Organic Beauty & Wellbeing Week 2017: The Event

Yesterday was the last day of this years Organic Beauty & Wellbeing Week. If you’ve read this weeks posts then you’ll be aware that the Soil Association was hosting a pop-up and schedule of masterclasses and workshops throughout this week. Although I was unable to make it to the official launch on Monday as I was filming I did have a chance to visit on Friday.

The pop up was housed in the warehouse style event space Protein Studios in London’s East End. A selection of Soil Association brands had set up camp for the week and were dotted around the room; each displaying a selection of products from their collections. The stands were a visual delight and there was a real harmony and sense of camaraderie in the room.

Arriving at about 3pm, it was a particularly quiet time of day and from my perspective this was ideal as it gave me the opportunity to have a really good chat with representatives from each of the companies and of course do a little shopping.

Many of the brands were known to me however it was lovely to spend time playing with products which I hadn’t tried before. Bamford, Nourish, Therapi (pictured above) and Neal’s Yard Remedies (who also co-sponsored the event) are all fabulous brands who’s products I either use on a regular basis or have certainly used in the past and so it was lovely to see them and chat to some familiar faces.

Herfarmacy have received a lot of love from the blogging community and have been on my radar for a while. I actually purchased some samples from the range last week before I realised they were going to be at the event and having used one or two already, I am very impressed.

Voya are another brand who I had heard of but never actually come across either in store in person so I was particularly interested to find out more about them. The company harness the beneficial properties of organic seaweed and have created a beautiful range of nourishing and soothing skin and bodycare products. I couldn’t resist picking up a Lazy Days seaweed block and some nourishing body oil to add to my bath!

I think the company which most caught my eye was La-Eva; a brand which only launched in February and Currently has only two products in the range, an all over body lotion and a body wash. The products are housed in beautiful brown apothecary style glass bottles and available in two scents; Rosēum (a sensual and uplifting scent containing geranium and Petigrain) and Blū (a deeper, soothing and woodier scent with notes of chamomile, vetivert and cedarwood). I was captivated by Blū and spent a considerable length of time at the stand chatting to the founder about the range, it’s design and the wonderful backstory. Definitely a company to watch in the near future.

Viridian Nutrion (the other key sponsor) had a selection of their supplements and coconut oil on display. As someone who has never been a supplement taker and has also not been feeling on top form in recent months, I came away not only convinced but with a jar of capsules which will hopefully start me off on the road to improved health.

Yes Yes Yes are an intimate health company who had an array of Soil Association certified lubs and tubes on display. Sadly I didn’t have a chance to find out more as one or other of us was always chatting to someone else! Also present were Naissance who I believe supply the necessary ingredients for DIY products however this was unmanned whilst I was there so I didn’t have the opportunity to find out more.

Having talked myself slightly horse, it was time for the Organic Beauty Masterclass.

I have been a Make-up Artist for two decades and been actively using natural and organic products in my kit for nearly half of that time, I still love to learn and can’t resist the opportunity to hear what others in the industry have to say.

The masterclass took the form of a panel discussion and Q&A followed by a make-up demo. The panel consisted of Green Make-up Artist Lou Dartford, founder of Content Beauty & Wellbeing (and author) Imelda Burke and model and People Tree Ambassador Rebecca Pearson.

The topic of conversation covered everything from organic mascara to where best to apply concealer with product recommendations and tips aplenty. Lou then used a variety of soil association certified and approved products to give Rebecca a flawless base before creating a simple smokey eye (using just an eye pencil and one shadow) and combining it with a soft red lip (I’m sure Lou will be doing a post on this look in the coming week so keep an eye on her blog for further details). The finished look was beautiful.

Did you make it to the event?

Thanks for sticking with me throughout the past few days despite me inundating your inboxes with posts. If you missed any of them or are interested in finding out more about the first body’s and skincare products you should consider changing when looking to go-green then take a look at the list of posts below.

Make The Change: Body Lotion; Shampoo; Face Masks; Lip Balms; Sunscreen