Clothes Show Live: Birmingham!

Hi guys! 

So, yesterday I went to Clothes Show Live in Birmingham NEC, and I had an amazing day and got loads of 'stuff', so today, I thought I'd blog about it for you all! I think what I might do though is to blog about the day, which goody bags I got, and a list of what was in them today, then talk more about what was in them and what they're like in upcoming blogs. Just because there is so much to talk about! Also, that means I have more time to try the stuff out too so that I can review it a bit.

For anyone who doesn't know what Clothes Show Live is, it’s basically a massive fashion and beauty event which happens every December at the Birmingham NEC. It always has a massive range of companies there, from brand new designers to well established make up brands; lots of bargains and freebies; and every year, it always has an amazing show in the Fashion Theatre. I have been for the past two years so this was my third year running, and it's definitely still as amazing as the first. I have been to Clothes Show with a few different people, but always with family and their friends, so this year; I went with one of my friends.

So, we arrived just after 9.00, and I have never been Clothes Show that early before (it opens at 9.00), and was amazed at how few people there were there. I mean it was still very, very busy, but nothing compared to how it gets during the rest of the day. So, we took advantage of this and went round to the main companies who I knew tended to do good deals, and came across a few more on our way - in fact, I think we did about 3/4 of our shopping in that first 45 mins because there were just so few people and we could just go to the stand and be served really quickly with minimal queuing!

I'm going to get onto what I bought in a bit, but first I want to talk about the rest of the day. After the first 45 mins, we had to go queue up at the Fashion Theatre for the Fashion Show, because ours was at 10.00. The first year I went Clothes Show, I really didn't know what to expect from the Fashion Show, I thought it would just be stick thin models walking up and down the stage in various combinations of weird 'fashionable' clothes. I was so wrong, I mean there was, and still are stick thin models walking up and down the catwalk in weird clothes. But that's only a tiny part of the show - each year the show has a theme; the first year I went it was a Winter Wonderland; last year, a Night at the Movies, and this year, A Night at the Department Store, and each year they put on an incredible show, with dancing and music. For instance, last year, they did like sections out of movies, so a bit of Dirty Dancing and a typical spy movie style scene, where the model did all these cartwheels and slides dodging lasers to get to a jewel on a plinth. For the last two years, the Shows have been amazing, and this year, they didn't disappoint either.

This year, they did all the different 'levels' of the Department store, such as sportswear, underwear and even wedding clothes, and they use music to suit each 'level' too, such as Bruno Mars I think I wanna Marry you for the wedding level. Again, it was amazing, the dancing and staging was awesome and it really is a 'show'. How on earth those models manage to do them again and again all day I don't know because it looks exhausting! But, anyways, if you do ever get the chance to watch the show, I wouldn't turn it down because it really is something!

The show lasts about an hour, so once we came out of the show we went round shopping again, but as I said, I'm going to leave that till the end of this blog, so instead I'm going to skip to later in the day to the mini style stages. So, amongst all the stalls at Clothes Show, there are also various stages. So there's a dance stage, a mini fashion stage, a beauty stage and some others too such as a 'stop and chop' stage where you can get your hair cut by a professional in front of a crowd, and it’s basically to advertise products. But anyways, these mini stages have 'shows' going on throughout the day, from fashion shows to competitions, to demonstrations. If you have time, or happen to be wondering past these stages it’s definitely worth a look, and most of the time they give out free goodie bags too (if you get to the front and scream very loudly. (Not something I've ever done but I've seen it work for others!) So those are a really good part of the show too, and most of the time they are celebs who host these mini shows, so you never know, you could get lucky and see someone you never thought you would!

And now (drum roll please) the amazing bargains that I picked up at the Clothes Show!

Okay, so for now I'm just going to put some pictures up and do a list because this post is already very long, but as I said, I'll definitely be doing some more detailed posts soon!

So first of all, here are all my bags, then carry on reading to see what was in them all!

Rimmel Goody Bag: £10. You get a choice of two - Baby Doll or Urban Chic (I got Baby Doll). Includes: Sexy Curves Mascara, Extra Super Lash Building Mascara, Vinyl Lip Gloss, and three Nail Varnishes.

Barry M Goody Bag: £10. Includes: Two dazzle dusts, two lip glosses, two liquid eyeliners, three nail varnishes, two pencil eyeliners and an eye crayon.

 

Models Own: Buy three products for £10 and get free Goody Bag (absolute Bargain!). Includes: three products you buy ( I bought three nail varnishes), three eyeliners, two duo eye shadows, nail file/buffer, three lip glosses, two loose eye shadows (like dazzle dusts) and a waterproof mascara.

 

Jelly Pong Pong: £5. Includes: Cheek Tint, Lip Gloss, Bronzer, Wide Awake Palette and a box that you can 'build' for it all.

 

 Company/Cosmopolitan Magazines and Goody Bag: £3. Varies, but mine included: Lip Gloss, Body Shop Card with value from £3 - £100, Tissues, L'Oreal sample and 'mood enhancing' Drink (which was quite nice actually).

 Benefit: Free with my tickets to Clothes Show (if you booked them at a certain time you got vouchers). Free Creaseless Cream Eye shadow in Slippin and Dippin. Also offering free makeovers (I just couldn't be bothered to take all mine off just to have it redone again).

Lipcote: Free to have your lips painted and sealed with Lipcote. I then bought one for £2 (got £1 off).

Books and The City: Free - just sign up. Includes: Nail file and book.

Mizz: £2. Includes: magazine, poster, sweets (which were veggie - yay!), samples and either MUA loose eye shadow, or jelly Watch. (I got MUA).

 

Clothes Show Live Bag: Free. Includes: toothpaste, sudocrem, Nivea samples, Dove Conditioner Sample, vouchers and Fenjal Vitality Sample.

Diet Coke: Free mini cans by the Diet Coke fashion stage.

Haagen Dazs: Free mini tub of ice cream (I got chocolate and thought it was gorgeous!)

Samples/Vouchers/Promotions: Free. Loads of people are standing around just waiting to give you stuff - let them! (And if you like what they're giving you, go round again and again - I got eight free Nivea samples yesterday!)

 

Deals I didn't get but might be of interest: Wow London Goody Bag £10; MeMeMe Goody Bag £10; Glossy Box buy one get one free £10; Orly 3 mini nail varnishes for £5 or three large nail varnishes for £10; various fragrance stalls selling 5(ish) perfumes for £20. I'm sure there were plenty of others I missed or have forgotten but as you can see, there are loads of really good deals!

Overall, I LOVE Clothes Show Live! Providing I have enough money I will definitely be going again next year, although this year I did only spend just under £50 and got a hell of a lot for my money so I actually did very well! It’s an amazing day, your shoulders, back and feet will be killing by the end of it under all the great bargains and freebies you've got, but it's all definitely, definitely worth it! Most amazing of it all though is the show, so if you do ever get the chance to go to Clothes Show - grab it!

Sorry this was so long guys- there's just so much to say!

Hope you like, and as always feel free to comment or ask questions!

Thanks for reading!

x x x