Sunday, November 7, 2010

IMATS Toronto 2010: The Makeup, The Artists, The Beauty Bloggers

The Filipina crew: Me with Arianne (The Glitter Geek) and Michelle (Lipstick Rules)


UPDATE: Forgot to mention a THANK YOU to Arianne for the ride!

IMATS is like Christmas to me; I wait in anticipation all year for this one day! As soon as I strolled in with fellow beauty bloggers, Arianne and Michelle, I was giddy and instantly felt an exciting vibe in the air. Besides the makeup, makeup shows are always one big makeup reunion.


The Face atelier booth was our first stop. I was so happy to see my girl, Eunique, working and manning the swarm of girls. 


I think pretty much everyone I know went home with some Face atelier products. I wish I had bought more because the discounts were awesome but I mustered up the willpower to stick with my list!

L-R Top: Face atelier Ultra Foundation Pro, Embryolisse 24 Hour Miracle Cream, Kett Sett Powder, Stila Custom Blush 
L-R Bottom: yaby Cosmetics Liquid Foundation, mascara wands (Alcone)

I always love seeing what other beauty junkies buy. I think it says a lot about your personality. In my case, my makeup haul looks kind of boring! I'm all about giving good skin - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I pretty much bought products that were for my kit with the exception of the Stila Custom Blush (stay tuned for review). The idea of a candy pink blush adjusting to my skin tone intrigued me, but mainly the colour just caught my eye and is a shade I don't have in my kit. I wasn't planning to purchase anymore foundations, but when Liz Yu, creator of yaby, described the finish as "like a baby's soft skin" I couldn't resist! Plus, these tubes were only $8! Stay tuned for my review!

Michelle and Arianne were a hoot to shop with! Check out some fun pictures from the event and all the awesome people I ran into. I didn't have a lot of time to really take advantage of the two days so there were a lot of people I didn't meet and workshops and seminars I didn't have a chance to attend but there's always next year!

Hilarious Arianne going gaga over the OCC Lip Tars "It almost covers my whole hand!" LOL

The beautiful ladies from CoverFX: Melissa, Wanda and Katherine

Michelle and Arianne going swatch crazy at NYX

Lovely Naomi from StylEyes with her fabulous friends!

Ran into YouTube makeup guru, Koren from EnkoreMakeup! He stopped me because we have the same flashing wheels on our Zuca :)

Click here to view more photos. 

Overall, I had a great time hanging with other beauty bloggers and shopping the booths. The Toronto Congress Center was a great venue, although I don't think it was any bigger than last year at The Exhibition Place. As for location, I hope that IMATS next year will be downtown. Mississauga is just not central enough and isn't easily accessible by transit. On the upside, a shuttle bus was provided which I'm sure helped but I don't know how frequent it was. 

This year, waiting to pay for products was painful. The lineups at some booths were ridiculously long which deterred me from wanting to buy products. I know having a designated line for paying is meant to be efficient and keep order but at the same time it just wasn't. Then again, this year seemed much busier and that is a good thing. There was a few complaints from some bloggers about IMATS feeling "small" and the truth is that Toronto is on a smaller scale compared to other cities. This is only IMATS' second year in Toronto. I felt this year was better than the last and I'm sure it will get better every year. It makes sense to start out small and test out the waters so to speak. It's obvious a lot of money and time goes into a convention like this so everyone involved has to be confident that it will be worth it. This year new brands were added like M.A.C. and Stila, which is a good sign that more brands will jump on board the more exposure IMATS receives in Toronto. There is definitely a market for IMATS in Toronto thanks to our growing makeup artist and beauty blogging community! 

Thank you to the creators of IMATS for an amazing event! I'm already looking forward to next year's!  I had a great time shopping, seeing old friends and making some new ones. Oh, and if I can make one request on a must-have keynote speaker for next year, it would be the talented celebrity artist, Andrea Claire!

Some fab ladies I ran into and some I missed - be sure to check out their recap of IMATS!

Rasilla from In a Nutshell

My apologies if I missed anyone! What was your favourite or not-so-favourite part of IMATS? What must-have products did you stock up on?

12 comments:

Stephanie Daga said...

Hey You! It looks like you all had so much fun ... wish I could have been out there ... especially to meet everyone!!!

Ah ... until next year!!!

beautyparler said...

Overall, meeting up with fellow bloggers is always fun & I too love to see what others are buying:) Surprisingly I wasn't planning on buying NYX but at the prices & selection I couldn't resist & plus they're products for my personal use. Too bad we didn't get to chat long.

Arianne said...

Great post! Love the pics. I look special!

It was fun hanging out with you and Michelle. I had a great time! :) Thanks for the presents, too! More goodies to play with!

Make-up Junkie said...

@Stephanie - yes we must do IMATS together next year! I was hoping you would make it out but I know you were busy!!

Make-up Junkie said...

@Arianne - LOL u have nothing to worry about when it comes to taking a good pic - your so photogenic! ;) I know - was good times hanging out and ur welcome for the goodies! Oh and forgot to mention a thanks in my post for the ride!

Andrea Claire said...

Joy,

So sweet! Thanks for the shout out request!

I would be happy to speak at IMATS if they wanted me.

xo
Andrea Claire
PS You made my day!

Make-up Junkie said...

@Andrea Claire - fingers crossed and I'm glad you made my day! I learned so much from you and still learning!

LipGlossGossip said...

Great pictures! Looks like you had a great time! :)

o said...

That sounds like so much fun!
I really wish I could have gone

Make-up Junkie said...

@LipGlossGossip - thanks! A show about makeup is always a great time!

Make-up Junkie said...

@Beauty Addict - Next year!! Mark it save it NOW lol

Jenn @ So Very Fabulous said...

It was my first year going to IMATS and I had so much fun! It was great seeing everyone and I'm excited about all my new goodies. The only bad thing about it was not having a bottomless wallet hehe.