Vancouver IMATS 2011

Thus begins the very arduous task of blogging about the IMATS. Arduous not because of the subject, but because of the sheer volume of photos I had to edit.
This year's IMATS was held at the beautiful Vancouver Convention Centre. The crowd turnout was phenomenal.

9am ticketing queue:

Somebody overslept and missed the bus. The same somebody almost went to last year's venue. Somebody, I'm not gonna say who, but somebody got stuck in a queue real bad.

Of course I was nowhere to be found on their press list, I'm lucky like that, they were lovely about it though and soon we were on our merry way.
At the exhibit hall we were confronted with this:

One monstrous queue stretching as far as the eye can see. The reward? MUFE products at 40% off retail.
Given that there were four of us, we ended up taking turns to man the queue while the rest went to shop and take photos elsewhere.
Justine and I took time to cam whore while we were in line:

NYX
The one booth that really stood out for me was the NYX booth. Never have I been in the hallowed presence of so much eyeshadow. Just look at the amount of products they had!

Yes I took about a zillion photos of their booth.
Their discounts were 30%-40% off retail, that coupled with the limited availability of NYX products in Canada made me one happy shopper. I quickly grabbed their HD foundation which has been touted as being a cheap alternative to MUFE's HD Cover along with a couple of other bits and bobs that I will show in my haul post.

Royal & Langnickel
I decided to invest in a couple of their brushes to see how they compare to the Crown brushes I bought last year. They had some beautiful sets for $70 but honestly how many brushes do I need? Don't answer that question.

Hakuhodo
Considered the holy grail of makeup brushes, these babies are handmade in Japan and have the price tags to show for it. Justine and I both reckon that had they their lacquer collection in stock, we'd be much poorer by the end of the day.

Ben Nye
I'm happy to see that Ben Nye greatly expanded their booth from last year and had actual products for sale this time. I love the bright colours in their collection.

Make Up For Ever
After a mere 2 1/2hrs wait, we were finally at the front of the MUFE queue. Seriously ladies, next year, do you think you could PLEASE go to your nearest Sephora or The Bay and swatch to your heart's content the day before the show? Just make a wish list, hand it over to the nice exhibitor people who'll fill your prescription and then all you have to do is pay for it. It's much less time consuming than swatching at the booth with 100 others behind you. By the time we made our purchases, they were already completely sold out of Aqualiner #8 (light purple) and several of the Lab Shine glosses. There are rumours of exchanges being possible at Sephora and MUFE free standing counters but you didn't hear it from me *whistles*.

Beautiful demo by the MUFE artist:

Nigel Beauty Emporium
A new exhibitor to this year's show. I was most taken with their human hair lashes which sold for an insane 7 pairs for $10. If I was a false lashes person I would haul by the bucket load. Unfortunately I am more a chicken wings person.

Temptu
Once again Temptu was there to demonstrate some lovely airbrush work. Did you know you can airbrush eyebrows?!

Eve Pearl's presentation.

Eve Pearl's booth:

Look at some of her makeover results! Amazing no?

Yaby
Liz Yu herself was there to (wo)man the booth this year. I'm happy to report back after some swatching that their eyeshadows have a much more complex finish and apply better than the Coastal Scents palettes that I had previously likened them to. I was sorely tempted to pick up a few of their single eyeshadows but I have nowhere to put them and I REALLY don't need more eyeshadow. For about $2 you get a penny sized amount of eyeshadow. Not bad really.

Another new exhibitor to this year's show was Vivid Cosmetics. I found their triangular palettes really interesting!! Very sci-fi xD

Then of course there was Crown Brushes. Their brushes are much more budget friendly than Royal & Langnickel. However, I do feel some of their brushes are not as soft in comparison. I really recommend their eye brushes but steer clear of their duo fibre brush as it just never stops shedding! This year they had a more complete line of products - I think they had all their brush lines there as well as their colour cosmetics collection.

Graftobian was there with their range of HD and theatre makeup.

Lit Cosmetics
Enough glitter to make Ke$ha a very happy girl.

Naked Cosmetics
I bought 2 of these sets last year.

Eye Kandy
"Go insane, go insane, throw some glitter make it rain"

Naimie's
I was quite sad that they weren't selling the Unii palette this year :(

Next up! Student's competition and my haul!

Meishoku Detclear Bright & Peel Fruits Peeling Jelly

Every now and then, I buy products that I don't really understand or need purely because I am intrigued by its name. Mr. Nunu calls this "the power of advertising", a.k.a. "a fool and her money are soon parted". I merely compare it to his want for a 3D TV.
It was as a result of one of these occasions that I came to own the Meishoku Bright & Peel Jelly.

Promises to:
"MEISHOKU Delclear Bright & Peel Fruits Peeling Jelly is a rinse-off exfoliator empowered various berries. Blended with fruit extracts, it loosens burdened skin by removing cuticles hacked by melanin. Therefore, it reveals skin’s natural white and translucent complexion. It also optimizes the benefits of later skin care products. The appearance of black-heads and acne is reduced while sebum secretion is controlled."

Damage:
$12.50 for 180ml from Sasa.com

Ingredients:
water,glycerin,carbomer,steartrimonium chloride,glycosyl trehalose,hydrogenated starch hydrolysate,fragrance,lactobacillus/pear juice ferment filtrate,butylene glycol,citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) oil,vaccinium myrtillus extract,salix nigra (willow) bark extract,saccharum officinarum (sugarcane) extract,malic acid,tartaric acid,glycolic acid,citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) fruit extract,citrus medica limonum (lemon) fruit extract,acer saccharum (sugarmaple) extract,salicylic acid,pyrus malus (apple) fruit extract,rubus idaeus (raspberry) fruit extract

Review:
Honestly? I doubt the efficiency of any product that has such a short contact period with your skin. 
I think the idea behind this gel is that the various fruit extracts added together gives your skin a very light chemical peel? I have no idea.
You're to apply this a clean dry face, upon application, the gel turns into a weird clumpy jelly. This supposedly means it is removing the loose and dead skin cells on your face. I tend to use this in the mornings after a hot shower on days when I don't use any cleanser.
There is a smell, a fruity chemicals mix, it's not strong and it doesn't linger so it doesn't bother me.
I don't really see less blackheads or sebum and when I do breakout it's mostly hormonal so I can't really speak to this peel's intended effects. My face is a bit brighter after the peel but this effect doesn't last.
I recommend you save your money, use a cheap scrub and rub leftover watermelon rind on your face.

troll booger

Before:

After: