Beauty Bay Carnival Event – Meeting Jeffree Star, Manny MUA & More!

Over the past year the Beauty Bay website has fast become one of my favourite places to shop online. It’s undergone a complete restock, the brands they stocked a year ago have rapidly changed with the likes of Urban Decay leaving it’s lineup, to getting brands which were once more difficult to get hold of here in the UK now being the prime destination – especially when it comes to US brands.

It’s not very often I’m able to make it to events in London – or events that I’d be willing to take some of my precious time off work for, but when the invite came through for the Beauty Bay Carnival event I jumped at the chance. The event took place over 2 days in the Soho area of London, with morning and afternoon sessions on each day. The invite came with the guise of some of the hottest names on Youtube being there, to talk about their brands, collaborations and the newest trends that we’ll be seeing over the next year. I headed down last Friday morning and was totally in love with the set up, the room was way more relaxed than I was expecting, with probably no more than 30ish bloggers in my session – and it was the first time I’d gone to an event like this and known literally no-one who was attending!

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The Youtubers attending the event were Jeffree Star, Patrick Starr, Manny MUA as well as Jen Gerard who owns Gerard Cosmetics. Whilst I’ve seen the odd video from each of them here and there, they’re by no means regulars in my subscription box – and I was unsure both how they were going to be and how exactly the set up to actually see them was going to be. I kind of expected more of a Panel type set up – where they’d be chatting and answering questions, but each of them had their own station for one and one talks.

On entering the Studios where the event was being held we were greeted with an abundance of black and white stripy balloons, and heading down the stairs I was warmly greeted and handed a canvas back to put my goodies in as I went round and was told there were a few pieces already inside.

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The first thing I spotted at the event as I headed towards the toilet (which was in the opposite direction to where the main action was), was a vending machine – needing a tweet with a hashtag it shot you out a surprise product from a brand you may not have tried, I’ve spied the brand Emani on the website before, but haven’t tried it and a lovely neutral shade called Ava, Can I get one of these vending machines at my office at work?!


beauty-bay-carnival-event-makeup-geek1   On entering the event, the first stand was completely impossible to bypass was every single Makeup Geek eyeshadow laid out for swatching, and a giant wheel featuring the shades ready to for a look to be created on you by one of the MUAs on hand, personally I didn’t use the wheel as I was already wearing some shadow. I picked out some shades myself as well as being given some by one of the lovely ladies behind the stand.

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From the regular Makeup Geek Shadow range I got Shimma Shimma (Champagne Shimmer), Bitten (Deep Matte Plum) & Creme Brulee (Perfect Mid Matte Brown).

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From the Duochrome selection, Karma (Pale Yellow/Bright Yellow), Phantom (Pale Pink Lilac) & I’m Peachless (Peach Pink). Already have I’m Peachless so in the giveaway box.

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From the foiled collection I was given Houdini (Deep Green Navy), Starry Eyed (Rose Gold toned Neutral), Jester (Bright Olive Green),Pegasus (Bright Turquoise)


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The first ‘celeb’ stand I went to was Gerard Cosmetics, I was warmly greeted with a hug from Jen Gerard who happily showed me around her brand after admitting that I had been yet to try anything – whilst I have been admiring the shades online! After a lot of swatching I picked out 3 Hydra Matte Liquid lipsticks in the shades Strawberry Fields (Bright Red Pink), Ruby Slipper (Deep Ruby Red) and Gravity (Dark Grey Lilac Brown). Jen suggested I tried the Immortal Lip pencil as it goes nicely with the Strawberry Fields liquid lipstick and I also picked out one of her lipsticks in Enchante (Mid toned Lilac).

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Next up I headed over to meet Patrick Starr who was doing Beauty Tarot reading, predicting your next year of beauty. I picked the cards ‘Perfect’, ‘Pout’ and ‘Contour’, so basically I’m going to have glorious lips and look like Kim K on my wedding day… that’s what I’m taking on it. Based on my card picks I was given a bdellium  tools 950 Oval Brush (which is crazy soft, I’m currently stroking my face with it as I’m writing this up!), A Lime Crime Velvetine Lipstick in the shade Buffy (Lime Crime has just been added to Beauty Bay), Two Anastasia Beverly Hills Pans in the contour shade Fawn and a pressed Banana Powder. He then asked if I had any questions and my mind went blank so I asked what he thought would be big upcoming trends in beauty, his answer – Skincare will become more and more important and Glitter Eyes

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I then headed over to meet Manny (aka Manny MUA), who was so openly friendly friendly and complimentary in a mirror walled room filled with bright ring lights bouncing off every surface! He looked absolutely stunning and we got chatting about how he was finding London, what they’d been getting up to in the few days leading up to the event. We got chatting about what I did as full time job, and why I don’t like blogging about this time of year and we’ve decided (between us, cause I now want him to be my BFF) that I do have to get a ring light to make this long winter slog easier!

I look terrified, but that ring light was so bright I couldn't focus my eyes!
I look terrified, but that ring light was so bright I couldn’t focus my eyes!

I also asked him about makeup he had on his eyes as I couldn’t stop staring at the bright blue shimmering glitter that was totally eyedazzling (Mac Transparent Teal Reflects Glitter is now on my shopping list!). We then got chatting about his collaboration with Makeup Geek with his palette and I said how I’d been eyeing it after seeing it in his Ride or Die (probably the only video I had seen of his!) but it had been out of stock on Beauty Bay every time I’d looked. Well he gave me his last one and I’m so excited to play with it, the selection of colours is in the spectrum of reds and neutrals and I’ve been reaching for similar tones a lot recently with my Violet Voss Palette. Since meeting him I’ve caught up with a load of his videos and love his fun and upbeat personality, who he is in his videos is exactly who he is in person.

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I saved maybe the most intimating meeting until last, not helped by the fact that Jeffree was basically sat at the end of a neon pink and gold catwalk on a throne. Again I admitted to him that I’d not tried anything and he talked me through his products and asked me what colours I was loving wearing at the moment. I’ve been wearing lots of reds and coppers and he showed me the shade in his Beauty Killer palette called Confession which looked absolutely stunning – he gave me a palette Beauty Killer Palette being clear that Beauty Bay were giving them out today (not him…), before I swatched a few of his skin frosts and liquid lipsticks.

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I look even more terrified!

I complimented the formula as I really liked how quickly they’d dried down and he gave me a liquid lipstick called Leo saying he thought it would suit me and go nicely with the copper and red shadows I’d been wearing. He was actually very nice and friendly and clearly passionate about colour, but he was concerned and chatting to boyfriend Nathan about what they were gonna have for lunch (he was “always down for Pizza”).

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You’ll notice from a lot of my selections – at least where things were my choice, I tried to pick shades I didn’t already have a million of (e.g Mid toned rose nudes!). In the past few weeks I’ve loved experimenting with colours in eyeshadows and reaching for things other than nudes, so want to continue to branch out creatively with lips as well as eyes. I’m really looking forward to trying absolutely everything, there’s so many new brands to me!


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Inside that initial gift bag there was a small 3 pan sized z palette, and also a gift voucher to spend online, I’m tempted to say I shouldn’t get another eyeshadow – however I saw several shades at Makuep Geek which I NEED and they didn’t have there to have, so I’ve at least got my eye on a few. I now also need a bigger Z Palette as I don’t have enough space to get all these Makeup Geek shades in! I tempted to wait for a little bit to see if any of the products from the brands I’ve not tried before convince me that I need to try more however. I am however tempted to spend it on something that I might not have tried otherwise, for example a Viseart or Natasha Denona Palette. If you’re a regular on the Beauty Bay and have any ideas please let me know!

Massive thanks to Beauty Bay for inviting me, I now have a list as long as both arms (and legs) of things that I want to try out in addition to everything I picked up here. If there’s anything here that you are particularly keen on seeing reviews on please let me know, clearly I have an overwhelming amount of stuff to go through!  Everything featured here is available by shopping on the website here, they have free shipping over £15, and yep – that extends to being an international offer too!

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Helpless Whilst Drying

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29 Comments

  1. November 1, 2016 / 9:08 am

    That looked like the best event ever! Your choices are beautiful and I’m green with envy! 😜hope you had a fab time and can’t wait to read more about your picks! X

    • November 1, 2016 / 11:39 am

      It was such a good event Molly – so relaxed given who was there! I can’t wait to start playing with it all – lots of first impressions posts on the way! x

  2. sophieinwonderlandxo
    November 1, 2016 / 10:15 am

    Oh my gosh you got so much stuff!! You lucky lady!! Enjoy trying them all out!! Xx

  3. November 1, 2016 / 10:43 am

    Sounds and looks like you had a ball! You got so many beautiful freebies, that turquoise foiled shadow looks stunning from the picture, hope we get to see you swatching/wearing that one! 💙

    • November 1, 2016 / 11:35 am

      It was such a good event, lots of fun! I’ll add that one on the list, Planning on doing a post on my now quite large makeup geek collection and a few looks with what I have, I’ll make sure I’ll include that one in a look! xx

  4. November 1, 2016 / 11:17 am

    Oh gosh Rachel I am sickeningly jealous of you!!! I live for beauty bay and they have taken too much of my money this year, I couldn’t even give you a realistic estimate! You seem to like warm toned shades like myself so I will highly recommend Zoeva cocoa blend Palette! Amazing! I’ve got makeup geek on my xmas wish list! Please do a review if you end up buying Natasha Palette! For £199 I just couldn’t pay that much! Fantastic read 💛
    Laura | http://www.lauralivinglife.com

    • November 1, 2016 / 11:37 am

      I know since last year they’ve been a place which I can endlessly look at online. Definitely don’t try to add up the amount you’ve spent! Ooooh Zoeva has still been on my list to try – that’s a good shout! I don’t think I would get a big old ND palette, because the voucher wouldn’t make enough of a dent in the cost haha – but maybe one of the single ones or a 5 smaller palette have potential on the list!
      Definitely get some MUG, you’ll love it, the pigmentation is so nice!

  5. November 1, 2016 / 1:54 pm

    Looks like you had a blast! That vending machine, though….!!! The Makeup Geek stuff looks amazing; I’ve never tried it.

    • November 1, 2016 / 2:44 pm

      I need a vending machine like that in my life, or just one I can pay to use and it will surprise me with new products! Makeup Geek Shadows are some of my favourites now!

  6. November 1, 2016 / 3:17 pm

    BeautyBay is so dangerous… and they ship to Canada!
    So neat you got to meet YouTubers in person! Were they exactly as you pictured them?
    And omg… those MUG eye shadows – want!!!
    Haha the Tarot cards, ‘Perfect’, ‘Pout’ and ‘Contour’ = PPC. That’s going to be your mantra now! 😉
    Oh I did not know that bdellium tools came out with with their own oval brushes. I have a few of their regular brushes and they’re really good.
    Manny MUA is one person I’d like to meet – what a nice guy!
    Great loot, can’t wait to hear your thoughts on everything! 🙂

    • November 1, 2016 / 3:24 pm

      I don’t know – I know they’re all youtube characters which have a bit of controversy around them, and I’m not that familar with them so I’m not sure what I was expecting to be honest, I kept an open mind and glad that I did! Manny in particular was really nice, the friendliest of the Youtubers, and Jen Gerard was also very nice – passionate about her brand, helpful with colours and what she thought would look good – it was nice to actually meet a creator of a brand.
      Yeah I know, got to learn to contour properly now! that Bdellium brush might come in handy for it!
      And yup they ship for Canada, wait for a good exchange rate day haha!
      I don’t know where to start with trying everything. Desperately want to try out the Makeup Geek shadows but really need to get myself a bigger zpalette first. Can see myself shopping online tonight for one!

  7. November 1, 2016 / 4:19 pm

    Omg love this post! All the freebies you got😍 I love Manny and Jeffree. Love your photos xx

      • November 1, 2016 / 4:29 pm

        I bet you don’t. You got some great bits☺ He seems lovely, so I’m glad he was nice in real life z

  8. November 1, 2016 / 4:20 pm

    Wow what an awesome event! You picked up some seriously good goodies too!

  9. November 1, 2016 / 4:39 pm

    Wow, so envious of your haul! I haven’t tried any of these brands as I refuse to pay for the crappy exchange…maybe one day! Looking forward to your swatches though 🙂
    Glad that the event was fun, and that the YouTubers were really nice!

  10. November 3, 2016 / 12:56 am

    WOW! It looks like you had an incredible time!!! I’d love to see you do a look with the palette you got 🙂

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