It’s been a long while since I last made it to a Yelp Event… I’ve been stuck on the waitlist for popular Yelp events too many times to count, so I was surprised and happy to snag a spot for the Yelp Cosmetics Crawl at the Fashion Mall.
The event started at 10 am. I arrived exactly at 10 and waited in a line with about twenty girls ahead of me. There was a little bit of a long check-in time while IDs were checked and we were given wristbands, then attendees were set free to head to the stores in the Fashion Mall that were participating in the event.
Shapiro’s
The first order of business was to get a snack to fuel this morning of mall wandering. Shapiro’s Delicatessen was in the process of bringing out lots of mini sandwiches when I stepped in there, in addition to having a variety of desserts available in snackable sizes.
See Eyewear
See offered eye makeup application with a photo taken afterward but after watching another woman have makeup applied and look exactly like she did before the application, I decided it wasn’t worth waiting for. More fun in See was trying on some glasses and enjoying some of their fun giveaways. Instead of the eye makeup, it would have been more fun if they just took photos of visitors in some of their more fun pairs of glasses.
David’s Tea / Big Machine Vodka
David’s Tea was the most fun… probably because there was alcohol involved! But I also love tea, so the combination sounded like a great idea. They offered two cocktails here: The Big Crush which was a blend of vodka, Caribbean crush tea, lemonade, soda & lemon, and The Goji Machine which included vodka, goji green tea & orange juice.
Big Machine vodka had free bracelets and phone grips as giveaways. I’ve been needing a replacement grip, so this little gift was perfect timing! David’s tea handed out samples of new teas and a coupon for a free tea.
Nordstrom
Nordstrom offered face masks, mocktails and a scent station for finding your perfect fragrance. It was a great idea to have the mocktails & scent station available while you were waiting to get a mask applied, but the waiting system for the face masks was really unorganized — just standing around close to the area until someone yells that a seat had opened up.
I opted for the face peel, which consisted of the Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Extra Strength Daily Peel followed by the Anti-Aging Neutralizer. At $88 for a set of 30 applications, this stuff isn’t cheap, but it left my face feeling very smooth and hydrated. Used every few days (instead of the recommended every day) to stretch the use of the product out to a 3-month timeframe per box, the price of $1 per day is totally worth the skin benefits!
The other mask option was the Dr. Dennis Gross Hyaluronic Marine Hydrating Modeling Mask, which they ran out of and I wasn’t able to try but was able to see others have it applied and peeled off.
Sadly, the associates in Nordstrom did not give me the goodie bag that everyone else got when they finished their masks, but as unorganized of a system as Nordstrom had for their services, I’m not all that surprised. I do feel like I got a good enough experience with the peel to be happy with that though.
MAC
MAC offered a choice of a lip demo or foundation sample, though I got the lip demo and was also able to get a sample-size foundation made for me. As much money as I blow in MAC on a regular basis, I more than deserve anything free I can get there!
The lip demo was ok but I felt that the makeup artist lined my lips too far outside of my natural lip line and, days later, I’m still debating whether I like the lip color my makeup artist used. But it was a fun to step outside of my lip comfort zone and try a color & sheen that I normally wouldn’t wear.
L’Occitane / The Flower Boys
The line for hand treatments was SO long in L’Occitane! I was more interested in getting the samples than the hand treatments, but both required a long wait, so I opted to forgo the samples and just grab a bouquet from The Flower Boys. I’ve had a great experience with The Flower Boys on a visit to City Market earlier this year, and was happy that each bouquet we were given today included a 10% off coupon for a future purchase!
Aveda / Waxing in the City
The line for Aveda was probably triple the line for L’Occitane. They were offering mini facials and brow waxings, which were probably the hottest options at the event. In hindsight, Aveda should have been the place I stopped first, knowing the services they were providing would be in demand and would take a decent amount of time to complete per person.
Waxing in the City offered a 50% off coupon, which I’m a little bummed that I missed out on, but then found out on their website that anyone gets 50% off their first service there, with or without the coupon. I opt for waxing on and off, and with half-off, Waxing in the City will be the next place to go to for my next wax.
Overall Thoughts
I enjoyed all the free stuff & pampering, as well as a chance to check out some stores I’d never visited! The only hope I’d have for any similar events is that the items that were used would be available to buy during the event. In addition to myself, I heard multiple ladies ask about products, only to be told to come back and buy them later. Hopefully purchasing during the event will be an option next time!
The only other issue I noticed was that there was a level of thrown-together-at-the-last-second-ness around the way some of the participating stores approached the event. But for a completely free morning of getting free stuff and services, and considering the fact that the stores participating opened before normal mall hours to accommodate us, I can’t complain too much!
