If you follow us on Twitter, you already know that we went to IMATS on Saturday November 6th. (IMATS stands for the International Make-up Artist Trade Show.) Anyone can attend as long as you purchase a ticket – you don’t have to be a makeup artist. Fiona and I aren’t makeup artists, but we went because of our passion for (heh, or addiction to!) beauty products.

At IMATS, there were lots of booths offering huge markdowns on cosmetics from brands like NYX, Ben Nye, Stila, Crown Brushes, and Make Up For Ever. And you could also watch competitions and attend seminars where professional makeup gurus dished some tricks of the trade. (Scroll down in the post for tips we picked up from Koren Zander (aka EnKore). There was a lot to see and do!

Unfortunately, one of the first things we saw when we stepped into the building was the most-disgustingly-painful-looking wedgie. An unfortunate case of there being too much woman for too little pants. Thankfully, the sights improved shortly.

We Came. We Saw. We Bought.

 

NYX Cosmetics had the largest booth, and it was the one we were most excited about. Their products are already really affordable, but at IMATS, the prices are slashed further. NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencils were just $2 CAD, single eye shadows sold for just $4, and liquid crystal liners were only $4! There were so many deals to be had, which is also why we ended up going back to that booth 3 times!

It was like a beehive around the Crown Brushes booth! Practically every type of makeup brush you could think of, they had – synthetic, natural, fluffy, sparse, black-handled, pink-handled, etc. They also had a bunch of those 88-eyeshadow palettes for $20 each. (I bought 2 – one was of the bright colors and the other was the neutral palette.)

We saw one guy (with awesome spiked hair) fill up his plastic bin with probably 50+ brushes! And with quality brushes going for as little as $1.50, it’s easy to see why IMATS is a great way to stock up on your essentials or splurge on items from your wish list.

Naked Cosmetics was a real surprise for both of us. I had heard about the brand, but never tried any products. What I really liked about this company is that their priority is to bring customers pure makeup with as few ingredients as possible.

The pigments we purchased don’t contain bismuth oxychloride (which I asked about specifically), and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they’re made of 100% oxidized mica and are free of talc, oil, wax, or other fillers that can be harmful to your skin. And to put the icing on the cake, these pigments are multi-purpose – you can use them as shadows, eyeliners, and highlights. Plus you can mix them with lip colors and nail polish to create signature shades!

A friendly woman swatched the loose pigments we were curious about on her arm. So many gorgeous shadows – it was tough narrowing it down to just 2 rows of stacked pigments (but we did).

After shopping around for a bit, we attended the tutorial by Koren Zander (aka EnKore from YouTube)! I had watched some of his videos and was excited to see what he was like in person. Apparently he has a lot of fans because the second he took to the stage and began talking, tons of camera flashes went off.

We watched as he worked his makeover magic on a woman on stage who had naturally ghostly pale skin. Each step of the way he’d stop to tell us what he was doing, how to do it the most effective way, and why you should do it like that.

He is personable and has a good sense of humor. When he accidentally dropped his brush, he said how important it is to always carry extra brushes. And, of course, he looked fabulous with his sparkly bow headband on top of his hat.

New Tips I Learned from Koren Zander at IMATS

Tip #1: How to Find Your Crease

Take a brush handle and hold it horizontally. From your eyebrow, roll the handle down. Where it dips in, that’s where your natural crease is. (I don’t have any problems finding my crease, but it was neat to hear this – the first time I have ever heard this tip.)

Tip #2: How to Do Your Eyebrows

He kept saying how instead of making them identical, you should make them, “look like sisters, not twins!” Haha! Also, instead of filling in your eyebrows from the beginning of the brow to the end, you should start at the arch and then fill out to the ends for a more balanced look.

Tip #3: How to Avoid Unnecessary Fallout

EnKore stressed the importance of placing your color first by patting it on and then blending everything out after to avoid harsh edges.

Tip #4: How to Fix Cakey Makeup

If you accidentally put on too much foundation or blush and it becomes cakey, you shouldn’t just remove it and start again. He suggested spraying a wedge sponge with water and then pressing and wiggling it on the cakey areas. (Fiona and I thought it was hilarious when he turned to the audience and asked, “Who caked on the makeup?”, paused, and then said, “You did!”)

 

Eye on the Prize

Although we didn’t have time to attend the makeup-artist competition, we did see the finished looks on the models and even took some photos. My favorite was the sultry goth, but first place went to the colorful clown.

This was the first time we attended IMATS, and it definitely won’t be the last! Overall, it was a fun afternoon, and we can’t wait to try all the makeup and brushes we bought!

Have you ever been to IMATS?