The magic's in the makeup - IMATS Toronto 2010

So you've read all about my IMATS London experience here. Now it's time for IMATS Toronto! It's another long one, apparently, despite a Journalism degree, I am incapable of editing and type the way I speak.

It was a totally different experience for me, in London I was 'media' so was going in a more official capacity I suppose. I was soaking it all in for the article and eager to catch a couple of seminars and talks and as I mentioned, I managed to see David Klasfeld, Terry Barber and Alex Box. I was by myself (although me being me, I had accrued a couple of companions by the end of the day!) and it was kind of a more educational day for me, I wasn't sure what to expect and went with the flow of the day.

This time, however I was with Best Friend Tia, I had a much better idea of what to expect and what I was looking for and shopping was the main priority! If I had been by myself I probably would have tried to catch a couple of seminars but I wasn't too too disappointed.

We were staying at the Radisson which couldn't have been more perfect, it was literally next door to the venue. On the hotel shuttle from the airport, guess who we bumped into! None other than Mr Koren, aka Enkore Makeup and Miss Elessa aka Pursebuzz! I had met Koren in London very briefly, not that I expected him to remember! They had both come off flights and I imagine the last thing they wanted to do was make small talk with us, but they were both lovely and very friendly when we saw them again on the Saturday.

So we were up bright and early on the Saturday and headed over to the venue about 8.30 ish after a vital breakfast at Tim Hortons. Tia and I already knew basically what we wanted and by the time we had waited in line to get our wristbands, were eager to start spending money!

The first booth we headed to, as I remembered how popular and quickly sold out they were in London, was Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics to pick up my obsession, the Lip Tars. Tia had never heard of them before and I pretty much waxed lyrical about them, 'No seriously, Tia, you don't understand how good they are, no seriously, like they are so amazing, you will never want to use anything else, seriously though, you don't understand!'. I had pretty much bigged up Lip Tars because I love them so much! I picked up a few new colours, as well as a new Feathered, the white one, because mine is running out. Tia also picked up a few including Momento, I wish I got that one, it's so gorgeous! Next time! I was helped by the man himself, the creator of OCC, David Klasfeld. He is again, so nice and said that he remembered me from London, which was very sweet! I am building up my collection of Lip Tars, I used them on a couple of Prom Make-ups I did this summer and they went down very well! It's so great when a smaller company creates such a fab product that far exceeds anything from the huge powerhouse brands. Judging by the crowds around the OCC booth, I'm mos' def' not the only one who's addicted.

Our next stop was Make Up For Ever, which was 40 percent off. Um, amazing. The system however was not so amazing. Basically you wrote down what you wanted, handed it to one of the girls at the booth, they then bagged it up and you had to go round to a separate table, wait for your name to be called and pay. The problem was that the sheer number of customers meant that the wait to pay was rather long and people were getting frustrated. I can see that in principle it could have been a good idea but in reality it would have been far easier to just give your money to the girl who bagged your goodies. Anyway so we were there for rather a long time but I have to say a big thank you to the lovely girl from MUFE who gave me the last glitter no. 6 and literally held it in her hand even while helping other people, whilst I was deciding what else I wanted. Thank you! Despite the wait, it was totally worth it. I love MUFE and 40 percent off is pretty damn good!

After that we hit up NYX. I was very excited about that as I was under the impression that it couldn't be bought in stores in Canada. Apparently I've been living under a rock as you can buy nyx at Rexall/Pharmaplus. Cannot believe I only just found that out. Anyway we picked up a few essentials (!) and moved on. We had a quick look at the museum section, which was, as in London, very impressive. I will never cease to be amazed by the amazing special effects and prosthetics. It truly is art. After wandering around, picking up more goodies, I made my way to Face Atelier. I was lucky enough to have a chat with the founder, Debbie Bondar who is fab. I also finally picked up a full size bottle of the amazing foundation! I'm definitely interested in trying some of their other products which I've heard great things about. I love that they're a Canadian company too!

I picked up a few other things but my next post will be an IMATS haul. I feel like I didn't get too much but the things I got, I love!

Here are a couple of my, as to be expected, terrible pictures. To be honest I only brought out my camera for 2 mins. I needed both hands for shopping!

It was a fab day, so glad I went. Definitely want to try and get to Pasadena next year!

Speak soon,
Love Sophie xx

All we do is shop until we drop - IMATS Toronto

In my final year at LCF, I created a beauty magazine called 'Pretty' ( will do more detailed post on this at some point!). As part of my research I was lucky enough to go to IMATS London which was held at Alexandra Palace in January. I was going to do a write up about it but as I'm typing this I think I might just post the article that went in the magazine...the kind and lovely Charlotte from Lipglossiping gave me permission to use her stunning pictures of the event in the magazine (of which one would be above but Blogger is being a little so and so & not letting me upload any pics!) because mine were so blurry it looked like I'd had a few Cosmos before being let loose with the camera. You might want to fetch a cup of tea, or even better, a cocktail as this might be a very long post...

In the industry, it’s known simply as ‘the show.’ IMATS, or the International Makeup Artists Trade Show happens five times a year, in London, Los Angeles, Sydney, Vancouver and Toronto. With press pass in hand, Editor Sophie went to Alexandra Palace, host of this year’s London extravaganza to mingle with makeup artists, schmooze with students and return home with aching arms.

By 9 am on the first day of IMATS 2010, the queues at Alexandra Palace were trailing outside the door. With presales of 3000 tickets, the London version of IMATS this year outsold it’s Los Angeles counterpart (generally thought of as the main event). Every makeup artist, beauty blogger and cosmetics enthusiast in the country could be found in the North London venue on this cold, sunny weekend with big shiny IMATS carrier bag in hand ready to be filled with goodies. 

Upon arrival by trusty Addison Lee (early at 8.30, beating the crowds thankfully) I was waiting outside with the other eager girls and boys. When the big doors opened, I made my way into the main convention centre. IMATS is basically a huge makeup convention, yes in the manner of those famous Star Trek conventions, but it’s not Kirk and Spock who float these boats - big beauty brands, makeup schools, prosthetic and special effects artists from all over the world come to showcase their products (often at a budget friendly discount!) and impart their wisdom to enthusiastic makeup artists. Alexandra Palace is set up with booths adorned with bright pigments, shiny new brushes and impressive stands of headless monsters and hairy beasts. The air was heavy with the smell of anticipation and lipstick. 

The biggest component of IMATS is the exhibitors. The great thing about the show is the variety of exhibitors and the opportunity to be introduced to new companies and products that may otherwise have been overlooked. While famous and ever popular brands like MAC are present, the real gem are the lesser known companies who get the chance to showcase their products. (See my pick of the top 3 companies exhibiting). In the era of YouTube Gurus, many of whom are American, it allows us Brits a chance to access the products that they have recommended but which are not readily available in the UK. As well as tempting booths, there is an impressive makeup museum, filled with wax figures from films, beheaded characters so real one felt as though any minute they might jump and and scream at you in manner of the London Dungeon.

There is also a big student competition - students from various makeup schools were given the theme of Alice in Wonderland and tasked to create a look based on this theme. The results were fantastic and the calibre of work very impressive. 

I then spent the next hour or so wondering around the stalls, getting the lay of the land and not buying anything (honest, guv’nor!). 

At 10am I headed to the West stage where David Klasfeld, founder of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics was conducting a talk about airbrush makeup. These talks are perhaps the main draw of IMATS for makeup artists. Industry professionals and makeup ‘celebrities’ perform seminars, demonstrations and talks on stage and those in attendance get a rare insight into the minds and work of these successful professionals. It is an invaluable opportunity to be able to hear these individuals at the top of their profession talk about what they love. Klasfeld discussed the merits of airbrushing - particularly relevant in these days of Hi Definition. I then hotfooted it over to the mainstage to join a huge queue of people waiting to be allowed into the room to hear Terry Barber, director of Mac Cosmetics for Europe and the UK. This was one of the big events of the weekend and the line of Mac addicts, wide eyed and hearts racing from the excitement of the day, trailed around the corner. Once we were finally in and everyone had elbowed themselves to the best seats we waited for the man himself, who was to talk about Makeup for music videos. His inspiration for the particular look he was going to demonstrate was ‘blackspoitation’ and he proceeded to makeup a model effortlessly, all the while telling the audience stories about his celebrity encounters with the likes of Grace Jones, who allowed him to shave off her eyebrows, on the premise that she spent most of the 70’s without them, so why would she need them now? His tips about lighting the face using contour and highlight were of particular interest. After another few hours spent walking around, talking to people and filling my increasingly heavy shiny IMATS bag with brochures, booklets and products (needed for vital research, you understand) I headed back to the mainstage. The final talk of the afternoon and one for which seats were in serious demand was the inimitable Alex Box, Makeup Artist and founder of Illamasqua, a relatively new brand which has taken the makeup world by storm since it’s creation. Instead of a demonstration or seminar, her talk was in the form of a sit down interview with Makeup Artist Magazine. A vision in sky high stilettos and blue lipstick, Box was softly spoken and engaging - talking about her start in makeup and her vision for Illamasqua. After a rousing round of applause, I headed back to the exhibition room catching the extremely impressive entrants into the student competition wandering around for photos.. After another quick look around the exhibitors, I left Alexandra Palace just before closing with aching arms, a considerably lighter bank account and a smile on my face. 

It was a fab day, I was SO exhausted when I got home! It was also the day I first met the fabulous Katy & Rebecca who have gone on to become firm friends of mine, so that alone was worth it!

The point of all of this is that IMATS is coming to Toronto on the weekend of November 6th and 7th. I, of course will be there, elbows extra pointy and cash at the ready. I am going with Best Friend Tia, who has already made a list and detailed map as to which booths we need to visit first. (Do I need to point out why we are best friends?!) As well as the usual suspects (Mac, MUFE, Nars etc) there are a couple of companies going which I am thrilled about! 

The first is Face Atelier, a Canadian brand who reached out to me when I was starting 'Pretty'. They sent me some samples including their foundation which is AMAZING! I cannot wait to get my hands on a full size bottle. Actually now I think about it I never sent them a copy of the magazine, in post hand-in relief I sort of blocked all thoughts of 'Pretty' out for the summer. Actually there's a few people who probably want to take a look at the finished product. Will have to send some emails! Anyway my point is that they have this fantastic foundation, I can't imagine why it's not more easily available because it truly is great. Face Atelier, if you're reading this, I will bring a copy of the mag to IMATS for you! 

The second is Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. Like most who try them, I am obsessed with their Lip Tars. Seriously if you're a makeup junkie and you haven't tried these yet, you need to get a move on! I have four but am expecting my collection to grow considerably after the show! It's hard to describe them well enough to do them justice. They're in a tube like a gloss, look and feel like a lipstick and stay on like a stain. Hello Lip heaven.

It's going to be so much fun! What with Ottawa Fashion Week and IMATS, the next couple of weekends are super busy which is just how I like it. Oh and did I mention I also move house next week?! Talk about eggs and baskets!

Speak soon,
Love Sophie
xx

ps. Check out the IMATS website for info

I live for the nights that I can't remember, with the people that I won't forget...

I had an amazing night last night celebrating my birthday with my friends. I love them so much, far too many drinks were consumed and a good time was had by all!  This photo probably shows my makeup the best, I'm on the right as you look at the pic and my best friend Tia is on the left. (I think if you click on it,  it will get bigger?!) It was slightly over the top. Let’s just say drag queens would have been proud but sometimes, more is more! Let me know in the comments if you'd like a tutorial!

In other news, today I am going to the most glamourous of destinations that is Syracuse, Central New York State. About a four hour drive (merely down the road to North Americans!), Syracuse is a University town, home of the famous ‘Orange’ basketball teams. It holds a special place in my heart; when I was thinking about going to University and trying to decide where to go, for some reason I was really interested in Syracuse. We went with some American friends on homecoming weekend and it was just SO fantastic, eventually I decided to go back to London but Syracuse still holds something for me. The city itself is nothing special but the reason many Canadians flock there is for the shopping. The shopping is great. The main attraction is the Carousel Center Mall, home of faves like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister & J. Crew for basics, Old Navy, Forever 21 and H&M for cheap & trendy, Pottery Barn, Yankee Candle & Williams Sonoma for my Mum and department stores JC Penney, Macys and Lord & Taylor plus much much more! As well as the mall the Waterloo Outlets are nearby. Unfortunately these outlets are definitely no Bicester or Woodbury Common but there is a Cosmetics Company Outlet so I will be stopping by to see if there are any bargains to be had!

I am SO looking forward to going! It’s just for four days but it will be nice to relax, get away and indulge in some retail therapy! Will report on any purchases when I’m back!

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend, will be back after my short trip!

Speak soon, 

Love Sophie xx