Chamilia – Newcastle Fashion Week

Guys, I’ve finished my degree. This is absolutely crazy.

But today I’m talking about an awesome event I attended in Newcastle as part of Newcastle Fashion Week yesterday. I had really wanted to be involved in NFW, but unfortunately ended up having my crazy exam time during most of it, and also we’re moving out tomorrow (eek!) and have spent all day emptying and scrubbing the flat (I properly cleaned the bathroom, like literally scrubbed everything, I was super proud of myself). Anyway, I was invited to this event, and I was so excited to see that the date was the day after my exams, perfect way to celebrate!!

I was invited, along with a few other Newcastle bloggers, including Tor whose blog I’ve read for a while and was really excited to meet, and a group of bloggers who came up from London with Frankie from PushPR for the event. It was their first time in Newcastle, and they were all hoping to see the cast of Geordie Shore!! No luck though!! We first headed to the Chamilia HQ where we were given an amazing spread of sushi, sandwiches, fruit and cupcakes, and then had the opportunity to design our own bracelets.

Chamilia are a US based company which seems to work very similarly to Pandora, you get a bracelet (or necklace) and can add as many beads as you like. We had an amazing choice of bracelets, from plain metal bands, to beaded metal, to leather (which can be worn as a bracelet, anklet, and necklace when wrapped differently). That was my first problem: too many choices of just which bracelet to choose!! I ended up choosing the black leather, but once I started choosing the beads, I changed back to a plain metal one! Then the beads…oh the beads!! There were almost 600 beads to choose from – of course they didn’t have every single bead out for us to see, but whatever bead we wanted, they would get it for us – there was everything you can possibly imagine, even down to Swarovski crystal beads.  There is such a massive selection that I was completely overwhelmed and I was probably one of the last to finished my bracelet because I just could not decide!! I’d had a look on the website and had a quick go at designing a bracelet beforehand so I had an idea of what kind of beads I liked, but once I was there, I just kept spotting more and more I loved! Plus I wanted it to be kind of coordinated, similar colours at least, and symmetrical. I just HAD to have some Disney beads, as soon as I knew they had them, it just wasn’t even a decision for me! In the end I decided to make one that my sister and I could share, as I’m not a big bracelet wearer and she is, plus we both love Disney, so it was perfect.

So here are some of the others designing their bracelets and some finished products:

And here’s my finished bracelet, the centre bead is a beautiful Disney inspired bead with a pretty blue bead and ‘Dreams really do come true’ written on it, a Minnie and Mickey on either side, on either side of those are two round beads, one with purple flowers, the other iridescent turquoise, and finally on either side of those, two locks, one with a sun, one with a flower, which keep the beads in place where you want them on the bracelet. I was really pleased with how it came out in the end! And I hope my sister likes it too!!

I’m going to do another post on the second half of the day – a trip into the centre of Newcastle, including a tour of the centre (despite the fact that I’ve lived there 3 years now!!) and ‘cocktails’ afterwards =)

Love,