September 14th, 2021
Last week International Makeup Artist and Beauty Expert, Nadira V Persaud and Fashion Stylist, Personal Shopper and Style Lecturer, Abbey Booth hosted FYI – Find your Inspiration – a new health and wellness event designed to inform and inspire women across wellness, skincare, nutrition, fashion and personal style and in support of The Menopause Charity.
The Victorian Bathhouse, Bishopsgate
The event was held at the gorgeous Victorian Bathhouse in Bishopsgate, London. A hidden gem of a Turkish-inspired palace that has been converted from a bathhouse to a fabulous underground events space with a stylish bar.
Nadira V Persaud
Nadira is known for her distinctive signature style and has worked with clients in beauty, fashion and advertising as well as the arts, music, film and TV for over 20 years. More recently her career has evolved to include teaching, presenting and consulting in the UK and abroad, acting as Brand Ambassador for a number of global cosmetics brands as well as working as Make Up Advisor for a UK charity that supports and empowers burns and scars survivors. Nadira’s philosophy is about enhancing natural beauty whilst focusing on lifestyle, striking a balance between feeling and looking good.
Abbey Booth
Abbey is the founder of Stories with Clothes, and is passionate about empowering women of all ages and shapes to become the best versions of themselves and own their individual style. After a career in media advertising and marketing, she retrained in visual merchandising and window dressing. This caused Abbey to fall in love with retail fashion, starting her own womenswear boutique. In 2017 she trained as a Personal Stylist, graduating with distinction, and now acts as a guest lecturer at the London College of Style.
–
There were a number of speakers and demonstrations during the evening, as well as a small number of independent beauty and wellbeing companies exhibiting their products and explaining their benefits. The perfect way to spend a Tuesday evening!
After a welcome drink, some canapes and a chance to network with other attendees and browse the stalls, our first guest speaker was the inspirational Misty Reich. As well as having the most fabulous name, Misty is the founder and CEO of luxury skincare brand 35 Thousand and an inspiring and motivational champion of women in business.
Misty Reich, CEO of 35 Thousand
Misty hails from Texas and spends her time between her family cattle ranch there and London. Having had a career in HR, working for global brands and moving around the world for 23 years, she left all that behind in 2017 to give her more time with her children as they became teenagers. As well as running an executive coaching practice and sitting on several boards she started to build 35 Thousand, a brand that aims to help women travel beautifully through their careers and life.
Drawing on her experience of travelling extensively for business, the products are designed to fit within travel guidelines for hand luggage and come in a TPU bio degradable plastic pouch that also has room for other essentials. The brand’s name comes from an aeroplane’s average cruising height, by the way.
“
To travel beautifully through career and life you need to feel as though you have your shit together
” Misty Reich
This month is her brand’s 4th anniversary. She did have a two-year plan, but self-funding a new enterprise just as a global pandemic hit was challenging, particularly as the target audience were women on the go – and no-one has been able to go anyway for at least 18 months! She also faced difficulties with Brexit including sourcing cardboard, selling across the UK and USA market and getting FDA approval for their SPF.
Misty describes herself as confident but insecure, something that struck a chord with many of us in attendance who feel confident in professional situations but insecure on a personal level. We spent some time in small groups discussing the areas where we felt completely secure and situations where we struggled and what we could do to help reduce the insecurity.
35 Thousand’s travel-friendly products
Misty went on to tell us how she realised she was struggling with imposter syndrome and fear of financial failure as she attempted to launch the new brand. Not wanting to seek the help of a counsellor, she instead spoke to her friends and family about how they viewed her and what they saw as her strengths. Though the stories we all tell about each other she was able to get the breakthrough she needed to deal with her fears. Talking to those closest to her she remembered raising money for a foreign exchange trip as a student that required her to exercise ingenuity and persuasion; other tales and external validation reinforced for her that she was capable of starting and running her own enterprise having been a globally successful manager in her previous career while also raising a family. It was a really inspiring session and definitely helped us all supercharge our personal confidence in our abilities and experience.
Nadira demonstrating one of her face workouts
Next up was a demonstration by Nadira of her Compact Duo Cleansing Brush, in conjunction with one of her Face Workouts from her book Press Here! Face Workouts for Beginners, a collection of easy to follow practical face exercises. Nadira demonstrated that, by being mindful about tension in the face, you can learn to improve tone and definition, reducing puffiness and frown lines all while cleansing your face. It was certainly really relaxing and easy to introduce in to your skincare regime. The brush is perfect to take travelling as well as it comes in a handy travel case.
Abbey with a selection of garments from Onloan
After that Abbey spoke to us about sustainable fashion, and having the confidence to find your own style. Clothes evoke who are you are, and she encouraged us to use what we wear to tell her own story (rather than just following the herd) and wowing the people we meet. She also reminded us that exploring our own clothes can lead us to rediscover hidden gems in our wardrobes rather than just buying something new. She also introduced us to Onloan, a rental clothes company for everyday designer wear as well as occasion outfits. You can rent pieces for a month to change up your wardrobe and try new styles and designers. The site doesn’t suggest outfits for you, but as Abbey is a personal stylist, she is more than happy to help!
Dr Lindsey Thomas for The Menopause Charity
Our final speaker was The Menopause Charity’s very own Dr Lindsey Thomas who spoke about the menopause and peri-menopause and the common (and less common) symptoms. Many of these can be misdiagnosed by GPs as they are not always recognised on their own as being menopause related. She advised that anyone suffering should keep a log of symptoms and use it as the basis of a conversation with their GP if they had concerns or wanted to discuss treatments such as HRT. She also stressed that it is absolutely fine to ask for a second opinion. While some health trusts now do have specialists on women’s reproductive health, many GPs will not have had specific training on menopause – as highlighted in Davina’s excellent documentary – so asking for another opinion or to be referred to specialist is absolutely within your rights as a patient. It was a very helpful session, and lots of information is available on the charity’s website.
after my 3 minute makeover with Cosmetics a la Carte
The final demonstration had Nadira carrying out a quick makeover on yours truly with products from Cosmetics á la Carte’s latest makeup range, Flights of Fantasy. In just three minutes I was ready to hit the town, particularly with the addition of the Matte Velvet Lipstick in Tango- a fabulous pop of colour.
Tango from Cosmetics a la Carte Flights of Fantasy collection
The brands showcasing their products, all of which Nadira recommends, included:
Ingenious, makers of an award-winning sustainable collagen supplement, that sold out after being mentioned on This Morning by Liz Earle. They specialise in collagen supplements and have a patented capsule ensuring as much of the collagen is absorbed into your body as possible, rather than just being digested in the stomach. They have three options available; Beauty – to help deliver younger-looking skin; Vegan – a 100% plant-based formula to stimulate collagen synthesis and reinvigorate your skin, hair, nails and joints and Active – to enhance endurance levels, reduce inflammation and improve post-exercise recovery.
4160Tuesdays, an indie, artisan perfumery based on West London who pride themselves on hand-making adventurous, interesting fragrances in small batches. They’ve been in business since 2011 and also teach people how to make their own fragrances, as well as working with businesses to scent their events. We particularly liked The Sexiest Scent On The Planet. Ever. (IMHO) which starts off smelling like lemon meringue then becomes something much more dark and sensual.
Sofia Latif, a creator of pro-ageing simplified skincare fusing Indian and African wisdom. Sofia’s oil blends are hand crafted in small batches and respect the differences in skin that come with age, helping to regenerate and strengthen with pure seeds and flower oils. She produces oils for the face, undereyes, body and also the scalp. Sofia also sells tools including bamboo silk eye masks, face rollers and Gua Sha skintools in amethyst and rose quartz (our favourite!).
Graces London, a beauty and lifestyle brand, inspired by cannabis. Offering skincare/aromatherapy plant formulas, bespoke tailored music and sound baths, reiki meditations and crystal energy. They recommend you think of their products as “self-care on steroids…. plant crystal steroids.” They also smell fabulous!
This was a fantastic evening – really supportive and informative in a wonderful relaxed environment. Nadira and Abbey are talking about running another event, focussed on a different area of women’s wellness – we’d definitely encourage any of you to go along!
Subscribe to Warpaint here.
Comments
Related Posts
