IMATS Toronto 2015 – Recap

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!

IMATS Toronto 2015
IMATS Toronto 2015

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.

 

IMATS Toronto 2015
Michael Key & me

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.

Kevin James Benett
Kevin James Benett & Eve Pearl

 

IMATS Toronto 2015
Eve Pearl Makeup Demo

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!

IMATS Toronto 2015
Gregory Arlt

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.

The Strain makeup
The Strain Demo
The Strain creature
The Strain Demo

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.

IMATS Toronto 2015
Sebastien Tardif & Eve Pearl
IMATS Toronto 2015
Body Painting

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.

IMATS Toronto 2015
IMATS Toronto 2015 Haul

IMATS Toronto 2013

Again, this year, I managed to show up for IMATS in Toronto. It was held in the Metro Convention Center. I attended the event on Saturday only. This year IMATS was definitely more packed and busy than last year. Please check my post on IMATS Toronto 2012 if you want to see my last year event coverage.

I wasn’t expecting anything from the IMATS. I actually went there without any intention of buying anything. I just wanted to see if they have good deals on certain products.

IMATS Toronto

Anyways, it was a makeup trade show, so there was a lot of brands that were present to sell their products. I think MUFE had one of the best booths there. The body paintings done by MUFE makeup artists were amazing! They have quite a great deal too: 50% off makeup brushes, certain deals on a set of foundation/concealers/primers/powder/blush etc. However, there was a HUGE line up for the MUFE booth, and I just couldn’t bring myself to line up for hours…ok may be not hours, but you get my point…

IMATS Toronto

There were several body painters in the show for their own booths, one of which was the makeup artist from Blur booth. Below, you can see the model from Blur. That was one of the most amazing body paintings I’ve ever seen.

IMATS Toronto

So, I walked around the whole exhibition hall, and bought some makeup brushes from Crown Brush. It was such an awesome deal! Some of the brushes were only $4, others were $7.50. Pretty great, no?!

Besides Crown Brush, I also bought 8 nail polishes: 6 OPI for $30 and 2 Essie for $3.50/each. You probably would have seen the picture of the brushes and nail polishes if you followed me on Twitter or Instagram.

IMATS Toronto

Besides the shopping, a very amazing event took place! Ok, so N was sitting down while I was shopping around looking at all the different booths (kudos to IMATS for providing chairs all around the hall for people to take a short rest).  While I was all skipping down the aisle getting my brushes, N was asked by a lady if she can sit beside him. He said yes, and took a glimpse at her name tag. Guess who??? RAE MORRIS! (the makeup artist, not the singer)

So, N immediately send me a message “you’ll never believe who sat beside me? where are you? come dowwn! it’s Rae Morris!”

Unfortunately, when I went to his seat, she already left to do some judging for the competition. So, N and I decided to stalk her..hahahahaha…Anyways, we managed to catch her after the competition, and we managed to chat and take a picture with the world famous Rae Morris! She was so nice and kind!

Below is pictures of us with Rae Morris. Yep, that’s my N right there! 😀

Rae Morris

IMATS Toronto 2012

Hello Canada! Guess who’s back?! I managed to get into IMATS on its last day together with N. I thought I’d miss this year’s IMATS like last year, but I didn’t! yay! I’ve been to IMATS and volunteered a few years back. I’ve expected the usual exhibitors and was pumped to see this year’s classes and workshops! I’m quite surprised to see that this year’s IMATS weren’t as big as in the past. Less bloggers too, I feel. Anyways, I was quite happy I get to join this year’s IMATS :D

IMATS

There were obviously lots of exhibitors in the event. I went there knowing I was going to grab some stuffs from OCC. I love their lip tars and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it!

OCC Lip Tars

Truly, we were there not to shop, but to actually sit on 2 of the classes – Gordon Smith and Iantha Goldberg. If you guys don’t know who Gordon Smith is, SHAME ON YOU! hahahaha..just kidding. Gordon Smith is like the Prosthetic god in the makeup world. He pioneered the use of Silicone in prosthetics makeup. He worked with celebrities and big Hollywood movies like X-men (that’s right, he’s the Mastermind behind Mystique), Platoon, Face Off, Mimic, Truman, Nixon and helloo my favorite tv show FRINGE, and many others! N and I are a big fan of the shows that he worked on and we were definitely uber excited when we get to see him in person, and to hear him talk about his work. Amazziiiing!

Gordon Smith

So after we sat in for Gordon’s, we had to rush to the other stage so we can get front row seat for Iantha Goldberg’s demo in doing Zombie Makeup! Iantha Goldberg is the makeup artist for Resident Evil, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Saw V etc. Hmmm, amazing much?

Zombie Makeup

After the show, we walked around and shopped a bit more. Lots of body painting as usual, and of course the student’s competition is always great. I only managed to take pictures of 2 of the works, but as you can see, they are amazing!

IMATS Student Competition

IMATS Toronto 2012

IMATS Toronto

Make Up For Ever Body Painting

Body Painting