Event Report : A Day with Viva Cosmetics

Hi guysss...

This month is definitely going to be the worst in the productivity department in the history of this blog  >.<, it's nearing the mid of the month with only the second post for this month - AND i am leaving for a week vacation tomorrow :)). Oh well, i've been working so hard for this blog for years, i guess i do deserve some vacation as well?

Anyway, today i am gonna share an event that went down last Saturday - that broke the record for the longest event i've ever attended so far, and also the one that starts the earliest ever! 

We had the honor of visiting PT Vitapharm (most well known for their cosmetic brand : Viva Cosmetics, every Indonesian would definitely be familiar with this brand!) and spent almost the whole day with some fun activities there!

I am not exaggerating with the earliest event stuff because their invitation states 8 AM okay! (The event also didn't finish until over 4 PM :))...)

Btw, i set my alarm up at 6.15... And i didn't even hear it went off until 7!!! Needless to say, i pretty much jumped out of my bed, ran to the shower and tried to be as fast as i possibly could.  Thankfully PT. Vitapharm is close by to my place so it didn't take me very long to reach my destination!

I arrived at 8.30 on the dot (the 8 AM is when the registration opened, so nope... I wasn't late alright...) When i arrived, my fellow bloggers were busy hogging the pretty (look at my first pic up there) backdrop so i quickly get into the large hall they held the event at and find my seat which Redha had kindly saved for me. 

I would like to first say that i and Surabaya Beauty Blogger (and my fellow lifestyle bloggers too, i'm sure) are truly honored to be invited to this event. Not everybody can claim that they've been to a cosmetic factory and witness firsthand how they make and pack their products with our own two eyes, and we are truly thankful and grateful for this opportunity. However, i will also remain to be truthful to who i really am, i will always be this straightforward kind of blogger, and i don't intend to start sugar coating things - ever. So i hope Vitapharm can take what criticisms i have in this post positively because i also truly hope that we can continue to have a good relationship and partnership with them. I mean only the best with whatever i am writing to them ^^. 

Let's start with the positives, as always!!!

For some reasons i forgot to take a picture of the hall's set up :)), i guess i was still rattled with the fact that i totally overslept - but the hall was decorated with pinky, girly, lovely touch - a real treat for my eyes, ofc!

Personalized name card, even better because they hand it to us upon registration and let us choose our own seat because like all girls, we like to sit around our close friends alright :))

They also prepared a spread for us to keep us from being hungry :).

With around 36 hungry bloggers, the table was completely bare by the mid of the event hahaha

But ss beauty bloggers, there are things that caught our eyes more than the food :

Their products, ofc haha

And being totally prompt (they informed us that they want to start before 9), the MC opened the event at around 10 to 9.

The super fun and enthusiastic MC, ms. Olivia Setia... And Ce Fanny's head HAHAHAHA

The event started with opening speech from their Head of Marketing Division, Mr. Danny Wibisono

Who is a very friendly dude :)). Mr. Danny filled us in with the history of Viva Cosmetics (which is the oldest Indonesian cosmetics brand, they are turning 55 this year!)

And continued with PT Vitapharm's products introduction by their head of promotion unit, Ms. Ana. We learned that PT Vitapharm actually has a very very vast variety of of products that they produce, a lot more than we're even aware of!

PT. Vitapharm's products also very frequently win various awards, local AND international! Applaud to PT. Vitapharm! So proud of our local brand ^^

You might already know that PT. Vitapharm is also the producer of the teenager brand, Red A. I remember being a teen myself, buying Red A lipstick because i was attracted to their ads in the magazine :))

PT. Vitapharm is also one of the only  two brands that ever receive award from BPOM!

To follow the modernization in today's world, PT. Vitapharm also continuously innovate and come up with new products. One of their new products is the two-phased cleanser (that we receive in our goodie bag) and i am super excited about that! It's super rare for local brands to have this type of cleanser so far, so happy that we have easy access to affordable bi-phased cleanser now (among their other new products that i am also very excited about... Generally i am just very excited about new products tho hahaha)

After the introduction to PT. Vitapharm, the MC lighten up the mood with a game! She asked 5 pairs of bloggers to come up to do a 10 minutes (if i remember this correctly :))... Or was it 5 minutes? I think it was 10...) makeup on their partners.

Scrambling to pick the products

Claresta is the only representation of the beauty bloggers.... Furthermore emphasizing that beauty bloggers are spoilt brats :)). Hey, i am not even denying this okay

Honestly i think Claresta spent more time clowning around than putting makeup on Fio tho *LOL*

She still won first prize tho hahaha

Next on the agenda was the actual factory visit, we were taken to their production area and have a look on how the factory works. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any documentation, which is a bit of a problem IMHO. I mean... What's the point of a factory visit for bloggers if we're not allowed to document anything? I think our level of enthusiasm plummeted down as soon as we heard that no gadget was allowed during the tour *LOL*. I do understand that it's their company's secret and stuffs, but i was hoping that they would provide at least one section to for us to take photos in. Some of us even dreamed of experiencing making our own lipstick or something, clearly they were thinking of some other cosmetic company *LOL*.

All i can say is that their factory is super clean and neat, everything is super hygienic and orderly. Other than that, i can't really tell you without pictures  >.<.

When we returned to the hall (extremely relieved to be back because the room is very cool while the outside was meltingly hot!), the seats were already rearranged for the beauty class.

The beauty class started with skin care routine and even mask application!

Claresta looking like she's putting on some war paint hahaha

Fio being serious for once

Zendy was in her element too haha

The beauty class was led by Ms. Yustin

Remember the criticism i told ya earlier? Yeah... It's got something to do with the beauty class... Not the beauty class itself ya, in general it was a very good beauty class. Very thorough, and we really appreciate the fact that they provide what seemingly are new sets of brushes (but were not allowed to be brought home for some unknown reasons), the makeup kit were not new but they look okay-not dirty  and i also like the fact that they have beauticians spread around the hall helping out each table. 

The issue itself comes with the attitude of the trainers >.<. I'm not gonna name names or anything, but we were essentially pressured to join the beauty class. I know that every company is different, but as far as i'm concerned - an invitation to a beauty class is just that. An invitation. We were there in our capacity as bloggers, as guests and we're supposed to be treated like so. Bloggers are media too (i can never stress this enough) and i can't imagine them pressuring traditional medias (like newspaper journalists) to join a beauty class no matter what. I get that they want us to experience the beauty class and their products first hand, but i believe they can be nicer and gentler in doing so?

Don't say i'm being a drama queen or anything yah, because some of my fellow bloggers were being scolded for not removing their makeup - i myself was scolded because i wasn't wearing the cape and then once more when i was joking around with my friends and wore it like an actual superman cape. OMG, what is this??? This totally turned the atmosphere from jovial and fun to a total unease *LOL*. I just don't understand this :)), why were we treated like bad kids in class simply for not joining a beauty class... I am saying this not only to Viva cosmetics, but to all brands out there. If you're inviting beauty bloggers to a beauty class, be prepared that some of us might not fully join the class-but rest assured that we are working. Because that's what bloggers do when they attend events. Trust me, we take our title as bloggers very VERY seriously, especially the ones like me who's been a full time blogger for years. This is a real bruise to our ego *LOL*. 

If your invitation means we MUST MUST join the beauty class to the nitty gritty, then we have to be informed beforehand. That we MUST follow each step- then we have the choice for not attending the event (because trust me, some of us wouldn't). Not just informing us that there's going to be a beauty class ya, because that doesn't mean we have to join it-we can just usually join partially/take photos instead.

I'm sure that they did not mean to make us uncomfortable or anything, it's just that they are so set on their own ways... That they seem to be offended by our attitude. Please don't take it the wrong way, it's not like we're not respecting you or your event (us staying for over 7 hours on an event is a real feat alright, and it did took some persuasion from me for so many of them to come- but most of us stayed until the every end...now how is that not being respectful), but we do have multitude of reasons why we refuse to remove our makeup and redo it-it could be something like very sensitive skin that they dare not use new, untested (by themselves, on their own skin) base makeup - or it's something like being tired and jaded. I'm not trying to boast or anything, but we get invited to up to 5-7 beauty classes and demos a month, and boy i will be lying if i say that i am not tired of them. 

I guess that's my main criticism (i have another one below *LOL*) for this event.. Is for Viva trainers to lighten up their mood when dealing with younger crowd? LOL, this can so be taken in the wrong way, but hey... I'm just trying to help. After all, how can we possibly be comfortable in spreading our love for Viva's products if we feel like we're being intimidated...

Poor Olin stole my cape when i went outside because she was terrified after being scolded *LOL*

Anyway, moving on now.

That day was also Viva Cosmetic's Online Media's 6th birthday!

Happy birthday and we hope to grow together because when it comes to online, that is definitely bloggers' best friends!

PT. Vitapharm also ofc provided lunch for us :)), they would not let us go hungry for sure!

After lunch, the final session started which is a workshop with Moch Rizky from Studio Adventure (a very famous local photography studio)

Moch Rizky a.k.a Mochtret on Instagram

Now, 70% of the workshop was really fun and informative-and the 30% was... Well... *LOL*... 

What can i say... I have mad respects for Moch Rizky as a photographer and he generously shared with us the how-to (the most important ones are the flat lay photography advises because that's my weakest point) in photography. One of the most important part of blogging IS photography, and while some of us has mad skills - others like me is a total beginner when it comes to photography.

Writing on the other hand... Is my/our expertise. So when he started telling us the 10 steps on how to be a good beauty blogger... Well... Some of us got a bit annoyed *LOL*. I personally felt like i wanted to snatch the microphone from his hand and start my own workshop *LOLOLOL*. No, seriously-in order to lecture people on how to be a good beauty blogger, it would help if you : 1. have a beauty blog, and 2. has been in the beauty blogging industry for years. 

So i'm not even gonna go there, i won't talk about the how to be a good beauty blogger part (it would only be helpful for a very newbie/or someone who only want to start their beauty blog. Not senior beauty bloggers like most of us in the attendance *LOL*, actually no...not even that since some of the points he made were the total opposite of the unwritten blogger rules :))....) - but i does inspired me to do my own workshop on how to be a beauty blogger. It will be my project next year, be sure to stay tune for that (i'm being totally serious here). 

We were fascinated by his ring lights tho, i mean... It's all beauty bloggers' dream to have various ring lights to help us take self portraits and product photos!

This session on how to take good photos is quite funny and Moch Rizky was very entertaining

When he calls out the actual beauty blogger to pose tho

Would it be a surprise if the little sister nails it? LOL

And when he challenges Claresta for a selfie... Didn't he know that we take selfies for a living??? LOL. Ofc we know our angles and stuffs :))

In short, i would totally welcome him in another workshop, as long as his sticks to his expertise. The photo part :)), maybe he can team up with us next time to make sure his list on how to be a good beauty blogger are actually beauty blogger approved :)).

Final session is the winner announcement for the beauty class.

And also the lucky draw winners announcement (Redha was one of the winners!). 

Viva was being super generous to us, the event was practically showered with pressies-and they also sent us home with a very generous goodie bag.

I also am gonna share some fun photos from the back drop because #whywaste

My uber comfortable pastel OOTD because long events means i have to be comfortable at all times!

With Bella and Olin

Huey. Dewey, Louie are in da house!

Thank you PT Vitapharm for having us, for showering us with gifts, for opening up your door to us and let us take a peek into our dream factory (well, beauty bloggers dream about cosmetics you know), for spending a fun day with us. I hope you receive my criticisms well and with open hearts because i honestly wish nothing but the best for you. I am a huge supporter for local brands and i hope that we can all continue to grow and get better together ^^.

#Pink