July was a busy month.  I was asked to attend Janiro’s stand at the “Love Natural, Love You” show in Olympia to help promote my range of creams and balms.

I had never been to this show before so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.   I arrived on the Friday a little dishevelled as I’d had a long journey from north Essex and the trains had been cancelled due to “work on the line” but I was delighted when I saw the queue of people waiting to get in, especially as I didn’t have to join it.

Olympia was buzzing and our stand was really well placed, however, opposite us was Neals Yard which was a massive stand with over 15 Neal’s Yards representatives in attendance and they had everything from Treatment rooms to new gadgets and gismos. I’m not sure I could have relaxed and had a facial in the middle of Olympia but hey each to their own.   It certainly felt a bit like we were David facing the mighty Goliath, but I love a challenge.

I was actually on the stand with two lovely ladies, Jan from Janiro (who are the distributors for my creams and balms) and a really interesting lady called Trish who started her career as a model and then at the age of 60 became a make-up artist working on many of the big TV and fashion shows.  But best of all she is now a blogger and she had tried my creams.  I bluehost was a little apprehensive when I asked what she thought of them,  but I could have kissed her when she answered “I was really impressed with your creams, especially the one for Normal skin as it goes on so well under make-up that you don’t need a Primer”  she continued “I used to work for Neals Yard and I can honestly say that I preferred your creams”.

What a recommendation, plus with all the amazing online reviews we’d had coming through, a massive confidence booster.

The crowds had started to come in through the doors and all made a be-line for the tried and tested products of Neals Yard.  Their customers were 3 people deep to the point of almost knocking in to our stand.

This was my chance; “Hello” I said, to one of the 3-deepers “Fancy trying something different which is completely organic and vegan friendly and has just been voted better than Neals Yard by various Beauty Bloggers”.  The results were amazing, if the customers tried it, they bought it.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Every time I sold something, I think I grew another 2 inches.   We had a fabulous day and I was really geared up for the next day, I couldn’t wait.

Saturday, brought a whole different type of customer.  These people were what we would call “lookers” they walked around the event, tried all the samples and loved a chat.  This is my forte, chatting is what I do best and this particular weekend my chosen subject was, “the benefits of Sheila’s Natural Products”.   This made me very popular with the Vegan People.  Apparently, there aren’t many products on the market for Vegans, so luckily for me I was in the right place at the right time and consequently, I was approached by a representative VeganKind and asked if I’d like to include my creams in their beauty box in August.  Hurray… what a great day.

Sunday was a different day again.  Sunday people are the “Bargain Hunters” and according to the hardened exhibitors, it’s generally a bit of a free-for-all.   They come armed with their trollies and flat comfortable shoes (because they mean business) and the aim is to look round for the first couple of hours and then strike middle to late afternoon to pick up any bargains.  They’re not really interested in chatting just “have you got any samples and I’ll try it at home and buy on the website”.

The day flew by and I was pleased to head home at 6.00pm but I did laugh out loud when I got to the tube station, it was like looking at an army of soldier ants taking their goods back to the nest.  Hundreds of people piled high with boxes of Organic Cornflakes, Bamboo cushions, organic chocolate, magnetic water softeners (mind you I had one of those tucked in my bag too) Organic toilet brushes (don’t ask…… it’s a great idea but lets not go there) the list went on and on…..

As we all crammed on the train and I was nose to nose with a fellow “ant” I asked “had a good day?” “yes” she said “I always come every year on the last day I love the bargains”, success all round.   I couldn’t wait to get home as I was really tired but I had enjoyed every bit of it.

All in all a very successful weekend where I met some really lovely people and my thanks goes to everyone I spoke to at the event.

If you’d like to try Sheila’s Natural Products, you can find them here:  and we always love to hear your feedback and comments.