I had the amazing opportunity yesterday to visit the Avon Research & Development Center in Suffern, NY. Myself and a group of beauty editors and bloggers were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the facility to see how Avon products are made from start to finish. We were able to go inside the actual labs where lipsticks, creams, and more are created. It was quite a memorable experience!

The day started with us being picked up in a huge luxury bus decked out with flat screen tvs (so cool!), which took us on the one hour journey up to Suffern. Once there we sat down for a lovely breakfast and were given a brief history of AVON. Did you know that AVON is the largest global network of women, raising over $1B for women’s causes. Not only that, but AVON gives women the opportunity to be financially independent entrepreneurs conducting their own businesses selling AVON products. They truly believe in promoting “Beauty For A Purpose”.

Our first stop on the tour was the lab where AVON creates the lipsticks we all know and love. After being thoroughly mixed by the technician, they are then placed in molds we learned.

We moved on to the Color Library where we saw rows and rows of drawers filled with hundreds of eyeshadows, lipsticks, and polish colors. And you thought you had a lot of beauty products?

The fragrance lab was one of my favorite stops on the tour. There have been hundreds of scents introduced since the start of AVON. They work with leading master perfumers all over the world. We had a chance to smell the “top notes”, “mid notes’, and “base notes” of fragrances, and then sampled what the final perfume smelled like once all the notes were combined. We tried scents: Imari, Luck For Him, Luck for Her, Femme, Far Away, and the latest Amour.( Fun fact: One bottle of Far Away is sold every few seconds!)

We visited the skin labs to see the latest from the ANEW product line. The ANEW Ultimate Day Multi-Performance Cream, $38, in 2 weeks minimizes the look of fine lines and deep wrinkles, restores natural volume and makes skin look and feel more resilient. With the Ultimate Night Multi-Performance Cream, $38, skin instantly feels hydrated and looks radiant. Ultimate Multi-Performance Eye System, $36, firms and lifts the appearance of sagging skin for a more youthful look.

AVON does extensive testing of its products, there are even full service nail and hair salons on-site to test polishes and hair products!

After a beautiful (and delicious!) lunch, I visited the Lip Bar to pick out some pretty shades that work with my skin tone. And followed that with a screening of my skin to check for sun damage. Now that was eye-opening! They recommended that I use ANEW Ultimate Day Multi-Performance Cream because of its great SPF benefits.

Lastly was a quick stop at the photo booth, before grabbing goody bags and boarding the bus back to NYC.

Every single person working at the R&D Center was extremely sweet and talked about how much they loved being a part of the AVON family. It is such a great company that it compels each employee to put their heart into their work. And the result is years of outstanding products from AVON.

Review, Swatches: Avon Ultra Color Indulgence Lip Color – Best Long-wearing Lipstick