BEAUTYCON LA 2015 REVIEW: My Experience and My Haul

I attended the BeautyCon LA for the first time last July 11, 2015 at The Reef in Downtown Los Angeles. I bought a discounted General Admission ticket at Living Social for $22. The ticket prices run as follows:

PLATINUM Pass ($269.99)
Expedited line pass and early entrance to BeautyCon LA beginning at 11:00am, a limited edition BeautyCon t-shirt & gift bag filled with product. This exclusive pass also includes three guaranteed meet & greets guaranteed reserved seating for all BeautyCon LA panels.

PRO Pass ($134.99)
Expedited line pass and early entrance to BeautyCon LA beginning at 11:30 am, a limited edition BeautyCon t-shirt & gift bag filled with product.
Pro ticket holders receive two guaranteed meet & greets.

#BCSQUAD ($89.99)
buy three General Admission tickets and get one free!
GA ticket includes: One-time entrance to BeautyCon LA.  Doors open at 12:00 pm.

GA/General Admission ($29.99)
One-time entrance to BeautyCon LA. Doors open at 12:00 pm.

The brands present were:

Since this was my first BeautyCon event, I researched online the past events that they had in Los Angeles and in Dallas.  Quite a number of people said to expect crazy lines but then, most of them said that it's worth all the effort.  They really do give away tons of beauty products.  Honestly, I am not that interested in the meet and greets. I wanted to go for the freebies and the cheap deals that the beauty brands are going to have during the event.

I went to the Reef at around 12:30PM, thinking that by that time, the GA's line (which I was expecting to be really long) would have been let in already and cut short.  To my surprise, when I got to Broadway Avenue, the GA line was still there! In fact the end of the line was at Washington Blvd going around Broadway Avenue and all the way around to Hill Street! I was outside in-line for about 45 minutes. When I finally got in the entrance, a staff member just checked the voucher number on my Living Social ticket.  She did not bother to confirm if my ticket was valid or not.

The event was divided into two areas - the first being the outdoor where almost all the meet and greets took place.  The food trucks were obviously in this area. The second area was inside the Reef or LA Mart. This is where all the vendors and sponsors were located.

Since I was not interested in any of the meet and greets, I went straight to the LA Mart building. Just when I reached the door, I was greeted by a mob of teens, tweens and women all waiting outside. There  was no line - just about 500 people squished in front of the entrance under the burning (95 degree) sun! They were not letting anyone in and it was only 1:30PM! It was really awful because none of the BeautyCon staff tried to fix the problem or at least explain to us what was going on. Thirty minutes in, an ambulance came in - turns out that a few girls fainted and needed medical attention. I was told by a nice lady beside me that the reason why they were not letting people in was because the building already reached its maximum capacity. BeautyCon sold way too many tickets and did not anticipate how much space they need to accommodate all the attendees.  They eventually allowed people to go in but only in small batches. I was allowed in after about an hour of waiting outside.  My take on this is that I was lucky to get in quickly compared to the other girls because I came alone. I know that most girls specially those who came in groups took longer to get in. In fact, most of them decided to just leave after two or three hours of waiting.

When I got inside the Reef, once again none of the BeautyCon staff were present to guide the people on where to go.  I just followed the crowd and ended up on the second floor of the building - where the event was taking place.

It was definitely chaos everywhere. Most of the booths doesn't even have a recognizable line for those who want to experience their product. The vendors just keep on handing out their freebies to everyone. Some vendors on the other hand were more tactical. Birchbox, Nyx, BDB, Soho and TheBoodleBox, they all had guests participation before they gave their freestuff - they either ask you to post a picture on Instagram or follow them on social media. The lines for most of the good brands were very long, but honestly, it was worth it.  They really gave out good stuff.  There was also a place for parents to stay while their tweens were out and about getting their loot. I stayed there for a while because they had a cellphone charging station and they serve free mommy juice - Vodka! 

A few things that I noticed:
1. Bathroom lines were extremely long.
2. If you decide to go out of the building to attend the meet and greets or buy lunch, there is a 99% possibility that you will not be able to come back.  You would have to once again brave the mob and wait under the seething sun for hours until they allow you to get back in the building.
3. BeautyCon did not have any water sponsor, hence, no free water.  I think that agua should already be a freebie staple in any beauty event. They did offer a selection of fizzy drinks.
4. GA guests (which is the vast majority) were not given any form of bag to keep their loot. I had to stuff my items in my purse until I got a reusable bag from one of the vendors.
5. No maps were handed either.  I know they had it online but, hey, you cannot expect everyone to print it.
6. You get multiple samples/goodies per vendor. Yehey! QVC was handing out their boxes in two's or three's.
7. A few of the Platinum and Pro ticket holders did not receive their goodie bag. I heard that the organizers ran out of bags.  How can they ran out of bags? Aren't they supposed to know exactly how many tickets they sold?

Anyway, all in all, I had a great time.  I succeeded in getting all the freebies that I want. Hey, no shame here! Almost all of the girls in the event were also very nice. They tried to create order in the midst of chaos.

Will I still attend next year? Maybe. I am still contemplating.  I honestly do not want to go through the whole process of getting in the event again.

BeautyCon HAUL