I didn't even stop at the Liz Earle, Elemis, Gatineau or Decleor stands. On the whole, the Big 4 Brands have so much exposure on QVC that I could probably man any one of these stands and recite their sales pitch parrot fashion.
The Decleor stand had screens up with treatments going on behind so it felt weird and intrusive to go beyond, plus there were lots of ladies queuing. In fact the queuing ladies looked daggers at me as I went through the line and behind the Laura Geller stand to test the stick foundation - it felt like going behind a shop counter! I shouldn't have bothered because they only had a row of Mediums (why no other shades?), the Tin Man highlighters and the body butters. They missed a trick, because having a display of current and a few future products would have given the queuing ladies something to look at while they waited. At Laura Geller there was no one to talk to on the stand because the make up artists were all doing make overs. Really badly organised imho.
Siandc, I think you're right to feel a bit miffed about your outlay to attend the BB. I think the whole austerity moves; minimal refreshments and stingy goody bags were dictated by QVC. One of the vendors apologised for not being able to give my daughter an appropriate sample for her hair, so I said hopefully we'd get something in the goody bag. She asked if I'd been to the BB before and when I said yes she whispered, "I think you'll find the goody bag disappointing this year"
I was sorry to note the YBF wasn't represented (last year they had a table full or products to play with), no Tarte or Red Carpet Manicure either. However the lady on the Joan Collins stand spent ages with us because DD and I are lipstick mad and the whole range was there to play with. I suggested they sell a set of 5 (thinking of myself as there were qute a few I'd buy).
If your are super-pale skinned I'd recommend the Japonesque foundation - the lady from this brand was lovely and the foundation felt lovely and light (it comes with a nice brush too). Of the other brands my favourite Brand Ambassadors were from Josie Maran, Mally (Teenie is now chatting with my daughter online - just lovely), Nude, Joan Collins, M.Asam, Flora Mare, Percy & Read, Benefit (calmer than on screen, friendly and openly gave us a sample each!), Prai, Philosophy. I didn't chat with Alpha H as I've spoken to Tom before and wanted to talk about brands I wasn't very familiar with. The man from Eve Pearl pounced on me and asked if he could apply the concealer to one eye to show the difference it could make, then he proceeded to do my whole face (well it's hard to say no and he'd already started!) The brand looked very dated to me and the compact concealer and cream foundation were way too heavy and my daughter buffed most of it off - if I needed that much coverage I'd buy dermablend! By the time we were at lunch the product had started to separate on my chin.
