Tuesday 15 September 2015

Strike A Pose: Fashionista Biscuits from Biscuiteers at the #BiscuiteersXBloggers Event


All dressed up for some me time with some wonderful fellow-bloggers and The Biscuiteers! 

Exactly a week ago I headed down to the Big Smoke for some well earned chill time with the wonderful ladies at Biscuiteers. The event called #BiscuiteersXBloggers was held at their Biscuit Boutique on the Northcote Road in London, and was part of the re-launch of their new-look Fashionistas Biscuit Tin for London Fashion Week 2015. 

The beautiful tin of fashion-forward biscuits contain 16 iced biscuits inspired by on-trend pieces by designers such as Matthew Williamson and Charlotte Olympia. 

If you can't afford an original MW dress or CO bag then why not dunk the biscuit version instead? 

I love the concept, and as usual I was blown away with the attention to detail on this tin when I got to see it in the flesh...it really is stunning and would make the perfect gift for any fashionista! 

The Fashionista Tin, Biscuiteers, Priced at £39.50

Lights, Camera, Fashion! We've teamed up with fashionista and style guru Alice Naylor-Leyland to bring you a truly fashion forward collection filled with biscuits inspired by British designers including Charlotte Tilbury, Matthew Williamson and Alice Temperley, not forgetting the accessories to match! You can even mix and match the outfits. Perfectly packed and delivered to your door, it's the only accompaniment to the latest edition of your favourite glossy magazine and fizz! 

"This week I'll only be eating the most fashionable biscuits, they are divine." 
Matthew Williamson

"Looking forward to dunking the Charlotte Olympia shoes into my tea!" 
Charlotte Olympia

"As a bonus, they come housed in a tin almost as adorable as the biscuits themselves" Harpers Bazzar

Flavour: vanilla

This tin contains 16 or more of our delicious handmade biscuits

#BiscuiteeersXBloggers

Back to the event. 

On arrival I was greeted by the wonderful PR team from Biscuiteers, and enjoyed mingling with some gorgeous fellow bloggers, while sipping on some incredible gin cocktails from the wonderful Sipsmith Distillery who were there to attend to all our gin-based needs. Perfect. 

The guys from Sipsmith attending to all our gin-based needs! 

An amazing iced biscuit drinks menu stood at the bar! Biscuiteers you are incredible! 

Sipsmith gin and slimline tonic o'clock! 

Sipsmith sloe gin with lemon tonic, it was immense! 

I always love visiting Biscuiteers, and this was my first time in their larger Northcote road boutique (their other smaller boutique is in Notting Hill) I enjoyed a lovely Christmassy themed visit to the Notting Hill store back in 2013, you can read all about it here

The Northcote Road boutique is exquisite and jam packed full of stunning iced wonders. I genuinely didn't know where to begin, but enjoyed a good nosey round, snapping pictures of my favourite items to share with you, my lovely readers. 

Up close & personal to The Fashionista Tin

The Fashionistas Tin - #AliceXBiscuiteers 

Hanging iced biscuits adorn the ceiling in the boutique!

A beach hut made entirely from biscuits and icing - YES. TO. THIS

These roar-some biscuits (see what I did there?) would definitely have been Bert's first choice #dinomad

For ME? Oh...you shouldn't have Biscuiteers! ;-)

The Biscuiteers tins are so beautifully designed and make fabulous keepsakes long after the biscuits have been munched. 

Literally my dream cake #bookworm

For smaller budgets these stunning iced biscuit pops - cute or what?

The pièces de résistance was this ahhh-MAZING dino cake adorned with iced biscuit dinosaurs and flying Pterodactyls! WOW. 

After a whole lot of window shopping and making many mental notes for future purchases, the wonderful Biscuiteer girls had arranged for some brilliant fashion bloggers to chat about their experiences working with fashion brands, and a little informal Q&A session. We heard from the super lovely and fellow Breton-obsessed Liv from What Olivia Did, stunning and very funny Kristabel from I Want You To Know and super Lucy from Shiny Thoughts, whose passion for fashion was infectious! If you don't already follow these lovely ladies then do, they really are at the top of their game & I love reading them. 

During the talk the lovely Biscuiteers ladies explained that they consider themselves very much a fashion brand rather than a food brand - they release their biscuits in 'collections', much like the fashion industry, and their 'pieces' are incredibly design led - it is almost incidental that they taste blooming amazing too! So, it makes huge sense that they would therefore choose to work with fashion-forward bloggers, who care about trends, style and looking fantabulous! 

I was honoured when the Biscuiteer marketing and press team re-iterated that they select the bloggers they work with very carefully; I felt proud to be part of that band of Biscuiteers-Bloggers...it is moments like those that all my hard work on the blog pays off & I feel glad that I work as hard as I do. 

I was particularly excited to hear from fellow-blogger and all round awesome lady Liv, from What Olivia Did. I have been following Liv's fashion blog for well over a year now, and was excited to meet her in the flesh and have a natter. We have very similar tastes when it comes to fashion, especially since my recent 6.5 stone weight loss - now I finally feel confident enough to embrace the brands and styles I have always coveted. 

Beautiful, passionate Liv talking about her experiences as a blogger working with brands. 

Us bloggers putting the world to rights! 

While listening to the lovely ladies talk I felt reassured that I am making good choices when it comes to my blog - that I am right to be selective with who I choose to work with, and what reviews I accept. I felt proud that I do turn down many collaborations because they don't sit comfortably with my blog's content/concept. I felt empowered listening to other bloggers agree, share stories, laugh and encourage each other as we pave the way in this still fairly 'new' blogging world we find ourselves in. 

It was awesome to hear the Biscuiteer team recognise our importance in terms of PR and marketing for them, and other brands alike - I loved to hear that they consider our blogs to be important 'publications', and that they understand the power in the words we type.

Not only was it cracking to hear from these esteemed bloggers, it was also great to mingle with the other bloggers attending the event - it was especially cool to chat to lovely blogger/illustrator Ella Masters - she and I have a lot in common having both shifted bucket-loads of weight over the past two years. I have followed Ella's incredible illustration talent for a long time, and it was great to catch up in the flesh and swap weight loss stories. 

After the talk we were all treated to manicures from London Grace, a new up and coming bar/salon in London followed by a biscuit icing masterclass which was so much fun...

Thank you Fabiana for my gorgeous nails! 

So many colours...so little time! 

After my nails had dried, and I was feeling more than a little bit wobbly after a few too many Sipsmith gins I headed to the back of the boutique to their beautiful icing cafe to have a go at icing some of the biscuits from the fashion collection myself.

I must admit that I have had a little bit of practice having iced at their Notting Hill cafe before, and used their book at home on multiple occasions to ice my own homemade biscuits (remember my dinosaur skeleton biscuits?). However, the gin consumption definitely didn't help my already not very steady hands. It was super-fun to have a play though, and the end result provided lots of giggles ...

My plain biscuits before I attacked them with icing...

I had to do a striped number, right?

Still wet... I gave them my best gin-fuelled shot. Ha! 

To try and take my mind off of my pretty poor icing attempts I ate three delicious macarons and felt immediately better. :-)


Who doesn't love a macaron?

And of course, I couldn't help but swoon majorly over the amazing collection of Cornishware red and white china on display - Biscuiteers use it exclusively in their cafe/boutique, and although the blue and white is my favourite from Cornishware, I loved seeing this alternate colour looking vibrant and stylish. 

Cornishware love!!

Once my biscuits were dry and I knew that drinking any more gin would be a big mistake, I headed back to Bedford with a lovely goodie bag in tow (thanks guys!)

Once again, I had a ball Biscuiteers - and left feeling empowered, excited and proud of my role as a Biscuiteers blogger. 

Bye bye Biscuiteers! Their boutique by night... 

A beautiful goodie bag - thanks to Biscuiteers, Sipsmith, Teapigs, Benefit Cosmetics, London Grace, and Royal Albert for their wonderful gifts. 

The morning after the night before - a cuppa in my gorgeous new Royal Albert (great name!!) teacup... #happyblogger #whathangover

Bye for now

Mrs B

xxx

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