Amy Winhouse: IMATS LA 2011

**WARNING** this post is REALLY picture heavy!

waiting in line at IMATS

Last weekend my sister and I drove out to California to attend IMATS LA in Pasadena. We were so ready to take a break from this desert heat! I originally wasn't planning on going this year because I wasn't going to be out in the states for the whole summer but plans changed and my sister and I ended up coming back. I went to IMATS LA last year and I had a lot of fun but I didn't get to buy everything that I wanted so I came armed with a plan! (Obviously, lol) I knew exactly which booths I wanted to hit up and what products I wanted to get, which helped a lot but don't think that you're going to get everything because a lot of products sold out really quick. I'll have to separate my haul post because this is going to have a TON of pictures in it!

the line at 8AM!

We went on Saturday and since there was soo much hype about IMATS this year and with all the tickets selling out we planned to get there early. We stayed at a hotel in Arcadia which was 10-15 minutes away and we planned to leave at 7 AM but I am not a morning person at all so we didn't get to the convention center until 7:30. But even at 7:30 the lines was ridiculous! They had everyone waiting outside at first and by the time we found our spot, the line was starting to wrap around the building. I guess the line was getting too long because the doors weren't supposed to open until 8:30 but they started letting people get their wristbands and get into the convention around 8! I saw JRose and Tia when we were standing inline but it was so hectic in there that we didn't get to take pictures with each other! =(

in line for wristbands/registration

MUFE booth already crowded!

My first stop was the Make Up Forever (MUFE) booth because I was really sad that I missed out on the 40% off last year! When I tried to get in line to order they told me it was too late because the line was still 2 hours long and the convention was going to close for the day. I was disappointed this year because I had a looong ass MUFE list that I wanted but I found out that the discount was 20% off unless you had a Pro Card then you got the 40% off. I ended up getting a pretty good amount of stuff though, esp since I needed refills on the Duo Matte Powder. I waited in line for an hour and a half - lucky thing I had my list or I would've taken longer! Then I hit up Inglot next because I knew it was going to be crowded!

me trying to squeeze in to pay! LOL u can see how bad my roots are

The Inglot booth was insane! We stood in line for a good 30 minutes before one of the Inglot ladies came over and said we should just try to squeeze in because we're gonna be waiting forever! FOL (F Our Lives lol) we should've started trying to squeeze in from the beginning! You really had to hold your own in those lines everyone's annoyed just trying to get swatches and get one of the booth worker's attentions to place your order. The only thing I liked about the Inglot line was you could give them the order, pay, and then come back. You didn't have to wait in line the whole time like MUFE. Of course, I'm sure some people got things mixed up, etc. but it worked for me. I really wanted to get a 20 palette but they were sold out by time I got there! (It wasn't even 12 yet!) I would've bought more 10 palettes but I was just too annoyed trying to get through the crowd.

We made a set plan the day before so we had a list of exactly which booths we needed to go to and in what order just because I knew we had to expect a huuge crowd. We spent a lot of time inline but I think my plan worked out really well because we got mostly everything that we wanted. I originally wanted to attend some of the classes but we were so caught up buying things and walking around that we were already tired by early afternoon. I honestly don't know how some of those women were walking around in heels because I wore flat sandals and my feet were sore! We took a break 30 minutes before the student competition and ended up sticking around for that. I wish we got close ups with the student's artwork but we ended up leaving not to long after.

Overall, it was a great experience. I think a lot of people went for the discounts and to take pictures with YouTube gurus, but I wasn't too interested in that. It was kinda cool seeing EnKoreMakeup, petrilude, shrinkle, etc. in person but we weren't one of those people who were like "OMG can I take a picture with you?!" I love watching YouTube vids but I wish the "real" makeup artists got more credit because their work is AMAZING. By real, I mean the ones who do special effects and just completely transform people into something else! Not that regular makeup artists aren't "real" but I'm just saying that there are some really talented artists out there who should be more recognized. If I went to makeup school I totally would wanna learn how to do the whole crazy transformation makeup kinda thing! (lol I have no idea what that's called)

This year's IMATS was definitely way more crowded than last year's. The tickets completely sold out for Saturday I think a week before? So they ended up releasing 300 more tickets the week of and THOSE sold out too! It's crazy how big this thing blew up and I think a lot of it has to do with YouTube gurus. In a way I liked last year's better, but this year's was pretty good too. It was just kinda weird seeing all these really young girls at IMATS that I don't remember seeing last year! I don't think I'll get to go next year, but then again I said that about this year! If I have the chance, I'll definitely go but I'm kinda bummed that they raised the prices from this year! You can actually buy IMATS LA 2012 tickets online now! It'll be June 23-24, 2012 so if you're that serious you could buy tickets already!

I'll do my haul posts after I take pictures of everything, but I think I might have to break everything up unless you guys want one giant haul post! =P I'll probably have it up in the next couple of days, but for now here's some pictures we got from walking around! [normally I don't like using the jump link but there are just TOO many pictures!]