LA IMATS 2011

The LA IMATS were held this past weekend in Pasadena California. It's a predecessor of the Makeup Show (started in 1997) back when the industry, the technology, the players and the offerings were much different. It has since evolved in a great way and fellow blogger at MakeuptoGo and working pro makeup artist Tania Russel was there and gave a great rundown that needs to be shared here:

The International Makeup Artist Trade Show – the second of the two major LA-based makeup trade shows – took place this past weekend. This was the first year in IMATS’s history that the Los Angeles show completely sold out (IMATS originated in LA back in 1997). In fact, we here at Makeup to Go almost missed this show entirely. As a pro makeup artist (and same with my en Español partner, Delia Jimenez Owens) I do not always know whether or not my schedule is going to be open to attend the trade shows. By the time I got my schedule sorted, I missed a lot of cool new features for Professional Artists that IMATS instituted for this years show AND regular admissions tickets were almost sold out. As it turned out, I was able to get tickets for the MTG crew for Sunday and we were able to attend the show for the day. So here’s a wrap-up of what I saw and what I bought…
Actually, let’s back up a bit: This year’s show actually started Friday night with a Pro Only preview event with the vendors. A Pro Only preview is something I have advocated for all the Trade Shows for the past several years. Nothing against makeup fans attending the shows, but it is difficult for pros to talk to vendors about new products/formulations/etc. when you are waiting behind someone asking what shade of concealer would be best for them. We are two different kinds of makeup purchasers with two different kinds of needs so I am glad the needs of the Professional artist are starting to be addressed. I missed that event this year, but if I’m not booked I will be there next year.   

We arrived at about 10:30am on Sunday, the plan being to walk the floor and see what vendors had to offer, go to lunch and see what would happen from there. I get a lot of makeup sent to me via the editorials I do, so I really didn’t plan to buy much, I mostly wanted to look and see what was new, do some research, etc. The first booth we encountered when we entered the show was...(read the rest on makeuptogo blog)