BeautyCon in New York City

On Saturday morning I got up early, put on a full face of makeup complete with blue eyeliner, and headed off to BeautyCon NYC. I had received the invite a few days before and was excited to spend the day learning all about the latest makeup, hair, nail, and skin trends. BeautyCon NYC was hosted all the way down at the South Street Seaport on Pier 36, a place I rarely go.  When I arrived I was able to zip past the line, check in at the press tent, and head inside before the crowds descended.  I even got a picture on the pink carpet!

Once I got in the warehouse there were 20 minutes for me to take pictures of the booths and then I was joined by the VIPs who paid $135, $105 more than the general admission price, to visit the exposition an hour and half before everyone else, aka the thousands of girls who began lining up at 6:50am. 

My favorite booth was probably Mr. Kate.  I have been a fan of the L.A. based company for years and you might remember I had gold and silver metallic Mr. Kate beauty marks at my birthday party last year. You have seen these tats everywhere over the past year but this company was doing them first and they are still magnificent.  I picked up the cosmos pack, the only thing I bought during BeautyCon, and had an epic fan girl moment actually meeting Kate! 

Those who got in early who were able to see the best panel of the day called More than Makeup with Nikki Phillippi, Niomi Smart, Chloe Lukasiak, and Lo Bosworth moderated by Jay Manuel of Amercia’s Next Top Model.  

After listening to the panel I went exploring which included a visit to the media press room. At BeautyCon there were dozens of content creators and thousands of teenager girls who screamed every time they caught a glance of them. At the ripe old age 25 I was about ten years older than the average attendee at this event, there was a parent’s lounge for heavens sake, and that combined with the fact that I am definitely not a 100% beauty blogger or a huge YouTube aficionado I did not know most of the talent.  However, I did recognize Angel Merino, one of the few guys killing it in the men’s makeup space right now.  His skin was even more flawless in person and he could not have been nicer. 

My favorite experience was meeting Baddie Winkle who I have followed on Instagram since the great Refinery29 documentary about her came out. Listening to her MTV interview in the press room when Baddie was asked if she would “Netflix and chill” with Drake I could not help but laugh out loud – hint, she said yes.  I then had five minutes before she was whisked off to her next interview to chat with her – she is just about the sweetest person ever.  Her Kentucky drawl was especially strong and I loved hearing about what she was up to. ps. The last picture in this section, of Baddie with her great granddaughter Kennedy, was actually shared by Baddie on her Instagram after I emailed it to her, too cool! 

Outside on the chilly fall day there was a stage for concerts, apparently Jojo performed a few hours after I left, and there were meet-and-greets set up for the content creators.  As media I was not able to take photos with them but did get to say hi! 

After four hours my feet hurt and I could not hang anymore so I headed home. Over the course of the day at BeautyCon I picked up tons of samples from awesome brands and also scored one of the highly coveted BeautyCon BFF boxes.  The photo does not do the best job showing it but inside there is a stacked ring set, LBB pencil and lipstick, headphones, beauty, Altoids mints, a statement necklace, hand repair cream, a mini brush, a pouch, Benefit mascara, a boho scarf, a fine liner brush, a stipple brush, lip gloss and two sticks not pictured. 

It was a terrific day and I was so glad I was able to attend,
thanks BeautyCon for having me!