Generation Beauty 2014 Post Event

Disclaimer:  Views expressed on this post are my own and of my comrades who went with me and DO NOT express the views of GenBeauty and/or Ipsy.

Blogreaties you can guess that this post may not necessarily be a stellar review on the event.  :(  I know you want to see the Haul but that will be in the next post (which i assure you is GOOD) 

 The words I will put out on the event would be,  Disorganized, Hot, Exhausting, and Confusing.
 

DISORGANIZED: We arrived to LA Live at  7:45 am, streched out legs and picked up some grub at the nearby starbucks.  According to the website, registartation was to start at 9am.  Um No that didn't happen.  There were no signs on where to go,  LA Live security placed around the building who didn't even know what event we were talking about.  I just kept thinking "Just keep smiling, just keep smiling."  I know that there was pre-registration the night before so we did see women with the pink placards around their neck.  I knew we were in the right place. We followed them into a parking structure and saw them check-in with a security guy with a clip board.  I asked him if this is the Generation Beauty event and where do we check in. "I dunno," he said. [Tip: "Just keep smiling, just keep smiling." You can catch more fly with honey than vinegar,  be polite when asking questions] This was the enterance and it started the game of "What time is check in?" 9am?  10? 10:30?  Who really knows.  But we knew FORM THE LINE!

HOT:   The event was located on top of the parking structure.  We were allowed to walk up there after a hap hazzard registration process while standing in line in a parking lot.  We should have just stayed in the parking structure.  But hey I was excited.  We run up the stairs and was greeted with music and white light.  That light was the sun and we were in LA on pavement HOT HOT HOT. [Tip:  Bring some sort of sun cover and wear sunscreen!] It was still going to be another hour before they open the doors.  All of the covers were for the people standing in line to check in.  But since they did that downstairs everybody was standing in the open sun waiting for the doors to open.

 

 

EXHAUSTING:  Standing in lines Line lines lines!  Who is more exhausted? my *bleeping* cell phone.  Hashtag this, post that, take a selfie with this product,  all of this for a chance to win a free product? My battery was yellow by mid day.  [Tip: Bring a Portable Charger for your cell] It was funny, the first day you can see all the girls wear their high heels and look tall and glamourous.  Day two those same girls FLATS all the way. [Tip:  Wear comfortable shoes, you will be standing A LOT] There were not many places to sit or hang out inside.  Every seat was an oasis and not to mention designed for photos ops galore.  So you couldn't sit there long because other people wanted to take pictures in the seats.

CONFUSING:  I kept calling it a Beauty Conference.  Conferences are suppose to be for networking , meet people in person that are in the same line of interests in hopes to make connections around the country.  Well these "seminars" were a joke.  None of the presenters were prepared. Scheduled topics turned into Q&A session SNORE!!!  People we know more about these people because we watch them everyday on YouTube!  I already know what inspires them or what their favorite makeup product is.  I pretty mush spent money to technically watch my youtube channels live!  :(  Well you would assume that the brands would have MAD sales and discounts.  NOPE!  what?!?  you're not selling products. Really the only brand that was selling products was crown brush.  That has an interesting story that I can have at the very end after this. 

 

IPSY IF YOU ARE READING THIS - TAKE NOTES!  Final Thoughts:  Ipsy you will need to get your *bleep* straight.  If you want to inspire your attendees and build up the YouTube Beauty Universe,  I suggest to go old SChool.  Take away the cell phones  make the attendees see real people and force us to talk to each other.  We spend our time glued to the screens watching youtube,  I personally didn't want to go to LA to be glued to another screen (my Cell) to network.  Have smaller tents around the main one to separate vendors and seminars.  Music was playing in the big tent during these seminars.  The poor gurus couldn't hear us and we were sure crowded enough to strain to hear them.  Have More coverage for your attendees,  bigger eating areas with shade.  Have a charging station for our cell phones.  Can we charge our phones while we are watching youtube videos from the guest Beauty gurus?  I made a goal to atleast meet the gurus that I watch daily and I did that.  Thanks to GenBeauty it did make me think.  It sadly made me rethink if I really want to get in this business.  But rest assured the ones I was actually able to meet and take pics with were everything I hope they would be.  THANK GAWD.  These very appreciative thank you's go to Promise Phan (dope2111) Judy and Benjmin Travis (ItsJudyTime & BenjiManTV)  I will definitely keep following.

 

SCroll Down for the DIRT

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I am sorry Michelle Phan but thanks to GenBeauty it made us think of you differently.  Really?  This is your thing,  you are the front face of ipsy and you didn't prepare anything?  We have known about this for a year and you couldn't have your team prepare something to keep the facade?  Boo to you Michelle Phan. 
Boo to the Food Trucks! We went to this truck that I guess was a asian/indian/mexican cuisine  (bad food choices ipsy)  everything was way to heavy and hot to scarf down in heat and be expected to feel beauty after it?   I ordered a simple teriyaki chicken and rice. 8 bucks

 

Eww M-R-E's are more appetizing than this.  Check out the liquid piling up in the back!  GROSS  The Chicken was boiled more than the rice. 

Boo to the planners of the schedules and planners of the perks.  You know that ItsJudyTime is uber popular by having FOUR channels on youtube.  Did you really need to schedule her meet and greet a half hour before the Free Swag Give outs?  I assume you made everyone including Judy feel bad by not having enough time.  And the Perks,  a poor model who was working all day was denied her goody bag because she was a worker even though she legitimately had a ticket to get one.  Ipsy I would pay more If I knew there were different stages of perks.  Maybe 40 bucks more on the ticket would get me full size products, access to front of the lines and free makeover.  Just a thought.

 

Would I go again?  Maybe.  I would definitely go to IMATS over GenBeauty.  Atleast IMATs I could buy what i wanted at the end of their lines.  Is the free stuff worth it?  YES!  My friend Annette was happy.  Stay tuned for the next Generation Beauty 2014 post because it's all about the HAUL!

Generation Beauty 2014 (Pre Event Thoughts)

May 31st - June 1st 2014 at LA Live

Who is Going?  I am! I am!  I am so excited but nervous as hell to go.  Everybody over there are practically models, walking around in their high heels. Arg!?  how in the heack can a short chubby girl even be in the same photo frame of all the you tube beauty Gurus, Michelle Phan, Promise Phan, Judy Travis and Charisma Star.  Yes who will all be scheduled to be there.  AHh1 makeup nerd overload.
  Check out where this will be held ( see below)

 

This is the mecca of online youtube beauty.  Generation Beauty was the brainchild of IPSY which if you don't know is a company that was started from the You Tube Beauty Gurus headed by Michelle Phan.  Who in just a matter of a year can now be seen all over the world due to her brand new makeup brand EM cosmetics and a national Dr. Pepper ad campain.  You tube Gurus along with big brand names will hold workshops of tips and tricks for the beauty guru in all of us.

 

I  hope to treat this as a professional networking conference.  I am going with my Friend Annette ( She went with me to IMATs) and my husband!  i know I know what was I thinking.  But hey he is pretty enough to pass as a makeup artist.  But lets face it, we are all there for the free stuff!  It's looking like all the brands that were seen in the glam bags of ipsy will have their best swag to play with and give away.  YES!!!

 

Tickets are still available at regular price click here for the link. Yes I am fully aware that the tickets are 150 bucks but for the ammount of money that I spend on makeup the free swag totally make up for it.  I will write my entire experience after hopefully in two posts if I am good (Wish me luck on that) So my blogreaties I will attend.  As usual if you recognize me I would love to meet you and we can totally hang and take pix.  I hope it will be fun and I hope to see some blogreaties there.

New Loreal Miss Manga Mascara

 

L'oreal Miss Manga Mascara ($8.99 USD)

 

Manga eyes!  we all have seen them,  But has L'oreal found the secret?  Manga Eyes to be specific the lashes are always thick long and black. I had to pick it up as soon as I saw it.

 

 

Check out this Brush!   This is the funkiest brush I have ever seen from a Drugstore.   The length of the bristles are all crazy lengths.  The formula is very thick and dry.

 

This is after only one application.  What do you blogreaties think?!?  Eh!  At least you can see a difference but you have to admit the formula made my lashes crazy straight!  If you take a look at the L'oreal advertisment I can only assume that they are banking on the the Clumpy spider-like lashes. 

 

 

My final thoughts are save your money you Otaku beauties out there!  Yet this mascara sure did insprire me for the look below.  But I did have to bust out with the falsies  to achieve this manga look.  If you are interested how I got this look, stay tuned for the next post.

 

NEW Bare Minerals Liquid Foundation

BareMinerals BareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation ($29.00 USD)

Thats BareMinerals?!?  Isn't that liquid?!? Wait BareMinerals has a liquid Foundation?  Oh yes my blogreaties. It hit the market May 1st.  Silly me put  my online order April 30th to finally receive it May 8th.

CLAIMS(BareMinerals): Clinically proven tone-correcting mineral foundation and brightening serum in one. Created with exceptional purity in mind, this ultra-thin, skin-perfecting fluid provides seamless adjustable coverage, a natural finish and the look and feel of beautiful skin while delivering a noticeably brighter, more youthful appearance. Made with the bare minimum ingredients and formulated without oil, silicone, parabens or fragrance. It's like nothing you've ever felt before.

I spent the extra money and also bought the Perfecting Face Brush. ($28 USD)  I was surprised on the size of the bottle. The bottle is smaller and thinner than I thought.  Look at the comparison of some known sized products.  Also the cap of the bottle is a screw top, making it very secure for travel.  The brush,  I believe you can do without.  A standard flat top Sigma F80 or ELF flat powder brush will work perfectly.  But the brush is soft and does not scratch my red face.  Also the brush is dense enough to not have streaking and you can stipple very easily.

This foundation must be shaken.  I added a few drops of foundation to the cut out of the brush.  This pic shows that its thick enough not to fall through the bristles. I used sparingly and only used 4 drops of this foundation for my face.

Application wise if I stippled the product on I would use alot more product but painting it only I was able to get better use of the the production with little foundation.  Though not in coverage.  The finish is natural I assumed I might get more coverage when the foundation sets.  Nope, very natural finish.

As you can see it did even out my skin tone but it did not cover up my scars and blemishes. :(  But look, it brightened my face, thats for sure. Next I wondered, why spend the money on this serum foundation with all of it benefits and cover it with nasty powder products.  What I did was use the original bare minerals mineral veil to set the foundation.

 

 

Lasting power?  Um I guess its just like any moisturizer on the face  what do you think.  I took pictures thoughout the day to show the progression. Read it right to left then down left to right.  This foundation looks fabulous in flash photography BUT you can see that I turn into an oil slick.

 

 

 

The last picture at 3:35pm I thought I would finally touch up and get rid of the shine.  All I did was pat on my Mally Beauty Poreless Face Defender.  But look what is did to the make up it tacked onto dry spots and made it more noticable Yuck!

 

        


My final thoughts are this.  BareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation does match up to the claims.  My skin did brighten and made it look fresh and young.  But of course this fresh and young look also brought the cons, oily skin that made me break out if not properly cleansed.  It is pricey for what you get.  I think a comparable dupe is the Physicians Formula Spotless Foundation.  It claims to do the same thing at half the price though not as nearly much color selection.(see my post here)  BareMinerals Serum Foundation can be found at Sephora, Ulta and of course on BareEscentuals.

CVS Haul

 

It's so hot I can't sleep.  Thank gawd my CVS is 24 hr. I took advatage of some sales and found some products that i wanted to try and some new items on the shelves.

I will do a review later but I picked up TWO mascaras.  Physicans Formula currently has two sales going on for extra care card members.  BOGO (Buy one GET one) 50% off AND Buy two Physician formula products get 3 extra bucks back!  AWESome.

What I bought Physicians Formula Organic Wear Lash Boosting Mascara 

I saw the second mascara on @soniscandy instagram.  What OTAKU girl wouldn't want mascara in hopes to get lashes like her manga character. Woo hoo!

DEFINITION: Otaku: in Japan) a young person who is obsessed with computers or particular aspects of popular culture to the detriment of their social skills.

What I bought L'oreal New Voluminous Miss Manga in Blackest Black

If you buy $15 dollars worth of L'oreal products you can 5 extra bucks back! So since with the price of L'oreal products thats two products right there so Cha! Ching!

What I bought L'oreal Colour Riche Balm in Plush Plum 219

Took advantage of another BOGO 50% off of rimmel products I picked up two more (I have six already)

I bought Rimmel Lasting Finish By Kate Moss Lipstick in (08) and (14)

 

 

Did I need any of this? NO but I couldn't sleep and my coupons were going to expire.  Also to take advantage of the Physican's Formula Sale I bought two mascaras because it's my friend Alicia's birthday and she wanted to try it. Happy Birthday!  So I save 13 bucks thats a 27% savings not bad AND on top of that I get 8 bucks back.  Good Haul.  Reviews coming soon my blogreaties. 

Summer Makeup Guide: Skin Care Prep

 

Summer is coming up and I don't know about you but my skin does a one 80 from the dry winter season and I get OILY. Spring to me does a snowball effect of time after Easter, where I get a few week of perfectly balanced skin. Yet in southern California summer weather comes early and the hot sun and dry air freak out my face once again. The problems i experience start from breaking out to keeping that makeup from melting that is covering those breakouts. So join in my journey as I try different tips and advise from the experts to see what will work for me and at the same time help you get through the summer.

Cleanse - Prep - Moisturize - Sunscreen  ALL DONE!  Thats it!

Just Kidding -  There is no way beauty companies make billions of dollars to make it that simple.

Similar to winter, its time again for the changing of the products.

Prep:  To wipe the makeup off for the day.  I use makeup remover wipes.  I like the Target up and up brand it doesn't contain cucumber which tends to break me out.  Yet this does explain why I have been eerily dry and oily at the same time.  Whoomp!  I guess I too have to look into others. :(

Cleasnse: I never feel as if I cleared off all my makeup so I love using a  deep cleanser like Biore but since it dries my skin I have to stick with something like Cetaphil


Moisturize for the Summer:
Ah to find the right moisturizer.  I am still trying to find the right one.  At this moment I am LOVING the Garnier Rescue refreshing Gel Cream EXCEPT its the CVS generic brand (Same great quality and half the price) The huffington post has this very informative article on moisturizing What You Need to Know About Moisturizing Your Face

 

 

Toner or Astringent:  I had to look into this.  Did you knew there is a difference? I am still confused on what to get for my combo skin.

 

Toner: Gentle, cleansing and hydrating - great for sensitive and dry skin ( Now that my skin is getting older I opted for stuff my mom and grandmother used, L'oreal Hydrafresh Toner)

Astringent: Stronger, some alcohol based, soaks up excess oil and is antibacterial which helps with breakouts. (I went old school and busted out with the Sea Breeze!)

 

 



 

Depending on how my skin behaves for the summer I may have to change out this product to help balance out my face.  I love using the cotton round pads to swirl that on my face compared to a cottonball.  I notice that I waste too much product and apply in blotches when applied with a cotton ball.

 

I may be dating myself but you 90's kids will remember the spoken song from Baz Luhrmann, "Everybody's Free, (To Wear Sunscreen)"  Sunscreen!  Very important for me pale gal from So Cal.  Argh but I don't know if you are like me and don't like the feeling with layers and layers of products all having equal importance on the face.  Sunscreen is the most important. What layers am I taking about?

 

 

I would never skip the Sunscreen but I can put extra protection with a Foundation/BB Cream that contains a SPF.  This can give you a better reason to retouch your makeup because It is recommended to reapply sunscreen every 3 - 4 hours. Since Summer trend is the no makeup look and keep things minimal I suppose I will have to give my face a break.  So I can balance out this extreme combo skin but like the winter I wish you luck on finding the right combination of products to you won't have to worry about keeping bueatiful for the Summer. 

 

 

 

 



MAC Simpsons New Fall 2014

D'oh Fall September 2014

To celebrate their 25th anniversary, M•A•C celebrates the longest running show in history, The Simpsons.  One can only assume that the collection will have crazy primary colors  which is going to be AWESOME.  But of course limited edition!  I am going to have to make room between my pack of Duff beer and box of Krusty- O's

I will post later blogreaties!