A Weekend in LA with Total Beauty.

I am a little late with this, but last weekend I spent a great 3 days in Los Angeles with Total Beauty and some great beauty blogging friends. I roomed with my best blogging buddy Christina and we had a ball.

 

It was such a great time starting out with a dinner at the hotel restaurant with both Christina and Erika (who was so instrumental in putting together the wonderful event for Total Beauty - thanks, Erika!). Erika filled us in on what was in store for the weekend. And Julia - love her- stopped in for just a second after her late night flight in.

Early Friday morning, Christina and I made it over to the Warren-Tricomi salon in West Hollywood for haircuts and styling which were amazing. I had not had a haircut by anyone besides myself in years, and to have my first much needed cut and styled by such a professional as Lorenzo was a rare treat. A treat I will never forget. Lorenzo taught me so much about the perfect blow-out and how I should slowly dry my hair on a lower heat setting and only brush down from the top when styling. He said that this helps to seal the cuticle. He also taught me to blow my hair dry on each side of the hair shaft. This also helps to seal the hair and keeps away the frizzies that pop up later in the day. Thank you so much Lorenzo and the wonderful staff at Warren Tricomi.  Oh, and I left with the most wonderful hairspray from the Warren-Tricomi line. It is their Flexible Hold Hairspray and it is, without a doubt, the best hair spray that I have used - ever.  Thank goodness it can be ordered online, as I will be stocking up! You can read Christina's account of the salon visit for a more in depth post on the salon and the wonderful Kaz Amor - the world famed colorist for both Redken and the salon.

After a bit of shopping on Roberston starting off at the MAC Pro Store and then celebrity style haunt Kitson, we lunched and made our way to Beverly Hills and then the Beverly Centre for even more shopping.

A few hours later we made our way with the Total Beauty group to Intelligent Beauty, our gracious hosts for the weekend. The offices there are unbelievable with a full bar in the lobby of their headquarters, which is right next to a full makeup and hair styling station. These guys know how to work. If you have not heard of Intelligent Beauty per se, I know you have heard of some of their lines;  iQ Derma, Redpoint Cosmetics, RAW NATURAL BEAUTY    to name just a few.

The evening was great and it was fun to run into some more blogging friends - in the bathroom, no less, where Christina took this picture.

Pictured, left to right:Me,Amber from Beauty Blogging Junkie, Marina from makeup loves me, and Daneen from Spoiled Pretty. I had met these great gals in New York previously, and it was great to see them again out on the West Coast.

Saturday was spent back at the Intelligent Beauty offices where we went a full day of blogging lessons and panels. It was such fun, and great to catch up with one of my favorite beauty bloggers ever - Tia Williams from Shake Your Beauty. She is such a doll and won a make over - and let me tell you, she is the last person that needed it. She is already gorgeous head to toe. It was funny that we didn't even notice the difference in her before and after photos that much. Tia (pictured left) definitely knows what she is doing. 

At my table for the day were some more great beauty bloggers including the fabulous Ellen of Lipstick, Powder 'n Paint and Spa Beautifully; Kristen of Sugar Shock Beauty; and Annie from BellaSugar. I wish I had pictures, so if any of you gals from the event have some, please send them on to me.

The evening rounded out with a cocktail party with celebrity makeup artist and brow guru Elke of the Beauty Blog Network, and then a late night club visit in Venice Beach. It was great to see some great gals let loose! If I could put the girls' names with the blogs I would, but it is all sort of a blur - as it was w-a-y past my bedtime.

Sunday morning was a bit more casual with a wonderful courtyard breakfast with the Total Beauty folks and then some meetings right at our hotel.

Soon after the meetings, the fabulous Elke and California native took Delphine from Steeping Beauty, and I on a whirlwind tour of LA, Beverly Hills and all the hot spots we wanted to see.  We made a final stop to the Santa Monica pier, which I so wanted to see - but let's say the place was jam packed. And at 6:30 in the evening, it was even more of a surprise to me to see everyone still on the beach. And I got a sunburn just from walking around - that late in the day! WOW! I can't thank Elke enough for the day, Elke's Day of Fun, and it was a perfect end to the long weekend.

I can't thank everyone enough for being so great to me and all of us beauty bloggers for the weekend. It is such an honor to be taken seriously. When I started Beautiful Makeup Search 8 years ago, I never thought I would get the appreciation and attention that I have. And meeting so many other great beauty bloggers and beauty brands and other beauty addicts in general, is the icing on the cake.

I can't wait to see everyone again. Thank you again to Total Beauty for hosting such a beautiful summit. I am looking forward to the next one in November already.