International Makeup Artist Trade Show (IMATS) London 2013

He growled in my face- I screamed and ran 

My favourite look

Finished piece from Kabuki demonstration

Strange baby sculpture 

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend IMATS. It is one of the biggest make up events in the world and takes place in 6 cities once a year. Makeup artists, bloggers, enthusiasts, makeup companies gather to together to discuss their common love, debut new products, as well as advice and demonstrations from industry experts. This was my first time at IMATS so I didn't know what to expect and I went in with an open mind. It's a 2 day event but I only went on the saturday, but here are views on the day.

The event was open from 8.30am-5pm and I decided that I wanted to get there early so I could miss the crowds, have time so shop and catch some speakers later in the day, so I arrived around 9.30am at the Olympia National Hall in Kensington. Well I think most people had the same idea as when I arrived there was a pretty long queue to get in, but it did go down quite quickly. As I walked in, I received my wrist band and stood at the top of the steps, overlooking the many stall, trying to figure out which direction to head in. I didn't really have much of a plan as I went in, except to go to PAM first to get hold of some Ben Nye Luxury Banana Power as it is in popular demand at the moment and I didn't want it to sell out and I'm lucky I got it when I did as when I went past later in the day it had sold out. After that I went to Royal & Langnickel to stock up on brushes and I was surprised just how cheap they were, ranging from as little as £2 up to the £20 range. There was also a large selection at Crown, but I only purchased one brush from there as I found the quality at Royal & Langnickel a bit better.

To be honest, my main reason for going was to shop and hopefully get some deals, but I also wanted to pick up some tips and ideas and I managed to catch a demonstration by Kabuki, a top worldwide makeup artist. He put on a demonstration and took questions from the audience, which made things a bit more interesting. He was such a lovely guy and was honest in the advice he gave and made the hour and a half demo go by surprisingly quick. I was also really looking forward to a talk by Pixiwoo, but unfortunately they had to pull out at the last minute, so that was a little disappointing.There were many other talks throughout the day and the whole weekend, so there was lots to keep you occupied and there was also a competition for student Makeup artists going on as well.

Without a doubt, the biggest bargains came from NARS, which also bought the biggest crowd and that was because they had 60% percent of certain products! I expected discount from companies but this was an unexpected, but very pleasant surprise. However, the problem with their stall was that it was incredibly small and there was only one till, so the queue to pay was a long wait and it was a struggle to get to the actual products, but I squeezed my way through as I wasn't going to miss out on that discount. I'm glad I did because picked up some lovely products, including a makeup artist palette for £12.50, which I'm guessing costs around the £40 mark as it's very large (couldn't find actual retail price). 

This was the first year that IMATS was held at the Olympia National Hall, as it was previously held at Alexander Palace. As it was my first year attending, I couldn't compare the set up and space, but it was a vast size with lots of walking space so you didn't feel claustrophobic. However, I do think that more stalls could of been added as there was some empty space and I was disappointed not to see Illamasqua there, as I had heard that previously they offered great discounts and deals. IMATS also had an app,which had a map so you could navigate your way around, as well as set reminders for any talks you wanted to catch.

I was looking forward to NYX and apparently so was everybody else as it was absolutely packed. This must of been due to the fact that its hard to come by unless you order it online because their discounts were very minimal with about £1 off most products. I only ended getting one thing, not because of the price but because it was so packed I could hardly get to anything else.

One of the things I most enjoyed seeing was all of the different special effects makeup. I've never really seen anything like it up close and some of them were truly amazing, and slightly terrifying at the same time lol. My favourite look was the woman dressed as someone from a comic, the detail was amazing (picture above).

Overall I had a really good time at IMATs and I think it was worth the £40 for the ticket. Would I travel far and wide to go to it? Probably not, but I think I would go back next year if they have some more exhibitors. You can see everything that I bought here, but I will be doing some individual posts on some of the products very soon. 

What were your thoughts on this years IMATS? Was it what you expected?

xoxo