The thought of turning up to a random event where I know nobody is pretty scary.

I’ve only done it a couple of times before and ended up really enjoying myself.

I’ve been following Maple Tree Blog for over a year now and have been seeing the events she’s been planning in that time. Every time I debate going, and then debate long enough that the tickets all sell out! When the latest event, co-organised with The Way of the Snail opened up for ticket sales though, I swooped in and picked one up! There was no backing out now, I was going!

The event

The meet up was held at O Bar in Soho. It was a cute little bar I’d never been to before and we had the upstairs room hired out. I arrived and the place was already full of people chatting and laughing, it looked like everyone knew each other already! I got my name tag, a non alcoholic Mojito (delicious) and set about finding some people to talk to! Somehow I actually ended up bumping into two people from Northampton, so not too far from me. We chatted about our skincare routines and how long we’d been using Asian Skincare and perused the samples table. The sample table is where you can go to offload unwanted samples and maybe pick up some you’ve not used before. I have a huge stash of unused samples at home, so I resisted picking anything up.

We had around an hour of chatting before the main event started proper – Brand Speed Dating! There were five brands there for the day; Skinsider, Keauty Lab, Beauty & Seoul, Tonic 15 and Luckyface. There was a break in the middle of the speed dating to do the raffle draw – a lot of money was raised for some fantastic causes. Sadly I didn’t win anything! The end of the meet up was marked with the handing out of the goody bags and boxes (yes, plural) and a little goodbye mingle!

Brand speed dating

This was what I was most looking forward to. I’ve never tried a single AB product without purchasing it first, so the chance to try new products was exciting! Being able to chat to the brands and get some help and advice was amazing. At no point did it feel like anyone was trying to do a hard sell, it just felt like a group of people sharing their passion for good skincare.

I didn’t take any good pictures at the event, but I did take some pictures of products that caught my eye.

Skinsider – Lagom Sun Gel & Gel to Water Cleanser

I’d been chatting to Karolina, the lady behind Skinsider before the event kicked off and we’d talked about cleansing waters. She wasn’t a fan of them and tipped me off to a product that may just change my mind about using cleansers (I avoid them as they break me out). The gel to water cleanser was that product. It was amazing how when rubbed into the skin, it did turn from gel to water. I’m not always convinced my cleansing water necessarily gets rid of all the make up residue so I’m intrigued to try this and see if my skin feels cleaner. Thankfully we received a sample in our goody bags so I can have a try before splurging the £20 on the full size.

The Sun Gel was amazing. It was clear, soaked quickly into the skin and left no white cast or residue at all. At £26 it isn’t cheap, but it’s something I’m very tempted to pick up.

Lagom is a brand I’d never heard of before and although higher than my usual skincare price point, I’m keen to try a few of the products. As I received some in the goody bag, I’ll report back!

Keauty Lab – Dr Oracle A-Therma Cream

Dr Oracle is another brand I hadn’t come across before. However, I liked the sound of the A-Therma Cream as I’ve been struggling with oily skin lately. Since I’ve ditched the foundation in favour of BB Cream my skin has been oily from morning to night and frankly I don’t have the patience to spend all day blotting! This moisturiser claims to remove excess sebum so it’s on my list to purchase the next time I need one. At £31 it’s a little more than I’d normally spend on a moisturiser but if it cuts down on the oilyness it’ll be worth it.

Keauty Lab – Dr Oracle Cleansing Water

I’m going to be needing a new cleanser soon and if I don’t end up liking the Gel to Water from Lagom I may pick up this. It makes some big claims on the packaging, so I’d like to see how it measures up! However at £24 it’s probably double that of the Bioderma I normally use, so I’ll be checking some reviews before taking the plunge!

Beauty and Seoul – Klairs Preparation Toner

I’d heard loads about this before and finally got a chance to try it on my skin. I loved how it made me skin feel and as I’m running out of my COSRX toner, I’ve actually already ordered this and two other bits I saw at the Beauty & Seoul table. I picked up the COSRX Two in One Poreless Power liquid as I’d heard amazing reviews. On a whim, I also bought the Heimish Bulgarian Rose Hydrogel Eye Patches. My eyes have been really dry lately so I’m hoping these will give them a little boost.

Tonic 15 – By Wishtrend Pure Vitamin C Advanced Serum

While I like my Melano CC Serum, the packaging is annoying me immensely. I tried and liked this on the day and so will probably pick it up. It’s £27.50 for 30ml which sounds expensive but it’s 50% larger than the Melano. Price per ml therefore won’t be too much different. I was also able to try some Huxley products at the Tonic 15 table. The Anti Gravity Cream in particular caught my eye. It felt amazing on the skin without being too greasy. I’m therefore eyeing this up as a replacement for my current night cream.

Luckyface

The last table I went to in the speed dating was Luckyface. Luckyface is a new sheet mask subscription box service that I’ll be keeping a close eye on. I’ve got a huge stash of sheet masks to work through (more on that below!) but I love subscription boxes in general and so something where I can try new brands and masks each month sounds perfect.

The goody bags (and boxes!)

After the speed dating there were just two things left. The sample bag swap where you fill a bag with sheet masks and samples and get another one in return. Then, the handing out of all the goodies! I couldn’t believe the generosity of the brands supporting the event. This was my first event so I’ve no idea if they’ve all been this good, but they literally blew me away. I couldn’t wait to get home and unpack them all!

19 brands contributed altogether, to give all this a value of over £200! I took pictures of everything I received and so will show it all here, but then have follow up posts with reviews of some of my favourite products.

This box came from Mask Time – a sheet mask subscription box. These are all brands I’ve never heard of before so I’m really excited to try the masks! When I finally run out of sheet masks, it’ll be between these guys and Luckyface for a subscription!

This box of treats came from Tonic 15 and I was happy to see some Huxley in there!

Skinsider treated us to one of their travel bags by Lagom which meant not only did I get a deluxe sample of the gel to water cleanser I was keen to try, but I also got handy sachets of both the Sun Gel that I mentioned above, and the Cellus Deep Moisture Cream which caught my eye at the event.

More sheet masks and the first time I’d seen a week of masks packaged together. This pack came from Japanese Taste. Not sure I can sheet mask for a whole week, but I’ll give it a try! The Skin79 and Innisfree masks came from Bits and Bobs of Beauty. I’ve just used my first ever Red Ginseng sheet mask and I love how my skin looked the next day, so I’m looking forward to using this!

These goodies are from My Beautique and I’m very intrigued by the mask with fungus in!

A full sized product! 107 is a brand I’ve never heard of and I can’t wait to try this oil in gel cleanser. I’ve never been able to get on with oil cleansers in the past, but I’m hoping the gel element will mean it works for me this time. The All Clean Balm and Soothing Gel are from Bits and Bobs of Beauty. I’ve already used the All Clean Balm and it left my skin feeling super soft.

Beauty & Seoul gave us this lovely beauty bag filled to the brim with samples. I absolutely love samples both as a way to try something, and for travel. I’ve already used the Hyggee Essence and Cream and absolutely really liked how they left my skin feeling so I hope they’re coming to the shop soon!

More masks and this time from Buttermilk Skincare.

These goodies from Beautius came in a super cute rabbit gift bag. The product on the right is bath salts which I’m really keen to try!

These aren’t AB but you can’t pass up more lovely sheet masks! These and the vitamins are from Instytutum.

I’m very intrigued by these masks from Be Mused Korea as they have multiple steps in them. It’s nice to see a mask that doesn’t forget about the eye area!

From Keauty Lab we received a mask and two Dr Oracle A-Thera Peeling Sticks. The next time I have a breakout I’ll be using one of these!

From Commleaf we received blotting powders and Rose Moisture Pads. As I’ve been suffering with a little bit of dry skin at the moment, I’ll be getting these opened soon!

From Urang we received some products we saw at the Skinsider table. I don’t know much about this brand but I’ve just bought tickets for a event with the CEO of Urang in September so I can’t wait to find out more.

All the sheet masks! The box of masks came from Hello Skin – I love the artwork on this box. The ABIB and Innisfree masks came from GlowMo. The Kin Girls mask came from Oyat Skin. Finally the Milk Sheet Mask came from Bits and Bobs of Beauty. I can literally sheet mask every day now for a month and still have some left!

Another full size! This eye cream came from Swanicoco and I’ve already started it. So far I really like it as it’s lovely and rich.

Last but not least, is a lovely haul of samples! These came from Keauty Lab and GlowMo. I’ve heard great things about the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask so hopefully the one for the face is just as great.

I absolutely loved going to this meet up. I can’t wait for the next one and I’ll be keeping an eye out for any future AB events I can go along to. My next one is the Urang event mentioned earlier and I’m already excited!