Winter Park, FL – 100 Walgreen’s stores recently hosted a Maybelline makeover event introducing new eye and lip products to their Florida consumers. A professional makeup artist was on hand at each store to apply Studio Pearls Shadow, Lash Stiletto Mascara and Shine Sensational Lip Gloss in mini eye and lip makeovers to delighted customers. In just 2 days, over 800 makeovers were performed resulting in more than 1000 pieces sold. According to a survey consumers took during the event, over one-third had never tried Maybelline products before, 33% purchased something that day and another 62% said they would make a Maybelline purchase in the future because of this event.

While there, the makeup artist personally trained the store’s Beauty Advisor on the brands so that they may assist future customers. Walgreens stores have an average of 3 beauty advisors per store – the only drug chain with beauty help in all stores.

The event was facilitated by Cosmetic Promotions, Inc – a promotional and marketing company headquartered in Central Florida who handles a slate of marketing programs for the #1 drug chain. As budgets get cut and staff is reduced, Retail stores are utilizing more third party companies to assist in building sales. By hiring outside firms to fill out their lean marketing, chains are finding great results with less time investment.

Cosmetic Promotions prides itself on providing totally turnkey programs for retail chains. For their in-store demo’s they create an “event in a box” kit that is sent to each demonstrator to bring into the store, eliminating the chance of items getting lost before the event. A standard kit includes the products, custom made signs and a beauty basket giveaway that customers can enter to win. “Our makeup artists have a minimum 2 years experience applying cosmetics and we do live telephone trainings before each event” says Joann Tyson, the company’s CEO; “We also train them on selling tips and give them the proper tools so each artist can execute the event. This is why a standard rate of sales at one of our events results in selling about one week’s worth of product in just 4 hours”

###

For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, contact Joann Tyson at 888-644-9916 or visit our website: www.cosproageny.com.

Short, sparse eyelashes are never what we want, but often what nature gave us. However, there is a new way to combat limited lashes and it costs less than you’d think. CoverGirl Lash Blast Length mascara goes completely above and beyond our expectations of what an $8, or less, mascara can do. It comes in both regular and water resistant and has three colors to choose from: very black, black and black brown. To apply, place the wand at the base of your lashes and brush through to the ends. The ultra long brush bristles and the unique nylon formula equal fantastically longer and separated lashes. It never flaked, clumped, or smudged all day and when it was time for removal, it came off completely and easily. We even liked the look and feel of the packaging.

We loved how it glided on with no clumps and gave us sky-high length! The downsides were that we had to use three coats to see those great results, and it only created length, not volume.

All in all, we give CoverGirl’s Lash Blast Length mascara an 8 out of 10 for low price, ultra lash-length, easy removal and zero flaking. At just under $8, it’s a very budget-friendly option for those looking for wondrously long lashes.

Radiant, healthy skin seems to always be ‘in’. But the dewy look went out of style in 2004. So those of us with oily skin must take extra steps so our makeup doesn’t dissolve mid-day into shiny patches. To set our foundation, we liked WetnWild Natural Wear Pressed Powder.  Our foundation looked wonderfully matte the whole day and it didn’t cake in certain areas like some powders tend to. And since it has vitamins and a multi-mineral complex, your skin is in better condition after wearing it. We found it was easier to apply using a big powder brush instead of the puff that’s provided. The bonus? It comes in eco-conscious paper packaging.

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.

Retail stores are using more third-party companies to assist in sustaining and building their sales in today’s tough economic climate.  While budgets get cut and staff is reduced, sales can go into a tailspin as marketing efforts are reduced.  By hiring outside firms to bolster their scaled-back marketing teams, chains are finding great results with less investment.

Cosmetic Promotions, Inc. (CPI); a marketing and promotional company based in Winter Park, Florid,a is a prime example of such a company.  Working with the Beauty Category and Marketing Managers at chains such as Walgreens, Rite Aid, Winn Dixie, and Sears, they design and implement programs and specialty events that relieve the overworked marketing staff and bring in new sales for the chains.

At Walgreens, CPI handles their monthly Beauty Box program.  This program involves sending a monthly “red box” to every store’s Beauty Department. Walgreens has between one and six beauty advisors (BAs) in each of their 7000 stores – on average 3.2 BAs in each store.  The monthly box contains kits from the various beauty vendors such as Revlon, L’Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever. Inside each kit are marketing tools ranging from signs and customer samples to continuing education training. BAs are encouraged to read and use the materials by entering to win prizes if they send in a quiz postcard for each brand.  CPI grades the postcards and sends the prizes direct to the winners.

When Walgreens eliminated its Beauty Supervisor positions, CPI created a Red Book training program for the stores to help fill the gap. The Beauty Supervisors were responsible for arranging training seminars for their stores. Without this layer, training was becoming difficult to achieve.  The Red Book program provides a book on all the brands that are stocked in the department. Each BA who completes the 50-question Red Book Quiz receives a diploma. So far over 2000 diplomas have been sent out for 2009.

In May, CPI teamed with Coty Fragrances for a Mother’s day fragrance sampling event at 200 Walgreens stores.  More than 6,300 customers received a fragrance demo and 40,000 samples were distributed. In addition, over 750 pieces were sold that day.  Some 80% of the customers had never tried one or more of the fragrances, and 72% of the customers surveyed said they would purchase at a later time, which should result in future sales.

To attract more women to its stores this season, Sears launched its upscale cosmetic and fragrance presentations in 13 stores in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.  CPI assisted in their launch of full beauty departments by conducting makeovers for four brands: Yves Rocher, Iman, L’Oreal, and Maybelline.  Almost 800 makeovers were completed during the 2-day event, which resulted in over 1,000 pieces sold – an impressive 127% closure rate. The professional makeup artists helped consumers choose the right colors and products for them.  Some 77% of the customers had never tried Yves Rocher and 69% had never tried Iman before the event, providing massive exposure to these two exlusive brands.  L’Oreal had the highest sales, with almost 15 pieces per store during the event and 400 coupons distributed to stimulate future L’Oreal sales.  Each vendor had 8 hours of demonstration time in each of the 13 stores. Some 98% of those surveyed wanted more such free makeover events at the stores. A short video was produced of the event for Sears to use in their promotional materials. On December 5^th and 12^th, the same 13 stores will host a similar event featuring Iman, Rimmel, Milani and L’Oreal brands.

At Winn Dixie, Cosmetic Buyer Karen Lagarde engaged CPI to execute a special makeover/demonstration event in their top 25 stores – most in South Florida.  The stores had an event every Saturday during September and four vendors – L’Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Wet n’ Wild, and Pacific World – shared a professional makeup artist to entice consumers to sample beauty products while doing their food shopping.  Winn Dixie sent an email blast to their Customer Rewards Card members in these markets and had in-store signs publicizing the event in the weeks leading up to it.  More than 300 pieces were sold during the event.  To add value and excitement, CPI worked with six vendors to prepare a free beauty sample bag that was distributed during the event.  Winn Dixie is pleased with the sales lift and say they intends to replicate the event before the end of the year.

At Rite Aid, CPI assists their marketing team and beauty department with various community sampling programs. Their Glam Camp Teen Program has been very successful for more than 3 years.  Street teams hand out Glam Camp duffle bags filled with beauty samples at teen-oriented events such as concerts, beauty pagaents, cheerleading camps, and college campus events.  In addition, they bring the teens back to Rite Aid via their annual Back to School campaign, which involves a spread in Seventeen Magazine, Gift with Purchase program, Glam Camp web page, and in-store makeover event.  The Back to School makeovers were conducted at 200 top Rite Aid stores and featured professional makeovers or demonstrations on St Ives, Wet n Wild, Black Radiance, Veet and Clearasil products. More than 2200 pieces were sold during the event, over 3300 demonstrations performed and the website had over 32,000 hits during the August – October time period of the event.  Other sampling events target demographics such as African-American, Hispanic, and the new Men’s sampling program.

For more information on these and other events, contact Joann Tyson (joann@cosmeticpromotions.com or 888-644-9916)

On darker complexions, some blushes can look too pastel or ashy. Iman Sheer Finish Bronzing Powder in Afterglow has a high amount of pigment, perfect for women of color. The palette has 3 shades- brown, purple, and light pink hues. Combined they make a very pretty peach color. We liked to wear it by putting it on the apples of our cheeks and pairing it with similar shades on the eyes and lips.

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.

Bright coats are considered to be a must have for the Fall 2009 (think colors like teal and amethyst). This is a welcome change from the usual neutral colors. CoverGirl is right on this trend with their Eye Enhancers 4-kit Shadow palette in Tropical Fusion 205. The colors are vivid and will go perfectly with the colors in style this season. Although the colors are very vivid in the palette, they don’t go on very heavy. If you want a more extreme look, try dampening the applicator before applying.

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.

Bold lip color is making a comeback, and we have found the perfect shade of red in the MAX Factor Vivid Impact Lipcolor line- 80 Gilty Rose. We can see why this was a winner of Marie Claire Magazine’s 25 Best Beauty Products of the Year. The pigment in the lipstick is bold, but the texture is lightweight and moisturizing like a lip balm. Cakey red lipstick is horrific, and thanks to MAX Factor we can wear daring lip color without looking like we’re celebrating Halloween 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.

Eyeshadows may last forever, but it’s important to always have  fresh mascara.  We really liked L’Oreals new Extra Volume Collagen Mascara. Although it didn’t do much lengthening, we got a lot of volume. This mascara works by plumping the lashes from the inside out with hydra collagen. The brush is designed to get even your smallest lashes as well. What we liked best about this mascara is that we could keep layering without having to worry about clumping.

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.

Yet another reason that our feelings our hurt that Max Factor won’t be available in U.S. stores in 2010. Max Factor’s ColorGenius Foundation is what we’ve been looking for. It’s lightweight, but it provides full coverage. The formula is mineral enriched, and has a ‘patented smart pigment technology’. So what does that mean to you? Even if it’s not the perfect shade for your skin, after application the foundation will adjust to your color. Best of all, it’s designed for sensitive skin.

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 quicker we can get ready to go to work, the better. L’Oreal Brow Stylist 3- in- 1 Brow tool not only saves space, but time rummaging through your bag looking for your tweezers and eyebrow brush. The liner is a powder based formula that gives soft lines (no circus eyebrows!). The cap for the liner is actually a brow brush, which you can use to blend the color on your brows. On the other side of the liner, there is a cap that contains pull out tweezers. The colors available are Blonde, Light Brown, and Medium-Dark Brown.

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.