IMATS New York 2012

the 2012 IMATS New York was held at Pier 94

I had been envious of my West Coast friends for quite some time because they had a trade show that we didn't get. IMATS was born out in California over 10 years ago and its the largest trade show that addresses the needs of Makeup Artists in all areas of the industry. Though this event was held over a weekend, they offer up a Pro Day in which they open up the doors early for professionals only. I was looking forward to going on the Pro Only day as its nice to just be amongst my people; other professionals with no enthusiasts, bloggers or pro-sumers around. Let's be honest, we are very different and diverse audiences and it's nice to have just our needs addressed on a day that's only for us. In all honesty, the Makeup Show could take away a few tips from the set up of this event, the Pro Day being just one of them.
As I do with any trade show, or actually any time that I need to do supply and replenishment, I go in armed with a list to help keep me on track.  A few things on it were:

OCC Liptars: We have discussed this fabulousness several times before on Beauty Beauty but I needed to complete the collection as well as get them in the new packaging. If you see below, you can see that I accomplished my mission:

The full lineup of OCC Liptars in new packaging

...and their vegan brushes...

as well as a set of their brushes. I've been meaning to get a set of vegan brushes for those special request clients/jobs...

clockwise: Lime Crime lipstick, Cozzette lip brush, Bdellium tools brushes,
Lucas Paw Paw Ointment & Gleam by Melanie Mills Body Radiance 

Also on the list were brushes. Specifically lip brushes (with caps) from Hakuhodo. I picked up 2 last year from another trade show and made it a point to get more. I love lip brushes with caps and they're much more difficult to find. On pro day however, Hakhuodo's booth wasn't set up yet, in fact, no one from the line was in sight so the capped lip brushes were immediately crossed off of the list. To the internet I go to place an order for that online. A great replacement, though uncovered, is the lip brush that I picked up from my friend Roque's line: Cozzette. Roque and I go back well over 10 years (we worked together in the late 90's) so I was super happy to see him with a booth at IMATS. His line is another great choice for brushes and their purple tapered handles feel great in your hand. 

I also needed some pointy concealer brushes to replace my old Shu Uemura 5R brush: Enter Bdellium tools anti-bacterial makeup brushes and the #716 smoky eyeliner brush from their Maestro Line.  Though this brush was specifically designed to use as a liquid eyeliner brush, I will be using it as my new pointy concealer brush. The head is super tight and that's imperative. What good is a brush that frays out and looses its ability to apply product precisely?  I also picked up the #934 precision concealer brush as the head has nice bounce and a soft hand. It is my first time trying this line of brushes but they seem promising as I've used them several times in the few days that I have had them. 

A selection of NYX lip pencils and cream blushes

The only thing that I had ever used from NYX cosmetics were their lip pencils. I swear by them. They are just as good as MAC or any other pro brand at more than 1/3 of the price. NYX has one of the best ranges of pencils for all complexions. Even ones that work on darker skin tones and women of color. They also make an extensive range of lip pencils with shimmer. I have yet to see another line with as many offerings in lip pencil shades.  In addition, I'd been meaning to check out a few of their cream blushes, especially the ones on the more vibrant end of the spectrum.  I got the three brightest ones (and the pigment load can be described as: what you see is what you get. I'm glad that I got to their booth on Pro Day as I hear during the regular show, this booth gets so swamped & crowded that you want to stay away from it.

Freestyle Palettes:
I know that everyone likes Z-Palettes and that there is a huge buzz surrounding them and  I will say that I'm not their biggest fan. While I can appreciate their see through tops, I find that after a while the cardboard gets a bit beat up, but more importantly they are not as durable and I've had several instances of my shadows being damaged in them. I prefer Yaby's freestyle palettes as they are waaaaay sturdier:

Yaby Freestyle palettes

Other goodies that I picked up:

-2 lipsticks from Lime Crime. Not only is the pigment intense but they are also SUPER opaque. As a side, I also have a thing for pastels and love when you can find them already mixed. Coquette is a creamy peach nude color that is softly reminiscent of the long discontinued Peachstock from MAC which made a great nude and D'Lilac, a milky opaque lavender which is close to what Martooni lipstick used to look like. With whimsical colors that possess this kind of color load I am able to forgive their super whimsy choice in packaging

-Lucas Paw Paw ointment (I was running out)

-Gleam Body Radiance by Melanie Mills (makeup artist for Dancing With the Stars) in Bronze Gold. This body sheen product is amazing. I needed a body sheen/ body makeup product in one that was transfer resistant in a shade that would address the deeper and darker skin tones and Melanie Mills, its creator did an amazing job conceptualizing and creating this stuff. When I run out of the other products that I have already been using on lighter skins, i'll get the two ligher shades (Light Gold and Rose Gold) and the darkest shade: Deep Gold which is great for the darkest of skins sans the ashiness that other products that have not gotten it right usually leave behind. Note: if you were a fan of the original Nivea Shimmer (that has long since been discontinued, the Light Gold is one of the closest replications that I've seen of that in quite some time)

Sadly, Stila had a shipping snafu and their booth was not even set up for Pro Day and unfortunately I was not able to restock some of my lip glazes...Bummer..

My hours at the IMATS Pro Day were hours well spent. I hope that next year, they continue to expand their range of vendors, more in line with the line-up that Pasadena gets.