IMATS New York: The Experience

Hey Guys,

As most of you know,  I recently took a trip to New York to attend IMATS NY! It was my very first IMATS show and I was really happy that I got to experience it with one of my good friends and fellow makeup addicts El (The Beauty Isle). In this post, I will talk about my experience at IMATS and share the pictures that I took at the show. Just a warning...this is a VERY picture heavy post. I will do a separate post/video on my IMATS haul. If you are interested in hearing about IMATS keep reading!

On Friday night we met up with Jackie from Five Two Beauty! We had a nice dinner with her at an Italian restaurant and then hung out for drinks after. It was so awesome to meet someone that I have been blogging buddies with for so long. Jackie is such a sweetheart and we had a great time chatting with her.

Saturday morning, we were up bright and early to get in line before the doors opened at 9 a.m. Apparently everyone else had the same idea because I got there at 8:15 a.m. and the line was already zig zagged all the way outside of the gates of the pier! 

This is my view from my spot in line before they opened the doors and started letting people in.

Luckily we got there at a decent time because by the time they opened the doors, the line behind me was wrapped all the way down the street! 

It took about a half hour to get inside the building once they started letting people in.

Once we were inside, the check in process was pretty quick!

I actually pictured the booth mores more crammed together than they actually were. They were pretty spaced out which was nice.

Here is a picture of me taking a selfie while waiting in one of the lines.

Here are some booths that I stopped by:

Bdellim Tools

This is the Bdellim booth where I picked up some brushes at 40% off.

Sugar Pill

OCC Cosmetics

Make Up For Ever

Make Up For Ever was offer 20% off to regular people and 40% to makeup artists with a pro card. I wasn't really impressed with the 20% off but their new eye shadows were 50% off which was cool. I decided not to pick up anything from this booth.

Inglot

Kryolan

Morphe Brushes

Morphe Brushes was one of the craziest lines for both days that we went. By the time we headed to this booth on Saturday the line was so long that it ran down one wall and wrapped around the corner. We decided to hit this booth first thing Sunday morning to avoid waiting in a three hour line.

Boy were we glad that we did! Here was the line Sunday early afternoon!

and the line continued......

Once at the Morphe booth, all the brushes, sets, palettes, and shadows were laid out for you to grab which ones you wanted.

This made is really easy to find what you were looking for.

Around the whole trade show, there were makeup stations where MUA were putting creating all different types of makeups from fun creatures and charatcters, 

to beauty looks and artistic body painting.

Here are some more booths that I checked out:

City Color Cosmetics

Their products are already super inexpensive and affordable. They had some even greater deals at the show like $3.00 blushes!

Tat2u

Tat2u had a 3 for $25.00 sale on all of their products except for their foundations.

Sigma Beauty

Sigma was offering a 30% discount on their products. They passed out booklets with all of their products and discounted pricing which was helpful while we were waiting in line. If you wanted to check out their products and swatch things, you needed to do that first before getting in line.

NYX Cosmetics

I'm not sure of the discount but I think it was 30-40% off. They were passing out bins for you to fill up with products. At times this booth was madness. Its best to hit this booth early in the morning.

Stila Cosmetics

Anastasia Beverly Hills

IMATS Make-Up Museum

In this area you could check out actual masks, full size figures,  props, and other makeups from famous TV shows and movies.

This was a prop from the movie Deliver Us from Evil

This was a piece of the original mask from the 80's superhero spoof movie the Toxic Avenger.

Here are some tips that I have for anyone interested in attending next year:

-Do your research: Researching IMATS and reading other peoples experience really helped me prepare for the show.

-Check out the Exhibitor List Ahead of Time: Having an idea of the vendors that will be attending the show will help you make a list of the booths you want to check out and the products you would be interested in purchasing.

-Set a Budget: It is VERY easy to go overboard at these type of shows. Make a list of products you would like and their prices. OVER ESTIMATE so that you have left over money in case that you see other things that you didn't plan to pick up.

-Show Up Early: People get to the show hours and hours before the doors open. I think that showing up at least an hour a head of time is best practice. I got there an hour early both days and the line was already crazy long. It took about a half hour each day to get into the building once they started letting people in,

-Wear Comfy Shoes: You are going to be on your feet ALL DAY. Wear comfy shoes and clothes. I DO NOT suggest wearing heels of any sort.

-Hit the Big Booths First Thing: I was very worried about the lines for good reason. I think El and I did a great job at head to the big booths first thing before all the traffic to avoid waiting hours in line. We went to Sigma first and only waited in line for a half hour. We hit up Morphe Brushes first thing Sunday morning and only waited about a half hour in that line too. By afternoon, there was atleast a 2-3 hour wait at each. Nyx, Make Up For Ever, Anastasia Beverly Hills, and Lime Crime also had really long lines by the afternoon.

Was it worth it? Yes, I feel that the IMATS EXPERIENCE was worth it to me. Would I go again next year? No. It was alot of money for one weekend. Especially since its $60.00 each day to go and the discounts aren't THAT great if you aren't a makeup artist. I don't regret it at all but it's not something that I feel that I need to go to every year. I also don't think its necessary to go both days. This show was definitely alot of fun but is REALLY good for makeup artists or people that live locally.

Overall, I had a great time at IMATS however, it was TOTALLY exhausting! I do feel that I did a great job preparing for the trade show. I was glad that I saved money over the past few months to spend at IMATS. I was also glad that I check out the vendors ahead of time and made a list of booths and products that I wanted to purchase. 

Thanks for reading about my experience! Which booths would you hit up at IMATS? Post your comments below!