We took a bit to walk around and size up Pier 94. It didn't seem too packed with shoppers at that hour, but as we were leaving at 12:30, IMATS was in full swing and the line for Stila and NYX were super long and there was no way to get through to OCC and INGLOT.
Here are some pics of the student competitions.
A Stila boy! I saw a couple of them walking around. Nice abs! :)
This was the makeup artist at the Make Up Forever Booth. Which I never saw any products being sold there. Just the artist. But in my overwhelmed stupor, we might have missed an entire section at Pier 94. lol
I was just as overwhelmed with IMATS as I thought I would be. No surprise there! I thought I did a good job of organizing myself and making a list of all the things that I wanted in the week previous. My main objective was foundation and some eyeshadow as I will be doing some of the Bridesmaids' makeup for my sister's wedding.
The list:
Naked Cosmetics: Eyeshadow stack
Kett Cosmetics: Foundation
INGLOT: Rainbow Freedom Palette
Ardell: Lashes
Stila: Eyeshadow palette
Jessie's Girl: Free gift, say hi to JulieG
OCC: Lip tars
Well I only crossed two things off my list, lashes at Ardell and free gift at Jessie's Girl. lol
JulieG had posted a vid that the first 100 visitors to the Jessie's Girl booth would receive a free gift.
The gift included Creme Eyeshadow Collection #1, Eye Dust and My Private Palace nail polish. I should have waited in line to see meet Julie at that point because when I came back later, the line was twice as long. She looked absolutely radiant. She has a very warming presence.
Next we walked around and landed at Eve Pearl with my sister getting her makeup done by the one and only Eve Pearl! So exciting! If you aren't in the know... Eve Pearl is a 5-time Emmy Award winning makeup artist and a part of the NBC Today show team. We were approached by the Eve Pearl team and as soon as I told them we were looking for a bridal look, they quickly ushered my sister to a chair and Ms. Pearl stepped in.
Here was the Bride-to-be "before" shot!
There she is on the big screen! :)
And after!
Ms. Pearl was debuting her all-in-one Ultimate Face Palette in Bombshell. Details from the website:
The Ultimate Face Palette: Ideal shades for face, eyes and cheeks. The long-lasting, double pigmented colors provide a silky, blendable texture that take you from day time natural to night time glamour. Use wet or dry.
• Essential “On The Go” multifunctional palette includes: 2 Pressed Powders, 3 Eye Shadows, 2
Blushes
• Custom blend: day to night
• Double pigmented pressed powder
• Universal spectrum of color
• Infused with Vitamin E
• Ideal for all skin tones
• Travel friendly with full-sized mirror
• Fragrance Free
• Ideal for sensitive skin
Ms. Pearl also filled in my sister's brows using a combination of the browns in the palette. Talk about an all-in-one. It's the perfect travel size, everything you need and has a huge mirror. I almost left with it but I ended up getting powder puffs of all things for $1 a piece. :) But I'm very happy with them!
I expected to make a huge purchase at the INGLOT booth, but the ordering procedure was confusing, the sales associates were overwhelmed, getting to swatching the colors was very difficult, there were no order forms, pens, etc... I tried 3 times. I kept leaving because I knew I only had a couple of hours and didn't want to spend all my time waiting! On the 3rd attempt, it was a success, I found a pen, but then another 20 minutes went by and I couldn't get an order form or get the attention of a sales person. I did swatch out everything on my hands and arms though. It was sort of a nightmare but one that I had no problem walking away from. All in all, I wasted probably 1 hour at INGLOT. Well maybe not wasted, it confirmed my desire for the brand for sure. Next 30% off sale they have on-line, I won't hesitate to order.
Cailyn was a company that I had never heard of before and we all stopped by the booth a couple of times. The woman there, Donna, was so helpful and nice. I even remembered her name! It was one of the first booths we visited and she tried their Line-Fix gel eyeliner on me and I wore it around testing it out. Of course I was skeptical with my oily lids and sure enough, it did not budge until 6pm. If you have dry lids, this will last you until you take it off for sure.
I finally purchased it in blue. I wish they had the shade chocolate mouse at the show or I would have bought it. Oh and I probably should have bought black. Oops! The gel liners were $15 at IMATS, regularly $21. They had beautiful loose pigments and I picked out a few colors as they were 3 for $20 but the more I thought about it, the more I knew that I had similar colors back at home. So again... sigh, I passed. I do wish I bought the eye primer. It beautifully mattified their pigments. Next year!
You can rub as hard as you want, this liner is not moving as soon as it sets. Which it does quickly so it is hard to smudge it. It sets in under a minute, maybe 45 seconds.
These are the 116s, cut a bit too short and without a coat of mascara to make the fake and my natural lashes mesh but you can see they are very dramatic! Usually when I wear false lashes you can't even tell I am wearing them. Oh also you can see the Cailyn Gel eyeliner on my waterline in this picture. It never smudged or ran. I was super impressed!
We split up shortly after Ardell I believe and I headed back over to INLGOT to leave yet again and a sale associate from Nurturing Force caught my attention. Maybe he noticed my shine but he brought me over to the booth and a woman talked to me about the company and their products. I noticed right away the no fuss packaging and the simplicity of the line. She handed me an oil blotting sheet and I was surprised how oily that I was already at 11am in the morning!
Intrigued by all the claims, no shine, oil control, instant matte, anti-shine, paraben free, HD primer, I picked up the Blot Out Offensive shine + oil control cream. I have yet to try it out. Silly I know, but I have some other products I want to use before the summer humidity hits and I'm sure this moisture cream will be all that I will use starting in a few weeks and I will have a full review! It has a very familiar, clean scent, almost like a cold cream.
After the Nurturing Force detour, I headed straight to the Kett Booth, which was completely empty I might add. I had a few questions and wanted to try out the Hydro foundation and get a color match. I figured I was between R3 and R1. The sales associate quickly blew me off after finding out I didn't have an airbrush system. I was actually planning on purchasing one at IMATS! She literally turned away from me and continued re-stocking, in fact the entire time I spoke with her she was arranging boxes. I was the only one there at the booth and there were 3 associates.
I didn't have time to worry about it, so I walked away only to return later to speak with another nice gal who actually took the time to color match me with their Fix Creme foundations. She also has oily skin and mentioned that she used Nurturing Force but never actually admitted to using Kett but a variety and mix of products. I'm sure the Fix Creme Foundation is amazing as the reviews I have seen on it but the foundation just didn't wow me looking at it on my jaw line. Again, I was the only one at the booth. I still wanted to try out the Hydro Foundation. But she said that the Rose Sampler was $65 but I remembered on the website it was $50 and I didn't have time to figure out what the actual products came in the sampler she was talking about.
So a little disappointed with the sales team at Kett. They missed out on a big sale that's for sure.
Stila, Naked, and NYX... I looked at a couple of things but nothing really seemed to interest me. I was just really hesitant to purchase anything because I was ready to splurge on INGLOT and Kett. After 4 months of re-evaluating my beauty spending habits and learning to re-use items and creating color combinations with my products, I really couldn't justify buying anything that I saw. So sad right? lol Actually it saved me a lot of $$! I even passed up lip tars at OCC!!! Gasp! They were super busy as well and we had to jet out of there to our next adventure.
I will have another post about our crazy weekend!
Some tips...
1. Make a list of the things you want before arriving. Do your research. It didn't really help me but it is good to get yourself organized because you can quickly become distracted. Like moi!
2. Eat breakfast before you go! No one likes to shop on an empty stomach.
3. Be assertive, try things, ask questions. The prices are worth shopping there, but for example INGLOT was 30% off. They have had a 30% off sale before on-line. I can wait for the next sale on-line. But I've never been in a store before and I got to swatch out their product there for the first time. Amazing stuff.
4. Be prepared for long lines. Most popular booths had shopping baskets. You put your items in the basket and then got into the check out line.
5. Bring cash, it's faster. INLGOT in particular was having trouble running credit cards. It was on a wireless system.
6. Stay all day. There are so many things to see and try and people to talk to. It's not a good idea to go to IMATS and be in a hurry or on a time limit!
7. Sit in on some classes. The ticket to get in is $40-45. Make the most of your experience and learn some things from the experts!
8. Head in about 9-9:30 to skip the morning rush! I have read there was a huge long line to get in right at 8:30.
9. Don't be afraid to learn about new brands. Cailyn and Nurturing Force were new to me and I was glad to have "discovered" them. And the sales teams were super nice!
10. Buddy up! It nice to bounce some ideas off of each other.
All in all it was a blast and I cannot wait until next year's IMATS NYC.
Did you go to IMATS? Discover any new to you brands?
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