Polish Con Brooklyn Spring 2017: Dream, Sparkle, Shine Recap

This past April 29 marked the second ever Polish Convention, or Polish Con, a large sale event for indie nail polish, this time based in Brooklyn, New York at the Grand Prospect Hall. The theme was Dream, Sparkle, Shine, and it sure lived up to the name! Over 500 indie fans and customers had the chance to hang out, meet one another, buy polish, and watch tutorials by talented IG and blogging nail artists. I will share a bunch of pictures of the events with you, plus link to a downloadable drive with images, as well as coverage by my blogging colleagues. Let's get started!

The venue was the Grand Prospect Hall, a grand and extraordinarily well preserved historic ballroom, dining establishment, and theater located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It was built in 1892 to host the events and parties of the well-to-do in the area and its extravagant decoration lent a dreamy quality to the event. I went there the day before opening and it was exciting to imagine how lively it would become in just 24 short hours!

Many of the vendors shipped their wares in advance, and they were housed in an original bar in boxes waiting to be moved to the hall the next day.

There was a team of Polish Con "special forces" volunteers put together by organizers Jen Carter, Rachel Ciardi, Mariah Jonckheere, and Miranda Kraft, who were some of the hardest working, most efficient ladies I have ever worked with on an event! Here they are sorting out the staff T-shirts and last minute planning for the next day.

Sometimes moving polish was a bit of a challenge, as the elevator was quite small and manually operated. This is one of the oldest elevators still working in the New York metro area, as it was installed in 1892, when such a thing was a huge novelty! Miranda's husband Ed became quite the elevator champ over the weekend.

On Saturday morning at dawn, we all got over there to move boxes to the vendors' tables and they soon arrived to get set up. It is probably the most stressful time of the event, as we know there are hundreds of eager customers who will be there to ravage the tables in only a few hours!

 

So many of the displays were lovely and artistic - the lighting was dark, so photography was a challenge, but it was beautiful to see in the calm before the storm of opening. Colors by Llarowe had a beautiful custom-build display

Dollish Polish's event exclusive shimmered in the theatrical lighting.

Girly Bits had an array of multichromes that shifted beautifully in the light.

Anchor & Heart Lacquer's soft spring shades enticed near the venue entrance.

The Ever After booth had dragon eggs of their new flakie collection made by A Mother of Dragon Eggs!

As opening drew near, brands were ready, eagerly anticipating their customers! Here is Fleur de Lis Polish. 

Once the doors opened to general visitors, the venue was packed, but lines were reasonable and traffic moved well. Any vendors that ran out of event exclusives took orders so no one was disappointed.

Dolly of Dollish Polish looked like a fairy behind her glowing trees!

Leesha of Leesha's Lacquer wore her hair filled with glitter!

Sara of Cupcake Polish had a blow-up mascot that was a bit larger than she anticipated, which put a smile on her face!

Shaneka of Polish My Life, a native New York maker, greeted fans and customers in front of her booth with a magical smile on her face the whole time.

Mariah of Great Lakes Lacquer, one of the event organizers, was constantly refilling her displays. I admit to helping undo her work by buying a few!

At the Ever After table, a smiling, blonde Rachel works her booth while consulting with another organizer who is camera shy but who is one of the sweetest people in polish land :). In the foreground, Abby of A Journey in Color works the booth, one of many amazing bloggers who volunteered to help at the event.

Aubrey of Hella Holo Customs was stationed out front to sell raffle tickets while Dawn, her partner in crime at HHC, was working the mic running giveaways and making announcements. Both ladies came all the way from Hawaii - I dubbed Dawn MC Aloha!

The atmosphere of the day was vibrant, exciting and magical!

If one wanted a respite from the hall, there was a lovely side room and deck, as well as refreshments and tutorial tables! The tutorials were by sign up, but anyone could stand around and watch.

Bianca of Abstract Pups taught people the basics of stamping.

Kaylyna of Killa Kay's Nail Adventure handled advance stamping techniques.

Krystal of Queen of Nails 83 was the smiling face of water marble mastery.

Parker of Poshayy unraveled a variety of nail art techniques. 

Kristi of Let's Begin Nails instructed the art of gradients.

I took a TON of pictures - while it is too many to share directly in this blog post, feel free to have a look at all of them on a Google Drive - please download them and save if you like!

Also, be sure to check out other coverage of the event at the following blogs:
Beauty Judy
Ehmkay Nails
Nail It Magazine
Queen of Nails 83
Polish Galore
Some Weird Sin
The Jedi Wife

It was great to meet so many of you and am excited for the upcoming Polish Con in Chicago at Navy Pier this fall! Be sure to follow the event's social media to keep informed about dates and ticket information.

The Polish Convention social media:

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/polishcon/

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1127589983937164/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepolishconvention/