This year I was lucky enough to be able to buy tickets to go to the Glamour Beauty Festival 2018. Something I've been looking at doing for at least three years, it was amazing that I was finally in a position to be able to go along with a friend. Before going I'd done a little bit of research online as to what I could expect, but I want to share with you my version of events, along with some tips, about my time at the Glamour Beauty Fest.
Spoiler Alert! If you're headed there this year and want it to be a surprise, stop reading now - don't say that I didn't warn you!
Arriving at Glamour Beauty Festival 2018
My friend and I purchased tickets for the Friday evening session. We were too late to the game to get our hands on a weekend or day pass, so we headed over to the Saatchi Gallery in London for 5pm and were queuing outside for about 15 mins whilst they were checking everyone's tickets. Unluckily for us it was tipping it down, but I had an umbrella to hand, so we huddled under, praying we wouldn't have to wait too long to get our hair fixed!
I'd recommend arriving 15 mins ahead of time to avoid being at the back of the queue, thankfully there were probably only about 20 people in front of us at most which meant we got first dibs on a lot of the stands!
What to Expect
When our tickets were scanned we were given a little festival bracelet (think all-inclusive holiday band, and not braided friendship bracelet!) along with a map of the layout. Set up over three floors in the huge Saatchi Gallery space, there's rooms for everything. Hair, Skin, Nails, Makeup, Wellness and even an Instagram zone!
If you've ever been to a beauty blogging event, it's just like that with all the brands set up on their stands. Depending on how busy it is you'll have to queue for a little while to get anything done. As we were pretty much first in, my friend and I headed straight over to the
GHD style bar where they were working magic with dry styling. Though we could've gone to the
OGX stand for beautiful braids, or had our hair styled by the wonderful people at
Batiste too! Both of us opted for curls, and had a little natter with the ladies styling our hair.
I'd recommend getting your hair done first (particularly if you've got long hair like mine!) the queues for the hair were the longest, and considering how long it takes and the fact you're probably going to want to take selfies on the way round it's a good place to start and gives you a chance to glance over your map.
The Goodie Bags
So many of the brands were giving away free products in exchange for following them on social media! From OGX giving away shampoo and conditioner (I chose the coconut milk set), to
FeelUnique allowing you to choose
five - yes
FIVE, free products! And all of this was on top of the luxury goodie bag with a retail value of £180!
I'd recommend getting your goodie bag quite early on, not only can you have a little rummage through what you got, but the bag is perfect for putting any extra products in that you pick up on your way around!
You can read my take on
'what's inside the Glamour Beauty Festival 2018 goodie bag?' in a separate post
here, because honestly it's so jam-packed with products that you'll be reading this post for a lifetime! What I can say though is that there was allsorts inside, from hair and skincare products, through to makeup and electronic beauty, this has been hands down the best goodie bag I've ever received. In fact, I'd go as far to say that if you bought the ticket only for the goodie bag, and didn't even walk round, that it's 100% worth it.
The Pampering & Treatments
With so many stands, you'll have to be selective about what you want done. For example for hair alone, I think there were five different brands offering different things for free. From dry styling and braids, through to temporary colour, it's best to pick what you want done early on so you're not wasting time deliberating.
Here's a little list of everything I got involved with on the night and with which brands. I had beachy, california curls put in my hair by GHD. Then headed over to
Kat Von D to get a dramatic, copper smokey eye - with their
Tattoo Liner might I add! Which is incredible (and included in the goodie bag yay!) With my hair and eyes on fleek, I went over to
NARS to get a statement lip to match. I actually ended up purchasing the lipstick they put on me, which will also be in a separate post.
I didn't get any skincare or base makeup done, because it meant taking off my existing makeup, which for me was just a pain. So if you have the confidence to go there with a bare face as a canvas, that's probably best! Remember, there's a number of nail bars inside too for a mini manicure so naked nails make pampering easier as well!
How Much Time Do You Need?
My friend and I arrived at 5pm on the dot, and though our ticket allowed us to stay until closing at 9pm, we found ourselves finished at about 7.30pm. I'd read other posts online with people saying it's impossible to get round everything, and I don't know if our efficiency was down to it being a Friday evening session (arguably quieter than the weekend), or the fact we knew what we wanted to do.
If you want to speak to every single brand inside, and have something done at every single stand, then yes a day pass is probably for you. But if you're quite happy only getting involved in the things you're interested in, then a half day ticket is definitely more than enough time.
One thing I will say though, is we never went to our Pixie Lott hair demo talk. We queued up for our smokey eyes at Kat Von D and totally lost track of time. We didn't feel bad about missing it because we were having too much fun, but perhaps if we had of gone it would have eaten more into our time - just something to think about on the day!
Is It Worth It?
Yes, yes, one thousand times yes! As I said before the goodie bag alone is more than worth the ticket price. Factor in all the treatments and beauty extras you get along the way too, and it's just such a fantastic event. My friend and I were over the moon to have finally been able to go, and it was just nice to have a little catch up and experience everything the Glamour Beauty Festival had to offer together too.
If you're after a girly day out with plenty of goodies, pampering and beauty tips, then I'd totally recommend getting tickets.
Have you been to the Glamour Beauty Festival before, or are you booked to go this year? Leave me a comment, or any questions below!
Until next time..
Georgina ♡