IMATS – A first time encounter

I know, i know.  IMATS was long ago and I am way behind and so yesterday; but I’m sure there’s still one or two people out there who will want to know just what I bought and how I experienced the occasion.  For those who do not know IMATS (the International Make-up Artist Tradeshow) is one of THE places to go to and be once a year, if you’re into anything cosmetic, make up or special effects related.  Like some sort of pilgrimage, women and men flock there (whether in London, Toronto, Los Angeles..) in order to get good bargains, see amazing art work being done and attend seminars of great make up artists.  This year was their 9th year and was my very first year of attending.  I wasn’t sure what to expect as I often heard of IMATS but did little research into as to what it was.  Next time round I shall be more prepared…

Held at the Alexandra Palace in Wood Green, London, it was a fairly large event yet a lot more low key than I had anticipated.  Furthermore I had imagined it to be filled with ‘fancy looking people’ doing ‘fancy funny things’ but actually a lot of us who went were in fact just human.  I imagined some sort of flamboyant affair that was similar to a circus but I felt like I was more in some sort of Star Trek Convention…

As you can see it wasn’t as big as I thought it would be.  It was large yes, but somehow I had expect more…  More stands I suppose and also probably fancy music and cinematic pictures and motion images everywhere.  I don't know why I imagined that because well, why WOULD they have that anyway?

There was plenty to see in terms of make up artist at work, showing off their skills and I was wowed by a lot of what was being produced; it was inspirational at the same time daunting at how far I have to work to get even close to that level of skill.

As you can see I went to my dear friends Ling (Moonbeamstarlight) and also Vicky (Vanity-Fashionista) and we had so much fun shopping together.  I also met Suzi (Style Suzi) but unfortunately I didn’t manage to take a picture with her!

I attended the key note talk with Bill Corso and was deeply impressed by his work and his character.  Again, inspired and also overwhelmed.  He is seriously, amazing.  We then went around and did lots of shopping and taking pictures.

Some of you may know I do have an irrational fear of clowns.  Why do I still want to be a make-up artist?  Probably it’s an unconscious want and need of conquering my fear…that' makes sense when it comes to me.  I mean, look, scary or WHAT?!

One of my high-lights of the day was meeting Koren from Enkore Make-up who I think is absolutely fabulous.  He has such a bright and beautiful personality and is truly amazing at what he does.  Honestly, I was star stuck.  I was even more star struck seeing him than when I met Natalya from Filthygorgeousmakeup and I was lost for words when I saw her.  He is just fabulous and that is a strong word to use!

 

I also attended his make-up seminar on using pigments sponsored by Naked Cosmetics.  He was very clear on his instructions and guidance and loved how he engaged with the audience.  His model was Gail from Oogle Make-up and she has such wonderful skin!  I really enjoyed watching him use these cosmetics especially as I picked up some myself!

I particularly loved seeing the Body art and special effects make-up.  Special effects is something I’m considering getting into eventually but I know I will want to do a lot of Body art as well as it takes all the challenges from the face right through to the whole of the human anatomy.  

I loved seeing the levels of complexity and intricacy; everyone had their own style and own forte.

Another great thing about going to IMATS and also being part of the beauty community on the internet is meeting the wonderful people you have 'previously met’ online!  Here I am with Eve (Moodeve) and Klaire (Klairedylysart). 

I was particularly excited to have met both Youtube Gurus because I absolutely adore them on screen and they were just as nice in person as they seemed.  It was very early on that Eve (her name is actually Claire, silly me) noticed me and ran up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and said “Cherry Chan!” and I was SO surprised and shocked that she even remembered my name!! I was so pleased, overwhelmed and touched.  I know, it’s so dramatic of me but I absolutely adore her and she has such a comforting presence.  I remember she was one of the first few people who welcomed me into Youtube and she did a response to my Chinese Tag videos.  I’ve always been seriously impressed at how good at Chinese is and secretly envious at how beautiful her eyes are…and I wish I was tall like her too! 

I met Klaire three quarters of the way through the day when I ended up at a small Youtube Guru/Bloggers meet up underneath a empty stall stand.  She turned around and I thought to myself “Oh My God it’s Klaire, my absolute idol, and she has no idea who I am and I want to say hi but I can’t and Oh my God what shall I do?!?!?!?!” and to my utter surprise she pointed at me and said “I don’t remember your name, but I know you!” and that was enough to send me flying with joy!  Who would have thought she would even know me!  She eventually regained her memory and now we' remain friends and in contact.  She is, by the way, such a lovely person and great to shop with! 

Here I’m standing with my other absolute idols, the Pixiwoo sisters, Nicola and Sam.  I watch their videos religiously and love what they both do.  They are hugely talented and have such warming personalities.  I’m so annoyed that I look so less cool than them in this photo but never mind.  Sorry Sam that your eyes are closed but I should have retaken it. 

Overall I had a fabulous time and it was a eye opening experience.  I am definitely going next year and will make sure by then I’m en-route to my make-up career. 
Having since gone to IMATS I want to remind myself of a few things so next time I am more prepared….

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  Bring hand wipes
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  Go both days and get there as early as possible
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  Wear something comfortable, forget cute skirts!
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  Bring tons of money, you know you’ll need it and best bring most of it in cash
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  Make sure make an itinerary
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  Bring lunch – it’s expensive there!
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  Tie hair up – you know why!
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  Bring hand sanitizer, again, you know why!
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  Don’t rush into buying things and this time, go it alone! (Not that I disliked or hated my company, I loved the company, I just am a beeline shopper and have a one track mind.  I shop like I intend to rule the world)

Haul
So lets go onto the hauling, I’m sure a lot of you will want to see what I bought.

I bought a palette to use for colour mixing and more creative work, I’m beginning to apply make-up onto other people and so this might come in handy as well as this 20 piece brush set.  This was originally £30 but by the time I got there it was the only display version so I got it cheaper for £25!  Shame that it’s a scary metallic blue but I still adore the brushes.  Both of these are from Royal Langnickel.

I bought a really awesome foundation palette to play with from Make Up International for, I think, £30 which I think is an absolute bargain. There are a ton of shades I can work with here and while I haven’t tried it out, it does look fairly promising.  I also picked up the Make Up For Ever HD Foundation because I’ve heard such amazing things about this product.  I’ve been using it ever since coming back from IMATS and I have to say it’s become and will be one of THE foundation of 2010 for me.  I love it!

  

I also stopped by Fero Beauty and got really nice cheap goods.  These faux lashes were abot £2.25 each (I know, bargain!) and I got two lip liners, both £1.08 each and I picked up their tube mascara for also a cheap price. I was relatively impressed by their product range and price.  I will definitely go back there again for supplies, especially the faux lashes.  I wish I could have bought more!

Also from Fero Beauty, this cheap £5 brush belt that will come in handy for my practising.  I will talk about those brushes in the belt in a second.  Next is the 24 hour miracle cream from Embryollise which is my ultimate favourite and I got it for £8.  This was a fabulous deal! 
The brushes below are all from Crown Brushes and it was like a pick-a-mix stall!   I picked up some brushes that I had seen similar ones before but were too expensive.


 

I bought a flat top buffing brush for loose powder and contouring.  Also a pencil brush for finer details.

 
I’ve been dying for a very large foundation brush so was pleased to find one; also picked a blunt, dense shading brush which I use for contouring the lips and nose. 


I picked up two blending brushes because I feel like I’m exhausting my MAC 217 and these were their smallest blending brushes which will be fabulous for my small eyes.  Also a Maxi Mop which I have no idea how to use but really wanted it!



I also got a mini fan brush after watching Koren apply mascara on Gail with one.  I thought this would be fun to experiment with!
Next I went to Illamasqua and they have an incredible 50% sale so I bought five things from there which amounted to £50!  I know that sounds a lot but £50 for Illamasqua couldn’t really get you more than two items, so I was so pleased!



I have been dying for these Liquid Metals for so, so long and I got both of these in Solstice and Enrapture and I still really want Phenomena. 


I got two blushers, one for high lighting and one for a big peachy apricot pop in the summer.  The contour colour on the left is called Steal and the one on the right is Excite.




Also picked up a lipstick from Illamasqua called Obey which is another peachy pink added to my collection.  This is very similar to 147 from BarryM and I’m hoping for better results as I’m not the biggest BarryM lip paint fan as they are quite drying.  This colour will look gorgeous in the summer paired up with the blusher above in Excite.

 

Last but not least, we made a trip to Naked Cosmetics that was featured in Koren’s seminar.  These are 100% oxidised mica pigments and are completely natural and 100% amazingly pigmented.  You can use these wet or dry and you can mix them. They have an amazing range of colours and so I picked two towers of natural/neutral shades and was given from free from Naked and so I picked a brighter set.  Thank You Naked Cosmetics!!  We also met the husband and wife owners of Naked Cosmetics and they are lovely people.  I will be wanting to buy more from them in the future.  If you ever do visit them and drop them a line, don’t forget to tell them you saw these here!! 

So you can see they come in these small and very secure jars.  Above is a Naked Primer which is very solid and easy to apply and above is the Sierra Nevada collection; full of earth neutral colours including a beautiful true black, a luminous vanilla colour and an absolutely amazing bronze colour. 

I wanted to show you swatches in both dry and wet.  You can see the top row is applied wet with primer underneath and the second row on the bottom is applied wet.  I love using them wet because I think the colour intensifies and then to blend out I blend out with the its original colour on powder form.  This is an amazing set of colours to use for anyone!

This is the Tropical Indulgence collection i was given free from Naked Cosmetics.  These colours are truly beautiful and will look wonderful in the summer.  I’m very attached to the second to last teal colour and think it’s such a gorgeous shade between green and blue.  I love it!


And this is the Urban Rustic collection I chose which again, I seriously adore because it’s not only a mixture of warm, earth tones but also very metallic and will look amazing when paired up with some cooler tones.  These are seriously vibrant and are my ‘thing’ for this season!

I think that’s all there is for IMATs, thank you for staying ‘till the very end and I hope you enjoyed this post.  Tell me what you think and what you thought about IMATS; do you want to go next time?  Klaire and I have roughly talked about a get together, what does everyone think?
Peace,
Cherry x