Regardless of my tired travel body, on Saturday morning I
jumped out of the comfortable (and huge!)
hotel bed like a child on Christmas morning. I was full of excitment and
could not wait to meet the participants of the event as I was sure it will be a
supportive and positive community waiting for me. And I was so right!
During our taxi drive to the beautiful hotel ont he river
Thames, Nikki Gomez showed how a true model is always ready: as she did not
have time to polish her nails, she was saved by some nail stickers from her „never
full” bag. When we entered the lobby, some participants were waiting there with
whom we got on friendly turns easily as we were discussing some typical curvy
girl issues and after sharing some thoughts they did not seem strangers anymore
but welcoming new friends. The event was held ont he first floor and we checked
the backstage works where stylists were ironing clothes and models were int he hands
of hairdressers, make up artists and nail artists. As we did not want to
disturb the preparations, we continued our walk towards the expo area where
many fantastic companies were present: from beauty will big size custommade
shoes. Both me and Nikki got excited for the henna painting so we had to try
those special designs with rhinestones, adding the perfect finish to our outfits.
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| Backstage |
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| Backstage |
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| Backstage |
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| Backstage |
We did not have much time as the organizer, Kemi Farquharson
whispered to my ears the exciting news: I will be the first among the workshops
with talking about Beauty With Plus project. I can’t be grateful enough for
this possibility as I work for this cause day and night! I entered the room
with my nerves on all edge but the smiling faces helped to overcome my fears. I
was happy to talk about you, who support me every day by sharing your BWP
stories to empower other women and show how confidence does not depend on
bodyshape or size. I talked about self-acceptance, self-love and a bit of my
own journey and then we played a bit of self-confidence game and as a result
some eyes got wet. To be honest, it touched me as well to see and hear those
beautiful ladies with their stories and I was so happy when some of them
stepped to me after the workshop to thank the experience and advice I gave
them.
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| Beauty With Plus workshop |
My workshop was followed by one about sport and being fit,
held by Riccardo who is a personal trainer. He highlighted the importance of
healthy curves and helped us with useful advice to overcome the critical points
we all experience such as „I don’t have time for sport” „The gym is quite expensive”
and he even gave some tips for home exercises.
After inner and outside wellness, the next workshop focused
on beauty and makeup by CSG Beauty. The proper makeup with countouring can be a
trasure for rounded face girls like me – as you can optically lose some of that
roundness! We got advice for home skincare, too – as scrubs made of brown sugar
or honey.
During the lunchbreak I met some fantastic ladies, had very
inspiring conversations and I was about to get a typical fish and chips with
Nikki when a smiling lady stepped to me and said: „You are Susie from
Cupcake&Pearls, right? I was waiting so much to finally meet you!” I got
embarrassed as I did not recognize her. She was Cleo, the marketing & PR
manager of UK Plus Size Events, organizer of British Plus Size Awards. We had a
lovely chat and she kindly invited me to the British Awards to London for which
I felt extremely honoured!
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| Cleo Peacock, UK Plus Size Events |
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After the show we did a lot of pictures together with the
participants and I was so happy to see many #BeautyWithPlus supporters from
Instagram.
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| With Amy, Jade and Charlotte (models) after the show |
I felt a certain vibe throughout the event – these women are
not competing with each other, not gathering in cliques. They support each
other and stick to one another – even a stranger will welcome you with a wide
smile and some kind words so you can feel: you are part of the community,
regardless your weight, skin colour or country of origin. Everyone was so
relaxed, new friendships were born and we all must be grateful to Kemi who made
this event happen and bring plus community together. In our goodie bags we got
some plus size magazines, cosmetics and even a hand made jewelry, too!
With a pleasant tiredness we headed back to our hotel and to
my biggest happiness, Nikki said yes for a video interview so soon you will hear
more about her Beauty with Plus story on the blog.
To be continued…
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