The Clothes Show Live (Part 1)

I was lucky enough to win 2 tickets to The Clothes Show Live, courtesy of Sleek Make-up, after entering a competition on their facebook page. I won the tickets on the Tuesday (finding out on the Wednesday after I was curious who had won so checked their facebook page and saw it was me!) and on the Saturday found myself at the show, alongside my fellow beauty bloggin' cousin Vicky. 

Although I had been aware of TCSL for many years now, it is not something I knew a great deal about. I was especially flabbergasted when I checked the website and saw there would be 400 individual retailers at the show... mainly in the beauty catagory! It may sound daft, but I never imagined it was about more than just clothes and fashion.

As we made our way into the NEC in Birmingham, we first came across the beauty stalls. Not like a market stall thankyou very much - huge, 20 foot sparkly bottles of nail varnish, double decker buses doing facials, rows and rows of products in every colour possible, treatments and a pink carpet covering the entire NEC to walk around on. Saying it was a feast for the eyes would be a massive understatement!

Our first mission was to find the Sleek counter to inform them we were here. As we did so, a lady came and shook our hands and gave me and Vicky a goodie bag each (the full details will be in the second part of this blog!). All I can say is we screamed - literally. 

Silly me for thinking that we would be leaving Brum with just one goodie bag. Oh no no no no NO! Practically every stall had their own goodie bags with insane offers to match, such as Barry M and Models Own both offering £70 worth of products in a gift bag for just £10.

It wasn't just the freebies and the dreamlike deals that was an enjoyable part of our day. Firstly, we happened to come across the Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model catwalk. Yep that's right, the actual finalists from the show were walking right infront of us. See the full video I recorded here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdRJlrP2O_s&feature=plcp


I have never witnessed a professional catwalk show before and it was a real eye opener. These girls were uber confident, and it was so refreshing to see many of them had porcelain skin, no fake tan required.The clothes and overall styling was gorgeous.

After our goodie bag bonanza and the fashion show, we then watched many celebrities talk about the brands they were promoting at the show, from fashion lines to the good old Stylofile. I managed to get a clip of Amy Childs talking (my cousin is a huge TOWIE fan, I am not advocating the look in any way!) which may interest some of you out there who also watch the show.

As much as I find it insane she is the same age as me, and obviously I am not a fan of the whole orange/fake look.... I definitely admired her personality and she was very entertaining. Her fashion range was also really impressive, with the shorter sparkly dress one of the models had on being my favourite piece.

The chat between Caryn Franklin and VV Brown was perhaps the most interesting of the day, as Caryn talked about the importance of networking and social media, all whilst looking effortlessly cool in her outfit. I swear I have never come across a more stylish lady in my whole life! She then introduced VV who talked about being a musician and how she was scouted on a plane to New York by a top modelling agency. I found the whole discussion really inspiring, both as a designer and as a beauty blogger.

 

Finally, we watched a live hair demo by Lee Stafford and his "Staffettes". Again, I was really taken aback by how down to earth and cool he was. He came onstage and gave away loads of his products, and had great interaction with the audience. He also happily posed with people at his stall, including Vicky which made her day, as she loved him on Celebrity Scissor Hands.

 

All in all, I had an absolutely fantastic day... it truelly exceeded my expectations. It was tough on my back and neck which still kill from carrying so much all day without really stopping.... but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. I have to warn you that you do need a hardcore love of beauty and fashion to withstand the insane amount of crowds and carrying, however it is totally worth it. I came away from TCSL feeling inspired and fairly overwhelmed at all the gifts I had recieved. Waking up today to write this blog was like waking up on Christmas morning!

Coming Next: Inside TCSL Goodie Bags!!