Day 1 of IMATS came and went quickly I must say. It was my first time at Alexandra Palace somewhere in Wood Green London. The venue was quite accessible, there were frequent buses from the tube station. I got there about 9am and stayed till the end.

I was having a miserable day from the start. I almost missed my train to London, then I got on and realised I forgot my ipod because I was rushing and I also forgot my list  of things to get. It was agonisingly cold and I found myself wrapped up like a caterpillar throughout.

I finally got to the venue and I thought to myself ‘What a breath-taking view’. I got out my Sony α-350 to take the image and I realised I had left the battery on the charger at home. I was so mad at this point! How useless am I without my camera at such an event?!

So I had to take it with my blackberry…

Lucky for me I had my Sony HD camcorder, which doesn’t take good images and has no flash but is an excellent video recorder. At that point I decided to start having fun because the day could not get any worse surely.

I never really appreciated how ‘international’ IMATS is until this show. I heard so many languages and met with people from Russia, Sweden, France, Germany, Switzerland, America, Canada etc. There were so many people  at the show it was very crowded.

I got straight into my brush addiction with Royal Brush, A Design, Hakuhodo and Crown Brush. It’s as if I’ve been cursed to always misplace a brush. Last IMATS I lost my S142 from Hakuhodo, yesterday I lost the fan brush from Crown Brush. Oh well at least it was only £2.00 (That would have bought me a drink and a snack actually )

As with all IMATS, there were some very interesting classes going on. David Kalsfield of OCC makeup started off talking about Airbrushing. I love that OCC makeup airbrush system and will probably invest in it at the next show.

Then it was Terry Barber on the main stage talking about Beauty in video and music at the main stage. The hall was filled about an hour before time.

The student competitions were amazing. I felt like everyone was a winner in their own right.

Finally I went to Alex Box’s keynote presentation. Now I am not a fan of illamasqua. I know it is a British brand and it is high quality but I do not like the concept of ‘evil and darkness’ that the brand is based on. Their logo was adapted from a stabbed heart, which equals death to me and in my opinion is very grim . Now that’s just my opinion and irrespective of what I think, Alex Box is amazing! She is the only one who can pull off teal pants with bleeding red heels and a blue lipstick. I just admire her for daring to be different and it was very inspiring listening to her story. She is very spiritual and emotionally connected with everything and everyone she touches.

Detailed coverage of Alex Box interview here courtesy of London Beauty Review.

What’s IMATS without some amazing body art?

Zena and the Z-palette. That stuff is amazing! I love Zena so much- she is so passionate about her work and she must have repeated the same lines like 5 million times with equal enthusiasm all day.

The winner of the student contest:

I’ve said all these exciting things, what could have been wrong with the show?

It was badly overcrowded. I mean they had over 3,000 pre-booked tickets. There were scores of people sitting on the floor to eat and the stages were so small. People flew from all over the world only to be told that they cannot attend keynote sessions as there were no seats available. I felt sad for so may of them. Some were queuing for sessions 1½ hours before time and many didn’t get to see/meet the keynote speakers. Make-up Artist Magazine will have to find a bigger venue soon. If people are going to invest in a show, buy flights, book hotels etc., they need to know that they will get their money’s worth.

Overall it was a great show. I met Lipglossiping, Vex in the city and Virtues of beauty (no those are not their names but their blog names) and I also saw London beauty review and Nice things blog but before I registered and decided to say hello, they’d disappeared again. I didn’t get to meet all the people I wanted. I must have walked past them and not realised.

Comparing IMATS LA and London, hmm. They are different. In LA, people are more extravagant, louder and crazier with their make-up. There are more brands and more weird and wonderfuls. While London is about beauty bloggers, LA is about YT gurus.

If you missed it, what were you thinking? If not anything, at least the ease at which MAC were handing out PRO memberships! Make a date to go next year. I’m sure it will be better!

Stay beautiful…