Three days filled with fashion, style, beauty, hair, food, drink, talks, workshops, pink gin and fun, the Stylist Live 2017 event was bigger and badder than ever before! It was my first time attending and all I can say is… it did not disappoint!
I will be back next year for sure. 🙂
I won Bronze tickets to Stylist Live via an Instagram giveaway hosted by aromatherapy products company, Scentered (@iamscentered) – thanks guys! Be sure to check them out as their products are amazing and I will be purchasing their Escape Therapy Balm which smelt amazing. That’s my fave but I also like the rose-scented Love balm and the minty Be Happy balm. As it’s a therapy balm is in a stick form, it just needs to be rubbed onto pulse points so it should last a while.
So here’s my review of Stylist Live 2017 at Olympia (I visited on Saturday and had the Bronze entry ticket)…
THE GOOD
What I liked..
The atmosphere
even though it was really busy it still felt spacious enough to move around most of the time. The only time it felt a little cramped was between the aisles of stands – if there was a big crowd of people it was a little hard to navigate through. The event was indeed family friendly but not buggy friendly. There are lifts and stuff but the place gets so packed bringing a pram would be chaotic. I think bringing older children is fine but leave the little ones at home for this event… plus, you don’t want your bubba(s) to spoil your kiddy-free time do you?
The talks/workshops
There were 4 stages with funky, empowering names (GROW, LEAD, SPARK, THRIVE) and sessions scheduled throughout the day. Most of the good talks were in the morning but as I got there in the afternoon, I missed most of the ones I wanted to watch.
However I managed to catch the 4.30pm workshop/talk with speakers, Clara Amfo and Reni Eddo-Lodge on “How to be Brave: Speaking up against racism”. As the mother of mixed-heritage children, I know that my bubbas might experience some form of racism in their years growing up. Learning how to address it, handle it and rise above it is extremely important. Reni made a remark that left me thinking hard “if you’re not white, you can’t afford to be colour blind”. I wasn’t sure what to make of it – whether or not I agreed with her statement but deep down something told me she was 100% spot on. As a woman of colour myself, you can’t be ignorant and believe that racism doesn’t exist because it does. Sometimes in the mildest, tolerable form but it is still there. It was definitely a ‘food for thought’ kind of talk and I loved it.
The brands
There were sooo many brands to see and a lot of them were offering freebies. Gordon’s Gin gave everyone a free drink upon arrival. Diet Coke was handed out quicker than you could say low-calorie and sugar-free. Babyliss and Remmington were doing free hair styling. There were loads of brands; from natural food brands like Hippea to stylish lifestyle brands like Ella Iconic, and of course plenty hair and beauty brands.
The Bad
What I didn’t like…
The crowds
I know I shouldn’t really complain about crowds and to be fair, the event was managed really well however sometimes I couldn’t help but feel claustrophobic. Especially when I was down the shopping stands, those aisles felt tiny and I’m a petite girl!
The queues
This is another to be expected but still… I am buggered that I wasn’t able to get the chance to have my hair styled. Booo! There was around 4-5 different hair brands that were providing styling services but the queues were so long, it was crazy.
No goody bags (for bronze ticket holders)
I know it’s good to be exclusive but only allowing VIP ticket holders to purchase goody bags is a downer. I really wanted one and have the goody bags available as an add-on option would’ve been amazeballs as I really wanted one.
The Ugly
What I thought needs improving for next year…
The food choices
The food was yummy but there wasn’t enough choice to pick from – there was a few cafe bars on the ground floor and upstairs there were a few more eateries however it would’ve have been nice to have a dedicated food area for eating and getting refreshments. I love matcha lattes and not one food place in there served it, for a food-conscious I did expect more healthy food brands to be there. If Farm Girl could be there next year, I would like a little kid on a sugar rush – I love them!
Better microphones for talks
For most of the workshops, I was able to hear the host(s) clearly however I remember there was a workshop I attended and couldn’t hear a word the host and her guests were saying which was disappointing. I wasn’t even that far away and I think a few other people also had trouble hearing. Because of the bad sound quality, I gave up with listening and wandered off in search of other things – and I’m sure some others did the same.
Give us cheapies a goody bag!
Yep, I’ve included this one here because I really feel like everyone should’ve been entitled to the chance to upgrade their tickets with add-ons like a goody bag. It was possible to upgrade my bronze ticket with a manicure so why not a goody bag? Even if it was just a simple one, it would be nice to have the chance to buy one.
And that’s it!
I really enjoyed Stylist Live 2017 and will definitely be making my way back to Olympia for it next year. I hope they can out-do themselves too because this year was really spectacular! If you attended this year, let me know what your thoughts were below… I leave you with our cool Google Pixel 2 photo we took at the event. 🙂
You can check out @StylistLive on Instagram here
Manny.Wandering | The Wandering Mother Blog 
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