IMATS London 2018

It's that time of year again when IMATS comes to London. The International Makeup Artist Trade Show tours in various locations around the world every year. One of these places is London and is held at Olympia. I went to the show last weekend, and as usual enjoyed every moment.

The show is a great way to see various makeup talent and has different demos from body painting to beauty makeup. It's also a good way to pick up some good bargains from various brands that have different discounts on.

I went on the Saturday. Sunday tickets are available, as well as full weekend ones. I find that Saturday is the best day out of the two to go. I enjoyed looking at all of the different demos and items for sale. 

I did a lot of shopping and actually left with bags full of goodies. Here is what I bought.

Royal Langnickel Brush Set

MAC Blot Powder

Melanie Mills Gleam On The Glow

Urban Decay Setting Spray, Primer Potion, Lipsticks

Inglot Eyeshadows

Glitter

Mehron Brush Cleaner, Paints

Nanshy Brush Holder And Brush Set

Da Vinci Brushes

Revolution Pro Eyeshadows And Brow Pomade

Ben Nye Blusher Palette And Pressed Colour Palette

NARS Eyeliner

I recommend IMATS as a must have visit for anyone interested in makeup. If going, make sure you are wearing comfy shoes as you will be on your feet for most of the day. Cash is King!! While many stands took cards, quite a few were cash only. So make sure you take plenty of cash with you too.

I really enjoyed IMATS this year and look forward to the next one.

Too Faced Masterclass

A few weeks ago I went to a masterclass at Too Faced in Debenhams, Cardiff. Ant hosted the event. I knew it would be fantastic before I went as Ant is a lovely, super friendly guy who goes out of his way to make sure everyone enjoys the events he hosts.

The masterclass was just before Halloween and one of the staff on the counter showed us how to create this awesome colourful look. Made a really nice change from just a smoky eye.

Awaiting on counter when everyone arrived were complimentary bubbles or something non alcoholic.

I really enjoyed the event and watching the look being created. Everyone was also given a goody bag too. As Christmas isnt too far away, the new Too Faced Holiday collection was available on counter.

Thanks Ant for a really enjoyable event. Had a great time and look forward to the next one.

Kat Von D Blogger Event

Last month Kat Von D opened a new counter in Debenhams, Cardiff. After trying Kat Von D's products last year I was really looking forward to seeing the new counter that would be opening. Not long after they opened, a bloggers event was held at the counter.

A good number of bloggers attended the event and when we were all seated, staff at the counter gave us saint or sinner wrist bands. I personally went for sinner, I think more people chose sinner over saint. In front everyone was this really impressive looking gold throne which the model for the event would be sat.

The staff were really friendly and informative. They told us all about the products that would be used on the model. I thought it was great that they passed the products around for us to try as the look was being created.

What was great was that the look on the model was really creative and colorful. The staff created this lovely high fashion look in the most amazing colors. It makes a change from just a daytime or smoky eye look.

One product which I thought looked really awesome was the Alchemist Holographic Palette. It's a multi use palette than can be used as a highlighter as well as a color change product. The colors can then be applied on top of eyeshadow and lipstick to create some really awesome color change effects.

The palette was very limited edition and the counter in Cardiff was one of the very few locations to still have some left in stock. It was only £25 too which was great as I thought it would be more expensive. As it looked awesome I decided to grab one.

I really enjoyed the bloggers event and loved the look that was created on the model. The new counter is a great size and has many amazing products.

IMATS London 2017

So last weekend I went to IMATS in London. For those of you who don't know, IMATS is the International Makeup Artist Trade Show. It's held in a few different cities around the world and on the weekend it came to London. I went to the show 2 years ago and had a fab time. I really wanted to go again so got myself a ticket.

You can buy one day tickets for Saturday and Sunday or you can get the two days for a reduced price. I didn't want to go on the Sunday too, so I got a ticket just for Saturday. If you buy early you can get tickets for a reduced rate, I was really late buying mine so I paid around £50.

The event was held at Olympia which is just a short tube ride away from Earls Court. I got to the event around 9am and saw a queue to get in. The line wasn't as bad as it looked and it did move rather quick.

At IMATS you can find many well known brands such as MAC and Urban Decay. The great thing about IMATS is you can find professional brands such as Make Up Forever, Ben Nye and Kryolan as well as many more. The event caters to all areas of the makeup industry from beauty, to film and special effects. Many of the brands offer a discount too and be prepared to do a lot of damage.

I spent a lot of time checking out all of the different things for sale. As well as shopping there were many demos to watch too. I was really interested in seeing the design team from Alien Covenant. I love all of the Alien movies and have seen the latest one last week in the cinema. Hearing the design team talk about how they created the aliens in the movie was amazing. They were also happy to answer any questions from the audience too.

Walking around can make you hungry so it was time to get something to eat. There were a few places to grab something, one of them being Pizza Express. I was quite hungry so I got myself some pizza for lunch. 

Next was round two of shopping where I got even more things to add to my makeup collection. I love brushes and needed to get some new ones. I did see these brush sets with all different colored hairs. The white and pink ones did look nice, but I always find they only look good for five minutes. Whilst they may look awesome, when they stain they look dirty. And when brushes stain the color never comes out, no matter how well you clean them.

You can also meet many people at this event too. I got to meet Zukreat from Artist Of Makeup Cosmetics. She was very friendly and was happy to help with any products.

I was really glad I got to the event not long after it opened as it was a lot quieter to walk around. By around lunchtime it did get busier and it was hard to look at some brands because of the amount of people there. Last time I went to IMATS the queue at NYX was just mad, so on the weekend I was expecting a long wait. This time there wasn't even a short line to get there, just walked straight in.

The only brand I saw that had a ridiculously long wait was Kat Von D. The line went back quite a bit and did look like it would take ages to get to the front. I wasn't buying anything from Kat Von D as there was loads of other things I wanted instead, so I wasn't bothered about not queuing up.

I had a great time at IMATS and bought quite a bit, which I am looking forward to using. It was just as great as when I went two years ago.

If you haven't been to IMATS before I really recommend it. it's a must for any makeup artist or makeup fan.