Benefit Brow Bar Opening Party

Hi everyone! Myself and some blogger girls were invited to the re-launch of the Benefit counter at Myer with the addition of the new Brow Bar, the first in our city (finally). This happened back in April and I managed to snap a number of photos of the place on the night and watched a demo of the brow waxing service.

Nothing like how it looked before! Wish I could show a before and after pic

Nibbles and drinks! Benefit MUA and blogger Kitty at the back, working her magic on Monnie

Not only do I adore how Benefit's makeup displays look but also their ceiling design and drawers. I wish they could sell these too because I'd love to have these items in my room/house, hehe.

And just in case you've never seen one before, here's what the Benefit brow bar looks like:

It was my first time seeing one, and being in one
We were told that all Benefit beauticians who specialise in waxing services are professionally trained and qualified, and all beauticians in Benefit Brow Bars across the world have the same expertise so you'll have the same service no matter which Brow Bar you visit, whether it'd be in Australia or Singapore, just as an example. So if you're on a holiday/working overseas and badly need your brows done, have no fear because you can look for your nearest Brow Bar and be assured that the service will be superb!
A brow demo was done on the brows of Benefit's Digital Media Manager, Rachel:

Method used to create the perfect arch

Tinting the brows to prepare for waxing (adheres to the hair)

Wiped off the tint and now time for the waxing

Great brows on a happy Rachel (I'm envious!), then to apply some brow products
I was very excited to be told that we'd each be getting a complimentary brow waxing service done - so excited that I booked myself in for the next day! Here are the results:

Look how good the 'after' is!! Strong brow game ;)

Also wearing Benefit's Lollitint on my cheeks and lips, applied by Kitty. I love it!
I've always been pretty self-conscious about my brows and after this service, I realised how important it is to fill in my brows (I have always done so but very lightly) and have them properly shaped. Now I know that this type of arch suits my face and features so from now on I'll make sure to properly groom my brows :)
At the end of the opening party, we were given goodie bags and these were inside:

A handy cosmetics bag

Woohoo for a brow gel! I'm a big fan of that little wand

Benetint is a pretty rose tint
I also received two products that I've tried before - the They're Real Mascara and the POREfessional (sample size). The funny thing about the They're Real Mascara is that the first tube I received last year had a very wet formula which I disliked however the new one I received this time has a much better formula and it has now become one of my favourite mascaras! This just goes to show that  products can have inconsistencies and it's always best to give something another shot because it could just be your specific one that's faulty. I'm so glad to get a brand new tube because now I can actually understand the hype!!

Comparison between my new one (left) and my old one (right). Sticker inconsistencies?

Received the sample size, received the full size previously
If anyone would like me to review any of the items above, please feel free to let me know! But speaking of Benefit (haha, I've been speaking about Benefit throughout this post :P), they've just released a new product *gasps* I've got my hands on it and here's a sneak peek of what it is, though I'm sure many of you know about it already...

Shall review this in an upcoming blog post - watch out for it if you're keen :)
It has come to that time of the year again where leisure activities are put on hold for a temporary time while I study hard (or hardly study, jk) for my exams. Will definitely be needing all the luck I can get!

PS: Thanks for the birthday wishes in my last post! Nice to hear from you guys~ ^^
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Disclaimer: Products were provided for consideration with no obligation to share or review. This is not a sponsored post, nor am I affiliated with the company mentioned in this post. All opinions stated by me are 100% honest with no bias. See more at http://www.questjen.com/p/disclaimer.html for full disclaimer. 

ADL Beauty Conference 2013 - Beauty with a Conscience

Hi all! Another year of assessments and exams is over and now I can finally put my feet up and blog 'til my heart is content. Which is what I'll be doing this week before I jet off overseas on Sunday for 3 weeks. I know right, I just made my blogging comeback after about a month and now I'll be gone again! I'll have blog posts scheduled to be published during my trip so the blog will get updated even while I'm away :)

Exactly one month ago, the annual Adelaide Beauty Conference was held and this year's theme was 'Beauty with a Conscience', to support cruelty-free brands and organic brands, and to highlight and emphasise the fact that animal testing is not necessary. We, as makeup and skincare enthusiasts love finding products that are perfect to suit our needs and some, if not the majority of us, may not give much thought on how the product was made and the ingredients in the products (besides the main, beneficial ones that are clearly mentioned on the packaging). There are many cosmetic and skincare brands out there which do test on animals. I won't list any here but you can find a list of them if you search it up on Google.

 Group shot of the attendees! Can you spot me?

Credit: Adelaide Beauty Conference

I didn't have the chance to take a proper outfit shot so I shall use the ones that I took in the toilets that day lol :(

 Dress: ASOS (thanks to Marie's voucher giveaway, aka completely free! ♥)
Also wearing my cat ears headband for the first time

Kept my makeup very simple

My bow name tag, moved to the middle

The lovely founder of ABC, Celeste, welcoming us to the event

This year's ABC was unlike the previous ones in terms of the duration of the event. The first one in 2011 was an evening event, last year's was an afternoon event and this year's... well, it was 9 to 5 event haha, so pretty much all day. I ain't complaining though, I was happy for it to be much longer than the previous ones! I enjoy attending these beauty conferences ^^

Oh and a big hello to those who were new to ABBM/ABC! I didn't get the chance to personally meet you all but hopefully I can in the future meet-ups. I noticed that there were quite a number of new faces :)

First on the agenda was a presentation of the brand, Guinot Institut Paris, by Laura Pritchard, director and national trainer for Guinot Australia.

In case you aren't aware, 'Guinot' is pronounced as 'gee-no' with the 'gee' being pronounced like the word 'geek'. Many of us had trouble pronouncing it but after a little guidance we nailed it!

This presentation was followed by a live facial using Guinot products on one of our lucky attendees, Christine.

 One of the products used

This is the aromatic mask and wow, it covers everything except for the nostrils! Looks quite freaky but cool at the same time. I wonder what it feels like to have that mask on...

 And voila, it came off in one piece! I was so amazed. Not a single piece broke off.

At the end of the presentation, Robyn Hollands, the national public relations manager of Guinot Australia gave us each a goodie bag filled with samples of the products used for the facial, a full-sized one-step cleansing product (similar to Bioderma!) and a pair of flip-flops. They were the perfect size for me (37), I wonder if they were all the same size or varied?

 Robyn in the midst of handing out the goodie bags.

She was so lovely and she complimented my dress and shoes :)

Oh yeah, I haven't showed a picture of my shoes yet. Luckily I snapped a picture randomly while sitting down:

My nude wedges

It was then time for a 20-minute morning tea break. Not very relevant to mention in this post but I snapped a picture of the food so I might as well share it. Don't we all like food pictures?

Then it was time for the next presentation - Couleur Caramel and Love Organics by the gorgeous Jaala Dyer, founder of Love Organic Beauty who has worked with the French organic and natural makeup brand Couleur Caramel for a number of years.

Love Organic Beauty was created to inspire Australian women to look at natural beauty products that are ethically produced and environmentally sustainable without toxic or harmful ingredients.

 Many Couleur Caramel products for us to try out and swatch

 How gorgeous are these?? Sorry I had trouble focusing it! (I was still a noob with using my compact SLR)

 The blue liquid eyeliner swatch looks incredible

The focus looks much better here because I manually did it with my phone's camera

Afterwards there was a competition where makeup looks were judged based on categories such as "most creative"

Winners received Couleur Caramel goodie bags

This was followed by a vegan lunch sponsored by Two-Bit Villains. It was my first time trying a vegan burger. It was pretty good :)

Vegan burger, creamy vanilla soda and a bag of lollies

Next presentation - Davroe Haircare presented by the director of Davroe Hair Wellness, Mary Centofanti:

 

I hadn't heard of Davroe and I couldn't believe that it was established right here in my home state of South Australia! What I admire about the range is that the products are natural, gentle on the hair and scalp and kind to the environment. Plus I love the packaging!

It was hair demo time and one lucky blogger was to be chosen randomly as the candidate and it happened to be... Ant! Look at the hold on that mohawk!

The most interesting and important piece of information that I gained from this presentation was about the use of anti-dandruff shampoos. I have a bit of noticeable dandruff and for the longest time I've felt that it was my biggest issue, hence I stuck to using anti-dandruff shampoos. I learnt that anti-dandruff shampoos shouldn't be used often and should only be used once and put away for future use if needed. Anti-dandruff shampoo is meant to get rid of the dandruff and for it to not appear again for at least a couple of weeks or for it to never appear again if you're lucky. Afterwards you'd just use regular shampoo and if the dandruff re-appears, just use it again.

You could think of it like medicine, for example, if you have a persistent cough you'd take cough syrup until you stop coughing. You wouldn't continue taking it if you're cured. Same with anti-dandruff shampoos - use it once and it should get rid of your dandruff. If not then it's just not doing it for you so you should switch to a different brand. If it works then yay, put it away and start using regular shampoo again :) If it wasn't for this piece of information, I'd still be using my anti-dandruff shampoo without stopping!

 Large, colourful range of Davroe hair products to cater to individuals

We each had the chance to have a short 'consultation' with Mary to select the right Davroe hair care range and I was offered the Colour Senses range due to my dyed my hair:

A box of 4 full-sized products! And omg this range is pink and white *_* Perfection!

I've switched from my regular shampoo to the Davroe range and I am dead-set loving it and I wish that I had discovered this brand earlier. I also love the smell of it all, ahhhh.

Social break time with scrumptious cupcakes sponsored by The Cupcake Table. Yay to the amazing food sponsors, thanks so much!

 Left: Gluten-free Orange and Almond

Top to bottom: Choc Guiness, Banana Caramel and Caramel Popcorn

I immediately had my eyes set on the Caramel Popcorn cupcake 'cause I love all things caramel and DAYYYUM it was delicious!

After the break it was time to get serious with the legalities of blogging with a presentation by Paul the barrister on blogging without getting sued. Such an interesting presentation with loads of questions from our bloggers fired away at him. I was too amused that I didn't take a single photo. The main points were that you should never defame someone (especially someone who could sue you) and if someone takes a photo of you, that photo belongs to them, not you. Also the copyright symbol doesn't mean as much as we may think and all in all, NEVER plagiarise!! Of course laws and legislations differ from state to state and country to country so the best advice would be to do just stick to the rules and do the right thing - common sense really :)

Last but definitely not least was a photography workshop presented by Christina from The Hungry Australian. I found this to be very informative and helpful, especially as I had only just purchased my compact SLR before attending this event. I was still getting used to using it and Christina shared many great tips on camera usage, the use of props and suitable lighting techniques.

 Through a slide show, Christina showed us how her photography has improved over the years

 Her food shots are so appetising!

 This was my favourite shot that she showed

We went out on our own to take photos for a while, utilising the new tips that we learnt from Christina's presentation. I took my pictures outside because it was such a nice spring day:

More goodies for us to take home with People for Plants items :) Thank you sponsors!

Overall it was a very enjoyable beauty conference and it wouldn't have been possible without the awesome committee who dedicated hours and hours of their time to organise the event - thanks so much Celeste, Kate, Steph, Sherry and Monnie. I cannot wait for next year's!

Also big thanks to Susannah who was able to give me a lift home that day. If it weren't for her, I would've had to catch public transport. And I had no idea that we lived so close to each other :)

Leaving you now with some pictures with these amazing blogger girls - Sherry (left) and Kitty (right):

I wish I could have included some candid shots from the photographers and such but since the event went on much longer than previous years, there's just too much footage for them to sort out and hence have not uploaded any stills yet. Once they do get released though, I'll most likely tweet through my favourite pictures (not as spam tweeting, don't worry!)

Questjen of the week:

How much does 'cruelty-free' mean to you?

My thoughts: After attending this beauty blogger conference, it's made me think twice about purchasing makeup from brands which are not cruelty-free. Being more knowledgeable and aware about this issue has changed my perspective for the better. There will always be alternatives out there which won't cause harm to our environment and to our little furry friends. I don't want to come across as preachy or anything... but I strongly believe that animal testing is completely unnecessary for cosmetics. I'd be happy to put my hand up and test makeup products before they go out onto the market.