Bloggers United AU Adelaide Event Recap

For those of you who follow me across social media, you'll know that I am actually co-founder of an organisation called Bloggers United AU. Bloggers United AU was created with the idea of bringing bloggers and brands together, to help create a harmonious community in the blogging world here in Australia. Fellow co-founder Nikita and I held our very first Adelaide event on the 29th of February, and so I wanted to share a little bit about the day with everyone.

Our Adelaide event was very different to our previous Sydney, Perth and Melbourne events, but it made for an amazing day.
 

I actually flew in the night before and stayed at our magnificent location, the Seawall Apartments in Glenelg. We were right on the beach, and I was greeted with this amazing scenery in the morning. We were lucky enough to have a clear day.

We managed to get a huge group shot - there's so many of us. We had brands and bloggers in this shot, too. It was such a great atmosphere.

Myself with co-founder Nikita, and our stunning Adelaide representatives Kate and Nici. Kate and Nici did a lot of work setting up the presenters and gift bags, we are so proud of all they have achieved. They also implemented a fresh idea, akin to speed dating, to our Adelaide event.

Essentially our bloggers were teamed into random groups of about three, and were given 15 minutes to visit each brand. There they were able to have one-on-one chats with the brands presenters, ask questions and try products. I felt this really helped in developing a connection with the brand, and was also a great idea if you were too shy to ask questions in front of a large group.

We had 12 brands attending - Kismet Jardin, Natralus, Runway Room, Shanghai Lil, REB Cosmetics, Davroe, Weleda, Enbacci, L'Oreal Professional, Yo-Get-It, Dr Hauschka and Vani-T. I sadly didn't get a chance to see all brands personally, but I did duck in and out of a few presentations.

I ended up joining in one a few of the speed dates, and loved every minute of it. I thought all the presenters were absolutely wonderful. There were a few stand-outs that I personally got a lot out of, but I enjoyed all of them.

I especially loved checking out the Vani-T products. I had never heard of this brand before as they were purely in salons before now. They focus on tanning products, as well as "eco glamour" products. Just because it's eco-friendly, doesn't mean it's packaging can't be gorgeous. I was in love with the eyeshadows and lipsticks and will be definitely checking out their range.

A brand I loved listening to was a local Adelaide brand called Kismet Jardin. Skincare experts, these guys really knew their stuff. It wasn't fluffer talk either, it was real hard science that truly made me understand my skin a bit better. It was so clear that they were so passionate about what they do, and this really helps inspire confidence in a brand. I received some samples, as well as a full sized product from their range, so I'll be keen to test them out.

Another fantastic local brand that stood out to me was Shanghai Lil and the Scarlet Fez. We were lucky enough to have the creator of the brand with us on the day, and he took us through his range of soaps, lip balms and perfumes. The presentation itself was stunning; but more so were the scents of his products. It was also nice to see how passionate he was about his brand. He stocks online and locally in Adelaide - so I may have to pick up more products online.

We also had a lovely gentleman from L'Oreal Professional, Nikita, who came to talk to us about working with brands (as well as a sneak peek into some L'Oreal Professional products.) I really got a lot out of talking with Nikita, as what he said made so much sense. He had a lot of insight into how L'Oreal Professional works with bloggers, and some key factors that help you get noticed. He was an excellent resource! I love this shot of him with a few of the lovely bloggers. 

We were also lucky enough to be provided an amazing lunch from the new Oporto menu, delivered right to our door by Delivery Boyz. We also had some fresh drinks from Pressed Juices and Ovi Hydration - which worked well as it was a warm day.

The goody bags were also amazing. The amount of products that brands donated was just mind-boggling, and the amount of goodies we got on the day from presenters was also pretty exciting. I'll definitely be doing a haul post, hopefully by the end of this week, so I can give you a glimpse into all the goodies we received.

We also had some guest speakers - Jenni from Styling Curvy gave us an inspirational speech about loving yourself, and shared some very moving personal stories. We also had the lovely ladies from Adelady - whose segment I sadly missed as I was prepping the goody bags - but heard awesome reviews about.

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Overall it was amazing day. It went by so quickly as there was so much to do, but I had a lot of fun. A big thank you to everyone who presented, everyone who contributed and everyone who attended.

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*Some of these photographs belong to Heidi Who Photography who has generously allowed us to use the photographs for the day.