Hey guys,

This week I attended Blog Con London and had such a fabulous time! This was the first time I had travelled to London on my own, so I was a bit worried, but I managed to navigate my way through the tube and arrived raring to go!

It was great to hear some good advice by experienced bloggers who were doing talks on the day about how to turn your blog into a profession and how to work more with brands. There was the opportunity to network with brands too. However, I have to say what I loved most was actually meeting so many other people who have similar interests. I saw a few familiar faces, got to hang out with people I have become friends with online and also met bloggers who were new to me. All round it was lovely and Scarlett, the organiser, did a great job. She runs a few of these blogger events every year so if you are interested in attending click here to visit her website.

There were many brands there on the day. One I really loved was Love Inc Ltd. They sell gifts and home furnishings, like this neon light which can be personalised to any style and font.

I also got to visit the Chi Chi London stand. They sell beautiful clothing and accessories. I literally wanted to take all their dresses home with me. If you want something that will stand out, but is chic at the same time, be sure to check them out.

I also got talking to the lovely girls at the Johnny Loves Rosie stand. The jewellery and accessories speak for themselves. So beautiful and perfect for any occasion. I am particularly loving their bridal range at the moment and was blown away by the quality and price of some of the items.

We were lucky enough to be gifted samples from some of the brands. One that stood out was Lola's Apothecary. Not only because of the aroma that was coming from the stall but the beautiful display they had put on. I was able to take away one of their mini massage oils but was told it can be used as a perfume too. How pretty does it look!

All in all I had a great day socialising and chatting to like minded people, which is probably what I enjoyed most.  So if you want to network with brands and other bloggers it's definitely worth going.  The event was new but I can see it growing year by year. I think next time I might try a different Scarlett event like, The Bloggers Ball.

I will let you know how I get on testing the products. Do any of these products interest you? Let me know which ones intrigue you and I'll be sure to review them!

Amina xx

Hi Guys,

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Nouveau Lashes Lash Gang 1st Birthday Party. If you haven't heard of Nouveau or the #LASHGANG  then 1. where have you been? and 2. here's a little info. Nouveau Lashes (NL) offer a range of treatments from LVL, which is a natural way of  enhancing your lashes (read about it here) to SVS, their version of eyelash extensions. They also offer a variety of strip lashes to suit every kind of occasion and other products such as eye & brow conditioning serum or their eye make-up remover. Everything you need to keep your lashes looking amazing.

Being part of the Lash Gang has been such a fantastic opportunity for me. I really love the brand. The Lash Gang is such a supportive group and I feel really valued by the team. They are open to ideas and really allow us members to be as creative as we like. They have a special place in my heart because they were actually one of the first brands I ever worked with as a blogger. It might sound a bit dramatic but when I first joined the gang I was only a month into blogging, but I think they saw some potential in me (I hope) and trusted me to do their products justice! So in a way NL have been their from the start of my blogging journey and I am so grateful for them! (Cue violins and crying Emoji face)😭.

The day started off great as I travelled down with Gweni from GBeauty.co.uk and Debra-Bow from DebraBow.com and we had a lot of laughs on our road trip. When we arrived it was so fantastic for me to meet other bloggers and girls from the NL team who I had spoken to over Twitter but never met in real life. Straight in front of us was a photo booth which everyone had so much fun using. Who knew taking picture after picture of yourself could be so amusing! 

The day was full of lots of party games and I could see a lot of effort had been put into the event. Here are some pics from the Pass the Parcel and Piñata (which was decapitated in the end)! 

After we had played some games it was time for some food and boy was it impressive! They really did put on an amazing spread for us. It was a tea party! Complete with teapots, cups and saucers, scones, jam, clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches, the list goes on! 

Once we had eaten it was time for the Lash Gang awards! I had found out earlier in the week that I had been shortlisted for 'Wannabe Bestie' and 'MUA all day'. The thought that someone had actually nominated me for this was so heart warming. But to actually win MUA all day, I couldn't believe it. I was so overjoyed! Other winners were (twitter handles): @g_beauty_blog for Wannabe Bestie @NishiV_MUA for Vlogging Queen, @natashattodd for Flatlays For Days, @justnadiene for Blogger Babe and @asyouwish for Snapchat Slayer.

The day ended with some great goody bags which included a #lashgang tote bag, lashes, tweezers, some fab pins, a mirror and a gorgeous make-up bag by EmJ company.

It really was a reflective day for me and it felt amazing to celebrate a year of Lashgang but also a year of blogging for me. Ending it with the award just showed me how far I had come and how much blogging actually means to me! 

Amina xx



*Thank you to Debra-Bow and Gweni for allowing me to use some of their pictures.

Hi guys,

Last week I attended the Blogger Halloween party hosted by Kirsty (@kirstyleanne92) and Ashton (@ashtongibbs) . I really enjoy blogging events. Not just because you get to meet lots of fabulous brands but also because you get to meet lots of lovely bloggers! There are so many bloggers that I speak to on social media all the time, some daily! However we rarely get to meet because we are spread across the country or lives get in the way. So I knew when attending the event it was going to be a great one. What made it even more fantastic was everyone was in fancy dress!

I was a black cat for the #bloggerhalloweenparty today. Had a fab time meeting some lovely bloggers! #blog #blogger #bloggingevent #halloween #brands #blackcat #meow

A photo posted by Amina Ali (@aminaali_mua) on Oct 29, 2016 at 10:46am PDT

The event didn't disappoint. The first brand I talked to was The Perfume Studio. They are a company that specialise in bespoke fragrances and offer the chance for you to create your own at special scent events such as a hen party or pamper day. They allowed us to create our very own perfume on the day which was fantastic, although I came to realise that I created a men's fragrance! However the longer I wear it the more I'm starting to smell the feminine side to it. Let's call it unisex. I really enjoyed getting to learn about the different notes that create a perfume. After much consideration and, well, smelling, I decided to choose Woody, Amber, Gentle Floral and Transparent notes ... and my aptly named fragrance 'Ali & Her' was made.

I think this is such a great idea for a hen party and will definitely keep it in mind for any friends' future hen parties. The Perfume Studio also allows you to repurchase your fragrance at any time and offers personalisation on bottles (£9.95). What's even better is that they sell a 'design your own fragrance' gift box which includes all the fragrances you need to create your own perfume at home. The perfect gift for Christmas.

Another brand that attended the event was Dr Botanicals - a British vegan skincare company that produce luxurious skincare products. I was lucky to be gifted their Neroli body cream which I can't wait to try out! So watch this space for my review and discount code!

My favourite part of the event was actually getting to know other bloggers. We had loads of time to sit down and chat while taking part in little games that were situated around the venue. Here is a pic of myself and the lovely NishiV. How gorgeous does she look!? 

Obviously I have to talk about the goody bags. As usual, Ashton and Kirsty spoilt us. Below are pictures of some of the things that interested me most, so watch out for some in depth reviews coming your way. I love the look of those Urban Beauty United Brushes!

How did you celebrate Halloween this year? Have you got any questions on any of the products? Which one are you looking forward to me reviewing most? 

Amina xx