I am intensely hungover this morning, so please accept these two shots of last night’s Halloween shenanigans – clickable for much more detail!
Category Archives: Events
IMATS Toronto 2015
This past weekend was Makeup Christmas in Toronto. The International Makeup Artist Tradeshow (IMATS) was in town so those in attendance got the opportunity to shop some amazing brands at discounted prices!
Last year when I attended IMATS (held in November then), I was a total newbie to beauty blogging. My site was barely a year old, I knew no one locally in the beauty blogging community and I was very, very green.
However, this year was totally different! I not only qualified for a press pass (hell yes to free entry!), but I’ve met so many lovely people through blogging that I actually feel like I’m party of the community now. (Awww group hug guys!) Such a stark contrast from last year let me tell you!
But enough of the sap, let’s get on to the goods! IMATS is open to the public, so you can purchase a ticket for roughly $50. Saturday is usually crazier however, so it did sell out prior to the actual day (buy early!). Those of us with press passes were instructed to the front of the line, which was a huge blessing when we got in there since we could quickly scramble to the booths we wanted to pick up stuff from immediately. Since some booths get absolutely slammed (we’re talking HOURS of wait time to pick up your products) this was a massive relief.
My first purchase with the Viseart Editorial Brights palette. This sucker has NEVER been available/in stock on Sephora AND the dang price just shot up to $100. I’ve been after it for several months once I saw it was available at some other IMATS (LA maybe?). I plunked down the cash ($80 CAD) without even thinking twice. I had wanted this for so long that were wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to pass up on it. PLUS, I had no real other items I had intended to splurge on at IMATS so this was kind of “MY THING” to get.
My other required stop was Lit Cosmetics. Just looking at these pictures gives me heart palpitations. I LOVE GLITTER SO MUCH.
I ended up getting seven different colours, but even though that’s quite a few, I’m still looking at these shots I took wondering why I didn’t buy more shades! It’s okay though… they’ll be back next year, I can keep adding to my collection then…
Aren’t they gorgeous? /swoon
The floor was starting to fill up and lines were gettong intensely long.
The wait time at the Make Up For Ever booth was getting to be about 60 to 90 minutes long, but the discount was a whopping 40% off!
Worst lineup though? Morphe Brushes. A few people were saying that it took them THREE FREAKING HOURS to get through that lineup. Thankfully, I wasn’t interested in anything with super intense lines.
Farley Co was selling the new Real Techniques Bold Metal brushes as well as the regular lineup but they were only taking cash. I, the total fool, had not brought ANY cash with me. Guess I’ll get you another time Miracle Complexion Sponge… 🙁
Farley Co also had cans of the Colab dry shampoo, as well as a lot of products from Zoella‘s line. This the first I’ve heard of them being in North America, so if you like Zoella, you may want to go take a boo at their site.
Benefit Canada was also out in force. Discounts were something like 30% off and if you bought three products you got a fourth for free.
I tend to avoid MAC at IMATS because I’ve got enough of their products as it is, but I love their decor so I stopped by for a quick peek. They were offering a 20% discount.
Last year we only had eight or so Canadian Beauty Bloggers in the shot, this year we had 13 (and more came to lunch)! We’re growing! Be sure to visit them:
- Jill of beautyvixen.ca
- Sandie of sandiesstash.com
- Angel of angelabee.wordpress.com
- Zubie of livingthegrey.com
- Laura of lipstickandlaura.com
- Zoe of writingwhimsy.com
- Julie of swatchandreview.com
- Steph of funsizebeauty.blogspot.ca
- Jen of vibrantbeautyblog.blogspot.ca
- Nicole of beautybrainsplus.com
- Kaitlyn of kaitlynelisabethbeauty.blogspot.ca
- Madeline of classicallycontemporary.com
About twenty of us went to lunch afterwards where I consumed far too many mimosas. I then went back to the convention centre, bought more glitter from Lit and then headed on home to have a blissfully long nap. It sounds kind of ridiculous when I say it out loud, but we were up relatively early and at the convention centre for 8 am. Between my mimosa induced stupor and the long lines, I was freaking TIRED! All in all, I didn’t buy that much (all products at the bottom of September’ haul post) at IMATS, but I’m happy with what I did get. 🙂
essence cosmetics Paint Nite – Fall/Winter 2015 Preview + Giveaway
A few weeks ago I was invited to check out essence‘s upcoming Fall and Winter 2015 products. It was a preview of sorts, along with a Paint Nite! This is the second essence event I’ve been to (the first being princess themed) but so far each of them has had a fairly impressive theme. Not only do the decorations, candy, food and drink all fit the theme, but they even go all out with activities. It’s a lot of fun going into an event knowing there’s a plan to do something, not just a product show and tell!
While we stuffed us ourselves with candy, we took a peek at some of the upcoming products essence is featuring through the next two seasons.
There are some shade updates to essence‘s regular line (eyeshadows, lip liners and lipsticks), but there are also a bunch of new products to look out for as well. The ones I’m most looking forward to trying out are their Sun Club Shimmering Bronzing Powders (because I love me some bronzer), the Lash Princess False Lash Effect mascara (because I really liked the original Lash Princess mascara quite a bit) and the Eyebrow Fixing Pencil (it’s a wax stick in pencil format!).
Shawna of Spill The Beauty boasting some pretty awesome painting skills at Paint Nite!
The biggest thing out of the Fall/Winter 2015 preview was the news that essence has completely redone their nail polish line. While the bottles and brushes (yay!) are thankfully the same, the formula has been updated. The entire line now sports a gel finish but is easy to remove with normal nail polish remover. As a complete amateur when it comes to nail polish, the only thing I can really say is that you get a shiny finish without having to cure it under some kind of lamp.
What I experienced with this new gel polish is a gorgeous finish that lasted longer than any nail polish I have experienced in recent memory. The polish job above was done on me by a nail technician at the event using all essence products and the manicure lasted EIGHT WHOLE DAYS. And even then, there was only one chip (because I picked at my nail) and very minor tip wear. I was beyond incredulous – that’s amazing longevity!
Giveaway Time!
One of my Canadian readers is going to be very lucky because I am giving 21 polishes from essence‘s new line up. We were gifted these at the event, but I’m not enough of a regular nail polish wearer to justify keeping these for myself. I want someone to win these who will actually use them! This giveaway is open exclusively to Canadians because shipping nail polish outside of the country is not on my list of favourite things I like to do. (The long story there is that some countries do not accept mail that has nail polish because it has alcohol in it and I’m afraid there’s no worldwide listing as to which countries do, or do not accept it.)
Details
- Open to Canadians only!
- Giveaway starts on August 5, 2015 and runs for two weeks.
- One winner will receive the following 21 shades of nail polish by essence:
- 01 absolute pure
- 06 space queen
- 07 party princess
- 09 # lucky
- 16 fame fatal
- 18 fly firefly fly
- 24 indian summer
- 27 don’t be shy!
- 33 wild white ways
- 40 play with my mint
- 46 black is back
- 47 va-va-voom
- 49 turn the lights on!
- 52 amazed by you
- 146 that’s what i mint!
- I <3 trends
- 02 i nude it
- 03 i’m lost in you
- 10 nude sweet nude
- gel nail polish base coat
- gel polish top coat
- Please be aware that all entries will be double checked to ensure fairness.
- Once the winner has been contacted, they will have 48 hours to provide me with their Canadian mailing address. If the winner fails to respond within that time frame, I will pick another winner. (And so on.)
Good luck!
Event: Charlotte Tilbury Takes Canada
June 2015 marked the entrance of Charlotte Tilbury into Canada and there were a LOT of us that were excited. Charlotte Tilbury, touted as the world’s #1 make-up artist, is a British makeup artist that has spent 20+ years in the industry, working on notable clients like Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss. Her line of makeup was first launched in the United Kingdom in 2013, eventually made it’s way over to the US, and now finally, to Canada.
Charlotte herself was coming to Holt Renfrew on Bloor Street in Toronto to help promote the launch of her products and several of us beauty bloggers planned to attend the event. The event was open to the public and essentially a meet and greet.
At Holt Renfew, Charlotte Tilbury‘s new counter jumps out at you when you enter. It’s immediately to the right of the entrance doors and it’s breathtaking. You could easily sink a lot of time and money into this counter! Interesting to note, while the products are certainly expensive in Canadian dollars, they are actually cheaper if you buy them here, than overseas. Given the exchange right now, the Canadian prices are a far better deal. For example, the Bronze & Glow palette is $80 CAD. In the UK, it retails for £49. With the current exchange, that £49 comes out to just over $96 CAD!
I met several of my beauty blogging friends and we waited in line to meet Charlotte. Although it was busy when we got there, there weren’t a ton of people in line to meet Charlotte. However, come 6 o’clock, the line quickly started to snake around the counters. I’ve not had much experience waiting in line to meet celebrities, but this was incredibly upscale: we were given little bottles of water, samples and asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding our skin type.
With great fanfare, Charlotte Tilbury and her team walked in right on time. There was some brief dance number as all the models dressed up in her looks paraded around, and then the CEO of Holt’s shared his excitement about having both Charlotte and her products on site. It was pointed out a few times that apparently the Canadian launch has outdone any other launch they’ve had in terms of sales. You go Canada, you spend that money! (I know I sure did!)
When we go the chance to meet her, it was pretty quick and quite a blur. She commented on my makeup saying I must be wearing the Glamour Muse quad (nope, was Vintage Vamp) and then pointed out I had the wrong lip colour on for the “look”. I think I *actually* said that I couldn’t afford all her products yet! Way to go Chelle, you stick it to her. /facepalm
I made brief small talk and stood awkwardly. She recommended some products of hers for me, then we took a picture and off I went. This woman is a total pro. She’s not only stunning to look at her (that hair, I mean really… LOOK AT IT) but she can seemingly navigate any kind of awkward conversation she gets into with a fan. Impressive, to say the least.
Smile! Dude… get your hand out of my shot. 😐
So all in all, it was pretty brief, but it was fun to hang out with my blogging buddies and coo over a makeup celebrity. I do really like the products I’ve tried from Charlotte Tilbury‘s line and I will be purchasing more in the future. If you want to check out the makeup look I did with The Vintage Vamp quad and the Bronze & Glow duo, you can see that here.
As we left Hot’s, we snagged a shot in front of the adorable Tilbury Taxi. I love these ladies – be sure to check them out as a few of them have done event recaps of the event as well (left to right):
- myself
- Laura of Lipstick & Laura
- Andy of A Certain Romance
- Liz of Stay Gorgeous
- Julie of Swatch & Review (some shots in this post were from Julie’s camera!)
Inglot + Mamma Mia!
On April 24, 2015, Inglot launched their Gimme! Gimme! Glitter collection and just this past Tuesday, I was invited to attend an event at their Toronto location to view a demo of the products on actual cast members of the musical!
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Inglot. Before they were available in Toronto at Dundas Square (and even moreso now on their online shop for Canadians), I’ve gone to many a country in search of their products (you may think I’m kidding, but I’m really not – I’ve picked up Inglot products in Ireland, Austria and the U.S.). So getting invited to one of their press events? Kind of feels like I’ve achieved a life goal!
Inspired by the Broadway musical Mamma Mia!, the collection includes 35 pieces in blues, silver whites, pinks and purples. I was drawn in by the amazingness that is their specially re-done Freedom System palette that focuses on every colour of the rainbow. If ever there was a palette with my name on it, I would hope that it would be this one. (For those interested in the individual shades, they are: 474, 362, 59, 51, 372, 495, 371, 441, 388 & 35.)
While the palette was the absolute showstopper for me, there’s also a lipstick palette, and a variety of other products that are not only enticing, but also incredibly vibrant (nail polishes, lipsticks, gel liners, pigments and a duochrome blue tinted lip gloss!).
One of the things I liked most about the collection and display is while the colours are certainly vibrant (and I would expect nothing less from Inglot really), they’re also placed there in a way that really makes you think about the colours. I’ve never worn blue lipstick, but this display definitely made me consider it (for one very brief, very small moment).
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to stay very long since I had nipped out of work on my lunch hour to attend the event. Several of the Toronto-based beauty bloggers were attending the event, so it was nice to catch up while we oogled the new collection from Inglot. I said my hellos and goodbyes within 45 minutes and then begrudgingly headed back to work to finish up my day.
Unfortunately, I’m ashamed to say I’ve never actually seen the musical, although I know I’ve seen the movie a few years back. Does this Mamma Mia! collection speak to you? The vibrancy of that palette is really, REALLY calling my name!