IMATS Sydney

by 4:43 PM 13 comments

So I told you guys that I was headed to Sydney for the weekend, what I didn't mention was that I was heading down to the International Makeup Artists Trade Show! It was so much fun.

I hadn't been before and was expecting crazy, people brawling over the last eyeshadow cat fighting, not able to move and all those fun things. So wrong. It was so not busy. Which is odd. I got there half an hour before the doors opened because I was told that the queues would be nuts. Nope, no line at all. I moseyed on up to the ticket counter and was done in about 30 seconds. Because I was there when it opened, I got first look at the Makeup Forever counter, which I was surprised to see because they don't actually sell their products in Australia.

After that I wandered over to Royal Brushes and saw brushes, good quality brushes starting at $3 each. Three freaking dollars. Then I went over to Crown Brushes and had a little bit of a inner squealing moment when a person complimented my nails and when I looked up I saw that it was makeup guru Koren Zander, of EnKore Makeup fame. I bought 27 brushes from him. Lol. One can never have too many brushes.

There was stuff going on absolutely everywhere. I needed a break so I wandered into the Main Stage to watch the first speaker of the day. It was Yolanda Bartram, a makeup artist from New Zealand who specialises in special effects in body and face art. Holy damn is she talented. She blew me away. She won first place at the Austrian World Body Painting Festival this year in the Special Effects category with the makeup below. Awesome right?


Not only that, but she was funny and easygoing and the audience seemed to relate to her well. Yolanda was able to work and keep the audience entertained by switching between explained what she was doing and telling us a little bit about herself and what her life is like.



She used a steam punk theme to transform this girl. Unfortunately I could not find the girl after Yolanda was done with her to take photos of the end look. (**Edit - Found one on the IMATS website closer to finish then I had.**)


There was a lot of body art going on. Here are some pictures of some of it.


And then there are the cooler transformations. It was awesome to walk past and see it being done bit by bit and then coming back later to see how it progressed.

Then there was the student makeup that was inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

These pics are actually hairdressing models, but I really liked the lashes on these ladies.

The show was smaller then I thought it would be. It only had 34 exhibitors, unlike the approx 120 exhibitors at the LA show. It wasn't overly busy either, which was a surprise. I did have an extremely good time and learned so much. The talent that is out there is just overwhelming.

One thing I do need to mention though is my surprise that there is no MAC stall. The show was sponsored by MAC Pro, but they didn't have any presence at the show beyond a couple of demos. I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed by that.
I have decided to dedicate an entire post to the work of Nicole Thompson, a senior MAC artist. She transformed two ladies into works of art right before my eyes. Literally. That will be up tomorrow, you should really check it out - it will blow your mind.
I will also be posting a haul pic of what I got from the show and also what I picked up out and about in Sydney.
All right, I know that was a really long post, but I really wanted to share with you guys.
If you haven't already, please make sure you enter my MAC Giveaway.
That's it for now.
Be awesome to each other.

Bec

Makeup Artist

I am a fully qualified makeup artist who is internationally published, and I have worked with and been mentored by some of the very best in the business! Now I'm ready to share my tips and tricks, answer your questions and most importantly, help you make every makeup moment a memorable one.

13 comments:

  1. Oh I had to miss out on that - I was so after some of the crown brushes and OCC lip tars.

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  2. Hi Kira,

    I did look at the lip tars. People were buying handfuls of them. It was facinating to watch. I reckon if you need some decent brushes, the $40 entry is worth it cause the products are so cheap inside.

    Bec

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  3. Soooo exciting. I really hope the Toronto IMATS is not busy. It would be nice walking around and not having to push and shove my way to seeing what each exhibit has or stand in line forever.
    Can;t wait to see your next posts on IMATS. Glad you had fun!!

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  4. IMATS LA was really busy, the line was way down the hallway. I guess it was not popular in Australia or people haven't been interested in coming to show as much. IMATS Toronto the first year was pretty much the same situation. Nonetheless, Crown Brush area was always busy lol

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  5. It was fun but as you said very small! I'd finished my shopping in about an hour!

    I was probabaly one of the people you saw with handfuls of lip tars :) haha

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  6. Hi Alicia,

    It was quite nice being able to see everything, but to be completely honest, I was a little sad not to see a brawl over the last MUFE shadow or something like that. Lol. I think I might just be a sadist though. Will have the new post up soon. Soooo excited about it.
    I know you will have a blast at IMATS when it hits your shores. Looking forward to see your thoughts on it.

    Bec

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  7. Hi Halifax,

    I didn't even know the Sydney one was on until a week before and I stumbled across the info accidentally. There was minimal advertising, so I guess that equals not much consumer knowledge which in turn makes exhibitors turn out in smaller numbers.

    The Crown Brush stand rocks! I love brushes so much. You can never have too many. I think the entry price is worth it even if you were only after a couple of brushes.

    Bec

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  8. Hi Anita,

    LOL!!! I am a big believer in the "If you love it, get one in every colour" theory. I put some of the red tar on my hand and could not get it off. I was pre-prepared with makeup remover wipes in my bag, but it just would not come off.
    I guess it is a good thing to get the shopping out of the way quickly, the only problem with no crowd is that there is nothing to deter you from those impulse purchases that you really don't need. If there was a queue, I'd either have time to think about whether I could justify getting another eyeshadow or the queue itself would deter me. I would be much less poor today. Lol

    Bec

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  9. seems like so much fun. i really want to go to IMATS but never went. thanks for sharing

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  10. Hi Fruity Lashes,

    IMATS is heaps of fun. If you do have the opportunity to attend, I really recommend that you do. It's a blast.

    Bec

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  11. OMG.. Amazing! Lucky you, this really looks exciting! I'd love to go to IMATS someday. x

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