DISCLAIMER: Just wanted to say, this post and evening was in no way, shape or form requested by The Body Shop. I was invited to the event thus following Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) guidelines (as talked about in XOMISSIE's post in a easier to read way here) I have disclosed any things mentioned that were gifted to me, including invitation to the event, in line with their regulations within the post. There was no obligation to share anything of this beautiful open event that bloggers and customers alike attended. I just had the most abundantly joyful, special evening and gained such wonderful and useful insight from the event I simply wanted to share it all here on my blog with your lovely selves and to treasure the memory forever. Enjoy!
:)
Six or so years ago when I began my blog I could only dream of attending an event dedicated to beauty, let alone due to my wee little ramblings on my blog. Now if you've read my previous post - Why I Started Blogging | My Everlasting Love for Blogging - you'll be in the know as to the slight break I've had to take from blogging hence why this post is a 'tad' over a year later than the event. Nevertheless, I shall not forget the sheer buzz of excitement and disbelief I had when a lovely lady named Lucy invited me to this stunning evening with The Body Shop, in relation to my blogging and dabblings on Instagram. I did a squeal and a dance of sheer excitement on each and every bed in my house and almost burst into tears of unbelieving bewilderment. Never in a million years did I ever think I'd ever be invited to a blogging/ beauty event! Despite being a wee past its date of actual happening I shall assure you this post is not past its sell by date, nor its best before! If I am correct, there are only two smaller launches from the night that are no longer currently available but the main star of the show is still a shining star in The Body Shop's product line and has since also found a place in my everyday collection of all-time beauty favourites. And to add to the delicious evening it was, there was a whole plethora of other exciting information - skincare specialist tips and tricks and fabulous vegan and eco-friendly announcements for all shoppers and beauty junkies alike!
Without further a do, here's what went down that evening!...
The Body Shop's New Shining Star...
To begin we sat down for a cosy talk about the star of the show, the newly launched Shea Butter range. The theme of the range encompassed all things fair-trade goodness that supported not only the world and fabulous women but a collection of most excitingly super nourishing products. That I recall, most of the new range is vegan friendly too! Wearing up-cycled rags of patterned cloth in their hair, the team informed us of The Body Shop's fabulous Community Trade whereby we learnt that the shea sourced by The Body Shop comes from a community of fabulous women in northern Ghana, who produce the shea using age-old techniques from previous generations. I was enlightened to hear about the sustainable and supportive approach that was being celebrated in this dedicated launch and it really gave me even more extra sprinkles of admiration for The Body Shop.
Fun facts from the night...
Shea butter was used for hundreds of years as weather protection, from the "tree of life", and was known as "women's gold.
The team did advise however that this was not a tried and tested fact with their 100% natural Shea Butter range but it was enriching to learn how the Ghanaian ladies have been using this as a beauty staple for many years!
Something I also admired about the star product of the range, the 100% Natural Shea Butter, was it's very much minimal and natural-based ingredient list. From 2018/19 I began trialing the transition to using more natural-based beauty and household products. Thus the prospect of a 100% natural, multi-use product that could be easily purchased from a readily available high street shop was most exciting! The team explained how the product had to be labelled as 100% natural as opposed to 100% pure simply because the shea has to go through a process to be collated to be sold by the store. For this I also admired their honesty and transparency. Speaking of process of collation...
Another fun fact,
The shea comes from kernels! Who would have known! Well, I mean I never knew. Forgive me and my previously poor shea general knowledge. :D
Pieces of the range I was most intrigued to try after discovering during the event were the hair care Shea Butter Richly Replenishing Conditioner and Richly Replenishing Hair Mask. The team made note to us that the Shea range is good for coloured, dry and frizzy hair, also highlighting that the hair care range is sulphate free. Although not as ingredient minimal as the 100% Natural Shea Butter, a great step in the right direction towards less harsh chemical-full products on the high street. They nodded to the conditioner as a good treatment for detangling too. <- Forgive me I don't think 'detangling' is a word but my goodness in the name of all things dry hair it should be!
Another compelling fact we also learned was that the plastic used to make The Body Shop's shampoo and conditioner bottles is now sourced from their Community Trade recycled plastic scheme. I was made up to hear this incredible step The Body Shop has taken, meaning they support plastic picking workers in Bengaluru, India by purchasing their plastic and improving their working conditions, treatment and rights! Another reason why The Body Shop is one of my favourites, not only for the love of their incredible products AND being 100% cruelty-free AND having so many vegan options BUT for also supporting the world and those living around it (and with a price range not too far from my the reigns of my beauty bargain, penny conscious heart)! <3
On that note, and as we all love with an exciting new range at The Body Shop, the Shea Butter range also comes with quite the collection of their classic products too. The variety includes fragrance, hand cream, lip care, soap, body scrub and the good old classic body butter too. <3
Personal purchases I have made since the event include the shea shampoo, hair conditioner and 100% Natural Shea Butter and the conditioner has since become, as noted above, a daily staple for me (or bi-daily I should say - yes I am a bi-daily hair washer, forgive me 7-day wash warriors, your longevity is not a power I, nor my hair, possess!). The shampoo was lovely, with it's delicate yet indulgent shea scent, and did leave a hint of softness to my hair but was not to rival another natural shampoo I had found. The conditioner on the other hand is one of the responsible culprits for leaving my hair its new softer and silkier self and I must say, I must bloody love it because I think it's the most repurchased hair conditioner I have ever used in my life! The hair speaks; I bow down - those with temperamental hair, you know the drill!
Since the event my mum actually bought me the shea hand wash for Christmas and I was amazed how much my work-related bleeding hands loved and found such nourishment from the liquid soap too!
In addition to the exciting new launch of the Shea show, the team at Liverpool One also had an abundance of other exciting launches to announce too! First up was the updated version of their classic BB cream. The new Fresh Nude BB Cream will replace the old burst particular BB cream and now comes in a range of 5 shades - this I was actually quite excited by as being as pale as Casper the shade range was something that had previously steered me away from trying their base products. That I can see from the ingredients list on their website it appears - to my basic 'ingrediential' knowledge - to be vegan friendly however what I always find most helpful with The Body Shop is how helpful the staff are to identify their vegan products for you. This is at various stores I have visited too! If the new BB cream is one you'd like to try I would definitely recommend asking/ tweeting the team to double check it is vegan-friendly, something I often do.
All things skincare had some pretty exciting introductions too. Where should I start! The all famous Drops of Youth collection was another with a newbie to make my beady beauty eyes sparkle with delight. Their new Drops of Youth Youth Concentrate Sheet Mask was said to have the equivalent power of 2/3rds of a small jar of the Drops of Youth Concentrate and, to top your expectations, it is biodegradable too! Sign me up now! For my friends of oiliness and acne combaters out there, the Himalayan Charcoal skincare range also has a new face wash. For those who's skincare secret weapon involves a touch of charcoal skin products there is now the Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Clay Wash, the partner to the famous Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask but with a gentler formula. Unfortunately the Clay Wash also does not flag up as vegan on their website either however I cannot see anything noticeably not vegan in the ingredients list. If anyone would like me to find out if this and the new BB cream are definitely vegan let me know in the comments below and I shall enquire and explore further and post my findings here!
Did you know?...
The Body Shop's Himalayan Charcoal Face Mask is the store's strongest mask! - this one is 100% vegan!
For those not on the look out for a super skincare fix, The Body Shop also had a treat for it's fruity fragrance lovers too with the Pink Grapefruit range now being sold in a gift set - The Refreshing Pink Grapefruit Pampering Essentials. There was also the launch of the limited edition Cactus Blossom range, with a dreamy body butter that smelt quite literally resemblant of the classic Hollister body spray fragrance! If it ever returns I would urge you all to swoop to this one - 2000s throwbacks and sweet scented heaven in one! All your skin care loving, scent day dreaming and eco-friendly wishes can seemingly be met under The Body Shop's one glorious roof :).
Not forgetting another major fabulous focus of The Body Shop too, there was also some almost unbelievable and very much longed for vegan beauty news...
All Body Butters are going vegan!
At the time of the event in early 2019, the Liverpool One team confirmed the 'veganisation' of body butter range was nearly there. Not all of the new formulas were currently on the shelves at that time so, as they advised, I'd still recommend asking in store incase they are still finalising the process of transitioning all to the vegan friendly formula.
After taking in all the deets at the talk, the rest of the evening was spent indulging and having fun with some incredible mini events the team had put together. To start, only the flipping man from Wagamama arrived with a endless selection of tiny pots of all kinds of bite-sized vegan dishes! If I remember rightly this was my very first time trying Wagamana - I had heard great things about all it's fabulous vegan options prior - I am now a seasoned sweet potato katsu curry, yasai steamed gyoza orderer and enjoy the occasional edamame bean with chili garlic salt.
Between nibbling in food heaven I first plucked up the courage in my shy self to venture over to the shea lip scrub making stop. All the team were so lovely, I felt so welcomed and it was a really lovely ice-breaker sharing the excitement of everyone's lip scrub forming together. To create, we mixed a small portion of the 100% Natural Shea Butter with a dip of a Born Lippy Pot Lip Balm of choice and a dash of brown sugar - everything just kept getting more delicious! I am a long time fan of the LUSH lip scrubs for their decedent sweet scents and adore the feeling of freshly exfoliated and nourished lips before lip product application so this little DIY was right up my alley. I've never really delved into the Born Lippy range before but my goodness did their scents seal the deal for me! <3 I chose the raspberry scent and my goodness I adored every last scrimp and scrape of my little tester tub for months gone by. - Keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming ginormous empties post as I will have a more in-depth review on it there. - It was a dreamy lip exfoliant and the shea butter made it even more the treat to apply with its added nourishment - I didn't think I would adore it as much as I did! It was so easy to make to, I'd certainly try it again (it would make a lovely hand made gift idea!)
We also had the choice between a skin consultation or makeup one-to-one and of course being the pinnacle of my skincare fascination, the forever quest of battling my acne, I chose to go with the skin consultation. I was greatly excited to present all my skin and acne related woes to their resident skincare expert! Being a previous user and faithful of The Body Shop's Tea Tree skincare range for my acne prone skin I was shocked the lovely lady (she was so incredibly lovely, I am awful for forgetting her and the other team members names) actually recommend using their more nourishing calming Aloe range. As my skin cropped up as a little on the sensitive side and battling acne was my main woe, my skincare consultant recommended using the gentler and simple products to maintain moisture and avoid irritation. This was completely the opposite main focus to my previous ideas that my acne-prone skin needed to be purged of all it's troubles and deep cleansed inside out. The biggest surprise for me was the recommend Aloe Calming Cream Cleanser, applied and removed with a cotton pad. The thought of not using water when cleansing left me absolutely bamboozled and I really thought my skin was not going to like it. Following, the lovely lady paired me up with the gentle Aloe Calming Toner, Drops of Youth Bouncy Eye Mask and a touch of the Drops of Youth Concentrate. I can't remember if we used the Aloe Soothing Night Cream too as I think we wanted to stick with just the concentrate to avoid overloading my skin and creating some intense luminosity, bed-time ready but a little overwhelming for the train ride home first. I was quite bracing myself for the products to feel somewhat claggy having not "fully" cleansed (cleansed with water) however post application my face felt a dream of absolute silky nourishment and I think it made me glow from the inside too! Internal or external, I was so in awe how dramatically gorgeous of which I have never ever seen my skin look that it created I shared a video on my Instagram story capturing it's glory and my complete shock of amazement.
The next morning I went into university my friends literally crapped themselves when I walked over to them, with eyes bedazzled telling me how incredible my skin looked! - Since that day I think two of my friends actually ordered the Drops of Youth Concentrate as they were so amazed with how good my skin looked!
Some of the skin-changing tips my consultant shared with me included...
- Use a cream cleanser as opposed to water and foam/ cleansers to be washed with water, to avoiding striping moisture from the skin, which can contribute to dryness and thus two perfect ingredients - dry skin and excess oil production - to contribute to acne.
- Apply your eye cream/ serum only to the orbital bone - the product will naturally absorb upwards towards your delicate eye area throughout the day or night.
- For sensitive skin like mine maybe avoid products like the Vitamin C range as they can potentially be a little too harsh for sensitive skin and cause irritation. Likewise the nourishing Vitamin E range may also be a bit too fragrant for sensitive skin.
At the end of the night I ended up purchasing the Aloe Calming Cream Cleanser, the vegan-friendly Skin Defence Multi-Protection Lotion SPF 50+ and the Drops of Youth Liquid Peel Exfoliator (the team said it was their gentlest exfoliator and is a much gentler replica of the mind-blowing Vitamin C Glow Revealing Liquid Peel I had wanted to try for quite some time because you actually see the dead skin brush away! (Sounds disgustingly exciting right?). Since the event I have also purchased and used the Drops of Youth Concentrate thanks to the glowing results it gave me that night (and day after!) and also added the Aloe Calming Day Cream and Soothing Night Cream to my daily routine. Since that night in February 2019 - and for the first/ longest time ever in my life - I have stuck to very much exactly the same skincare routine without a wish to change it. Each and every day I have cleansed, toned and moistursied with the Calming Aloe range and alternate days exfoliated with the Drops of Youth Liquid Peel and since that skin care consultation my acne and skin condition has been the best it has ever been. I have been so impressed and become so attached to the incredibleness of these products I have actually been weary of switching up my skincare routine for the first time EVER in my life! I certainly did not foresee this skin changing miracle to occur from attending this event!
I have since pictured before and afters and had planned to do a review of the Drops of Youth Concentrate and have also been wanting to incorporate a more detailed review of how my new skincare routine has contributed to the very much, what I feel, cure of my long standing troubles with acne. With the passing of time since the event and my now deep rooted love for the aloe skincare range there is also a plethora of mini reviews of the products in my giant empties post to come. So if your intrigued to see how drastically the skincare from that consultation has unexpectedly changed my skin's life be sure to keep up to date with my upcoming posts on the blog!
To add to the beautiful and thrilling evening and memory to treasure it was, I was also lucky enough to meet some of the loveliest bloggers and fellow skincare enthusiasts throughout the event. First was the lovely Lucy who invited me to the event. Unfortunately she was not present but she was the sweetest soul speaking with. She was one of the lovely team employees and also shares a touch of sfx makeup from time to time on her Instagram. Following Lucy's advice I then spoke with Ryan who lead the arrangements of the event. Ryan was absolutely lovely and so welcoming, even when I accidently arrived an hour early to the event! He is a dedicated skincare junkie and shares all things incredible and non-stop skincare trials and reviews over on his Instagram. Around the event I came across Alice and Ellie eagerly vlogging too. These two were the first blogging duo I had come across and they share some lovely content over on the Instagram, blog and YouTube. And lastly, I also met and mingled with the loveliest of two, Hazel and Niamh (and Niamh's lovely mum). Hazel shares the most gorgeous active Instagram feed of all things skincare, beauty reviews and just lovely stuff on her Instagram and is hoping to re-launch her blog again soon! Niamh also shares a mutual love for all things beauty and, ever so blessedly, we've actually become good friends since the event and still keep in contact! I've linked to all their Instagrams below as I wanted to share their lovely beauty, skincare and blogging content for yourselves to see as I think you will enjoy too! I assure you, they are lovely, give them a follow. :)
What a special evening it was!
And there you have it, that was my very first ever blogging event! I hope you enjoyed a little flavour of the event in my post too and hope you've maybe found some new products to try also! Let me know in the comments if there are any you're adding to your wish list!
If you enjoyed this beauty bursting blog post keep your eyes pealed for my next as I've a little inckling that is going to be quite the old-school beauty bonanza (...empties...) blog post too!
Until my next post,
Ellie Xx
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Looks like a lovely evening! Such a great event :)
ReplyDeleteJenna ♥
Stay in touch? Life of an Earth Muffin
Aww, thank you so kindly Jenna! Oh my, yes it was such a special evening and memory to treasure of my first bloggers event! Do you have The Body Shop in America? xx
DeleteSounds like you had a really nice evening! I must try that Shea hair mask, Body Shop haircare is so underrated, I love the Ginger shampoo and conditioner X
ReplyDeleteOh Sophie it was the best night! It was so special being my first bloggers event! Little old me six years ago when I started blogging W ould have been absolutely bamboozled that I got invited to a beauty event. <3 Ooo I’ve not tried the ginger hair care range, what type of hair is it aimed at? How good the Shea conditioner is makes me weak at the knees imagining what the hair mask would be like! Haha. :) xx
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