Generation Beauty by Ipsy L.A. 2017
This year I was lucky enough to attend GenBeauty by Ipsy 2017 in L.A. I had previously purchased my ticket to attend the event, but in December, I received an email stating that I’d be invited to attend the event as a Content Creator guest. I was so excited because several months before I had applied to become an IpsyOs Member. Out of all the events I have attended this is by far my favorite.
A week prior the event we all knew and was expecting rain on one or more on those days, as the time got closer it turned into a storm would be approaching on the Sunday, second day of GenBeauty. We were all preparing for that, I definitely was preparing to add layers to what I was wearing to avoid being cold.
The weekend had finally arrive and Saturday was a beautiful and sunny day. I attended with my side kick, sister-in-law, Satomi, who also has a Youtube channel BeautyStyleSpirit. I was especially nervous because I did not know what to expect. As a Content Creator, I wasn’t sure what that meant, or if I’d get split up from Satomi who was attending as an Attendee Guest. My mission was to definitely come out of my comfort zone and branch out, become more social and to network. (I hate that word, by the way, it terrifies me for some reason..lol) I just want to meet people that share common interest that can perhaps mentor me or just simply inspire and motivate each other, but I guess in this business its called “network”.
The first thing that happened when we arrived was there was a bit of confusion when we asked where we were suppose to go to get our badges. Then someone kindly walked us over. That was where Satomi and I had to split up, I had to stand in line to get my Content Creator badge. While I was waiting someone stood in line behind me. That’s when I decided to be more social, I figured either she will be nice or not and if not, then I would just go on my merry way. I asked her if she was a Content Creator and she said “yes”. From that point on we really hit it off. She is a Youtuber and her channel name is Quiesha Jay. She is a nice, genuine, sweet girl. We actually stood in line to wait to get in for about an hour and I was able to get to know her a little better. The rest of the day we spent it in lines, of coarse, as it always is at these types of events. I feel like we were able to bond.
Day 1 was nearly over and I felt like this year was the busiest. There were definitely a lot more people, which also meant that we were spending a lot more time in line. Satomi and I had a plan prior to arriving, we knew that we wanted to get our free products from our favorite major companies first and second day we could do the rest on our list. It didn’t quite pan off that way but were able to get a bit of stuff considering. When I got home and saw everything I got I wasn’t too happy, only because the previous year we attended we had gotten much more “full” size products and even though this year we did as well, we had more deluxe samples from most companies that attended.
Day 2, was a gloomy, cold and rainy day. Hopeful that not many people would show up because of the weather, but not the case. We beauty obsessed are die hards, for sure..lol We waited an hour to get in and when we finally made it in we rushed into booths to hurry and get as much as we could before everyone else was let in. What I noticed as soon as we got in was that the flooring with was carpet was completely soaked, there were electrical wires running through out. Maybe like 30 min in we started hearing over the speaker that we needed to start exiting out, we needed to evacuate the area. We started to head out but were stuck because so many people were exciting the same way. Security then comes in yelling at everyone and rushing us to get out. All of a sudden there was a bit of panic and people scurrying out. Once out, it was raining and a bit dangerous. We started forming a line under the parking lot garage. But there was mayhem, no one had answers, there was complete chaos and unorginization. We must have spent about 2 hours under that parking structure just waiting. Social media was the only way we were able to get some answers. Basically the fire Marshall had everyone evacuate to make sure that it was safe for us to be there. Their were many people very upset about the whole situation that they decided to extend the event by an hour longer. Once we finally made it in we realized that many Major companies were not opening their booths at all. Make Up For Ever, Tarte, Ofra…to name a few. We were very disappointed and not to mention that some of the vendors there had run out of products.
The final outcome was that Ipsy reached out to everyone and tried their best to make it up to everyone who attended. They offered 50% refund on their tickets. For me, since technically I did not pay for my ticket, they offered me a ticket to attend to next GenBeauty LA 2018. I accepted, of coarse, I have hopes that next year will definitely be improved and much more organized. Can’t wait!!!
