All of this writing about Cosmoprof brought back memories of my first trip to this show in 2005. I attended with Christy and Lyndie Bullock (West Coast Regional Manager). Lyndie and I were only 22, and this was our first trip out of the country. We were to meet Christy and her husband in Italy. Let me just preface with the fact that I did not plan well for this trip. I didn’t quite understand what it would be like to not be able to speak to anyone or even read signs at the train station. I did not even take an Italian translation book! How stupid, right? Well, anyway we ended getting completely lost riding trains back and forth across Italy trying to find the small town of Reggio Emilia where we were staying. Talk about unprepared! I had printed the address for our hotel and accidentally left it in a cab. That was the last straw, and I totally began to panic. I frantically started trying to call my mom in the US to get the address from her. I swear I will never forget the moment when I finally got her on the phone at her work. When I told her that I had lost the address and needed a copy, her response was “Well, what do you want me to do? I am at work.” I remember saying, “Mom! Your daughter is lost in Italy riding trains in the middle of the night!!! I need you to get that address.” Luckily my dad came through and had my itinerary with him at work. I now tease my mom saying that she just left me high and dry in the middle of Italy when I needed her mostJ. And since she may read this post, let me say in her defense that she rides the bus to work every day and really didn’t have transportation to go home for the address. But I still rub it in…
We didn’t arrive until 2:00 AM and had to be up and ready for the show by 6:00 AM. We had been traveling for over 24 hours and were completely exhausted, not to mention jet lag. We literally cried when we woke up to start another day. When we finished getting ready, we called Christy’s room. She then told us that she lost her luggage and wouldn’t be going to the show that day. I could have cheerfully murdered her at that point!!! So we went by ourselves...
My first experience at Cosmoprof really opened my eyes to cosmetic manufacturing and how amazing it is. The manufacturer booths are outstanding!!! Really. There was a particular manufacturer that was basically having a party in their gigantic booth. We all stopped in our tracks wondering who it was and how we could go about working with them. I will always remember that they had a tree in the middle of their booth with hundreds of clear eyeshadow compacts hanging from the branches. In each compact were really bright pressed eyeshadows in all sorts of textures and designs. It was AMAZING!! I promised myself that we would eventually be able to work with them. I still have the eyeshadow compacts on display in my office because it was so inspiring. They remain the most innovative cosmetic manufacturer globally, and I am happy to say that they create some really fabulous products for us.
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