Generation Beauty Recap + Swag Bag Haul

The goods

My favorites

Hello again! It's officially been one week since moving out West to California for the summer. Honestly, it seems like I have been here longer than a week. I'm coming off a great weekend and apparently I got a little excited when writing the recap and got a little carried away...so I will forewarn you this post is quite long. Those strictly interested in the swag bag haul might want to jump to the bottom. For those of you interested in my life story...read on :)

My sister and brother-in-law's home is spacious and comfortable (and well-decorated might I add. I'll give you a tour soon!) so I'm fitting right in. They have a small spare room where I keep my stuff, but it was used as a storage room before so it needs a little reorganizing. My decorating instincts are coming out so I'm already brainstorming organization ideas to save on space in the small room.

During the day I'm found working on the Powder Room app from home and running errands with my brother-in-law, Chris. I've already been to a few delicious restaurants and eat out more than I did in a whole month in Iowa. There are just so many good options and it's part of experiencing the city, right? Last Friday I had a job interview in San Francisco, but got lost for about an hour and walked up and down the same street looking for a nonexistent address. Turns out I was given the wrong address for the interview, but on the plus side I was able to see more of the city and came across some beautiful homes.

Friday night my sister and I flew to LA for the Generation Beauty event to promote Powder Room and meet bloggers. My sister, Ida, is the co-founder of Powder Room, and despite being ten years apart, we have similar tastes and interests so it's fun getting to work with her. The Powder Room website launched this weekend so be sure to check it out and sign up for updates so you can participate in beta testing when we are ready to launch!

Friday night my sister and I flew to LA for the Generation Beauty event to promote Powder Room and meet bloggers. My sister, Ida, is the co-founder of Powder Room, and despite being ten years apart, we have similar tastes and interests so it's fun getting to work with her. The Powder Room website launched this weekend so be sure to check it out and sign up for updates so you can participate in beta testing when we are ready to launch!

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect at Generation Beauty. I had never attended a beauty conference before, nor had I traveled to LA. When we arrived at the event that morning the whole place was buzzing with excitement. Music was blaring and hundreds of girls were beaming and dolled up, ready to chat about all things beauty. I'm aware of the YouTube phenomenon and have my favorite vloggers I turn to for beauty advice, but you can't fully understand the capacity of YouTubers until you experience it first hand. These are young women, some top vloggers as young as 14, that love makeup and managed to build a huge following by being honest, fun, and genuine in their videos. The event attendants in general skewed below the age of 21, and it's incredible to see how many impressionable teenagers are flocking to beauty. They certainly know way more about makeup than I did at that age. It's truly inspiring knowing the whole Generation Beauty event was created because of YouTube bloggers. In today's society more and more are turning to bloggers for advice on makeup and beauty, and turning less to brands and traditional marketing.

Throughout the two-day event we stood in lines, chatted with brands, got our hair braided, and tested some amazing, new products. We also had the chance to meet Josie Maran, the founder of Josie Maran Cosmetics. She had fantastic advice for budding entrepreneurs. She invited us to sit on the ground in a circle as she opened the floor to questions. You can't get any cooler than that, and now I'm coming away with more respect and maybe even a little biased towards her natural products. What can I say, her down-to-earth boho personality is contagious. We also met Michelle Phan (who we embarrassingly towered over), the most poised and respectful woman despite being hugely successful. Even after the line kept growing and growing, she never turned down fans during the meet and greet.

The event was inspiring to say the least after witnessing the power of video and how it's given people amazing opportunities to share their opinions with millions of viewers. Of course, I can't talk about Generation Beauty and not mention the swag bags. All of the brands at the event provided products for swag bags that were given at the end of both days. I've never seen so many girls make a mad dash like that before.

While I'm not a beauty blogger, I did want to share with you some of my favorite products from the swag bag. We received about 40 products and based on my first impressions, these are my favorites.
The EM Cosmetics lipsticks by Michelle Phan are super creamy and moisturizing. The Dirty Girl mask by Pur Minerals instantly made my skin clear and really soft the next morning. Cream blushes are huge lately, and while I'm still mastering the application, they have serious payout in color. So I don't make this post any longer than it already is, let me know if you have specific questions about products and I'll cover them in more detail.