Get Ready With Me: Sharmadean Reid Wins Veuve Clicquot’s Bold Future Award

Guests included supporters and members of The Stack, Yomi Adegoke, Grace Ladoja and Tiwalola Oglunesi, whilst The Stack team themselves accompanied their founder to the ceremony and whooped unapologetically at the news of her win.

Not too far away, in Covent Garden a party of its own was happening among our members, an evening with Mercedes Benson hosted at Middle Eight hotel. Whilst Sharmadean accepted her award, our members - women brought together through The Stack World - enjoyed dinner and drinks in Middle Eight’s Balcony Library, networking the night away.

Middle Eight hotel also provided the perfect setting for Sharmadean’s pre-awards glam station and overnight stay. Staying in the peaceful ‘Promise suite’, the room offered the much needed tranquility to calm nerves and soothe the mind. Sharmadean had her makeup done by Lauren Mathis, surrounded by the greenery and natural light of the suite’s open dining area.

The Stack team got ready for the event alongside their founder, shuffling between the suite’s many bathrooms to apply lipstick whilst singing to Beyoncé’s, Check On It.

After working in fashion, founding WAH Nails and then Beautystack, Sharmadean’s beauty preparations for last night’s awards ceremony were always going to be planned down to the finest detail. Below, Sharmadean shares all of the treatments she had and purchases she made ahead of the Veuve Clicquot awards. After 18 months of lockdowns and COVID restrictions, there was no holding back in getting as glam as possible.

Here’s how Sharmadean Reid gets ready for a big event.

Face

Technically, skincare preparations for the awards show started a little over two months ago, when she first booked in with Skin & Sanctuary for her ‘Little Black Dress’ facial - a treatment that uses hydra-dermabrasion and dermaplaning followed by a WOW Mask® and LED light therapy. She recommends her favourite facialist, Fatima.

Sharmadean recently shared her skincare routine with The Stack for our Power Morning series, for her morning and nightime routines, read here.

Her make-up look was created by MUA Lauren Mathis, who went with a subtle - somewhat 90s - look. Make-up was deliberately understated, so as not to clash with the neon of Sharmadean’s dress.

Lashes

For lashes, Sharmadean turned to Eighty Lashes, who she discovered recently and is a new firm favourite. She went for her usual - classic lashes, 0.15 thick, B curl (occasionally she’ll go for a J curl).

Hair

When it came to hair, Sharmadean relied on her go-to hair girl, Alisha Dobson of Bleach London Brixton. In another ode to the 90s, Sharmadean was inspired by Robin Givens’ bouncing blow-out in the 1992 film, Boomerang.

Nails

After building a nail empire with WAH, Sharmadean now has access to an extensive roster of London’s best nail artists and knew exactly who to call upon for the event. Kadimah Aaliyah (@kaddyfromthewest) is co-founder of Nuka Nails, based in North Kensington. She needs booking months in advance and uses The GelBottle Inc. Sharmadean opted for a neon-green french tip.

Body

She prepped mentally and physically with the deeply relaxing full-body holistic scrub at the newly opened AIRE Ancient Baths in Central London.

The Dress

The knee-length fuchsia dress was, for Sharmadean, the perfect combination of ‘sexy but business - it allows me to feel corporate, but not clunky’, she said. It was of course, a Jacquemus creation, detailed with hook-and-eye clasps that elegantly snaked up the side of the dress. (Jacquemus dress from matchesfashion.com)

Her shoes were a pair of strappy, black Alexander Wang heels that she’s owned forever.

Final Touches

For jewellery, Alighieri’s mythological accessories carried Sharmadean through the evening, framing her face with pearls and gold. Otiumberg, a favourite of Sharmandean's and Stack member, provided the Love Link Necklace in Yellow gold vermeil.

The final detail, no look is complete without a dab of perfume. Last night’s scent of choice was Loewe’s Aire.

And Breathe…

After the awards ceremony came to a close and we had sufficiently sampled the Veuve Clicquot, Sharmadean headed back to Middle Eight: heels were cast aside, Shake Shack was ordered, and a long bath was taken.