Sample chat from our Whatsapp group on Saturday 11 November:
“Where are you?”
“Buying jewellery and some amazing new frizz treatment”
“OK, meet at the gin bar in half an hour?”
“Nice one, see you there”
And so emerged theme for our ladies day out at Stylist Live 2017. Drink, shop, eat, shop, drink, chat, drink – in no particular order.
For three days in November, a wonderland of good times set up shop in the spectacular space of Kensington’s Olympia, London.
Stylist Live’s aim was to inspire, entertain, empower and leave those visiting feeling thoroughly uplifted. It did the job well.
A day at Stylist Live might entail all, some or even more of this kind of thing:
Sampling all manner of gourmet grub – handmade pasta, Indian street food, burritos, crepes.
Splurging cash on unique and interesting presents for yourself and others – anything from jewellery, candles, cosmetics or artwork.
Pitching up at one of the venue’s stages to tune in to inspiring talks from the smart and famous, and then browsing Waterstones to buy a book signed by said inspiring folk. Talks at the life-affirmingly named stages (Spark! Grow! Lead!) covered everything from the benefits of getting into journaling, to feminism, top fashion trends for 2018, to tips and tricks for upgrading your holiday.
Getting your hair straightened or curled, your face made over, your shoulders massaged or your nails painted any colour of the rainbow. Sipping on a FREE pink gin – thank you kindly Gordon.
The above list barely touches the sides of everything the self titled Festival of Inspiration had to offer, as it brought to life all that’s good about Stylist magazine. The great thing was, you could do as much, or as little as you like. And whether you chose to go all out and cram in every talk, fashion show and scoop up every free sample going, or take it easy over a coffee and slice of cake in one of several cafes, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a top day.
Our £20 Bronze entry ticket entitled me and my mates to a complimentary manicure apiece from mobile nail pros, Perfect Ten. It paid to get there early as the wait list for this soon stacked up. The rest of the event, bar the VIP zones, was then there for the taking. The whole place was alive with things to do, see, hear, buy, taste, and learn.
With so much going on across a huge space, we were keen to see as much as possible and so our team of seven split into smaller groups to do our own thing. We reconvened at regular intervals what became the natural meeting point and Instagram hotspot – the good-looking Gordon’s Gin bar with its fabulous floral furnishings.
The venue is enormous and so if you’re the organised type, you might want to make a loose plan of things you’d like to catch while you’re there – the show programme handed out on arrival made this easy. If you’re more of a roll with it type, then there’s equally as much fun to be had by playing it by ear.
I came away laden with a (here’s hoping) miracle defrizzing treatment for curly hair from Boucleme, a Kikki K notepad, a floral headpiece from Pixi cosmetics, and a variety of freebies I’ve yet to fish from the bottom of my bag. Plus a head full of new ideas to take away and ponder.
Until the next time Stylist Live!
Find out more about Stylist Live…
Shuffle 