Olympia Beauty 2014 Show Review!

On Sunday Monica and I headed over to Kensington Olympia, West London for the Olympia Beauty show. I'd registered to attend the event back when I first started blogging in February and had been looking forward to attending for a while.

We arrived in the afternoon and headed straight to the press area to get to grips with what the show had on offer. We were also lucky enough to be booked in for some complimentary beauty treatmets. 

I'd been booked in for a lashes treatment with Nouveau Lashes and was super excited to have my first set of individual lashes applied. However, I hadn't really thought ahead with my make up choice. I would recommend not wearing make up if you're having this treatment done as it is time consuming to remove it all during your appointment. My lashes certainly looked fuller and longer afterwards and It is something I would think about having done again.

Monica had a 'makeover' appointment with Jane Iredale cosmetics, and as someone who usually steers clear of powder based foundations, it was interesting to see it applied and how the finish looked.

We both got interviewed for the Olympia Beauty 2014 video on our thoughts on blogging and the industry which was an interesting experience, and after having I had a manicure it was on to the show! We made sure we headed to the NYX Cosmetics stand where Monica and I checked out everything they had on offer. I'm a massive fan of NYX, and wish it was more accessible to buy in stores here in the UK. We picked up a few bits and then wandered around. We checked out OPI who had an incredible stand with every colour nail polish you could ever want and then it was onto Skincare.

At the iiaa (International Institute For Anti Aging) stand we had a complimentary skin analysis undertaken. Now, I'm a bit of a massive cynic and I always these 'results' with a pinch of salt. There's something that doesn't quite feel right to me about an 'institute' (which owns 3 brands) analyzing your skin and then telling you that you need a complete set  of all of their products for healthy skin.... I can't be alone in thinking that skin care 'institutes' should be neutral? After a less than impressive skin 'analysis' it was onto Dermalogica for another skin consultation. As we'd received a few samples of Dermalogica in our press goodie bag, I was keen to speak to one of the advisors to see which products they recommended for my skin, and I look forward to sharing some more info about these with you all soon! 

We finished the day off by popping over to the beautiful brows stand and Monica volunteered to be the guinea pig and have the product tested on her. Although the powder and stencils seemed to work well on her, I'm not sure if it justifies the £30 price tag, when my beloved Anastasia DipBrow Pomade comes in at £15.

All in all, we had a fun day out - however, I was left feeling a little let down by the lack of commercial brands exhibiting. We found there were a lot of fake tan and nail brands on show, but not too many recognisable make up brands - but then as bloggers, we weren't exactly the target demographic of the show.

I definetly recommend attending a beauty show as it's a great way to see what's out there and check out new products.

I'd love to hear what your favourite beauty show is! Let me know in the comments! 

Em xxx