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.

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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. 🙂

Having never been to IMATS before, despite my makeup obsession long withstanding, I have to say this was a pretty phenomenal first experience. I got to meet a ton of Toronto-area bloggers that I read on the daily, pick up a bunch of makeup brands I don’t normally have access to, meet some YouTubers I’ve been watching for years and… surround myself with people who are just as into makeup (if not moreso) as me!

I was a bit in a rush that morning since I was heading to meet Jenn from Scarlet Beauty prior to the doors opening at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. We got there early enough, but the lines were still insane. A line to pick up your pass (aka a stamp on your wrist) and then another long line to actually get into the IMATS hall.

I’d been warned that everyone would go bat-shit insane for the MUFE and MAC counters. I wasn’t really interested in either of them, so I swatched a few items while Jenn compiled her list at MUFE. And then, while she waited in line for an HOUR to get her order fulfilled there, I ran off to check out the other booths.

I managed to pick up all the things on my “To Buy” list during that hour. They mostly included glitters from Lit Cosmetics, pigments from Naked Cosmetics, and a bunch of brushes from theReal Techniques/Farleyco booth. Lit and Naked both seem to be online only to Canada and I’ve always wanted to check them out in person first.

Then, while Jenn was still waiting at MUFE for her order, I got into the Real Techniques line where the Pixiwoo sisters would be meeting and greeting for the next two hours. I have to admit, I felt silly. I mean, I’m a 31 year old woman and I was predominantly surrounded by late teens/early 20-something-or-others, waiting in line to meet some YouTubers. I always feel incredibly awkward meeting “famous” people because I’m overly conscious of the fact that I am “just another blogger in a long list of people they will see and promptly forget”. HOWEVER, I’ve been watching their videos for five or six years now and I have gotten more information and techniques from them than I ever thought possible and I really wanted to get a picture with them.

So I lined up, snagged a few pictures while they were with other people, and then my turn came up. They were warm and friendly – asking my name and what makeup I was wearing (which I promptly blanked on because I was dealing with mild-starstruck-itis). In the end, they were lovely and they took a beautiful picture. On my way out of the photo area (I really didn’t say much to them, I didn’t want to take up too much of their time), Sam turned to me and said she didn’t catch my name. I repeated it, and I thought that was such a sweet gesture.

Thankfully the picture came out pretty good!

Afterwards, it was a matter of meeting up with some more bloggers, having some lunch with a few of them, and then checking out some of the panels and some more of the booths. I picked up way more brushes than I intended (Morphe, London Brush Company) and grabbed a palette of brights from Morphe.

There were also a lot of pieces of art walking around as well. While I love the bright colours by MUFE (on the left), I was *super* excited to see the Mia Sara get-up on the model on the right from the movie Legend. At least that’s what I think they were going for! (Man, I LOVE that movie! Good reminder to go re-watch it…)

The last panel of the day was something to do with MAC Cosmetics and fantasy. It started off interestingly, with the inspiration being teacups and 80s punk….

….and then everything went disastrously downhill once the Sweet n Lo packets were brought in to be applied to the lips.

Like… what?

The poor model…

So all in all IMATS was a ton of fun. It was crowded as hell during the morning, but a lot of people left by mid-afternoon so there was a lot more space to move around and check out booths. That being said, there was also a lot less product left at the booths by the end of the day, so if you wanted something in particular that was a highly coveted item, I hoped you picked it up in the morning!

Aside from the products, getting to meet some of the CBB crowd was fantastic! Be sure to check them out:

• Jen from Vibrant, Vivacious, Veracious Beauty Blog
• Jenn from A Beautiful Zen
• Steph from Fun Size Beauty
• Laura from Lipstick and Laura
• Julie from Swatch and Review
• Shawna from Spill The Beauty

And despite my concerns, I actually managed to stick to my budget ($200). I wasn’t expecting it to actually happen (we all know we start to cave when we’re around shiny new products!) but I was super pleased that I actually held to it.

Monthly haul coming up on Friday which will include all my IMATs stuff as well!