IMATS Toronto 2011 Part 1: The Haul

I was determined to stick to the list at this year's IMATS. For the most part, I stuck to it but added a little extra! I skipped purchasing colour cosmetics and restocked my tools instead. IMATS is great for replenishing things you don't really want to buy and most come in bulk. I thought I would do a quick post of my haul because I'm sure that's what most of you want to see. In part 2, I'll talk about IMATS in more detail because it's not only about the shopping right?

bdellium brushes: I had checked out this brand prior to IMATS and I was immediately intrigued. A few days before IMATS, I got a Twitter message from bdellium to come by their booth and I'm so glad I did! By far one of my favourite purchases! The yellow handles really caught my eye. And once I brushed the hairs across my skin, I was in love. I think it's great that there is an anti-bacterial component in them because that is essential for your own skin and my client's skin. bdellium definitely beat out an old IMATS favourite, Crown Brush, in quality and price! I love my complimentary travel set - my favourite brush is the Duet Fiber Foundation Face brush! Blends foundation beautifully into the skin. I'll give a more in-depth review on each brush in a later post.

My friend and I checked out bdellium first then we went to compare prices at Crown Brush. I don't know what it was but we somehow got caught up in the hoopla at Crown. I ended up buying a few brushes all of which were slightly more expensive than bdellium but I will still get use out of them. My most disappointing purchase were the sponges - $20 versus $12 at Nigel Beauty Emporium. On the upside, I was able to exchange my 2 pack of 25 mascara wands for their 100 pack which was $1 less (they had run out at the time then replenished their 100 pack towards the end of the day).

Beauty So Clean Cosmetic Sanitizer Mist and Cozzette Makeup Vessel from Alcone. I've been wanting to get Beauty So Clean for a while and it was on sale for $20. Pretty expensive still but worth it. Alcohol is drying out my cream blushes and cream concealers. I saw the Cozzette Vessel on Donna's blog, Makeup By Donna Marie. She said it is a must-have especially for holding your dirty brushes so I decided to try it out. 

My go-to foundations have always been Face Atelier Ultra Pro, but I wanted to try a new brand. It's always good to have a variety of foundations in your kit. I was ready to buy Eve Pearl's HD Foundation Trios but even though there was a discount, it still seemed pretty pricey at $30 per palette of 3 shades. I wanted the Medium and Dark. My friend convinced me to try Graftobian's High Definition Color Palette. She swears by it. For 18 shades at $75 it was a much better deal. I picked up the palette in Neutral - it has a good range of yellow toned foundations that will work for a wide range of skin tones. I've read some good reviews. I tried it out at the wedding show and it seems to work really well. But I found if you're moving a lot and sweating your skin can look a little shiny. Anyone have suggestions on good primers and powders to use with it? I'll play around with it a bit more. I'm kind of wishing I got the yaby foundation palette...maybe it will be a next purchase! Has anyone tried yaby's? 

Why wasn't Nigel Beauty Emporium my first stop?? This little booth was packed and for good reason! Everything seemed cheaper than both Alcone and Crown. Best deal of the day were the 15 lashes for $20! 

My purchase from bdellium and Velour Lashes tie for favourite purchase of the day! Everything else was for my kit, but these beauties were just for me. Let's just take a moment to admire these made from 100% authentic mink fur pure luxurious lashes. I ran into Arianne from Glitter Geek who had "You Complete Me" on her lashes which looked phenomenal on her! I just had to had them! They were $20 cash at the show, but regularly $59.99! They are on sale for $29.99 on their site which is still amazing so if you didn't get a chance to pick one up visit their site! If you're going to go faux, you can't get anything closer looking to your lashes than mink fur! A more in-depth review to come with me wearing them! 

Here's my old buddy from M.A.C., Melissa and I at the end of our shopping day. Happy shoppers! 

Ok, so I guess that wasn't the quickest post. What did you think of the haul? I want to hear about your favourite purchases from IMATS! Check out this great post from Lucky on MTV Fora - awesome IMATS tips for you newbies who want to attend next year!

If you have an IMATS post let me know and I will add you to my post!

www.imats.net/toronto/toronto_index.php