The One and Only Olympia Beauty!

On Sunday I visited the Olympia Beauty show at the Olympia Exhibition Centre in London's Hammersmith. With girlfriends by my side and the large interior filled with the giants of the nail industry and beauty treats galore this was set to be a superb Sunday.

Olympia Beauty is one of the UK’s leading trade beauty events. The show enables professionals to network with the right people and see everything there is to see in the world of beauty, all under one roof. To seek the latest innovations, whilst being updated on forthcoming beauty trends and education. Olympia Beauty welcomes all trade professionals including salon owners, buyers, make-up artists, nail technicians, spa professionals, students and peripheral industries.

Four hours later we had browsed and tested different products amongst the huge selection of exhibitors and had come away with some fabulous purchases.

Helena Biggs, Deputy Editor of Scratch Magazine, is THE girl to follow! On top of working for the magazine, Helena writes for Marie Claire UK and has recently released her own book Nail Art: Inspiring designs by the world’s leading nail technicians, talk about talented chica! I am fortunate to know Helena personally and when a woman like Helena raves about a product you know that is the product you have to snap up!

May I introduce Morgan Taylor the professional nail lacquer! Ok so maybe I didn't need to buy 6 bottles of it, but one needs to stock up on these things when one has the chance. Recently launched at Urban Retreat in Harrods, with no online stockist as yet, American brand Morgan Taylor is set to take UK shores by storm. With two stands at Olympia Beauty I was in paradise with the selection of colours. I opted for a selection that I can wear with a variety of outfits and occasions. As well as "Little Black Dress" a noir number to be used alongside the "Matt's A Wrap". (Product names are genius!)

 

 

 

 

The matt top coat is to be applied as you would any top coat, the finish is fantastic and I hope to create these show stopper pieces of art!

 

 

 

 

There is no point me trying to do a tutorial, as a) I am pretty cack handed and b) the team at Scratch do it like no other, check out their website or follow them on Twitter. I must say though trying the polishes last night I was highly impressed. Brushes are perfect and the polish is quick drying. I have often found fault in rival brands, but with their strong colours and easy application MT has ticked all the boxes.

 

I didn't just take home several thousand pots of polish, I also purchased Melody- Claire's Elegant Depilation. Fed up of buying Venus razor blades for the cost of the earth, the sales women on ED saw me coming! No More Harsh Chemicals, Waxing, Electrolysis, Plucking, Ripping Hair, Shaving, Costly Laser Treatments, Elegant Depilation is a micro crystal pad rotated in a simple circular hand motion to remove the follicles. I came home last night and got to work on my leg hair, not only do I now have a right arm the size of Popeye's (my legs were slightly wild, boyfriend on a business trip all week and drop in temperature) after 10 minutes of using the pads on both my legs I now can safely say these pins are ready to party!! Shame I'm not until Saturday! The sales lady did say they should stay this way for 2-3 weeks, we shall see....

 

 



 

 

Just around the corner from the hair removal stand was Santhilea's Magnetic Lash. Not actually magnetic but works as if it is...in a 1-2-1 lash extension system you simply apply a coat from the first tube, the mascara, then you use the second tube, containing cotton candy-esque fibres to touch the length of each lash, so that the fibres stick to the already applied mascara. Follow up with the number one wand and ta da, lashes are instantly lengthened. They don't use extensions or photo shopping in their advertising, what you see is what you get. What I saw and tested on the stand was what I took home and got the next day. Va va voom lashes! AND no clumping or smudging, none of that black eyed look with this product, I am looking forward to testing it out when I am merry on Saturday to see if it can last on a Mini night out!

 

 



 

 

So there we have it, my Sunday in a blog...did anyone else visit Olympia Beauty this weekend, what did you buy? Has anyone else tried out the products I purchased, what did you think? I'm off to bask in my smugness that I resisted thousands of other products worthy of a purchase, but at 25 years old I have had a reality check and had to realise that saving is good....although retail therapy and necessary purchases is a part of life (ok maybe not 6 nail varnishes). 

Juice to me, JuiceToU

No food, alcohol or caffeine allowed! Did I have a bug or had that knock to the head during the ice cube fight last week (don't ask) really affected me?! No, this week I decided to detox. Yes that's right I went 3 days with no food, alcohol or caffeine.

I had researched companies offering the juicing detox before but with inconvenient delivery times or a rather unforgiving price tag I had given up. Until low and behold on Sunday night I stumbled across JuiceToU. After reading reviews from the public and celebrities I decided to set myself the mission.

Placing the order that night, I was informed that my juices would arrive Tuesday am, which they did. First tick.

 

 

Juice to U is a totally natural and fantastic pre-prepared juice detox service using fresh local produce delivered to your door, consisting of 4 juices to drink throughout the day with a 3 hour period between juices!

I am not normally a breakfast eater unless I am hungover or it is around 11am and I tuck into my draw at work filled with Oomfh! Oats. Therefore on Wednesday morning I was a little wary to try Clean Green - the first glug I wasn't keen on but after swallowing and allowing time for an after taste I was sold.  The bottle easily went down after that.

12pm - Let's Glow - tasty and my kind of fruity drink!

3pm - Clean Green again - ok I'll drink it but I'm a little hungry now and there are people in the office eating eclairs which I would love to shovel into my mouth!

6pm - Berry Good - hmmm my favourite, however by now I have a headache and I am really hungry!

To get you through the day you are allowed as much fruit tea and water with lemon as you like. This helps....a lot!

Headache, nausea and dizziness is expected when detoxing. I had a headache and was so hungry I was feeling off that it had to be an early night.

Day 2 - MORNING, I'M UP! Woke up perky and full of life. Ready and raring to drink the Clean Green beauty! This was an easier day until around 6.30pm and someone in the house decided to cook bacon! They all knew I was doing the detox but as my boyfriend kindly pointed out "Your putting yourself through this blinking detox, why should I suffer?" - No dear, you don't need to "suffer", enjoy your bacon and I will bury my head into a pillow and smell the fresh linen! This tested my willpower to the max, boy o boy was I scratching to pigpocket some of the good stuff.

Day 3 - Really starting to feel the effects, I felt great waking up, my skin felt ultra smooth, I was less bloated and I had noticed I went off to sleep a lot easier. The day itself was fine, I had bravely walked away from cake in the staff room and was less hungry. The evening again  was hard around 7pm but I fought through and distracted myself with a film and some hot water with lemon - on a Friday night, yes you should all be jealous!

Overall after completing the challenge, was I not only so proud of myself but I did feel as JuiceToU had stated on their website, revitalised, refreshed, rejuvenated and invigorated. On top of that I had lost 3.5lbs which was the cherry!

I would highly recommend juice detoxing to anyone wanting to feel cleansed. I think I found it easier than most as I do not drink tea or coffee, nor do I drink alcohol unless I am going out out. (Out out, a term coined by the hilarious M.Flanagan) I also found it helped that I detoxed during the week when I was at work where I have a routine and am busy, rather than on a day off and the fridge can easily shout for me. Detoxing is the perfect way to start a fresh and I will definitely be trying this several times a year.

If you have any questions and would like a follow up plan so that you don't undo all your hard work, JuiceToU customer service is second to none.

www.juicetou.com or follow them on twitter @juicetou