GoGlam Gala Bloggers Event | A Short London Trip

In case you hadn’t gathered from my 5696 tweets this week, I headed down to London for a swanky blogger bash going by the catchy hashtag #GoGlamGala on Thursday night.  As a Northern gally I don’t make it to many London events (girl gotta justify that time and train fare) but this one was well worth heading down for!  My lovely friend Tasmin and I hopped on the train on Thursday afternoon and enjoyed an altogether very glam and fun time.  Minus the ‘eating M&S pasta on the hotel room floor’ part before getting ready.  We’ll skip that part. 🙂

Even if I hadn’t told you this was a blogger event I’m pretty sure the pink blossom, flower wall, glittery backgrounds and outfit photos being taken in the background of every shot would’ve given it away.  Scarlett of SL Events did such a fabulous job of organising everything right down to the perfect backdrops!

I seriously couldn’t have been happier with my dress.  I know I wax lyrical about my love for inanimate objects often around these parts, but this one’s rather special!  On hearing about the event I’d envisioned wearing something dark, long (but not dragging-along-the-floor long), slinky, preferably long sleeved and not too glitzy, and lo and behold the first one I tried on, in the first shop I looked, ticked all my boxes.  Absolute win.  Even more of a win was the chilled out try on session I had in Debenhams – the lovely personal shopping assistant Bella asked if I’d like to use a different area to the usual changing rooms, and brought my mum and I cups of tea to sip whilst she helped me choose between the bunch of dresses I’d grabbed.  Choosing wasn’t difficult in the slightest, but the experience was made all the more enjoyable, so thank you very much Bella at Debenhams Preston!

Absolutely no need to introduce this beautiful face I’m sure!  Victoria of InTheFrow was even more lovely in person and couldn’t have been more friendly/inspiring/all round great to chat to.  One thing that really stood out about this event (and another reason Scarlett did such a fab organisational job) was the variety of bloggers and influencers there, from bloggers with followings from 3 figures to 6, to daily lifestyle vloggers, to pro Instagrammers, to media professionals.  I spoke to bloggers whose content I’ve loved for ages and added a load of new faces to my list too.  Amongst others I spoke with Victoria, Em, Sophie, Jordan, Holly, and many more so I’m going to point you in the direction of the #GoGlamGala hashtag on Twitter to check them out rather than attempt to list everyone here. It’s not often that brands invite more than one ‘group’ along to any one event, so bravo GoSend and Scarlett London, bravo!

The one ‘proper’ photo of Tasmin and I.  I’m pretty certain we had our photo taken by the photographers multiple times throughout the night but haven’t managed to find those online yet – if anyone else who attended has a clue where they are then give me a shout yeah?

A few beauty related points this fancy occasion taught me:

• If I take my time over it, I can actually do straightener curls in my hair and it’s possibly my fave hairstyle I’ve ever done on myself.  Except prom.  Didn’t even have any hairspray (told you I’d forget something) and the curls lasted until the next day and evening through showering and multiple brushes, I’m impressed with myself!
• Everybody needs a Tasmin sidekick to tell them when lipstick’s on their teeth.  This shade received a few compliments though so was defo worth it.
• I do actually suit a full face of makeup (don’t wear heavy makeup very often at all!) but my gawd my skin doesn’t thank me for it.  Girls who contour and highlight themselves to the high heavens every day, how you do this?   I wear a light foundation most days but usually keep contour/blush/highlight very light too, so amping it up for evening has played all sorts of fun with my skin.  Oh well.

I guess Westminster Abbey makes an OK view from the window.  It’s alright-ish.

Obviously no event is complete without a nibble or 6 and I may have done just that at the Candy Kittens table.

As for the point of the whole event… GoGlamGala was hosted by GoSend, who are, in short, a service that makes US only products shoppable in the UK and helps avoid the extortionate shipping prices that most companies charge.  They provide you with a US mailbox address and have various plans and options that I’m not overly familiar with but look like a perfect option for when the need for a Sephora haul or similar kicks in.  One I’ll definitely keep in mind for the future!

Almost all my London trips in the past have involved the 6am train down and 8pm train home with a whole lotta rushing in between, so safe to say that enjoying a leisurely morning after a night in a hotel was a novelty. 🙂  We’d managed to find a pretty reasonable hotel (rare occurence in central London, I know!) and the sun was shining and the sky was blue and all that good stuff.

The outfit I’ve already loved and hated on over on Instagram. (Coat & scarf New Look, boots H&M, bag River Island)

Since we were pretty near Hyde Park and had a couple of hours to kill we took the ‘just wander’ approach until the sun glaring in our eyes gave us headaches.

Sun glaring made this little guy look cute though right?

Once our bags were checked out we employed the ever faithful lunch finding method of checking Google Maps’ ‘Explore Food & Drinks Around You’ thingy and checking out those places on Insta.  Through Notting Hill to Farm Girl Cafe we wandered.

Excuse the ridiculous face but this summarises my glee at having a lasting good hair day pretty well.  Never usually happens!

Can’t say I’ve ever tried coconut bacon before but the coconut BLT with sweet potato fries and a matcha latte didn’t disappoint.  I’m not vegan or vegetarian or anything but thought I’d give something different a shot anyway!

So all in all I had a lovely little trip to London. 🙂

lily kate x

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