Hello, everyone! In today’s blog post, I will be sharing with you all my experience at Generation Beauty Toronto as well as tips, advice, what I got and more!
To begin with, if you don’t already know what Generation Beauty is it is a beauty convention held by Ipsy which was created by the oh-so-famous beauty YouTuber Michelle Phan. This beauty convention is the perfect place for beauty content creators, beauty lovers, and brands to network and have fun! (To read more about Generation Beauty click HERE). The convention has been happening for quite a while in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. Generation Beauty’s first international convention was held in Toronto in 2016. I was unaware that Generation Beauty was coming to Canada until I Googled it just for fun way back in 2016 only to realize that it was the first year they would be holding their convention in Toronto. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the 2016 convention so I decided to wait an entire year so I could get my hands on the 2017 tickets. For my birthday this year I asked my parents for two tickets to the convention (one for me and one for my sister). I was able to get my hands on the pre-sale tickets which were the cheapest priced tickets at $100 each which went on sale two days after my birthday. There are three levels of tickets: the pre-sale, first release, and second release. This year the second release tickets did not sell out so Ipsy was offering coupon codes that allowed people to get the tickets at the $100 pre-sale price. Now, enough rambling let’s get into my experience, brands, goodies, and advice!
Day 1: My Experience
On day one of Generation Beauty my sister and I arrived at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre about an hour before the convention doors opened (for people without early access) so we could register. Registration was very quick and went smoothly. We were asked to show our tickets and a form of ID. After registering, we were given a cute lanyard which stated that we were an “attendee” and our name that we wrote down. It also included a paper that I like to call the “brand card” with a list of the brands that were at the event. This card was very important to have as it allowed everyone to get free products at the different booths. In addition, on the name tag paper was a little piece which we removed right after to receive the free goodie bag or “swag bag” (as Ipsy likes to call it) with a lot of makeup, hair, and skin care products! Here is the list of products that we received in the goodie bag (and yes this is just the beginning of a bunch of free stuff we got this weekend).
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· Royal & Langnickel Moda Pro Makeup Brush – Complexion Brush· Luxie 237 “Blending” Brush· Pixi by Petra Endless Silky Eye Pen – “Bronze Beam”· Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Cushion Corrector + Primer Duo – “Brightener Primer Peach/Lavender”· Glam Glow Volcasmic Matte Glow Moisturizer Creamy Water Balm· Sooae Purifying Charcoal Mask· Dr.Belmeur Soothing Gauze Sheet Mask· Skinfix Daily Lotion· Ogx Coconut Milk Shampoo· Marc Anthony Hydrating Coconut Oil & Shea Butter Volume Hairspray· Essence Get Big Lashes Volume Boost Mascara· Covergirl Melting Pout Gel Liquid Lipstick – “Gell Yes”· Ciate London Liquid Velvet – “Pin Up”· Mac Matte Lipstick – “Babes and Balls”· Pur Beauty Sponge· Benefit They’re Real Tinted Primer· Nyx Butter Gloss – “Crème Brulee”· Absolute New York Cotton Candy Liner – “Mint Chip”· Pur-lisse BB Tinted Moist Cream SPF 30· Pop Beauty Kajal Pen – “Inky Purple”· Smashbox metallic lip colour – “BA6”· Dirty Little Secret Lip Gloss – “Bare”· Derma-e Vitamin C Concentrated Serum· Briogeo Rosarco Milk Reparative Leave-in Conditioning Spray· Eva-nyc Mane Magic 10-in-1 Primer· IGK Coconut Oil Gel· Goomee The Markless Hair Loop (Box of 4)
After looking through all our products it was finally time for us to enter the convention. The set up of the convention was really nice with a Ipsy area that included a stage, a pink carpet (like a red carpet), and a seating area. There were a total of 28 brands that attended Generation Beauty Toronto this year which included the following:
- Absolute New York
- Benefit Cosmetics
- Briogeo
- Ciate London
- Covergirl
- Derma-e
- Dirty Little Secret
- Dr.Belmeur
- Essence
- Eva-NYC
- Glam Glow
- Goomee
- IGK
- Luxie
- Mac Cosmetics
- Marc Anthony
- Nudestix
- Nyx Cosmetics
- Ogx
- Physicians Formula
- Pixi by Petra
- Pop Beauty
- PUR Cosmetics
- Pur-lisse
- Royal and Langnickel
- Skinfix
- Smashbox
- Sooae
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| Absolute New York Booth |
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| Ciate London Booth |
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| Dr.Belmeur Booth |
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| Luxie Booth |
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| Nyx Cosmetics Booth |
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| Pixi Booth |
Luckily, my sister and I were able to finish visiting a total of 23 booths on Saturday alone from the start of the convention at 11:00 a.m. to the end at 6:00 p.m. We did not meet any beauty influencers on day one or day two however, I did come across three YouTubers who I watched but was too shy to say hello.
Day 2: My Experience
On day two of Generation Beauty we finished visiting the last five of the 28 booths that attended and were able to go back to two booths (Nyx and Glam Glow) for the second time to take pictures in the photo booth that we did not do on day one. On this day the convention opened at 11:00 a.m. but ended at 3:00 p.m. and we left the convention at about 1:40 p.m.
Brand Experience:
From each brand we received between one to four free products. Some booths gave away products just by crossing off the brand name on the brand card while others also made you post pictures to your social media and follow the brands on their social media platforms. Two brands also gave out food and drinks, Glam Glow was giving out water bottles while Absolute New York was making cotton candy on the spot. Some brands such as Smashbox and Nyx Cosmetics were applying makeup to the attendees while brands like Mark Anthony were also offering to do cute hairstyles on people. Some brands were also selling their products at their booths such as Luxie and Pur-lisse, while other brands like Royal and Langnickel were only offering free products and not selling any products. In addition, on the back of the brand card came a map and a list of the “diamond”, “gold”, and “silver” sponsors. Why is this important to know you ask? This is important because it informs you of which brands are the biggest sponsors which means the waiting lines were bigger for the diamond sponsors and smaller for the silver sponsors; however, the actual line-ups varied and this is where my tips and advice comes into play!
Tips/Advice:
Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. I can’t say that enough! Keep a list in mind of the brands you are dieing to visit becasue the booths fill up fast and the waiting time is quite long. I knew I wanted to visit the Mac Cosmetics booth, Luxie booth, Pixi booth, and Smashbox booth but the line ups were never ending! Luckily, my sister and I were able to get ourselves into the Mac Cosmetics booth line up (which by the way took an hour and a half to get through – my lower back was in a lot of pain might I add). We also managed to finish visiting the Luxie booth on the first day as well however, we could not get into the Smashbox booth line oh and don’t even get me started on the Pixi booth! We waited both day one and day two to get into the line and finally, we managed to get ourselves a spot in line at the Pixi booth. Another thing to keep in mind is that there is no food given at the event (with the exception of the free water bottles at Glam Glow and cotton candy at Absolute New York), so don’t forget to bring a snack with you or you can just exit the venue and find a food place near by for lunch or a quick pick-me-up snack. Finally, just remember this event is quite tiring as the waiting time can be long at certain booths and you are standing and walking all day, but as long as you keep yourself busy whether that be with a friend, the free wi-fi browsing through social media, or just networking with others you will not even remember you were tired.
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| Cotton Candy @ Absolute New York Booth |
Overall Thoughts:
Overall, I must say that I had a great time at my first Generation Beauty event! I honestly was unsure if I would have a really good time because I did not know what to expect other than getting free products (which alone is really awesome). I personally thought that it would not be an experience that blew me away and that I would not attend again; however, I was wrong. I will definitely be attending Generation Beauty again in the future and would highly recommend anyone with a passion for beauty and/or the YouTube beauty community to attend! You will not be disappointed!
I hope you enjoyed today’s blog post and I hope this post helped you in some way if you are interested in attending Generation Beauty by Ipsy.
Until next time,
