As you all know, I went to IMATS Toronto on Saturday, and I had a blast! I’ve been to the IMATS since 2010, but last year I was back in Jakarta, so I really wanted to go this year. Fortunately, I was able to attend it with N, and I’m glad I went this year. I managed to meet my role models, my mentors, and couple friends! The meetings were even more amazing than the shopping experience!
So, this year, the IMATS were held in the North building of the Metro Toronto Convention Center, which is unusual since in the past it was held in the South building. The space was a tad smaller, but it was still pretty good. There were a lot of people who came to the tradeshow, and there were long queues everywhere! I came around 10am, but looking for parking was challenging since there were Blue Jays game and University fair. After finding parking, I checked in at around 10.30, and already long lineups as far as the eyes can see! NYX, MUFE, Benefit, MAC, Morphe, Crown, Nigel, Frends booths were packed!
Anyways, this year when I posted a picture on Instagram regarding IMATS, Michael Key commented on the picture and I promised him that I would look for him. I managed to see him (more like hunting him), and took a picture with him! If you guys don’t know who Michael Key is, you should know! Michael Key is 2-time Emmy Winning makeup artist, executive of IMATS and Makeup Artist Magazine. He is the man behind IMATS, so of course I have to take a picture and say hi to him. Such a great guy, so friendly and humble.
Then, I managed to see Kevin James Bennett while I was at Eve Pearl’s booth. As you can see on the photo collage below, I was fan girl-ing at KJB. I was like “I’m a big fan of your work!!!” *laughs* Eve Pearl was there and told him “she’s your fan!”. Unreal! I mean, KJB and Eve Pearl are like the big names in the beauty industry! I still can’t believe I managed to talk to them, and took pictures with them. It felt so surreal! They were giving out tips and tricks, chit chatting with the attendees.
Kevin James Bennett and Eve Pearl are always in the IMATS Toronto, so if you missed them this year don’t forget to look for them next year. KJB and Eve Pearl are Emmy Winning Makeup Artists, they KNOW what they are talking about! All of their classes are very informative, and they are so kind, always willing to answer questions.
All the makeup workshops were amazing! I cannot say enough about these classes. I only managed to sit in on 2 classes this time, but it was really fun and informative. For beauty, I went to Eve Pearl makeup demo. She started out by giving us tips on how to make it in the industry, how to pack our makeup kits and how to work on clients. Then, of course, she proceeded by showing us her famous “Reverse Contouring” technique. I live tweeted during the workshop, so check out my twitter!
Eve was given an hour for her class, and within 45mins she managed to do 4 makeup while talking to us and answering our questions. I only took pictures of 3 of the attendees, but there were actually 4 whose makeup was done by her. She showed us how to do her “Reverse Contouring” technique on all skintone, just by using her Pro kit. I’ll try to apply this technique on myself in the future, so wait for the post!
I wanted to attend Gregory Arlt beauty class, but I didn’t manage to do so since I wanted to see The Strain demo. So, I do apologize for being unable to share any tips he shared. I know a couple other bloggers who attended this class, and they might have tips on their blogs! Anyways, I managed to snap this picture of his class moments after The Strain demo, and before I saw Michael Key walking around.
The workshop that I really wanted to attende to was “The Strain” Character Demo done by Sean Samson and Neil Morrill. This demo took 1.5hr. Sean and Neil showed us how they applied the Foam Latex pieces, they also demonstrated how they colored the pieces. It was pretty great since N and I loved the show, and we really enjoyed the demonstration. They told us that during the filming, these prosthetic pieces took around 3hr to be put on the talent.
Besides the workshops and meeting all these amazing makeup artist, I walked around to take a look at what the booths offer. I absolutely love how some of these amazing makeup artists took their time to talk to the attendees. As you can see on the pictures below, Sebastien Tardif and Eve Pearl were showing attendees how to correctly apply their products to enhance their beauty!
Of course there would be lots of body painting around the IMATS. Pretty, colorful, and meticulous. These body paintings took hours to complete. There were some demo on how to cover tattoo, and prosthetic application as well in some of the booths.
I, obviously, have to do some shopping around! There were some good deals on the products. I bought a smaller version of the illustrator palettes, scabs, liquid latex, and Wolfe face paint from Crown Brush/Jordane Cosmetics. I bought Eve Pearl’s Pro Kit, Invisible powder, powder puff, eyebrow razor, and finger palettes. Eve really gave great discounts! The powder puff was only $1, the Pro kit was only $100! What a steal!
Other than that, I bought a couple of spfx brushes from Bdellium, another palette from Crowne, and some other miscellaneous stuffs – MAQPro cream corrector and primary color from MUSST, mink lashes from Esquido, and color switch along with shadow shield from Nigel.
