ITWBN Blogger Event

Hi everyone ! I went to my first ever blogger event/meetup !!! I went to the Into the West Blogging Network event in the Radisson Blu hotel in Galway. If you haven't heard of ITWBN, where have you been ?? ITWBN is a network for created by bloggers (two very fabulous one may I add) for bloggers. It's an Irish network so it's for Irish bloggers both at home in Ireland but also abroad.

A quick selfie before the event and everything that was on my face !

The event was held in the beautiful Radisson Blu hotel which I was lucky enough to stay in, I've done a full post HERE ! The event started at 1.30 and I was beyond nervous,my hands were literally shaking. But then I suddenly seen Meggan from Cardigan Jezebel who I recently featured in my January favourites . I was so happy to finally meet her and she was so lovely and I started to relax. Soon I met Aine from Social Onya who is incredibly lovely and who I share lots of common interests with .

We went inside to the fabulous event and we found our tables. I was placed at the very luxurious high marble table and I realised that I was sitting one person away from Susan from Makeup By Rubysue. I was so excited to actually see her in person, I'd liked Susan's facebook page before I even read blogs so I was quite nervous to approach her. But I  soon got over myself and went over and introduced myself. She is honestly so incredibly nice, so welcoming and the easiest person to talk to, I warmed to her immediately ! I could go on forever about how many more bloggers that I 'know' virtually and then actually met them and how I now not only do I virtually love them but love them in 'real life' too. Everyone was so incredibly nice.

Lots of selfies and selfie stick wars !

So the event started ! The lovely Saibh welcomed us and the talks began. Up first was Maricka from OMIG who spoke about SEO. I loved this talk as it fits in well with my course at college. Then a talk from my fave Irish vlogger Siobhan from Letz Makeup. If you don't know Siobhan she's one of the top 3 youtubers in Ireland and is an insanely talented make up artist. If you read my January Favourites you'll have seen me mention her already. If you haven't checked out her YT, you really should. She spoke about her journey as a vlogger and the life she leads as a YouTuber, She was very motivational and I came away from that talk wanting to start a YouTube channel which I was previously terrified to do.

On the right I got to meet Siobhan from Letz Makeup who is so genuine and lovely in person. On the left I met Sinead from The Beautiful Truth who I featured in my January Favourites as well, I was so thrilled to meet her she's been such an inspiration and it was great to know that she's so bubbly and nice in 'real life'.

We then had a break and chance to browse the many stands that were there, my favourite being the Young Blood stand. I have never used any Young Blood products before but I've heard other bloggers rave about them. They were lovely enough to give me a little sample of their primer and foundation. I cannot wait to try them ! We got a chance to mingle and eat some amazing food !

When we were finished socializing the talks started up again. Richie from BEUTiFi  spoke next and told us all about their fab new website that will make everyone's life that little bit easier ! Then we had the very charming Galway Player talk to us about Twitter and how to use it effectively. Last but by no means least we had the beautiful Kate from Cocoa Brown speak to us about the brilliant brand that is Cocoa Brown and also about PR's and how you should go about approaching them. I found all of these talks extremely helpful.

Then we had another little while to socialize before the winners of the 'on the day' prizes were announced. And would you believe that I, the girl who never wins anything, won another prize !!! I won a free entry to an essential oils class ! I'm so excited to go and I'm sure I'll be doing a post afterwards about the day so watch out for that !

The goody bags !! Oh my God, to say we were spoiled would be a complete understatement ! There was so much in them and the value must have been well above €100. You can see everything we got in the pictures but I forgot to photograph the makeup bag full of goodies from Isadora Ireland because I used them this morning *my bad*.

This was my first ever event/meetup and it was simply amazing. The ITWBN group are the loveliest of people, they made me feel so welcome and I truly feel part of the family now. I cannot wait to go to the next event in May. Unfortunately Sinead from Yummy Mummy who organised the event with Saibh couldn't be there but I'm so looking forward to meeting her in May ! I just want to thank and congratulate both Sinead and Saibh on such an incredible event !

I ended the day with a few selfies !

Has anyone else been to a event recently ?  What was your first meetup like ?

Erin X

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Labels: Beauty , Fashion , Lifestyle