Yesterday I attended Intu Derby‘s fashion event which focussed on this season’s hottest trends from the centre’s top brands.
I was really excited for the event as it was something different to anything I’d ever been to before.
I’m not quite sure what I expected but it definitely wasn’t this; it was so much more!
As a blogger, we were treated like absolute royalty by the Intu staff and had our own VIP area to sit at whilst we watched the multiple mini fashion shows.
Brands like Topshop, River Island, Warehouse, Phase Eight, Two Seasons, Asylum Industries and many, many more were showcasing some of their new lines on six flawless models.
The quick runway shows lasted for around 10 minutes each and they were running throughout the whole day in 30 minute intervals.
Each show held different items of clothing from different brands so it gave a lot of opportunity to cast your eyes on many different clothing brands from within the Intu centre.
Personally, I liked quite a lot of the clothing that was shown but it hurt my heart too much because I just wanted to buy it all.
A few things caught my eye though…
One of the items was this gorgeous cerise dress from Phase Eight which is a whopping £150 and can be found here!
Another thing I about fell in love with was this beauty from River Island.
I have since looked at this on their website and it is only £25 so I think it might be something I need to add to my overflowing wardrobe. You can find it here!
As you might know, I have a thing for Asylum (I buy far too much from there) and I found one or two things I admire from this selection.
I love the floral mid length skater dress with a skeleton print which you can find for £45 right here. I also love the men’s dip dyed shirt which can be found here and it even has a pretty skull on the back – perfect for me.
Whilst the fashion shows were taking place, we were gifted with a lovely HUGE muffin from bb’s coffee and muffins and let me tell you, it was super yummy!
These muffins are decorated with pink shavings to raise money for Cancer Research which I think is a lovely touch. These can be bought from the coffee shops along with a large selection of other flavours for around £2 for 1 or £5 for 3.
We were also kindly offered a beverage from the lovely Patisserie Valerie so I chose to try a mocha as I needed a quick pick me up from all the staring at clothes.
After around an hour, we were notified that there was a beauty pod upstairs where we could have a free mini makeover which was on offer to the public too!
After scrambling upstairs as fast as we could, we discovered there was a huge green screen area where we could pose and throw autumn leaves and have our photos taken.
Now this was the highlight of my day because it really was so much fun!
First off, me and Emmie from Carpe Diem Emmie had a turn as only two people could try the machine at a time and we horrendously broke the printer… oops!
But then we all wanted to try it and we managed to squeeze all 8 of us in the frame.
From left to right: Obviously me, then Shani from Shani Coles, Olivia from Living On a Shoestring, Sophie from One Unique Blog, Kirsty from xoxokiki, Sophie from Sophie’s Notebook, Imogen from Penchants & Prejudice and last but not least, Emmie from Carpe Diem Emmie!
This was such an awesome picture and a great keepsake of the event.
One of the not so great pictures was this lovely gem, courtesy of Emmie.
I don’t understand how this photo happened, it’s just my face that makes me laugh so much and were all in tears laughing when we saw it…
It just had to be me, didn’t it?
Anyway, after we took full advantage of the set up and got some lovely photos *cough cough*, we took a glance over the make up pop up. The queue was really long though and not many of us were too bothered about getting a mini makeover.
We made our way back down stairs to take a look at the new Lush Christmas range and OH MY GOD I wanted everything.
I love love love the Butter Bear bath bombs and they’re so cheap for £1.95 a pop but I still have a few left over from last Christmas (embarrassing, I know).
I have never seen the shop so busy so after scouring for about 5-10 minutes, I wanted to get out. Luckily I grabbed a few things before I ran out of there.
I only bought two things because I’m trying to save money and I really wanted to try something new.
First up is the Candy Mountain Bubble Bar which was only £2.95 and smells like marshmallows and angels.
The bottle is The Comforter which was £4.95. I love this scent because it’s sweet, fruity and smells just like The Comforter Bubble Bar that I have been loving recently.
We also popped into Boots as I wanted to have a natter at the NYX counter because we received a 10% off NYX voucher in our dreamy goodie bags!
I ended up buying ANOTHER lip product but this time I chose to go for the Lingerie lip cream in the Ruffle Trim shade.
I have been looking for the perfect nude lip colour and the Soft Matte lip Creams just didn’t fit what I wanted. So, after recommendations from the girls, I chose to try out a Lingerie stick. I will keep you posted on what I think to it.
After browsing around Superdrug for a while and admiring all the wonderful Christmas stock they have in, some of the bloggers made some purchases and then we split up a bit.
Some of us popped up to the newly opened MexiCo (read all about opening night here) for a spot of lunch.
By this point there was only me, Emmie and Shani so lunch was quite a good time to talk and get to know each other a bit more.
This drink makes for a great photo. It was a Pomegranate and Elderflower Aqua Fresca and it was so refreshing and thirst quenching after a long day.
We had a good catch up and chatted about a lot of things, our day jobs, our hobbies, what we thought of the day and so much more!
I just want to show you guys my dessert because it was absolutely incredible.
It was a Churro Sundae lathered with fresh churros, cream, dulce de leche and chocolate sauces with the loveliest cinnamon ice cream, all topped with strawberries.
After a nice break and a good old chin wag, we chose to brave the horrendous weather and (sort of) run to Primark for a bit of ‘light’ shopping.
Emmie was on the hunt for winter jumpers, I was on the hunt for a new make up sponge and anything pretty and Shani, well she just fancied a browse.
After finding about a billion things I wanted to buy including a gorgeous smart grey coat that I might just have to go back and try on; I bought only a few things.
So, I bought some cute thermal socks because it is getting super seriously cold out there and I love having toasty feet.
I also got a new egg sponge on a stick because mine broke on me the other morning (boo) and a PS Pro make up brush to match my larger one.
I also fell in love with this skull candle, not because it’s halloween soon but because I just really love skulls. Plus it’s sparkly, so you can’t go wrong.
I also picked up this velveteen, ribbed, slightly see through polo neck that I wasn’t too keen on at first but then decided that I actually loved it.
It was only £6 too and I think it’d look great paired with my green leather skirt for a going out look.
I’ve always had a thing for velvet and it is so in this season so I’ll be so happy to add a lot more pieces like this to my wardrobe in the coming months.
When I FINALLY got home with sodden bags, soaking clothes and wet feet, I quickly changed into some comfy jammies and sorted everything out.
We were given not one but two goodie bags at the event and I really want to find out what was inside them.
This wonderful and wacky gift bag was donated all from Tiger which was so generous and really fun to go through actually.
The totally cute tote bag in the background will come in super handy just to pop in my hand bag and use it whenever I pick something up shopping.
I also love this funny slogan notepad because it is totally me and I’m always jotting ideas and notes down.
I also received some oil pastels, a mini easel, a funky calculator and the cutest doggy doorstop which will come in so handy.
I also got some disposable hot drinks cups with lids that I think is such a great idea – especially if you’re running late in the mornings and you want to take a beverage with you.
I just want to take the time to thank Tiger for putting a lot of thought and effort into these goodie bags because each blogger got a different selection which I think makes their experience that much more unique and special to them.
We also received another goodie bag which came in a Gucci shopper bag (eek I know) but sadly got ruined in the rain.
These were all that were included in the bag and there were so many branded and expensive samples in there.
First up was a £5 gift card to spend in the Intu centre and a free parking ticket which will come in handy at some point and were provided by Intu Derby.
We also received a Lush catalogue in our packs to have a browse through and pick our xmas favourites!
There was a mini macaroon set from Patisserie Valerie which I CANNOT wait to try.
There were also mini samples from Clarins, NO7, Hugo Boss, Lady Million, Valentino, Dior and some Body Shop goodies which were provided by Boots and The Perfume Shop.
The things I am most excited about is the L’oreal Paris So Couture gift set which includes the Volume Million Lashes Mascara, a white Colour Riche Le Kohl pencil, a Colour Riche nail polish in Exquisite Scarlet and the Colour Riche Lip in Scarlett Creme.
This is worth a few pretty pounds after seeing them floating round on a few different websites.
I think this might actually be my favourite thing to receive in a goodie bag EVER.
Simply because us bloggers absolutely need planners and of course they have to be super pretty.
This particular one was gifted to us and supplied by Paperchase worth £12.00! You can find the diary to purchase here.
The pattern was a light white/ivory shade with gold holographic triangular print covering it.
I absolutely love keeping myself organised and this will do the job perfectly starting January 1st.
I just want to thank Intu Derby for giving us such a special and enjoyable experience which really is appreciated and the fact you respect our opinions, means so much.
I also want to thank all the generous brands for donating such awesome goodies to us.
Certainly last but not least, the other bloggers that attended because they made the day so fun and I’ve not laughed that hard in a long, long time.
Comic Books & Yellow Ducks 