London & #BloggersLoveLFW

After seeing a lot of hype on twitter I managed to get an invite to Bloggers Love Hub's Bloggers Love LFW event in London. I mainly wanted to go so I could meet fellow bloggers that I've been talking to online for a while (namely Ffion from A South Wales Blog, Annie from The Tales of Annie Bean, Frankie from Crazy Blonde Gal and Anne-Sophie from City Cookie). I did manage to meet Ffion and Annie, but unfortunately Frankie couldn't make it and I didn't bump into Anne-Sophie. I always wanted to meet some good brands!!

I set off to London on the early train from home, getting there at around midday. The V&A was top of my to-visit list, and I was hoping to squeeze in a little trip to Somerset House afterwards.

The Entrance

 I'd been wanting to visit the V&A for a long time, and after seeing Rosie's post about the Wedding Dresses exhibiton last year, I wanted to go even more! Unfortunately you're not allowed to take photos in the Wedding Dress exhibition, so have a look at Rosie's post (she went to the press release) and the website for an idea of what it's like. I've just noticed on the website that the exhibtion ends on the 15th of March - you have 5 days, get your skates on!! I particularly loved Kate Moss's dress!

Ceramic inspiration

 I also wanted to go round the ceramics section, which was way up on the 6th floor and I had to ask for directions just to get to the lift! Because I do a bit of amateur pottery, I wanted to see a bit of history of ceramics and get some inspiration. It worked! Its a shame this amazing museum is SO far away, and I didn't have more time, there's tonnes more to see!

After leaving the V&A I wanted to walk to Somerset House, or at least find a tube station to get me there, but I walked past this small, insignificant little shop...

... and I couldn't not go in! Sorry Somerset House, maybe next Fashion Week? I spent a long time in Harrods. It was funny after walking round the history of fashion at the V&A and then seeing the very latest on display here. I was casually browsing the £2,000+ gowns! I bought some tea in a Harrods tin as a souvenir, and treated myself to a Cath Kidston cosmetics bag.

I got changed in Harrods toilets into my outfit for the Bloggers Love LFW event - it was supposedly Gossip Girl themed and I'd done loads of research into what to wear but when I got there I needn't have bothered. Firstly there was nowhere to put my coat and bag so no-one saw my outfit anyway, and everyone else was dressed in whatever they liked - there was no obvious theme!

It was so so so busy in there, as you might have already read. I met the lovely Sam in the queue and we bonded and we'd both come on our own. I bumped into Annie and Ffion pretty much as soon as I walked in but quickly lost them in the crowds.

Ffion, Me & Sam (photo courtesy of Ffion)

inside the Hoxton Arches

 The amount of people made it really difficult to get to the brands and speak to them which was a shame. It did seem quite poorly organised! One brand I did speak to were the lovely people from Sniffy Wiffy. They make absolutely gorgeous smelling hand cream and shower creams, and with the mission to raise awareness of breast and testicular cancers - they donate a portion from each product sold to CoppaFeel and Ball Boys charities. A truly lovely brand!! My favourite was the Hibiscus & Rhubarb hand cream, but they all smelled divine!

Sniffy Wiffy's lovely products - you can see their "check yourself" labels on the left.

I bumped into Rasida in the crowds and we got chatting, it turned out we were both going home in the same direction so we went to get the train together. This went well until we realised we were on the wrong train! And we'd told another lady it was the right train so we were all in the wrong place. Eventually we got the right train and I made it back to my friend Meg's flat.

Rasida and I mid-train-debacle

A long and tiring but enjoyable day in the big smoke, (and the first time there by myself!) I hope to go back soon!