HAUL | IMATS TORONTO 2015 | The Melanin Beauty

Hey beauties :) Welcome to my blog and cheers to my first post! I'm very excited to share with you guys my first experience at IMATS and all the goodies that I bought.

For those who don't know, IMATS is the International Makeup Artist Trade Show. It's a two day event that is held in major cities internationally for mainly makeup artists and students but is also open to the general public. Many people attend this event to get popular brands such as Make Up For Ever, NYX and M.A.C. Cosmetics at discounted prices! Besides the great deals there are also competitions, guest speakers and master classes by Emmy Award winning celebrity makeup artists such as Eve Pearl.

Now seeing as this was my very first time at IMATS, I was very excited to see who was going to be there and the discounts I would get from my favourite brands. I was honestly expecting it to be a very lavish experience. However, it was just okay. I got there around 10:00am and there was a long line up but getting in took less than five minutes which was good. When I got in I basically went to the booths where I knew had the products I specifically wanted which took no longer than 3 hours. I think my experience was less exciting because it was the Toronto edition. There are not many popular beauty gurus in the city like there are in LA or NYC. So I didn't get to meet and fan girl over anyone.

I was also a bit disappointed with the choice of exhibitors at the event. I was hoping brands such as Anastasia Beverly Hills, Lime Crime and Dose of Colors, just to name a few, were there. These type of brands aren't as accessible in Canada so it would have been nice to get my hands on some of those products. However, for the brands that were there, I was able to get many of things I wanted and then some which was shocking because I went on Sunday. The Sunday crowd wasn't as bad as the Saturday crowd so I definitely dodged a bullet there. The busiest lines were for NYX and Morphe Brushes. I was able to brave the NYX line and get a few things but the Morphe line was a no go. I'm not a very patient person.

Anyways, I don't want a bore you guys so let's get right into the haul...

THE HAUL

The first vendor I went to was the M.A.C. booth because I had a long list of things that I wanted for a long time and this was the perfect time to make a dent in that never ending list lol. Yes, I came prepared, I had list for every booth so I wouldn't be overwhelmed.

From M.A.C. Cosmetics I purchased mainly lipstick actually only lipsticks because the booth only had limited PRO items available and the products I wanted the most were not there. But I definitely had Jesus on my side that day. He loves me y'all! One of the employees for M.A.C. handed me a discount card for the actual PRO store on Bloor Street that was only valid that day and I was able to get more things from my list.

I don't know about you guys but I have a long list of M.A.C. lippies that I need in my roster. So picking up six at one time is a huge deal for me. As you can see from my list. I picked up mainly pinky/brownish nude colours because who doesn't love a good nude. I feel like the shades that I picked go so well with my skin tone.

M.A.C. Lipsticks
Original Price $20.00
IMATS Price $16.00

Ruby Woo: Since I never got the Limited Edition RiRi Woo I went for the original.
Twig: My cousin has this shade so I joined the band wagon and picked it up.
Persistence: I always hear good things about this colour and it's a nude.
Taupe: Word on road is this is the best nude for deep skin tones.
Honey Love: This is very light against my skin tone but I couldn't resist.
Mehr: I also took a risk with this colour, but hopefully I can pull it off with a brown liner.

Fix+ Spray
Original Price $26.00
IMATS Price $20.80

If you don't know about Fix+ and it's magical powers, you better learn today!! This is my holy grail for both priming and setting my face.

Sun Power Mineralize Skin Finish Powder
Original Price $37.00
IMATS Price $29.60

I've been dying to get my hands on this powder, and I'm extremely excited to start using it. I saw one of my favourite beauty bloggers EstareLive use this as a contour shade and from there I was sold.

M.A.C. Lip Pencils
Original Price $19.50
IMATS Price $15.60

I don't know about you guys but M.A.C. lip pencils are very expensive but too good not to have in your makeup arsenal. I only got two, Cork and Night Moth. I chose ones that could work with many lip colours for the Fall season.

MakeUp Eraser
Original Price $25.00
No Discount :(

Right beside the M.A.C. booth was a vendor for the Makeup Eraser. Now I was quite skeptical at first but the lady who worked the booth convinced me to put it to the test. I usually hate having too buy makeup wipes every month so having this can definitely save me a few dollars.

NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation & NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer
Original Price $59.00 $ 36.00
No Discount :( however...

Next I wandered off to the NARS booth. Now I was quite upset at the fact that there were absolutely no discounts at the booth. It had me questioning why they were even there. But I couldn't resist picking up the Radiant Creamy Concealer. And I knew it was meant to be be because it was the last one in my shade Amande. I also decided to pick up the All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation in the shade New Orleans. Now I've tried this foundation before and it looked amazing when I first put it on but about 2 hours into the day it started to oxidize and I looked a hot mess. However I got a tip from another one of my favourite beauty bloggers BeautybyJJ who mixes this foundation with her regular foundation to control it a bit more. The reason why I'm want to try this again is because I love the fact that it's very light + full coverage and it gives a really nice glow. However, because I have oily skin, I have to use it very sparingly and use the correct primer for oil control.

NARS Audacious Mascara
IMATS BONUS GIFT

So even though I didn't get a discount at the NARS Booth, I did get a bonus gift for purchasing two items. They gave me a sample size of the NARS Audacious Mascara in Black Moon. Because I'm a huge mascara fan, this really makes up for not getting a discount :)

MUFE Ultra HD Invisible Cover Foundation
Original Price $50.00
IMATS Price $30.00

After that, I went to the Makeup Forever Booth and was quite impressed with the 40% off discount, so I definitely took advantage and bought the new Ultra HD Foundation. I was able to sample this a few weeks back and completely fell in love. Again this foundation is also very light but medium to full coverage. I plan to mix this with my NARS foundation to hopefully get that contradicting matte/dewy look. At this point I was totally over budget but clearly I have no self control lol.

Benefit The POREfessional
Original Price $39.00
IMATS Price $29.00

So next I went over to the Benefits Booth and got the Pore Perfecter Primer. After watching one of Jackie Aina's video's about how to cover deep pores, I knew I definitely wanted to try this out.

NYX The Curve & NYX Butter Gloss
NYX The Curve Original Price $16.99
IMATS Price $13.59
NYX Butter Gloss Original Price $7.99
IMATS Price $6.39

From the NYX booth I was able to pick up two butter glosses in the shade Praline & Ginger Snap. Praline is more of a "pinky-brown" shade which acts as the perfect nude on my skin tone while Ginger snap is more of a "purply-brown" shade which is also very nice.

The Original Beauty Blender
Original Price $28.00
IMATS Price $20.00

So at this point I managed to pick up everything that I wanted but I didn't feel like stopping. Yes, I'm a crazy shop-a-holic. Especially when it comes to huge sales like this. So I decided to stop by Nigel's Beauty Emporium and pick up a few things.

When I saw the Beauty Blender, I decided it was time to finally buy one. I always wanted one for the longest time but I always went for the inexpensive dupes. But, the dupes never seem to give me a flawless finish I'm looking for. So, hopefully the real deal will give me better results.

Color Switch Solo
Original Price $20.00
IMATS Price $15.00

I also decided to pick up the Color Switch Solo. I saw Amy Macedo pick this up in her IMATS haul last year and it seems like a good investment. Apparently, you'd use this mainly when you're doing your eye shadow and using multiple colours with one brush. Obviously, if you're using the same brush you don't want the colours to collide. So before you dip the brush into the next colour, you simply wipe the brush into the sponge and it cleans it right off. Nifty right ;)

Real Techniques Sculpting Set Collector's Edition
Original Price $25.00
IMATS Price $20.00

Last but not least I went over to The Real Techniques Booth and managed to pick up only one thing lol. I got the Sculpting Set mainly because it was a collector's edition and they were pink which is my favourite colour. The set includes a sculpting brush which is perfect to create a defined contour. It also comes with a fan brush which is good for highlighting the top of your cheek bones. And it also comes with a setting brush which can control under eye setting powders for a more flawless blend.

The Damage

So the plan was to stick to my budget which was $200. I purposely took cash out of the ATM to keep me on track but the mistake I made was bringing my credit card along with me. So here's the approximate breakdown of what I spent and where...

M.A.C. COSEMETICS $100.00

M.A.C. PRO STORE $90.00

MAKE UP ERASER $25.00

NARS $100.00

MUFE $30.00

BENEFITS $30.00

NYX $30.00

NIGEL'S $50.00

REAL TECHNIQUES $20.00

After my first booth which was M.A.C. I had already spent $100. I knew at that very moment it was all down hill from there. At the end of the day I spent a little over $475. With that being said, I'm going to have to hold off on the makeup shopping for a while. SIKE!!!! I'm a makeup addict I can never have too much makeup :)

Have you ever been to IMATS, how was your experience?