IMATS

At the beginning of this month I had the pleasure with a friend and my boyfriend of attending what was possibly the Mecca for all make up artists and make up lovers a like. What is this magical event you ask? Well it's none other then the International Make up Artist Trade Show or IMATS for short. This was my first year attending the event and for loss of a better word I was extremely excited and the exhibition certainly met my expectations!

IMATS

The trade show was held at the beautiful Alexandra Palace and I couldn't think of a better place. Upon entering the venue early on a Saturday morning the place was filled out with stalls. These stalls sold masses of professional make up products from beauty make up to special effects supplies from some of the biggest names in the industry such as MAC, Illmasqua and Alcone. As well as there being some familiar names there were a few make up lines that I had never heard of and it was good to explore and discover new products to fall in love with. One of favourite new discoveries was a company called LA Splash from America, this make up line was aimed for the inner Californian girl in all of us, lots of bright summery colours and glitter! I couldn't resist I had to buy an eyeshadow set from them. The best part of all of this was the incredible bargains that the exhibitors were offering (some products being sold at a 75% discount!). We had booked tickets online to IMATS for £45 each and with the discounts and special offers available it certainly was worth the money.

As well as the exhibitors there were master classes and live sessions with some of the top make up and special effects artists in the industry. We played it safe and queued up early to a live session with one of my favourite artists Neill Gorton, his credentials seem to go on forever but he is best known for his work on Dr Who, Saving Private Ryan, Being Human and Torchwood. He is also part owner of Millennium FX. Getting to the Main Stage early seemed to pay off well as we managed to bag seats third row in from the front in a room that held 750 people! In this live session Neill Gorton showed off his incredible skills by creating a monster make up. With the help of his colleagues he applied a whole head, face and chin prosthetic appliance as well as painting and adding texture to the piece. He did all this in an incredible 90 minutes. Which by industry standards is super fast! He was not only amazingly professional but also charming and down to earth. I was glued to my seat the whole time!

Neill Gorton Live Session

 After the live session with Neill Gorton we grabbed a bite to eat at one of the many Cafes at Alexandra Palace. If paying around £10 for a sandwich, drink and cookie seems a bit steep to you (it certainly did to me!) then I suggest bringing a packed lunch. We wondered around the exhibition hall for a little bit checking out the different creations being made up around us. We got the chance to check out the Special effects museum which held pieces by the wonderful Nick Dudman. He is responsible for the magical looks of the Harry Potter films, Beowulf and Grendel and Batman Begins. Unfortunately it seemed we were not able to make it into his live session but whilst we were at the museum we did manage to bump into him and Warwick Davis who was to model for his live make up creation. Warwick Davis was even kind enough to pose for a photo.

Warwick Davis

Special FX Museum with pieces from the Harry Potter films

I have to say that I will definitely be returning next year. I urge make up artists and make up lovers a like if you have never been to this event then you should!

My tips for this event:

1. Book online a few months ahead as there are discounts for customers who purchase their tickets early. 
2. Try to make it down to the venue as soon as the doors open. It seems pretty early but worth it as by lunch time the place was packed and it made it a little bit more difficult to browse and purchase items as long queues were beginning to form. 
3. Try to make it to the more well known and popular stalls such as MAC and Illmasqua first as they become pretty impossible to approach as the day goes on due to the high demand in their products.
4.  If you are wanting to attend a live session with your favourite artist keep in mind that the best places to be are at the front, so get to the stages as early as you possibly can! 
5. Don't forget to be out going and network and enjoy yourself, make the most of the special offers as this event only happens once a year.
6.  Oh and don't forget to bring your camera!

Visit the website for more information about IMATS: http://www.imats.net

Here are a few photos I took through out the day.