IMATS 2011: Day 1 Summary

So, today was the first day of the London IMATS weekend - and it was literally jam packed.  Alexandra Palace was stuffed with people out to catch some bargains, learn tips and tricks from the professionals, and have a look at what's new in both special effects and beauty makeup.  So stuffed, in fact, that walking around was quite a chore.

Continuing on a theme from last year, there were a high number of airbrush makeup companies exhibiting, with all of the systems being demonstrated priced for the professional market; we've yet to see a consumer oriented device launched.  There was also a massive explosion in the number of companies offering false lashes, from natural to glam to all out fantastic.

Illamasqua was in attendance, but only selling "kits" - with a kit being made up of a few shades in a particular product.  We suspect this was an exercise in selling off old stock.  MAC was swamped as always, as were both Crown Brush and Royal Brush, both of whom were selling their already reasonably priced brushes at a heavy discount.  If you're going tomorrow, get to those stalls early!

There was also a massive NYX stand - with the products being sold at a discount compared to the UK website, but still not on a level with US stores like CherryCulture.  That said, there were some pretty big palettes being sold for a very reasonable £10.

Session wise, there was a huge amount to choose from, with talks on airbrushing, bridal makeup, character and SFX techniques.  There was also an interesting session featuring EnKore, Pixiwoos, Wayne Goss and Pursebuzz, dedicated to all things YouTube - which we'll be reporting in more depth later on.

And now... here are some photos for your viewing pleasure!

Incredible character makeup was being applied in a number of places today - this one is from the Makeup Atelier Paris stand

Ben Nye eyeshadows at the Treasure House Makeup stand - these pans are massive: the size of MAC blushers and a fair bit deeper too.  

From the makeup museum, which contains many recognisable character masks and prosthesis from film, TV and beyond.  These characters are from Hellboy 2.

An example of some of the fantastically detailed (and glittery) body makeup being demonstrated during the day.  This one was at the PAM (Makeup Artist Provisions) stand.

An entire wall of nail polishes in rainbow colours courtesy of Inglot.  Beautiful.  Inglot had brought most of their range along with them, and were running some very good deals on their Freedom Palette system - with a 3-pan palette costing just £10.

More body art, this time from renound body artist Einat Dan, using Vimua products.

Some beautifully detailed false lashes - can you believe these are made of paper?  We'll be posting more about this company in a few more days.

And finally, the editorial look created by Terry Barber of MAC.  If you want to see how this was done, we'll be publishing a full walk through (with many photos) within the next few days.