I didn't really know what these makeup expos were like until I started going with my job; being on the other side, I already know the ins and outs of these things.
I attended GenBeauty NYC last year with my job and I so didn't want to work; all I wanted to do was go around to other booths and see what the brands were offering.
That's why when my friend Marissa told me she wanted to go to this year's GenBeauty, I jumped at the chance. We went this past Saturday, September 17th and it was incredible!
GenBeauty is hosted by ipsy and basically, it's a huge makeup expo for makeup lovers. There is a variety of brands there and you get to visit each of them. They have fun activities, free samples, and you can try their other products.
As the beauty industry grows, so do events like these; because of that, there were SO many Youtube stars there. They were having meet ups at different brands and you could wait on line to meet them. There was only one star that Marissa & I wanted to see, and that was KathleenLights. Besides Jaclyn Hill, she is my #1 BAE and the fact that I met her was truly incredible.
But back to the beginning...
I bought my GenBeauty tickets around March, for about $70. They were the pre-sale price, and went up afterwards. My one piece of advice is to buy these tickets as early as possible. I wouldn't have purchased them for over $100.
Another tip of mine? It doesn't really matter what time you get there, you're going to wait on line until the doors open. I'm happy I got there at 10 AM because I only had to wait an hour; and they let all of us in at the same time.
This year the expo was at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal with gorgeous views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty; I will never get tired of that view.
They let us in at 11AM and Marissa and I immediately went for the Tarte booth. *Another tip: have it mapped out which booths you want to go to and at which times. We knew we wanted to go to Tarte to buy their Shape Tape Concealer (some booths were selling select products for a discounted rate) so we tackled that booth first.
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| Michelle Phan |
The event was kind of incredible and it was surreal to be there; there were booths, products, people everywhere! There was so much to do, I couldn't focus on what I wanted to do first.
We went from Tarte, to a few other smaller booths, and checked out what they were giving out. We knew which brands we wanted to visit 100%, and pretty much got them all done.
I'd be lying if I said a majority of the reason I was there was to get free samples, and some of the booths were giving out incredible samples: Too Faced gave us full size Born This Way Concealers (which I know said didn't work for me, but I want to try again), and Tarte gave us full size Tarteist Lash Paint Mascaras.
Forget about what we actually got in a goodie bag that every attendee got; it's insane!
Some other brands we visited were: Crown Brushes, POPBeauty, Luxie Brushes, Ofra, Cover FX, NudeStix, Josie Maran, and a few others.
We went to Ofra for the sole reason that KathleenLights was having her meet up there; we waited on line for about an hour and a half but it was well worth it. I also got her liquid lipstick in Miami Fever and I'm so hyped to try it.
The event went on till about 6 PM but we left at 3... I had so much fun, but the lines seemed longer by the time the afternoon came, our feet hurt, we were hungry & thirsty (I saw no food or water at the event) -- it was just time to go. We met Kathleen, we got our goodie bags and basically saw everyone we wanted to see.
Everything about the event was a lot of fun and interesting to be on the other side of it. If you're a huge beauty addict, and want to be around other huge beauty addicts, I highly recommend checking out GenBeauty (or even BeautyCon) in your area!
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