Girlfriends Expo returns :) (RW)

Hey all! It’s that time again, and I can’t believe it rolled around so fast. Girlfriend’s Expo 2014 is here! Last year I worked at the expo, but this weekend I hope to attend as a patron, so I can enjoy the full expo and all the Feminars there are to be had.

Last year, Makeup Doll Cosmetics had a bustling booth and I can’t wait to see them this year and pick up some items before they’re sold out, which means going super early. The atmosphere at the Concorde was interesting, very busy and crowded but yet homey, though I still miss the spaciousness of the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre for the 2012 expo.

Another thing missing from this expo is my best friend, Ashley! This year we’re miles apart so they’ll be no hanging out and perusing various stalls together. But I hope that if I do make it, I can make the best of it for the both of us.

Last year, the samples had me going and coming. I’m so happy to have the chance to sample so many products, because trust me, samples and few and far between in Barbados. It’s kinda ridiculous really. Anyone who is in PR in Barbados, please take note. We,the patrons would appreciate your product samples.

See post from 2013 here!
See post from 2012 here!

Girlfriend’s Expo on a PLANE! (Picture loaded)

Hey all! This year the Girlfriend’s Expo (February 2nd -3rd) was held at the Barbados Concorde Experience. It’s a beautiful setting for the the showcase, however, it is a bit too tiny for so many people. As a volunteer, it felt like if my head was spinning on Sunday around 3:00 p.m when the flood gates of people started to flow in from all over Barbados.



MUDC booth was always packed!



Just half of the majestic Concorde

Let me start over with day 1, Saturday was nice and some what breezy until the later hours or the show (around 4:00 pm) when more performances were happening on the main stage. Despite the great shows and the even better turn out, I still missed the Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, (Sherbourne Conference Centre, for those of us who don’t care about the politically-correct name).
The flow of persons around the stage was frustating, but at least the other areas of the exhibit where more easily accessible. Well except for the make up and hair booths of course.



The crowd was subject to what was happening on stage as well as the delicious treats prepared by Chef Damien (mentioned later in this post).Yum!

Yes we posed with propellers, because we’re awesome 🙂

Brydens Stokes had a mini hair store, with demonstrations, new products as well as special show prices, and of course SAMPLES! I have a bagful, as usual :). It’s not often that you get samples in Barbados, especially of hair products, so seize the opportunity while you can. Make up Doll Cosmetics, Barbados Beauty, Bio-Beauty, Colour Coded, Jolie lipsticks and Neutrogena were also in attendance. With MUDC being one of the most busy of the booths there. I tried so many times to buy one of their new lip tars, or at least see them, but they were always so full. They even sold out of the shade that I wanted, a lilac on the 1st day.

Look at the vibrance of those colours (this is Vanessa’s hand btw)

I went over to Colour Coded, where I bought a stippling brush (#955) from Bdellium tools. I’ve always wanted a brush like this, but I wasn’t sure if I would find one here. I had also read some rave reviews on Bdellium tools, and when I saw the brush I jumped. It was $22BDS,and I hope it lives up to the hype. The price actually isn’t that bad though, I may just buy another brush from them.



Excuse the quality, I took this with my tablet a few days afterwards

I went to just about every booth I could when I wasn’t busy fulfilling my volunteer duties. There was free HIV/AIDS rapid testing also. It was good to see that the Ministry of Health’s booth was so well-attended.

On the final day, I tried to just get as many samples as I could , as I am in the market for a new deep conditioner and a leave-in moisturiser. That was harder than I thought as Sunday was just about the busiest especially around the time I came in. Ashley and I got the time to take some pictures in the Mini Cooper, just for fun.

On the closing day I played with colour for my make up.

in the Mini cooper with Ashley!

I tried to take advantage of the deals they were having on some products in the Brydens Stokes “store” and bought make up remover wipes for $8 :). As well as 6 bags of pink and white marshmallows and a huge bag of blick licorice Twizzlers, which I love! You never see black liquorice here…

Closer look at my make up.. though it’s a good few hours old.

On the note of food, I loved that the volunteers were catered for by such great chefs. The food from Caribbean Villa Chefs was exceptional, despite the couple hiccups we had at first. I would definitely recommend them for those of of you planning a special event. Also there was also a number of pastry shops. “Do it Sweet Cakes & Treats” by Chef Damien Mason had amazing treats. Chocolate cake soaked in Baileys= WIN. Plus their White Cholocolate Strawberry Champagne truffles were divine! There booth was so full, I still haven’t gotten the chance to buy anything. But I at least have their business card. There was also a local wine maker who made Rum Creme in orginial and chocolate. It was so lovely, as well as another wine I tried at another booth, the name is yet to be remembered, hahaha. It was a red wine with Dulce in the title though.

Finally I toured the Concorde, very briefly. It was the last tour for the day and it was very rushed, but I still took as many pictures as possible! All in all it was a good event, definitely well attended. I would probably do it again!

Tyrell being my guide along the Concorde

Micro-Haul from GFE

Hey everyone, in case you hadn’t already known, last weekend I volunteered at the Girlfriend’s Expo and had a great time. For more on that click here!

While I was there I was amazed by the number of make up brands and even the services available here in Barbados. I just got 3 things, as I was trying not to go overboard.

First I got a Sleek Make up I-Divine Palette in “Oh So Special”. The black in this palette is so saturated. I had seen this online and was so excited to see it on-sale there. I got mine from the Essential Trends’ booth.
 I was very impressed that they had tester palettes and insisted on giving out a Sleek bag specifically for the Sleek products.

Ash also picked up a lovely ColorClub nail polish from them and they also gave her free emery boards. That was a nice touch!

I love the packaging of this very SLEEK! hahahaa

I haven’t used my palette as yet, I was saving it for the photos hahah. But I can’t wait to start using it. I really needed a neutral eyeshadow palette. There was also the I-Divine palette in “Au Natural” but I was more drawn to this one from before.
Another cool one they had was the Acid Palette, covetted by many a YouTube guru, but not available in the USA because of FDA restrictions. There were some fluorescent colours in that one, very very bright!

This palette contains both matte and shimmery colours, with the black being matte.

The colours are as follows:
Top row: Bow, Organza, Ribbon, Gift Basket, Glitz, Celebrate
Bottom row: Pamper, Gateau, The Mail, Boxed, Wrapped Up, Noir

I love this huge mirror!

I also got this cute pure white shimmery poilish by Zoya called “Ginessa” from Bio Beauty. They had a selection of O.P.I. (including Shatter polishes), Essie and China Glaze.

I fell in love with this at first glance ^___^. It has the tiniest micro-glitter, so it gives a nice sheen. It looks perfect for a wedding if you ask me.

Finally I got an authentic Indian Henna Tattoo. It’s only supposed to last one week sadly, but it wasn’t too expensive. This was something I wanted for about a year now.

This is how it looked after the paste dried. (If you watch the video, you’ll see footage of it wet.)

I think this is two days after it was applied. It’s sooo pretty :). I think this is better than painting my nails lol. Sadly it’s wearing off.. and I don’t think it’ll survive until Tuesday.

It was pretty while it lasted ^__^ and I may get another at some point. (excuse the quality of those last photos, those were taken with my phone).

What do you think of what I got? Liked my henna tattoo? Would you get a henna tattoo?

Until next post, enjoy your week!

Must-do for next year: Girlfriend’s Expo!

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Girlfriend’s Expo at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre (previously Sherbourne Conference Centre), and it was fantastic! I absolutely loved it! Both the patrons and the volunteers were treated very well. Although we would be behind the scenes running around, packaging goodie bags and such for the patrons about every hour, we still had a chance to browse the exhibits and enjoy the showcases the expo provided the patrons. In case you were wondering the expo ran for 2 days.

The exhibition is namely for females, however I realised that many of the displays, seminars and even the shows were unisex. So I would definitely recommend that guys attend too, especially because you could pick up something your girlfriend or wife has been eyeing before Valentines Day.

Taken from the GFE Facebook page

There were so many exhibitors present, from make-up retailers, car dealers, travel agencies, health and wellness (including sexual wellness), to apparel stores and major distributors.  I think one of the highlights was Move 2 More, a fitness centre which showcased pole and belly dancing. The pole dancing sessions definitely drew crowds to the entertainment room each day.

The seminars in the speaker’s room were very interesting topics ranging from the “power of the Purse” by Miche Bags, “20 Tips to Healthy Living” by Healing Earth Life Products to “Smart People, Smart Sex” by the Better Blends Relationship Institute.



Taken from GFE Facebook page

 Many of the exhibitors gave out samples, which is one thing that Bajans particularly love and there were many chances to win items from both the holders of the expo and exhibitors.

The best part for me, besides the food, samples and pole dancing, was the make-up displays. I was stuck by the number of brand names which I thought were not and would not ever be available in Barbados. But I actually saw very many of them, O.P.I., China Glaze, Essie, Eco Tools, Naked Cosmetics, Sleek Make up UK, Color Club, OCC (Obsessive Complusive Cosmetics) and Sugar Pill, to name a few. I just went a round the first day in awe.

Ash next to her new favourite car 🙂

I made sure to make some connections with the owners of these booths because it would be great to buy such cosmetics at some point. I heard so many good things about each of them! I tried not to splurge too much but I did get a Sleek Palette that I had been eyeing for a very long time, from Essential Trends and a Zoya Nail polish which was bought on whim as it was so pretty. More on those soon.

I also had the opportunity to meet a bajan YouTuber who makes the cutest bows ever! (remind me so much of Hello Kitty ^__^). She was really nice, and luckily Ashley got one of her bows in sequin black. I also saw two other Bajan YouTubers, however from start to finish their booth was always busy, so I hadn’t the chance to say hello.

There was also Make up Doll Cosmetics at the expo. I’m actually very proud of this bajan brand and I can’t wait to try more of their products. My first YouTube review was on their starter product, a beautiful gold eyeshadow I still have.

Another highlight for me was meeting Lashawna from ColourCoded, the group who had brought in PurseBuzz for an O2B2 session in Barbados! She was very kind, and Icouldn’t help but admire their booth. They were doing makeovers, and henna tattoos which I got one done (you’ll see in video), as well as selling BH cosmetics palettes (eyeshadow, concealer and blush palettes) and NAKED cosmetic pigments very affordable. I think they even had train cases!

Oh to be behind the wheel…

Like I said, Girlfriend’s expo was great for me and will definitely try to volunteer again! I hope you enjoy the photos, sorry about the quality, they were taken with my phone, but the second day I brought my video camera it was very busy, hahaha.

Until next post, Enjoy!

In the car off to an adventure ^__^