1) Foundation – If you’re a foundation wearer, changing formulation can be the simplest way to lighten up your routine. Try going with a tinted moisturizer instead of a full bodied foundation. With the changes in makeup technology over the last few years, you can get a surprising amount of coverage in a lighter-weight formulation. Ones to try; Josie Maran (light coverage) and Korres (a bit more coverage)

- Working in L.A.: The “Working In” series is a staple of the Powder Group’s education series. Personally, having worked my whole career in Los Angeles, I think L.A. is a tricky market and I was interested to hear what the panelists – Koren Zander & Bryin Smoot – both freelance artists along with Lori Taylor, in-house artist for Smashbox Cosmetics and Sarah Lucero, lead artist for Stila Cosmetics) and facilitated by makeup artist James Vincent – would have to say about it. I would have changed the format for this workshop just a bit. The panelists were obviously highly knowledgable, however there was no directed line of conversation. The floor was, instead, immediately opened for questions and as such the questions directed the flow of the seminar. Most of the questions were quite basic – which is fine because people are there to learn – but for artists like my friend who I was with who has already gotten herself firmly implanted on agency assist lists and is working jobs via agents as well as her own Key jobs and is definitely a more intermediate level artist – there wasn’t a whole lot of new information. Not to mention more established artists like myself (but really, I was there more in Blogger capacity). I think there is just an underlying assumption that artists at these shows are complete newbies and that’s not the case so I’d still like to see the shows develop more content for intermediate and advanced – working – artists.

Exhibitors/Shopping:
The floor was jam packed with tempting goodies. I managed to just take a walk-thru and not spend every dime I had right off the bat but here are a few of the folks I plan to go back to today;

- Korres: Y’all know how much I love Korres so ’nuff said there, but they had their fabulous Provitamin Mascara there at a show price as well as some new items I’ve not tried yet. Trade shows are a great time to try new products at great prices, and Korres is one of the few naturally derived lines that works well for both personal and professional use. If you aren’t hip to Korres already, be sure to check them out!

- Ingot: I couldn’t get to a person to get actual assistance so I’ll have to go back today but in addition to their vast array of products they have something called a “Freedom Palette” that I need to go investigate.

- Yaby: Disclaimer – Liz Yu, founder of Yaby, is a friend. However, her line is great so I don’t have to feel guilty about being completely biased. I am giving myself a late pass for just now discovering the fabulous Pearl Paint eyeshadows but I’ll be rectifying that by buying the palette today.

and the Big Winner:

-I Nuovi: I teach periodically at the MKC Academy and founder Margaret Kimura is the new Creative Director for I-Nuovi cosmetics, so I wanted to check the line out. I haven’t been this impressed with a line in a long, long time. Beautiful colors, beautiful textures, beautiful pigmentations (all the colors showed true and beautiful on my dark skintone), an impressively comprehensive array of products… I’ll be real I felt about I-Nuovi the way I thought I was going to feel about Inglot. I was completely blown away by this new line and I think I Nuovi has definite Cult Status potential.