The show was at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, but because hotel rates nearby were so expensive, we ended up staying at the Vdara Hotel about 25 minutes away. We totally thought it was walkable, but in 47 degree weather it was a challenge...I was VERY proud of us for toughing it out and never taking a cab or Uber while we were there save for our trip to the airport!
The show was split into various areas including: Korean Beauty, Green Beauty, Packaging, Hair, Nails as well as a China Pavilion which was quite extensive. I had downloaded the Cosmoprof app as it contained a map of the show as well as a search function for finding vendors. I honestly felt like I was navigating a small city, but the best city EVER!
Day 1
My husband was my photographer which I was most grateful for as it left me with my hands free to swatch and touch things! We started right at opening (10am when Vegas is DEAD) as I had a meeting with Australian brand, Cherry Blooms! I was most familiar with them for their fibre lash extension mascara, but for Cosmoprof their newest innovation was the Matte Lips Volumizer ($27 USD)! Available in five shades, this is a liquid lipstick that uses a 3 layer application process to guarantee wear through THREE meals. I have tried this technique before with other liquid lip products and lemme tell ya, it can be a total disaster! Not only will this lipstick NOT make your lips as dry as the Nevada desert, but contains textured powder fillers (Tripeptide 38) that will fill in lip lines with each application! I received the shade Pink Coral to test out which I will be sharing with you all in a review soon!
Next up was a company called Dermelect, which I am most familiar with from the nail polish world. Their formula was the first branded "anti-aging nail polish" as it included peptides to nourish brittle nails in addition to giving perfectly opaque colour. What I didn't know was that Dermelect also has an extensive line of skincare!
Next up was the Purlisse booth! I adore Purlisse for its fusion of Asian and Western philosphies and ingredients and when I was in Toronto for GenBeauty last year I bought what I could and stocked up on my FAVOURITE moisturizer with SPF. My husband and I love it and we even brought a tube of it to Vegas because it's so light and non-greasy. The folks at the Purlisse booth stocked me up with more of this magical sunscreen/moisturizer and I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone!
Then came a company with the tongue-in-cheek name Up Yours whose feature product was a "Chin Up Mask" that was guaranteed to improve the appearance of double chins by reducing "sag" at least 2cm/30 minute treatment! I'm sure this kind of product has its market, but I don't have jowls at this point in my life and I think if I did, I'd probably just get a facelift though it will certainly cost more than this!
Next we had to stop at TonyMoly! Here, I found the brand Labiotte, which I recognized because they made the CUTEST lip tints in the shape of wine bottles! The newest product that caught my eye were the Capsule Cleansing Waters that looked like little pills! The best part was that once you were finished the product, the capsule is refillable!
This is when I knew my husband went a little rogue because I don't really know what these two products are other than they are hair masks. My husband just loved the fact that this looked like a tube of mayonnaise and had to take a photo. I guess he was just doing his job after all!
Next door was Londontown, which I have only ever found on HauteLook in the past. I own one "Lakur" in a glorious cobalt blue and I have been so curious about the rest of the line and the other nail care products so I managed to arrive right when the Londontown rep was all by her lonesome to get the full rundown on EVERYTHING. There was one product in particular, the Instant Smudge Fix, which fixes nicks and smudges in polish by smoothing everything out!
I set aside a huge part of the day to visit the Korean Beauty area starting with a the brand Suiskin set to launch in Ulta this year. They will be launching convenient spray essences in pocket-sized, credit card shaped container. That's them on the bottom right in a set that will be available at Ulta with different scents. I love spray on skincare so now that Ulta ships to Canada, I will have my eye on these!
One thing about all of the Korean beauty booths was how attractive and colourful all of the packaging was! How can you not stop at every booth?! The Pucca booth was also the company that made all of my beloved Mediheal sheet masks and though the English was bare at most of the KBeauty booths, the excited gesturing on my part seemed to be well understood.
Next was a Korean brand called Fascy which features a girl named "Tina" as she grows up and learns to style herself with different looks. There were quite a number of products ranging from makeup to body to skincare and when I spoke to the Fascy rep, he asked me if grown women still liked this type of "childish" packaging and I pretty much said "Yes, yes we do."
You have no idea how happy I was to see Papa Recipe as I reviewed their Bombee Honey Mask and LOVED it. There was a black and rose gold version that I had considered purchasing on Amazon, but wasn't sure if I wanted to buy an entire box so the reps at the booth gave me one of each to try and hopefully one or both will be a winner and then I can let you guys know! The reps also found my husband somewhat entertaining and were teasing him incessantly about trying a peel-off mask and then they just gave him a whole tube of something that looked cool so I'll have to go an investigate what it is they gave him!
The Korean pavilion was probably the most fun because the reps would get so excited when you knew of their brand or had tried the products. There were many Asian selfies taken (bunny ears and all) and they all greeted me very warmly despite the language barrier.
The next booth that caught my eye was Lindo which carried A TON of beauty care products like brushes, shower caps, hair ties, makeup brushes, makeup remover cloths, you name it!
I have a couple of products to try from Lindo and I think there will be some fun discoveries from this brand to share!
Next up, was Green Beauty! There were some bigger brands like Pai, MyChelle and Dream Water as well as lesser known brands like B'Livinn Nail Polish and Orgaid that had products that were truly cool. The majority of brands in Green Beauty were skincare and I wish I had had more time to say hello to every brand there but there is something about chatting up every booth that really tires you out! I love to mingle, but after an hour or two of solid chatting the hubs and I were ready to head back to our hotel! I know, we are a VERY exciting couple.
Nail polish is my first love and when I saw this packaging for B'Livinn Nail Polish, I was floored with how cute and personalized the packaging was! There are inspirational messages and just drawings of happy things on these collector's boxes that house one of 100 specially curated nail polish shades. The owner mentioned that a number of her client recycle the boxes by cutting them up into little bookmarks so that they can re-purpose the artwork!
Pai was SUPER busy when I got there, but I did manage to get a brief rundown of the hero products as well as take with me a bottle of their bestselling Rosehip BioRegenerate Oil which looks FANTASTIC. I haven't tried too much from this brand, but I feel like the two of us are going to get along just fine.
Color Club. The holos. I spent far too long here, but it's obvious why! So many polishes, so little time! I usually get my Color Club polishes from Nail Polish Canada, but there were a whole whackload of collections that I had never seen before that I was just drooling over with the newest collection being the Nailmoji collection below!
I had no idea that Ruby Wing was under the Color Club umbrella! These polishes change when exposed to sunshine! The colour shifts are pretty dramatic too!
These are gel polishes that come with a magnet that you hold close to the polish to create the tiger's eye effect. They were so incredibly shiny in real life and though I don't wear gel polish much, I would to have these spectacular babies on my nails!
I'm going to end Day 1 here with the Bellagio fountain show we went to later that night, but as tiring as Cosmoprof was, there were just so many fun beauty things to see! Some brands were unfamiliar with what a beauty blogger was, others flat out asked me "how big are you?", but overall it was interesting seeing what was new, what was out there and what I needed to get my hands on when I got back home to share with you guys because I have a couple of products that will just blow your mind!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
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