The Ultimate Festival Survival Guide

It’s almost time to don your wellies, sprinkle (eco-friendly) glitter everywhere and put on your most colourful outfit for Festival season. Whether you’re heading to Glastonbury, Bestival, Hideout or any of the other 1000s of festivals taking place this summer, no matter what festival you choose to go to, make sure you’re prepared.

To help you survive Festival Season, we’ve put together this handy I LOVE Festival Survival Guide from what to pack to beauty tips and camping advice…

What to pack for a festival weekend:

• Festival ticket (obviously!)
• Reusable water bottle
• Tent (ideally, a quick-pitch tent. Don’t want to take it home? Bin it or donate it!)
• Sleeping bag & roll mat
• Wellies, flip flops and some trainers (that you don’t mind getting muddy!)
• Waterproof coat
• Toilet roll
• Sun tan lotion
• Mini first-aid kit (plasters, paracetamol, etc.)
• Snacks
• Portable phone charger
• Duct tape (perfect for patching holes in tents, wellie rips…or fixing just about anything!)
• Bin Bags (keep your tent area clean, use as seats, use for dirty washing, etc.)
• Toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, make-up, lip balm, wet wipes, eco-friendly glitter)
• Festival clothes (time for your fave festival clothing – oh and something warm & cosy for the evenings!)

Beauty Tips for Festivals

Lip Balm Festival Hacks (take up less space in your festival bag)

If there’s one thing that we’re making sure we pack in our festival make-up bag, it’s the Balmi Coconut Lip Balm.

This wonder balm is perfect for just about anything, meaning you can swap out lots of beauty essentials for just a Balmi lip balm!

Not only is Balmi helpful at keeping lips hydrated and moisturised, this lip balm also works great as a cuticle balm for your nails. We all know festivals aren’t the most glamorous of places and all the dirt & grime paired with the labour of carrying your festival kit around and pitching your tent can wreak havoc on our hands and nails! Balmi is perfect for keeping your cuticles and hands well-moisturised without being sticky.

Want to keep those brows tamed during festival season? Don’t worry, Balmi’s got you covered! This wonder balm is ideal for slicking over your brows in place of your favourite eyebrow wax. It saves you risking losing your brow wax, saves space in your make-up bag and lets you achieve a care-free chic festival look.

If taming brows and protecting nails isn’t enough, Balmi can also be used to apply glitter to your hair & face, tame flyaway hairs, moisturise dry patches and even prevent shoelaces from coming undone… the possibilities with Balmi really are endless!

Braid your hair (save on styling)

Forget booking a fresh curly blow dry before you head to the festival. Opt for braids instead and you’ll look festival-ready in no time! This quick and easy hairstyle will have you looking like a total babe for festival season.

Braids don’t have to be boring either. Get creative with your braiding style or mix it up with colourful hair chalk, glitter and hair gems to really achieve that festival look!

Bath & Shower Crème (for quick, happy festival showering)

There’s no denying that festivals aren’t the most hygienic of places. The portaloo horror stories are enough to put you off going! But it doesn’t have to be a 72-hour stinkfest if you don’t want it to be. A lot of festivals now offer glamping areas, shower cubicles and other ‘luxurious’ bathroom facilities.

If you’re keen to shower during a weekend of festival-ing, we recommend decanting your shower products into smaller, festival-friendly travel size pots. Whether you find a shower cubicle or opt for a DIY water-bottle shower by your tent, we recommend the I LOVE Bath & Shower Crèmes.

At a cheerful price of £3.99 for a 500ml bottle, these fresh and fruity body washes are perfect for decanting into a smaller sized bottle for a festival weekend… and will work out way cheaper than paying for travel miniatures!

Body Mists (Keep fresh on the go)

You don’t want to be packing your favourite perfume for a weekend of camping, partying and living out of a backpack. Instead, opt for a fun, fresh body mist or spritzer that you can happily spritz to keep you feeling fresh all weekend long.

Why not opt for the I LOVE Mango & Papaya body spritzer for a fruity fragrance that’s bound to brighten up any rainy festival day! Available in a 100ml mist bottle for £2.99, the I LOVE Originial collection of body spritzers are perfect for festival season.

Camping Tips for Festivals

Pitch your tent near a landmark

The camping areas at festivals are just a sea of brightly coloured tents which, after a full day & night of dancing, can make finding your tent at the end of the night seem like an impossible task.

To make finding your tent a breeze, camp near a landmark. Whether that’s a path, flag pole (or you could make your own fab festival flag to pitch by your tent!), near a food truck or any other noticeable landmark.

When trying to secure a good camping spot, also make sure you look for higher ground. Pitch your tent on a hill, where you can steer clear of boggy fields and heavy downpours.

Don’t camp too close to (or far from!) the toilets

Everyone knows that festival toilets are what nightmares are made of. So, when choosing your camping spot make sure you don’t camp too close to the festival toilets. We recommend choosing a spot that’s a short 2-5 minute walk from the nearest toilets so you also don’t have to walk for miles in the morning to find the closest toilet.

These days, festivals tend to also offer eco-friendly compost toilets. So, if you do choose to camp near the loos, then maybe make sure you opt for the compost toilets for a more pleasant experience than being next to the standard high-traffic portaloos!

Pitch tents in a circle

If you’re heading to the festival with a group of friends, pitch your tents facing inwards in a circle to create the perfect communal space. Make sure it’s not so big that a latecomer could pitch their tent in the middle of you all.

Your camping circle just needs to be big enough for you to have your morning debriefs, plan who you’re going to see and for you to relax with food and drink before heading out to see the next act!

Staying Safe and Making the Most of the Festival

Choose a meeting-point and charge your phone

Festivals are hectic with sooo much to see and do! The madness of festivals means it’s easy to get lost or lose your friends.

Just like you should camp near a landmark, you should also arrange an easy-to-find meeting spot with your friends in the main arena. That way, if one of you gets lost, you all know to go to your pre-arranged meeting spot to regroup.

If you do need to split up as a group to see different bands or do other things, then make sure you go off in pairs and don’t wander off on your own. After all, there’s always safety in numbers!

Make sure you always keep a portable charger with you too. Nobody wants to have a dead phone whilst at a festival. Otherwise, how will you capture those festival memories? On a serious note, keeping your phone charged also means you can phone or text your friends if you do end up losing each other during the festival chaos.

Grab a guide and plan what acts you want to see

Okay, we know this sounds a little bit too organised for a festival but it’s well-worth doing. In the morning, get together with your friends to have a quick flick through the festival guide and make note of any acts you want to see.

Make sure you know where the medical tent is (just in case!)

We don’t mean to get all mumsy on you, but it’s better to be safe than sorry! When you arrive at the festival and have your first little wander of the festival site, make sure you make note of where the medical tent is.

It’s also a good idea to pack a small first aid kit in your festival bag. That way, you have plasters, antiseptic wipes and paracetamol to hand, just in case you need them.

Finally, take lots of photos to look back on!

Whatever you pack, wherever you go and whichever bands you see, make sure you take lots of photos of your weekend festival-ing so you have something to look back on!

If you swapping your high-end mobile phone for a trusty and cheap phone for the weekend, then why not take a disposable camera with you? Then you excitedly relive the weekend when you print the photos out and see reveal the shots captured on camera!

We hope you enjoy a Festival-filled summer!

If you are heading to any festivals this summer, let us know over on Instagram and let us know if you’ll be taking any I LOVE Cosmetics bath & body products to help you survive the Festival weekend…

Get your festival faves!