I rarely do event posts because I never know if you guys are interested in reading about them, but this year's annual London Drugs Beauty Event was something totally different than from previous years as it was an overnight event taking place in beautiful Whistler! London Drugs very generously hosted all media at the Fairmont Chateau in Whistler with each of us having our own accommodations. For me this meant lounging in bed and watching Food Network! Though it was a bit of a challenge to attend the event, as it was in the middle of the week, I did a bit of soul-selling with my boss and even SHE thought this was something I needed to go to! I am going to apologize for the quality of the photos now with their different sizes (I had to crop out the hoardes of people passing by the products!) and horrific lighting! I promise the photos will be better when my reviews are ready!
London Drugs chartered a bus for all of us to take which even came with a road trip bag provided by the awesome NYX Cosmetics containing Beauty Bingo, lipstick, setting spray, sponge makeup blender and a heated eyelash curler. I had not been to Whistler in almost 15 years(!) so I was partially nervous about the ride because I have had motion sickness EVERY TIME I've driven up! Thankfully, the non-drowsy Gravol did its thing and I fell asleep anyway because I had worked 6 days in a row to go to this event and I was just about ready to pass out!
It was the perfect Fall day when we arrived and I couldn't help, but take in the view! The hotel was decorated with pumpkins and even had the scent of cinnamon and spice in the air. We had about an hour before heading down to the start of the event at 4pm so I touched up my hair and makeup, unpacked and watched - you guessed it - Food Network!
After registration, I made my mark on the "Lipstick Wall" and wished that I had been wearing a darker lipstick! The wall was pretty much full by the end of the event so I hope it gets displayed somewhere at the corporate office!
There were 30 vendors at the event, which may not sound like much, but visiting every single one and chatting does take quite awhile and when you only have 2.5 hours, you have to strategize and plan your visits wisely!
Our first stop was Burt's Bees and the first thing that caught my eye were these honeycomb-shaped eye makeup remover pads! For anyone who has watched Battlestar Galactica, you will understand what I mean when I saw that these pads made me smile.
If you have not tried the Burt's Bees lipsticks (review) you need to because these are pretty pigmented, hydrating and come in SO MANY wearable shades. Every single one of these is a shade I would wear and I would happily welcome more to my family!
Next up, was Makeup Revolution, a brand I absolutely need to talk more about here because they have some of the coolest products around at a fraction of the price you would find it at Sephora. Some things are hit or miss, but their product repertoire is nothing short of amazing and I have some very cool products to share soon from them! One is a Ben Nye dupe and the other possibly BECCA!
I LOVE that London Drugs carries Crabtree & Evelyn because it makes me feel like I can go to a drugstore and pick up a really NICE gift. The scents that were shown here all smelled fan-freakin-tastic and though were were gifted a set of the uplifting Citron and Coriander, the Lavender and Espresso and Goat's Milk scents were what I had my eye (and nose!) on!
We visited Maybelline, Essie and L'Oreal before stopping at NYX Cosmetics. If you have not seen the NYX displays at London Drugs, you gotta because they have EVERYTHING. When I first started blogging, NYX was IMPOSSIBLE to get and I used to order everything online. All of my Butter Glosses were from Beautyjoint.com and I would pray for the day NYX would come to Canada. When it finally did last year, the floodgates opened and I found myself surrounded by NYX loveliness.
NYX had some new products to share with us one of which is a hydrating primer oil that I cannot wait to try! I have tried the Smashbox one so we will see how this one compares as the price point is quite a bit lower though I would never think of NYX as inexpensive either.
NYX had some new products to share with us one of which is a hydrating primer oil that I cannot wait to try! I have tried the Smashbox one so we will see how this one compares as the price point is quite a bit lower though I would never think of NYX as inexpensive either.
In addition to the primer oil, I immediately wanted to know more about those pigmented beauties on the top left which turned out to be highly pigmented lip oils! I swatched the brown shade and though it had a bit of a slip to it, it was very intense on colour! Not sure about wear time though since it's so glossy, but these are a product I am looking forward to trying!
That's right! Advent calendars are BACK! This is a calendar FULL of the new Pin Up Pout Lipsticks in mini sizes!
We finally made our way to skincare and one of the most talked about products this year has been Vichy's Mineral 89. This is a "serum for your serum" or what the rep referred to as a "skin fortifier". When it comes to Asian skincare, adding this "essence" step is no biggie, but I overheard a few bloggers saying that it didn't make sense to them that they would need a "booster" to enhance products they were using that were already supposed to be good. I see their point, but I have read a number of positive reviews for this 7 ingredient wonder and cannot wait to try it out for myself after I have finished with my bajillion others...I joke, I am too intrigued to let this product wait that long!
We all squealed when we saw this lipstick from the upcoming Lise Water Glam Holiday Collection! This is not a new innovation for Asia, but it is for Canada! This contains 24K gold flakes making it a perfect addition to any holiday collection!
The star of the show was the new Revival+ Skin Renewal which is a brand new line of skincare targeted at ages 45+, but the rep did recommend using the eye cream around the lips to prevent lipstick from feathering!
Annabelle has been focusing on graphic eyes this year with a number of ways to achieve a more artistic eye with one of the eyeliners even looking like a ball to dot designs on!
KISS New York Pro is the colour line of KISS with Korean-inspired products with North American pigmentation! This is again another brand that I need to mention more here because they have fantastic products!
All I want to see are the MAGNETIC lashes that Ardelle will be releasing in March 2018!
As scared as I am of this sheet mask, I want my summer glow to last well into January and will give this a go when I have the next day off. Just in case things turn orange.
We stopped at Remington and ran into the Beard Boss ambassadors so OBVIOUSLY I had to grab a photo with them! That dude's beard is INSANE!
I actually used the new Remington Thermaluxe One Pass Flat Iron today and LOVED IT. I got my curls in 5 minutes and the ceramic plates were deliciously smooth.
We got super pressed for time at this point so all I can really say about these Rimmel liquid lipsticks is that they are matte, pigmented, set and last 12 hours or more! They have a good array of shades including those crazy greys and dark blues!
Thank you to the LDBeauty team for organizing, hosting and letting me join in on the beauty fun!
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