Sonya Skincare Event at Petersham Nurseries, London

Event attended & reviewed

by April Whitlow

Sonya Skincare by Forever Living was launched at a fabulous evening event on the 8th of November at the vibrant Petersham Nurseries.  I arrived eager to fill my brain with brand knowledge and try out the products (review to come soon!).

I was immediately blown away by the effortlessly green and fabulous interior of the nurseries.  It was amazingly green and made me immediately want to come back for a coffee or drink another day.

A convenient coat-check greeted us at the door and they gave us a gift-bag containing the Sonya Skincare range.  Whilst this seemed a bit unusual on the surface, it was with good reason; the Sonya Skincare team had set up a social media challenge utilising the products.

The idea was to create a photo or set of photos to post alongside the hashtag, #IlluminatewithForever and be in to win a luxurious Forever Living product hamper. Exciting!

Cocktails and Canapés

We received a choice of cocktails using Forever Living’s famous Aloe Peaches Nectar or a classy flute of prosecco. Bloggers and influencers were free to mingle and use the nursery’s greenery for selfie spots.

Waiters made the rounds with delicious canapés, and we were also able to sample non-alcoholic drinks in the form of classic Aloe Vera Gel, the Aloe Peaches and Aloe Berry Nectar.

I have to say that the classic gel was by far the most interesting, with a bit of a savoury taste.   My favourite was the Aloe Peaches, but the Aloe Berry Nectar would also be a great mixer.

Product Talks

Our hosts gathered us around the large central table to introduce the Sonya Skincare range by Forever Living.   Spokesperson and expert, Jeannie McGinnis enthralled us with her personal yet professional take on each of the products in the range.

She talked about the main ingredient, Aloe, which is an amazingly unique delivery system for getting all of the beneficial botanicals deeper into the skin.

Jeannie then went into the 3 different lines of skincare created by Forever Living.

1. The Infinite line – (which I have previously reviewed and loved) for over-25’s skin
2. The Sonya line – being presented this evening for younger skin
3. The Targeted range – individual specialised products designed to complement the other lines.

She even demonstrated the Aloe Bio-Cellulose mask, a super lux top-of-the-line mask from the targeted range.  She called it the “ultimate in self-care” as it is a bio-cellulose that has fermented coconut water that is then fed a diet of aloe and sea grass and souped up with serum, horse chestnut and green tea.

As it takes 20 minutes to soak in, I’m definitely looking forward to scheduling some me-time with this mask.

Gel Technology

The cool thing about the Sonya Skincare range, is the gel delivery system.

Gel is a newer technology in skincare that allows the product to simply melt into the skin.  It also brings botanicals together that normally don’t in nature.

The ingredients sounded absolutely amazing

1. The cleanser has a high-vitamin-A baobab oil
2. The Illuminating gel (designed to reduce the appearance of pores and mattify) has 5 Asian botanicals that control and balance oils!
3. The gel moisturiser has hydroysed collagen that is designed to soak in deeper than any other collagen out there.

And that’s just scratching the surface of this extremely deep range.

Beauty Guru: Samantha Freedman

The team then introduced the gorgeous Samantha Freedman, a freelance beauty journalist and former beauty editor of Grazia magazine.

She walked us through this year’s fashionable skin looks from club goer to summer looks inspired by actual looks used by make-up artists on fashion runways.

 

Samantha even suggested mixing tanning drops with the overnight refining gel mask for a warm and glowy look, very interesting.

Finally, she dug into what makes an engaging social media post that boiled down to the importance of creating unique categories for your social and giving your audience what they want.

Demos and Drinks

After these informative talks we were treated to demos of the products themselves by the amazing Forever Living team.  There were even more canapés and drinks and some one-on-one networking with fellow bloggers and the experts themselves.

All-in-all I was very much impressed by the event hosted by Forever Living, the venue provided by Petersham Nurseris and the product itself.

I can’t wait to give the Sonya Skincare range a good thorough testing and bring you all my verdict.

 

Have any of you tried gel-based products before? What are your thoughts on them, and do you have any personal favourites that you would recommend? Leave your suggestions in the comments below!