vvnprincess: IMATS Toronto 2011!

J I attended IMATS Toronto 2011 on November 13th and this was my very first time going. For those of you who don’t know about IMATS, it stands for International Makeup Artist Trade Show. It is an annual event in which different makeup brands showcase their products and sell them for a discounted price. Some of which includes Make Up For Ever, NYX and Yaby Cosmetics. I was very excited because I LOVE MAKEUP! I really wanted to have a makeup splurge after a few of my midterm exams and this was pretty much my late birthday present to myself! I actually didn’t know about IMATS until watching Jen from frmheadtotoe’s video. I was like “I wanna goL” and my friend told me there was actually one in TORONTO! It was about a month or two ago when she told me this and she immediately purchased tickets for us to goJ It was actually less expensive to purchase tickets well ahead of time prior to the event. We were able to get tickets for approximately $30 each and if you were to go on the day of the event, it would end up being at least $40.

I was very excited after the ticket purchase that I started making a list of what to buy! I was really looking forward to Make Up For Ever, NYX, Yaby Cosmetics and Crown Brushes. There were countless other that I was excited to see, but those were the four I was more familiar with prior to the event. I created a list of exactly what I wanted and same with my friend. We also made an agreement with each other to NOT purchase any more makeup PRIOR to IMATS....of course that didn’t last long when we tried to justify anything we bought LOL. For example, “Nail polish is technically not makeup....and so are false eyelashes” or even “lipsticks don’t count since I do not INTEND on buying any during IMATS”. Last is my favourite excuse use “but the NARS blush palette is a LIMITED TIME OFFER!!!!”.

After doing a bit more research on IMATS Toronto, we realized that there were a lot more makeup brands available during the IMATS in Pasadena. They have the Unii palettes which I’ve been dying to get as well as the Sugar Pill cosmetics. I was slightly depressed when I realized that, but it only got worse. We discovered that those who attended the event on Sundays were at a disadvantage compared to those who attend the one on Saturday. Why? Because apparently they do not restock for Sundays. That means all the good stuff will most likely not be there. Nonetheless, I did not let it ruin my excitement for the actual event. The event on Sunday started at 10:00am, but we decided to arrive at 8:00amJ We were then shattered when we discovered that the Toronto Public Transit did not begin service until 9:00am on Sundays.........So we panicked for a few days before the event and luckily we were able to get someone to give us a ride!

On the day of the event, I was super excited!! I had my list in my hand and we got there early and everything went well except.......the items of high demand were out from the Saturday events. I wanted to get three shades of eyeshadows from Make Up For Ever, but ended up getting one shade that I did not intend on getting and an Aqua Liner. A similar thing happened at NYX when I wanted to get the blush shade in Cinnamon, but they were out and so I simply purchased another random shadeL Overall I liked everything I purchased, they ended up being a lot less expensive that I originally budgeted them at (which was awesome!)J I definitely learned my lesson to go on Saturday in future years to not be at a disadvantage.

On our way out, we bumped into Pursebuzz! She was super friendly, nice and happy! LOL it was so cute! I even got a picture with her!

Overall, my friend and I had a great experience at our first IMATS. We do intend on going to IMATS in future years and we even agreed to ONE DAY-maybe in a few years from now, to go to the ever-so-epic IMATS event in PasadenaJ

Here come the photos!