***Warning Picture Heavy***
On Sunday I attended Olympia Beauty one of the biggest trade shows in a nail addicts calendar. I had read and seen pictures of last years event but nothing could prepare me for enormity of the whole thing. The place was just full of nail polish, beauty things, and oh, super crowded which I didn't like much. By mid afternoon to get any where you had to push through! Luckily I got there first thing and actually had a good half hour or so of wandering around without people getting in my way! Those who follow me on Instagram will have seen my attempt at providing a live feed of the event but an hour in my phone decided it had no 3G signal so I couldn't upload anything! Just in case you missed them here is what I snapped.
Misa were definitely bargain of the day. At £2 a bottle of polish some of my Instagram followers actively encouraged me to buy every colour lol!
My friend and I spent a good while hogging the stand! Nubar had a pretty good stand too. 6 bottles for £20 if I remember correctly.
Color Club or should I say the distributors that were selling CC were a little disappointing. Sets which you can find in TK Maxx for £7.99 were being sold for £21. They had the new Ruby Wing polishes but £10 is a little much for one bottle so none came home with me despite being absolutely gorgeous *sigh*.
OPI had a massive stand. No surprise there!
Louella Belle Ltd were selling Seche products including the new colour line. I wish I got some now after seeing swatches :-(
Paris Brand Peggy Sage annoyed me a little, they only accepted cash. By the time I reached their stand I had run out of the green stuff and didn't fancy paying the £1.75 charge to withdraw from the ATMs in the Hall. Shame because there was a gorgeous berry jelly with flakies and glitter that I really wanted, not to mention the holos!
China Glaze were £3.95 each I think for normal colours. The Bohemian Collection were just under £8 each. Needless to say I didn't get any.
The event also put on a number of talks, demos, presentations and one which I was eager to attend was by Nina Taylor. For those who are unfamiliar with her, she is a hand supermodel. She has been Kate Moss's hands in Rimmel ads as well as the hands/nails for many nail polish brands. Seeing her hands in real life I can confirm they are very beautiful. Thin, elegant fingers with absolutely perfect nails.
I didn't really get to see much of the nailympics but from what I could see it looked good!
And finally what you guys are probably more interested my haul...
As the hours passed my bag weighed an absolute tonne and I was convinced I had spent and bought way too much, however, to my surprise after unpacking and calculating the damaged I had done to my credit card I was pleased to see I hadn't actually bought or spent that much!
I picked up a pump bottle for polish remover and a massive bottle of OPI Expert Touch. I use this for cuticle clean up as it's strong yet gentle and doesn't leave a white residue like pure acetone can. I decided to get a big bottle of Seche Restore because I use Seche TC which those who also use it will know thickens after a while.
Out the Door Top Coat had been on my to try list for a while. I read it didn't recede as badly as SV but after posting on Instagram I've heard it has other issues so we will see. Northern Light is a holographic top coat. I'm guessing it's like OTD but with the fine holo glitter.
I picked up Nail Tek Foundation I because my usual base coat is nearly finished. I had read good reviews so when I saw it I decided to give it a try. I got to say I'm absolute loving it. It dries to a matte finish which means I can wear it at work without anyone knowing and be safe in the knowledge I'm giving my nails that little extra protection from the million times I wash my hands during working hours (I don't have OCD, I work in a hospital). My nails are pretty thick and strong but this makes them even stronger. Whether it prevents staining is still to be known.
When I saw the OPI stand I was rather over whelmed. I did feel like a kid in a candy store and wanted to grab everything but with individual bottle still being over £5 I limited myself to 4 bottles. I picked up Alpine Snow as my fav white CG Snow is fast running out. I also killed my lemming for Pirouette my Whistle from the NY Ballet collection and Every Month is Oktoberfest from the Germany collection. From the Skyfall collection I picked up Live and Let Die.
At the Color Club stand I resisted buying any Ruby Wing because they were too expensive. I bought only one CC polish, a lovely duochrome called Port-folio from the Fashion Affair collection.
From the Misa stand I picked up (clockwise) Frozen in Time, Phazers on Stunning, Peachy Keen which may be a dupe for essence Toffee to Go and A Sunny Smile Make me go Wild a neon yellow.
At the China Glaze stand I bought Make a Spectacle from the Wicked Halloween collection, Liquid Leather, and from Summer Neons, Pink Plumeria and Ride the Waves.
From Nubar I bought just one bottle, Black Polka Dot.
See I told you I didn't get much! Overall I really enjoyed the event and will definitely be going again. If you go next year I recommend taking a packed lunch, a suitcase with wheel and plenty of cash lol!
Thanks for reading!
