Saturday 3 August 2013

IMATS (International Make-up Artist Trade Show)

When mum told me that she had managed to get tickets to go to IMATS this year, I started counting down the days! First off, it was actually really nice that mum, Rachel and I could spend a day together.

Lunchtime!
IMATS is a trade show that takes place in London, New York, Sydney, Toronto, Los Angeles and Vancouver. The idea is that different companies can show case their products, make-up schools are able to advertise and make-up artists can pick up a lot of products at a much cheaper price.

I want this to be my company.
However, normal non-artistes can go to. We got there around 10.30, and walked into one of the exhibition rooms at the Convention Center. It was really busy, and lots of girls were shuffling around with their IMATS bags ready to fill.

This was a make-up demonstration using makeup from Ben Nye; the makeup was beautiful, but the makeup artist didn't create anything special (sorry) I think I could have done it better.
It did get even busier, and the line-ups were a bit ridiculous. We waited in the Ben Nye line for the best part of a hour, while one cashier... slowly and manually put everyone's orders through.
Some of the brands I had never heard of as they cater specifically to makeup artistry, I did recognize Makeup Forever, and that was about it.

 

We all bought some bits; I didn't want to lose it and spend a silly amount of money because you really easily could. I am sure some people walk out a couple of hundred dollars lighter!
Here are my IMATS purchases.

  • Ben Nye - Eye shadow/blush palette. It is so beautiful I can't stop looking at it. Quite powdery and very pigmented. This would be beautiful for wedding makeup. 
  • Eve Pearl concealer palette - Absolutely beautiful. I had never heard of the brand. 
  • Eyelashes.
  • Foundation blender.
  • Setting spray and makeup brush cleaner.
  • Oribe Dry Texturizing spray.... I'll explain more below. 
Jaelyn, the girl who cut my hair last month was telling me about the brand 'Oribe'. While waiting in line (of course!) there was a display of some products by Oribe, and so out of boredom I started smelling them. One of the ladies at the booth asked me if I wanted to try some. She came round and started vigorously spraying this stuff into the roots of my hair. I looked in the mirror and couldn't believe it! My hair was all poofed and volumized... something I don't excel at!
Although it is a little pricey, there were offering a 25% discount, so I though... Oh why not.
 Watch this video... It's mesmerizing.



La Bodega

Jose and I went to a restaurant on Howe Street called La Bodega about 3 weeks ago. We had walked past the patio a couple of times, and it looked really cozy and Spanish looking. We went on a Friday evening, but we were seated upstairs. At first we were a bit disappointed, but upstairs is very traditionally Spanish, and so you do feel like you could be in Spain somewhere. There were four of us, so we each ordered a couple of tapas each and sort of shared them (my parma ham was off limits though).
I tried paella for the first time. I loved it, but maybe it was terrible... I haven't had much Spanish food so it's hard to tell! We washed everything down nicely with two jugs of Sangria, and then like little piggies, we went off to the market... or the Marble Slab (the modern version of the story) and got an ice cream.












 Mine was dark chocolate with scor pieces... heavenly.

Mink Chocolates

Mink is a café... a chocolate café. While walking around Coal Harbour, we stopped to get a coffee. They have a really beautiful collection of little chocolates and bars. Although very tempted, I only bought an iced-coffee as it was really hot. Mink is on West Hastings, between Howe and Hornby. The lady that served wasn't as lovely and chocolate-lady as I would have liked, but she made me a coffee and that's enough I suppose!