Sparkled Beauty

Today is the second day at IMATS, I stayed the whole day (minus about half an hour at the beginning and half an hour at the end). It was exciting to meet more beauty bloggers, see their faces and talk to them in person, lol. I know that might sound silly, but it's nice to put names to faces. And what even better is we all share the love for makeup :-)

First, the classes.




















The classes today were fun. Koren talked about building a brush kit (and someone in the audience won a big huge brush set that everyone there wish they did too), and Elessa showed us a holiday makeup look using the brushes in different ways, and tips and tricks. It was fun sitting in to listen to them, and talking to them afterwards. I do hope they enjoy their stay in Canada.

I didn't get to see Norma Hill-Patton's session, but saw her by the IMATS booth at around 2:30 with the 2 "New Moon" looks that she recreated.

The models weren't as gorgeous as the movie characters but I really loved the vampy looks. I haven't seen New Moon but I'm sure people would love the makeup Norma did in it too. Vampire is so trendy right now, and makeup plays an important part to that :-)

I did get a picture with her, just as one of the things to remember IMATS with.

On to the haul. One thing I didn't realize yesterday was that companies didn't split their stock for 2 days, and it was first come first serve. It is a disadvantage for people who went the second day, as lots of stuff was sold out and they missed out on MUFE, OCC, Naked popular products.

I started slow, as I wasn't sure what I wanted after browsing roughly yesterday, but once I started, it was a point of no return, lol. Here's what I got.

From Auraline Beauty:
I got an empty 15-well blush paper palette (magnetized) and filled it up with mineral lip stains and mineral brushes. Show special price: CAD40, I saved about CAD8 compared to individual price.

I also got a 15-well empty shadow palette (CAD5) and 4 mineral shadow pans (CAD10 for 4). The colours were quite pretty, and I couldn't resist the price.

The 2 little fold up purse-like items on the left hand side were actually my surprise finds. After the bloggers left late afternoon, I wandered around by myself and saw them at Auraline. What do you think they are?













Yes, they are brush rolls. I actually wanted the rolls only, but they cost CAD10 each when come empty and CAD20 with brushes, so I thought I might as well get the whole thing. Couldn't decide which pattern was better, so I got them both, lol. The "Bambi" one is fuzzy and the plastic inside is very soft. The "Tiger" has a tougher look, and the plastic is firmer. I love them both.

This brush set was also a fun find. They were tied together by a little ribbon and placed in a little basket which wasn't very visible to me.

A blogger found out they were only CAD5 a set (7 brushes, awesome price huh?), and we all tested them out. Almost everyone ended up with a set, lol.

They were decent brushes. The lighting and the flash made the handle look black but they were actually light gold colour, very different from other brushes sold at the show. I'm happy I got them.

At Crown Brush:
There were different brush sets, but I only wanted this one. The brushes are extremely soft, I am so in love with them.

They are travel sized, but I actually preferred it than the full sizes as they fit right into my hand. And the grey colour is kinda different from the skunk look of the duo fiber brushes, or the typical black or red.

The set was CAD25, not the greatest price, but I gave in anyway.


After listing to Koren about brushes, I went back to get a few eye brushes.

After like 20 minutes walking back and forth to test out brushes, I ended up getting 2 regular, 2 angled blending/ crease brushes, and a pencil brush. Some with red handles, some with black. Not all of them had names or codes on, which I found a little inconvenient.

Good thing I didn't get any face brushes, as after I paid for these, I found the brushes at Auraline, lol. I'm telling you, there weren't too many booths at the show and I was already lost, didn't know what to buy and where. I always found some better deal after I already paid for something similar :-)

The price for these ran between CAD3-CAD5, I believe.

And lastly, my little kabuki brush from Royal Brush, with the IMAT catalogue as props, lol.

Its official name was Tri-Color Nylon Angle Kabuki brush. All kabuki brushes were CAD6 (regardless of sizes), except the Golden ones (redish brown colour) were CAD4. I wasn't interested in Royal Brush until Elessa talked about their brush in her class. The gurus are such bad influences to our wallet, lol.

The class was at 3:30, so by the time I went check out the booth, most of the kabukis were gone (especially the golden colour). I grabbed the last one in large, again in the same colour family with the travel set I got at Crown Brush.

Elessa also mentioned Royal Brush's fan brush, as one of her favorites. I found it a little rough to my face, so it didn't come home with me.

I did get to talk to CoverFX and FACE atelier at the show. They were really nice people and I was so glad to see Canadian brands doing so well, and I appreciated the fact that they talked about beauty bloggers with respect. Despite the fact that some bloggers were in it for free stuff (as mentioned by the companies), they still value bloggers' neutral and honest view on makeup products, and that made me happy.

I left the show at around 4:30. A few booths already started to pack up. All in all, it was a great time meeting my fellow bloggers (whom otherwise I wouldn't have a chance to meet) and getting to know more about different products and the companies' PR strategy. And of course, if was a great opportunity to stock up on things that I have been curious about.

I'm thankful that IMATS made it to Canada for the very first time and look forward for many more shows to come.