The Body Shop Blogger Event

I was invited to an event run by The Body Shop in London this week.

London was 99.7% more annoying than I remembered – crowds and crowds of people, perhaps all pushed into the same areas because of the rioting in some parts of town, either way, I couldn’t walk down a single road without walking shoulder to shoulder to someone, or having random people ramming into me, standing on my shoe, poking me in the back – so on and so forth.

If I were on form, I would practiced some of my Kung Fu skills on the general public, or tried out the Northern technique of walking then suddenly stopping for no reason in the middle of the street, cause the person behind to scuff their shoe. Alas I couldn’t – I had heavy heavy bags on my shoulders, I was tired, I was harassed, I was scurrying around, starving, and dying to go home.

Read on! Lots of photos!…

The Body Shop event was a way for people to try out different things and to learn more about the brand.

The Body Shop for me, when I was a teen in the 90s was DA BOMB. Everyone went there to buy their scents and lip balms, creams and lotions, and as we grew up, we bought The Body Shop Make Up.

My first ever eyelash curlers were from The Body Shop (my best friend at High School bought them for me – they were £2.50 back then) and I used it from the age of 13 to 18. Seriously! Back then, there was no such thing as chucking curlers away!

My first brush love was also with The Body Shop. The smudger brush, which was a large, round red puff, which made everything blend like a dream. I also had my first brush hate with The Body Shop – a powder brush with cream bristles. I washed it and all the hair fell out. From what I remembered, as a terrified 15 year old, they did change it for me, although I remember clearly, the sales assistant telling me that make up brushes don’t need to be washed. Hmmm.

I remember White Musk purfume and Ananya which was pink. I remember faithfully collecting the lip balms and Satsuma was my favourite. I remember buying the hair clips and buy the all in one face base (a pressed powder foundation) and buying the cheek and lip tints. The clear Elderflower eye gel. Vitamin E pink moisturizer. The Japanese crushed beans face wash/scrub. These are my memories of the brand. Note how I say memories, because up until this event, I hadn’t stepped into a Body Shop store for a long time.

Then suddenly there was lots of competition. Organic, or ethical brands were selling everywhere, and the prices at the Body Shop seemed to become quite steep. That’s why I stopped buying (I am interested – what do YOU think of The Body Shop? Perhaps if you are of a different generation, you may feel differently about the brand).

Anyway the event. I met a group of lovely blog ladies, who I have to admit, I had never heard of before, and had never heard of me either. We had makeovers with Chase Aston, make up extraordinaire, half Nathan Lane, half Samwise Gamgee. I liked him a lot, he was quick to make everyone feel comfortable even though we had gigantic video cameras pointing at our faces.

Here he is at work:

He did my make up (which I later smudged off whilst fighting through the crowds and stuffing my face with a jacket potato) but it was stunning, and quite effortless – a dab dab here with the fingers and thumbs…

He asked me what other brands I liked, what foundations I was using.

“Chanel Pro Lumiere….Creme De La Mer Foundation…Illamasqua…MAQUillage…SKII….Lunasol…Lavshuca….”

I did not utter the word MAC. MAC did not cross my lips.

Before I forget, there was lots of nice food but it was hardly touched. Salmon is a bit…well, smelly. I didn’t want to talk to the other girls or Chase whilst stinking like fish, so I didn’t have any! How I lameted them later on the train home:

Anyway, goody bag. I will do more in depth reviews later on, but for now, just photos of what was stuffed into our goody bags. They were HUGE and HEAVY, and very generous of The Body Shop.

Megan helped me organize everything for photos. No, it’s not child labour, it learning useful administrative skills:

Hemp Hand Cream, already stolen by the boyf:

It smells like Chinese medicine:

Boyf says it reminds him of Yu Be (yes, he’s a hand cream expert now):

Shimmer Brick things:

First thoughts, very sheer:

This is for the eyes and Face. For the Face, I imagine it gives a sheer, shimmery glow, for the eyes I’m not sure, especially not the lighter palette which isn’t that pigmented.

These are matte and shimmer blocks:

2 triangles are matte, 2 are shimmery. I like this one more, it’s pigmented, and its nice to have the mix between matte and shimmer.

Shimmer Cubes:

These are quite a stand out of all the things we got. I remember having a similar product back in my teens but they were in small cylinders, and you ripped the paper off as you used it like a crayon. The texture was similar to these, quite dry and shimmery.

I actually had my eye on a dark smokey shimmer cube set but alas, it wasn’t in the goody bag! We have 06, 07 and the new limited edition one for Spring.

The cubes can be removed and changed round or you can just take individuals with you.

You can use it on the cheeks too, or lips as a base:

You can use these wet for a really lovely intense effect, but it will set over when it dries, so you need to scrape the top layer off:

My first impression of these is that they are very nice, soft, pigmented colours. They are very shimmery and frosty, so you might not want to use it all over the eye.

Eyeshadows:

Concealer Sticks:

Illuminating Pens. Chase used these a lot in his tutorials as correctors but also for going over mistakes:

Three mascaras to try:

Chase made my lashes retain their curl – now I think that may be down to his technique as opposed to the mascara, but we’ll see..

Brow and Liner Kit, and liquid eyeliner:

*I’ve just realised that I had a photo of all the lip products, which includes 2 lipsticks, 2 lip glosses, 1 lip and cheek tint but the computer seems to have eaten the photo. Naughty computer…

Make Up Brushes:

I have had Body Shop Brushes for a long time and I’ll be happy to try these out too. Like I mentioned earlier, the first brushes I got had the wooden handles, and white bristles and were slightly mixed in results. Then a few years ago when I was doing a make up course, I needed affordable but good quality brushes so I invested in The Body Shop Brushes. I liked them a lot although I didn’t like the wide base design because it made it hard to fit into cases and tool belts, and into storage jars. These latest ones still have a wide base but it’s smaller than the old version I owned, making them more practical for storage, in my opinion.

I think (don’t quote me) these brushes are Eye Blending, Concealer, Angle brush (brow and liner) Lip and Smudger. The Body Shop Brushes are synthetic. I like synthetic for cream products, but I prefer natural bristles for blending and application. I really like the look of the angle brush here, which is wider than normal ones and the blending brush, which has a slightly flat edge.

Powder Brush, Foundation Brush, lash/Brow comb, Smudger Brush (yay!).

Skincare items:

Vitamin C Range, capsule serum, scrub and spray -

Vitamin E range:

Wipes, Face Cream, Intense Cream, Face Oil and Spray.

Body Butters:

Cherry

Mango, Coconut, Cocoa Butter

Scents:

Morrocan Rose, White Musk, Neroli Jasmine

Shower Items, Wild Cherry Shower Gel, Monoi Hair and Body wash oil – I forget what the smaller one is:

Olive Glossing Shampoo and Conditioner:

Mmmm Olive. Sounds good, but I did check the ingredients of the Shampoo and Sodium Laurel Sulfate is on the list so this may be one I have to avoid due to my sensitive scalp.

Random Bits:

Nail file, Warming Mask, Eye Make Up remover, Pulse Cream thing (I think it’s like Origins Peace of Mind), Tea tree spot gel.

Lash Curlers

A special lip balm, for charity so I will write more about it later:

Phew! One I get round it it there will be more indepth reviews and comparisons.

My shoulder is killing me!