Celebrating its fifth year, the 2018 Los Angeles Beautycon Festival was a beauty fan’s paradise. Festival goers got to see a variety of social media stars, big-name brands and celebrity fireside chats over the two days, plus score a variety of freebies from new and up-and-coming brands.

Here is what I learned after two days at Beautycon.

The festival was set up with three different sections (based on what kind of products the brands offered). It consisted of K-town (Korean beauty and skincare), health and wellness, and fan-favorite beauty and makeup brands.

K-Town

K-Town was especially exciting as many people rushed to try out all the latest skincare and makeup trends in K-Beauty. One of my favorite booths in K-town was JOAH, not only because they are one of our clients, but because their booth stood out like a diamond amongst rocks. To make the most out of their time at Beautycon, the brand created activations for consumers to participate in at the booth. These included having fans follow JOAH on Instagram to get into the booth and following the brand on Facebook in order to take a picture in front of the macaroon and flower wall. Additionally, they gave away bags with their tagline “I like it, you’ll like it too!” that were carried around by hundreds of fans throughout the festival and no doubt brought on more brand awareness. It was incredible to see how their cost-friendly makeup products got the crowd excited about K-Beauty inspired makeup!

I also really enjoyed the K-Beauty Oasis, in which some of the Korean skincare brands collaborated together to make one booth and were available to answer any questions about any of the brands represented. After waiting in line, you were required to take a picture in front of one of the three branded walls and post to your Instagram story, tagging the booth! Once completed, visitors received a baggie filled with different Korean skincare samples. This was one of the biggest freebies of the weekend and fans loved it!

Facetory was also in K-town and had people lining up for miles! In the booth, Beautycon goer’s could spin a wheel, once they were following their Instagram page, to win a free prize, ranging from face masks to rejuvenating skin products! They really engaged with fans and made sure to not just pass out free products but also let fans know how to use them for the best results.

Health and Wellness

Beautycon’s health and wellness section was also a hot spot to be with many new and upcoming brands represented. One really engaging booth was In My Solitude which stood out immediately as they had a bathtub filled with flowers for fans to take pictures in. But first, of course, you had to follow them on Instagram! We couldn’t resist!

Another exciting booth in the Health and Wellness section was Aveda. They debuted their newest product, Cherry Almond softening shampoo and conditioner, which contain 23 flower and plant essences and are suitable for normal to dry hair. A fun fact they shared was that these products are actually fan favorites from awhile back in the Aveda world, now launching with a new formula and packaging! The booth included a cherry blossom garden and swing for fans to take a picture with. I could smell the Cherry Almond aroma all around the booth.

In addition to beauty-focused brands, there were many healthy food brands as well to fuel energy for the long festival weekend. Kind was giving away samples of their newest products and free healthy snacks. Dang Foods also had a booth with Asian inspired snacks that will make you say DANG! They were a great pick-me-up snack after walking in your blistered feet all day long. Lastly, one of my favorite “snack booths” was Health-Ade Kombucha. They were giving away samples of their three newest flavors. I tried the lemon apple cider vinegar and, safe to say, I had life in me for the next few hours of the festival.

Fan-Favorite Beauty Brands

Lastly, some of the biggest makeup brands, well-known influencers and celebrities in the business made their way to the festival to excite fans about new launches and collections. Revlon’s booth was featured on Beautycon’s Show and Tell Stage for the launch of their Shoot the Moon collection. They hosted live beauty tutorials with Nikita Dragon, Mariale Marrero and Angel Merino. On top of all that, they hosted a meet and greet with Gigi Gorgeous. Fans received a full-sized mascara from Revlon’s new collection after visiting the booth!

Hourglass Cosmetics was another exciting and interactive booth. After entering the booth, fans could take a picture on their branded backdrop or in the darkroom that had a projected caution mascara image inside. They were given a mini sample of Hourglass’ new mascara and were able to take an image of their eye that printed out with the word caution right in the fans pupil (check out what this looked like below). It was an amazing personalized activation for fans to take home with them!

I know you’ve been waiting for this… yes, Kim Kardashian’s panel was my favorite part (and probably most of Beautycon goer’s). Kim was glowing as she took the stage, shared her story and views and took selfies with the crowd. No one does business and beauty like Kim K!

Overall, Beautycon was a place for networking, fans, creativity, love, talents and dreams. My trip to Planet Beautycon was out of this world!

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