Swimwear365 Beach Party

Evening kittens! Hope you’ve all had a fabulously fashionable weekend – it’s been absolutely glorious weather here in manchester (makes a change!) so what better way to enjoy the beautiful weather than to dive into a beach party?

It must be the season for swimwear, as I only recently wrote about my visit to South Beach Swimwear’s Blog Party and the other week I was also lucky enough to be invited to Swimwear365‘s first blogger event. It’s pretty surprising to me that such a huge company has only just discovered bloggers but I’m so glad I could be involved in their first frontier! The event was appropriately held at Revolucion De Cuba on Peter Street, a new festival style bar near the Great Northern. Oh, and if y’all are wondering, my beautiful vintage-esque flower print shift top is this little number from Glamorous, paired with a pair of black jeans, a chunky necklace and black wedges!

As I was welcomed to the venue with my very own flower garland (cute touch, eh?), I was given a wrist band allowing me to choose three drinks from the bar. My first drink was a Strawberry Daiquiri, which I have to say is my favourite cocktail at the moment. It was gorgeous and I would have had two more had we been allowed to have cocktails past 7pm!

After grabbing my Daiguiri, I mooched over to one corner of the exclusive bar area where Nails by Natalie had set up a mobile nail bar. I was treated to a quick manicure with flower nail art on my ring finger, which actually lasted for just over a week! The nail designs were all inspired by various bikinis from Swimwear365′s current collection, which I thought was a lovely touch. It was also such a nice little treat to have a bit of pampering whilst drinking a cocktail – I could get used to that!

Now, priorities aside (nails and alcohol), Swimwear365 had set up a couple of rails to showcase their new Spring/Summer 2013 collection. The collection not only included swimwear (duh!) but what they called “holiday fashion”, including maxi dresses, kimonos and kaftans. I was pleased to see a wide range of patterns, colours and shapes in the swimwear section. As I mentioned in my South Beach Swimwear post, I’m not a fan of bikinis so I was delighted to see so many one pieces in the collection – almost an equal amount to bikinis, which is unusual.

We were each allowed to choose one item to take home to review. I didn’t realise at first that you couldn’t pick a garment which someone else had already picked, so I didn’t get my first choice of swimsuit. However, there were a lot of options left despite the fact I was pretty much last to choose, and I settled on this Lascana navy polka-dot one piece – very retro, very me. In another corner of the venue, a map was set out where we were to pinpoint the destination where we’d wear our swimwear if we could anywhere in the world. A bit unusual, but I chose Denmark, because I’m totally in love with Copenhagen!

As an extra treat, we were each given the chance to take a generous goodie bag home. However, there was a little twist; each bag contained slightly different items, to be chosen by tweeting a random number to Swimwear365. A clever idea! I ended up with a water bottle, beach towel, sarong, a sunhat and a bronzing makeup set. Thanks, Swimwear365 – it was fab!

Finally, before I left I was asked to take part in filming for Swimwear365. I was taken to a small set with a promo banner and little camera crew and interviewed about my opinions on Swimwear365’s collection. I also chose two of my favourite pieces to talk about and style – one a classic red one piece, the other a fierce animal print and netting swimming costume. Unfortunately I didn’t get to take these home too, but I loved them both!

Over all, I had a lovely time and wish I could have stayed all night! It was great to see the collection and meet the staff behind Swimwear365, who were all lovely. It’s fantastic to see such a huge brand get involved with bloggers and meet everyone behind it who were all very welcoming and very accommodating  Thank you!

So kittens, do you prefer a bikini or a one piece? Do you preferred patterned or plain simwear? Leave me a comment below and let me know! And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, like my Facebook page and subscribe to my Youtube channel to keep up to date with all things fashion!