London Baby!!!!!

The wanderer returns!!

Well to be completely honest I returned late last Thursday night but I haven’t had a chance to blog since.
Unfortunately I was unwell over the weekend, if you follow me on Twitter you’re probably sick of reading about my ailments but fear not, I’m much more chipper now!!

As the cunning detectives amongst you might realise by now, I was in London last week as a VIP (ooooer get me) Invite of Barry M’s Exclusive Beauty Bloggers Event! And as if that wasn’t exciting enough, I also arranged to meet my online Weightwatchers buddy Kelly for the very first time! We met just outside Kings Cross Station & I honestly felt like I was meeting a blind date, minus the red rose and copy of the Times!

We spared no expense with our hotel and ended up at the 5 star Easy Hotel in Earls Court……… ok ok so its probably the cheapest hotel in London but in its defense it was clean & comfortable and left us plenty of wonga to spend on Make-up!! Our room was 9ft square I believe, and that included the bathroom. Bijou!!! We both agreed that although a bit “orange” we would definitely stay in an Easy Hotel again. It was 15 mins on the Tube from the city centre and the area itself felt friendly and safe, really what you want as females.

The Tuesday night Kelly and I went to Fire & Stone in Convent Garden where we had delicious pizzas and drinks and took joy in not counting a single Weightwatchers point! We were totally off duty

The Wednesday was the day of the Barry M event and en route we met up with Emma and took a detour to Harrods where we wandered aimlessly ooohing and aaahing at various luxuries, and generally behaving like tourists. We also took the opportunity to go to MAC Pro in Fouberts Place, our thinking behind this being that it would be quiet and we’d avoid the inevitable squash after the event. This paid off, MAC Pro was all but empty and I managed to be restrained and only purchase one thing, I’m sure I would have spent more if I’d been in the company and under the influence of lots of other bloggers

Soon after that we walked to Piccadilly where we had arranged to meet a lot of the others, as we rounded the corner I couldn’t help but feel a bit awed. After all, the people I was seeing and meeting were Guru’s and bloggers that I’ve been watching and reading for almost a year now. I think it’d be fair to say I was a little star struck

We all dandered around to Madame Jo Jo’s in Soho where the event was being held and thats where the real fun began! Barry M quite literally spoilt us, with an array of delicious cupcakes, finger food, drinks and cabaret.

We met Barry M himself, who I had always secretly been convinced was Barry Manilow! Oooohhhh Mandy!!…. but no, he is in fact a regular Londoner who much like Alan Sugar, started out with a market stall (except his sold make-up) in the 80′s and built that into a successful business and the booming brand it is today. Although his son now officially runs the company Barry is still very much hands on.

Barry M was warm, friendly and fun, much like the brand. Although no giant, I can’t help but link him to the phrase “larger than life”. Every time I clocked him, he was either laughing raucously, cracking a joke or simply beaming from ear to ear. He’s certainly no boring big wig. I met a family man with a zest for his brand and life!

We were treated to an exclusive preview of the new Barry M TV Advert & an introduction to Club M. Barry M’s new and exciting social networking site aimed specifically at us Beauty Junkies! If you haven’t already you can sign up here to be part of the unfolding fun!

Some how (I blame you Lisa!!!) I managed to get involved in the makeover competition which was a great ice breaker and a general all round giggle. The lovely Caroline made me up beautifully using an array of Barry M products, along with 3 other bloggers who were doing the same with their victims volunteers. The Winners Natalie and Samantha Chapman (of Pixiwoo fame) were treated to coverage by NOW Magazine, so keep an eye out for that! Only slightly jealous girls!

I also met Anna Saccone of the Style Diet, who was an absolute doll (as I knew she would be), and her equally adorable boyfriend Jonathan Joly who was snap happy throughout the event!

At the end of our lovely afternoon we were all presented with a Barry M Goodie Bag. I have to confess to randomly shouting “Goodie Bag” while clapping my hands like some kind of demented seal when it was announced they were about to hand them out. You can take me nowhere!

Goodies consisted of;

• Barry M Skinny Tee
• Make-up Bag
• Mirror Compact
• Purple Eye Candy Kit
• Nail Polishes in Block Orange, Fuchsia, Bright Purple, Mint Green & Acid Yellow
• 4 Dazzle Dusts including a very special VIP one created exclusively for us VIP’s
• 2 Fine Glitter Dusts
• Natural Dazzle Bronzer (which I have misplaced….. oops)
• 3 in 1 Intense Black Mascara
• Electric Purple Mascara
• Black Eye Kohl
• Aqua Green Eye Liner Pen
• Turquoise Liquid Liner
• Silver Glitter Liner
• 4 Lip Paints
• Glossy Tube in a Nude Pink

I really shouldn’t complain but the Skinny Tee…… Am I alone in thinking Size Medium???? Medium Toddler is all I can assume, its tiny!!!!

My favorite item so far (I’ve yet to open half of it) is definitely the VIP Dazzle Dust. They made 2 VIP colours especially for us, a lilac and a blue, both of which will never be available in the shops. To a Make-up Addict like me, thats a pretty cool thing to own

Afterwards I think everyone was in agreement that shopping was the order of the day. Sadly we couldn’t stick together as there was quite simply just too many of us! I also didn’t fancy wandering about following people like some kind of lowly sheep, so we all seemed to break off into smaller groups. I couldn’t have went shopping with a nicer group of girls; Saskia, Kelly & Holly. We did have another Holly with us for a short period but she went AWOL in Topshop!

We pretty much shopped until we literally dropped into a Garfunkels for a re-fuel & a goodbye to Saskia who had to catch her train home to Scotland. We didn’t stop there though, after waving her off we were shopping again!!! Finally we holed up in the Slug & Lettuce Bar with tender feet & in Holly’s case actually distressed shoes! until it was time for her tube home.

Then Kelly and I headed down to Convent Garden where we had a few more drinks in the Punch & Judy on what was a gorgeous balmy night in London.

Overall it was such a brilliant event. I feel very privileged to have been invited and it was lovely to put names to faces and to geek out together on our shared passion of Make-up

xoxo

Pssst! Competition looming

Tagged as: barry m event, Beauty Bloggers, Club M, Competition, Fire & Stone, Goodie Bag, London, madame jo jos, make-up, pixiwoo, Samantha Chapman, soho, Weightwatchers