcased a wide variety of Spring and Summer looks, from stores throughout the centre including Top Shop, Burton, Karen Millen, Accessorize, New Look, Cath Kidston, Primark, Tessuti, Miss Selfridge, House Of Fraser and Coast. On show was everything from swimwear, to beach wear, and occasion wear. There were so many beautiful things on show, covering all of the major trends from prints and florals, to stripes, lace and colour blocking.

Top Shop 

Karen Millen

New Look Men

Cath Kidston

Tessuti

Miss Selfridge

Coast

As you can see there were some fabulous pieces on display, I literally fell in love with everything from Coast, and Karen Millen, I just wish I had a wedding or a special occasion to attend this summer. I also loved the prints at Cath Kidston and the navy blue jumpsuit at Karen Millen. There really was something for everyone and all occasions. 

So if you're up in the North East and you fancy your own FROW experience, then pop down to Intu Metrocentre this weekend, and head to Town Square. There will be four shows a day both tomorrow and on Sunday, so brave the bank holiday shoppers and pop in for a bit of fashion inspiration. You can find out more information and show times on the Intu Metrocentre website. If you are popping in this weekend don't forget to pick up one of the leaflets that are at the customer service points and dotted around the centre to grab yourself some bank holiday weekend discounts. This season Intu Metrocentre have also teamed with a fabulous North East based charity St Oswalds Hospice, so if you want to make some room in your wardrobe for all the new things that you want to buy then you can pick up a donation bag at all of the customer services desks. You can find out all about the fabulous work that St Oswalds do, and find your local branch via their website.

I just want to say thank you again to everyone at Intu Metrocentre for the opportunity to flamingle and for hosting such an amazing event, and I also want to think all of the companies and brands that contributed to the amazing show bags, that included amongst lots of other lovely things, a shampoo and conditioner from SHOW Beauty, beauty samples from Murad, L'Occitane and Urban Decay, a shoe care kit from Ecco, sweeties, candles from Primark and Skandinavisk and an amazing fabric Intu Flamingo bag x 

Is your wardrobe Spring and Summer ready yet? Has this post given you any ideas? Let me know in the comments x 

*Press / Blogger Event

Thursdays Shopping Spree Unsurprisingly Picture Heavy

Hey my loves as you probably already know from my Goods and Bads post and my tweets - on Thursday I went shopping to the Metro Centre with my Godmother. We usually have at least 4 shopping trips a year usually falling around Christmas and Birthdays and so on. The purpose of this trip was of course to buy Moi at birthday pressie - my Godparents don't really like to give money and they would rather give me something I want so away we went. My Godmothers friend accompanied us for at least part of the trip but we still managed to get a few things towards my birthday gift - no pictures yet as she's taken the goodies home to wrap up so I have something to open on the day :) I did however unsurprisingly purchase a few bits for myself :)
 
First up Primark - I didn't really look at the clothes to carefully if I'm being honest instead I looked at accessories - First up this super cute polka dot rose hairband .It reminded me a bit of Miriam Clegg's fascinator - yes I know I slated her but at least she got her self noticed :) and she had the guts to go her own way x

It's basically just a thin black satin hairband, with layers of spotty chiffon and lace formed into a rose and better still it was only £2. Next up some more hair accessories - I'm not going to say too much about these - strange as it is they are getting a post in their own right - 30 black hair bobbles for only £1 :)

My only Primark jewellery purchase this visit was this huge ring. Again a typical LouLou purchase yes daisies - two huge lilac toned crystal daisies :) at only £2.50

I also got a few Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock nightwear and underwear purchases which I'm not going to show you, and I also picked up this nail polish - I have never tried a Primark polish before but this one supposedly glows under UV light

It's the Glo Baby Glo UV Reactive Nail Polish in the shade Beige Brilliance. It looks really nice in the bottle a sort of peach/copper toned shimmery beige and it was worth a shot for £2.00

Next up more jewellery bits this time from Peacocks - first up these dangly drop Daisy earrings which were £3.00

and this ring which again features yes, daisies, in coral, orange, yellow and white - this was £4.00

Next up a few beauty purchases first up the Impulse / Barry M offer - there is currently an offer in Boots which I believe will spread to Tesco and Superdrug this week or next where you can buy one of three selected cans of Impulse body spray and with it you get a Limited Edition Barry M Lipgloss Wand for just £3, instead of a retail price of more than £6

I picked 2 of the sprays Very Pink, and Tease

It's no surprise that Very Pink comes with a pale pink lipgloss that has a yummy fruit scent, and my personal favourite Tease, comes with a sheer nude gloss, that has a toffee type taste. The fragrance that I didn't get was Into Glamour which comes with a clear gloss. I've done a couple of swatches for you - the pink is obviously on the left and the sheer nude is on the right

I also picked up a couple of nail polishes - first up this one which I saw on the lovely Makeup Savvy's blog in her April Favourites list -a bit like the possibly discontinued GOSH Rainbow, Maybelline Express Finish Diamonds in Flash Cosmic

My pictures here really aren't doing this justice, it's so much more blingy in real life - with almost as Fee says opal sparkles

I've done a few pics showing it used as a top coat but again it's so much better irl -on the left a not so interesting beige / nude Essie - Cafe Forgot, and on the right a different nail but the same colour with Cosmic Flash over the top

I also got the new Barry M 315 Nail Effects in Blue :)

I'm going to do a post soon showing you different ways you can update or change you nail polishes so keep checking back to see that post x

I also got a couple of Body Shop things whilst renewing my Love Your Body card - the Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner - which I haven't tried before

and the Rainforest Radiance Shampoo for Coloured Hair - I have a review coming up on a couple of items in the Body Shop's Rainforest hair collection including one of this shampoo but as you can probably guess from the fact I have repurchased it in a larger size I LOVE IT!!! I'll be going back to The Body Shop next week to use my birthday voucher only thing is I don't know what to get - any suggestions or recommendations?

Finally I got a little clothing item - my mum gave me some money to treat myself with - I don't deserve it one little bit after been soooo mean to her earlier in the week but she was AMAZING as per usual - I bought this top from Jane Normal of all places I used to shop at Jane Norman an awful lot, the trousers used to be one of my work wear staples when I was less curvy, but as my waistline increased they seemed to lose their way a bit, everything became a bit chavy or WAG wanabee a like, but one of my lovely friends Layna aka GlamGemini on twitter mentioned she had bought a few things from their sale so I had a look online I am currently closely monitoring a jumper on their website to see if they'll reduce it a bit more, but I decided to have a look at their concession in Debenhams. The sale rails weren't really up to much but I did spot this blouse / top which I loved -  it's in a soft nude / blush shade and features a lace insert and smocking on the hemline

Again the pictures aren't doing this justice but it is so pretty and the fabric is really soft :)

Oh and if you on the magazine freebie hunt this month, and your cheesed off with Nails Inc, then you could do worse than buy a copy of Easy Living - free with this months (June) issue is a cute little fabric Cath Kidston bag in the choice of 2 designs

It's not the strongest but it would be ideal for either sticking in a bigger bag for emergencies or for using for your book or magazine or even your lunch - you also get a copy of the Cath Kidston magazine /catalogue too and not only that but there is a voucher inside for 15% instore and the same online by using the code EALV before 16th June. I love Cath Kidston so much the catalogue is completely droolworthy and I also enjoy Easy Living it's not my usual type of magazine but there are lots of sensible features including good Homes and Food sections - It's definitely one I'll purchase again when I actually want to read a magazine as opposed to just looking at the pictures x
So that was my haul - I had a really enjoyable day shame my poor feet are paying for it now x Any questions please ask xx