I cannot believe that I am writing this post for you guys! When Huda announced that her first ever pop-up shop will be opening in London (where I live) I was so excited! I barely get any opportunities like this one to go and visit pop-ups, meet & greets or other super fun beauty related events because most of the times they are hosted in America or overseas, for example Kylie pop-up shops, Jeffree meet & greets in Morphe stores or Mario's Masterclasses. Now you can understand why I was so excited to go there, especially because I knew Huda was staying in London for the first week of the pop-up shop opening. Get ready for loads of pictures of the pop-up and I will also share with you guys what I purchased and also, what I received!
Firstly, can we appreciate how beautiful the pop-up looks from the outside? I don't think I heard of any pop-ups being this visually beautiful from the outside, its usually on the inside that people focus on with their artistic themes. Also, as you can see, the queue to get inside wasn't that long at all, there were maybe 10 people waiting to get inside. However, this is what I found a bit confusing. When Huda announced the pop-up, she advised people to book slots to be able to get inside the pop-up, so that people don't have to queue up for hours and in the end not be able to go in. That's exactly what I did, I booked my slot for Monday (2nd December). But when I arrived there, the people who were in the queue had no idea about the booking slots and asked me how I got it and if they needed it to get inside. The security guy saw that I got my booking confirmation and let me in before everyone else, although there was only 10 people waiting before me to get in. So, I guess in a way having a booked slot paid off, however now it got me thinking that I could have went on the first day of the pop-up without a booked slot and simply waited in the queue, which would allow me to meet Huda as she was there. I didn't even think about this because when I got my booking confirmation, it also said that they don't recommend coming in without a booked slot as it doesn't guarantee you will be able to go in. I am still happy though that I was able to go and see this pop-up in person, although I seem to have an amazing bad luck as Huda visited the pop-up today and I went there yesterday, so if only I went a day after, I would have met her. :<
As I walked in, I received a hand band with Huda's logo which was the cutest, but they asked for it when I was leaving and I totally forgot to take a picture of it back there as I thought we get to keep it lol. The first thing you see when you walk through the door is a wall with all of her eye products - palettes, lashes and melted shadows.
Having the lashes presented like this makes it so much easier to decide which ones to go for and it just looks so pleasing for the eyes.
As you turn around, there is this big silver lips wall which has all of her lipsticks on the other side. I love how it matches the Mercury Retrograde theme and the uniform of the employees. The shop itself was not the biggest but because there were not that many people inside it didn't feel crowded at all. I was still able to take pictures without having people covering the areas I wanted to get on picture.
Next wall included all the free gifts you receive if you spend a certain amount of money. For example, for all purchases over £65/$85 you receive a free make-up bag with a lip kit inside it. (Second row)
For all purchases over £125/$160 you receive a backpack with Winter Solstice highlighter palette. (First row)
The other side of the shop is where all the face products were placed, as well as the lip products, which I have actually not taken a picture of. The employees used that little area to do people's make-up or help them find matches, so it was difficult to take a picture without having people in my shot and also very awkward to be taking pictures of other customers. It seemed as if that part of the shop was more popular as there were so many people looking at the foundations, concealers, tantour and setting spray rather than at the palettes section.
This section was the one I wanted to see the most because it was the exclusive merch Huda has created especially for the pop-up. It included furry slides (£20/$26), water bottle with a crystal inside (£25/$32), notebooks (£8/$10), rhinestone hair clips (£10/$13), English-themed lip tin (£29/$37), Glow Getter kit including Resting Boss Face setting spray, Pink Sands highlighter palette & sponge applicator (£65/$85) as well as Amethyst Eyes kit including Amethyst Obsessions palette, matte & melted shadows in Wednesday & Fro-Yo, life liner and Samantha #07 classic lashes. (£65/$85)
Of course this couldn't be it and Huda also included the special edition of the Mercury Retrograde eyeshadow palette (£75/$97) as a part of her merch which I think was such an amazing idea. It looked so beautiful and made the palette stand out even more. I swatched some of the shades and I have to say it reminded me so much of her other big palette's quality, which you already know I love, as I got both Desert Dusk and the Rose Gold Remastered palettes in my collection. I decided not to buy this palette because it's actually one of the things on my Xmas wishlist and it's kind of a tradition now that each year my parents buy me Huda's big palette for Xmas, so let's just say I hope they carry on and this is what I get this year.
The pop-up was definitely made in the Mercury Retrograde theme as we can see from how it looks from the outside and Huda looks so beautiful in the photos that were placed on the walls. She's honestly so stunning! There was one room inside the pop-up that you could go in and take pictures but I decided not to bother as I hate taking pictures of myself and the queue to go in was so long, so I just peaked inside to see how cute it looked.
They also included this little background with the latest campaign theme near the tills, so people could take pictures in, which I found to be so cute. However, a bit awkward to be posing in front of all the employees lol!
Just opposite the tills was the Kayali wall. I have to be honest and say that I didn't think in the beginning that I would like these perfumes as much as I do now. They all honestly smell so good and I am having the worst struggle in picking which one I want to put on my Xmas wish list. At first I thought Elixir was my favourite, but now Vanilla is starting to become my number one. I think I have to ask for the set that includes all four of them because I can't pick my favourite. Overall, I think both Mona and Huda created one of the best perfume lines out there and you can really tell that there is a true passion behind these perfumes.
Before I end this review and show you what I purchased, I had to also show you guys the smallest and cutest baskets that we were able to put our shopping in. Literally so cute lol!
Now, let's get to the best part. Firstly, let me show you guys what came inside the bag for free, which I totally did not expect! I was actually going to ask the lady at the till if I can buy the Hudamoji stickers but she informed me that all these came free with each purchase.
I received Hudamoji stickers, patch stickers, sample of the Huda Beauty primer and Kayali Vanilla perfume, which like I said above is becoming my favourite. Also, notice the tissue paper in the background. Yes, it also came in the bag and it's so gorgeous. I might use it now as a background for pictures of products that I will be reviewing. Definitely keeping it!
Lastly, my Huda Beauty haul!
Let me say that when I went to the pop-up it wasn't really with the intention to buy anything except the exclusive merch items because I think I have everything from Huda I wanted and the items I want to add to my collection are all in my wish list which my parents are probably going to get me for Xmas. So, I ended up re-purchasing the two items that I love to use which are the Olivia eyelashes (you can read my review of them HERE) and the Desert Dusk palette which was on sale for £30! (you can read my review of the palette HERE) I decided to repurchase the Desert Dusk palette because I received mine 2 years ago for Xmas and I really love the colours inside. It's actually the first palette ever I decided to repurchase because its the one I reach out for the most from my high-end palettes and I was in a need of a new, fresh one.
From the merch items, I decided to go for the hair clips because I didn't really need a notebook, slides or water bottle. The makeup sets were tempting to buy but all included products I wouldn't necessary use or need in my collection, so I just decided to go with these. Also, because I was paying for the eyeshadow palette with my credit card and the rest with my other card, the purchase didn't qualify for the free make-up bag with the lip kit inside, which kind of sucks but I would still have to spend another £5/£10 to get it a free lip kit and to be honest I didn't want to spend any more money knowing that I will receive Huda's products for Xmas. So, I'm not that upset for not getting it, but if I did, it would probably be a fun giveaway to host for you guys.
If you want to find out more and read reviews of Huda's beauty products that I have previously reviewed on my blog you can find them by clicking the links below:
- Brand Review including Easy Bake, Rose Gold Remastered Palette, Desert Dusk & Melted Shadows
- Palette Reviews: Desert Dusk / Rose Gold Remastered
- Lash Collab Reviews: Olivia / Jacqueline
The pop-up is still opened until the end of the month, so maybe I'll get to go there or ask my parents to get my Xmas stuff from there, so they qualify for the free products lol. Let me know if you enjoyed this post, I know many of you wanted to know and see how the pop-up looked like in the inside, so I hope I included as much info as I possibly could, same with pictures. I'm so happy I went but I'm sad I didn't get to see or meet Huda. Maybe next time I'll be more lucky. Huda Beauty is definitely my favourite brand at the moment, I find her products to never disappoint and always have the highest quality. You can really see that Huda loves what she does and doesn't just create products for money, she does it truly out of her passion. I respect and totally support that.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below as always. Fingers crossed my blog & I get noticed by Huda one day xo
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Love, Olivia xo
