L'Occitane Event, Birmingham

I'm so excited to write this post, as it was my first ever blogger event! I was sent an invitational email last week and I snapped up my ticket quickly. The event took place in the new L'Occitane shop in Grand Central, Birmingham.

My goodies!

L'Occitane, pronounced 'lox-i-tan', is a French brand which specialises in body products, think shower gel and body lotion. Everything smells divine and they have a lot of different ranges. My favourite was the Néroli & Orchidée range. As I study French as part of my degree, it was really lovely to be able to read all of the labels in French.

As soon as I walked in, there was a really friendly atmosphere. Abbigayle, who organised the event, came up to me straight away and gave me some information about the evening. There was some Christmas nibbles out and some bubbles - so I was very happy!

I chatted to some of the other bloggers there and it was so nice to actually meet some faces behind the screen. Everyone I chatted to was really nice and I hope to see them all again and I'm excited to read their blogs! There were a couple I didn't get to chat to unfortunately but I hope I'll be able to get to know them through their blogs.

Yay Blogger Friends! Me and Hannah from Love Icon Fantasy Ego

The evening consisted of games, including finding your favourite 3 products and taking a picture, product bingo and matching the product to the celebrity. I really loved the games, it was a nice way to have fun whilst getting to know other bloggers and the brand.

The team in the shop were fab, I enjoyed their company a lot. They were knowledgable, very approachable and they had a good sense of humour. They all complimented me on my skirt as well, which made me really happy.

Between the games, there was a break of around half an hour (?) to have a look around, get a hand massage and chat to the staff. I helped myself to some of the delicious food, because food, and chatted to some fellow blogger beans.

Sophie from Sophie Etc

We were given a 15% discount off everything for the evening and could get a goodie bag if we spent £15.

As it was my first blogger event, I was unsure what to expect but I was under the impression that we were going to be given a goodie bag for free. I had understood it to be an event for L'Occitane to get some exposure but I think it was actually an opportunity for us to meet fellow bloggers and offered a discount. A bit like the body shop parties. Now that I understand that's what the evening was about, it was very generous for the shop to close early for us and to give us a 15% discount. I wish I hadn't done all of my Christmas shopping beforehand!

I ended up buying myself a Néroli & Orchidée hand cream and a Christmas gift for someone else. As I was over the £15 limit, I got my hands on the goodie bag. It includes lots of miniature products, such as shower gel, hand cream and soap. Check out my pictures below! I can't wait to use them all, they all smell amazing.

Also, I WON A PRIZE! One of the competitions was to take a picture of your 3 favourite products and post it on Instagram. So thank you if you liked that photo - you won me a Shea butter Christmas bauble (apparently sold out!) and some chocolate!