Since becoming a Makeup Artist going to Imats has always been something I wanted to do. After watching all the vlogs and reading all the blog posts from London Imats 2012 I blatantly told my best friend and fellow MUA Amy that nothing was stopping us going in 2013. This year they decided to to move the show to June as the snow in January 2012 was horrendous. Me and Amy had to wait a whole 18 months for the show it killed us!
Our day started at six o'clock Saturday morning (well mine started 12 hours before that but if I talk about that it will turn into a rant.) Me and Amy had decided to fly over in the morning and fly back in the evening to give us more money to play around with shopping. We flew into Gatwick Airport at half nine and headed straight into the train station. The station is in the airport so pretty simply to catch the train. I had pre-booked our tickets online so I had our whole journey planned our prior to arriving. We had to get a train to Clapham Junction and then from there to Kensington Olympia. Clapham Junction is Crazy confusing with 17 different platforms trains arriving every minute enclosed underground tunnels, you think Connolly station is busy you have seen nothing yet. With a quick pit stop to the shop for some energy drinks and oaty breakfast bar we hoped on the train to Kensington and 10 minutes later we were at Imats.
There was a little queue outside when we got there as even though we had our online tickets you still had to register at the door. When we arrived there at 11am the show was in full swing and the hall was quickly filling up. We had a little walk around first, got lay of the land a bit and decided to head to M.A.C first as it looked quite busy.
M.A.C had one of the biggest stands in the centre of the room. Each side had a till in the centre and the corners had 4 mini stands. Each stand had 4/5 sales assistants standing by them. The mini stands each had different products. One foundation, one lipstick and lip pencils, one eye shadows and blushers and one with all their other products. Amy had a long list for each section. Me myself only wanted some foundation so I left her to it. I headed straight to its mini stand and was quickly served by a very friendly lad with floppy hair and a tan. He popped my foundations in a bag and gave me a ticket and to go stand in the till queue.
The queue was atrocious there was only 15 ahead of me but it took an hour to get to the top as they were handling Mac Pro card applications at the till. Frankly I think they should of had a separate till for it as it just held things up significantly. During this time the hall got even busier and the heat got unbearable.
From there we went onto Love Makeup I could not get into to see anything so decided to pop back a while later. We headed to Inglot only to find it was basically cheaper to shop at home with our pro discount. I picked up one thing but only because I needed it ASAP. Otherwise we both left disappointed from Inglot.
We then headed to Stargazer. They had a great selection of products and some good bargains so I scooped up a few things. From there we headed to Makeup Forever.
I did not need anything but Amy had a little list, unfortunately she did not have a great experience here. The stand was pretty busy but the customer service was not up to par. I stood away from the stand but could see the sales assistants standing in the middle of the stand having a chinwag and poor Amy been one of many trying to get their attention. After 25 minutes she left the stand with no products and in the height of it.
We headed to Crown Brush one of our favourite stands at the Irish Beauty Show. We both wanted a palette and I picked up a few brushes even though I have near 200, can never have enough!
Next onto Royal and Langnickel where Amy picked up a brush set for herself and I restrained myself and only got one brush.
I headed back to Love Makeup and picked up some Lime Crime goodies. I really wanted a Pigment from Sugapill and the powder brush from Real Techniques but they had sold out of both. Can I just say the women that served me was extremely friendly and helpful and got me the last Lime Crime lipstick in the shade I wanted.
I then went onto to Charles Fox and picked up some Special Effects goodies. Their prices were super and the stand was not to packed either so I was in and out in a jiffy.
Amy hit a few more smaller stands to pick up stencils and paints and I had a look around some other brush stands looking for the perfect powder brush but alas I had yet to find one that matches my LA Makeup one.
The hall was extremely crowded now and me and Amy had small wheelie suitcases. This seemed to annoy some other fellow shoppers even though we tried really hard to manoeuvre where the crowds were dense and if we had to squeeze through people we lifted the cases. We decided to head back to Makeup Forever so Amy could give them another go hoping for better service.
I stood to the side and waited 40 minutes for her to reemerge during this time I caught glimpses of Fleur de Force, BeautyCrush and Sprinkle of Glitter. I was a bit star struck and did not go say hi which I am kicking myself over. Crowds of young girls crowded around them for pictures and chats. I barely saw them move in the 40 minutes they were close to me every time they tried to approach a stand they were quickly surrounded by another group of girls. I kind of felt for them in a way.
Amy soon emerged and we decided to leave we were tired and extremely warm and needed some food. It was only past 3pm. I did not attend any talks which I am a bit disappointed about but I missed the one I really wanted to go to waiting at the M.A.C stand and my concentration was gone for the later ones.
Me and Amy's plan is to head to Canada next year on a work visa so London IMATS is not on the cards but we do plan to hit the Vancouver one in Canada except this time we will plan to do it a little different. We plan on on getting our Makeup Artist Gold Pro card which entitles us to head to the Pro only event. Which means easier more relaxed shopping and not so many people. Also I am going to write a better list heading to the busy stands i.e M.A.C with a list means faster service as the assistant takes your list and gets your products.
I did not take many pictures but here is a few I did take of the amazing work created at IMATS.
Karla Powell and Assistant at the Crown Brush Stand recreating her Pop Art inspired look.
At the Makeup Forever Stand
This was at the Mehron stand it was my favourite of the day till I saw the one below.
This was at the Makeup Atelier Paris stand. Not only did she have 3d skulls on her buttocks and breasts she glowed in the dark it was just fantastic.
I nearly forgot to mention I met the fantastic Laura from
All Made Up 21 on the day. It was great to see a fellow blogger over there and I know she got some goodies while she was there so keep an eye out for her haul.
My Haul will be appearing on my
Youtube Channel probably Monday or Tuesday so keep an eye out its a big one!
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