Generation Beauty New York Series: Event Review

I was really excited to attend Generation Beauty this year after seeing all of the vloggers posting everywhere about how great it was in L.A. (I also wasn't aware this was the first year it would be in New York.) However, I'm sad to say that the event did not live up to the hype for me. My sister and I did a ton of research before attending this event but couldn't find much information on what to expect. That being said, I'm hoping that this post will serve as a helpful guide for those considering going in the future.

My biggest complaint would probably be about how disorganized it all was. The lines were all over the place, the meet-ups were chaotic, and the event staff gradually became more and more rude to the attendees. It was my impression based on the reviews from L.A. that there were going to be panels, Q&A's, meet-ups, shopping, and lots of freebies. Unfortunately, it didn't come close to living up to this expectation. Upon arriving on day 1, we were give a sheet of paper tabs with each brands logo on it and told that turning in each tab would get us some freebies from the correlating booth. This was true, but it was hardly that simple. Nearly every booth required us to participate in a service or an extremely extensive social media post for their benefit. This may not seem like a big deal, but consider a room of 3,000 makeup gurus, all wanting to get their freebies, and then tack on the 2-5 minutes each task took...yeah, not pleasant. The entire event consisted of waiting in line for hours just to get what was typically a travel-sized product or a sample packet. There were also no charging stations, no drink machines, and the only food available consisted of two food trucks parked outside of the venue with lines that easily were 40 minutes to an hour long wait.

Yes there were meet & greets scheduled...for THIRTY. MINUTES. Again, a room of 3,000 makeup gurus who worship Ipsy stylists and you're going to schedule their meetups for 30 minutes? No, try again. Yes, I will give some of the stylists credit for staying longer than they were scheduled so they could talk to more fans, but the scheduling conflicts in conjunction with the 300 person lines made it extremely discouraging to even try.

And speaking of the Ipsy stylists...
Those girls couldn't have been on the floor longer than two hours each day. I saw them very briefly in passing when they were exiting or beginning a meet up but other than that I was incredibly disappointed with how little they showed their faces. I also know for a fact that they weren't on the floor with fans because they were consistently snapchatting from their VIP room that they were just screwing around with each other! Not a cool move to shaft the fans that came to see you and just chill backstage with your friends.

Anyway, just to provide an example of how ridiculous the freebie requirements were, here's the Makeup Forever story. Word spread quickly that Makeup Forever was giving out full-size bottles of the Ultra HD Foundation and you could also get it custom engraved. Sweet deal, right? Again, not that easy. We had to wait in line and once we reached the front we were assigned to a vanity with an artist to color match us. After getting color matched, we received a black wristband and were instructed to go to a corner where we could pick it up. Well, when we got to that corner, we had to take a selfie in front of the wall, post it to Instagram, hashtag it with two tags they made, show them as proof, and then get in another line to enter a sweepstakes on their ipad. After all that, we got a white wristband and were instructed to go wait in another line to pick up our foundation. We did end up getting a nice makeup bag and a mini primer sample as well, but the fun wasn't over yet. From there, we could get our bottles engraved; after all this why wouldn't you just get the extra fanciness? So I was then told to get in another line, where I could go on Sephora's website and post a review of the foundation (the foundation I was merely color matched to not 10 minutes earlier...) or we could go in front of the cameraman and talk about how much we loved the foundation. After proving that I posted a review, they gave me a grey wristband, and I got in ANOTHER line to write down what I wanted engraved. After turning that in, they told me to come back in 30 minutes.

The entire process took an hour. Freaking ridiculous, and I was only able to even get it because we literally sprinted in on the second day; all of day one they constantly had the line closed off and kept telling us to come back later. It was insanity. I nearly didn't even get my foundation after it was finished because the evil security told me to wait in the wrong line that was 2+ hours long; we only happened to bump into an event coordinator who directed me to the right one, which was 4 people long.

So just to recap, did I get a lot of free stuff? Yes. Did I get pictures with some stylists? Yes. Was it worth it? Probably not. I'm glad I at least experienced it but I couldn't go through that again. The event was seriously 8 hours of standing in line trying to "earn" free stuff that our $95 tickets essentially paid for. I really wish a brand as large as Ipsy had a better plan together but as someone who went to college for PR and event planning, I expected a lot more.

I'll have some more details in my upcoming Gen Beauty Survival Guide Post. Hope this was helpful!

Here's what I accumulated throughout the day with my brand tickets:

• Derma-e: Tote bag, mini purifying toner mist, charcoal mask sample packets, coupons
• It Cosmetics: Mini CC Cream and mini Bye Bye Under Eye
• SOHO: 2 tribal print makeup bags and 1 clear plastic makeup bag
• Belif: Tote bag, mini Moisturizing Bomb moisturizer and sample packet of Aqua Bomb moisturizer
• Elizabeth and James: Nirvana Black and Nirvana White perfume samples
• Dermalogica Clear Start: Mini Overnight Treatment and Hydrating Lotion sample packets
• Eva-nyc: Mini Conditioner and compact mirror
• Skin Inc: Mini Vitamin C Serum and Pure Revival/Overnight Wonder Mask sample packets
• Mally: Mini Evercolor Starlight Waterproof Liner in "Midnight"
• Ofra: Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in "Laguna Beach"
• Gallany Cosmetics: First Class Lash Mascara in "Private Jet Black"
• Laura Geller: Love Me Dew Lip Crayon in "Plum Freeze"
• SKINN: Caviar Lip Cream in "Bare"
• Temptu: Mini Color True Lip Gloss in "Clear"
• Klorane: Mini shampoo with mango butter, mini shampoo with flax fiber, mini volumizing spray
• Jouer: Long-Wearing Eye Clarifier, Long-Wearing Eye Definer in "Mure," mini lip gloss in "Rose Glisten," mini eyelash curler, 4 necklaces, 2 rings, and 1 pair of earrings
• NYX: Lip Liner Pencil in "Toast" and "Tangerine," and Intense Butter Gloss in "Funnel Delight"
• Crown Brush: Mini eyeshadow brush
• Jesse's Girl: Nail Polish in Black and Glittery Orange, and Mineralized Baked Eye Shadow in "Rosemary Frost"
• Makeup Forever: Sheet of flash tattoos, Ultra HD Foundation with custom engraving

 

*this post wasn't sponsored and all photos are my own