“IMATS is the make-up world’s biggest gathering. Thousands of make-up artists, exhibitors and enthusiasts discuss, display and collect the best the industry has to offer. ” IMATS.net
IMATS exhibitions take place in six cities across the globe, throughout the year; LA, NY, LDN, VAN, SYD, TOR… that’s Los Angeles, New York, London, Vancouver, Sydney and Toronto. Given that London is relatively close, that’s where I was heading to on June 27th to 29th 2014.
2014 was my first visit to IMATS, though I’ve been a pro make-up artist for around 5 years now, I’ve never made it to IMATS before now. So, did I go crazy at the sales? Simple answer is no. For me, professional trade shows are about having direct access to educators and brand developers. There is a vast wealth of knowledge in one exhibition hall at one time, I want to soak up as much of that knowledge as is humanly possible.
I went through my kit the weekend before and made a list of the items I felt were missing. That helped immensely in my quest to curate a really streamlined working kit without overspending. I was able to do all of my shopping list items in 1 hour at the pro night on Friday evening. This would have left me with the whole of Saturday to attend seminars and network. Unfortunately family illness meant that I had to skip out on Saturday, but there’s always next year!
The good news is that I still managed to buy the items on my shopping list:
- blush palette
- contour palette
- BBU palette
- OCC lip tars
- a few more translucent face powders
… and here’s what I left IMATS with.
Artist of Make-up Zukreat contour & highlight powder palette at £53.46 (Empty 6-well palette rrp £12, 3 highlight/ 3 contour powders rrp £14 each – total rrp £96)
Bobbi Brown BBU palette (new formulation) at £120.25 (rrp £185)
Ben Nye fashion rouge blush palette at £29.96 (rrp £39.95)
Ben Nye translucent face powder in Fair & Ebony (I already have Banana & Sienna) at £4.58 each (rrp £6.10)
OCC Lip tars in a selection of peach and nude shades at £10 each (rrp £11.50), I already have a selection of reds and the primary colours.
Other items: Beauty Blender, Royal & Langnickel Revolution brushes (a selection rather than a set), Parian Spirit (the handy spray bottle), and a mixing well palette for my lip tars.
Not much in terms of financial damage, as I did my big re-stock at UMAE in April. Being a working make-up artist doesn’t mean I buy make-up non-stop, it actually means downsizing my kit and buying fewer products, but of higher quality that really go the distance.
Did you go to IMATS 2014? Have you been in the past? What were your IMATS buys? Let me know in the comments!