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Attending the Professional Beauty Awards Final in London

On Thursday I headed off for the Big Smoke with my Mum and my Zuca case in tow packed full of some of my favourite makeup products. I’d felt those infamous butterflies for a couple of days and arriving in London only intensified those feelings. I was there to attend the final of the Professional Beauty Awards 2018 for the Make-Up Specialist of the Year category with five other finalists and I was so nervous but above all, so excited! This was an award that I entered fully believing that I’d never hear anything back from, so being there in the final was just mind blowing and felt so surreal.

The London College of Beauty Therapy where the awards final was held | Attending the Professional Beauty Awards Final in London | Rachael Divers

I’d put so much work, care and thought into putting together my professional portfolio right from presenting my trend research through to my certifications, professional development and examples of my past and current work. I also made sure that I was dressed pristinely and beauty professional appropriate: neatly manicured bare nails, appropriate shoes, my company name embroidered dress and hair pulled back into a ponytail. Professionalism is everything to me so this is something that I take very seriously within my businsss.

After finding the London College of Beauty Therapy after finally getting the taxi driver to understand where I needed to be (“Oh! You don’t mean ‘Ram-e-lees Street, It’s Rah-me-leas!” ahem “It’s Leviosa not Leviosar”) my mum and I were welcomed by such a lovely team of people and I was soon ushered up to the practical room by Sharon (the event manager for Professional Beauty). She was absolutely lovely – friendly, warm and so nurturing too. The other five ladies in the finals were all so nice as well, we instantly bonded talking about our nerves for the competition and of course, we discussed makeup too! We even chatted through meeting up at the awards dinner and how excited we were. This is what I love about the beauty industry among other things – you can put a group of women together and it’s like they’re all friends already within minutes of meeting because there’s so much in common and so much passion for the art that is makeup.

My work station and kit set out ready for the practical makeup test | Attending the Professional Beauty Awards Final in London | Rachael Divers

For the competition we had to plan a wearable Spring/Summer 2018 makeup look by researching the upcoming trends and tailoring our makeover to suit our model. We were then to be taken for a boardroom interview with three judges who would look at our research and ask about our look, our past experience and our future goals. Our models were pre-arranged for us so we had no idea who we’d be getting on the day. I ended up with an absolutely lovely lady that had a real passion for makeup, so we were easily able to chat along throughout her makeover about our favourite brands, techniques and hopes for the future. She looked absolutely beautiful and was such a stunning girl. I talked her through each stage of her makeover (a beautiful golden eye with soft brown liner, groomed brows, fresh glowing skin and a peachy nude lip) whilst giving her aftercare and skincare advice. As she suffered from dry patches on her skin, I was all too happy to recommend one of my favourite moisturisers from The Ordinary which includes Hyaluronic Acid as one of it’s ingredients – famed for being a humectant and a real moisture magnet for dry skin, it effectively nourishes the skin without clogging pores or causing excess oil. It’s a wonder ingredient that can hold up to six litres of water per gram! My lovely model had an oily T-zone so we combatted this with a long-wearing setting powder to blot away any excess oil through the day.

Attending the Professional Beauty Awards Final in London | Rachael Divers

After the makeover practical had been completed, I was taken to the boardroom for my interview where I re-met with the two judges from the practical makeup test, and a further judge too that actually often works so close by to where I live! All of the judges are insanely talented and have such amazing experience behind them and are true experts in the makeup world. I had a lovely chat with all of them and spoke to them about my blogging work and my dream to run my own academy amongst other things. I completely forgot to even mention my YouTube channel so I’m glad it was on my original awards application! All of the judges were really friendly, easy to chat with and so kind and re-assuring too! I was thrilled that they loved my portfolio because I really did put a lot of love into putting it together.

The Pro Beauty team uploaded this image of some of us working on our lovely models | Attending the Professional Beauty Awards Final in London | Rachael Divers

I left the London College of Beauty Therapy shortly after the boardroom interview with five new lovely ladies on my social media to keep in touch with, and a spring in my step after a great day. All I kept saying to my mum is “I can’t believe it! This is so surreal!”

I’ll get to find out if I’ve placed in the competition in February 2018 when the glamorous awards ceremony takes place in London at Tobacco Dock. I can’t wait to find out how myself and the other ladies did and I’m really looking forward to meeting up with the ladies again and meeting some other beauty professionals too.

Adding the final touches to my beautiful model in eveoxberry’s Instagram photo | Attending the Professional Beauty Awards Final in London | Rachael Divers

Thank you so much Professional Beauty and the London College of Beauty Therapy for such a wonderful experience, and the best of luck to all the ladies that are competing!

© Rachael Divers 2017.

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