Aside from the insanity of The Toronto International Film Festival ® and what it does to my scheduling for the #DoTheDaniel & #FASHIONIGHTS team members, I am always so grateful for PR that recognizes the need to stop and recharge during it all. NO one, and I mean NO ONE , does this better then our friends at Esther Garnick Public Relations aka EGPR. Though we are blessed to attend the celebrity gifting lounges alongside the stars of TIFF, The Essentials Lounge has always taken it one step further. With the reality of TIFF taking its toll on the media and stars alike, EGPR addresses the lounge in the most positively perfect dichotomous way. Come & see why it is one of the lounges Julio and I look forward to most each and every year in my #DoTheDaniel behind the scenes with #EssentialsLounge5.
Focusing more on the celebrity media and personalities of the TIFF season as opposed to the actual film stars, the lounge took place this year at Templar Hotel. One of the hot spots of the #TIFF14 season to say the least and a personal favourite of mine in Toronto, it offered the perfect backdrop to an interactive lounge full of laughter and fantastic brands. Julio, Catherine & I attended and had each and every staff member laughing by the end of the night. We really should have our own reality television show….
The concept of the lounge is one that I’ve never seen before; Survival & Recovery. The lounge is designed to take place pre-TIFF and help you get prepared for the craziness ahead. It also takes into account the necessity to recover post-TIFF once everything winds down and the whirlwind that we all live subsides. Ie this weekend as Julio & I catch up on our favourite behind the scenes moments for you.
Gifting and brands during the event are some of the best available in Toronto for the season. In the “Survival Kit” (one of two amazing gift bags that honoured attendees receive) products from the following helped to prepare us all for #TIFF14: Balzac’s Coffee Roasters, Bath & Body Works, Calvin Klein Underwear, Crest, Emjoi Micro-Pedi™, glacéau smartwater®, glacéau vitaminwater®, Kosmea Australia, Pretend Tan, Powerocks, Rockport, Schwarzkopf, SkinCeuticals, tarte Cosmetics, The Good Press (See Catherine’s feature here) and WINKS Boutique.
Memorable moments with Julio, Catherine & I with some of the Survival brands would be laughing with the SkinCeuticals team about taking cleavage selfies for Instagram, Julio posing for photos with the STUNNING ladies of WINKS Boutique, the three of us DROOLING over the hotness that is Joey from Schwarzkopf. So hot. SO hot.
Gifting and brands in the “Recovery Kit” (the second bag given to the #EssentialsLounge5 guests) in no particular order came from: Bath & Body Works, Simon & Schuster, Viviscal and Your Tea. The brands I am most excited about using and interacting with are Viviscal (see Catherine’s feature on the product here) for all the hair I lost from stress during #TIFF14 and Your Tea for the weight I gained from eating all that event food.
Once again, a huge thank you goes to all our friends at EGPR for all the hard work they put into the Essentials Lounge each and every season. I’m sure that they are enjoying their own versions of Recovery with Julio & I in spirit after an amazing and very successful lounge. Rest up everyone! You deserve it!
For more behind the scenes of #EssentialsLounge5 make sure to follow the hashtag on Twitter & Instagram for your favourite celebrities and personalities “Behind The Scenes” moments.
Photos: Ryan Emberley
Cheers!