Maybelline is launching their pigment rich Color Sensational Lipcolor in big way at Rite Aid in New York.  As a welcome bonus, the cast of the Broadway play Chicago will be there to support it as well.

On July 30^th, go to the Rite Aid at 26 Grand Central Terminal between the times of 8-10am, 12-2pm, and 3-7pm to check out the new lipstick and score freebies. Professional makeup artists will be there to give free makeovers and consultations, and they will be handing out gift bags with sample size products, coupons for Maybelline Color Sensational Lipcolor, and 50% discounts for Chicago the musical. Everything is on a first come first served basis so try to get there early!

This article was written by Kristen Jason at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Kristen direct at kcopeland@cosmeticpromotions.com.

In honor of the ‘tousled hair’ trend, Herbal Essences has launched a collection to help women get the look without a trip to the salon. To see the different looks, go to http://voting.elle.com/index.php?url=/Beauty_Face-Off/Fringed_Waves. You can vote on your favorite trend of the day by clicking on the photo of the celebrity you think has the best hair. After you vote you can see how everyone else voted, and find out more about the Tousle Me Softly line.

Don’t miss the Tousle Me Softly Sweepstakes on the Herbal Essences website: http://herbalessences.promo.eprize.com/tousle/?affiliate_id=2a. Just by entering your email address you’re entered into a sweepstakes that runs from July 1, 2009- October 1, 2009 with a $500 Visa gift card grand prize. We had a lot of fun checking out the daily Instant Win Game Play as well. There is a running picture, and if you click “STOP” and get a complete picture you win a gift card! Instant win game prizes include Visa, Express, Gap, Target, J.Crew, Panera Bread, iTunes, Starbucks, and Blockbuster, gift cards.  There is also an Herbal Essence Product collection prize, which gets you shampoo, conditioner, and mousse. You can play the Instant Win Game once a day so keep coming back. Good luck!

This article was written by Kristen Jason at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Kristen direct at kcopeland@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Good news for makeup artists who love free products! Elle Magazine and CoverGirl Cosmetics have collaborated to host the Beauty Guru Challenge where makeup artists can win hundreds of dollars of CoverGirl cosmetics. This contest will run from June 15, 2009 to July 2, 2010 and has a weekly and annual drawing.

How does it work? Go to http://videostar.elle.com and check out the monthly challenge. This month’s challenge is to create an Old Hollywood Glamour look inspired by the red carpet. You upload a video demonstrating how you get the look using at least 50% CoverGirl products onto the site. Your video will post on the site, and every time someone looks at your video it is counted as a vote. Tip: The file size has to be 100MB or less and music, photographs, and artwork in your video must be yours or you have to receive official permission to include it. Qualified judges will look at the number of votes, clarity of instruction, and the final look to select a winner every week.

If you’re the lucky weekly winner you win the Elle Video Star title $250 worth of free CoverGirl products! On July 9, 2010, an annual grand prize winner will be selected from all of the Elle Video Star winners. Not only is the grand prize winner featured on the site, they will also get $3,000 worth of beauty products. Good luck!

This article was written by Kristen Jason at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Kristen direct at kcopeland@cosmeticpromotions.com.

The Rite Aid Beauty the Rite Way program delivers fun and exciting product samples straight into the hands of African American women at local community events throughout the nation. The program, in its 5th year, is completely facilitated by Cosmetic Promotions Inc (CPI) – a national marketing and promotional company that specializes in promoting beauty products for mass retailers and vendors. CPI sends Ethnic models to various conferences and festivals in 5 markets to distribute a total of 20,000 beauty sample bags to female attendees. This year’s bags include products from Rite Aid beauty vendors including Jergens, Just for Me, Softsoap, Blue Star Ointment, Smooth ‘N Shine, Soft Crème, Maybelline Mineral Powder, Mane ‘n Tail and Fantasia Hair Polisher.  In addition, some of the bags contain a prize of a $100 RITE AID gift card.

On Saturday June 27th, Beauty the Rite Way models will be onsite during the first day of the 17th Annual D.C. Caribbean Carnival. The two-day Mardi Gras-style fiesta has evolved into one of the nation’s premier carnivals. The annual Carnival is a one-of-a-kind experience that offers the community awareness of Caribbean culture and traditions and welcomes over 500,000 visitors to the nation’s capital each year to enjoy the third largest Carnival destination in North America. The festival will kick off with a three-mile Mardi Gras parade along Georgia Avenue. It will lead right into Banneker Recreation Park where Rite Aid will have a booth displaying a banner and the models will distribute free gift bags to the first 2,000 female attendees. The festival will conclude on Sunday with “De Savannah” a showcase of Caribbean arts & crafts, entertainment, and cuisine.

The entire program is completely coordinated and executed by Cosmetic Promotions Inc who secures the bags, the vendors, and the venues for the program. Rite Aid also has a Hispanic and Teen Beauty Sampling Program.

20,000 Health and Beauty Sample Bags to be Distributed

Harrisburg, PA – As part of its efforts to attract Hispanic Shoppers, RITE AID has partnered with Cosmetic Promotions Inc, a National marketing company that specializes in beauty, to promote their beauty and health department to Hispanic females. The program is in its 4th successful year sending Hispanic Bi-lingual models to a series of 10 community events in 4 key Hispanic markets and will ultimately distribute 20,000 beauty and health sample bags to female attendees.  The sample bags include products geared to Hispanics from RITE AID Beauty/Health vendors including  Smooth n’ Shine, Colgate, Tropez, Kiss, Jane Cosmetics, Clearasil, JNJ, L’Oreal, LA Looks, Palmers, Therma Flu, Dove and DeveloPlus.  In addition, some of the bags contain a prize of a $100 RITE AID gift card.

On June 20th, Rite Aid helped celebrate Puerto Rican and Hispanic Culture by attending the 30th Annual Yonkers Hispanic Parade and Festival distributing 2,000 sample bags within 3 hours to some of the 30,000 attendees. The Yonkers Puerto Rican / Hispanic Day Parade Foundation is dedicated to the preservation of Puerto Rico’s cultural heritage and the significant contributions Puerto Ricans make to the diversity of our society. By 3pm the parade reached Chicken Island, where the festival began with live musical entertainment and traditional food. The Rite Aid booth was set up right near the stage and as the crowd gathered to enjoy the entertainment, Hispanic models were there to greet them with the free sample bag. The recipients were very excited and many of the ladies were seen trying the lipstick that was included.

On June 28th, the bags were distributed at the San Juan Bautista Parade and Concert that was held at Wiggins Waterfront Park in Camden, NJ. Over 40,000 people attended this annual family-oriented tradition which displayed a mosaic of the very best of the Latin-American rhythms and dances from around the region, marching bands, decorated floats, exhibits, the flavors and aromas of ethnic cuisine.  The parade led the crowd into the park for the concert which featured the hottest local and international Latin bands. Located on the waterfront with a fabulous view of the Philadelphia skyline, the festivities continued well into the evening.

This sampling program is in addition to RITE AID’s African American (Beauty the RITE Way) and Teen (Glam Camp) beauty target sampling programs. All three programs are completely coordinated and executed by Cosmetic Promotions Inc.  The company secures the vendors, the bags and all the venues for distribution. The Hispanic program begins its 5th year in July and will run through June 2010 and events will be in the Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey areas.

If interested in participating in this or other targeted sampling events, please contact Tracie Gilbert at 877-665-1640.

Many women are on the hunt for a new fragrance for the summer. Fortunately, a Walgreens in Los Angeles (3201 W. 6th St.) will be giving away samples of the latest fragrances this Saturday from 12-4. At the end of the day there will also be a drawing for a basket worth $200.00! Brands will include Halle Berry, Nautica My Voyage, Bermuda Blue, Baby Phat Seductive, and Jennifer Lopez Deseo.

These events will be running every weekend through July 2009 from 11am-5pm at the Walgreens located at the southeast corner of Sands Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard inside the resort complex.

L’Oreal & Coppertone

• Loreal: FREE Tru Match Makeovers and FREE Skin Genesis Sample
• Coppertone: FREE Beach Bag with any purchase

May 8th
May 17th
May 22nd
May 30th
June 5th
June 13th
June 19th
June 26th
July 3rd
July 12th
July 17th

Neutrogena, Roc and Aveeno

• Neutrogena – FREE makeovers May 9th on Neutrogena Mineral Sheers Foundation, Neutrogena Nourishing Eye Quad and Neutrogena Nourishing Eye Liner
• RoC and Aveeno – FREE demonstrations on skincare items

May 15th
May 23nd
May 29th
June 7th
June 12th
June 20th
June 28th
July 4th
July 10th
July 18th

Cosmetic Promotions continues to grow after 20 years in business

                Orlando, FL – Where historically less than half of all small businesses survive past four years, Cosmetic Promotions, Inc. (CPI) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and continuing to grow in the face of a struggling U.S. economy. The company began in 1989 by producing a newsletter for Revco Beauty Department and today fills the critical marketing and promotional gap between vendors and retailers in the cosmetic and beauty industry. Vendors concentrate on national marketing campaigns and can’t effectively customize marketing programs for each retail chain. Similarly the retailers lack the resources to create individual marketing programs for every product they sell.

             CPI fills this role for both the retailer and the vendor, helping both parties meet their business objectives. CPI is the only U.S. marketing company dedicated to improving sell-through for the mass beauty industry that provides complete turnkey services, from creative design to in-store training, talent and support. The company prides itself on being a problem solver and the place that retailers and manufacturers both can turn when they lack the staff or resources to pull off programs that they need.

                CPI has its own talent agency which is now expanding its reach to other industries. The CosPro Agency has more than 1,000 makeup artists and models nationwide available for all types of demonstrations for all kinds of manufacturers and venues. CosPro’s demonstrators are not minimum-wage temps like most demo companies use. Following the philosophy that “you get what you pay for,” their demonstrators are trained, attractive, match the demographics of the product, and – importantly – show up as scheduled. The demo industry has a typical 10% or higher no-show rate while CosPro’s is less than 5%. And if a demonstration does not happen on its scheduled weekend, CosPro offers a replacement demonstration at a 25% discount. A recent 400-store fragrance modeling event for JC Penney’s resulted in a 4:1 return on investment for the client, who attributed the outstanding results to the CosPro sales training each promotional artist received prior to the event. CosPro’s three-step training program provides better-informed demonstrators who can help customers make positive buying decisions. To celebrate their 20th  anniversary, the company is offering ONE free demo to the first 50 NEW customers who respond to their upcoming email blast.

For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, contact Joann Tyson by email :joann@cosmeticpromotions.com or by phone: 407-644-9916.

The month of February has been used to recognize black history since 1926. On February 22nd of this year N2 Greek, a provider of African-American Greek paraphernalia, hosted a large scale fashion show and party stroll competition in Carson, CA at the Carson Community Center. Beautiful models from the CosPro agency passed out 2,000 RITEAID gift bags filled with Beauty products from 12:00pm to 5:00pm.

The purpose of the N2Greek Fashion Show and Party Stroll Competition was to commemorate the impact of historically black fraternities and sororities on African American history. Members of nine organizations participated in the fashion show. The sororities displayed their pride in their organization through a combination of dance and traditional stepping in the Party Stroll Competition.

The N2Greek Fashion Show and Party Stroll Competition reached thousands of college educated professionals, members of the organizations, and their families. The crowd loved the gift bags which included samples of Jergens Original Lotion, Just for Me Oil Moisturizing Lotion, Softsoap, Blue Star Ointment, Smooth ‘N Shine hair products, Soft Crème Extra Care Healing Hand Cream, Maybelline, Mane’n Tail and Fantasia hair care. Ten of the 2,000 bags also contained winning cards entitling the recipient to a $100 Rite Aid Gift Card. The bags are part of an annual RITE AID sampling program that Cosmetic Promotions facilitates for RITE AID in 10 major African American Markets. The company also has similar Hispanic and Teen Sampling programs.

Cosmetic Promotions Inc is a marketing company that is celebrating 20 years in business this year. The company specializes in target marketing programs for mass beauty brands at drug and mass retailers. This program is totally paid for by the suppliers and is completely turn-key for the chain.
For more information on how to increase sales at your chain or for your product, contact Kristin Bocox at 972-228-0074 or kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com or go to their website: www.cosproagency.com.

Cosmetic Promotions, Inc has expanded operations again and has added more warehouse space. The new space is in Orlando and has been renovated to meet the collating and fulfullment needs of the company which have grown due to their new program at Walgreens – the Walgreens Beauty Box.

The Beauty Box program is a collated kit sent monthly to all stores that contains the materials the Beauty Advisors need for that month. Kits include samples, coupons, testers and training from various vendors. Kits created by CPI for the vendors include the opportunity for Beauty Advisors to win prizes by taking one of the continuing education quizzes that are enclosed with the kits. The quizzes are on a prepaid business reply postcard that comes back to CPI where it is graded and winners are randomly chosen.

The program replaces the previous system of vendors having to send their information via the mailroom at a much higher cost and less efficiency for the chain. Vendors who want to participate can choose from the option of creating their own kits and sending them to CPI to be included in the box or allowing CPI to design and print their kits for them. Participation fees are just $3,000 per 8 oz (plus printing costs if CPI is printing their kits).

The new system also relieves Walgreen’s Manager of Cosmetic Marketing and Services, Carrie Pecher, of having to deal individually with each vendor which was very time consuming.

For more information on this program or on Cosmetic Promotions, contact Joann@cosmeticpromotions.com.