I went to the BlogHer conference this year in Chicago (gorgeous city!), and I learned a few blogging tips, but for me, the best reason for me to go was to meet my fellow beauty bloggers in person! I roomed with my girl, Courtney, from Phyrra.net. We’re good roommates because we both stay up late and hate mornings. 🙂 I got to see Cindy from Prime Beauty and Mary from The Recessionista again. Love those gals!
Courtney (AKA Phyrra) and Jen (don’t ask me what’s going on with the lighting here – it’s not a filter!)
(L-R) Christina, Jen, Phyrra, Treacle, Carleen
And I met so many new peeps who I talk to all the time but finally got to see in the flesh:
- Christine from 15 Minute Beauty Fanatic
- Carleen from Girl Gloss & Beauty & Fashion Tech
- Christina from Hair Romance
- Teri from Beautiful Makeup Search
- Nancy from Beauty 411
- Michelle from All Lacquered Up
- Angela from Lipgloss Break
- Treacle Tart from Lingerie Addict
- Leanne from The Makeup Girl
- Hope I didn’t leave anyone out!
There are so many vendors and sponsors, and everyone wants you to write about their products of course. There’s so much, but here’s what I think is worth checking out:
Sodastream – I’ve been hearing about these for a long time, but now that I have ended my love affair with Diet Coke (for health reasons), I think I need to pony up and buy one. There are lots of flavorings (some healthy, some not so much), but you can also add fruit juices, or my favorite – stevia-flavored Stur. Stur comes in fun flavors like orange-mango, lemonade, cucumber-mint and tea-lemonade. Stur goes well with the bubbles!
Guy Kawasaki’s new book, Ape – I enjoyed Guy’s panel, and I can’t wait to read his new book, Ape – How to Publish a Book. He gave us all a free digital copy, so I look forward to reading it and gaining a little inspiration to publish my own!
Carbonite – A cloud backup service may not sound exciting to you, but think about it – what if your computer dies? Do you regularly back up your music, photos (or in my case – blog files)? Carbonite does this for you – automatically, so you don’t have to think about it. At $59.99 a year, and with no storage limits, it’s really reasonable! They gave me a free year to try out, and I intend to keep it up from year to year. I am so bad at backing stuff up!
Walgreens – Walgreens? Yep – Walgreens! They were representin’ at BlogHer, and as you know, they have many cruelty free beauty brands. I won a 12″x12″ canvas photo print that I can apparently print and pick up the same day. The coupon expired on 7/31 though (what??). If I can still use it, I’m thinking about getting a My Beauty Bunny logo print to hang up in my office.
ULTA – ULTA is one of my favorite beauty stores. They have high end and low end cruelty free brands like DermOrganic, NYX, Paul Mitchell, Stila, Urban Decay, Anastasia, Butter London, Too Faced, and many more!
ASPCA – The ASPCA was there! I’m not loving this photo of me, but I have to share anyway. Gotta give some love to those who are working to make the lives of animals better. Notice I’m rocking my LUSH “Fighting Animal Testing” bag! Support animal rights by following the ASPCA on Twitter and Facebook.
You look especially pretty in these pics, Jen! I have a sodastream and it’s really nice to have. My husband is going to try his hand at making his own syrups 🙂 You can easily google natural recipes.
It was SO great to meet you Jen!
Conventions like these are made great by the friends we get to hang out with, ‘in the flesh’, as you mentioned.
Aw, Jen you look very cute! I’ve also wanted to try a soda maker so I can have healthier carbonated options.