Yesterday I attended the International Makeup Artist Trade Show in Toronto. The recent merger of the Canadian Makeup Show with IMATS made this the first to be held in the city. The event was held in Heritage Court at the Direct Energy Centre on the Toronto Exhibition grounds.  Since I was taking the train in, the location was perfect as it’s just a short walk from the Exhibition Go Station.  Granted, I found this out the hard way and walked all the way around the building, instead of taking the direct (and much shorter) route.  It did give me a nice tour of the grounds and the rest of the Direct Energy Center though.  I also met a security guard who was kind enough to direct me in the right direction.

Took me a bit, but I eventually found the venue.. LOL

Parking was $12 and there were options of underground and on ground lots. The outdoor lot wasn’t packed until much later in the day either, so that’s always a plus.

IMATS: Program Floor Plan

When I first walked into Heritage Court I was surprised at the size. While there were about 40 booths set up, it was smaller that what I had imagined. Granted, the photos I had seen of other shows were predominantly from the show held in Los Angeles. I had to remind myself that while Toronto is a big city, the overall population of the surrounding area isn’t comparable. Toronto boasts a larger population than L.A., however the entire Greater Toronto Area has a population of about 5.5 million compared to the Greater Los Angeles Area of 12.3 million. It doesn’t make sense to keep the same scale for a much smaller population, so with that in mind the surprise faded quickly.

I arrived as the doors opened and was greeted by security and directed to the registration table. Everyone was very friendly and I didn’t have to wait long to pick up my press pass, plus my IMATS shopping bag and program. I did find it strange that there was no place to check coats, due to the weather, but apparently there was one. Most visitors seemed to keep their coats, so I didn’t feel too silly for missing it.  Before getting too involved at any booths, I just walked around to get a feel for the set up. The circuit was pretty comfortable, there wasn’t too much walking involved and there were no epic hikes required to go back and check on things later in the day. I was surprised to see that there were a few booths that weren’t ready to go. While this didn’t affect me personally, if I was on a tight schedule I would have questioned the professionalism of the company.

Minutes after the doors opened, there was already a line up at the Make Up Forever Booth. By 9 o’clock there was a line snaking through the aisles, which only got longer as the day went on. As the brand is so popular, I feel like it would have been more efficient to have their booth placed in an area where the line wouldn’t interfere with other vendors. I had to cut through the line a few times just to see the products at a number of booths. Not cool.

IMATS: Danielle Fonseca @ Main Stage

I did love the placement of the stages though, that was awesome. The main stage actually felt like you were away from the buzz of the show, which made it very easy to focus on the speaker. I also loved the big screen, so that even those sitting at the back could see the details of application. The west end stage was much more open, but it was a great focal point of the show. I do feel that it could have used some more seating though, this was especially obvious during the student competition. There was also a notable lack of places to just sit, whether it was to eat or just take a load off. Some strategically placed chairs or benches would have been nice.

By mid-day I was feeling a bit hungry, and I was disappointed to find out that the only place to get food was a small concession. The idea of having to catch the street car or a cab to get food wasn’t appealing, which makes me wonder why there wasn’t anything else made available. The concession had sandwiches, salads, muffins, cookies, chips and drinks, but in my opinion the prices were inflated.

Overall, I think the venue was pretty good and I feel that the few small issues were just a matter of logistics for a new venue and will be remedied for next year’s show.