Overheard at #IMAGEBeautyFest: Our favourite quotes from our big beauty weekend

The first ever weekend of the IMAGE Beauty Festival may be over, but you didn’t expect us to stop reminiscing so soon, did you? Between the gift bags, the freebies and the reams of practical tips and tricks we got over the weekend, we are armed for every makeup session from now until next year. But by far, our favourite part of the weekend was the gorgeous and positive vibes from everyone in the room. IMAGE Beauty Festival was designed with making our beautiful readers feel like their best selves, and nothing makes us happier than hearing all the positive things that they had to say about the festival.

Between the talks, the masterclasses and the chats at the gin bar, here are the most inspiring, loving and fabulous quotes overheard at IMAGE Beauty Festival.

“All we normally do on a Saturday is groceries and housework, so we were delighted to get out and do all things girly!” – Clare from Tyrone

“I grew up with gorgeous images of African women around me, and so I’ve always had a really strong ideal of what it is to be a black woman. My family always told me that mine may be a different version of beauty — you may not look like your white best friend, but you are equally beautiful. I was really lucky to be raised like that.” Nadine Reid, speaking at Perfectly Imperfect

“It’s so important to avoid the bullsh*t online – people can see through it straight away and aren’t interested. I would never work with a brand that I didn’t genuinely like” – Vogue Williams, speaking at My Life in Beauty

Related: Vogue Williams’ top beauty picks, as told to IMAGE Beauty Festival

“I read a survey recently where only 4% of women said they felt beautiful – but why weren’t they asked whether they felt intelligent? Or happy, or loved? Why is being beautiful the most important thing to be?” – Andrea Horan, speaking at Beauty Outside the Box

“Growing up, I’ve always known I was gay but wasn’t out to the world. Women like my mom, my sister, my girlfriends — they allowed me to feel comfortable in my own skin, so I wanted to develop makeup products that helped them to feel empowered and strong in the same way they had done for me” – Patrick Ta, speaking at his Makeup Masterclass

Related: Patrick Ta: Getting fired, working with Gigi Hadid and ditching heavy make-up

“My favourite part of the day was meeting Vogue Williams — she was such a down to earth person. It was a great day, I’ll never forget it”  – Sharon at the Boots Beauty Stage

“We may think that people are very obsessed with image these days, but people have always been obsessed with image — you can see it in the National Gallery from the 14th century right up til now” – Sinead Rice, speaking at Beauty Outside the Box