Living in LA has a lot of perks, like being surrounded by beautiful things: beautiful weather, beautiful beaches, beautiful rooftop restaurants and really great “beauty events,” like #BeautyconLA, the beauty focused expo our team attended this past Saturday at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Team AG went to see some of our friends in the business, and to see the latest trends in an industry that’s estimated to reach $675 billion globally by 2020.

The only thing we love more than organizing fun events is attending them, so we grabbed our Moleskine notebooks and prepped our Snapchat accounts with the aim of reporting back key findings—and here they are.

6 Takeaways from #BeautyconLA

*Welcome to the pink carpet (red is so last year).*

Passionate Fans = Lots of Opportunities to Build Brand Affinity
#BeautyconLA attendees LOVE makeup, hair and all things beauty—along with the brands that speak to them in an authentic, real way. NYX Cosmetics is known for embracing customers of all shapes, colors and sizes, and the brand’s popularity is no joke; check out the line for the booth in the clip below (it didn’t get any shorter btw).
Overall, we saw tons of fans lining up for everything from free hair kits to exclusive makeup brush inventory (to buy, not get for free). Which leads us to our next insight…
You Don’t Have to Give It All Away
While “free” will definitely get more people interested, with the right, solid product and reputation, fans will line up to buy—which is exactly what we saw on Saturday. We saw legions of makeup brush fans lined up to purchase Crown makeup brushes (check out our Snapchat Story below to see the lines for yourself).
Makeup Isn’t Just for Girls Anymore
A new trend is beauty is the popularity of male beauty vloggers—young guys who not only produce makeup and beauty tutorials via their YouTube and Snapchat accounts, but wear makeup out in real life. And their fanbase is beyond passionate (the word rabid comes to mind).
The frenzy of the afternoon was broken up by screaming teenage girls—and it wasn’t Justin Bieber they were running after, it was bloggers like 18-year-old Alannized. For beauty brands, the face of your audience is changing quite literally and at the minimum it’s important to know the impact these guys have on your brand’s reputation.
Activations Not Limited to Makeup Brands
Beauty often has other components beyond hair and makeup. At #BeautyconLA, we saw health-focused brands like Califia Farms and Gardein sampling new products. We expect this space to grow bigger as consumers look for ways to improve their beauty routines inside and out.
Embrace (But Not Strangle) the Beauty Influencer
If 2016 is the year of Snapchat, it’s also the year of the beauty influencer. Every style, ethnicity, skin tone and gender has someone representing and inspiring fans, and it was clear those communities were alive and engaged at #BeautyconLA. Regardless of how influencer marketing works in other industries, makeup fans are hungry for tips—and endorsements—from beauty bloggers/vloggers. Authentic and relevant messaging that resonates with your target audience—and is paired with influencer approval—can lead to branding gold.
Girls (and Boys) Just Wanna Have Fun
At the end of the day, #BeautyconLA brought beauty fans together to celebrate and engage with each other alongside their favorite brands. The most fun part was seeing cool activations from all the big players in the space, like career panels on the main stage to braiding services from Redken to our favorite, the virtual runway photo booth at Maybelline—a fabulous way to connect the consumer experience with the mascara brand’s core messaging around fashion and New York.

Whew! What a fun way to spend a Saturday and we can’t wait to go next year. And we may have to splurge on a VIP pass, if only for that chic #BeautyconLA tote. 😉

Check out our pics and Snapchat Story below, and let us know what you think in the comments!