My Tips & Tricks To Feel More Confident & Comfortable At Blogger Events.

It's no secret that I crumble when I go to events. Walking into a room full of people you don't know, but who all seem to know each other scares the crap out of me, and as new blogger, it happens to me almost every time I attend some sort of press or blogger event.

Over the past few months, since i've got to know more bloggers online and attented more functions I've picked up a few tips that I've started to introduce into my daily life.

This may seem odd, writing a post on how to be more confident when i'm often a crumbling wreck at events, but as so many lovely people have messaged me about my confidence post, I'd thought i'd share a little more of my journey with you. You never know, if it helped me, it may help you too.


1. Outfit.
I'm not a fashion blogger, and quite frankly I know very little about fashionable clothes. I kind of do my own thing and buy what I think will suit my body, rather than what's 'in' at the moment. With that in mind, when you're going to an industry event, full of fashionable or beautiful people - I don't recommend changing up your personal style. What i mean by that is, If you don't wear backless dresses, super short shorts, or bright clashing prints... now may not be the time to experiment if you're shy or nervous about the event. The added insecurities about your outfit, won't help your confidence levels at the event.

It may not be 'cool' to rewear an outfit lots of times, but if that lucky black dress, or your favourite jeans make you feel like a supermodel. Wear it.

I have an outfit that I like to wear to events where I know i'm nervous, or scared as it relieves that added pressure of 'does this outfit look okay? Sometimes I even wear my massive floppy hat, as it acts as a safety blanket to hide behind.

2. The Safety Call
Whether it's your boyfriend, mum, best friend, or sibling... we all have that one person who helps us to feel good about ourselves, make us laugh or calm our nerves. For me that's my boyfriend. He puts up with a lot of my freak outs and panic stricken phone calls before I go to events, and god help him for the times when i'm running late for something. He let's me vent, let's me freak out and then calms me down and stops me from crying and getting too anxious about what time i'll arrive.  90% of the events I go to, i'll be on the phone to him up until I reach the front door to the venue.

 I find that after speaking to him, I know that i'll mentally be calm and in a good place when I walk through the door, giving me the chance to attempt to be 'confident'.

3. The Blogger Date
This is something I mentioned to the girls at The London Blogger Dinner I hosted a few weeks back. If you know in advance that you're going to be attending an event on your own (as I usually do) make a blogger date!

I've made quite a few blogger dates over the past few months, and they've come to fruition via Twitter. Ask on twitter if anyone else is going to the event, if the event has a hashtag, use that, or even the well known hashtags to try and find out who else is going. If you find a few bloggers that you speak to online are already going, why not DM them, and ask if you can meet up before hand? grab a coffee before the event, or even meet at the train/tube station!

Chances are, you're not the only person who is crapping themselves about turning up on their own, so try and arrange a blogger date before hand so you can text each other and go together. It definitely helps me to feel more comfortable and relaxed. I've even started to make some amazing friends!

. As I learn more tips and tricks over the coming months, I'll share them.  These 3 things have helped me, and I hope they help you too!

Em xxx

The London Blogger Dinner - Hosted by My Pale Skin! #LDNbloggerDinner

If you follow me on twitter, i'm sure you'll often hear about how I find it hard to meet new people and make new friends. Especially when I can be too nervous to speak to or approach new people at events. I've taken a huge leap out of my comfort zone and decided to create a monthly social, and an event which is what I like to call - 'twitter chats in real life'.

I'm not afraid to admit, that as a 20 something girl, I can often find myself scrolling through my phone book and not having many friends to call upon for days out, shopping trips or dinner. I have numerous interests and hobbies, and really wanted to spend some quality time with  like minded ladies, but I found that most blogging events I'd attended were 95% all about the brand, and left little time for social interaction with other bloggers, or really difficult to interact in a non 'I have no idea how to friend' kind of way. 

I actively take part in twitter chats and discussions, and actually really look forward to a lot of them each week, I wanted to emulate those chats, but offline. So by cutting out the PR companies, brand spiel and loud music, and bringing a group of bloggers together around a table with some good food and interesting topics seemed the best way to go about that.

I booked a table for 16 people, around 2-3 weeks ago, and hoped people would turn up. Well, almost prayed they would turn up. I had no idea if anyone actually would and I was so so relieved when I got to Pizza Express last night and people were there!! I wasn't that girl sat at a massive table all by myself waiting for people who were never going to show! 9 of us in total made it to the very first Blogger Dinner, and In all honesty, it was one of the best nights out i'd had in a very long time.  

The food was great, as usual for Pizza Express! I had a Gluten Free Caprina Rossa Hack. - Minus the onions, garlic and pesto and add red peppers and Balsamic Syrup on the side, (to drizzle over the pizza.) I also had dessert... but let's just forget that glorious sundae ever happened.

What I loved about the event the most, was the fact that everyone had a chance to ask each other questions in an environment where nobody was judgmental. It was probably some of the most honest and warm conversations I'd ever had with other bloggers, on everything from blog names to page views, twitter to product samples. We had the chance to ask each other and hear honest thoughts on so many different topics and I loved the fact that nobody had a front up. It was just an evening of new friendships, good food and good chat. A perfect mid week meal and I even got to wear my flower crown out of the house in a shameless taxi selfie! Hurrah.

I'd like to say a massive Thank You to the following ladies for coming: Monica, April, Kitty, Anouska, Laura, Sam, Elena & Sarah and another Thank You for not being a Catfish.

Please do check out their blogs, as they're such beautiful ladies, inside and out and deserve much love and support. 

To Sign up to be on the mailing list for the next dinner, Click here to add your details. I'm so looking forward to making this a monthly event, so stay tuned for the round up of the next one!  xxx

[REVIEW] Professional Beauty London 23-24th February - Trade show review

This week I headed over to the excel in East London for the Professional Beauty London show. 

It's the first big beauty show i'd ever been to, and I was super stoked to be going. I'd somehow managed to wrangle myself up a press pass, so I grabbed my camera, heels and lashes and off I went.

I arrived at around 10:15 after vastly underestimating how many changes i'd have to make on the DLR to get there. The show was pretty busy even after only being open for 15 minutes. As the show was aimed at trade there were coach fulls of beauty students in attendance alongside hairdressers, make up artists and therapists. I didn't see too many other people wandering around with press passes or cameras which was a shame as it would have been nice to meet a few other bloggers at the event. 

The Excel had a stall for everyone. Here are a few that caught my eye! 

Essie. 

Oh my gosh all the colours. Any nail varnish fans would have loved this stall.

Megawhite. 

Now i'm not sure why, but there's something about the idea of sitting in the middle of a trade show getting my teeth whitened for all to see that doesn't really fill me with joy. I think it might have something to do with having a small mouth, and whenever I go to the dentist it's always super awkward and uncomfortable. I wasn't sure what I thought of mega white at first. I thought it was a little silly. I wasn't prepared to pay £70- to a company to get them done and not read a ton  of reviews on the company first... but after talking to Alice from http://www.beautybyalicee.co.uk/ on twitter about it... i'd never regretted not making an impulse decision so much! Her teeth whitened by 7 shades!! Gutted. Maybe next time i'll try it if I don't find somewhere to have them done before hand. 

Smudge Free.  

It's not only teeth whitening that you can have performed at the Pro Beauty show. There were many many stalls that were offering semi permanent make up! and cosmetic tattoos! You could actually get your make up tattooed on in the excel. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't expecting that!

NYX. 

Now i'm an NYX fan. I love their jumbo eye pencils and am totally into using their Taupe Blusher as a contour powder; it's the perfect shade for cool pale skinned girls. I was looking forward to seeing a big display of their other products and not just a small unloved display in Next. The stand was insanely busy. It took forever to try and get around to see the different products and it's unsurprising why as the whole range was running on offer for up to 20% off! Needless to say, I picked up a few goodies.

Frankie Essex Hair. 

One of the popular stalls with the young crowd was Frankie Essex Hair. Essex, who made a name for herself on The Only Way Is Essex, or TOWIE as it's affectionately known by many is a scripted reality series based around the lives of a glamorous group of friends & foes in Essex.

Frankie Essex Hair has a range of clip in hair extensions and hair bands suitable for many hair types. and colours. 

Crown Brushes. 

This was a stall I was much looking forward to. It took me forever to try and find it, and by the time I had, my feet were killing me from my heels, the excel centre was packed and it was incredibly hard to get close to any of the products. Needless to say, I waited as patiently as I could to get to the brushes and picked up some much needed new eyeshadow brushes

. 

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed my day at the Excel Centre. The show was incredibly busy and I didn't get to meet any other bloggers, but I made some great contacts with brands and I picked up some goodies,including some from jojoba cosmetics which i'm going to review individually. I got to see a lot of new and innovative products being demonstrated and even with my achey feet. It was definitely worth it. I'm definetly going to make sure I come back next year and I'll look forward to seeing what's on offer! 

Did you go to the Pro Beauty Show? What did you think?

I'll be posting up my haul over the next few days, so check back soon for pics!