My Kit!

And here I am, Friday night. My entertaining self, chillin' at home with a puppy.

The evening began with me cleaning my kit before seeing a client tomorrow, but honestly, there is nothing I love more than playing with makeup and organising. Break out the label maker - it's going to be a wild night. 

All finished!

After IMATS I picked up some new palettes.

Some wicked new brushes.

Makeup Forever Aqua Colours.

And my fav - Yaby Liquid Foundation.

Top left: 

skin palettes.

From left to right, top to bottom.

Yaby cream foundation, yellows; Yaby powder foundations, light

Yaby concealor; Yaby PF, medium; Yaby highlight

Assorted cream colours (cinema secrets, mufe flash); Yaby PF, dark; Assorted blushes

Bottom left:

A few liners

Face Atelier liquid foundation

Assorted glues

Inside the box:

MUFE HD powder, MUFE Aqua colours, MUFE Elixir

Benefit Shellac, MAC and Smashbox liners

Loreal Voluminous

Bottom right:

Colour palettes

Disposables

Left to right; top to bottom:

Assorted lipsticks, light;

Assorted lipsticks, medium; Yaby Dramatically Neutral shadows; Assorted pink-based shadows

Assorted lipsticks, dark; Yaby Pearl Paint shadows; Assorted brow and shadows

Top right:

moisturiser, nail polish remover, brush cleaner etc.

Yaby liquid foundations.

OCC Lip Tars

I'm really excited to work with the Makeup Forever Aqua Colours. I detest not being able to palette them but they are a pretty cool product. I picked up a red, pink and dark silver/grey (as well as the matching liner). I swipped them all over my hand at IMATS and kept showing Jessica exclaiming 'they really don't budge.' Which is what she had been telling me for ages.

A few people have asked me about the Yaby palettes, which I am obviously, a big fan of. To keep them clean I use makeup remover. Shocking, right? But seriously, that comes up a lot. 

I had other eyeshadow palettes but after picking up the dramatically neutral and pearl paints the others became redundant. And seriously, Yaby trumps everything in quality.

If you're looking to start a Yaby collection, my only regret is that I didn't stick to just freestyle palettes. Buddy-o Jessica did that and got 35 lippies to one palette instead of 20. The white space is pretty, but the thought of condensing my kit even more makes my heart skip a beat. 

I'm still trying out this new silver thingy. I love being able to work out of it and not needing to open things up to get to things but I hate carrying it around. I feel like a tool (haha - because it's a tool box!). Also, it doesn't fit on my bike. Chances are I'll switch it up come spring time.

By no means is this it, but this is generally what I carry around with me. When I need extras there is a space on the lid or I just throw a to-gosie in my purse.

So there it is. My kit.

IMATS Recap

IMATS!!!!

I finally have a moment after an unbelievably crazy weekend.

Saturday morning I met my first client at 6am. She was entering a body building competition (her first) and was an absolutely fantastic client. I had a lot of fun with her. 

Jessica met me just after 7am and we were off. I was giddy. I am always excited for IMATS. This was my fourth (or fifth?) in as many years (I'm counting the years when Toronto hosted the Makeup Show and not the IMATS). It's so nice to see people doing what you want to do. To reconnect with friends. And really, to just talk about makeup for two entire days and not having any give me grief about it!

This year Jess, Mary and I helped out Liz at Yaby. Liz is always so much fun. The conversation has a tendency to turn towards the racy but its always entertaining. Hence the saucy cucumber photos. 

It is not often that I get to be taller than someone.

Jessica bought me this awesome scarf on her recent trip to Paris

And I turned it into a turban. 

Because frankly, I look great in turbans.

Again with the inappropriateness.

Liz and Jess getting a little too close.

The biggest bummer about working the show is that I miss all the presentations. I walked by while Enkore was presenting on the side stage. I really like his demeanor. And we were so close to the main stage that we heard all of Kandy Johnson's appearance. Which was... nuts. There were so many people there to see her. The line up for her signing was so long. And she is a trooper. Very pregnant, she sat and signed every single autograph that was requested of her. 

This year was so different from past shows. Saturday saw a very obvious presence of beauty bloggers. Everyone had a camera, a video camera and there was a lot of chatter about who recommended what on which youtube channel/blog. It's a strange shift for me. Definitely makes me feel a little older and little out of touch.

But one consistency that exists year after year... holy bad makeup batman! What is with all the makeup enthusiasts with TERRIBLE makeup. Terrible. T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. Am I making this clear enough? Year after year, Jessica and I remark to one another how a little bit of blending can go so far. Friends. Let me offer you an everlasting piece of makeup advice. If you are ever unsure about the look you're trying out, blend. Then blend some more. Then for good measure, a little more.

There were some new faces at the show. MAC PRO wasn't there last year and had a booth just for the purpose of signing people up for their pro card... which I think is... kinda icky. They used to have an entire booth at the Makeup Show and their products were pro discounted but now they just buy the space so they can present. Like I said, ick.

Stila was there. Which was cool because Sephora doesn't honour pro discounts. But they are doing some really strange things. Their makeup case/ video player is so gimmicky. They have a lot of products that rely on clever marketing that overshadow their fantastic products like their lip stain, liquid luminizer and convertible colours. 

I'll finish off the week with a new post about my kit so you can see all the rad things I picked up.

xoxo,

ashley.