Ipsy’s 2018 Generation Beauty LA event was the first I’ve ever attended and overall my experience was a positive and FUN one! My main goal was to meet the faces behind the brands, especially the social media managers of brands that are on my goal list of working with in the future. I was of course also excited about all of the samples and swag bag we got as well (more stuff to review = more content 🙌🏼).
I just wanted to share a few tips that made my Gen Beauy experience easy & fun:
1) Buy your tickets early and take advantage of the early bird discounts. Ipsy did run ticket specials the months leading up to the event but those ticket prices were higher than what my friend paid early on (as an Ipsy OS member, my ticket was 50% off).
2) Buy the early entrance & lightening Pass bundle. It’s so worth it, especially if you are a creator wanting to connect with brands. The lines were almost non existent on Saturday during the 10 o’clock hour and it was easier to talk to the people behind the brands when their booths weren’t so crowded.
3) Expect the lines and crowd during the day. This is a huge beauty event, crowds and lines are enviable, even with the lightening pass so just make the most of it. I think the longest line we were in took about 15-20 min but that was for the major brands like Too Faced & MAC. Most lines were about 5-10 min with the lightening pass. Me and my friend were dancing in line, meeting other people, posting on Insta and chatting with other beauty lovers.
3) Have your business cards ready! A lot of the social media account managers were working the booth and were easy to talk to and approach.
4) Get your swag bag early. I know this is conflicting to what others say but this year there were accusations of Ipsy employees taking things from swag bags. In a perfect world Ipsy would be able to guarantee this wouldn’t happen again but you just never know. It’s a heavy bag, so bring a backpack to put it in and you are good to go 👍🏼
5) Dress comfortable! Or at least wear comfy shoes. I wore my most comfortable chunky heeled boots (because my 5 foot 1 inch self likes a little more height) and my feet were still hurting at the end of the day 😅
6) Have your equipment ready. Whether it be your camera or iPhone, have it out and ready to record! There is so much going on and so many photo ops you don’t want to miss a thing. I’m kind of guilty of taking too many pics and video but I did have a lot to choose from when it came to posting on social media! Also – Bring a portable charger! They had a charging station at the event but I ended up charging my phone and camera while waiting in lines and walking around.
Overall, Generation Beauty was one of the best experiences I’ve had as a blogger so far. If you have any questions, thoughts or would like to share your own experience I’d love to hear them in the comments!
