A day spent at The Body Shop - with a giveaway for you!

On Saturdays I most look forward to the following: Sleeping late, eating a leisurely breakfast, playing endless games of Lego Creationary with my twins, catching up on DVD's episodes of Extreme Couponing and Fashion Police, and maybe getting in a run. It takes A LOT for me to drag myself out of bed early. However, yesterday I made an exception. See, my friend Brian Warren, manager of The Body Shop in Northpark Center, offered to have an event for the Dallas-Fort Worth Bloggers network. This I wouldn't miss.

To be honest, I'm not that familiar with The Body Shop's products. For years I believed their lotions, shampoos and bath potions were reserved for granola munching, tree-huggers who wore clothing made from hemp and ran food co-ops. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just wasn't sure their products were for me. But boy, was I wrong.

The Body Shop's new summer bronzing collection

At nine-thirty our group of 17 bloggers descended on the store and were welcomed with coffee, yogurt parfaits, and mini chicken biscuits provided by Chick-Fil-A. Personally, I can't think of a better way to start an event. Give me Chick-Fil-A and I will be your bestie for LIFE. It's that easy.

We were welcomed by Brian, his district manager and store employees. They were so sweet and took the time to explain new products and the principles by which The Body Shop operates. I was impressed to learn that not a single product sold in the store is tested on animals, and how committed they are to create environmentally responsible lines. The Body Shop is also currently working to fight against sex trafficking and had a petition for us to sign. It's not that often that you see such a large company working so hard for social change.

After eating and chatting we were treated to foot scrubs, make-up applications and demonstrations of hand products. 

Haley of Cheap Girl in a Chic World and Kileen of Cute and Little enjoying a foot scrub

Katie of Fashion Dinosaur got a gorgeous make-over

The gorgeous Chastity of The Curvy Girl's Guide to Style

 While being pampered, we milled around, filling our baskets with new products and getting advice from store employees. There were also raffles for Chick-Fil-A coupons and The Body Shop gifts. We also tried out products from The Body Shop's new Honey Bronze make-up line. I'm not typically a bronzing kind of girl - I barely wear blush - but the bronzers gave a healthy, pretty glow, with a very subtle amount of sparkle.

Juanette of The Fashion Nette-work spinning the Chick-Fil-A wheel

Erin of Work With What You've Got with Brian. Here's a tip she shared: Use a drop of The Body Shop's Honey Bronze Shimmering Dry Oil in your hair to smooth frizz, bring out highlights and add shine. Genius!

Cris of Fashion Juice had a pretty smokey eye done. Gorgeous!

At the end of the event we all received gift bags with samples, coupons and discounts from both The Body Shop and Chick-Fil-A. I think everyone had a great time. If you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, or are in driving distance of Dallas, come and join our network - we'd love to have you at future events like this one.

Me with the Body Shop's district manager and Brian Warren, Northpark Center store manager

Here's a treat - I snagged a giveaway package for one of you! I'm happy to offer one of my readers a giveaway for a gift bag and two full-size products from The Body Shop's new summer bronzing line: A bottle of their Honey Bronze Shimmering Dry Oil (which is completely sold out and reminiscent of NARS' Body Glow shimmer oil, a cult favorite) and a Honey Bronze Lip Nectar gloss in coral (a sheer, slightly sparkly shade that's flattering on everyone.) 

To enter, just do the following:

• Follow me on Google Friend Connect;
• Follow me on Twitter at @dresscourage;
• Tweet the following about the giveaway: I just entered the @bodyshopusa giveaway from @dresscourage! http://tinyurl.com/4xdllml
• Leave a comment letting me you you're following and tweeted with your email address. (Comments without an email address will not count as an entry.)

Thanks for entering, and good luck!

A Saturday spent with Dallas fashion bloggers? Yes please!

There are lots of adjectives I could use to describe myself: Eclectic. Introspective. Sarcastic. Scrappy. However, I do not consider myself a joiner. In high school I spent much of my time hiding in music practice rooms working on flute concertos, and exploring Manhattan with only my worn leather backpack and cup of coffee as accompaniment. While I cherish my time spent with friends, I'm not one of those women who needs to be with people all the time. I'm perfectly content shopping alone, or making a solo trip to a bar for a shot of whiskey (I must be the only person who nurses a drink while reading chick lit on their Kindle.) In addition, large group gatherings intimidate the crap out of me. Despite my tattoos, and bright red hair, I'm not as outgoing as you might think. I get crazy anxious before parties and events. I worry that I'm going to spill something in myself, be under-dressed, be over-dressed, talk too much, talk too little, or otherwise embarrass myself.

However, I squealed with delight when Kileen invited me to the DFW Blogger Meetup on Saturday. Despite my apparent social anxiety disorder, there was no way I was going to pass up the chance to socialize with other fashion and personal style bloggers in the Dallas area. I wasn't sure how many people were going to be there, but fifteen bloggers turned up! Thank God I changed 1423 times or I would indeed been painfully under-dressed.

Good lord is my hair red. I stuck out like a traffic light among all those gorgeous brunettes.

We began with brunch at Ristoranti Cibus in Northpark Center. Northpark is a fantastic place to spend a day, and even more so with fashion bloggers. Over brunch we introduced ourselves and described our bogs, exchanged business cards, discussed blogging techniques, and got to know one another over bottomless mimosas and bellinis. Brunch was absolutely delicious too - I dug into a plate of brioche with gravlox, capers and cream cheese. Yummo. As a relatively new blogger, it was really fun to be included in a group of such stylish, intelligent women. I learned so much and hopefully made friends I will keep in touch with for a long time.

I was too busy schmoozing to take many pictures, but here's a few from the day:

The epically stylish Angga of Reservade Fashion, wearing  a Forever 21 bag and spring's hottest color: coral! She drove all the way from Kansas to attend the meetup, and I was so excited to meet her.

Posting with Tina of T Minus T Plus, who gave me so many useful tips for promoting and tracking my blog. I really hope to stay in touch with her - she was so much fun to meet!

Posing In Northpark's courtyard in a thrifted J Crew blazer, Forever 21 top, thrifted J Brand jeans; Stuart Weitzman wedges, Forever black pyramid bracelet, and thrifted vintage bag

After brunch we attended a cosmetics consultation courtesy of Dior and Allure magazine. I was drooling over the color-rich, luxurious makeup available for us to try. We broke up into two groups and received lessons regarding moisturizers, primers and foundation, followed by instruction on eyeshadow blending and liner application. I'm a total make-up junkie - though most of my cosmetics come from Target (Loreal shadows are the bomb) - so this was a pretty amazing experience. It was like Christmas morning, my birthday, and a sorority road trip all mashed into one. But with better clothes.

Irene of Pink Hearted Princess served as the perfect model, though she was perfectly gorgeous before getting made up!

I had an absolutely fantastic time, and I'm really hopeful the other bloggers and I can organize regular monthly gatherings. It was a blast.

Would you ever attend a blogger meetup? Have you made any personal connections with other bloggers outside the internet?