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[image via Style Bubble]

I said a while ago that I’d spent a breakfast meeting with some high street folks talking about bloggers…and last night I saw some of the results of that meeting. It was the Arcadia Online Press Day, an event especially for bloggers and online writers showcasing the best new stuff from Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Evans, Dorothy Perkins, Topman and co.

Bloggers / online press do get invited to the regular Arcadia press days earlier in the year, but there are tight restrictions on photography (especially at Topshop) and we’re limited as to what we can and can’t say so early on, so having an event a bit later, when we have free reign to snap away and write everything up as soon as we get home (or, indeed, on one of the computers they had set up in the showroom for that purpose) is fantastic.

What was even more fantastic was the photography on offer. In our meeting we’d discussed the fact bloggers love to try things on, get creative and have something unique to put on their blogs rather than cut-outs or model shots. And Arcadia really pulled it out the bag with their solution to this!

Head through a mock photobooth in the first room, and you found yourself in a photography studio with rails of samples to try on and pose in. Photos went on a USB stick so they could be blogged about straight away. Sadly I had very little time at the event because I was off to Qype’s birthday quiz, so I didn’t have chance to do this myself (I was also limited by those pesky sample sizes – the only stuff that would have fit me was the Evans stuff, and I think Tor has showcased that much better than I ever could) but loads of others did and the results are awesome. See Mademoiselle Robot, Disney Rollergirl, Miggy Likes The Internet and Style Bubble for what’s gone live so far.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what Isabelle, Rachael and Laura got up to!

I make a small unexpected cameo (looking very shocked indeed) in this Dollyrockers music video. Needless to say, I didn’t know they were filming a video. I was at a shop opening and suddenly these tiny girls with big bouffants suddenly appeared, miming to music I couldn’t hear from outside. Only in London!

Thanks to Leon for spotting it.

When you live somewhere, you never get round to doing the touristy things that are on offer, which is why yesterday – aged 25 – I went to the zoo for the first time.

I think this was my first time at a zoo ever, in fact. I’ve been to Sigfried and Roy’s Secret Garden, but that doesn’t really count being in the middle of a casino, and having grown up so close the West Midlands Safari Park, there was never any need to go anywhere that involved walking to look at animals.

But on a surprisingly sunny April Sunday, I’ve now established there really is nothing better to do but wander round Regent’s Park debating whether there’s anything cuter than a baby meerkat.*

I took loads of photos, but since I seem to have misplaced my card reader, you can’t see them. Instead, I will leave you with a video from the 1970s Mike Leigh TV play ‘Nuts In May’, with Alison Steadman singing the song I hummed all day while walking round. When you watch it, you’ll understand.

*it turns our there is, it’s called a Prairie Dog, and its bark sounds like a little girl sneezing.

Just before I left Shiny, I was invited to a blogger event hosted by The Body Shop and Headstream. I didn’t get the chance to mention it on Kiss and Makeup before I left, so I thought it was worth giving it a mention here, because as blogger events go, it was pretty exemplary.

Why and how? Well…

1. They were honest
The Body Shop PR team were the first to admit that they hadn’t really explored blogs, they didn’t really understand them that well, and they wanted to learn more from us. Headstream had been bought in to help out, find the bloggers and introduce them to the brand, and then it was down to The Body Shop to win us over. Nobody pretended to know who I was or what blog I wrote for (I hate it when they pretend) but they asked lots of questions (and more that just ‘how many hits do you get’) and seemed genuinely keen to find out more.

2. The didn’t palm us off with second-rate presentations
I’ve been to blogger events before that have felt like pared-down, cheaper versions of press days. I’ve also received emails inviting me, as a blogger, to ‘experience a press day’. Sometimes I think things like this can undermine bloggers – especially the type that clients are trying to get to these events. Most decent, commercially-savvy bloggers know they can go to press days without having their hand held by a third party. There’s a fine line between offering a blogger a perk and patronising them. This event didn’t feel like it was a runner-up prize, it felt like something very special just for us, and that goes a long way to securing some loyalty!

3. They catered to our needs
Everyone at the event was given the chance to get a makeover by makeup artist Chase Aston. What really surprised me was that the organisers had had the forethought to get in a camera crew to film the makeovers so we could get videos to go on our sites afterwards. Having been to dozens of beauty events where you say the words “can I film this?” and get greeted by blank looks or “Um, I dont, er, let me ask my boss…” this was a real surprise. The camera crew even spoke to us about what close-ups we’d like.

4. The goodie bags were HUGE
Most bloggers like free stuff, I’m not going to lie. Very few people make money from their blogs. Those that do probably don’t make much. Those that earn a living blogging may be a bit more jaded, but will still be mightily impressed by a goodie bag so heavy it can barely be carried. I know if I don’t have to buy shampoo / body lotion / lipstick for a while, then I’m a happy bunny! The Body Shop certainly didn’t scrimp on products – we even got a full set of makeup brushes – and I think this was a really good plan on their part. It made us feel grateful to be invited, and made the event memorable,  it gave us a really good chance to try out the brand as a whole, not just one or two products, and it increased the chances of us using the products long into the future – and thus mentioning them on our blogs.

Speaking of mentioning them on our blogs, I’ll spare you goodie bag photos as there’s plenty of that on Hele Says, Cosmetic Candy, The Yummy Mummy’s Beauty Blog, Mizz Worthy’s Stuff & Confessions of a Makeup Addict.

Thanks to The Body Shop and Headstream for inviting me, I’m now off to play with my new makeup…