Hi there, I'm Stevie! I would like to tell you about the Beauty Buzz Panelists day at Bloomingdales in Fashion Island, Newport Beach, CA. Phyllis had flown into town for a stop-over (on her way home to Japan) the night before and Melissa, Will and I had gone to the airport to pick her up.

We arranged for a day of browsing and make-overs at Bloomingdales with Kathleen Tangney, the ESTEE LAUDER MA extraordinare! Kathleen set up something special for us that day as a thank-you for the PR she had received for the wonderful ESTEE LAUDER GWP that had just ended. The store management was really suprised at the impact of the postings on the Beauty Buzz message board and the Glamour Magazine article and wanted to talk with us. We met Rick Toyota, the Cosmetics Department Manager and Kathy McDonnell, the Bloomingdales General Manager. They were very friendly and spent quite a bit of time talking to us about the site and what all Beauty Buzz did as a beauty, fashion and fitness site. We discussed the product lines that they carried as well as what is hot right now in the market!! Melissa, Phyllis and I made some recommendations of established company lines as well as some newer company lines for them to add to their store.

The Bloomingdales people were very nice to us: they gave us a complimentary beverage and dessert at their restaurant during lunch (the chocolate cake was fabulous as was the cheesecake!).After lunch, we hit Cosmetics to explore all the lines they carry . While this is a small Bloomingdales in comparison to some; Newport Beach is a very towny area so they carry a lot of high end lines as well as some of the usual department store lines. The lines that are carried in Cosmetics include: Estee Lauder, Clinique, Elizabeth Arden, Yves St. Laurent, Chanel, Dior, Janet Sartin, Orlane, Clarin, Alexandra de Markoff, Bobbi Brown, Benefit, Ahava, Lancome, Prescriptives, Hard Candy, English Ideas, Urban Decay, Tony and Tina and tons of bath and body lines as well as the private label Bloomingdales line of brushes, cosmetics, and body care items. They had a such a terrific selection, it was hard to not buy the entire store!!

Phyllis got a quick make-over from Kathleen while there. She looked really nice afterwards. Her blue eyes were brighter and bigger! Melissa and I explored in different directions: I got caught up in the "In Love Again" perfume and cosmetics (I think am in love with that fragrance!), from Yves St. Laurent. Melissa found an English Ideas display of the Lip Last products and was playing with lots of things. We both ended up buying some neat glitter gel. It was a two pack of gold glitter gel and multi-color glitter gel that is really neat. The tester did not leave us sticky or dry, but left a nice shimmery sparkle on our hands. It would look fabulous in the hair and we each bought a set. I found several items from Chanel, Bobbi Brown and Ahava that I would have killed to buy. The Ahava line is the most extensive I have ever seen.

Kathleen and her fellow Estee Lauder MA's gave us great gifts of a travel vanity with twin zippered pouches and a covered make-up mirror that included a huge powder brush along with other samples. The gifts were so totally unexpected!! We also got to try the latest mood ring compact from Estee Lauder too! It has a translucent powder and it is so tiny and cute!! I loved the little thing! Melissa was really eyeing that one, but the day went by so fast that we had to leave without trying half of what we wanted to try.

We thanked Kathleen, and the other Estee Lauder people and left: Melissa to go home and Phyllis to come with me for a BBQ dinner with Bonnie Tseng who was visiting from Atlanta.

It was a great time at Bloomies! They even promised us advance publicity on all the cosmetic GWP events and special make-over events that are scheduled for the coming year. Kathleen Tangney is always available for phone consults and information on any cosmetic line. You can call her at 949 729 6706.

Melissa here to add my two cents in about our day at Bloomingdales..
I was really excited about this event, first off I really dig hanging out with Stevie, but then to get the added bonus of Phyllis and Bonnie (who never made it, but I did meet her at Disneyland the day before)! I also took my grandma along with me because of the long drive.

Anyway my Gran and I got there a bit early and poked around the perfume and jewelry for a while, until Stevie and Phyllis got there. I really enjoyed being there anonymously at first so I could see if I got different treatment when the MA/SA's didn't know who I represented. I have to say they were wonderful there even before they knew I was from BeautyBuzz..There was help available if you needed it and no one was jumping down your throat to buy stuff.

Kathleen, Rick and Kathy were all very nice and seemed very excited by the response they have gotten from the buzzers here. The gifts they had for us were a great surprise and a sweet gesture, they even gave one to my gran!!

The lunch we had at the cafe was great! (I had lasagna rondatole? YUMMMMMM) The shopping was great, I played with Bobbie Brown (not my thing), English Ideas, Hard Candy, YSL, EL and I bought some Benefit and FaceWear body gel. If I hadn't of lost my purse you can bet I would have bought more, like O Oui at Lancome :-)