Event: Modelling for Maggie and Annie Ford Danielson at Benefit Cosmetics’ Consumer Party at TANGS Orchard and Bloggers’ Luncheon on Saturday, 2 April 2011

How many of you were in town last Saturday to meet Maggie and Annie Ford Danielson from Benefit Cosmetics?! :D

A consumer party was held at TANGS Orchard on Saturday morning, and yours truly was there as a model for the event. I also attended a special bloggers’ luncheon event with them after that, watched them during the live makeup shows through the glass windows of TANGS Orchard later in the afternoon, and finally at Sephora ION Orchard in the evening. What a day!

Anyways, for those of you who are not familiar with Benefit Cosmetics, Maggie and Annie Ford Danielson are the daughters of Jean Ford and nieces of Jane Ford. Jean and Jane (they are twins!) are the founders of Benefit Cosmetics.

Maggie and Annie are Global Makeup Trend Artists and Brand Authorities at Benefit Cosmetics, and it was their first time in Singapore. I was thrilled when I heard they were visiting and of course I, the Beneholic, had to meet them in person!

The consumer party was held at Martina Pink (Level 2, TANGS Orchard). It started at about 10:30am but I was there before the store opened (at about 9:15am) because I had to get my face prepped for the makeup demo. Benebabes and Benehunk (I think there was only one Benehunk) were getting briefed, arranging stuff, and warming up for the party. Despite the fact that it was incredible stuffy (the air-conditioning wasn’t switched on yet), the place was buzzing with excitement!

Mini versions of this poster in the form of cards were distributed freely at the party and throughout the day outside TANGS and at Sephora ION.

See? They’re really cute, aren’t they! :) I picked one up for myself. Paint the town pink with Posietint!

Everyone was just mingling with one another, enjoying food and drinks served on silver platters… and I managed to sneak a shot with the sisters before the demo. Okay, don’t judge! I look super short and fat in this photo. I’m 5′ 1″ so you can imagine how tall Maggie and Annie are! They are both very, very slim and gorgeous! As for my outfit, here’s a disclaimer – I don’t usually dress like this. The outfit was sponsored by Martina Pink and (at the risk of sounding negative) it’s not usually where I get my clothes from. It’s just not my style if you KWIM, and I’m not saying anything else about their clothes so don’t read too much into it. I would have worn my own outfit if I could (I asked, but was told a firm NO). There were restrictions so… I repeat, don’t judge! :P

Besides me, there was another model, Clarissa. I went for the makeup demo first – I was Maggie’s model! Thank you Benebabe Cindy for helping to capture the demo shots! :)) I dropped my camera (and iPhone, and visitor’s pass…) on the wet bathroom floor (*ahem* someone didn’t allow me to use the fitting room) when I was changing into the show outfit and now my camera is somewhat not functioning normally because a catch broke. I’m really glad that Cindy still managed to capture the demo shots! :) And yes, I’m gonna go get a replacement camera soon (I have a fashion show to cover at Orchard ION this Friday – give me a buzz if you’re going to be there too!).

Maggie used several products on my face, but the highlight was Benetint, a rose-tinted lip and cheek stain. Did you know that Benetint was originally created for strip club dancers who wanted to tint their nipples? :P

Here’s Maggie telling me to suck my cheeks in so that she could contour my face with Hoola, a bronzing powder. Don’t I look funny here! :D Later on, Annie did a demo on Clarissa using a few other products and Posietint, a poppy-pink tinted lip & cheek stain.

After the demo, it was time for the consumers to try out the awesome Benefit products for themselves! I walked around trying to take pictures of the counters they’d set up at Martina Pink, just for the party. I also managed to chat with some lovely attendees (if you’re one of them, HELLO!).

Here’s a photo of me and Clarissa. She’s really pretty! :) I love her smile. I can never smile like that. I look weird if I show my teeth!

Shortly after 12:00pm, I changed out of my outfit and got ready to head to Mezza9 at Grand Hyatt for the special bloggers’ luncheon with Maggie and Annie! :)

I had the rotisserie chicken and chocolate pudding!

And there’s Maggie and Annie, seated right across me. :)) Over lunch, I asked them about Cha Cha Tint, a brand new mango-shade lip and cheek stain which will launch in Singapore this July. I chanced upon some info on the new product (quite the sleuth, eh?), so stay tuned for the launch! ;) I can’t wait! We had so much fun during lunch just talking about Benefit. I also took a short video of them – read till the end of the blog post!

Some appetisers…

This is so out of focus but I just HAD to put it here!

Nope, we didn’t order these! Centerpiece. :)

My main course… yummy!

Dessert was super yums!!!

Here’s a group shot of everyone. It was really funny cos we had to remain in the same pose – each of us had a camera, so we had to take 9 or 10 shots in total, LOL. See Maggie and Annie towering above us?

I was so glad to finally meet Shirleen in person! We have been Facebook friends for some time, and I read her blog all the time. She’s really friendly! And she has really good skin.

Me and Christy! She’s awesome. I read her blog for the latest news on fashion and beauty. She had to rush off after lunch to attend a fashion event (she said something about Men’s Fashion Week…!) so we left Hyatt (I had to go meet Skye at TANGS to catch Maggie and Annie in the windows!).

Lots of people gathered outside TANGS to see the show (there were two shows – one at 3:00pm and another at 4:30pm).

Everybody started to take photos when Maggie and Annie emerged behind the glass windows! The blonde lady in front is Annie’s colleague from San Francisco. :)

Later in the day at 6:00pm, Maggie and Annie headed over to Sephora ION, their final stop for the day.

That’s our manager, Catherine, getting some makeup done. :)

And of course, I GOT ANNIE AND MAGGIE TO SIGN MY BENEFIT NOTEBOOK!!!

Maggie looks really serious here…

Okay, so Maggie spelled my name just slightly wrongly, but it’s a genuine error (Jane’s her aunt’s name btw)! Annie told me she carries an identical notebook in her suitcase. :) I love Benefit stationery! I’m so lucky.

All in all, I had an amazing time (there’s going to be so many unflattering photos and videos floating online, though – I’ll try to not Google), and I hope to see Annie and Maggie back in Singapore soon! I asked Maggie when they’ll visit again – she said hopefully next year, so if you missed the events on Saturday, watch the Benefit Cosmetics Singapore Facebook page closely for updates! ;)

As promised, here’s the video! I’m sorry for the poor quality – it was actually much better before Windows Movie Maker processed it. :( Oh well. Despite the poor quality, YouTube took over one hour to process it. The original video was three times larger than the uploaded video… LOL!

I hope you had fun reading this post, and I’ll see you around!

J

Tags: Annie Ford Danielson, Beauty, Benebabe, Benefit Cosmetics, Benehunk, Benetint, Bloggers, Cha Cha Tint, Cosmetics, Events, Grand Hyatt, Hoola, ION, Jane Ford, Jean Ford, Luncheon, Maggie Ford Danielson, Makeup, Martina Pink, Mezza9, Party, Posietint, Sephora, Sephora ION, Tangs, Tangs Orchard, Thrills