IMATS NYC Haul!

Hi, everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Mine was one part lazing, one part yoga, and one part brunching and strolling with friends. Not too shabby in my books! If you saw my last two posts or follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I was lucky enough to attend IMATS in NYC two weekends ago. It was an incredibly fun experience and I'm so eager to attend more New York shows in the future! IMATS is usually a place where my wallet goes on a free for all, but this year I was attempting to stick to a budget. I did end up going a *teensy* bit over, but overall am super pleased that I was able to snag a fab selection of products without going off the financial rails. 

Here's a peek at everything I purchased all boxed up, then open for all to see! 

In terms of my shopping game plan, I aimed to stick to brands that are ultra hard to find in Toronto, have silly expensive shipping to Canada, and/or had ultra good deals on the day. I think I kept to that quite well! 

I ended up purchasing two incredibly beautiful, exciting eye shadow palettes at this year's show, the first of which was a complete lemming, peer-pressure sort of buy. I'd heard great things about Violet Voss as a brand (they had a booth at last year's Toronto IMATS), but it wasn't until a couple days before the show that I was alerted to the hype and hoopla around the Holy Grail Pro Eye Shadow palette. When I saw snaps online, I agreed that it was super pretty, but I dismissed its necessity initially ("I don't need another warm eye shadow palette). When I saw it in person, however, I could not resist. It's utterly stunning, with a perfect mix of shimmers and mattes and everything from shimmery ivory to flame orange and in between. 

Not to be outdone, I took the plunge and purchased some Natasha Denona eye shadows as well. I'd been drooling over these uber-pigmented shadows for months, but had only seen the brand's giant palettes, which go for a whopping $200+ price tag. They offer a payment plan on them, for goodness sakes! But when I was told  by the Beautylish rep that the Eye Shadow Palette 5 range (5-pan palettes) were retailing for $48 USD, I was pleasantly surprised and decided to bite the bullet. I opted for Palette 10, a magical mix of taupe, plum, wine, ultra metallic gold, and violet. I gasped out loud when I swatched them at the show, so I knew it was true love! 

Perhaps my favourite booth at the show was from Besame Cosmetics, which was completely decked out in the brand's glamorous, vintage aesthetic. I didn't yet own any of their lipsticks, but after swatching several of their iconic red shades (each with an amazing pigmented, smooth matte texture), I knew that had to change. It was a very tough decision, but I ended up selecting Carmine, a bold, warm orange red inspired by the early 1930s. I wore it out the same night and fell completely smitten. 

Finally (although backwards, as this was the first booth I visited), we have two killer Lip Tars from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. Their new Magnetic Fields collection for Spring 2016 is absolutely incredible, rife with punchy greens, bronzes, blues, and purples. I chose the two purple-toned lip shades of the bunch- Indrid, a completely unique purple-grey with pink iridescence, and Lily (my niece's namesake, yay!), an opaque lilac. OCC do weirdo lip shades so very well, and I'm totally loving both of these. 

Here are swatches of the three lip products I purchased (in natural sunlight, against my NC15 skin tone):

(L-R): Besame Cosmetics Lipstick in Carmine, OCC Lip Tars in Indrid and Lily

I did not swatch the eye shadow palettes here, as each will be earning its own separate review. Keep your eyes peeled for those soon!

I could not be happier with my little(ish) lot of beauty goodies from IMATS NYC- not a single regret among them and I've been having loads of fun playing with everything! Some of the best souvenirs from NYC I've ever snagged :)

Have you tried anything from Besame, OCC, Violet Voss, or Natasha Denona? What booths are on your must-visit list at IMATS?

Have a wonderful week! xo

 Bloglovin'|Facebook|Twitter|Instagram