Blush Pretty Beauty Board & Haul Review

*warning - after blurb, it is quite picture heavy*

I wanted this up sooner, but unfortunately sometimes things get in the way. Like an unexpected plan to go see Iron Man 3 (by the way, it's great if you haven't seen it yet!).

I had the opportunity to attend a lovely event called The Beauty Board held by Stephanie & Elaine of Blush Pretty. Tickets were about $40 with taxes and sold out a few weeks before the event.

The Beauty Board is your chance to be a Beauty Editor (well, for a few hours). You get to mingle with other beauty enthusiast, bloggers, be introduced to new products, talk to the reps (or sometimes the owners), and purchase products if you wish. Upon arrival you are given 3 random vendors to check out, write your thoughts about, and when you leave, you hand in your 3 reviews for a swag bag. Oh yes, there will be pictures of this bag!

The Beauty Board was held at Loft 404 in downtown Toronto, about a 15 minutes walk from Union Station. The venue was nice, but I found it a little on the small side. With all the guests, vendors and waiters (?) walking around, it got quite hot and some places were a little hard to squeeze by. The other thing I didn't like so much about the venue was the lighting. I was trying to avoid using the flash. I know you can't get perfect lighting everywhere you go, so this wasn't a huge deal for me.

We had some great music by dj bloo and some lovely delicious macaroons by MANcarons. The pink/purple one was my favorite of the two. I think it was Red Velvet.  We also had some lovely appetizers by Someguys Culinary Co. Veggies & Dip were amazing (the dip was superb), I'm in love with the tandoori chicken pot pies (I think I had 2), pulled pork mini-burgers (they were bigger than sliders) had a great taste with very little sauce added, and pig in a blanket. I know pigs in a blanket doesn't sound like much, but when the bun has some sort of garlic butter on it and there's an ooey-gooey goodness of cheese on top - Wow! I know Beatrice currently has a post up about the event and she's planning on having a separate post about the food. Be sure to go check it out!

MANcaron macarons. Red Velvet and some sort of mint

Perfect way to serve veggies & dip and individual shrimp rings to guests

Tandoori chicken pot pie & mushrooms

This tasted like an orange creamsicle. It was delicious!

Sweet Leaf Bath Co. Originated outside of London, ON, this company features handmade soaps, scrubs, butters, lip balms made from fair trade ingredients. Rosemary Mint was my fave smell.

Pure + Simple. Located throughout the GTA and a few stores in BC, their line features "natural and organic skincare and services from around the world" Apparently their sensitive line is great for sensitive skin and rosacea.

Pure + Simple blushes & gloss

Revolution Organics. Organic lip glosses and beauty balms. The beauty balms can be used for eyes, cheeks, lips, décoltage and is creamy and moisturizing while leaving a nice hint of colour. I should have bought one.

Cheeky Monkey. 3-free nail polish, base coats, top coats and removers. All names are cheeky. Wet Dream. Pearl Necklace. The names go on.

Featherband. I think they are based in Ottawa and Toronto? Everything is hand made. I keep thinking that I should have bought one of those hair clip hearts. Just look at how adorable they are! 

Ella's Botanicals. Natural ingredients only. Many of the ingredients used have a purpose (good for soothing skin, cracked skin, etc). Even have a few items for babies.

Kaia Naturals. Love their products. They try to make everything ecological. Their cleansing clothes (which is a cleanser, toner and eye makeup remover in 1 convenient cloth) is biodegradable. They have a 24hrs face cream that is part of their 2 in 1 skincare + primer line. It's matte and apparently really good for the winter. I'll pick it up once winter comes around. Plus their 24hrs Booster Serum doesn't feel oily absorbed quickly. Nice light, natural smell. In love with this line!

A Paper Story Located in Toronto and serving the GTA, while not beauty related, if you have an announcement to make, sending out wedding invites, or just want nice Thank You cards, they make beautiful cards.

Nayme is a really cute concept of name necklaces. Instead of just having your initials or full name, they take the meaning of your name and turn that into the pendant. Samantha is hebrew for "listener", so they used the tin cans & string (old school telephone!).

Kona Kare. From Mississauga, this brand currently only has 4 lip butter balms. Wonderfully moisturizing and long lasting, they are currently on sale for $5 or all four for $12. They are usually $10 each. Order of preference for scent: Peaches & Dream, Chocolate Peppermint, French Vanilla and The Original One (unscented)

Kona Kare. Not afraid to show us exactly what goes into their lip butter balms.

Farleyco Marketing joined us and had a few products for men. These four Montagne Jeunesse masks, Bump Eraser (not shown) and a body wash sponge/loofah (not shown)

Farleyco Marketing also had the highly coveted Real Techniques brushes, Splat hair chalk and a few other products.

Dot & Lil. Hand crafted bath products from Montreal. Cute, but it's mostly about presentation (small handmade soap in a tea cup - $40)

Consonant. While I don't know what the big hype was about Consonant, I did like the labelling.

Paper + Cloth. While I forgot to take a picture of their product, they sell Washi Tape, which is like a colourful, fun version of painters tape. I see this being good for scrap booking. Their site will be open as of June 1, in the meantime, you can visit their etsy store.

 I also want to mention that HeyHey & Co, Pelle Beauty, Miyu Beauty and Impress Nails were there as well. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures.

Now, are you ready for the stuff I got to take home?

My entire haul! Things I purchased, things I won and things in the swag bag

The items I bought: Kona Kare Lip Butter Balm in Peaches & Dream, Pure + Simple Purifying sample kit and Kaia Juicy Bamboo cleansing clothes. I told you that I loved this brand!

Things I won: I won 3 prizes in total. Come third time around, our lovely hostess Stephanie just laughed and couldn't say my name anymore. A shirt from Montagne Jeuness (honestly, I was disappointed with this, I was expecting at least a face mask). On the right is a bikini wrap from HeyHey & Co. It's cute, but I'm not really a swimming person. You'd be lucky to catch me in swimwear once a year. Just before the wrap was a prize from Lippy Girl. Oh how I wanted that!

The other prize that I won is this lovely Hydrate Mi tea for two set. They have a wonderfully delicious tea that is supposed to hydrate your skin from the inside out. While I don't know if it works, it tastes great! BTW - Miyu Beauty doesn't officially launch until Spring/Summer 2013

Swag Bag Haul: Montagne Jeunesse Men's facial Mask, Blistop (this is supposed to be a life saver for protecting against blisters from forming), Splat Hair Chalk in Midnight Blue and Miyu Beauty tea bag

Swag Bag Haul: some lovely cards from A Paper Story and a roll of Washi Tape from Paper + Cloth

Swag Bag Haul: Impress Nails in So Stellar and Cheeky Monkey polish in Cheap Whore (believe it's no longer available)

Swag Bag Haul: Kona Kare lip butter balm in Chocolate Peppermint (my second fave!), Crawford Street Skincare Lip Balm in Tangerine, Revolution Organics Freedom Gloss in Integrity (this colour is right up my ally. Kinda wish I would have gotten one of their Beauty Balms though - I have so many glosses, haha) and Sweet Leaf Bath Co. Pomegranate Beeswax Lip Balm.

Swag Bag Haul: Ella's Botanicals Beauty Bar Soap in Lemon Zing, Consonant Olive Oil Body Soad and Dot & Lil Rosemary & Lavendar soap

Swag Bag Haul: Kaia 24hrs Booster Serum, Pelle Beauty Botanical Facial Mist and Stellar (multitasking facial concentrate) and Pure + Simple Sensitive Skin Face Wash

 In case you're wondering, the approximate retail value of the Swag Bag is about $150. I ate, socialized, met new people and was introduced to many new companies that I never heard of. Many of these companies are local and are natural or organic, etc. I'll probably be attending the Beauty Board as long as it's held, as long as I'm in the neighborhood. 

I am planning on doing a few small reviews on some of the products listed. Also, I am planning on doing a giveaway in the future. It may not be for another few months, but it'll include some of my favorite products (some that I've shown you today + a few others)

If you made it through all of this, looked at all the pictures and even just skimmed or quickly read most of what I had to say, Thank You. I know it's lots of stuff, but I had lots of fun and I hope that next Beauty Board I'll be able to meet you!


*hugz*

-Sam