Event Report : SKII Change Destiny

Hey guys.... 

I just got back from my Japan trip two days ago and i feel like death -___-. The trip was certainly fun and memorable, but it's actually the most tiring trip i've ever been to, my mum even commented on how swollen my eyes are (they do that whenever i'm too exhausted) and that's quite something alright *my mum doesn't usually spot things like that and i also don't think my eyes had ever been that swollen post trips before!*.

I have a million things to blog about (yes, the trip.. I dunno when i can start *sigh*. Other than that i have sponsored posts lining up as well) but for now i cannot deal with prepping new ones (i slept at 10.30 PM last night, totally unheard of!) but i get anxious for not posting #classicpink so i decided to blog about this event we attended last December (because i already prepped the photos before i left for Japan).

It's SKII's event : Change Destiny.

With most of the other beauty bloggers in attendance, minus the ones who came late haha

Actually SKII didn't ask for an event report, just an Instagram post but there are two possible reasons on why i blog about events even when the brand didn't ask for it, one : the event exceeded my expectation and i feel like they deserve the love-or two, the event got some issues that would make me explode if i don't share it. This case is definitely the latter *LOL*. 

First of all, Cynthian contacted me to invite me to this event, she's going to be the speaker for one of the sessions. She also asked for my help to spread the event the beauty community since SKII wanted 40-50 participants to come. It's business as usual, so i did the routine. Asked Cynthian what's in it for us (because come on, who'd come to an event for nothing these days? The more brands annoy me the more i feel like we need to start charging!!!!! You're asking for our precious TIME, so please be respectful and at least try to provide something as a token of appreciation!). She said there'd be goodie bags with travel sets (she said it's probably going to be the Christmas set) or miniature FTE. Honestly, i plan to draw a line from now on and only accept full size products to prevent our dignity to be stepped all over ever again *yes, i'm boiling mad as i write this*. 

Anyway, since they didn't ask for an event report, and i wanted to show my support for Cynthian (whatever i am, i certainly am a good friend and nobody can challenge that)-i thought okay lah travel set is not that bad-and it's up to the others if they wanted to come or not. After gathering 22 people, Cynthian said that SKII said they have 30 goodie bag for us and i was... WHAT??? But you asked for 50! ZZZ. I should've known something is not quite right by then *LOL*. 

Anyhoo. Arrived at the venue and asked to fill in the guest book, the reception clearly told us to hold on to this piece of paper, show it to the inner booth to receive SAMPLES and not to give the paper away because we're gonna need it to redeem our GOODIE BAG. Now, common sense told us that it means we're gonna get two things : a goodie bag AND some samples. What do you think? 

Let's see how the venue looks like before i carry on with my tirade okay haha.

Their exhibition and event venue was actually quite vast and well decorated, it's very grand compared to any other brands that i've ever attended before-if only their treatment to us were just as well it'd be totally swell

There were a few sections manned by dapper looking guys whose job was to explain to us about SKII. In the first section we were told about the origins of SKII and how it all started

There's even a display of Japanese rice used to make the pitera water

In the next section we were able to see some of SKII's brand ambassadors

Including Anggun who was caught in a less than flattering pose... There's also one Korean actress and the guy wanted us to guess her age. She looks like she's in 30s but she's actually 48, then Shelley told me to ask him to guess MY age *LOLOLOL*

With Surabaya's Twin Tower : Shelley and Sabsab *LOL*

First in the agenda is skin care demo on how to properly use SK-II's products, there were 7 (or was it 10?) steps involved, wowza! A participant was picked to get a mini facial at stage and the rest of us were offered the same mini facial in our seats-most of us wore full makeups (me included, can't expect a blogger to show up at a beauty event bare faced, can you???) so we decided to just watch the demo.

Sweet Merli was there, and she also got the mini facial

So was Sabsab!

Wonder what the rest of us did? Playing with the ample display products, awwing and ahhing at everything *LOL*

Then it was Cynthian's turn to do her Korean makeup tutorial. Gadis was her poor victim model

We were also offered to do free skin check :

Which i also skipped because my skin has been checked plenty of times with different brands/clinics, base line is : my skin's in awesome condition. LOLOLOL.

Now to the rant. After the event was done, we were pretty much left unattended, i wasn't sure what to do >.<. Some of the other bloggers had already redeemed their (bare-looking) goodie bag and since I invited them, they all flocked to me-in shock, asking if this is really all there is *LOL* :

One sample size product and a sachet of mask. Oh, and a name tag

Now, don't get me wrong : like i mentioned millions of times, despite whatever some brands might think about us, (most of us) ARE NOT goodie bag hunters. But it's safe to say that when we make our precious time to attend your events, we expect to be treated accordingly. A goodie bag pretty much reflects how a brand value us : highly, or very lowly. 

FYI, if we're told from the very beginning that all we're getting is one tiny sample product and a sachet or mask (i don't care how expensive your products are, actually i think the more expensive your brand is, the more budget you have for publications and events! I do not appreciate PRs who think we should be grateful for some scraps just because their products are expensive. We don't need them! Remember, we were INVITED. We never asked to attend in the first place! So who really needs whom here?)-and if we still agree to attend (which i can assure you, we won't) then it's another matter altogether. But what we were told from the beginning and what we're getting is too glaringly different.

To add fuel to the fire, we were told from the beginning of the event (let's forget what the PR said to Cynthian altogether) about us getting samples and goodie bag-please check out the photo above, does that look like what a goodie bag+samples should look like? So we're getting the tiny sample size products as a goodie bag and the sachet mask as a sample? Don't make me laugh.

More over, the staffs SNEERED and SNICKERED at us when we tried to confirm about the goodie bag. Remember what i said in the beginning about how the receptionist telling us repeatedly not to give the paper to the inside booth but to use it to redeem samples there, then goodie bag in front? Well, when one of the attendance asked about this, one of the staff pulled out a bag of samples but another staff beside her barked at her "NO, DON'T GIVE IT TO THEM! IT'S ALL IN THE BAG!". What the.... What are we, beggars??? LOL.

I felt bad for the other bloggers and friends (FYI, attendees included professional MUAs, famous Instagrammers and even beauty pageant winners -___-) and frankly, more than a little embarrassed (i've never been this humiliated, ever) so i decided to check with the receptionist. He was the one who told us about samples+goodie bag after all, and sure enough, he backtracked FTL. Yes, it's been moved, everything's in the bag.

Most bloggers might laugh it off and walk away, they won't even bother wasting their time writing about the experience. But that's not me. If we never take a stand, who would ever take one for us?

Don't get me wrong, i have nothing against SKII as a brand, i believe they're prestigious, high class and totally exclusive. But i do have grudges against their event manager in Surabaya (i'm sure there's no such incident in Jakarta), i mean... How would you feel when a brand's staffs laugh and whisper to each other blatantly to our faces when we're super confused and offended? I hope SKII, as a very professional brand, would educate their staffs better. Teach them more about the modern media, about bloggers and why they need us as much as we need them. 

We're not beggars, we're not jobless people with nothing to do who would hang around just for samples. We have jobs, and for some of us (like me), being a full time bloggers is our job. Teach them it's NEVER OKAY to snicker, sneer, make fun and use condescending tone when addressing the media (and customers).

In the mean time, i would skip any future events from SKII unless they reach out to us to sort this out. I'm speaking for myself (and some other bloggers in attendance), some probably would still come to your events for nothing, it's their prerogative, but i am taking a stand because i am tired of being treated like dirt.

Peace, out

#Pink