If you live anywhere near the Westfield World Trade Center in Manhattan on Nov. 6 or 7, you probably noticed tons of people walking around with identical pink boxes from EOS. And if you’re like me, you were definitely curious about where they came from.
Turns out, EOS threw a pop-up event called the Holiday Express, and honestly? It was chaos in the best way possible. People waited in line for anywhere from 30 minutes to a full hour. It honestly felt like Black Friday came early with the way people pushed to get in line.
The event ran from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days and walking into it felt like stepping into some kind of holiday wonderland. The train theme made everything feel real. The boarding passes, the different compartments, the arrival and departure sign. Everything.
Right when you walked in, you had to “check-in” and grab your boarding pass. The whole place was decked out with holiday decorations, Christmas trees, and staff members dressed as train attendants guiding people through the experience. It was extra, but perfect to get into the holiday spirit.
The first station, also called the Lotion Locomotion, had three new holiday scents to try. There was Caramel Cashmere, with notes of buttery caramel, sugar cookie, and spiced vanilla. Then Peppermint Cashmere, which mixed candy cane, marshmallow, and sandalwood. And finally, Cocoa Cashmere, which had notes of velvety cocoa, sugared amber, and vanilla marshmallow. You could choose only one scent to try, so your best bet was to go with three or four friends, and all try a different scent.
Next up was the Misty Blizzard station with all the perfumes. It was a little repetitive since it was the same scents as the lotion station, just in spray form. However, they did have their iconic Vanilla Cashmere that everyone loves, which has notes of whipped vanilla, soft musk, and cozy caramel. I don’t know why I expected different scents, seeing as it was only for their holiday collection, but I still got to try a new scent, so it worked out perfectly.
Finally, the best station, the Cocoa Kiss Café. This station gave everyone hot chocolate with whipped cream and your choice of toppings: peppermint pieces, sprinkles, or gingerbread crumbs. After standing in line, having something delicious to drink before you left was amazing. The toppings were inspired by three holiday scents EOS is discontinuing—Sugar Plum Spritz, Candy Cane Swirl, and Iced Sugar Cookie. I’m kind of sad they’re getting rid of these, but the new stuff seems promising.
After going to all three stations and getting your boarding pass stamped, you handed it in and got the pink box everyone was carrying around. Inside was a stuffed animal shaped like their Vanilla Cashmere lotion bottle, a randomly assigned travel-size lotion in one of the holiday scents, and a three-pack of lip butters in the discontinued scents.
If you were to ask me which scent was the best, I would say out of the new scents, Caramel Cashmere. It’s sweet but not too much, and you could actually wear it every day without feeling like you bathed in a gingerbread house. Out of the lip butters and discontinued scents, Iced Sugar Cookie was the best. It smelled exactly like how cookie icing tastes. However, this is all my personal preference because I like smelling like a cookie. There was really something for everyone, though – not just the people who love smelling super sweet.
Standing in line for an hour isn’t usually my idea of a good time, but I will say, this was pretty smart on EOS’ part. They gave away free stuff that is only available during this time of year, along with an exclusive plush. Plus, the whole experience was designed to be Instagram-worthy. Everyone was taking pictures, and they even did a thing where if you posted and tagged the EOS Instagram, you could win a free trip. Those pink boxes were basically free advertising walking around Lower Manhattan. EOS knew exactly what they were doing.