Good morning all, happy humpday!

I recently attended the annual Bath In Fashion events which took place last weekend in the gorgeous central districts of Bath and at the famous fashion museum. After being asked to represent the local blogging platform at the events, alongside a small group of my peers, I joyously accepted the generous invitation and joined the close-knit group in a VIP event and bloggers day that took place during the #BIFlive event (Thursday 21st). 

Arriving in Bath it was a beautiful, sunny day for a walk around and I immediately stopped to get my daily, dairy-free caffeine kick at M&S; unknowing that I would be pumped full of bubbly and booze on the day ahead.

My first appointment that day was at Debenhams, an event we had all been asked to attend to get the day started in style. I scurried up to the personal shoppers lounge in the department store and was immediately greeted by a wonderfully, warm Debenhams staff and a group of gorgeous girls I could only assume were the other bloggers for the day. After getting aquainted with one-another over a few glasses of prosecco-and-orange we were briefed on how our time would be spent with Debenhams (pimarily at beauty consultations) and then escorted back downstairs for a complimentary makeover with a counter of our choice. Opting for the quality of clinque I sat in bliss as I was treated to an uplifting facial massage using thier new 'Sonic' vibration head and a beautifully light and fresh-scented facial cream that truly sent me off to sleep. This massage is targeted mainly at the older generation, but stimulates the skin by bringing blood to the surface and leaves your face feeling youthful, soft and elasticated (as well as sending you off to sleep!). After this I was rewarded with a full-face of base layer makeup, including the universal 'super-primer' and 'beyond perfecting' foundation and concealer which truly brought new life into my skin. Prone to an oily complexion I struggle to find a suitable base layer but the Clinique staff worked hard to find me something that worked and their products truly are radiant and natural. I absolutely love Clinique products, I just wish they would reconsider their approach to animal testing as they are still a company that operates under these policies. 

Being treated to an uplifing facial massage, deep treatment and full base-layer makeup at Clinique using the Sonic vibration head.

Feeling relaxed and glowing, we moved onto our next appointment at Lancome where the lovely Emily (@TheLittleBeautyGuide) was treated to a mini eye makeover using some stunning colours from the new 'Hypnos' palettes. The makeup artist used naturally warm shades to compliment Emily's paler complexion and bring out her striking eye colour. Emily is primarily a beauty blogger and was super impressed by the results, check her out on IG for more!

Emily (@TheLittleBeautyGuide) being treated to a mini eye makeover at Lancome using the new 'Hypnos' palettes.

 After a quick, and somewhat bubbly, refuel at the personal shopping suite, we were gifted with £50 free to spend on ANYTHING we wanted within Debenhams. Overwhelmed by this, we quickly started running around the floor grabbing armfuls of beautiful clothes to try on in our VIP dressing room. With a few formal events coming up I found a few dresses to try by Coast and Phase Eight, both of whom are having an incredibly strong SS16 season for formal-attire and offered some beautiful and feminine pieces in soft-lace and elegant shades of navy and nude.

Coast and Phase Eight formal-wear SS16

Baby-blue pastel courts from New Look (Shoes & Accessories)

  After blitzing a trying-on session and snapping some quick pictures, we agreed to go and have a mooch around on the beauty floor to try and find a few of our own personal 'must-haves' and spend our £50 vouchers. Awarded with bulging goodie bags packed with products from the Debenhams house brands and feeling extremely pampered, we shuffled off to the escalators to hunt down some beauty treats. Still glowing from my consultation I zipped back over to the Clinique counter and purchased the primer and foundation that had been used on my face and was rewarded with an armful of extra-treats from the lovely ladies at Clinique including a gorgeous mascara, bath set, moisturiser and Clinique's famous 'chubby' lip stick in a cute shade of strawberry. Thank you!

With an hour to spare before our next appointment, we split up and went to check out some of the in-store events and promotions popping up around Westgate Street and Milsom Place. With a tip-off to check out Boux Avenue we popped our heads in to find fashion illustrator Miss Magpie Spy (aka Niki Groom) offering free sketches to anyone who fancied. Flogging her stationary at the counter, the lovely Niki  had teamed up with Boux Avenue for the day and was over-run by people clamouring for one of her stunning illustrations. With a whimsical and feminine free-hand, she snapped our photos and told us to pop back in a few minutes to collect the finished product. A little later on we popped back in and collected our beautiful drawings along with a little greeting card as an extra goodie. Be sure to check Miss Magpie out on Instagram for more of her beautiful drawings!

Niki Groom hard at work at her drawing in Boux Avenue! (@miss_magpie_spy)

Drawings and stationary by Niki Groom (@miss_magpie_spy)

With a couple of minutes under our belt until our lunchtime appointment we caught some sun in the square with a gorgeous glass of pink bubbly from Scavi & Ray and a miniature oreo cupcake to tickle the palette from Lola's Cupcakes. Delightful!

Little slice of heaven! Lola's Cupcakes (@lolas_cupcakes)

Sophisticated bubbles, a sparkling taste of fashion! from Scavi & Ray (@scaviray) with fellow #BIF Blogger Steph Frayling (@stephfrayling)

Feeling sufficiently bubbly now we headed over to Jolly's for our next appointment, a meet-and-greet with the legendary designer of fashion label 'Biba' Barbara Hulanicki. Greeted with more champagne (iced this time!) by a very handsome gentleman representing POPS Premium Ice Popsicles and a warm greeting from the team at Jolly's we said our hellos to Barbara and lined up to have a quick natter and a bag (specially designed for #BIF bloggers) signing with the lady of the hour. After giving a much-anticipated and thoroughly enjoyed talk at the BIF takeover at the Bath Fashion Museum Barbara presented herself as an incredibly interesting and elegant lady of much insight and many years of experience within luxury fashion, not to mention a beautiful label bursting with colour and boasting a lifelong longevity and many, many devoted followers.

POPS premium prosecco ice-pops (@popspoparazzi)

The #BIF Bloggers team posing for a picture with Barbara Hulanicki of BIBA

Tote bag designed by Barabara for #BIF bloggers

Starstruck! Myself posing with the glamourous Barbara Hulanicki of BIBA

 After being prized away from Barbara we were shown down to Jolly's Tea Room, which is in the basement of Jolly's in Bath for a complimentary afternoon tea, cakes and more champagne to refuel ready for part two of the day. With impeccable service and sweet treats to absolutely die for, Jolly's fully impressed me. I will definitely be bringing my mother back soon for a day out!

Gilded menu at Jolly's Tea Room Bath

A sample of the delightful treats we were given to enjoy at Jolly's Tea Room (featuring @JessicaJYoung)

Smiles all round from the #BIF blogging team!

Feeling suffienciently celebrity by this point, we then split up and went out seperate ways to check out the various other promotions and events popping up all over some of Bath's best designer stores. First up on the agenda was my all-time favourite lifestyle designer Anthropologie. The store had teamed up with the award-winning writer and fashion professor Iain R Webb to promote his 'Vogue Colouring Book' by encouraging people to come in and take part in the huge Vogue colouring wall. Iain was there in person to talk about his book and generally chitchat with people interested in his work and I said a quick hello before diving into the colouring pot to have a go myself. Anthropologie is definitely in the running to be my all-time favourite designer, and thier SS16 collections were making me drool. Thick, coloured lace, joyous florals and dazzling embroidery paired with an earthy, lifestyle touch and you have the freedom and originality that is the Anthropologie brand.

Vogue Colouring Book by Iain R Webb (@hopeandglitter)

My contribution to the Anthropologie Vogue Colouring Wall

Anthropologie SS16 (@anthropologie)

@Anthropologie

@anthropologie

Next up we popped into Joules to meet Sophie, the brains behind the beautiful Joules prints and print design. With a little station set up to discuss her work and draw miniature post-cards for people, Sophie told us all about the nautical-country fusions and inspirations behind the brand's gorgeous SS16 collection and the creative process that happens behind one of her prints. Wearing my own Joules polo shirt that day, I was fascinated to pick the brains of one of the designers behind such a recognisable print brand. Dazzled by the gorgeous collection, Joules is such a beautiful heritage brand and will continue to have longevity with it's seasonal prints and collections. Lovely to meet you Sophie!

The lovely Sophie designing prints at Joules Bath (@joulesclothing)

In the making! Prints at Joules (@joulesclothing)

Lastly, with an exclusive tip-off from the #BIF team, I went to check out the elusive Chanii B Footwear boutique hidden in Milsom Place. With an eccentric aesthetic and amazing use of metallic, rainbow leather I was enchanted by the little footwear designer. Exclusive to Bath, Chanii B moved over to to the city with the intentions of staying a few months to promote her pop-up shop but ended up laying down roots in Bath due to an explosion of popularity amongst the locals. Working in fine, portugese leather Chanii B shoes are wildly coloured, rainbow explosions and tailored to the highest standard providing clients with luxury and an original fashion perspective. Although I do not believe in using any animal products in fashion and would not promote any products that do, leather is a hard product to avoid as it (without doubt) produces extremely high quality garments and accessories. Concluding this, Chanii B is a beautiful little boutique and Bath should be proud to host innovative designer boutiques such as this.

Chanii B Boutique interior (@shoesbychaniib)

Fine rainbow leathers from Portugal (@shoesbychaniib)

(@shoesbychaniib)

That concludes the VIP Bloggers day I spent in Bath. I made some lovely friends and hope we can continue to stimulate the growth of the fashion industry within Bath and the surrounding area. Thank you to all the brands and people that contributed to such a successful day and I look forward to meeting you all again in the future! Watch this space for trend reports from the Bath In Fashion designer show I attended following this event.

*Disclaimer*
All of the brands mentioned above took part or sponsored Bath In Fashion and the bloggers day and could therefore be said to have some influence over my opinion however this is not the case and everything detailed above is my own opinion and unsponsored. The tags and credits listed are ALL to Instagram accounts.