My Experience at the SIMPLY LA Event

**Disclaimer. I am in no way trying to bash any brands or the company that put this on. I thank them for having me and respect all companies involved. This is just simply about the experience I had and may not represent and brands here or what they stand for**

As a blogger it is my job to attend as many event’s around my area as possible. This is how I network with other bloggers and brands. I love seeing what the event has to offer and how many new friends I can make. With that in mind I was pretty excited to visit the SIMPLY LA event in Glendale CA. This event seemed to be promising with a long line up of professional panels to gain vital info. All of the industry elites were there to pass on tip and tricks of the trade. There was also to be a long line of awesome vendors showing off their new products. I rushed over to the ticket page hoping I wasn’t too late. I about fell out of my chair when I saw that the price was $350!!!!! These prices probably covered the cost of having the long panel of new age celebs but I was definitely not ready to see those prices.

I opted to purchase the $50 “Brand Experience” ticket instead. Sure I would not be able to watch the panel but I would be able to speak with brands and see the new items they were promoting. After all that was a much more affordable price for me and I didn’t want to skip the event as a whole.

I began to get excited and count down the days to the event for which I would make a two hour homage to Glendale CA from South Orange county.  The event was to take place from 11-6 so I gave myself some time and coordinated to meet some other influences there. When I arrived at 2pm it was not at all what I expected. The venue was the smallest I had ever seen. I didn’t mind though because I figured it would be more intimate. There were about 20 vendors total (give or take). The lay out was easy to follow and the vendor set ups were very cute! Some were super willing to have a conversation while others were packing up and getting ready to leave by 4 (the event was over at 6). I was a little sad that you didn’t receive any sort of swag bag for purchasing a $50 ticket but I just figured the vendors would be giving stuff away like all the other events I had attended. This wasn’t the case either. I will say that BH Cosmetics was very generous and gave away their new Rio edition eye shadow pallet with tons of stunning colors in exchange for my contact information. The rest of the vendors just gave a 10-20% code to be used online…..if that. The Grey Goose table was also pretty fun as they taught you how to make your own cocktail to stroll around with, that easily became my new go to!

A friend of mine was invited by a hair care brand to attend and take pics. For this she received a swag bag that those who paid the $350 also got. It looked really amazing and she received a lot of items from the vendors and other brands that did not attend. (Im starting to see why the ticket was so much) She also got free parking validation, which I did not. When I went up to ask, they straight out told me they did not validate. I said “OK” and stepped away. The girl behind me then asked and they validated her right away! ($350 ticket purchaser, go figure). Not that I couldn’t afford the $7 ticket that I paid, but the way the employees handled me was in bad form. I left the event hot, sweaty and literally with nothing other than the eye shadow pallet, feeling that it was almost a waste of time to have driven so far for so little.

Im not trying to sound entitled or that if I pay money you should give me a bunch of free stuff, but at least give me SOMETHING!! Ive been to smaller branded events and paid $20 and have gotten swag bags with TONS of sample and full size products. I love SIMPLY LA which is why I was so disappointed in this event. Im sure I would have had a much different experience had I purchased the $350 ticket but I’ll be real and say that’s just not in my budget. I really hope they strive to better themselves next year for those who may not be able to afford a higher price. If you can afford the $350 then I highly suggest you do it for the information gained from panels. If you can only afford the brand experience like me, then I suggest saving your $50 and reaching out to brands online instead.

This is a little risky for me to write and I’ll probably be banned from future event’s thrown by SIMPLY LA but this is my truth on that one event. I hope that others are not like this and that they strive to do the best they can for EVERYONE at all their events.

~ Love Felicia