If you’ve been following my blog or me for a while, first of all, THANK YOU! Second of all, you are probably not surprised in the least that I am posting a IMATS LA 2018 Haul & Recap! I absolutely love going to makeup trade shows, whether it’s The Makeup Show, PhamExpo, or this one - IMATS!
Usually, when I go, I am there in service - to work as either a makeup artist, a model, or just to lend a helping hand to a brand (or for the past few years, a beauty supply company whose owners I’ve befriended - or should I write befrended?). That means I spend most of my time in a booth, which is both good and bad!
It is good, because as I am sure you can imagine, especially if you love makeup, these shows can be EXPENSIVE because of the shopping! There are tons of booths & amazing deals, and many new products launched. My staying in a booth most of the time (I do get to go shop a bit and check things out) is beneficial because it limits my shopping time!
The drawbacks are missing some of the classes and demos, and for someone like me who blogs - limited opportunities to take pictures of the goings-on of the show! For that reason, I invite you to check out the posts about IMATS on instagram - and there are many! Before I post my promotion of this blog post, this is the only one done by me!
Another thing I love about being in a booth is being centrally located for friends I get to see at makeup events to come and find me to say hi and catch up. I was so happy, also, to make new friends and professional makeup artistry connections here in LA!
For me, this show was all about self-control. There weren’t many things I was dying to have (my kit is currently very well stocked, thanks in part to my friend Nancy who gave me a lot of her extra stuff when she moved to Italy last month). Additionally, I found that almost all of the brands I was interested in weren’t doing true show specials, and almost everything I was interested in buying was the exact same price it would be if I bought it later, when I actually needed it, with my pro discount online or at Frends!
Unfortunately for the brands, that loss of sense of urgency means that I may never even buy the products, but since this year I am still focusing on money (check my latest goal & focus post here, and post about money here), I am ok with it! It also made it less urgent since my Ho Job hasn’t paid me yet in 2018, but that’s another story for another time!
All that said, here’s my minimal IMATS LA 2018 Haul & Recap!
Basically, I used my gratis from helping at Frends, and contributed a little from my personal budget!
I needed to stock on lashes, mostly of the natural-looking variety, so I bought just over 20 pairs.
I have been wanting to try the Skindinavia setting spray*, so I got a bottle of that.
As an airbrush makeup artist, I don’t use THAT many brushes, but you can never have enough lip or liner brushes, so I got two of those!
And the biggest purchase for this IMATS LA 2018 Haul & Recap is the Anastasia Beverly Hills lip palette. All of the lip colors that I have before now are in the “normal” range of shades - like pinks, reds, etc.
Whenever I want to do something fun or funky, I have cheated by either using a Make Up For Ever Flash Palette color (or the second one), or an eyeliner… Like this crazy shot from in my early days (haha)!
This used to be my business card!
Thank GOD I have improved in the past ten years!
I’m excited to have this to either use the crazy colors themselves, or use the cut palette that came with it to mix those corrector shades into the more standard colors to get EXACTLY the color I want! Anyone who’s worked with me knows I’m a mixmaster and am always creating my own colors for just about everything, so I am excited to be more equipped for that!
I almost forgot to share a few samples someone dropped by as we were packing up!
If you’re not familiar with Lemonhead, check out their site! I think this could be fun for an editorial shoot (or music festival), so I am going to save these bad boys!
Stay tuned for some more fun posts! I am on a roll, especially with a newfound focus on writing! 😉
What did you get in your last beauty haul?
xoxo,
Mandie
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