2012 MMVA Round Up

Well, I can live to say I survived another MMVA weekend – barely though.

As usual, the MMVAs took good ol’ Queen West by storm while also sending every teenie bopper in the city into cardiac arrest. Once again, I got to be a part of the madness.

Of course, the weekend started off in the best way possible – NO, not parties… GIFT LOUNGES. Yes, gift lounges. They are absolutely the most ridiculous and most wonderful thing at the same time. A gift lounge is exactly what it sounds like: a lounge where you are given gifts. In reality, being a vendor in one of these lounges is a great way for a brand to get their name out there. What better publicity and hype than seeing a celeb (or me) in some exclusive swag (I just used the word)!!

#FRIENDSWITHBENEFITS: Universal Music Canada x RedBull Canada

Well, first up on the gift lounge circuit for me were my homies over at RedBull Space who hosted the Universal Music Canada, “Friends with Benefits” lounge.

The first thing that caught my eye in the lounge was Italian watchmaker  Toy Watch (you know I love me some accessories).

OMG! The colours of the St. Tropez collection were insanely bright and each one had a nifty woven strap. Can we take a moment to speak about the ring watch… yes, I said ring watch!!!

Our good ol’ photog scooped up this blinged out beauty.

I was trying to restrain myself from heading over to the Pandora booth, but that didn’t last very long. Of course, when I got there I wanted everything. I especially loved the new collection of animal print Murano glass charms, and I was lucky enough to snag one.

Just when I thought the craziness was was over I went upstairs. As soon as we entered,  iSkin was right there to greet us with their new designs including BAGS.

Before I could get any further, I was greeted by one of my fave peeps, Gary Mitchell, from Purdy’s Chocolate (my second home) with some tiramisu chocolates. YUM.

Right around the corner I found my neck of the woods – fashion. My first stop was 3F with great everyday pieces that are beyond affordable (like the blue ruffled shirt $25 plus on sale for 40%)!!!

Then I followed my nose to the scent of leather and landed in the Rudask room filled with enough goods to make your knees buckle. My fave was the clutch with the racing glove attached!!

Although I wasn’t able to bring that beaut home, I was able to score a sweet clutch with removable belt!!

Then, I needed a moment to collect myself before continuing down the Willy Wionka candy alley. I nearly passed out. There was an endless supply of sugar available to get me through the MMVA weekend: nerds, sweet tarts, laffy taffy, fun dip…

Another sweet treat we enjoyed was having our pics plastered on the deelish shortbread cookies from The Cookie Messenger.

We also got to enjoy some rays on the rooftop while munching on Lick’s burgers and guzzling ice cold Molson’s.

OOh, I finally go to try that HBD cake vodka from UV Vodka and its pretty damn good. Mix it with some pineapple juice and garnish with a cherry and you have a pineapple upside down cake cocktail!! S/O to the lovely Esther Garnick PR for totally hooking us up!!

INFLUENCER’S LOUNGE

Next I moved over to the the Influencers’ Lounge at Andrew Richards Designs for another round of gifting provided by the wonderful Willamson and Willimas PR!!

My first stop of course was to see my homies over at Rebus to check out there classic lazy pants… perfect for lazy days.Then, naturally, my eyes caught the brightly hued men undies over at Dylan Ribkoff. I really liked them so it was a shame they were only for the men.

Before too long, I started to get a bit peckish and surely enough cupcakes came to my rescue courtesy of Cupcake Culture!

DJ Lissa Monet was on the ones and twos to ensure we burned of the calories from the cupcakes and the cocktails provided by Banff Ice Vodka and Canadian Club Dock 57 Spiced Whiskey.

And just in case I hadn’t already had enough of watches, I kinda fell in love with these cute plastic ones by Plastichic .

After all the walking was going to be doing this weekend, I was excited to slip on these Sallazzo slippers which are comfy and the best part is that they fold up and go right into the your purse. I’m in love!!

Even Conor Maynard slipped his foot into a pair!!

Then my eyes saw all the bling from Rebekah Price and I thought I was in heaven.

The Blue Toom Spa was doing on the spot manicures with the amazing Cheeky Monkey nail polishes, which all have bad ass names like “undercover vixen” (which is of course the one that I’m rocking!!)

It was so lucky that Fuzz Wax Bar was also on hand.  They totally saved my life by doing my face (brows and all) for the MMVAs!! I cannot thank you ladies enough for keeping me fresh!!

I was fresh and ready to head over to the next gift lounge.

VOCAB x PEPSI Lounge… The Art of Music Video

The last one of the day was VOCAB Communications x Pespi Canada at The Pinnacle on Adelaide, and boy was I tired.

The Pepsi Challenge… can you guess which one I chose!?!?

The first thing I fell immediately in love with had to be these awesome skateboards from Amwood. The cruiser has my name on it!

And just when my energy was running low, we had chance to refuel with chocolate delights from ChocolaChocola!!

As well, wes sipped some refreshing iced “perfect pear” tea from Davids Tea.

Workout plan with Titika activewear!

Aas we approached the CUSTOM lip balm bar by Lip Labz, we had to stop because we could not believe what was awaiting us. We got to pick two flavours and make our own concoction!!

And just in case we couldn’t get enough of lil trinkets and nick nacks, Orangefish was on hand with sooooo much good stuff!!

Like this “bra-bag” to keep the cups of your bra in shape when traveling. Genius!

The best surprise was getting to see my name on the Art of Music Video board for my work on a video. *insert blush*

Thanks to everyone that hosted me on Saturday!

THE FIELD PARTY 2012

Ever year, the masses come out to start the party early at The Field Party before heading over to the MMVA show. As always, it was a great afternoon with drinks, friends, great vendors and good times.

This was just what I needed to start my day: a massage from the Sheraton Centre and Westin Harbourcastle!

Clothing from Karv – I even picked up a great animal print shirt for myself!  Watch time again? Oh, the heavy rose gold watch from AquaSwiss *sigh* I sooo needed this one for the fall.

The ladies of Global Warming Tees. This is a great brand with an even better message.

The best part for me was getting to hang with my new homies, Poor Young Things, as we nibbled on shrimp skewers from Church Apertivo Bar, guzzled back iced cold Coronas and chased with fruity Hypnotic shooters. We had some great times and an even better convo!!!

Super huge S/O to everyone that made my pre-MMVAs so awesome!!

For full pics from the entire MMVA weekend, checkout our PinkMafia facebook page or click here.