Image Source: Lauren Ezekiel
When my eight-year-old daughter burst into my room and presented me with a birthday wish list full of Drunk Elephant Bronzing Drops and Milk Jelly Tints I knew I was in for trouble. I truly believe the tween obsession with beauty is down to social media and it’s just generation alpha’s version of following trends or brands – similar to clothing and shoes in the past. It is less about wanting to look better and all about wanting to do what other people are doing. Thankfully I have been able to explain to my daughter all about skincare and how she doesn’t need retinol or bronzing drops, but a good cleanser and SPF with the occasional lip oil is ok.
This weekend we headed to our local shopping centre, Lakeside in Essex, and noticed H Beauty, Harrods’ standalone beauty shops, were running a free roadshow event. The bright pink double decker bus and queue of excited pre-teens waiting to board meant it caught my daughter’s interest and the next thing we knew we had joined the walk-in queue and were eagerly awaiting our turn. After chatting with the staff, it turns out it was a ticketed event and each ticket allows 10 people onto the bus for 30 minutes, where they can chat to the different beauty brands, have a free mini makeover by Charlotte Tilbury and get their hair dry styled by the team at DryBar.
Image Source: Lauren Ezekiel
If you have a Sephora tween this nationwide roadshow is a must. It has all the buzzy brands they have been seeing all over their feeds, like Gisou, The Inkey List and Sol Janerio, yet as parents we aren’t expected to shell out ridiculous money just so our children can have beauty products sitting on a shelf. I found with my daughter, just testing the products, feeling the packaging and experiencing the beauty counter was actually enough. She didn’t want to buy any of the products, she just wanted to see them all in real life.
The DryBar team were brilliant and swifty tonged her hair, meaning she walked off the bus feeling like a celebrity, to be greeted with a goody bag full of all the little testers she had only seen on social media before. Honestly, it will save you a fortune. My daughter was so happy with her mini Sol Janeiro Bum Bum Cream she was beaming from ear to ear. Other goody bag highlights were The Inkey List Hyaluronic Acid, which she proudly told me from reading the box was for “everyone” meaning she could use it too, and a mini Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick.
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Image Source: Lauren Ezekiel
One of the other perks is that the roadshow uses staff from the local H Beauty store so if you have a mini makeover by Charlotte Tilbury and love the way they have done your makeup or adore the style created by the DryBar team you can actually book in with them another time and it’s like getting a free trial. The goody bag even contains a complimentary dry style which is worth £35 alone.
The H Beauty On Tour is now travelling up the UK stopping at Milton Keynes, Chester, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow between now and the end of June. Although there is the chance you will get access as a walk-in I would recommend buying a ticket in advance to guarantee entry, rather than take the risk. Especially if you have a beauty-obsessed tween (and don’t want to experience a meltdown.)
Lauren Ezekiel is an associate editor at PS UK, where she writes about all things beauty and wellness. With a degree in journalism and 12 years’ experience as a beauty editor at a leading Sunday supplement, she is obsessed with skincare, hair and makeup, and is often found offering advice to innocent bystanders. Her work has been published in Grazia, OK, Health and Beauty, The Sun, ASDA, Dare and Metro.