Haulage | IMATS Vancouver 2018

Hello everyone! Today I’m sharing my haul from my weekend at IMATS Vancouver 2018. As a few of you may know, I had the absolute pleasure of covering IMATS Vancouver 2018 during this last weekend as a member of the press. This was an extremely exciting opportunity, as I had never before attended a larger makeup event. Not only was the makeup artistry shown there incredible, but there were a ton of venders present, some of which were offering incredible deals! If you haven’t already checked out my full IMATS post, please do so here!

Some of the more notable brands that were present at IMATS Vancouver were Bdellium Tools, Ben Nye Makeup, Bioderma, Stilazzi, Hakuhodo, Lime Crime, Make Up For Ever, Morphe, NARS, Royal & Langnickel, Smith Cosmetics and Suva Beauty. I think one of the most exciting aspects of this event was having access to brands you normally wouldn’t (especially in Canada, and where I live).

Since I am pretty happy with where my makeup collection is at, my main goal at this event was to purchase more high quality eyeshadow brushes. I am of the opinion that you can never have too many blending brushes, so I wanted to get a variety of sizes. I also really wanted to try some of the more raved about brush brands like Bdellium Tools, Hakuhodo and Smith Cosmetics, so I did! But as you will see, I also came away from this event with some eyeshadow anyways… Who’s a sucker? I am! But I am definitely going to thoroughly enjoy everything that I bought!

Smith Cosmetics

Smith Cosmetics is a Canadian brand that I have really been wanting to try. People absolutely rave about their brushes, so this was my chance! They actually didn’t have that many brushes on display, because some were sold out, and their eye brush line is on the smaller side. I’m pretty sure they had deals on, but looking at their website it’s not altogether clear whether their prices are in CAD or USD. You would think CAD because they are a Canadian brand, but I have been told that their website charges in USD.

104 Highlighter Brush ($22.80 USD): This is a high quality highlighter brush that is designed to diffuse highlighter easily with application. This brush actually isn’t even available yet, so it is very cool that they gave us early access at IMATS! The bristles are likely goat hair, but I can’t be sure since it isn’t on their website yet.

230 Quill Crease Brush Small ($21.60 USD, usually $27 USD, I think): This is a smaller crease brush with a pointed tip and goat hair bristles. This might be the softest brush I own, and it works incredibly well for blending eyeshadow!

I will absolutely be looking into purchasing more Smith brushes because these two seem like they are very high in quality.

Hakuhodo

Hakuhodo is a Japanese brush company that I have also heard non-stop great things about! They have SO many brushes, it was hard to choose which to get! On Day 1 of IMATS I only purchased the two smaller blending brushes, but when I used them the next morning I loved them so much that I decided to get two more on Day 2! Hakuhodo didn’t offer any deals at their booth, but I was just glad to finally have access to such an acclaimed brand!

Listed biggest to smallest:
J5522 ($24 CAD): This is a larger domed blending brush that works well for adding your first transition shade into the crease. You can use this brush with liquids, creams or powder shadows. This brush is made with goat bristles.

B142 ($23 CAD): This is a medium-sized tapered blending brush that allows slightly more precise application into the crease. This brush can also be used for highlighting, and has goat bristles.

J146 ($21 CAD): This is a small tapered blending brush allowing precise colour application into the outer corner or crease. The bristles are made from goat.

G5534 ($25 CAD): This is a very small tapered blending brush allowing excellent precision. The bristles are a mix of blue squirrel. I swear this blue squirrel brush is the softest of the bunch, although they all feel really high quality and soft. It’s a little disturbing the bristles are squirrel, but this was the exact size and shape I was looking for.

Bdellium Tools

Bdellium Tools is a US company that offers both professional beauty and SFX products. They have three main lines of brushes from what I can tell: Maestro (natural bristles), Golden Triangle (synthetic), and Studio (for professional and SFX use). I have most often seen/heard about their Golden Triangle line, but those brushes are entirely synthetic and I prefer natural bristles for blending brushes. They also had some great deals on at their both. I think the discount they offered was around 40%!

Maestro 783 Small Tapered Blending ($8 CAD, usually $12 USD): This is a medium to small tapered blending brush ideal for applying shadow along the crease. The bristles are a mix of pony and synthetic. This brush is extremely tapered, which differs from other brushes where the taper is more slight. Because of this I think application will be very precise even though it isn’t the smallest brush.

Morphe

The Morphe line was massive both days at IMATS, which was no surprise. Morphe isn’t necessarily a brand that I am that interested in, but they are good if you are looking for quantity over quality, which is what I was going for with the brushes I purchased. I do have one blending brush from them that is a bit scratchy, but it actually works so well! It is one of my favourite brushes (Morphe Detail Round Blender Brush M514). Unfortunately, the Morphe booth had no sales going on.

M433 PRO Firm Blending Fluff ($8 CAD): This is a tapered crease brush with a pinched ferrule, which gives it the versatility to be used as a flat shader or a blender. The bristles are goat.

E11 Angled Brow ($7 CAD): This is a stiff, angled brush with synthetic bristles that gives a slightly diffused line and blends brow products into the hair for a soft, natural appearance.

Y14 PRO Detail Highlight ($8 CAD): This is a slender tapered brush with just enough fluff to give you precise highlight while diffusing colour and blending seamlessly with the rest of the makeup. The bristles are synthetic. So far I am really impressed with how this brush applies highlighter! It seems to apply just the right amount.

Continuous Setting Mist ($20 CAD): Woops, forgot to take a picture of this one! This is the ever so popular continuous, air-powered spray that supposedly delivers an even and controlled micro-fine mist to set liquid or powder makeup with a radiant finish. The mist of this setting spray almost feels too light, like nothing is happening. I haven’t yet decided how I feel about this setting spray. I’m used to getting a little drenched, which I like because it leaves my skin a bit more dewy.

Make Up For Ever

The Make Up For Ever booth had some awesome deals going on! They were offering 40% off all products, 50% off of their brushes, and 50% off if you purchased 5 or more Ultra HD products. Since MUFE is such an expensive brand, now was the time to try a few things! I own some of their older eyeshadows, but they recently reformulated the line.

Artist Color Shadows D712 Creme Brulee and M842 Wine ($10.50 CAD each, usually $22 CAD each): I haven’t tried the MUFE shadows since they reformulated them, so I thought that this would be a great opportunity since they had such a great sale going on. I thought that this duo would work well for a buildable two-eyeshadow look.
Refillable Palette Small ($2 CAD)
Brow Gel Transparent ($15 CAD, usually $25 CAD): Man, I forgot to include this product in the pictures as well! I have heard great things about this brow gel having incredible hold. Usually I’m pretty stingy about brow gel, but since this was on sale I decided to go for it.

Stilazzi & Frends Beauty

The Stilazzi and Frends Beauty booth had some of the best deals at IMATS. I had no idea what Frends Beauty is, but apparently it’s a retailer in the US that sells popular brands like Beauty Blender, Stila and Anastasia Beverly Hills! And some of the deals were awesome! Stila Liquid Eyeshadows were $20 CAD instead of $31 CAD, and ABH Palettes were $43 CAD instead of $55 or $59 CAD! I really should have bought more products, but I was really focusing on brushes at this event.

Stilazzi Matte Eyeshadow Refills MS03 (Peach), MB03 (Pink), MS12 (Lavender) and MS14 (Purple) (3 Free, one for $2 USD, usually $3 USD each): Just for standing in line and signing up for their e-mail list we were given three Stilazzi eyeshadows for free. I bought one more because I really wanted the Lavender shade. When swatching these shadows, I was surprised by how creamy they felt! However, the single shadows aren’t on the Stilazzi website. They can only be found on the Frends Beauty website, so I’m not sure what the deal with that is.

Stilazzi ChiChi Collection Lashes “After Hours” and “Bad A Lash Mini“ ($8 USD each, usually $10 USD): These lashes look so pretty! I am very picky with lashes. So many look so plastic-y and have blunt ends, but these lashes are exactly what I like, similar to the Ardell Faux Mink lashes. They look real and have very tapered synthetic fibres. I swear it is the lashes that have real hair that look the fakest..

Stilazzi Stellar Eyeshadow Palette ($32 USD, usually $39 USD): This is an eyeshadow palette that Samantha March has been raving about. I really didn’t go in thinking that I would get this, but I’m very good at impulse buying, so here we are. This is such a beautiful cool-toned palette. I can’t wait to play more with it!

Suva Beauty

This was a brand that I had never heard of, but everyone at IMATS was carrying around their bags, so I had to check it out! I actually watched a demo by the owner Shaina Azad on Day 2, and turns out this brand is based in Vancouver! In her demos she showcased their Hydra Liners, which are a water-activated cake eyeliner (not gel). The incredible part about this line is that some are UV-activated and glow in a black light (see photos in my IMATS post)! I didn’t actually get any of these liners, but I’m absolutely curious.

Saffron Eyeshadow Palette ($30 CAD, usually $42 CAD): The colour scheme of this palette is absolutely gorgeous, and I love the theme. On top of it all, the shadows, and especially the metallics, swatch incredibly well!

Well, that’s my IMATS Vancouver 2018 haul! Have you been to IMATS or another beauty trade show before? Which of the above brands or items interests you the most?